By the time they returned to Tang Palace, it was already 1:00 PM. Shao Wenxin had a habit of taking afternoon naps. Over the past few days, she hadn’t been able to nap because she was busy with various matters. Today, upon returning to Tang Palace with no other itinerary scheduled, the biological clock she had developed over many years began to function again.
Shao Wenxin had originally wanted to ask Chu Wanchen about today’s system reward, but the drowsiness hit her so intensely that she returned to her room to nap first.
In any case, she could ask at any time; sleeping was the most important thing right now.
Seeing her mom go to her room for a nap, Chu Wanchen also returned to her room to rest.
Chu Wanchen didn’t normally have a habit of taking afternoon naps, but perhaps because she had been too exhausted these past few days, she fell asleep as well.
By the time the mother and daughter got up and went downstairs, it was already 5:00 PM. Having rested well, both of their complexions looked rosy, presenting an air of leisure and comfort.
Exuding a lazy aura typical after a long sleep, Chu Wanchen asked her mom, “Mom, is Dad still coming back today?”
“He’s not coming back today. He called this afternoon and said he wants to gather with a few friends.”
“I knew it. Dad’s eyes lit up the moment he saw the mahjong table. I’m afraid he’s going to stay up all night tonight.”
Chu Wanchen didn’t know how to play mahjong and couldn’t appreciate the charm of this “national quintessence.” On the contrary, she actually strongly disliked Chu’s father playing mahjong.
When she was a child, it was rare for Chu’s father to return to Qian City from Shanghai. During the day she would stay at her maternal grandparents’ house, and at night she would go home with Chu’s father. As Chu’s mother worked night shifts, Chu’s father would take care of her alone.
Chu’s father had a huge addiction to gambling. At night, he would bring Chu Wanchen, who was only in preschool at the time, to the card room to play mahjong. Fearing that Chu Wanchen would affect his card playing, he placed the barely 5-year-old girl inside a small dark room. This left a very deep trauma on Chu Wanchen, to the point where she still needed to sleep with the lights on even now.
Of course, this wasn’t the only terrible thing Chu’s father had done because of playing mahjong.
When she was in elementary school, Chu’s mother was walking home with Chu Wanchen. It was winter in Qian City at the time, so it grew dark early.
As the mother and daughter walked to the bottom of their residential building, they were robbed by a gang of thieves. Yet at that exact moment, Chu’s father was at home playing mahjong with others.
Chu Wanchen had always remembered these two incidents. Now, whenever she saw Chu’s father playing mahjong, a dense wave of aversion would rise within her.
Because of these two events, coupled with the fact that Chu’s father had left for Shanghai when she was still very young, Chu Wanchen’s attitude toward Chu’s father had always been respectful enough but lacking in closeness.
To her, she actually felt much more at ease when Chu’s father was not around.
“Chenchen, what was your system reward today?” Shao Wenxin had been curious all day, and now that there were finally no outsiders around, she immediately spoke up to ask.
Hearing her mother ask her, Chu Wanchen quickly pulled her wandering thoughts back, “It’s a Brain Development Potion, which can make me smarter. Since you don’t need to go to school, Mom, the system only rewarded one bottle.”
Fearing that her mother wouldn’t understand those professional terms, Chu Wanchen simply said the potion could make her smarter.
“I looked up a few Mathematical Olympiad problems this morning, and I didn’t even need scratch paper to calculate them; I could derive the correct answers directly.”
Hearing her daughter say this, Shao Wenxin was instantly overjoyed, “That’s truly wonderful! I was originally thinking that we should return to Qian City a bit earlier this time to find a teacher to tutor you in science.”
Chu Wanchen had been enrolled in cram schools during junior high, but the tutoring results were poor, and her mathematics grades had not improved.
Since there was no need to sign up for cram schools, Shao Wenxin planned to take Chu Wanchen to travel all over the country.
As the old saying goes, traveling ten thousand miles is better than reading ten thousand books.
The growth in knowledge brought by travel was something that could not be compensated for merely by reading. Some landscapes could only be truly felt when seen with one’s own eyes and heard with one’s own ears, which was impossible to achieve even with the most detailed textual descriptions.
Shao Wenxin shared her plans with Chu Wanchen, and Chu Wanchen naturally raised no objections.
The two of them planned to return to Qian City first to pick up Chu Wanchen’s maternal grandparents, and then the four of them would travel to Southern Yunnan together.
During this season, only the climates of Qian City and Southern Yunnan were relatively pleasant.
Other places could wait until Chu Wanchen had holidays. In any case, Chu’s mother didn’t need to work now, and her maternal grandparents usually had nothing to do. As long as Chu Wanchen was free, the family could embark on a spontaneous trip whenever they pleased.
Of course, the prerequisite for traveling was that Chu Wanchen’s grades could keep up. If they couldn’t, she would have to attend cram schools on weekends just like her peers.
After mapping out her plan, Shao Wenxin started calling her parents before she had even eaten dinner. She phoned her old man to say she was taking them out for a trip, telling them to pack their luggage over the next two days, and hung up right after without waiting for whatever the other side of the line had to say.
Then she made another call to Chu’s father. When the call connected, Chu’s father was fighting fiercely at the mahjong table. Hearing Shao Wenxin’s plan, he agreed wholeheartedly, though it was unclear whether he had actually processed her words.
Chu Wanchen watched her mom’s swift and decisive series of operations with wide eyes, her entire being completely stunned.
Ugh, looking at her mom’s executive ability, working as a laborer in the past was truly a waste of talent.
Shao Wenxin looked at her daughter and laid out another round of arrangements, “Once we finish eating in a bit, pack your luggage. Let’s strive to settle all the matters in Shanghai tomorrow, and we’ll head back to Qian City the day after tomorrow.”
Since the head of the household had spoken, how could Chu Wanchen dare to disobey?
After dinner, she returned to her room and began organizing her luggage.
There weren’t many items that needed to be brought; if anything was missing by then, they could just buy it locally.
Sigh—there was no helping it. Being rich meant one could solve ninety-nine percent of the problems in this world.