13: Chapter 13 Mother's Phone Call

The sound of the car's Bluetooth connecting was exceptionally jarring in the enclosed cabin.

"Chen Fan! What on earth are you trying to do?!"

Su Wanqing's voice rang out through the top-tier Burmester sound system, carrying a distinct tearful tone and hysterical panic.

Su Nianyao, sitting in the passenger seat, flinched, instinctively looking at the man beside her.

Chen Fan held the steering wheel with one hand as the G-Wagon drove steadily along the Jiangcheng expressway. There wasn't a trace of panic on his face; instead, he reached out to lower the volume of the audio system, his tone surprisingly calm.

"I'm driving, with my daughter."

"Don't try to distract me!" Su Wanqing couldn't listen to reason at all. She roared from the other end of the phone, "Muyang just called me, saying you gave him a card with five million! And Nianyao... the school forum is going crazy, saying a man driving a G-Wagon bought out the entire Chanel counter! That was you, right? It was you, wasn't it?!"

Chen Fan glanced at his daughter beside him. Su Nianyao was looking down, her fingers twisting the seatbelt, not daring to make a sound.

"It was me." Chen Fan admitted it quite readily.

The other end of the line was suddenly silent for two seconds, followed by an even greater outburst of breakdown.

"Chen Fan, are you crazy? Have you lost your mind?" Su Wanqing's voice trembled; it was a physiological reaction to extreme fear. "Yesterday you were still a food delivery driver without even a decent raincoat! Today, you have luxury cars and millions—are you... have you been doing something illegal?"

In Su Wanqing's understanding, there were only two possibilities for getting rich overnight. Either she was dreaming, or it was a crime.

"Did you rob a bank? Or are you dealing drugs? Chen Fan, let me tell you, if you want to die, go die somewhere else, don't drag the kids down with you! Muyang and Nianyao are only nineteen; they have their lives ahead of them, they can't have a father who's in prison!"

The more Su Wanqing spoke, the more agitated she became. Through the phone, one could hear her rapid breathing and the sound of heavy objects hitting the table.

Chen Fan pressed the brake, slowly pulling the car over to the emergency lane on the side of the road.

He turned on the hazard lights and pulled a cigarette from his pocket. Just as he was about to light it, he looked at his daughter beside him and tucked the cigarette back away.

"Wanqing, listen to me." Chen Fan's voice deepened.

"I won't listen! Return those things immediately! Give the money back! Then go turn yourself in!" Su Wanqing cried out. "We don't need your filthy money. We've survived these nineteen years without you!"

"I can't return them." Chen Fan interrupted her, his tone carrying an unquestionable firmness.

"The money is clean. I didn't rob a bank, and I didn't deal drugs. I earned this through investments; every cent can stand up to scrutiny."

"Investments? What did you use to invest? Did you invest with your life?" Su Wanqing didn't believe it at all.

Chen Fan watched the moving headlights outside the window, his gaze as deep as an ancient well.

"You can just consider it something I traded my life for."

He spoke into the car's microphone, enunciating every word: "Nineteen years ago, I took three hundred thousand and sold my soul. Now, I've redeemed my soul, and brought back a little interest along the way."

"Wanqing, the Chen Fan of the past is dead. The current me only wants to pay back what I owed the three of you over these nineteen years, with interest."

There was only heavy breathing on the other end of the line. Su Wanqing seemed stunned by these words and didn't speak for a long while.

Chen Fan continued, "Let Muyang keep the card and spend it. Nianyao's perfume is what she deserves. And this is just the beginning. From now on, I want the whole world to know that no one can mess with Su Wanqing's children."

"You..." Su Wanqing's voice softened slightly, but it was still full of suspicion. "Did you really... not do anything bad?"

"No." Chen Fan softened his voice. "Get some sleep early, and don't let your imagination run wild. Take care of yourself, and don't overwork yourself."

Having said that, he hung up the phone directly.

The silence of death returned to the cabin.

Su Nianyao secretly glanced at Chen Fan's profile. For that moment just now, she felt a sense of security she had never experienced before from this stranger of a father. He was like a mountain, blocking all the wind and rain.

"Dad..." Su Nianyao called out softly, "Mom is actually just worried about you."

"I know." Chen Fan restarted the car, a bitter smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "She's just been scared by me."

...

Yunzhou, Fenglinwan Residential District.

In the dim bedroom, Su Wanqing tightly gripped that old phone with a cracked screen, sitting blankly on the edge of the bed.

The wall clock ticked away.

"Earned from investments... clean..." She repeated these words over and over.

Reason told her this was definitely a lie. What kind of investment could earn tens of millions in a day? Yet, the determined tone Chen Fan had used on the phone, that voice that sounded gentle despite its overbearing nature, felt like a feather, lightly tickling the softest part of her heart.

Nineteen years.

She was used to bargaining with vegetable vendors like a shrew, used to carrying gas canisters like a man, and used to using bitterness and sharpness to disguise her own fragility.

No one had ever said to her, "Take this money and spend it," or "No one can mess with you."

Su Wanqing subconsciously raised her head, looking at the mirror on the table that had a crack running through it.

The woman in the mirror had messy hair, red-rimmed eyes, and fine crow's feet at the corners of her eyes.

Yet, a faint blush appeared on that pale, haggard face.

"Su Wanqing, why are you being so pathetic?"

She scolded herself in the mirror, reaching out to slap her cheeks hard, trying to make herself sober up.

"A man's mouth is a deceiving ghost. He said he loved you for a lifetime back then, then turned around and ran off with three hundred thousand. Now that he has money, who knows how many vixens he's keeping on the side; he's just back to show off."

She threw the phone under the pillow and pulled the quilt over her head.

But the rhythm of her heartbeat just wouldn't slow down.

That bastard, has he really returned?

...

Jiangcheng.

Chen Fan parked the car in front of a five-star hotel.

"Stay here tonight, don't go back to the dormitory." Chen Fan handed Su Nianyao a room card. "That dormitory is a foul mess; it's better not to stay there. Tomorrow I'll have zero... I'll have someone help you handle the day-student paperwork, and from now on, I'll have someone drive you to and from school."

Su Nianyao took the room card, looking at the magnificent lobby before her, feeling as if she were in a dream.

"Dad, what about you?"

"I still have some things to handle." Chen Fan didn't get out of the car, only rolling down the window to take a deep look at his daughter. "Nianyao, remember Dad's words. From today on, no one can bully you. Whoever makes you unhappy, you make them unhappy. If the sky falls, Dad will hold it up."

Su Nianyao's eyes turned red, and she nodded heavily.

Watching his daughter walk into the hotel entrance, the warmth on Chen Fan's face vanished instantly.

"zero."

"Present, Host."

"Look up that guy named Wang Qiang at the Yunzhou night market." Chen Fan commanded coldly while turning the steering wheel to make a U-turn. "Also, buy out the fried rice stall next to Su Wanqing. No matter the cost, I want it now."

"Understood. According to the data, Wang Qiang has frequently harassed Su Wanqing recently, attempting to force Su Wanqing to owe him a favor by driving down the purchase price."

"Heh, a toad wishing to eat swan meat."

Chen Fan floored the accelerator, the G-Wagon letting out a beast-like roar as it surged onto the expressway heading to Yunzhou.

It was a journey of several hundred kilometers. But he couldn't wait a single moment.

Since the debts from back then hadn't been paid off, he would start paying them back from a bowl of spicy hot pot.

"Wang Qiang, is it?" Chen Fan watched the pitch-black road ahead, a cold glint flashing in his eyes. "After tonight, there won't be anyone by your name in the Yunzhou night market."