Chapter 33: Your Son Is a Cheater

Leaving his father's study, An Wen made his way to his younger brother An Tu's room.

"Bang bang bang... The competitor from AFF has swept the vehicle accurately..."

Opening the door to An Tu's room, An Wen heard a series of AKM gunshots, followed by an explanation by a narrator.

He then looked at the computer screen and realized that it was the live stream of the finals of the PUBG Global Championship.

Meanwhile, An Tu was squatting behind the chair, aiming at the computer screen with the toy gun in his hand.

When the competitor on the screen opened fire, he also made his own sound effects and mimicked a firing gun.

Is that my brother?

Are we from the same mother?

With such a level of intellect, he would be sure to embarrass An Wen if they played games in public.

"Oh, my foolish brother!"

An Wen coldly said to An Tu, his face turning sullen.

"Bro, don't block the screen, I can't aim properly anymore."

An Tu clearly did not listen to An Wen's words as he frantically motioned for An Wen to move out of his computer screen's view.

Click!

An Wen turned off the computer.

"What are you doing? Why did you turn off my computer?"

An Tu pouted and questioned in fury.

"Why are you using your computer and playing games? Have you finished your homework? How did you fare on your unit assessment this time?"

An Wen smiled as he asked, unbothered by An Tu's fury.

"Hmph... I have already finished my homework a long time ago, and I got full marks on the unit assessment. Now turn on my computer, or I'm going to complain to Mom!"

"No, children will turn short-sighted from playing too many computer games."

Upon hearing An Wen's words, An Tu threw his toy gun onto the floor. 

"What right do you have to control me?"

"I'm your older brother."

"You should care about yourself first. How old are you already and yet you still do not have a girlfriend?" An Tu screamed.

Eh?

An Wen was momentarily stunned. Was his brother already old enough to know what a girlfriend was?

"You don't have to worry about me. It's not as if you have a girlfriend either." An Wen retorted.

"I do, I have a girlfriend."

An Tu said proudly.

Mmm, great, you're not too far from receiving a beating.

"Come on out now, dinner is ready."

At that juncture, their mother called.

With a smile on his face, An Wen pulled An Tu out to the living room to eat.

"Do not talk when eating or just before sleeping."

No one spoke a word at the dining table.

After dinner, An Wen and his parents sat on the sofa and chatted casually, while An Tu played with his toys in the living room.

At that juncture, An Wen turned around and asked casually.

"By the way, An Tu, what's your young girlfriend's name?"

"..."

An Tu turned towards An Wen in horror and the toy in his hand fell to the floor.

Eh?

At that moment, the key information of 'young girlfriend' was captured by their mother.

"What's going on?"

Their mother asked as she shot a glance at An Wen before turning towards An Tu.

An Tu was completely dumbfounded.

Facing his mother's death stare, he frowned and was ready to start bawling.

"It's nothing much. An Tu asked me just now whether I have a girlfriend, so I said that he should not be concerned about me since he doesn't have one either, but in the end, he told me that he has one." An Wen added fuel to the fire.

Wahh...

An Tu could not keep his tears in anymore and started wailing and crying.

Smack!

Suddenly, their mother slapped An Wen's thigh extremely loudly.

"What, why did you hit me?"

An Wen was confused - it was not how he had planned the 'drama' to unfold.

"Why, am I wrong to hit you? Your brother isn't wrong, you're already so old and yet you don't have a girlfriend, while he already has one. When are you going to bring a girl home to meet us?" An Wen's mother chided.

"..." An Wen was at a loss for words.

Getting a girlfriend was out of the question for the time being.

They were extremely scary creatures!

Seeing An Wen getting hit and scolded by their mother, An Tu was delighted.

His cries had subsided as they turned into smiles; it was a bemusing sight.

However, there were still traces of tears on his face, and mucus was still flowing out of his nose. The moment he smiled and his lips parted, the mucus flowed into his mouth.

However, even so, An Tu continued smiling foolishly.

"What are you smiling at? I'm not done with you yet. What is up with your 'young girlfriend', why are you not focusing on studying..."

Turning around, their mother started lecturing An Tu.

The smile on An Tu's face quickly disappeared once again as he immediately started crying.

Sitting at the side and looking at his two sons, An Zhixin's head started to hurt again.

...

The following day, after An Wen finished watching the military parade in celebration of National Day with his parents, he left his parent's house to return to his own home.

His parents were bringing An Tu out to play and he did not want to follow them.

His mother did not continue pressuring him to get a girlfriend quickly; she was only mentioning it casually the previous night.

If it were other parents, they may urge their son to get a girlfriend quickly as they wanted grandchildren as soon as possible.

On the other hand, however, ever since An Wen's parents had a second child, they never once urged An Wen to get married quickly.

They had not even found the 'right' way to raise their 'practice' child yet, why would they need another grandchild so soon?

Returning to his own home, An Wen was still not in a hurry to return to the other world.

He first opened the envelope that his father instructed him to open only when he returned home.

"Business Survey Report on Gutian County?"

An Wen was puzzled when he saw the title of the survey report.

Did his father give him the wrong envelope?

After all, the survey report was not of any use to An Wen, since he was not interested in making investments.

An Wen flipped to the last page and found a piece of A4-sized paper with his father's handwritten words.

"I know you won't be content with your lot. After all, humans have desires and it is certainly not easy to learn to make compromises."

"Have a good look at this report. I don't care how much stone you sell in private, but you must invest in Gutian County with at least 70% of your profits."

"Do not consider the returns or profits. You must plan for the long term, based on the benefits to Gutian County. The purpose of investment is not to earn money, but to spend it."

"I'll not explain any further. If you still do not understand, take a look at the details of the manpower reorganization on Gutian County's official website."

"If you still can't understand what I'm driving at, there's nothing more for you to think about. Selling 600 cubic meters of the stone material is sufficient for you to lead the rest of your life without any worries."

After reading his father's handwritten words, An Wen frowned as he fell deep into thought.

He was not a fool.

A fool would not have been qualified to study at Zhendan University.

In fact, his father had already made his point very clear by that juncture.

Placing the envelope down, An Wen turned on his computer to find out the situation with Gutian County.

Nevertheless, everyone was aware of what the information on the internet was like.

Beautiful scenery!

An abundance of resources!

The location mentioned in the biographies and legends of famous ancient people!

There was a great amount of irrelevant and inconsequential information, and just a bit that was useful.

An Wen navigated to Gutian County's official website.

On the left of the webpage was a picture of a meeting.

In the center were news articles, all of which reporting the latest news and measures that would benefit citizens.

All of which was not information that An Wen was looking for; he was searching for information related to personnel appointments.

Very quickly, An Wen found what he wanted.

The newly-appointed mayor of Gutian County was 28-year-old Chen Qiquan, who graduated from the Institute of Political Science and Law. Based on his resume, he started off as a village official and subsequently rose through the ranks.

He was young and capable, down-to-earth, hardworking, well-involved in politics, cared for the citizens...

An Wen picked out those few words in the resume.

"He's mainly in-charge of attracting investments?"

An Wen would be a fool if he didn't catch his father's intentions at this point in time.

Picking up the business survey report on Gutain County again, An Wen read through it carefully.

Harsh natural environment. Serious soil erosion. Tourism is unable to be developed.

State-level poor county. Absence of mining and forestry resources. The majority of its population relies on farming for money, but to make things worse, there was an outbreak of swine fever at the beginning of the year.

"Invest in labor-intensive enterprises for more people to have jobs. Profit should not be considered. Investments can be made in food processing, rough parts processing..."

"Dad must have put in a lot of thought into this."

When An Wen finished reading the report, he could feel his eyes turning watery.

His father had already paved the path ahead for him, such that he did not need to do anything else but to follow it accordingly.

After a long while, An Wen muttered to himself, "Dad, you might not have known, but your son is actually a good 'cheater'."