Everyday Romance After Becoming a Billionaire

Chapter 2: Chapter 2: Liking a Free and Unfettered Life

Beneath the old locust tree at the village entrance, in front of the Land God temple, beside the bus stop sign.

Su Ran recalled his mischievous childhood, when he would often team up with his playmates to steal the offerings left for the Land God—apples and fruit candies. Now, some of those friends had gone off to work in the electronics factories of Shenzhen. Others had dreamed of making it big in Guangdong, only to get off the train in Guangxi and end up as what people called losers.

They rarely saw each other now, maybe once or twice a year. Every time they met, he could see something different in their eyes. The spirited, carefree boys of yesterday had been beaten black and blue by the real world, forced to compromise and bow to the power of money.

Su Ran, however, had always stayed true to himself, living a quiet life. He had never dreamed of becoming some great man or earning a fortune. Now, even with the system’s power and his status as a Divine Rich, he hadn’t grown restless. He just wanted to make his life a little better.

The Number 8 bus pulled up and stopped. Su Ran swiped his card, boarded, and took a seat by the window, letting the cool breeze wash over him as the bus moved on.

He put on his headphones and played Jay Chou’s "Sunny Day"...

The little yellow flower from the story, drifting since the year I was born... The childhood swing sways with my memories, right up to now...

Su Ran loved listening to music. For the past few years, it had been his closest companion.

When he was strapped for cash, he had always bought cheap headphones from Taobao. The sound quality was terrible, and they offered no noise cancellation. He’d wanted to upgrade to a better pair, but considering he’d be broke afterward, he always had to give up on the idea.

But now, with the system’s ’Limited-Time Cashback’ event, he no longer had to worry about that.

’I’ll buy a nice pair of headphones to reward myself. It can also be a gift for getting into my dream university.’

As for his phone, Su Ran was currently using a OnePlus 9. He had only just replaced his old phone a week ago after dropping and breaking it while doing some carpentry work.

’It’s fine, I’m not planning to replace it. I don’t need much from a phone, as long as it can run Genshin.’

Some people are willing to buy a ten-thousand-yuan phone but pair it with a twenty-yuan set of headphones.

Others are willing to buy a one or two-thousand-yuan phone but pair it with headphones that cost several thousand.

It’s all the same principle: everyone has different priorities.

He got off at Construction Road and walked into an audio specialty store. He picked out a pair of Sennheiser Hi-Fi headphones to test.

The store manager glanced over and saw Su Ran was listening to Jay Chou’s "Farewell Balloon." He sighed and said, "Jay Chou hasn’t released a new album in years. Kun Ling is truly the death of the Chinese music scene... Anyway, young man, how’s the sound quality on that pair? We have even better ones here, want to give them a try?"

Su Ran glanced at the models in the display case that cost five or six thousand yuan, then took off the headphones. "This pair is fine. How much is it?"

"4,799 yuan."

"Alright."

The store had more expensive, better models, but Su Ran had his heart set on this particular pair for a long time. He had to have them. He had to fulfill this long-held wish. Su Ran could be quite stubborn that way.

Su Ran paid with a quick scan, didn’t even bother with the box, and walked out of the store wearing his new headphones.

He had a little over five hundred yuan left on the card. Su Ran couldn’t think of anything else he needed to buy and was too lazy to force himself to spend money on useless things. He didn’t want it to feel like he was just milking the system for every last drop.

’You can’t get fat from a single bite,’ he thought. ’There will be more Cards than just the ones today. As long as I keep my eyes open, there will be surprises everywhere.’

Su Ran’s philosophy regarding the system was that it was a tool to improve his life, not something to become a slave to. He wasn’t going to be the guy who frantically rushes to complete a task the moment the system issues an order, just so it can ’reward’ him with money.

’He had to be very clear about who was in charge.’

BEEP BEEP BEEP. A message popped up on his phone from a contact saved as "SJ · Lin Che": [Su Ran, where are you?]

[I’m on Construction Road, about to head home. What’s up?]

[Don’t head back yet. We got a gig. Hurry over to my studio for rehearsal.]

Lin Che was a Z-list musician, a wandering singer of sorts. He had a band called SJ (Shuijun), which usually performed outside major shopping malls or played resident gigs at bars to make money.

Su Ran had met him years ago, back when his parents were still around and had sent him to music lessons. They had kept in touch, and later, when Su Ran had to find ways to support himself, he would do odd jobs for a carpenter from his village in his free time. Occasionally, he would also ask Lin Che if he had any work for him.

Su Ran had a major growth spurt, shooting up to 183cm in a single semester, so whenever Lin Che landed a bar gig, he’d call Su Ran to play guitar. In a way, he was a reserve member of SJ.

He didn’t like the wild atmosphere of the bars, but he needed the money to get by. There was no other choice.

However, no one knew he played gigs with SJ at the bars. Su Ran always wore a mask, just in case one of his teachers was there trying to pick up women. If he were spotted, he’d be facing a public reprimand in front of the whole school.

Su Ran had taken every gig he could get, because he knew that in the next semester, he would have to stop completely to focus on studying for the college entrance exams.

Now that the exams were over, Lin Che figured his young friend must have run out of money. ’I should help him out if I can,’ he thought, which is why he called.

Su Ran had played so many gigs at the bars that he’d seen all sorts of crazy things. But the more he saw, the less it fazed him. It only made him appreciate a quiet life even more.

[Brother Che, I don’t plan on playing at the bars anymore. Thanks for looking out for me all this time. I wish you all the best and hope you make it big soon.]

[...Alright then.]

Lin Che knew Su Ran’s personality well. Once he made a decision, wild horses couldn’t drag him back. He made clean breaks, no hesitation, no mess. ’He must be the same way with relationships,’ Lin Che thought, ’just cutting ties completely. People like that can be really infuriating.’

Su Ran went to the supermarket to buy some groceries, then returned home and started making lunch.

The weather took a turn for the worse, and a heavy rain began to fall. Su Ran moved the drying clothes under the shelter of the eaves.

He sat under the eaves, eating his meal and watching the wind and rain lash the rice paddies.

His class group chat was flooded with one travel photo after another. With the college entrance exams over, his classmates were all heading out on trips to see the sights and have fun. Only Su Ran was left, holed up at home by himself.

Sleeping in the afternoon, accompanied by the sound of the rain, was the most comfortable thing in the world.

When Su Ran finally woke up, it was already the next morning.

"Sigh, I overslept again."

He rubbed his groggy head, got out of bed, and went to wash up.

Once a person entered this kind of zen state, everything they ate tasted delicious, and they slept like a log. To put it bluntly, he was living life at a snail’s pace—the kind of pace that would drive an impatient person crazy.

And yet, it’s often this type of person who lives the most refined life, because they live only for themselves.

Ding! The 24-hour cashback event has ended. Total spending: 4,812 yuan. Please spin the Multiplier Wheel.

"Start,"

Su Ran said nonchalantly while rinsing his mouth, casually flicking the pointer on the system interface and letting it land wherever it may.

The system didn’t know what to make of this host. ’Doesn’t he have any sense of occasion? Everything is so casual! Shouldn’t he be calling me ’System Daddy’ a hundred times a day? Why is it that with him, the system feels... superfluous?’

’Did I pick the wrong person?’

’No, this is exactly the right person. A true Divine Rich should be the center of their own universe, not a parasite living off the system.’

The pointer came to a stop.

Ding! Congratulations, you have landed on an 18x cash multiplier! 86,616 yuan has been awarded.

Name: Su Ran

Wealth: 86,616 yuan

Wealth Card: None

Skill Card: None

Over eighty thousand yuan was, without a doubt, a huge sum of money for Su Ran. He decided he would use it to properly enjoy the last month of his summer vacation.

Su Ran slung a backpack over his shoulders and headed out. He went to an RV rental company in the city called "Outdoor Camp" and rented a super-luxurious RV. The blue license plate meant he could drive it with his regular car license. At 800 yuan a day, the price was acceptable.

Su Ran had gotten his driver’s license as soon as he turned eighteen earlier in the year. Back then, he had dreamed of saving up enough money to buy a BYD sports car, but that wasn’t necessary anymore.

Su Ran wasn’t planning a trip across the country. He just wanted to go to Jiuxi Lake, right in his home province. The scenery there was beautiful and the sky was a brilliant blue, but what he loved most was the awe-inspiring feeling of looking up at the vast expanse of stars at night.

After buying all the necessary camping gear, at one in the afternoon, Su Ran got the RV onto the highway. With the song "The Wind Rises" playing, he drove off toward Jiuxi Lake...