In this not-so-big welfare home, after spending a day, Wen Yan felt he got along pretty well with these kids. He also discovered that most of the children here were very sensible and that they quite liked him.

Because he cooked delicious food.

So then, Wen Yan chatted with the big boss here, Auntie Zou, to ask if he could come cook for the kids when he had some free time in the future.

Auntie Zou agreed cheerfully, not just out of politeness, but because she genuinely found Wen Yan's cooking delicious, and the kids did like Wen Yan too, so she said yes.

This wasn't one of those "thank you for volunteering" polite phrases.

Now Wen Yan was relieved. He also added that Brother Fu's Feixin, so they could meet up and come together next time.

He found that this guy was pretty quick at helping out too, and didn't seem to mind doing chores at all.

Apart from stir-frying, he was good at washing and peeling vegetables, cooking rice—what mattered most, this guy was even willing to clear the table and wash dishes. He just didn't like to cook.

Well, wasn't that perfect? Wen Yan loved cooking, just hated the clean-up afterwards.

After adding Feixin, Wen Yan realized he'd never asked for the guy's name.

"My name is Wen Yan—Wen like gentle, Yan like language. Just by the name you can tell I'm an easy-going guy. What should I call you, bro?"

"Oh, I'm Zhang Xuewen. When I was little, my family hoped I'd get into Peking University, but obviously, that was wishful thinking. Later, I didn't want to repeat a year, so I went with the assigned major, and actually, I ended up really liking it."

Wen Yan edited the note, grinned and said,

"I'm different. When I was little, I wanted to be a scientist myself, but turns out that was wishful thinking too."

At the end of the day, Wen Yan left with the Seventh Great-Uncle Master. He didn't return to Virtue City today, as the Seventh Great-Uncle Master was heading back to Fuyu Mountain tomorrow, and he needed to see him off.

Wen Yan still felt a bit reluctant—having an elder watching your back was just too great.

Honestly, he was a bit addicted to that feeling of someone telling him, "Just do whatever you want, don't worry about a thing." Not having to worry about everything, or consider the consequences, or even be afraid of messing up—that feeling was really just awesome.

At night, after dinner, they sat together sipping tea and digesting. Looking out at the sea of lights outside the window, the Seventh Great-Uncle Master chuckled and said,

"Come back for dinner when you have time. I'll introduce you to some other folks. In our place, actually, we have even more seafood than Nanwu County."

"What you eat doesn't matter, who you eat it with does. I'm not picky."

The Seventh Great-Uncle Master was stunned for a moment, then burst out laughing.

Earlier in the day, he'd seen Wen Yan eating and just assumed Wen Yan loved seafood.

Turns out, Wen Yan was just in a good mood.

"Good, if anything comes up, just call. There are still a few old hands left at our Fuyu Mountain."

The next day, after seeing the Seventh Great-Uncle Master off at the high-speed rail station and watching them leave with their entourage, Wen Yan finally took a car to the Scorching Sun Department headquarters in Nanwu County.

Cai Qidong was crazy busy these days—barely had his feet on the ground. Wen Yan had tea in the waiting room outside Cai Qidong's office, waited a long time, and didn't see Cai Qidong. He ended up wandering around to the various departments in the building.

It was two hours later when he heard that Cai Qidong had finally finished his meeting.

Once in the office, Cai Qidong took out a metal box. When he opened it, inside was a broken sword—practically just the hilt was left, but it was clearly in excellent condition and very well maintained.

"This thing, rumor has it, is a sword that Old Zhu's Family's Great Ancestor used when rising to power. If you give it to Lord Zhu, he'll probably love it."

"You sure it won't backfire?" Wen Yan scratched his head.

If it were for someone still alive, it'd be a slam-dunk gift.

Thing is, Lord Zhu is a Ghost. How he died and who exactly he was back then isn't all that clear—at least, not in Scorching Sun Department's records, or at his clearance level.

"Don't worry about it."

"Wait, you know who Lord Zhu was in life?"

"Nope, not sure. He's never talked about it either."

"Then how can I be sure? I mean, Old Zhu's Family had so many Princes over the centuries…"

"Trust me. He once said himself that the person he admired most was his own Great Ancestor of Old Zhu's Family. He's just super particular about these things—this gift will definitely be his cup of tea."

"Alright then, just as long as it doesn't totally miss the mark. But what about the provenance of this thing?"

Cai Qidong hesitated for a second and said,

"Actually, I bought it back when I was overseas a long time ago."

"Hmm?" Wen Yan was a hundred percent skeptical. "A long time ago"—this thing has been kept in such great shape, not even a spot of rust. Obviously it's been meticulously maintained, definitely not the kind of thing you'd just stumble upon by chance.

Besides, during Cai Qidong's "early days," he probably didn't have much cash in his pockets, and anything he managed to stash away for himself had to have come from his own secret savings.

"Anyway, don't worry, it definitely won't screw you over, and I guarantee it's real."

Wen Yan stared at Cai Qidong for a long time, weighing it all—seemed like if Cai Qidong wanted to prank him, there's nothing much he'd gain from it.

So he accepted the gift, but in his heart, he figured he'd prepare a separate birthday present as well. At most, he'd use the broken sword as an extra bonus gift.

This Cai Heizi guy is always scheming to set someone up.

These past few days, Wen Yan had seen on the internal forum of the Scorching Sun Department in Nanwu County that according to Field Agents, the number of high-priority foreign nationals entering Nanwu County had plummeted dramatically.

Even some who'd shown up earlier were now leaving Nanwu County hurriedly in the past couple of days.

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