Chapter 32: Your Father Is Still Your Father

When An Wen walked into the study, his father was sitting behind the tea table, pouring a cup of tea.

Indeed, the tea table that his father was using was worth more than 7 million yuan.

Looking at the tea-table now, An Wen could not help but think that it was unworthy.

He then sat down on the stool in front of the tea table.

Remaining silent, he waited for his father to begin lecturing him.

"What are your plans for your stone material business?"

An Zhixin asked solemnly after pouring a cup of tea for An Wen.

"I don't have any plans, I'll just sell the stone to whoever wants it."

An Wen was baffled. As he looked at the solemn expression on his father's face, he thought to himself: Are there that many ways to run a stone material business?

An Zhixin shot a glance at An Wen before looking down to pick up the cup of tea on the tea table.

After taking a sip, he asked again, "What would you do if someone wanted to buy 10 thousand cubic meters of stone?"

Ten thousand cubic meters?

What kind of fool would buy such a large quantity of stone?

"Of course I'll sell it! Even if I'm only selling it at one million yuan per cubic meter, 10 thousand cubic meters would amount to a total of 10 billion yuan... Eh... that seems too much."

As An Wen spoke, he started feeling that something was amiss.

Ten billion yuan was slightly too large of an amount indeed. Even people who purchased gold and diamond did not seem to earn that much.

An Zhixin looked at An Wen, who appeared to be deep in thought, and probed further, "What would you do if someone wants to buy 100 thousand cubic meters of stone?"

"Eh... I won't sell it then." An Wen replied after giving it a thought.

"Haha... Is it solely your call whether or not you will make the deal?"

An Zhixin snorted coldly. He was extremely dissatisfied with An Wen's reply.

At that juncture, An Wen finally understood.

He now knew why his father wanted to have a talk with him.

However, he had never once considered all of the problems his father was bringing up.

He had truly not put too much thought into the stone material business; all he thought about was earning money. Certainly, he had not considered other possible impacts of such.

Now, however, it appeared that earning money was not such a straightforward matter.

It would not be a great deal if he sold tens or hundreds of cubic meters of stone, for that was merely a small amount of money that his father could handle.

However, if he sold thousands or more cubic meters of stone, the sum of money involved would be huge.

There would surely be people who would grow jealous, seeing that An Wen's father, who had worked earnestly for decades, did not earn as much as An Wen from selling thousands of cubic meters of stone.

If An Wen's stone material was obtained by ordinary means, it would not be difficult to resolve the situation, since he could get people to join his business as partners and all of them could profit together.

However, the problem was that there was no way for An Wen to partner with other people in the business.

He could not possibly tell them that he obtained the stone from the other world, so it would absolutely be impossible for him to explain the source of his stone.

What a headache.

An Wen was perplexed, unable to think of any way to resolve the situation.

Unless he chose not to earn money from the stone, it was a problem that he ultimately had to face.

As An Zhixin watched his son scratching his head, he also began to grow a headache... Even his teeth were starting to hurt.

It's my son, it's my son.

I can't be angry!

Holding up the teacup again, An Zhixin took another sip of tea and retrieved a kraft paper envelope from the cabinet at the side.

Splat!

The envelope landed in front of An Wen.

"Have a look."

An Zhixin said gruffly as he shot a glance at An Wen.

What's that?

An Wen glanced at his father to realize that he had no intention to explain.

Undoing the string of the envelope, he opened it to have a look at its contents.

"Purchase contract for 3000 cubic meters of Black Galaxy stone? It's dated for the first half of the year with the delivery at the beginning of April?"

"An Ju Stone Material Wholesale Company, registered half a month ago by me, while the legal person is Mom? Is this my company? Since when did I own a company?"

"Tax receipt? Oh, it was reported according to the sales amount of 200 million yuan."

"Special Grade Black Galaxy Stone Third-Party Examination and Verification Report?"

There were many documents inside the envelope and An Wen was bewildered as he read through them all.

At that juncture, An Zhixin placed his teacup down on the table and said, "I won't ask where you obtained your stone from, but from this moment on, I will say I acquired stone in the first half of the year."

"From this batch of Black Galaxy stone, you discovered a total of 600 cubic meters of special grade Black Galaxy stone. You then registered a company under your name to sell the stone, of which the first batch of 30 cubic meters was sold for 200 million yuan."

"I've already helped you to register the company. The location of the company is within my own company. I have already vacated an office for you and arranged two employees to work under you. Remember to pay their salaries at the end of every month."

"I've also helped you report the sales amount to the tax office after the transaction with Chairman Zhu, which explains the tax receipt in the envelope. The remaining sum of money has already been deposited into the company bank account. The bank card is inside the envelope."

"Remember to let your finance manager know if you wish to use the money in the company bank account. If you wish to transfer the money into your personal bank account, remember to pay personal income tax."

After explaining, An Zhixin poured himself another cup of tea and continued drinking.

On the other hand, An Wen stared at his father with utter confusion.

All the problems had already been resolved by An Zhixin.

Truly, one's father is ultimately still one's father.

The source of the stone was that which his father acquired in the first half of the year - it was just that the seller had not discovered that there was special grade Black Galaxy stone among the batch of stone.

The quantity of stone was 600 cubic meters, and based on the current selling price, the total sales amount would be more than four billion yuan.

"Why did you set it at 600 cubic meters then? Why not 1000 cubic meters?"

An Wen did not understand why his father had set such a limit to the quantity.

"It doesn't matter whether it's 600 cubic meters or 1000 cubic meters. The point isn't about the quantity of the stone material, but how much of your wealth you are capable of protecting."

"There was a time when you were young when you insisted on staying on the beach to catch crabs, refusing my offer to buy you toys instead. At that time, I set a rule for you."

"You could choose to remain on the beach to catch crabs, but only for five days. If you spent the entire five days on the beach catching crabs, I would not buy you any toys."

"However, if you played on the beach for only four days, then I would buy you one toy. Do you remember that incident?"

An Zhixin said solemnly.

An Wen nodded. That incident was still etched clearly in his memories.

"Yeah, I remember it clearly. At that time, I played on the beach for three days and you bought two toys for me. However, they were part of a set of Transformers action figures, and all five of them were required to be combined together for it to 'transform'."

"Later on, I cried and begged you to buy the remaining three figures for me, but you didn't agree. Subsequently, I wanted to buy them with the money I received during Chinese New Year, but it turned out that you had purchased every available set of that certain model in Shanghai."

"You even acquired the toy production factory that produced the model of Transformers action figures and changed their production sketch, so that the remaining three figures of the set would be unable to combine with the two previous figures and 'transform'."

It was an incident that An Wen would remember for life, because it was the first time in his life when he could not obtain what he wanted.

"Mmm, it's great that you remember. At that time, you were extremely sad, but I did not console you. Instead, I made you memorize and recite Mengzi's 'Fish is What I Desire'."

"I told you that, whether you wanted to catch crabs or play with toys, compromises had to be made."

"Some opportunities would never appear again after you miss them, and I wanted you to learn how to make compromises."

"This also applies to the matter at hand. Money is great, but having too much money is not all that wonderful either."

An Zhixin explained as he looked at An Wen, smiling slightly as he recalled how he looked like when he was a child.

Looking at the third-party examination and verification report for the 600 cubic meters of stone in his hand, An Wen nodded.

"Alright Dad, I understand now. You may rest assured." 

"Mmm, it's great that you understand. You are still young and there is still a long way ahead of you. Don't be blinded by money and forget what's most important in life." An Zhixin replied.

"4 billion yuan is more than enough for me to spend, I won't be foolish."

"Drink some tea."

Ten minutes later, An Wen was beginning to get slightly restless as he sat down.

Seeing that, An Zhixin retrieved another envelope from the cabinet.

"It's time for dinner. Open the envelope only after you get home."

Upon speaking, An Zhixin stood up from the tea table and walked over to his desk. He then picked up a book, then waved his hands at An Wen to signal him to leave.

"Alright, I'm going out now."

With the two envelopes in his hand, An Wen left to study.

Just as he was closing the door, he said softly, "Dad, you might not know that I have actually already made the remaining three action figures of the set of Transformers myself. It's just that I have never told you about it."

With that, An Wen turned and went downstairs.

On the other hand, in the study, An Zhixin placed the book down on the table, then rubbed his forehead.

"Actually, your mom had already found the three Transformers action figures that you made by hand when you were still in school and she was cleaning your room."

"I already knew then that I had failed in educating you, which was why your mom and I decided on having your younger brother..."

"Who would have known that I failed to educate your younger brother as well? How on Earth are kids supposed to be educated..."

An Zhixin had completely lost his demeanor from moments ago, acting more like a parent who had been driven crazy by his playful child.

Creak!

He opened a drawer that contained a stack of books.

On the very top was a book titled, "How to Accompany and Befriend Your Child"...