Collecting Rent From All Realms, Even Empresses Must Pay Tribute
Ch. 57 - Phone, Gold, and the Girl

"ChuanChuan, I'm going to my club activities."

After school, Ye Chuan quickly packed his things, said goodbye to Luo Xi, and left the campus.

He was going to buy a SIM card for Lan XiaoKe today, and he had a few other errands to run.

Passing by a mobile phone shop, Ye Chuan glanced at the sign and walked in.

"I need a data SIM card," he said as he entered.

"ID card, one hundred yuan," the shop owner said without looking up, taking out a selection of plans for Ye Chuan to choose from.

"Mm." Ye Chuan handed over his ID card, purchased the SIM card, and chose a number to activate it.

The shop owner glanced at it and chuckled. "Ending in 4444, you young people sure like these kinds of numbers."

(ED: In Chinese culture, the number 4 is often avoided due to its phonetic similarity to the word for "death" (死, si). While not universally considered an omen of death, it's associated with bad luck, particularly in Cantonese dialects. This leads to people avoiding using "4" in phone numbers, license plates, and even building floors. )

Ye Chuan chuckled along. "It's not like it's for a living person."

Shop owner: "?"

What a creepy thing to say.

"Give me two more phones, something with good quality, no lag," Ye Chuan said, then paused. 

"Actually, three. And one of them has to be the best phone you have in the store."

The shop owner looked at the Redmi in Ye Chuan's hand and took out two new Redmi models.

As for the best phone in the store, the owner said, "Our best phone is the iPhone Pork Belly Max, 256GB." (TL: This is likely a humorous, slightly distorted name for the iPhone Pro Max.)

He added, "Ten thousand yuan."

"Then forget it," Ye Chuan said.

The shop owner wasn't surprised. After all, Ye Chuan, looking like a student with a cheap Redmi, wasn't the typical customer for such a phone. But in the next second, Ye Chuan said,

"I want the 1TB version. 256GB isn't enough for storing photos. And I want the highest memory configuration for those two Redmis as well."

The shop owner froze. "We don't accept Huabei or installments."

(TL: Huabei is a credit service offered by Alipay. It's like a virtual credit card, enabling users to make payments in installments)

"I'll pay by scanning the code," Ye Chuan said impatiently.

"The iPhone is fourteen thousand, and the two Redmis are three thousand each, so twenty thousand in total," the shop owner said.

"Twenty thousand, fine." Ye Chuan readily scanned the code and left with the phones, leaving the shop owner completely bewildered.

Outside the store, Ye Chuan looked at the bags in his hands and stored them in his backpack space. It was convenient not having to carry anything.

Continuing down the street, Ye Chuan noticed a gold shop.

After a moment's thought, he walked in.

"What can I help you with?" a sales assistant asked, seeing a customer enter.

"I have some gold here, I'd like you to make a bracelet out of it," Ye Chuan said, placing the gold nuggets he obtained from the adventure on the glass counter.

The sales assistant led Ye Chuan to the workshop in the back. The goldsmith, after hearing Ye Chuan's request, said,

"A plain band, right?"

The goldsmith put the gold nuggets on a scale and weighed them. "Young man, the weight of this gold isn't right."

Ye Chuan froze. Not right?

"This gold isn't 999 purity." The goldsmith tested the gold with a device and pointed at the reading. "It's not very pure. Where did you get it?"

"Family heirloom," Ye Chuan said casually.

But the purity wasn't too low either, just a slight discount for being 900 gold instead of 999.

"A family heirloom?" The goldsmith touched the gold, but didn't ask any further questions.

"Add some more gold to it and make a silver-gold bracelet. Just tell me the price," Ye Chuan said.

A silver-gold bracelet?

This was a rare request, but the goldsmith didn't ask why, just if there were any other requirements.

"If possible, engrave the letters 'LX' on the inside of the bracelet."

"Alright." The goldsmith asked, "What's the circumference?"

Circumference referred to the bracelet size. Ye Chuan didn't know, so he shook his head. 

"I don't know. Can you estimate based on height and weight?"

"Sure."

"One meter sixty-eight, a little over a 100 jin."(TL: 斤 (jīn) is around 500-600 grams, so around 50-60kg.)

"Then 56 circumference should be fine."

The goldsmith started working. About two hours later, Ye Chuan received the finished bracelet.

"I added some gold, and with the labor fee, it's ten thousand yuan in total," the goldsmith said. 

"The purity is guaranteed, you watched the whole process, you can have it tested."

"Okay." Ye Chuan paid and left the shop, satisfied.

Spending money felt good.

…

There were no afternoon classes today, so Ye Chuan arrived home at just past five.

The house was quiet. Ye Chuan put down his things and sat down. 

Suddenly, a pale female face emerged from the wall beside him. "Yoooooooo~~~young man, you're back?"

Ye Chuan: "..."

Wasn't that a bit scary?

Seeing Lan XiaoKe pop out of the wall, Ye Chuan resisted the urge to squash her and pulled her out. 

"If you pop out of the wall again, I'll twist your head off."

"Grumpy."

"Huh?" Ye Chuan raised his voice.

"Oh, my lord, your magnanimity knows no bounds," Lan XiaoKe floated behind Ye Chuan and started massaging his back, acting subservient. 

"Did you… buy me a phone?"

"I did," Ye Chuan took out a Redmi from the bag. "Here."

"Yahoo!" Lan XiaoKe excitedly spun in the air.

"I've already inserted the SIM card," Ye Chuan said. "Do you need me to teach you how to use it?"

"I know how to use it. I've been watching those students use smartphones through the ventilation ducts," Lan XiaoKe waved her hand dismissively.

But soon, Lan XiaoKe encountered a serious problem.

She couldn't use facial recognition.

The front camera couldn't detect her face.

After struggling for a while, she silently disabled the feature.

Ye Chuan watched Lan XiaoKe playing with the phone and asked, "By the way, what about your family?"

After all these years, wasn't she curious?

"Don't know, probably dead," Lan XiaoKe replied casually.

"That's a very casual answer."

"If my family had cared about me, I wouldn't have choked to death on instant noodles," This seemed to have touched a nerve. 

Her movements slowed as she touched the hair covering one of her eyes and floated towards her room.

"I'm going back to my room."

"Mm."

After watching Lan XiaoKe leave, Ye Chuan took the other phone and knocked on Bai QianShuang's door. "QianShuang."

"Just come in," Bai QianShuang's voice came from inside.

Ye Chuan pushed the door open and saw Bai QianShuang reading.

He glanced at the book—

The Art of Communication

"You're… reading that?" Ye Chuan asked.

Bai QianShuang nodded expressionlessly. "I can learn a lot from it."

"Like what?"

"Using more intimate terms can make communication easier." Bai QianShuang thought for a moment, then said to Ye Chuan, 

"Husband, are you hungry?"

Ye Chuan: "?!"

(SHMOLL: Remember friends, even if you have put little effort into completing a task, always exaggerate it. YC has taught me that by doing this even the Empress would call me her partner.)