A life of success begins with being a landlord.

Director Song nodded: "Leave the documents here, come pick them up tomorrow. Take those local specialties home with you. We have everything we need."

I was flattered: "Director Song, isn't this inappropriate?"

Aunt Lan laughed and said, "What's inappropriate about it? Old Song just said that we don't lack these things at home."

"Thank you, Aunt Lan. Thank you, Director Song."

I can only try to get a bargain.

Aunt Lan added, "Next Saturday, our department, along with some entrepreneurs, is going to visit nursing homes and orphanages. You should prepare some gifts and come with us. We'll arrange for you to be on camera a lot."

I nodded quickly, "Understood, Aunt Lan!"

After dinner, I carried my briefcase, got into my car, and was overjoyed.

This box is heavy; it must contain a lot of money!

Gao Jianfeng asked me, "Brother Zu, why did you bring the suitcase back again?"

"You know the idiom 'buying the box and returning the pearl,' right? I just really like this box, so I brought it back specifically to play with." I chuckled and asked, "Ye Xiaotian, can you drive?"

Neither Gao Jianfeng nor the old squad leader could drive.

Ye Xiaotian laughed and said, "I have a driver's license, I can drive!"

"That's great, you drive." I got out of the driver's seat and gave way to Ye Xiaotian.

Ye Xiaotian wasn't very skilled at driving, so he drove haltingly.

I didn't say anything, and gave him a chance to practice.

Back at Zhongyao Company in Hongxing Village, I asked Gao Jianfeng and Ye Xiaotian to go out for dinner.

Gao Jianfeng laughed and said, "Brother Zu, let's go back to Sanlichuan for dinner..."

I was taken aback for a moment, then remembered, and kicked Gao Jianfeng: "You bastard, you want to go back to Sanlichuan and sleep with Sun Qianqian, don't you?"

Gao Jianfeng is already twenty-four or twenty-five years old. After being cooped up for so many years, now that he has a beautiful and youthful girlfriend, how can he stay idle?

"Brother Zu, my girlfriend is Sun Tingting, and Sun Qianqian belongs to Chen Feng," Gao Jianfeng corrected me.

"It's all pretty much the same anyway, sleep however you like!"

I had no time to care about Tingting and Qianqian. I waved my hand and headed straight for Sister Li's room.

Sister Li was taking a shower. She closed the door and called out, "Wait a minute, I'm taking a shower."

There are no shower rooms here; we shower in our own rooms.

There is a public toilet, but it's only for using the toilet.

"Sister Li, would you like me to give you a back scrub?" I leaned against Sister Li's door. "Professional back scrub, five yuan per person."

Sister Li laughed and said, "My door isn't locked. Come in if you dare."

I pressed the doorknob, but it didn't move.

You big liar! You clearly locked it from the inside!

I sighed, went to my office, and called Erxia in first.

Erxia looked at the briefcase on the table and asked, "What's wrong? Director Song isn't accepting gifts?"

"They didn't even look at it, they just gave it to me." I chuckled. "Erxia, guess what's inside the box?"

Erxia picked up the box to feel its weight and said seriously, "About 500,000."

I shook my head and smiled, "We'll open the box and take a look after Sister Li takes a shower."

Finally, Sister Li arrived.

Only then did I open the combination lock box.

Inside were two boxes of mung bean cakes and two boxes of tea.

Sister Li was a little disappointed: "Is that all? Looks like Qiao Mingtai is a cheapskate!"

I picked up the mung bean cake and squeezed it, but something felt off.

When you open it, you'll find bundles and bundles of large banknotes inside!

The cash amounted to a full two hundred thousand.

"Holy crap, you've just made two hundred thousand for free! You're rich!" Sister Li exclaimed with elation.

"Sister Li, this wasn't something we got for free; Brother Zu risked his life for it."

Erxia, being a perceptive person, pondered and said, "It's obvious that this is a gift that Director Song deliberately gave to thank Brother Zu for saving his daughter, Amei."

"Yes, yes, it's all thanks to my younger brother!"

Still excited, Sister Li impatiently opened the tea box: "There should be something else inside!"

Sure enough, there were things inside, packaged in small boxes.

When we opened it, it blew our eyes out!

They are gold bars, twenty small gold bars weighing one hundred grams each!

I stared blankly at the gold bars; I had never seen so much gold in my entire life.

Back then, when my sister got married, she fought tooth and nail with her in-laws to get a pair of gold earrings weighing only five grams.

The gold bars in front of me, one of them could make twenty pairs of gold earrings.

Erxia was also stunned: "This is... gold?"

"Of course it's gold! Look at you all, so pathetic!"

Sister Li, being knowledgeable, picked up a gold bar: "I'll teach you how to distinguish real gold from fake. Real gold, if you bite it, will leave a tooth mark..."

After saying that, Sister Li stuffed a gold bar into her mouth and bit down with a distorted expression.

"Ouch... Holy crap, my teeth are so sensitive."

After taking a bite, Sister Li took out the gold bar to look at it.

Sure enough, there wasn't a single tooth mark on it!

Erxia and I burst into laughter.

Sister Li angrily cursed, "Damn it, the books are all lies! You can't even bite a tooth mark out of it. Otherwise, it's not real gold!"

Uncle Ding heard the commotion in the office, came over, and peeked out.

"Uncle Ding, come and see what this is?" Sister Li called Uncle Ding in.

Uncle Ding picked up the gold bar, weighed it in his hand, then dropped it on the ground to listen to the sound. He said confidently, "It's real gold, and very pure."

I hurriedly asked for leave, wondering how to distinguish real gold.

Uncle Ding said, "When real gold is dropped on the ground, the sound is dull and short. If the gold bar is adulterated and not pure enough, the sound when dropped on the ground will be crisp and long. In addition, the specific gravity of gold is 19.32, so it feels heavy in your hand."

Another method is to use fire. True gold is not afraid of fire; even if it melts, its color and luster will not change.

Erxia gave a thumbs up: "That's what you call professional!"

Uncle Ding smiled kindly: "I used to study gold and silver processing, and I could make rings and earrings."

"Uncle Ding, you're amazing!" We were completely in awe of Old Ding.

Uncle Ding also became interested and chatted with us about some basic knowledge about gold, silver, copper, and iron.

I understand what he meant by the specific gravity of metals.

There's also Archimedes' method for measuring the purity of gold crowns, which I learned in textbooks before, but I don't know how to do it.

After talking with Uncle Ding tonight, I realized that you only realize how little you know when you need it!

Uncle Ding laughed and said, "I only went to elementary school, but I've heard that the knowledge of refining gold and silver is all in junior and senior high school textbooks. As long as you graduate from high school, you can learn a little bit and become a master craftsman."

After Uncle Ding left, we stared blankly at the pile of glittering gold bars on the table.

"Sister Li, Erxia, let's divide these gold bars." After a long while, I finally spoke up.

"No, no, no, I can't take it. This has nothing to do with me." Erxia hurriedly shook her head and turned to leave.

"Don't go!" I hugged Erxia tightly.

"Brother Zu, what are you doing?" Erxia blushed and shouted at Sister Li, "Sister Li, look at your little brother, he's being a pervert!"

Sister Li grabbed two gold bars and stuffed them into Erxia's bosom: "Erxia, these are Wang Yaozu's gold bars. I'm doing him a favor. You're not an outsider, taking two won't hurt!"

Only then did I let go.

"Thank you, Sister Li."

Erxia blushed, took out the two gold bars, and said with a smile, "Then I'll accept them. I'll treat you to meals later!"

Sister Li grinned mischievously: "You think taking two gold bars is enough? You should at least treat my little brother to a meal, right? At the very least, you should sleep with him for a few days, shouldn't you?"

Poor Sister Li, she always thought of me.

Just then, Daozaixiong called.

"Brother Xiong." I answered the phone.

"Hey bro, where are you? I'm in Sanlichuan, come over here for a second."

"I know, Xiong-ge. Director Song invited me to dinner tonight. I just got back and was about to go to work." I knew Dao-zai Xiong had called me because of Ah-xiang's matter, so I probed:

"Something happened at the arcade this afternoon, I couldn't get through to you on the phone..."

"I understand, let's talk when we meet." Dao Zixiong hung up the phone.

I asked Sister Li to put the gold bars away, and I straightened my clothes and prepared to go out.

Sister Li grabbed me: "I could tell from Dao Zai Xiong's tone that he was very unhappy. Will he make things difficult for you? Ah Xiang, that gossipy old woman, I don't know how she exaggerated and embellished her complaints..."