Chapter 438: Million-Yuan Storm

Style Lao Lei grinned broadly, not only because Zhang Ping'an praised his craftsmanship, but also because he was happy to be able to earn another sum.

"Okay, Godfather."

"Oh? General Manager Zhang, is this young man your godson?"

"Yes, his name is Qi Tongwei. Tongwei, you can just call him Master Lei."

"Mm, hello Master Lei."

"Good, good. You don't need to worry about the repairs. If you have any questions, just say so; I, Lao Lei, still have a few tricks up my sleeve."

"Mm, then I'll trouble you, Master Lei. I want to repair two sets first. There's no rush; if they're done within two or three years, that's fine. We'll be adding some high-power appliances at home by then..."

"Done, no problem at all. I'll make sure you're satisfied."

"Alright, Lao Lei, then we'll head back first."

"Good, good, good."

It was still early when the father and son returned home, and Qi Tongwei did not intend to stay the night.

"Godfather, I'll head back directly."

"That works too. Your things are all prepared for you. Give my regards to your father and mother when you get back."

"Will do."

Thus, Qi Tongwei returned with bags in hand. He could be said to have had a bountiful harvest this year; he had his own homes in Jingzhou and Sijiucheng, and over one million in savings on him.

His studies remained top-tier, and he had become the Student Union president. Aside from the troublesome matters involving Chen Yanshi and Liang Lu, his year was nearly perfect.

Arriving in Jingzhou in the late evening, Qi Tongwei hired a taxi and headed straight for Yantai Qijiacun.

"Thanks, Master. Take these cigarettes to smoke; they'll help you stay alert on the way back."

It was already past nine in the evening after getting out of the car at the village entrance, and Qi Tongwei gave the driver more than half a pack of cigarettes directly.

"Good, thanks, big brother."

"No problem."

Money is a man's courage. Although Qi Tongwei didn't care about money before, he wouldn't carry cigarettes on him either.

Now that his family wealth was substantial, Qi Tongwei had also learned some previously unnecessary social habits involving cigarettes and alcohol. Of course, he didn't enjoy it; it was just to handle social obligations.

When Qi Tongwei returned home, he found quite a few people talking inside. At this hour, there were actually outsiders in the house.

"Father, Mother, Little Sister, do we have relatives visiting?" Qi Tongwei entered the room and found two groups of people, both of whom looked somewhat familiar.

"Tongwei, these are your mother's maternal second elder brother and sister-in-law, and fourth elder brother and sister-in-law. You should address them as Second Uncle, Second Aunt, and..."

"Second Uncle, Second Aunt..."

"Mm, Tongwei, you've grown so big in the blink of an eye, haven't you? I haven't congratulated you on getting into university yet."

"That's right, I even held you when you were little."

"Yes, yes, yes, I could tell you'd be successful since you were a child..."

"Mm, mm, mm, what's going on here? Second Uncle, it's almost the New Year, are you all here as a group for something?"

"This, this, well, nothing much. We're relatives, after all, just visiting at the end of the year."

"Right, right, right. Since you're back, we won't delay your family reunion. Brother-in-law, think carefully about what I said."

The two families left after speaking, but Qi Qinghai's expression was not good.

"What's going on, Father?"

"Big Brother, they came to borrow money. Qitongguo got drunk and said you earned over a million, so all these aunts and uncles came to borrow money."

"I didn't even know we had so many relatives. This is already the seventh or eighth group."

"..."

"Qitongguo?"

Qi Tongwei frowned slightly. He had warned them repeatedly to keep their mouths shut, but he didn't expect someone to let it slip. It seemed that in the future, whether doing business or anything else, he couldn't involve their family.

"Tongwei, Qitongguo only let it slip because he was drunk."

"Father, that's no longer important. How much money has our family lent out?"

Aside from the family's principal, Qi Tongwei had left 100,000 at home at the time, totaling 120,000.

"Uh, thirty or forty thousand."

"..."

"Little Sister, tell me, who all borrowed money?"

"Uncle borrowed ten thousand, Aunt borrowed ten thousand, and also..."

His uncle had taken good care of their family back in the day, so lending it was fine, but Qi Tongwei was a bit unhappy about lending to this aunt.

Aside from seeing her once when his eldest uncle passed away, Qi Tongwei didn't seem to have any impression of this aunt.

"Did they sign IOUs?"

"We're all family, why would we need IOUs?"

"Mother? Do you agree with what Father said?"

"Your uncle signed an IOU."

Well, Qi Tongwei finally understood; it turned out only this cheap aunt didn't sign one.

"Father, put yourself in my shoes. You know how that aunt treated us. When you were taking care of the eldest uncle's family back then, where was she? That was her own biological brother."

Although Qi Tongwei was young then, he had impressions; only his maternal grandmother and uncle's family would come to help, and he couldn't see a shadow of that aunt's family at all.

"But, but your aunt's family doesn't have it easy either."

"Sigh!"

And those other miscellaneous relatives—Qi Tongwei didn't even want to talk to his father anymore. Loving his little sister was fine, but he needed to consider things from other perspectives. His father was good in every way, except he cared too much about "face."

"Mother, give me the money. I left 100,000 at home. Father, you still owe me 20,000 now."

"You... hmph."

Qi Qinghai glared with his bull-like eyes at Qi Tongwei, who stared back at him without the slightest fear; feeling inexplicably guilty, he let out a cold snort and went into the inner room.

Early the next morning, the village loudspeaker began to blare; it was at the request of Qi Tongwei, who wanted to face the "rumors" head-on.

Ten minutes later, the Brigade Headquarters was already packed with people, and Qi Tongwei took the loudspeaker directly to begin debunking the rumors.

"Respected elders, uncles, aunts, and seniors, some say I earned one million, and that is not false."

"Whoosh!" The crowd erupted into an uproar, and everyone began discussing it at once.

"It really is true, that child Tongwei is truly capable."

"That's for sure, which of the children like Qitongyang who went out with him didn't rake in thirty or fifty thousand?"

"Sigh, I regret it; I should have invested ten thousand or so back then."

"Who's to say otherwise? It's too late to say anything now."

"Damn it."

Once the sound of the crowd's discussion gradually died down, Qi Tongwei continued to speak:

"However, that is not my money alone; it belongs to the six of us in our dormitory, and I only own a little over one-tenth of it."

"Moreover, I have already used this money to buy a house in Jingzhou, as required by my partner's family, so those who borrowed money from my family, please return it as soon as possible."

"I will likely be getting married after I graduate this summer, and I am waiting for the money to renovate the house now, but I didn't expect it to have been lent out by my father."

"I have a rough idea of what everyone is thinking; I study law, and I can tell you that as long as I am willing, I will win every single lawsuit I file."

"When I invited everyone to invest back then, most of you didn't believe me; now that you see me making money, you're green with envy—it's too late."

"We are all fellow villagers, so clearing the air is good for everyone; my father cares about his reputation and finds it hard to speak, so as his son, I will say it—if there is anything I said wrong, please feel free to criticize and correct me."

"What Tongwei said is spot on; my sons pooled fifty thousand to invest back then, and each family earned more than a year's worth of wages."

"And Qitongguo, Qitongjian, and the others are all about the same; there is nothing to be jealous of, it was you yourselves who didn't believe in Tongwei and missed the opportunity."

"You don't even think about it—Tongwei is a university student, wouldn't he know how to make money better than you?"

"Oh my, that's true, why was I so muddled back then?"

Many people slapped their thighs in regret, as the words of the old village chief Qi Qingbei directly woke everyone up.

"Sigh, we just don't have the fate to get rich."

"That's right, it's all fate; even if we earned the money, we wouldn't be able to keep it."

"Sigh."