Chapter 55.4: The Man from the Happy Inn

“We’re not just selling this round. Later on, when we expand to other schools in the city or even the province, we’ve got to collect licensing or copyright fees.”

“We need to nail down the revenue split properly. Even after we graduate and go to college, we should still be getting paid.”

“Binbin-ge, you really have a business brain.”

“Nah, I’m nothing special. It’s you, my brother, who’s the real rare gem here.”

“So you’re going to sign the contract with the school after classes tonight? We’ve got that barely-breathing school-run business license. Perfect chance to put it to use.”

“I’ll authorize you. You go.”

“You trust me that much, bro?”

“Yeah.”

Li Zhuiyuan didn’t have any deep attachment to money.

In that regard, he was a lot like Liangliang. Their attitude toward money was always just “enough is enough.” They were after something on a different level entirely.

That afternoon, Tan Wenbin spent the entire class period working on his proposal.

Li Zhuiyuan skimmed it and found it was a phased plan, somewhat like a performance-based agreement.

For example, prize wins at the provincial math competition, national-level wins, and international-level wins each triggered a progressively larger profit share.

Tan Wenbin had no personal stake in math competitions, but he knew the competition process inside and out.

He even included Gaokao scores as a metric.

“Binbin-ge.”

“What’s up?”

“What does your mom do?”

“My mom? She’s an accountant.”

Because he had to go to Zheng Haiyang’s place after school, during the fourth period, just before math class, Li Zhuiyuan went to the nurse’s office and used a little trick to fake a fever and get a sick note. He handed it to Teacher Yan and headed off for negotiations.

During that period, Teacher Yan handed out worksheets for the class to work on. He was later called away by the school leadership to help with contract accounting, leading to a “chance” encounter with Tan Wenbin.

That evening after school, Li Zhuiyuan saw the principal’s car return. Principal Wu stepped out, greeting everyone warmly, radiating energy like a long-suffering daughter-in-law who’d finally outlived her evil mother-in-law.

Before the principal’s gaze could fall on them, Li Zhuiyuan and Zheng Haiyang bolted out the school gate and found Runsheng.

Tan Wenbin was already there waiting, his left ear red and swollen like Maitreya’s.

“Xiaoyuan-ge, the contract’s done. You just focus on making the questions now—and wait to rake in the cash.”

“Binbin-ge, your ear…”

“Teacher Yan only yelled at me at first. But when I suggested including your math problems in the Olympiad workbook, she got so mad she yanked my ear and confronted me about faking a sick note.”

“Thanks for handling that, Binbin-ge.”

“No biggie. We can’t let the school take advantage of us!”

The three of them piled onto a tricycle, and Runsheng pedaled them to Zheng Haiyang’s house.

Once they reached the courtyard, Runsheng got to work retrieving—but no matter how he tried, he couldn’t find anything. Finally, he went down the well himself, dove in—and still came up empty-handed.

Tan Wenbin said, “The ding isn’t in there. Could it be Zhu Changyong already came and took it?”

Li Zhuiyuan nodded. “That’s possible.”

Zhu Changyong had checked out of his room that same morning, but the police station under Tan Yunlong didn’t receive the cooperation request until the afternoon. Theoretically, Zhu could’ve come the night before, retrieved the object, and left Shigang early the next morning.

Zheng Haiyang, clearly anxious, asked, “What do we do if it’s gone?”

Li Zhuiyuan replied, “If he already took it, then your family should be safe now.”

Zheng Haiyang patted his chest in relief. “Right, right. Xiaoyuan-ge, you’re right.”

The sky had gone dark.

Zheng Haiyang’s grandparents warmly invited the group to stay for dinner.

Everyone sat around the table. Runsheng lit a pre-meal cigarette.

The grandparents bustled happily in the kitchen, remarking that Haiyang had never brought friends over before.

They kept scolding him for not telling them earlier—so they could’ve bought more groceries at the morning market.

Tan Wenbin skillfully smoothed things over and kept the mood lively, while also reminding them, “Cook extra rice!”

As the dishes hit the table, everyone started eating.

Grandma Zheng smiled and said, “There’s still the main dish. I’ll bring it out now.”

Tan Wenbin lifted his chopsticks. “Great, great—I love the main dish best.”

The main dish, also known as Tongcheng Hui Three Delicacies or just Da Zahui, was a kind of stew.

It had fish balls, pork rind, wood ear fungus, egg crepes, quail eggs—a semi-soupy dish that always appeared on local banquet tables.

As they ate, the overhead light flickered—then went out with a snap.

“Old man, go check if the power tripped.”

“Coming, coming. You step aside first. Everyone, don’t move—I’ll bring the dish over. Don’t get burned.”

Ding-dong…

A muffled thud—probably a large porcelain bowl placed on the table.

“Eat up, everyone. Make yourselves at home—there’s plenty of food.”

“Old man, hurry and check the breaker. The neighbors still have power, so it’s not a village-wide outage.”

“Alright, alright, I’m going.”

Soon, Grandpa’s voice came from outside. “It tripped, alright. I’m resetting it now.”

The lights came back on.

Everyone at the table, chopsticks raised, froze.

Because in the center of the table, in place of the stew…

Was a ding.

Though the room was now lit, the old couple’s faces darkened. Standing by the table, they kept waving their hands, saying:

“Eat, eat—don’t be shy, heh heh heh…”

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