Chapter 59: Stunned Once Again

After the pleasantries, the group headed upstairs. Shen Yan also returned to the home he had been away from for so long; everything seemed unchanged, yet it also seemed to have changed quite a bit.

Putting down his backpack, Shen Yan immediately took out his phone. He had been busy driving just now and hadn't really replied to Hao Anqi's messages.

The messages above were as follows.

13:20 Hao Anqi: Being in the car is so boring.

13:30 Hao Anqi: Looking at the sky at dawn and the clouds at dusk, I think of you while walking, and I think of you while sitting.

13:35 Shen Yan: Whoa! You're getting poetic now; not bad.

Hao Anqi: Tee-hee! I searched for it online (cute).

14:21 Hao Anqi: 【Image of someone spacing out】.

14:25 Shen Yan: Getting on the highway soon, let's talk later.

Hao Anqi: Drive slowly, stay safe.

15:30 Hao Anqi: Safely home (smiley face).

Attached was a picture of a pink room.

17:57 Shen Yan: Just got off the highway, the sunset is especially beautiful.

Attached was a picture of the sunset glow on the horizon.

Hao Anqi hadn't replied yet, so Shen Yan typed: Safely home.

He then sent a few pictures of the room over as well.

Arriving at the Yu Family home, it was Yu Chengdong, the master chef, busy in the smoky kitchen. It had to be said, Sun Bixia's way of managing her husband was masterful; between work, playing mahjong, and getting beauty treatments, she barely had to lift a finger for housework. Yu Chengdong, this big bureau chief, handled everything clearly and efficiently.

Huh! This must be the dog that Grandma picked up, right?

Inadvertently, Shen Yan caught sight of a small Border Collie sitting behind Yu Chengdong, and his eyes lit up.

On the very day Shen Yan went to report for school, Shen Nainai, who was out buying groceries, had accidentally discovered a three-month-old Border Collie near a trash heap. It was filthy all over, cowering and curled up in a corner.

Shen Nainai's heart overflowed with compassion, and she brought the dog straight home, naming it Egg Tart.

In his previous life, Egg Tart had never appeared at all. It seemed Shen Yan's rebirth had inadvertently triggered a butterfly effect.

Sometimes Shen Yan found it quite remarkable. As the most intelligent breed of dog, even if its pedigree was a bit lacking, a Border Collie would still cost at least a thousand or so on the market.

To pick one up just while buying groceries could be called a one-in-ten-thousand probability.

Shen Yan had absolutely no objections to Shen Nainai keeping a dog. However, while a Border Collie's intelligence was high, its energy was overly abundant; it required a massive amount of exercise every day to burn off its stamina. Furthermore, they were extremely cunning and often played mind games with their owners. If one wasn't careful, the dog would end up training the human, crushing them with its intelligence.

Since the rice was already cooked, he might as well keep it for now.

Egg Tart was a yellow-and-white Border Collie, also known as a "golden border," a relatively rare color. It was often mistaken for a long-legged Corgi or a Golden Retriever-Border Collie mix, and its looks were truly nice—it was worthy of being a member of the Shen Family.

At this moment, Egg Tart clearly noticed Shen Yan's presence. It tilted its little head, sizing Shen Yan up, then took a step forward before shrinking back; it was clearly a bit shy.

Shen Yan didn't take the initiative to engage it, instead sitting down at the dining table. Looking at the table full of dishes—broccoli with shrimp, red-braised pork, red-braised sea bass, steamed mantis shrimp, and so on—the mere sight of them made one's mouth water.

"Uncle Yu, your skills are getting better and better."

Yu Chengdong grinned, "If you like it, eat more later; there's plenty."

Five minutes later, everyone sat around the oval dining table. Yu Chengdong grabbed a can of Budweiser for Shen Yan, asking him to have a drink with him, and Shen Yan naturally did not refuse.

After they started eating, as expected, Sun Bixia brought up the lottery win. Shen Yan only said he had a sudden whim to buy it that day; perhaps this was just something that was meant to be.

Sun Bixia added, "Xiao Yan, Sun Yi thinks you didn't handle this matter very appropriately. University students don't really need a car; you could have completely waited until after graduation to buy one."

Great! She still thought of him as a child.

Shen Yan said calmly, "Sun Yi, I don't plan on just studying blindly at university. I definitely had my reasons for buying the car."

Sun Bixia asked again if he was planning to do some business. Shen Yan gave a vague answer, saying it was still in the planning stages. Yu Chengdong saw that Shen Yan didn't want to talk much more and changed the subject: "Xiao Yan, Uncle Yu has a suggestion for you. Housing prices have been rising steadily these past few years, and you'll eventually have to start a family. You might as well buy an apartment first; consider it an investment."

Sun Bixia rolled her eyes at Yu Chengdong, saying that with housing prices so high right now, they would definitely fall back down. Buying a house now would be like throwing money into the sea; he wouldn't even get his principal back.

Yu Chengdong disagreed with her point of view, citing national policies and insisting on his own opinion that housing prices would definitely continue to soar.

The sight of the two arguing was quite amusing to those present. Shen Nainai quickly interrupted: "Actually, Xiao Yan has already bought an apartment near his school."

As soon as these words were spoken, the whole room was shocked.

You could have heard a pin drop in the dining room.

Yu Youwei's eyes went round, and she quickly looked to Shen Yan for confirmation.

Since he couldn't hide it anyway, Shen Yan simply admitted it, "The house has indeed been bought, at the Danqingyuan Residential Complex near the school."

Upon learning that Shen Yan had spent 1.25 million to buy a two-bedroom apartment, Wu Yueer and Yu Youwei were stunned on the spot, and the same went for Yu Chengdong and his wife.

During the summer vacation, the couple had seen all of Shen Yan's changes and felt happy about them, but in the blink of an eye, he had gone out and squandered over a million on his own, making such a big decision as buying a house by himself.

This was vastly different from the Shen Yan in their memories.

It had only been a month since they last saw him, so why did it feel like a century had passed?

Sun Bixia still stuck to her guns, believing that housing prices would inevitably fall and urging Shen Yan to sell as soon as possible. Yu Chengdong said that since the house was bought for living in, what did it matter if he made or lost money? Besides, the possibility of the price rising was extremely high.

Shen Nainai stepped in to have the final say: "Alright, let Xiao Yan make his own decisions on this. The child is grown up; we elders shouldn't interfere so much."

In Shen Nainai's view, since Shen Yan had earned hundreds of thousands in just two months of summer vacation, what did it matter if the house value dropped a little? It was just a drop in the bucket.

She then asked, "Xiao Yan, didn't you take quite a few photos? Bring them over and let Grandma see."

Shen Yan opened his photo album and showed them to Shen Nainai one by one. The others crowded around and couldn't stop praising them.

"This house is decorated nicely; at 120 square meters, it's bigger than our place."

"Whoa! This big balcony is great!"

"The residential complex is so big, and the environment is beautiful too, with trees everywhere."

After browsing through the series of photos, everyone agreed with Shen Yan's eye for property. Buying such a good house in the center of Hangzhou City meant the money wasn't spent in vain.

The topic moved on, and the group began to chat about daily life. It was mainly Yu Youwei pouring out her daily routine at school, especially the funny and ridiculous things that happened during military training, including classmates who couldn't find their formation after using the restroom, the special military song "Unity is Strength" from the Guangxi native Pang Weijie, some people who couldn't tell left from right, and having to squat with their hands on their heads, etc. Additionally, she emphasized the scam call Shen Yan received that afternoon and his world-class performance in handling it.

Yu Chengdong, his wife, and Shen Nainai burst into laughter, all sighing at how much Shen Yan had changed.