Chapter 39: 39. The Price of the Bracelet (Seeking collections, seeking recommendation votes!)

It was noon by the time Zhang Ran naturally woke up; perhaps because he had spent the whole night heart-to-heart with his son, he had enjoyed a rare, good sleep.

By this time, Zhang Sicheng was no longer at home, and Zhang Ran couldn't be bothered to cook for himself, so he prepared to go out to eat.

He found a noodle shop nearby at random, and just as he was about to sit down, someone called out to him.

"Little brother, over here."

Zhang Ran looked over and realized it was the old man he had played chess with that day; without hesitation, he walked over and sat down opposite him.

"Old brother, why are you eating out alone?" Zhang Ran asked with a smile.

The old man curled his lip and said, "It's those two unfilial descendants of mine at home; they actually won't let me eat meat. How could anyone stand that?"

As it turned out, although the old man was still in fairly good health, he had all the common ailments of the elderly, not missing a single one of the "three highs."

The family members naturally had to plan his diet, otherwise, the old man's health would likely have collapsed long ago.

"Your meal is quite sumptuous," Zhang Ran said, looking at the dishes, not taking the bait on the old man's complaint.

Two braised bones, a plate of chicken feet, and a plate of peanuts—all that was missing was a small bottle of liquor, though clearly, the old man knew his own limits.

"Life is good now, so naturally, I can't treat myself poorly. By the way, do you want some?" the old man asked politely.

He was actually just trying to be courteous, but who knew Zhang Ran wouldn't stand on ceremony with him: "Then many thanks. Boss, bring a bowl of beef noodles, and put it on this old brother's tab."

Upon hearing Zhang Ran's approach, the old man's face darkened instantly.

But soon he didn't care; he really didn't mind this bit of money now, and he found Zhang Ran's unpretentious manner quite comfortable.

The key was that it was rare to find someone he could chat with so well.

"You certainly don't stand on ceremony," the old man said with a laugh and a scolding tone.

The service speed was quite fast; before long, the beef noodles Zhang Ran ordered were ready, and Zhang Ran and the old man chatted intermittently.

After Zhang Ran finished eating, he went straight to settle the bill; he had just been joking earlier, so how could he really take advantage of this old man?

By the time the old man saw it, it was already too late, and he said to Zhang Ran with some annoyance: "I say, little brother, are you looking down on me or what? Do you think I, your old brother, don't even have this bit of money?"

"Old brother, please don't be angry. Let's just say this one is on me, and next time, you can treat me back, won't that work? Alright, I have things to do here, you go ahead and eat." Saying this, Zhang Ran left the noodle shop.

Inside the hotel, Meng Mingxuan was still groggy when he answered the phone.

"Uncle Zhang, mm, I'm here... Alright, I'll head over now," Meng Mingxuan said, waking up as he spoke.

"Who is it? So early?" a mumbling voice came from nearby.

Meng Mingxuan was startled at first, then realized there were quite a few people lying in the room, and patted his head as he remembered.

Perhaps he really had been too excited last night; after finishing his call with Meng Zixuan, he had found some friends to drink and sing.

He had already been drunk when he returned to the hotel, but after these people came to Meng Mingxuan's place, they had actually started drinking again.

In a daze, everyone had just laid down on the sofa and the floor and fallen asleep; fortunately, the heating was on high, so no one caught a cold.

"An elder of mine wants me to go over," Meng Mingxuan explained casually.

Hearing him say this, the people who had just woken up immediately lost interest and went back to sleep.

However, as if remembering something, he mumbled: "Ming Xuan, if you're short on money, tell me. I'll buy that bracelet. If you think ten million is too little, I can add some more."

Now, these friends of Meng Mingxuan all knew that his family had restricted his spending.

"Get lost. Even if I were even more short on money, I wouldn't sell this bracelet," Meng Mingxuan cursed, then washed his face and left.

The bracelet they were talking about was exactly the one Zhang Ran had given Meng Mingxuan as a meeting gift.

Meng Mingxuan and Meng Zixuan were not like the siblings Zhang Sicheng; the moment they saw the necklace and bracelet, they knew these things were not cheap.

They had someone look at them and recognized them immediately, which was why Meng Mingxuan had been wearing it ever since.

This bracelet was worth much more than the luxury watch on his wrist, and it had style!

Most importantly, Meng Mingxuan knew that this bracelet must have been bought by Zhang Ran twenty-eight years ago, meaning it had experienced that incredible time travel together with Zhang Ran.

Just by virtue of this, the value of the bracelet was definitely more than just its price.

When Meng Mingxuan found Zhang Ran, he discovered him squatting by the side of the road, chatting and joking with two young men; at a glance, they seemed very familiar with each other.

This time, Meng Mingxuan didn't drive his sports car, because his father had sent people to take it back last night, leaving him only an ordinary sedan worth a little over two hundred thousand.

"Uncle Zhang, where are you planning to stroll today?" Meng Mingxuan asked hurriedly as he saw Zhang Ran bid farewell to those few young men.

Zhang Ran said: "Let's go take a look at the mall where the cosmetics shop Siyan opened is located. You know the place, right?"

"I know. When we first met, Sister Siyan mentioned it to us while we were chatting," Meng Mingxuan said while starting the car.

Seeing that he knew, Zhang Ran didn't say anything more; his first goal this time was to see the place where Zhang Siyan worked now.

The second was to think about whether he should also give Zhang Siyan some things.

After all, he had already bought a house for Zhang Sicheng and his wife, and if he didn't buy one for Zhang Siyan, he was afraid she might feel a bit uncomfortable.

Perhaps because he had never fulfilled his responsibilities as a father, Zhang Ran always tended to overthink in this regard.

If the siblings Zhang Sicheng had lived with him since they were young, he wouldn't care about such things at all, but who told him to have been absent from their lives for nearly thirty years?

At this moment, the mall was at its busiest, as many people working nearby chose to eat here.

However, for shops like the cosmetics store or clothing stores where Zhang Siyan worked, the number of people was relatively smaller.

Zhang Siyan and Qian Li were also eating at this moment; they had ordered takeout and had it delivered directly.

"Yanyan, what exactly do you plan to do about that man surnamed Sun? Is he still not planning to pay child support?" Qian Li couldn't help but ask.

Zhang Siyan had previously decided to divorce Sun Gaixin, and there was no room for reconciliation; Zhang Siyan didn't want to stay in that home anymore either.

Although Zhang Siyan was not a greedy person—if she were alone, she would be fine with leaving with nothing; she didn't care about such things.

But she was not alone; she still had Susu, and Zhang Siyan didn't want Susu to suffer because of her own reasons.

Therefore, she had been fighting a divorce lawsuit during this time, all for the sake of child support.