Pei Qian’s home was in a small county town near Jingzhou City, not too far away.

After getting out of the taxi, Pei Qian carefully checked his appearance to make sure nothing would give him away.

The suit, belt, leather shoes, and other items he usually wore were all left at his rental apartment and not brought along.

The Rolex was absolutely something he couldn’t bring home.

His backpack contained only daily necessities.

That 15,000-yuan Alienware gaming laptop naturally couldn’t be brought home either. This time, Pei Qian brought the laptop he had purchased when he first entered college.

It wasn’t that Pei Qian was being overly cautious, but the key was that both his parents were like great detectives.

You think there are some clues you can hide from them? You’re too naive.

If he slipped up, Pei Qian didn’t want to have a big debate with Old Pei about whether “games are spiritual opium.”

After checking himself from head to toe and confirming there were no problems, Pei Qian finally entered the apartment building and took out his keys to open the door.

As soon as he stepped in, he smelled the aroma of food.

“Is that our son coming home?” asked his mother from the kitchen as she heard the doorbell, continuing to stir-fry vegetables.

“The brat’s back? Come, come, try this tea your uncle brought back specially.”

Old Pei was arranging the tea set on the table.

It was still the familiar scene, nothing had changed, just back to ten years ago.

Pei Qian noticed that his parents didn’t have as many gray hairs at their temples back then.

“I’ll put my bag down first. Where are my slippers?”

“I put them away. Old Pei, go get your son’s slippers from the cabinet! I can’t free my hands right now,” his mother called from the kitchen.

Old Pei reluctantly got up from the sofa: “Which cabinet?”

“The bottom of the wardrobe in our son’s room!”

After changing into slippers and putting down his bag, Pei Qian leaned back on the sofa.

Comfortable!

Although the sofa at home wasn’t expensive, it felt more comfortable than the tens of thousands of yuan sofa in the company’s reception room!

The home-cooked food smelled better than the several-hundred-yuan buffet they had during the company team-building event!

This tea, however…

Pfft, what terrible tea!

Pei Qian took a sip of the tea that Old Pei said was specially brought back by some uncle, and almost spat it out.

Awful!

He drank high-quality tea every day at the company and had developed a refined palate. This ordinary tea was barely drinkable now.

“How is it? The tea’s not bad, right?” Old Pei asked with a smile while sipping his tea.

“Mm, not bad.” Pei Qian quietly pushed the teacup aside.

It seemed like he needed to find an opportunity to get some good tea for Old Pei.

He couldn’t give him tea from the company because that was company property, only for entertaining guests, not for personal use.

However, Pei Qian wasn’t penniless anymore. He could totally use some of his personal funds of several tens of thousands to buy Old Pei a box of good tea.

Looking around at his home environment, Pei Qian’s desire to convert his assets had never been stronger.

His family lived in an ordinary two-bedroom apartment, just over 100 square meters, and this was a house they had only recently moved into, still carrying a mortgage for it.

Although his mother kept it spotlessly clean, the furniture, home appliances, and decor were all somewhat outdated.

His family was just an ordinary working-class household, not struggling with life, but still frugal.

Pei Qian looked at the television at home.

“Dad, shouldn’t we replace the TV? It’s too small.”

Old Pei glared: “Replace what? It’s working just fine! Besides, your mom and I hardly watch TV anyway.”

“What about this washing machine? Let’s get a front-loading one?” Pei Qian suggested.

Old Pei still shook his head: “Front-loading? Those are expensive! Besides, the current one works fine. If we get a new one, where would you put the old one?”

“Our bathroom floor isn’t level. Every time this washing machine spins, it sounds like it’s falling apart and disturbs the neighbors,” Pei Qian said. “You two don’t need to worry about it, I’ll buy it, and get some adjustable feet. I guarantee it won’t make noise when spinning.”

“Adjustable feet?”

“They adjust the height of the washing machine’s four legs. Once the machine is level, it won’t shake wildly during the spin cycle,” Pei Qian explained.

“Buying adjustable feet is fine, but there’s no need for you to spend your money. Wait, that’s not right.” Old Pei suddenly realized something: “How come you’re offering to buy a washing machine? Where did you get the money?”

Pei Qian knew Old Pei would ask this question and replied, “Well, I acted in a short film at school. The director gave me 30,000 yuan as payment.”

“How much? 30,000?!” Old Pei’s mustache bristled. “Stop lying to me! You, acting in a short film? 30,000 yuan payment? More likely you paid them 30,000!”

“Dad, how can you say that? With your son’s looks, isn’t 30,000 yuan reasonable?” Pei Qian was displeased.

“Cut it out, I don’t believe you!” Although Old Pei was beaming with pride, he remained stubborn. “Unless you show me the film!”

“The film? It hasn’t been uploaded online yet. I’m just letting you know that I can earn my own money now, so you don’t need to send me living expenses anymore,” Pei Qian said.

Old Pei shook his head: “Your living expenses will remain the same as before. It’s good that you can earn money on your own, but don’t put too much financial pressure on yourself. Studies still come first, understand?”

As they were talking, his mother called from the kitchen: “Dinner’s ready!”

Pei Qian and Old Pei quickly washed their hands and helped bring dishes to the table.

At dinner, Pei Qian, who normally disliked drinking, made an exception and had a couple of glasses of bulk white liquor with wolfberries with Old Pei, eating more than he had at any other meal.

Home was still the best!

Old Pei was a bit tipsy and began lecturing Pei Qian, while also boasting to his wife that their son had been cast in a short film, attributing it to his excellent genetic inheritance. This caused his mother to roll her eyes repeatedly before leaving them with the dishwashing duty.

By the time they finished dinner, it was almost 9 PM. Pei Qian originally wanted to wash the dishes, but Old Pei forcefully sent him back to his room, saying he was tired from traveling and should rest quickly.

He could start doing chores tomorrow.

Unable to persuade Old Pei otherwise, Pei Qian had no choice but to return to his room and browse the web on his laptop.

Pei Qian knew very well that he couldn’t keep the fact that he had started a company hidden from his family forever; sooner or later, he would have to come clean.

However, before revealing the truth, he needed to prepare.

Pei Qian now had over 50,000 yuan in personal assets. Replacing some household appliances for his family was well within his means, but he needed to explain where the money came from.

If he said it was earned from making games, Old Pei would probably get angry with him.

So after some thought, Pei Qian decided to first tell Old Pei about making short videos, to lay some groundwork.

Let Old Pei know that he could now earn money on his own, so in the future, Old Pei wouldn’t question the source of his money as much.

Then Pei Qian would try to gradually change Old Pei’s views, to reduce his prejudice against games. Only after that could he tell Old Pei the truth about opening a game company.

After browsing the web for a while, Pei Qian felt extremely tired. He washed up and went to bed early.