The old man said, “Pocket money? Are you thinking of being a full-time househusband at home? Or just a dandy who amuses himself with idle pursuits?”

Gu Chen sighed and said generously, “Grandpa, the truth is I really don’t have the capability in that regard. It’s better to give the opportunity to my younger siblings.”

The old man glanced at the hopeful younger members of the second and third branches and snorted, “Let them prove their worth first.” He decided not to insist on having Gu Chen take on a role in the company.

Li Jiashu, thinking of what he’d heard about Gu Chen’s background, felt a bit sympathetic. It was indeed too much to expect Gu Chen to suddenly take over a company. He comforted Gu Chen, saying, “It’s alright, brother-in-law. When my brother’s not around, I’ll look out for you.”

He didn’t hold any disdain; the fact that his brother had Li and Deng with him indicated that Gu Chen was important to his brother, so he naturally felt the need to protect his innocent and vulnerable brother-in-law.

Gu Chen nodded, smiling without any psychological burden, “Alright, thank you, Jiashu.”

The old man didn’t stay at the dinner table for long; he left after giving a few instructions to the younger generation.

Uncle Xu helped him upstairs and whispered, “Although the Gu family cooperates with us, their ambitions are great. They haven’t shown any interest in Hua’an despite it being right in front of them. In my opinion, this Gu Chen is either a fool or hiding his talents…”

The old man replied, “This child’s eyes seem quite straightforward. Let’s keep an eye on him for a few days.”

After the old man left, Li Jiashu relaxed. The banquet was meant to expand his network in the country. He used his strong social skills to quickly integrate into the domestic social circle and met several influential people in his desired industry.

The younger members at the main table gradually left. Gu Chen, however, took his time dining at the main table. With only some elders left, no one bothered him.

Messages from Gu Zhongmao’s secretary kept coming in, causing Gu Chen’s phone to vibrate incessantly: “Mr. Gu says to keep an eye on the commercial developments of the Li family and report back to the family. Especially the subsidiary called Hua’an—if possible, try to engage with them more…”

It was too noisy. Gu Chen decided to put the messages on Do Not Disturb.

—

As night fell and the bustle of the day faded away, Gu Chen and Li Jiashu were left at the old residence. They were told it was to keep the old man company for a few days.

Li Jiashu looked forlorn. He had planned several social gatherings with friends over the next few days, but now he was stuck accompanying the old man, living out a senior citizen’s life. It felt like mental torture, watching others enjoy themselves while he was tied down!

He was furiously texting his friends, conveying the bad news.When the old man came over, he saw Li Jiashu furiously poking at his phone and shook his head in disapproval. “You young people, always glued to your phones…”

Gu Chen, looking up, asked, “Is something wrong, Grandfather?”

The old man paused upon seeing Gu Chen beside him.

Li Jiashu turned his head to look at Gu Chen and also stopped.

His “incompetent” and “unserious” brother-in-law was actually reading a book?

Li Jiashu leaned in to see the title: “The Principles of a Healthy Lifestyle: Traditional Chinese Medicine for Preventing All Illnesses”

Li Jiashu was stunned. “Brother-in-law, seriously? You’re so composed, even reading a book like this just to impress Grandpa? Are you planning to use magic to counter magic?”

The old man, also skeptical about whether young people could truly engage with such a book, asked, “Cough, Little Gu, is it interesting?”

Gu Chen flipped through the book, showing a few creased corners, and replied matter-of-factly, “This book contains some dietary remedies and reasonable principles. We could have the chef prepare some of these recipes to try tomorrow.”

Li Jiashu was taken aback. “Brother-in-law, you’re really something. While I was trying to figure out how to escape, you’ve already planned what we’ll be eating tomorrow at the old residence?”

“Then let Chef Chen make them tomorrow,” the old man said, not questioning whether Gu Chen was making it up. As long as the attitude was right, that was enough.

He added, “Remember to go to bed early. We don’t have late-night parties here.” With that, he turned and went upstairs.

Once the old man left, Li Jiashu couldn’t help but give Gu Chen a thumbs up, whispering, “Brother-in-law, you’re awesome! We managed to avoid Grandpa’s lectures so quickly today, all thanks to you.”

Gu Chen glanced at him without changing her expression, then lowered her head to continue reading the book.

Li Jiashu asked, “Brother-in-law, why are you still reading? Grandpa’s gone; you don’t have to pretend anymore. Come on! Let me show you around the old residence!”

Gu Chen replied, “It’s quite interesting. I’ll finish reading it first.”

Li Jiashu was puzzled. “What’s so interesting about that? Brother-in-law, what exactly are you reading?”

Gu Chen replied, “Just reading. Maybe it will help me live longer.”

Li Jiashu was about to question why his young brother-in-law was so worried about dying, but then he saw her point at a line in the book: “Health preservation starts from a young age…”

Li Jiashu was speechless. “Alright then,” he said, sitting back down.

However, Gu Chen’s phone on the coffee table kept vibrating, with messages popping up.

Curious and with nothing better to do, Li Jiashu glanced at the phone screen. The contact was named “Shen Yuan,” and the message read: “Mr. Gu, are you done with your business? How about a game?”

Li Jiashu thought that his brother-in-law must be pretending. After all, someone was inviting her to play a game.

Yet, Gu Chen continued reading the book, not even glancing at her phone. This made Li Jiashu anxious. He didn’t want his brother-in-law to miss out on the game just because she was pretending to read.

He waited and waited, but ten minutes passed, and Gu Chen still didn’t look at her phone. Then another message popped up, and Li Jiashu, worried it might be a reminder for the game, couldn’t resist checking. It was from someone named “Du Ruiqing,” saying, “Tomorrow night, Mr. Zhong is hosting a gathering. He asked me to invite you.”

Li Jiashu thought, “Brother r-in-law’s nightlife seems quite lively after all. So that’s why he’s reading health books—he must be hiding something.”

However, after the initial glance at the messages, Li Jiashu decided not to look anymore. He had seen it by accident the first time, and thought it was a reminder for Gu Chen to play a game the second time. Checking again would be intrusive.

But after another ten minutes, Gu Chen remained unmoved, leisurely flipping through the book.

“Ahem!” Li Jiashu finally couldn’t hold back and said, “Brother-in-law, I accidentally saw on your phone that someone named Shen Yuan invited you to play a game.”

“Oh, really?” At Li Jiashu’s reminder, Gu Chen finally set the book aside and picked up her phone.

He saw the message from over twenty minutes ago inviting him to play a game, followed by Shen Yuan’s follow-up messages: “Mr. Gu, are you there?”

A few minutes later: “Sorry, Mr. Gu, I couldn’t find anyone to play with [crying.jpg]. After watching your jungle playthrough, I can’t fall for another jungler. Once you’ve seen the vast sea, you can’t appreciate a mere pond; I’d love to see you play again.”

Seeing no response, Shen Yuan added: “Mr. Gu, you must be busy. I hope I’m not disturbing you. Please disregard what I said earlier.”

Gu Chen replied, “You’re not disturbing me, but I’m sorry, I don’t play games, so I can’t join you.”

Shen Yuan responded immediately: “No way!!! You’re way better than professional players. Come on, come on, I refuse to believe you don’t play.”

Seeing that Gu Chen had started replying, Li Jiashu thought she might be getting ready to play a game and asked, “By the way, brother-in-law, what games do you play? We could play together.”

Gu Chen glanced at Li Jiashu and said, “I don’t play games.”

He was nearly driven mad by the noise from these two kids. “But do you play ‘RLZ’? There’s a professional player here who’s won a world championship…”

Li Jiashu was excited, “Yes, I do! Why wouldn’t I?” Although he had just returned to the country and wasn’t very familiar with these professional players, he thought the hype was substantial and expected them to rank up easily.

So, Gu Chen set them up to play games together and went back to reading her book.

However, ten minutes later… both of them were fuming.

“How are you so bad? Aren’t you a world champion? Why can’t you carry me!!!”

“I’m the mid-laner! The mid-laner! How can I carry you when you’re so bad? You messed up the jungle rhythm completely! Why don’t you have Mr. Gu’s jungle talent, being Mr. Gu’s brother?”

“A world champion finding so many excuses? Losing should make you reflect on yourself…”

Gu Chen closed his book and rubbed his temples. It was his fault; he shouldn’t have paired these two together. Xiao Yuan, usually quiet, turned out to be so talkative when playing games… and Jiashu, a young talent with a master’s degree and early graduation, shouldn’t be so unstable…

After arguing for a while, Li Jiashu finally turned to Gu Chen and said, “Brother-in-law, he says you’re good at games. Why don’t you lead us? Let him reflect on himself.”

Gu Chen: “……” What kind of trouble had he gotten into?

Fortunately, at that moment, Li Tingqin called and rescued him: “Xiao Gu, how’s everything today? Have you run into any problems?”

Gu Chen sighed, “……Actually, I have.”

Li Tingqin: “Don’t worry, just speak your mind. It’s the first time you’re opening up about encountering problems.”

Gu Chen, however, teased, “Well… Mr. Li, could you arrange a few people to play games with your brother? We already have a mid-laner; the other positions could use some help.”

Li Jiashu, startled by this, quickly interjected, “Brother! No need, no need! I just want brotherr-in-law to guide me; he’s really good…”

Li Tingqin thought for a moment, wondering if Gu Chen wanted to play but was too shy to say so. Indeed, Gu Chen had always been reserved and never showed any particular hobbies. He said, “Got it. I’ll arrange it.”

Li Jiashu: “?” Brother, why aren’t you listening to me? I really don’t need this; I just need brother-in-law to lead.

Twenty minutes later, the effect of Shen Yuan’s live stream went through the roof. In the group queue room, one colleague after another entered, looking at each other in confusion.

【Because Mr. Gu didn’t want to play games with Xiao Yuan, he hired a bunch of retired professional players?】