My Online Girlfriend Has a Twin Sister

Chapter 421: Chapter 278: The Old Couple’s Plan (2)

In that era, having a good job was the foundation for survival in society, a testament to one’s status.

Twenty years later, a decent, standard apartment could cost several hundred thousand.

Originally, Mr. Chen had talked about buying Chen Yuan an apartment in the city to make it convenient for him to come home, for when he got married, and so on. As adoptive parents, they were no different from biological ones; they had to provide what was necessary. But after calculating the total cost, they realized they’d barely finish paying it off by the time they retired.

They might even have to tutor students to earn extra money after retirement just to live without pressure. After much thought, they abandoned the idea and turned their sights to the county seat instead.

"There’s nothing to think about. A loan for two hundred thousand isn’t too much pressure. We’ll have money left over for some nice renovations, and we can just use a portion of our salaries each month to make the payments."

"I know, but the key is that Yuan hasn’t seen it. How do you know if he’ll like it? What if he doesn’t..."

"Didn’t Jiang Zhengfeng just act first and report later? Why can he do it but we can’t? Besides, I told him to go during the New Year, but our son just brushed it off with a few half-hearted words. How can he blame me?"

"I’m not blaming you."

"I don’t care. We’re getting this done this morning." Mrs. Chen turned her head away angrily, her face cold. "Otherwise, I won’t be able to sleep at night." ƒreewebηoveℓ.com

"Sigh. Fine, fine, fine," Mr. Chen said with a helpless air.

He understood his wife’s thinking. She always felt that Jiang Zhengfeng, the biological father, could easily provide all sorts of generous benefits. When kids were little, they were easy to please. They didn’t know the advantages of money and would be just as happy eating coarse grains and wild greens as they would feasting on delicacies.

But gradually, they grew up.

The importance of money became much greater.

With money, you could have social status and buy whatever you wanted. Life in a big city was exciting, far better than a backwater place like Qishui County.

All parents really feel the same way—who wouldn’t want their child to have a better life? But ever since Chen Yuan went to university in Lanjing, a sense of panic had been growing inside Mrs. Chen, a fear that their son would forget them.

Ultimately, he was their only son.

If years went by without seeing him, what was the difference between that and not having a son at all? ƒгeewёbnovel.com

Buying this apartment was a way to show Chen Yuan that they, his old parents, could also provide for him. And really, it was time to give Chen Yuan a home of his own. What if he came back to live and work here someday? Though the chances of that were slim.

Late at night in this small county, especially in the area near the school, almost all noise vanished after night classes ended at 8:30. The vast campus grew so quiet you could hear the wind.

It was a spring night, so crickets chirped intermittently from the school’s small garden, and moths flung themselves recklessly at the stationary streetlights.

Mr. Chen felt the silence settle around him. It seemed that ever since Chen Yuan had left for university, his and Mrs. Chen’s life had suddenly grown quiet, like a deep, rippleless pool.

Back when Chen Yuan was still attending school in Qishui County, the three of them had a lively household. They had even looked forward to Chen Yuan getting into a good university quickly, so that once the major task of his education was over, the old couple could start their retirement.

Now, though, the quiet felt unfamiliar and unsettling. Countless times, day and night, he would find himself abruptly turning to look at what used to be Chen Yuan’s room, staring for a moment before turning away.

Mr. Chen’s heart filled with emotion. He set down his pen and looked across the living room toward the windowsill where their houseplants grew. The leaves of a clivia plant were swaying.

"Is the balcony window open?" he whispered.

In a flash, the man who was once the backbone of the family had reached the age of knowing his fate.

Time waits for no one.

...

The night passed without a word, gone in a flash.

In Lanjing, Chen Yuan’s university life was incredibly full and busy, having become a simple, three-point routine.

He had a full day of classes, and afterward, he would rush to the company to handle business. Sometimes Quan Yafeng and the others would invite him out, but he never had time to join them. Once at the office, it was just endless meetings and endless documents to sign.

And this was after Pei Youwen had already filtered everything once; only the major decisions were left for Chen Yuan.

Even so, he was still getting used to it and was often dizzy from the workload. The only moments his nerves could get a brief respite were during his occasional free time with Jiangg Yao.

Sometimes, he even had to complete assignments given by his professors. Doing homework while handling official business in the top-floor office—he was probably the only one in the world.

This made Mo Nana and the other young, powerful leaders sigh in amazement every time they left his office: ’Good lord, a nineteen-year-old chairman.’

You really wouldn’t find a boss doing homework in the office anywhere else...

Chen Yuan didn’t think much of it. Just as his adoptive father had taught him, whenever you take on a role, you must at least fulfill its basic duties. A leader has a leader’s tasks, and a student has a student’s tasks. Chen Yuan believed he could balance them well.

It was exhausting, to be sure, but Chen Yuan felt he had made rapid progress this week. He had found a sense of worth in his busy and fulfilling life. He could feel it when he saw Pei Youwen gradually delegating more authority to him, as Chen Yuan himself became part of the operations of the enormous machine that was their investment company.

Everything was running smoothly, like a precision instrument. He sometimes felt he deserved some of the credit, and though it wasn’t much, this subtle sense of worth was enough to satisfy him.

Before, Chen Yuan would have been playing video games or eating out with his roommates at this time of day. Sacrificing some of his leisure time for personal growth and resisting the temptation of an easy life was quite a remarkable feat.