Chapter 7 Home

Pei Qian's home was in a small county town near Jingzhou City, not too far away.

After getting out of the taxi, Pei Qian carefully checked his attire to make sure he hadn't revealed anything.

The suit, belt, leather shoes, and so on that he usually wore were all left in the rented apartment and not brought along.

He certainly couldn't bring something like a Rolex home.

The backpack also contained some daily necessities.

Naturally, he couldn't bring the fifteen-thousand-yuan Martian gaming laptop home either. This time, Pei Qian was carrying the laptop he had bought when he first entered university.

It wasn't that Pei Qian was overly cautious; the key was that his parents were all great detectives.

Did you think that some clue could slip past them?

That would mean you're too young.

If he really slipped up, Pei Qian didn't want to have a big debate with Old Pei about "whether games are spiritual opium."

He checked himself all over, and there were no problems.

Only then did Pei Qian enter the unit building, take out his key, and open his own door.

As soon as he entered, he smelled the aroma of food.

"Son's back?"

His mother, who was cooking in the kitchen, heard the door and asked while stir-frying.

"You stinky brat is back? Come, come, try the tea your uncle specially brought back."

Old Pei was fiddling with the tea set on the table.

It was the same familiar scene; nothing had changed, except he was back ten years.

Pei Qian noticed that his parents didn't have as much gray hair in their temples back then.

"I'll put my bag down first. Where are my slippers?"

"I put them away for you. Old Pei, get your son's slippers from the cabinet! I can't spare a hand," his mother called from the kitchen.

Old Pei reluctantly stood up from the sofa, "Which cabinet?"

"The bottom of the wardrobe in your son's room!"

Pei Qian changed into his slippers, put down his bag, and leaned back on the sofa.

Comfortable!

Although the sofa at home wasn't expensive, it was more comfortable to lie on than the several-thousand-yuan sofa in the company's reception room!

The food at home smelled better than the hundreds-of-yuan buffet he had eaten during the team building event!

The tea at home...

Pah, what terrible tea!

Pei Qian took a sip of the tea that Old Pei said a certain uncle had specially brought back and almost spat it out.

Awful!

He drank good tea every day at the company, and his taste had long been spoiled. How could he drink ordinary tea like this?

"How is it? This tea is not bad, right?" Old Pei asked with a smile while sipping his tea.

"Yeah, not bad." Pei Qian silently pushed his teacup aside.

It seemed like he had to find a chance to get some good tea for Old Pei to drink.

He couldn't give him the company's tea because that was company property and could only be used to entertain guests, not for private use.

However, Pei Qian wasn't penniless now. He could completely use his tens of thousands of yuan in personal property to buy Old Pei a box of good tea.

Looking around at the environment at home, Pei Qian's desire to convert personal property was stronger than ever.

His family lived in an ordinary two-bedroom apartment, a little over a hundred square meters, and this was a house they had just recently moved into, for which they were still paying off the mortgage.

Although his mother kept it spotless, the furniture, appliances, and furnishings were all a bit old.

His family was just an ordinary wage-earning family. They didn't have any financial difficulties, but they were still frugal.

Pei Qian looked at the television at home.

"Dad, shouldn't we replace the TV at home? The size is too small."

Old Pei glared, "Replace it with what? It works just fine! Besides, your mother and I don't watch TV much anyway."

"Then how about this washing machine? Let's get a front-load one," Pei Qian said again.

Old Pei still shook his head, "A front-load one? Front-load ones are so expensive! Besides, this one is working fine now. If we get a new one, where do you plan to put the old one?"

"The floor in our bathroom isn't level. Every time this washing machine spins, it's like it's about to fall apart, disturbing the neighbors," Pei Qian said. "You two don't need to worry about it. I'll buy it and get a set of leveling feet, and I guarantee it won't make a sound when it spins."

"Leveling feet?"

"They can adjust the height of the four feet of the washing machine. When the washing machine is level, it won't shake when it spins," Pei Qian explained.

"Buying leveling feet is fine, but you don't need to use your money for that. Hey, wait a minute, that's not right."

Old Pei realized something, "Why do you want to buy a washing machine yourself? Where did you get the money?"

Pei Qian knew that Old Pei would definitely ask this, so he replied, "It's like this. I took on a short film at school, and the director gave me a salary of thirty thousand yuan."

"How much? Thirty thousand?!" Old Pei blew his beard. "Stop lying to me! You're filming a short film, and you got a thirty-thousand-yuan salary? It's more like you'd have to pay them thirty thousand!"

"Dad, what are you saying? With your son's looks, a thirty-thousand-yuan salary is perfectly reasonable, isn't it?" Pei Qian said unhappily.

"Cut the crap, I don't believe it!" Although Old Pei's face clearly broke into a smile, he was still stubborn, "Unless you bring the film for me to see!"

"The film? The film hasn't been uploaded online yet. I'm just telling you this to let you know that I can earn money myself now, so you don't need to give me living expenses anymore," Pei Qian said.

Old Pei shook his head, "Living expenses will still be the same as before. It's good that you can earn money with your own abilities, but don't put too much financial pressure on yourself. Your studies are still the most important thing, understand?"

As the two were talking, his mother shouted from the kitchen, "Dinner's ready!"

Pei Qian and Old Pei quickly washed their hands and brought the dishes to the table.

At the dinner table, Pei Qian, who usually didn't like to drink, made an exception and drank two cups of homemade liquor soaked with wolfberries with Old Pei, eating more than he had at any other meal.

It was good to be home!

Old Pei was obviously a bit tipsy. He grabbed Pei Qian and gave him a lecture, and he even bragged to his mother that his son had taken a role in a short film, all thanks to his excellent genes, which made his mother roll her eyes and abandon the task of washing the dishes.

After dinner, it was almost 9 PM. Pei Qian originally wanted to wash the dishes, but Old Pei forcibly chased him back to his room, saying that he was tired from traveling and that he should rest.

It wouldn't be too late to start doing chores tomorrow.

Pei Qian couldn't win against Old Pei, so he had to return to his room and browse the web on his computer.

Pei Qian was very clear that he definitely couldn't keep the fact that he had started a company a secret from his family forever; he would have to come clean sooner or later.

But before coming clean, he had to prepare first.

Pei Qian now had more than fifty thousand yuan in personal property. Replacing some household appliances for his family was something he could afford, but he had to explain where the money came from.

If he said he earned it from making games, Old Pei would probably get angry with him.

So, after thinking about it, Pei Qian decided to tell Old Pei about his short video filming first to lay the groundwork.

He wanted Old Pei to know that he was now a person who could earn money so that he wouldn't ask too much about the source of the money in the future.

Then, Pei Qian would try to slowly change Old Pei's views and not have so many prejudices against games. Only then could he tell Old Pei the truth, that he had started a game company.

After browsing the web for a while, Pei Qian felt extremely sleepy, so he washed up, went to bed, and fell asleep early.