Chapter 3463: Arriving in the Maldives

The things that happened to his mother made Xiao Churan realize a truth: "Dad and Mom, including myself, are actually just ordinary people, and on this very ordinary family of three, nothing miraculous will happen, nor will there be any windfall or continuous good luck."

So, as long as you analyze all the seemingly incredible or extremely lucky good things that happened to our family of three over the past few years, you'll find they were basically all orchestrated by Ye Chen behind the scenes.

Dad used to not be able to hold his head up in the Xiao family, but later he became the Executive Vice President of the Calligraphy and Painting Association—this must also have been Ye Chen helping behind the scenes.

But the most embarrassing thing is that Ye Chen got Dad this Executive Vice President position, yet Dad somehow managed to stir up a scandal and lost the position.

After losing it, Ye Chen stepped in again and helped him regain a leadership position.

So, although Dad isn't as arrogant and domineering as Mom, always causing trouble, he actually hasn't given Ye Chen much less trouble.

For a moment, Xiao Churan felt deeply melancholy, sitting alone in her seat sighing and groaning.

Seeing her low spirits, Ye Chen quickly asked with concern: "Wife, what's wrong?"

Xiao Churan looked up at Ye Chen and forced a smile, lying: "Nothing, maybe I just got up early and am a bit tired."

Ye Chen felt he had guessed the reason for Xiao Churan's unhappiness, so he softly said: "Mom and Dad are just like this—you know it well, so don't take it to heart."

Ye Chen thought it must have been the father-in-law and mother-in-law causing a scene this morning that affected Xiao Churan's mood, but they didn't expect that he only guessed two-thirds correctly—three people affected Xiao Churan's mood: besides the father-in-law and mother-in-law, there was also himself.

The middle-aged man surnamed Li became honest, and the first-class lounge became much quieter.

Ma Lan still wore a smug smile, defining her earlier victory as a clincher; this exhilarating sense of successful pretentiousness made her heart swell with pride.

Xiao Changkun also felt a sense of vengeance fulfilled, occasionally shooting provocative glances at the already somewhat timid, even furtive middle-aged man.

The man dared not even glance sideways at them, simply turning his face away, only showing the back of his head.

Ye Chen and Xiao Churan were not the type to eat breakfast, but Ma Lan and Xiao Changkun had big appetites, taking plenty of food and drinks, eating, snapping photos, and posting to their social media, feeling very happy and at ease.

After sitting in the lounge for dozens of minutes, service staff approached respectfully, asking the four of them to proceed to the boarding gate.

This plane had only eight first-class seats, four per row; Ye Chen's family occupied the first row, while the second row was taken by the middle-aged man surnamed Li and his young wife.

Since boarding, the two had deliberately lagged behind Ye Chen's family by half a beat; only after Ye Chen's family boarded did they slowly and reluctantly come aboard, then silently took their seats, remaining quiet throughout the flight.

Ma Lan and Xiao Churan, to maintain the pretentious image they'd put up in front of those two, refrained from taking photos or chatting all along, deliberately posing as frequent first-class flyers—this made Ye Chen inwardly relieved, fortunate that the two groups had already bumped into each other before boarding, and after that, everyone remained much quieter on the plane.

After several hours of flight, the plane finally landed at Malé, the capital of the Maldives.

Malé is very small, and so is its airport, but the visible remote parking spots were nearly full of various luxurious private jets.

As a world-class vacation destination, although the local economy is generally underdeveloped and per capita GDP is not high, this place attracts top-tier billionaires from around the world for holidays.

The reason billionaires like this place is because the scenery is excellent, the seawater is superb, the climate is wonderful, and most importantly, it is an archipelago nation with over a thousand large and small islands, completely non-adjacent—some islands are reserved for locals, resembling densely populated slums, but many more are directly leased to top-tier hotel groups worldwide and top billionaires.

These hotel groups and billionaires, after leasing a scenic island, spend heavily to turn it into an ultra-luxurious vacation paradise.

Besides flying into Malé, these billionaires have no contact with the local populace, so the relatively backward local economy does not affect their vacation experience at all.

After the plane landed, the family of four cleared customs and saw, at the most conspicuous spot, a young man with dark skin wearing a white shirt and black trousers, holding a sign that read "Mr. Ye and Family."

Beside him were three other young men dressed identically, one of whom held a sign also written in Chinese: "Mr. Li and Wife."

These people's skin tones were somewhat brown; even if not locals, they appeared to be South Asian.

Bai Ma Island truly lives up to being the most luxurious vacation island in the Maldives—these few pickup staff had the Bai Ma Island logo embroidered on their chests, along with name tags, and the signs they held were based on LV's classic pattern as a base, also bearing the Bai Ma Island name, very refined.

Seeing they were there to pick him up, Ye Chen waved at them; the four immediately jogged forward, and the lead young man holding the sign, upon seeing the group of four, respectfully asked in fluent Chinese: "Are you Mr. Ye?"

Ye Chen nodded: "I am."

The other party said respectfully: "Hello, Mr. Ye, it's an honor to serve you and your family. I am Hani, your butler for the next four days on Bai Ma Island. These three are my colleagues; two of them are specifically responsible for receiving VIPs at the airport. You can hand over all your luggage to them—they'll transport it to the seaplane. I'll take you and your family to the VIP lounge to rest briefly, and once the seaplane is ready, I'll escort you to board and fly to the hotel."

Ye Chen smiled: "You speak Chinese very well."

Hani politely replied: "Thank you for your praise, Mr. Ye. To serve Chinese guests well, I've studied Chinese for many years. On Bai Ma Island, we can provide service in the world's top ten most widely spoken languages, so that you and your family will feel at home upon arrival!"

Ma Lan sighed beside him: "Oh, this luxury island really is different—I was worried before coming that my poor English would hinder communication, but now I see it's completely unnecessary."

As they spoke, the middle-aged man surnamed Li and his wife walked over, saw Ye Chen's family chatting with the pickup staff, deliberately glanced at the staff's logo, and upon realizing they were from Bai Ma Island, his face darkened. He sullenly told his wife: "That old woman surnamed Ma and we are going to the same island—maybe we'll even be on the same seaplane later. You must watch your words and try not to say anything random."