Qing Chen had never even seen over eight thousand dollars in his life. He insisted on getting cash and not a bank transfer.
The old man in the gold shop counted the money as he said, "It's rare to see a young man like you being so careful, many people doing the same thing as you for a living should be more careful. Next time, come to me again, and if you got more than this time, I'll raise the price by 5 yuan for you. I'll take everything you got."
The old man probably assumed Qing Chen was a thief, but Qing Chen didn't bother correcting him.
He handed the money to Qing Chen, and then watched Qing Chen manually check the banknotes one by one under the light. The watermarks, banknote lines, blind lines, and dark characters were not missed at a checkpoint.
Finally, Qing Chen took out two bills from the thick stack and said, "Please switch this 50 and 20 please."
The old man felt a little taken aback, "People like you usually just grab the money and leave. You’re the first I met who is this careful."
Then he pulled open the counter drawer and took out two bills.
"If you want to do a good business, don't fool people with counterfeit money in the future," said Qing Chen.
"Okay, come back soon," said the old man helplessly.
Qing Chen took the money and left. The old gold shop owner looked at his back, thinking that this teenager would definitely have the potential to become the king of thieves one day.
Qing Chen took a large detour before getting on a bus to go home.
Before going back, he also bought several pounds of meat, dozens of eggs, and plenty of veggies.
Ye Wan said that he needed these in order to become a strong beast.
When he returned to his apartment, he was greeted by Li Tongyun waving from the second story.
Qing Chen thought about it and waved back at Li Tongyun, telling her to come downstairs if she had something to tell him.
People already knew that Jiang Xue was a time traveler, so if he went to her place often, people would notice, but Li Tongyun was just a kid, the kind of people that others tend to ignore.
Li Tongyun's first words when she entered the room were, "Do you know these people who have recently moved here, Brother Qing Chen? Have you had a chance to speak with them yet?"
"They're from Hai City and are here for Liu Dezhu," Qing Chen explained, "and I heard them conversing in English, so Hai City should equate to City 7 in the Inner World."
"You could understand what they were saying?" Li Tongyun asked, "Are you that good at English?"
"I'm alright." Qing Chen was reluctant about revealing much on this topic, "They must have chosen to stay here because of your mother. They probably didn't have much in City 7, so they wanted to come to City 18 to find fresh opportunities. But I think there's more to it. They might even have some enemies in City 7."
Having enemies in the Inner World or not was something that time travelers got to decide.
If it wasn't because they were already in trouble, the people probably could simply use their current power to deal with it and save the hassle of moving to a different city.
According to the information that Qing Chen found online, among the known time travelers there was at least one superhuman, and the leader of the Blue Dragons in City 7.
But Hu Xiaoniu and his group didn't ask them for help and came to Luo City to find Liu Dezhu.
They probably knew that their enemies were much more powerful than the existing time travelers in Hai City.
Li Tongyun thought for a while and said, "City 7 is Chen Corporation's place, and City 18 is Li Corporation's place. Would they have found themselves in trouble with some higher-ups in the Chen Corporation?
Qing Chen said, "It’s alright. Since they don't know that I can understand what they are talking about, it will only be a matter of time before I find out."
"Do they actually just talk in front of you assuming you don’t understand?" asked Li Tongyun.
Qing Chen patted her head and said, "Because they aren't as smart as you."
At this time, Li Tongyun ran into Qing Chen's bathroom, picked up the clothes that Qingchen had changed, and ran out the door. Before she left, she said, "Mom just told me to pick up your clothes. Brother, I'm just doing what I'm told.”
Then, Li Tongyun went upstairs…
Qing Chen smiled. Looking back at his empty apartment, he started training again.
There was no one cheering him on, no one telling him what to do.
Qing Chen could only tell himself to not look back and keep going.
He heard the saying that the creatures that were alone were either gods or beasts.
If he couldn't become a god, then he would at least have to become a beast.
…
Countdown: five days.
Qing Chen went to school early today and switched his desks with Nan Gengchen's so that he could be next to Wang Yun.
As Nan Gengchen walked him, he smiled and said, "I thought you didn't have any feelings toward her. You should've told me earlier, I would've switched with you yesterday!"
Qing Chen glared at him.
He wanted to be next to Wang Yun simply so that he could eavesdrop on their conversation.
But it would be best if everyone could think that way.
If so, then they still wouldn't be as careful when talking and wouldn't care much about him.
Seeing that Qing Chen didn't talk, Nan Gengchen assumed he was embarrassed, and Nan Gengchen started gossipping about other things, "Yesterday, a fortune teller came into the transmigrator's group chat…"
Qing Chen said, "Did you ask him to predict your future?"
"Of course, it only cost 5 yuan," said Nan Gengchen, "He said that I'll get a large sum of money when I'm 65, more than I could ever imagine in my lifetime."
Qing Chen paused for a moment, "It'll probably be the paper money that your child burns for you1It's a tradition to burn paper(fake) money for people who passed so that they can use it in their afterlives."
Nan Gengchen, "…??"
Qing Chen said angrily, "I seriously recommend you to leave that group chat at once. Just look at what kind of people there are. None of them are of any help."
"What if one of them is real?" argued Nan Gengchen.
As they were talking, Wang Yun and Bai Waner came in.
After they saw that Qing Chen and Nan Gengchen switched seats, they were a little surprised.
"Why did they switch?" asked Bai Waner in English.
Wang Yun smiled, "Who knows, just ignore him."
"Hold up," asked Bai Waner, "Didn't the teacher say that he's a top student? Why would he be listening to us?”
Wang Yun looked at Qing Chen.
She saw that Qing Chen was very focused on a math problem set, and he didn't stop working as they talked.
Wang Yun, a top student from Hai City, peeked over Qing Chen's shoulder and saw that all his calculations were correct. He wasn't just pretending to do problems.
Wang Yun said, "Our teacher said that even the best students in smaller cities have difficulties speaking and understanding a foreign language. Just look at how he didn't even stop his work. If he was listening to us, he wouldn't be able to go that fast."
"Yeah," nodded Bai Waner.
Suddenly, Wang Yun said worriedly, "Do you believe what Hu Xiaoniu said? I don't think we can escape from Chen Leyou simply by coming to City 18."
Bai Waner shook her head, "I don't know. We'll see."
After ten minutes, the two finally stopped talking, and Qing Chen also stopped on his problem set.
Indeed, these four people had a fierce enemy to deal with in City 7.
His guess was right.
Of course, Wang Yun wasn't wrong.
Even for people like Qing Chen, it was hard to focus on math and a conversation at the same time.
But he was different from others, because he could remember everything that happened.
Life cannot be repeated, but it can be replayed.
1It's a tradition to burn paper(fake) money for people who passed so that they can use it in their afterlives
