Only to see his younger brother Nangong Tianmi holding a pot and a spoon, stir-frying some not-so-clean field snails...
Nangong Tianmi, with a cheap Hongtashan cigarette in his mouth, had his sleeves rolled high, and though the oil smoke drifted onto his hairstyle and clothes, he paid no attention.
Beside Nangong Tianmi stood an elderly lady in her seventies, occasionally saying, "Tianmi! Let grandma handle it, you go drink with your brothers!"
Seeing this, both Nangong Tianxiang and Ye Hao knew that Nangong Tianmi was helping the old lady with her business and the customers were Nangong Tianmi's crowd.
Nangong Tianmi, cigarette dangling, mumbled, "Grandma, just sit down! I'll take care of it."
"How can that be, you're the customer, let me do it! Don't get your clothes dirty," the old lady couldn't bear Nangong Tianmi's high-class shirt being stained with oil smoke, and said so from time to time.
"Don't worry! Clothes are just things outside the body, they can be worn again if dirty, but Grandma Liu, if you keep pushing yourself at your age, once Grandma Liu is gone, she's gone forever." Nangong Tianmi said something many young people would struggle to articulate, that having an elder at home is like having a treasure.
Nangong Tianmi's friends glanced outside the door and when they saw Nangong Tianxiang's tearful eyes looking over, they all fell silent, the initially noisy and clamorous sounds ceased.
Nangong Tianmi's words left Grandma Liu standing complicatedly in place, after a long while, she sighed, hunched over to clean up the peanut shells left by Nangong Tianmi's friends.
But Grandma Liu looked somewhat puzzled at the group of young people; she had known them for over two years, they always came to her place discussing the best development spots in Shanghai, never leaving a debt after meals, and even Nangong Tianmi would help cook every time he and his friends dined there.
Half of the days each month, Nangong Tianmi and the others spent at her place, and it was their patronage that allowed Grandma Liu to maintain her business.
But these young people used to be noisy and rowdy, why do they all seem to have taken a silence pill now, with none speaking a word?
Then Grandma Liu followed their gaze towards the direction of Ye Hao and the others.
Seeing people there, she quickly greeted, "You two, would you like something to eat?"
"I'd like some field snails stir-fried for ten thousand yuan a pound!" Ye Hao chuckled as he pulled out ten thousand cash to hand over to Grandma Liu.
Grandma Liu's hands trembled upon seeing the ten thousand, promptly returning it to Ye Hao, "Well, young man, I'm sorry! I don't have ten thousand yuan a pound field snails here."
"No problem, just the snails being stir-fried over there are fine, have him fry them and bring them over." Ye Hao said, then took Nangong Tianxiang's hand and led her to a table with the young crowd.
The crowd instantly made room for Ye Hao and Nangong Tianxiang to sit down.
One guy, with an embarrassed face, said, "Tianmi's sister, why are you here?"
"Just came to see, is this the kind of environment my brother has always lived in?" Nangong Tianxiang asked, her eyes red.
"About right! Sometimes we even go into the river to catch fresh crayfish for the pot, this kind of deliciousness is better than the hotel ones, and we just don't like going to hotels, too boring," said one of Nangong Tianmi's friends, trying hard to pretend as if not wanting to let Nangong Tianxiang know the way Nangong Tianmi had been living.
"Have you all been to a hotel?" Nangong Tianxiang suddenly asked.
Two people immediately replied, "No."
Others glared at them; someone was just about to explain, but Nangong Tianmi walked over, carrying the freshly stir-fried snails.
Nangong Tianmi smiled calmly, "Brother-in-law, did sister come over? Freshly cooked snails here, might be a bit bland, lacking a bit of spice, would you like a taste?"
Ye Hao was very intrigued by Nangong Tianmi's demeanor, a young person able to conceal his thoughts so well? Could it be he's not afraid of his sister discovering his not-so-good life?
"Let me have a try." Ye Hao said nonchalantly, grabbing a pair of chopsticks, picked a snail, and sucked the meat in.
As the snail meat entered his mouth, Ye Hao praised, "Truly freshly caught, the taste is quite fresh, worth the ten thousand yuan!"
"Young man, I can't take your ten thousand..." Grandma Liu stood up again, giving back the ten thousand Ye Hao just gave her.
Nangong Tianmi, hearing this, chuckled, turned around, and pushed the ten thousand back into Grandma Liu's hands with a smile, "Grandma Liu, why the fuss? My brother-in-law has plenty of money, buying my stir-fried snails for ten thousand is considered cheap! You keep it well."
"The ten thousand is for you, it's your stir-fried snails." Grandma Liu, feeling no work was done, tried to push the plate of snails back into Nangong Tianmi's hands.
"Oh! Grandma Liu, we've been coming here to bother you for over two years, I might not have time to disturb you after this. Take this ten thousand as your retirement fund, hope you take good care of yourself when we're not around to bother you," Nangong Tianmi smiled.
"Tianmi, are we not coming here to brag anymore? Where do we go after?" one man following Nangong Tianmi asked.
"Work with my brother-in-law!" Nangong Tianmi turned his head to glance at Ye Hao with a smile.
"Who's your brother-in-law? Can we make it in Shanghai? If not, we aren't going anywhere." This group had two leaders, the first being Nangong Tianmi with three brothers Li Xiang, Zhou Tao, and Yu Wen. The one speaking now is the second leader, Duanmu Renzhi, an outcast from the Duanmu Clan, with three brothers Guo Zhi, Fan Mountain, and Mo Liang.
The two groups had only known each other for about a year, but within that time, they had explored all of Shanghai, researching where investing was worthwhile, discovering profitable opportunities, and occasionally tipping venture capital firms about lucrative opportunities, leading them to invest.
However, they only leaked information to venture capitals because they were out of money for food, just grabbing some extra cash.
In truth, they held disdain for selling intelligence to venture capitals, but survival dictated their hand.
"A boss with a net asset of several hundreds of billions, you think he can help us make it in Shanghai?" Nangong Tianmi chuckled generously, disregarding his sister's presence, saying whatever came to mind, his thoughts so veiled no one could fathom what he was thinking.
Even Ye Hao, adept at the Emperor's Heart Skill, couldn't decipher what was on Nangong Tianmi's mind.
"Hundreds of billions?" Duanmu Renzhi pondered for a while, then provided an exact number, "Without backing, developing a Bund tourist spot alone requires almost a billion, recouping in about a year..."
Nangong Tianxiang looked skeptically at the group, could they really understand investments? (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets on Qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read on m.qidian.com.)