The environment around where Duan Haibo lives is average, but the three-bedroom apartment he rents is quite large. If only a single family were to rent it, the average working-class person might find it unaffordable.

"This is it. Just today, neither of us had to work, so after our call earlier, Jiajing tidied up the place. The bed is ready. What do you think?" Duan Haibo led Li Yan into the room. "There are three bedrooms. Here’s ours, that one’s for Jiajing’s sister and her boyfriend. We kind of share the place with them. This would be your bedroom; it’s a bit smaller."

Li Yan went over to check it out. It was indeed small, nothing compared to the villa bedroom he stayed in the night before. However, he’s not picky, so he smiled and said, "A bit smaller is fine. You all have two people to a room, while I’m just one person. So, if you calculate average space, mine’s actually bigger. You’ve kept it really clean. Thanks a lot!"

"Hehe, as long as you’re satisfied. If you’re not, we can look around the neighborhood some more."

"I’m satisfied. How much is the rent? I’ll pay for two months upfront." 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Hearing what Li Yan said, Duan Haibo’s expression changed slightly. But before he could speak, Li Yan chuckled, "Xiao Duan, it’s not that I’m being distant with you. But don’t forget your current status, and also mine. Just like when you helped me out before, with tens or even hundreds of thousands, I wasn’t distant with you. But now aren’t we all pretending? Naturally, we have to keep up the act."

Duan Haibo heard this and understood. Indeed, whether it was him or Li Yan, for friends, even tens of thousands wouldn’t matter, let alone a few hundred or thousand. He grinned awkwardly, "Li Ge is indeed Li Ge; no wonder you can work in a big company. I’ll go along with what you say."

No one else was in the room at the moment, so they could speak freely.

"Xiao Duan, you must have some worries, don’t you?" Li Yan sat down on the bed and tossed him a cigarette.

"What?" Duan Haibo was a bit puzzled. "I’m doing quite well now. I used to risk my life, just hoping for such peaceful days."

"I mean... your current job doesn’t pay much. Even if you’re okay with it, your girlfriend feels the pressure. You don’t want her working too hard, yet you can’t find a higher-paying job, like showcasing your skills as a bodyguard or something. You two haven’t married yet but living together is similar, so there’s bound to be some financial pressure. And yet, your savings are inconvenient to use."

Sitting here in this bedroom, Li Yan already started to miss his bedroom back home! It wasn’t missing better conditions, but rather missing that sense of home, the feeling of having Zhang Yurong by his side. They didn’t need to be in the same room, just under the same roof. Now not being in the same place truly felt like a separation.

To alleviate the pressure in his mind, he tried hard to chat with Duan Haibo, discussing other people’s affairs, keeping his mind busy, so he wouldn’t think of Zhang Yurong.

Duan Haibo lit his cigarette after Li Yan handed it to him, took a drag, and smiled wryly, "That’s certainly a problem. I actually really want to play the lottery, so I can openly use my own money. But Jiajing says it’s all scams and doesn’t let me buy lottery tickets."

Li Yan was a bit sweaty; he’s already so afraid of his wife before even getting married... Thinking about a wife, he thought of his own "wife" and quickly tried to distract himself, "I could actually help you!"

As he said this, he pulled out some money and handed over two thousand as a pre-paid share of the rent. Duan Haibo took it but his mind was on Li Yan’s words, "Li Ge, what ideas do you have to help me? Indeed, your mind is more agile than mine. Being able to work in a large company, there should be some opportunities."

"You haven’t given Jiajing a lot of money in one go, have you?" By Jiajing, he didn’t mean the girl from Chuyi Company; it was Duan Haibo’s girlfriend, Lv Jiajing. Because of her name, Li Yan thought it sounded like a guy’s, and given their relationship was still fairly distant, too close wouldn’t be appropriate, so she’s called Jiajing.

"No, not at all. I’ve wanted to give her some, even wanted to buy her a house so she wouldn’t have to worry about housing. But I can’t give it to her." Duan Haibo took a deep drag on his cigarette.

"Then it’s easy. You could say that a few years ago, you actually saved up a wife’s dowry. But you didn’t place it in the bank; you gave it to me to manage." Li Yan thought for a moment and said.

"You? Manage finances?" Duan Haibo was a bit surprised, then couldn’t help but chuckle, "If you’re a financial expert, I wouldn’t be much worse."

"Come on, that’s because you know my background; she doesn’t, right?" Li Yan laughed and cursed, continuing, "And besides, I’m not saying it’s me; just say I handed the money to our company’s investment expert, not only yours but also my own. Our company’s investments are calculated in the billions. We’re just tagging along to earn pocket money. Even if we’re following the big dogs to trade stocks, the earnings are reinvested. Sometimes we might lose a bit, but over the years, since you haven’t withdrawn cash, it all continued to be invested, and now it’s become quite profitable."

"That would work too?" Duan Haibo’s eyes brightened. If that were the case, his money could actually see the light of day.

"Why not? Just say you initially gave me five thousand, and it later turned into ten thousand; then that ten thousand kept getting reinvested, becoming twenty thousand, and continued accumulating investment, then it became forty thousand... Now, whatever amount you want to take out, you can, and leave some to continue ’investing.’ When you want to use money later, just withdraw again."

"Even though I don’t understand investing, isn’t this return rate a bit too exaggerated?" Duan Haibo was a bit sweaty.

"Haha, your girlfriend and her family probably don’t understand stocks, right?" Li Yan laughed.

"What about later? What if my savings get used up, and there aren’t such high returns anymore?"

"The stock market is risky, investments need to be cautious; everyone knows that. It’s like gambling; you can’t always be lucky. When the time comes, just say the investments failed, you can’t earn, and keep losing. Naturally, she’ll stop you from dabbling in investments anymore. Then just withdraw whatever remaining funds you have."

Seeing how enticingly Li Yan portrayed it, Duan Haibo nodded frequently, "That makes sense. Li Ge, you’re doing the same with your money, right?"

Li Yan cleared his throat, "Heh... well, I don’t have anyone overseeing me, you think I could tell coworkers at my company like this? Wouldn’t the bluff be exposed?" He sighed internally: My wife is the company president, could I boast like this?

"Well, that’s true, alright! Let’s go handle this card thing right now!" Duan Haibo said excitedly.

Li Yan was speechless for a moment, took a drag on his cigarette, "Is there any need to rush like this? It’s a Sunday."

"I’ve been worried they’d rot away for a long time, Sundays don’t matter. I just need to open a card, then deposit some money and say you sorted it out for me last week. For the first time...let’s make it a hundred thousand!"

"Alright, but don’t say I taught you to fool your wife. This is helping you!"

"Haha, of course, I wouldn’t! By the way, Jiajing just finished tidying up and went to buy groceries, then said she’d get bedding for you. I was supposed to go with her, but I had to wait for you, so she went alone. Let’s handle this first, so we don’t get caught."

"Come on, you love and fear your wife so much, shouldn’t you go help her carry things first? Let’s do it in the afternoon." Li Yan jested, then got up. He also didn’t want to be still; being still made him think of Zhang Yurong, so he was happy to keep himself busy.

As the two conspirators prepared to deceive their significant others, just as they stepped outside the room, they heard the door open, and saw Duan Haibo’s girlfriend, Lv Jiajing, carrying a bunch of things at the entrance.

"Li Ge, you’ve arrived already? How’s everything? Haibo, help me with these!" Along with a bag of groceries, she had a quilt, blanket, towels, toothbrush, and such.

"Satisfied, satisfied... Um, thank you so much." Li Yan didn’t expect them to be so thoughtful. Lv Jiajing was a woman who lived carefully; unlike Yurong, who didn’t need to busy herself with such things, she knew a man wouldn’t bring much with him. So she bought all the daily necessities for him.

After Haibo and Li Yan helped bring the items in, Lv Jiajing even made the bed for him.

As Li Yan was a bit older than them, calling her "sister-in-law" would feel awkward, so he just addressed her as Jiajing and thanked her repeatedly. After she tidied up, everyone sat in the living room to rest. Haibo pulled out the rent Li Yan had given him, "Wife, this is the rent Li Ge gave. He insisted on giving it."

Lv Jiajing quickly said, "Li Ge, how can we accept this? The room was just empty before. You’ve always taken care of Haibo in the past; we absolutely can’t take any rent!"

Li Yan smiled and shook his head, "I originally thought I might not find a place so quickly and would have to stay in a hotel for a few days. But you all sorted everything out for me right away, and I can move in now. Of course, I have to pay rent; otherwise, treat it as a meal contribution. If not, I’ll feel awkward staying here, and if I stayed, I’d run out during meals when you’re eating!"

Seeing Li Yan put it that way, Lv Jiajing couldn’t refuse anymore and had to accept it, "Then you all chat, I’ll prepare lunch. Haibo, go buy some wine!"

"We can go together, and I’ll get familiar with the surroundings!" (To be continued, to know what happens next, please visit www.qidian.com for more Chapters and support the author and legitimate reading!)