Chapter 26: The Closer to Home, the More Anxious the Heart

After receiving two million from Ding Sanshi, Gu Cheng bought a plane ticket and flew back to his hometown in Qiantang the very next day. Pan Jieying naturally accompanied him; it was her first time on a plane. During takeoff, the force pushing her back made her a little nervous, and she only felt safe and warm when she grasped her younger brother’s hand.

“Ah Cheng has really grown up—it’s his turn to protect me now.”

The two-hour flight passed quickly. After leaving the airport, Gu Cheng hailed a taxi and let his cousin guide the way. The taxi wound through the city, twisting and turning through the somewhat dilapidated old quarter before finally stopping at the entrance of a narrow alley outside Qingbo Gate.

Everything felt unfamiliar to Gu Cheng—this was his grandparents’ ancestral home.

In the Qiantang of the year 2000, large-scale urban renewal had yet to begin, and many old houses from previous dynasties still stood by West Lake. After Gu Cheng’s aunt divorced seven or eight years ago, his grandmother had left the ancestral home to her daughter and granddaughter, moving in with her son and grandson, who had received a new apartment.

Before Gu Cheng’s father died, he should have received his share of the housing. But he died in a car accident, and compensation had to be paid for the driver’s car and the passengers’ medical bills. According to the inheritance laws of Huaxia, if the legal heirs renounce their inheritance, they are not responsible for the deceased’s debts. At the time, the house wasn’t worth much, so Gu Cheng gave up his claim, allowing the creditors to sell off the new apartment and divide the proceeds. Even after that, there was still a shortfall of several tens of thousands, but with the debtor dead, the debt was erased.

Later, Gu Cheng went alone to Dongyi to seek his fortune, and his grandmother moved back to the ancestral home to live with her daughter and granddaughter.

Looking at the worn and weathered house, Gu Cheng was filled with emotion. “It’s really fallen into disrepair. The pillars are hollowed out by termites and have to be reinforced with wooden slats.”

Pan Jieying tugged at her brother. “Stop staring and let’s go say hello. I called Mom yesterday and told her you were coming back—they’ve been waiting anxiously.”

Following her lead, Gu Cheng stepped into the courtyard and saw his aunt, Gu Wen, hanging laundry.

Her reaction was a bit better than his cousin’s had been—after a brief moment of surprise, she tightly gripped Gu Cheng and dragged him upstairs. At the doorway, she rubbed her hands together, as if afraid of startling the old woman, and called out in a carefully modulated voice, “Mom, Ah Cheng is back!”

Inside, an elderly woman sat with her back to the door in a wicker chair, seemingly knitting. At Gu Wen’s words, her metal knitting needles clattered to the floor.

“Careful, Mom—don’t trip on the yarn.” Gu Wen couldn’t worry about anything else and rushed in to support her mother as she tried to stand.

Gu Cheng hurried in without even taking off his shoes, rushing to steady the old woman.

This was, of course, his grandmother, Quan Yinglian.

Although the soul from his later life felt little kinship with these people, the effect of their souls’ fusion lingered. Their deep concern for him left his heart warmed.

“Grandma, I’m back. I’ve made something of myself.”

“It’s good you’re back. That’s enough.” His grandmother, Quan Yinglian, murmured the words over and over, saying nothing else. Whether her grandson had succeeded or not was the least of her concerns.

She was only sixty, but her hair was already white. What woman could keep her hair dark after losing her father as a child, her husband in her fifties, and her son in her sixties? Enduring such triple blows, it was no wonder she had gone gray.

Gu Cheng, her only grandson, was always on her mind.

Gu Cheng offered a few words of comfort and helped her to the rattan sofa. But Quan Yinglian couldn’t sit still; she got up to fetch the half-knitted sweater and held it up to Gu Cheng, then let out a self-deprecating sigh.

“Ah, I must be getting senile, knitting it this small. Chengcheng grows taller every year…”

Gu Cheng hurried to smooth things over. “It’s all right, Grandma. It doesn’t matter if it’s a little small—I can have someone alter it and it’ll still fit.”

Pan Jieying pinched Gu Cheng, thinking he was hopeless at comforting people, not even saying the right thing. “Grandma, you’re not old at all! Now that Ah Cheng is doing well, you just wait for the good days ahead.”

With the two siblings by her side, their grandmother was gradually reassured.

That evening, Aunt Gu Wen cooked a tableful of dishes: sweet and sour ribs, home-style tofu, braised perch with scallions, shredded celery with three delicacies, and a bamboo shoot and radish pork bone stew. Four dishes and a soup—a rare family meal together.

As he ate, Gu Cheng felt a sudden urge to weep.

The food was simple enough, but this was his first meal at home in two years.

Looking at the dilapidated house, he felt uneasy and suggested, “Grandma, Auntie, is it still convenient living here? House prices aren’t high right now, but new developments are hard to come by. Why not buy a cleaner second-hand apartment for now?”

Gu Wen didn’t comment, watching her mother’s reaction. After a moment’s thought, Quan Yinglian said, “We’re doing fine in the ancestral home; why bring this up?”

Gu Cheng forced a smile. “We can keep the ancestral home without living in it. I never said we had to sell it. The wooden stairs creak, and it’s damp. If we buy a new place, it’ll be easier for my cousin when she goes to school, too.”

Perhaps that last point swayed her. His grandmother lowered her chopsticks and slowly said, “Xiaoying said you’ve made some money and that it’s all legitimate business. I haven’t asked you about it. But your career is just starting—don’t be too extravagant. You’re only sixteen, and others your age are still in high school. Even if you go back and study for a year, then retake the college entrance exam next year, you won’t be behind. Don’t be tempted by quick money when you’re young and get carried away.”

“Don’t worry, Grandma. Not going to college doesn’t mean I’m not learning. Times have changed. Many university courses are outdated, teaching knowledge that’s been obsolete for over a decade and is useless now. As for the money…”

Here Gu Cheng paused, glancing at his cousin.

Pan Jieying immediately caught on—her brother wanted to coordinate their stories. She held up two fingers, signaling not to scare the elders.

“It’s only about two hundred thousand. But my business doesn’t require much capital, so everything I earn can be spent.”

“Two hundred thousand? That’s impressive at your age. When your father…” The amount startled the elders, and they were about to launch into a lecture.

“Grandma, let’s not dwell on the past. There’s an internet bubble now, and inflation is fast. Compared to two years ago, money isn’t worth as much. Two hundred thousand isn’t as much as you think. And I reckon house prices will keep rising for the next few years—buying won’t be a loss.”

Quan Yinglian gave a kindly smile, persuaded by her grandchildren.

“You young people handle it as you see fit. I’m old—I don’t understand these things anymore.”

After dinner, Gu Wen took Pan Jieying’s bedding to her own room, and the two of them slept together on the big bed. She cleared out her daughter’s room for Gu Cheng.

Gu Cheng felt rather embarrassed—he’d come home only to take over his cousin’s bedroom and insisted on sleeping on a mat in the dining room.

But Pan Jieying persuaded him herself. “Ah Cheng, I’m a university student. I have a dorm at school and rarely come home. The room’s empty otherwise.”

Gu Cheng realized he couldn’t refuse this kindness.

That night, lying in his cousin’s bed, he became even more determined to buy a new apartment as soon as possible. It didn’t need to be anything fancy—just in a good neighborhood and close to his cousin’s university.

…

The next morning, the siblings discussed it and bought a small apartment near Qianjiang University’s Xixi campus. In the Qiantang of 2000, housing prices were indeed low—a seventy-square-meter unit on the second floor of a walk-up building, fully furnished, for just two hundred thousand. The location was convenient, just a bus ride away from the ancestral home at Qingbo Gate.

Gu Cheng knew his elders weren’t used to the luxury of taxis, so they had to pick a place with good bus connections.

The purchase went smoothly—like buying groceries. They signed the contract, paid, and got the keys all on the same day. Pan Jieying went in to have a look and was satisfied; with a few days of cleaning by a housekeeper, it would be ready. The deed was in Pan Jieying’s name, and she would handle the transfer within a month, since Gu Cheng might not be able to stay in the country that long.

The purchase was shared with the family the same day. Everyone was delighted. They packed up their things from the old house, bought a few new items, and moved in the next week.

After moving to the west of the city, they found themselves living next to the Digital City mall, with the headquarters of Eastern Communications and a large Huaxia Telecom branch on the same street.

Gu Cheng wasn’t particularly busy at the time—just overseeing his business with Ding Sanshi. Whenever he had spare time, he’d wander around, check out Eastern Communications, visit Huaxia Telecom, and get a feel for the market.

His main concern was gathering information on server leasing and internet bandwidth costs—preparing for the day he would secure the rights to operate “Legend.” For an online game company, the biggest hardware expense was server rental or purchase and contracting bandwidth from the telecom companies.

In the future, he wouldn’t have to handle these things personally, but he needed to know the market rates to keep his staff in line.

Pan Jieying was in her final year of university. With only her thesis defense left, she had plenty of free time to help Gu Cheng with price inquiries, or to study books and materials on the internet and entertainment industries to build up her knowledge.

Aunt Gu Wen had originally worked as an accountant at a state-owned enterprise, at the same place as her ex-husband. After their divorce, not yet thirty-five, she didn’t want to endure gossip at her old job and resigned to keep books for private businesses. Now, just over forty, she was still years from retirement.

Gu Cheng and Pan Jieying agreed that, after a few months, when Gu Cheng’s company was up and running domestically, they could have Aunt Gu help with the finances.

Once the business grew, a family-run structure would no longer suffice, and Gu Cheng didn’t want his aunt to be overworked. But in the early stages, nothing was set in stone—trust mattered more than skill.

Besides business, Gu Cheng was also worried about getting out of shape after leaving the entertainment company and wanted to join a gym.

But in 2000, he found no gym that met his standards. He had to settle for using Pan Jieying’s student ID to get a punch card for the university swimming pool. University pools weren’t open to the public, so there were no outsiders, and it was clean.

Every day, Gu Cheng managed his business, researched the market, and swam to stay fit. In the blink of an eye, more than half a month had passed, and it was already mid-June. Only half a month remained until Huang Yi’s IPO on the Nasdaq.