Chapter 294 - 176: Selling the Dragon Pearl and Touring West Island

Chapter 294: Chapter 176: Selling the Dragon Pearl and Touring West Island

The moment he hung up the phone, a full twenty million was deposited into Su Chen’s account. After a moment’s thought, he picked up his phone and made a few taps.

A moment later, a cry of surprise echoed from the kitchen. Chen Shufen rushed out, still clutching the kitchen knife in her hand.

Seeing Su Chen sitting in the courtyard, she hurried over to him.

Seeing the look on his mom’s face and the gleaming kitchen knife in her hand, Su Chen instinctively scooted back a couple of times, afraid she might accidentally let it slip and cut him.

"Son, why did you transfer twenty million to me??" Chen Shufen exclaimed excitedly. After all, nobody ever complains about having too much money.

"Ahem... Mom, can you please put the knife down first?" Su Chen said, pointing at the blade in Chen Shufen’s hand.

At his words, Chen Shufen finally realized what she was doing. She had been so excited that she’d run out still holding the kitchen knife.

She placed the knife on the table, pulled over a nearby chair, and asked, "What’s this all about? You transferred twenty million to me!"

Just then, Su Zhuyun and Du Furong came out as well, looking at Su Chen curiously.

Facing their curious gazes, Su Chen gave a wry smile. "Mom, I’m afraid that custom necklace is probably off the table now."

He then briefly explained the situation with Ye Feng. When they learned the twenty million was the payment for that Melo Pearl, their jaws dropped in unison.

They had been shocked enough when Du Furong said the pearl was worth a million, but now, learning that Su Chen had sold it for twenty million, the three of them were too stunned to even react.

After a long moment, Chen Shufen finally snapped out of it. She slapped her thigh excitedly and said, "So what if it’s off the table! Even if you had made it into a necklace, your mom here wouldn’t have dared to wear it. If I lost it, I’d be inconsolable."

"Besides, this is twenty million! That’s much more desirable than some silly pearl!" Chen Shufen added, unable to resist glancing at her phone again.

Du Furong, standing to the side, was green with envy. ’Twenty million!’ she thought. ’I wonder how many years I’d have to run my B&B to make that much money.’

His mom’s reaction was what Su Chen had expected. He knew Chen Shufen wasn’t fond of wearing jewelry. One could argue it was because they were poor before, but even after their hot pot restaurant started doing well, he never saw her buy any.

Thriftiness was simply ingrained in his parents’ nature; they felt opening another hot pot restaurant was a much better use of money than buying such things.

Su Zhuyun quietly sat down next to Su Chen. He glanced over at Chen Shufen, who was busy chatting with Du Furong, and muttered under his breath, "Kid, you couldn’t spare a little pocket money for your old man? Why give it all to your mom?"

"Uh... You’re broke? Don’t tell me Mom confiscated everything!" The corners of Su Chen’s mouth twitched into a smirk. ’Looks like Mom cleaned out Dad’s secret stash,’ he thought. ’Otherwise, he wouldn’t be asking me for money.’

After all, this was a first.

"Your mom only gives me five hundred yuan a month for cigarettes. For anything else, I need to show a receipt. Tell me, isn’t my life miserable?" Su Zhuyun’s face scrunched up in distress as he brought it up.

Su Zhuyun had tried to talk to Chen Shufen about this before, but her response was always, "You’re at the hot pot restaurant all day. You don’t go anywhere, so what do you need to spend money on?"

A single sentence was enough to shut down any of Su Zhuyun’s arguments.

"It’s not that I can’t give you an allowance, but Dad, you need to know where to draw the line. You have to be smart about what you get into and what you stay away from," Su Chen said, giving his father a preemptive warning.

They say money changes a man, and Su Chen was worried his father might do something inappropriate.

"Am I that kind of person? Speaking of which, when are you going to find a wife, kid? Your mom and I can still get around, so we could even help you with the grandkids."

"We’ll see," Su Chen said, a bit exasperated. ’We were just talking about pocket money, and now he’s changing the subject?’

In the end, Su Chen transferred 10,000 yuan to Su Zhuyun. He’d thought about sending a few hundred thousand just so he wouldn’t be asked for an allowance again later, but Su Zhuyun insisted on just that amount, saying he had nowhere to spend more anyway.

KNOCK KNOCK. The crisp sound of knocking interrupted their conversation.

Su Chen looked toward the entrance and saw two men in business suits. He immediately recognized one of them as the bodyguard who had come with Ye Feng earlier.

"Come in," Su Chen said, beckoning with his right hand.

Chen Shufen and the other two, sensing this was private, tactfully got up and went inside.

"Mr. Su," the two men said respectfully as they approached him.

Su Chen gave a slight nod and handed over the Melo Pearl. "Here, take it."

The man Su Chen recognized took an exquisite jewelry box from his pocket. He accepted the Melo Pearl from Su Chen’s grasp with both hands and carefully placed it inside.

"Mr. Su, we need to get this back to Yangcheng City, so we won’t disturb you any longer."

Su Chen paused at their words. ’So Ye Feng already went back to Yangcheng City,’ he thought. ’But I guess that makes sense. You can’t expect a guy like him to personally lead the charge on an inspection. How embarrassing would that be for him?’

"Alright. Travel safely."

The two men said nothing. They gave Su Chen a slight bow, then took the box and departed in a hurry.

......

After a hearty breakfast, Su Chen’s family of three hopped on rented electric scooters to begin their tour around West Island, intending to see all its attractions in one day.

West Island wasn’t very large—less than 2.8 square kilometers in total—and was divided into a main island and a smaller, connected one called Niuwang Island. Still, there were plenty of places to explore.