’Of course, that was just a thought. He definitely wouldn’t say it out loud.’

His mother-in-law was the best. When she saw Fang Chenyi walk in, she quickly got up, grabbed two sets of bowls and chopsticks, and personally ladled two bowls of porridge for him and Bai Menghan.

After some small talk, Fang Chenyi saw that everyone was getting ready to leave for their companies and quickly said,

"Oh, right. I need to make a trip to Dubai. I bought a cruise ship, and it’s currently docked at Dubai Port. I have to go over and take possession of it."

Hearing this, Fang Chenyi’s dad said with a look of exasperation,

"You rascal, you never do anything serious. Instead of managing the companies you have, you go and buy some darn cruise ship to play with. You’re really asking for it."

It wasn’t surprising Father Fang would say that. Anyone would have thought the same thing. First, he wasn’t managing the nearly twenty companies he owned, and now he suddenly announces he bought a cruise ship. Anyone’s first impression would be that he bought it as a toy.

Looking at his dad’s helpless expression, Fang Chenyi couldn’t really explain. ’I can’t just say I didn’t even want it, but the system insisted on rewarding me, can I?’

"Hehe, Dad, you’ve got me all wrong. I didn’t just buy this cruise ship to make money, but also to add some prestige to our future commercial district. Our district has a deep-water port, after all. If we don’t even have a single decent ship there, it’ll hurt our image, right? Plus, we can open the cruise ship to all our company employees as a reward. Wouldn’t that be a great perk?"

As Fang Chenyi was talking, Father Fang ignored him. He drank the last mouthful of porridge from his bowl and then picked up a napkin to wipe his mouth.

"Alright, alright, you rascal always have your reasons. Fine, go. Just be back soon. Take Yishou and the others with you for protection."

To be honest, Father Fang still sometimes found it hard to believe that his son had built such a massive fortune in such a short time. He was even afraid it was all just a dream.

As for what he’d just said, he didn’t really mean it.

’Saying his son wasn’t doing serious work? That was a joke. Where did these dozen or so large corporations come from? Did he really get them from collecting scrap?’

Of course, whenever he thought about his son’s peculiar hobby, Father Fang still felt helpless. Buying a cruise ship or whatever, even if it was just for his own amusement, was fine. But this scrap collecting business was a bit...

Hearing Fang Chenyi was going abroad again, both his mother and his mother-in-law started fussing over him with concerned reminders.

Fang Chenyi just listened with a cheerful smile.

Suddenly, Fang Chenyi thought of something and said to his dad,

"Oh right, Dad, let me tell you something. I’m going to take down that painting on the hallway wall in a bit."

Hearing this, Father Fang immediately nodded, readily agreeing.

"Good, good, go ahead and take it down. If you didn’t, I was planning to take that thing down myself when I had time in the next couple of days. Your mother and I can’t appreciate that foreign stuff. We discussed it and were planning to replace the paintings in the hallway with some of the Plum, Orchid, Bamboo, and Chrysanthemum."

Father Fang really meant what he said. Every time he walked into the hallway and saw that chubby foreign lady, he felt uncomfortable. Not only was she ugly, but the painting itself wasn’t even good-looking. If he hadn’t been so busy with company matters lately, Father Fang would have taken that thing down long ago.

Now that Fang Chenyi said he was taking it, Father Fang practically threw both hands up in approval.

Seeing his dad’s nonchalant and even pleased expression, Fang Chenyi didn’t know what to say. ’This is the world-famous Mona Lisa, and they think it’s ugly?’

’Ugh... alright, fine.’ Fang Chenyi had to admit, aside from its high price, it really didn’t have any other merits.

Finally, Fang Chenyi turned his gaze to Bai Menghan, who was delicately sipping her porridge, and said,

"Menghan, you should ask for a day off later. We’re leaving today."

Hearing that Fang Chenyi wanted to take her with him, Bai Menghan shook her head.

"I don’t think I should go. I have my exams in five days."

’Now that I think about it, that’s right. Time really flies.’ He hadn’t realized Bai Menghan would be graduating in just five days.

Since that was the case, Fang Chenyi couldn’t ask Bai Menghan to come along. ’I should be back in five days anyway, so it won’t interfere with me being there for her exams.’ He nodded and said he wouldn’t take her with him then.

Just as Fang Chenyi finished speaking, Fang Jinjin’s voice suddenly came from the top of the stairs. "Bro, where are you going to have fun? I’m not busy lately, why don’t you take me with you?"

As she spoke, Fang Jinjin, dressed in cute Mickey Mouse pajamas, came down the stairs with an excited look on her face. She walked up to Mrs. Bai and politely greeted her, "Auntie."

By this time, everyone else had finished eating. They said their goodbyes and headed off to their companies and to school.

After everyone left, Fang Jinjin plopped down next to her sister-in-law. She grabbed a fried dough stick to eat and continued asking excitedly,

"Bro, where are you going? I’ve never been out of the country in my whole life. Can you please take me with you?"

Bai Menghan smiled and said,

"Yeah, Xiaojin is on break now and has nothing to do. You’re just going over to take possession of the cruise ship anyway, so you might as well take her along for the trip."

After hearing them both say that, Fang Chenyi thought it made sense. ’To be honest, this trip is pretty much for fun anyway.’ Plus, he could see if the scrap in the great city of Dubai was any better.

So he nodded.

"Since your sister-in-law said so, you can come. Hurry up and eat. Go get changed when you’re done. We’re leaving at eight."

Hearing her brother agree, Fang Jinjin pumped her little fist and excitedly planted a big kiss on her sister-in-law Bai Menghan’s cheek. "Yay! Long live my sister-in-law!"

Watching the two women laughing and talking as they ate, Fang Chenyi smiled and shook his head. He then turned and walked out of the villa, hopped on the small electric scooter parked by the door, and headed straight for the villa where Liu Yishou was staying.

He pushed open the door to the villa and found only Liu Yishou inside, eating breakfast in front of the security monitors. Everyone else was gone. On the monitor screens, he could see that aside from the few people at their posts, the rest were on the hill behind the villa doing their morning exercises.

Fang Chenyi was quite satisfied with this sight.

"Brother Fang, hehe, you’re up pretty early today."

When Fang Chenyi came in, Liu Yishou hurriedly put down his half-eaten meal, quickly stood up at attention, and then said with a chuckle.

Fang Chenyi was speechless. ’Just how lazy do these guys think I am?’

’Getting up early for once, isn’t that normal?’

"You punk, just hurry up and eat. What do you mean? Don’t I always get up at this time? I just used to handle work in my study after waking up, okay?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Fang Chenyi couldn’t help but praise his own quick thinking. ’That’s right, I’m not sleeping in every day. I’m handling work, hehe.’

And Liu Yishou immediately believed him, especially when he thought about how many companies his boss had. There must be an endless amount of work to deal with every day.

But how could he know that although Fang Chenyi owned eighteen corporations of various sizes—including the seventeen rewarded by the system and one he had Wei Yilong establish—

Fang Chenyi was a completely hands-off boss.

In Fang Chenyi’s own words, his job was just to conquer the territory. As for what happened after it was conquered, he’d just let the professionals manage it.

After briefly asking about the situation here, Fang Chenyi got straight to the point.

"I’m going abroad on a trip to Dubai. Hand off your work, then come with me. Oh, right, tell Mu Tou to take over for Xiaotian. You two are coming with me this time."

After receiving his orders, Liu Yishou immediately began making arrangements. Meanwhile, Fang Chenyi called Qi Xiaotian and told him to wait for him at Capital International Airport at eight o’clock.

After everything was arranged, Fang Chenyi suddenly thought of something.

’When traveling abroad, it’s easy to fall ill from not being used to the local environment. I should prepare some things in advance and put them in my woven bag space just in case.’

[To be continued...]