Chapter 30: Birthday Banquet

That night, Shen Mo and Liu Yue had a wonderful time together.

The two, strong-bodied and full of youthful vigor, didn't finish until midnight.

Fortunately, the house was big enough and there were plenty of courtyards, each with its own bathroom; otherwise, washing up in the middle of the night would have disturbed the sleep of Ms. Wenya, who lived alone because Ms. Qin Hao had gone into closed-door research.

After helping Liu Yue wash up, Shen Mo soaked in the bathtub and checked his phone, only to find a message from Shen Jiajia.

On the third of next month, it was Zhu Kailan's birthday, and she was inviting Shen Mo to come back for a visit.

Meanwhile, in Jinghai, Shen Jiayun, having finished a day of livestreaming, lit a cigarette in his own apartment and scrolled through the online news about Shen Mo and Liu Yue, watching Yue Mo Media's videos.

He could now calmly handle the online comments calling Shen Mo and Liu Yue a golden couple, a CP husband and wife straight out of a novel.

He had also let go of his feelings about Shen Mo's happy life.

Having been kicked out of the family home, living alone for several months, and working to earn his own keep, Shen Jiayun had truly grown up.

Right after being kicked out, with not a single cent in his pocket, Shen Jiayun tasted the warmth and coldness of human nature. The brothers who used to gather around him all kept their distance, saying one sentence: your parents told us not to play with you.

At first, Shen Jiayun was full of hatred, but later he understood that his parents were telling him: this wonderful life of yours is something we gave you, and we have the power to take it back, very easily.

After figuring it out, Shen Jiayun was furious. He wanted to say, if you don't want me, why did you have me? Then Shen Jiayun thought about giving up on himself.

But in the end, he was the blood of Zhu Kailan and Shen Yilong, the elite couple who had built a hundred-billion empire from scratch. He didn't want to bow to life, and even less did he want to admit defeat to Zhu Kailan and Shen Yilong. He had his own backbone.

Unfortunately, that backbone broke the moment Shen Jiayun spent his last two thousand yuan without having found a job.

With nothing left, he dialed Shen Jiajia's number.

He begged his little sister to find him a job.

Shen Jiajia didn't dawdle. She first rented an apartment for Shen Jiayun, then introduced him to a company owned by a friend of hers—the position was sales, car sales.

Shen Jiajia's reasoning was: if you can beg me, can't you beg others too?

After experiencing life on the streets, with no one answering his calls, Shen Jiayun accepted the sales job.

Shen Jiayun began working alongside the very staff who had once served him, listening to their mockery, doing his best to survive.

Until that day, when he ran into Liu Qingqing, who had come to buy a car.

In the past, Shen Jiayun had looked down on Liu Qingqing; he had only been with her for her figure.

In his youth he had thought her figure too ugly, and only grew up to appreciate the charm of a fuller figure.

Unfortunately, Liu Qingqing wouldn't give in, always keeping him dangling.

Seeing Shen Jiayun being ostracized and squeezed out by his peers at the dealership, Liu Qingqing decided to take a gamble and give him a hand.

Liu Qingqing had just invested in a short-drama company at the time and decided to try livestreaming, so she signed Shen Jiayun on.

Shen Jiayun was pretty useless, but he had seen a lot of the world.

Liu Qingqing's team crafted a "last emperor" persona for Shen Jiayun.

No real hands-on ability, but plenty of exposure to the finer things in life.

His debut battle was busting fakes.

Shen Jiayun would simply say: that blue-and-white porcelain of yours is fake, because the genuine piece from that series is in my mother's hands.

So-and-so's bag is fake too, because there are only ten limited editions in the whole country, and one is in my sister's closet.

Very plain and simple reasons, yet they made many people willing to believe.

Shen Jiayun also knew plenty of wealthy-family gossip, and chatting about it every day, he easily made quite a bit of money.

Liu Qingqing made plenty too—a win-win.

When the cigarette butt burned his fingers, Shen Jiayun finally snapped back. He gave a wry smile, lit another cigarette, and began browsing handicraft livestreams.

Zhu Kailan's birthday was coming up soon, and he planned to get his mother a gift. Although his mother had beaten him, whipped him, and kicked him out of the house, Shen Jiayun, who had now earned his own money and tasted the coldness and warmth of the bottom of society, felt he had been quite a bastard before. His dad and mom had actually taken pretty good care of him.

So, he'd better try hard to be a filial child.

Expensive gifts were beyond Shen Jiayun's means; his livestreaming only brought in a few tens of thousands a month.

But unbranded, purely handmade pieces he could still afford.

Love isn't something you want to buy, want to buy and you can buy, let me…

The sudden ring of his phone made Shen Jiayun frown. He picked it up, and seeing the three characters "Shen Jiafeng" on the screen, his brow twitched wildly.

The caller was actually that younger brother of his, four years his junior.

Shen Jiayun's assessment of Shen Jiafeng was: if I used to be an unfilial son, then he's a beast.

Shen Jiafeng had excelled in his studies since childhood, was handsome and well-mannered, the "other family's child" on everyone's lips.

But the problem came during his rebellious phase.

During his rebellious phase in high school, Shen Jiafeng picked up smoking, drinking, fighting, and dating.

Of course, none of that mattered much—the Shen Family was big and powerful, so it was all trivial.

But the truly impressive part was that the girlfriend Shen Jiafeng dated was a dyed-blonde delinquent, ignorant and incompetent, a brother-supporting fanatic, with parents who were a pair of bloodsuckers.

After getting pregnant with Shen Jiafeng's child, she stormed the Shen household demanding money: twenty million, a villa, half the shares, and for Shen Jiajia to get out of the Shen Family.

Shen Jiayun was stunned at the time.

Zhu Kailan and Shen Yilong were ruthless. They had the blonde's family sent to prison on extortion charges; the blonde, being under eighteen, was sent to a juvenile detention center, and Shen Jiafeng was sent abroad.

Shen Jiafeng became a good boy again, studying hard overseas.

Originally, the matter ended there.

With his sharp eye, Shen Jiafeng opened a small dining business catering specifically to Chinese students studying abroad.

During his five years studying in Germany, Shen Jiafeng made eight years' worth of money off the Chinese students, and with the living expenses Zhu Kailan and Shen Yilong gave him, he returned home with several million in savings.

At the time, many people assumed Shen Jiafeng had come back to inherit the family business.

After all, the Shen Family's situation then was: Shen Jiayun was useless and had to be married off for an alliance; only Shen Jiafeng was a son; Shen Jiajia was studying medicine and hadn't graduated yet.

But Shen Jiafeng, as if he were sick in the head, came back and immediately confronted Zhu Kailan and Shen Yilong: he still loved the blonde girl—either they agreed to let them marry, or he would strike himself off the household register.

Zhu Kailan and Shen Yilong's faces turned green on the spot, and they told Shen Jiafeng to get lost.

In Shen Yilong's words, we don't need you to marry into a powerful family for political gain—you can look for whoever you want, but you can't pick someone with the worst character possible, someone whose personality is greedy to the extreme.

Shen Jiafeng was also very domineering—he transferred his household registration, turned around, and married the yellow-haired girl on the spot.

Shen Jiafeng bought an apartment for the yellow-haired girl, bought one for her brother, and found himself a job at an automobile company.

It was also around that time that everyone learned Shen Jiafeng had also earned a master's degree in mechanical engineering—very impressive.

Unfortunately, Shen Jiafeng loved the yellow-haired girl, but the yellow-haired girl was never satisfied. Believing herself to be as beautiful as a flower, she abandoned Shen Jiafeng's child and climbed into Wang Fugui's father's bed.

This was also one of the reasons Shen Jiayun disliked Wang Fugui.

Shen Jiafeng successfully began living the life of a single father.

This was what Shen Jiayun understood about him from their last contact.

Picking up the phone, Shen Jiayun hesitated and said: "Jiafeng, is something the matter?"

"Brother." A hoarse voice sounded: "I want to attend Mom's birthday banquet next month."

(End of this chapter)