CHAPTER 121: CHAPTER 121 MONEY!

Up to the clouds they soared!

BANG!

With a massive explosion, a special firework bloomed, its light incredibly vibrant.

Not only that, but the exploding embers formed several large words in the sky.

"Zhou Ruo, happy birthday!"

The crowd hadn’t even had time to be amazed.

A second firework shot into the sky.

BANG!

It exploded at its peak, once more forming words.

"Zhou Ruo, I love you!"

WHOOSH~

As the light from the second firework dissipated, a third soared upwards.

BANG!

It exploded, but this time, it didn’t form words. It formed a portrait of Zhou Ruo.

That’s right. The fireworks exploded to form Zhou Ruo’s face in the sky.

Good heavens!

Everyone who witnessed this gasped.

How much did those last three fireworks cost?! Such power was terrifying.

Someone immediately posted a video of the fireworks show online.

As for the woman at the center of it all, she was already moved to tears.

It was no wonder.

A birthday.

Three gifts.

The first gift was a twenty-yuan yellow sapphire necklace, representing preciousness. The second was a hand-drawn painting, representing thoughtfulness. The third was a grand fireworks display, representing romance.

What woman could possibly resist?

Zhou Ruo had never imagined that Xia Liang would prepare such birthday gifts for her. Forget receiving all of them together; just one would have been enough to move a girl to tears. She had only hoped for a meal and maybe a special birthday gift, but this... this far exceeded her expectations.

She wiped away her tears and looked deeply at Xia Liang.

"Darling, I love you," she whispered, offering up her lips.

Amid the applause of the onlookers, the two shared a long kiss.

After they finally separated, Chu Xia couldn’t help but complain again.

"I mean, Brother Xia, that has to be it, right? No more surprises?"

"No more, no more." This time, Xia Liang shook his head. He would have liked to do more, but this was all he had. He’d just copied the ideas from the internet, anyway.

Yes, in truth, all the birthday gifts were ideas he found online; Xia Liang had just used his System’s rewards to bring them to life.

"Alright, it’s getting late and a bit chilly," Xia Liang said, ushering everyone back into the villa. It was the end of September, nearly October, and the nights in Qingyun City were starting to get cold.

Once back inside the villa, some of the group went to the karaoke room to sing for hours. As for Xia Liang, he went back to his room to rest.

He picked up his phone, ready to defend Konoha Village, but he found that both Su Yi and Luu Qi had sent him messages.

Luu Qi had forwarded a Weibo post. The title read: "SHOCKING! Mysterious Tycoon in Qingyun City Sets Off Double-Digit-Priced Fireworks for the Beauty ’Zhou Ruo’!" Below it was the video of the fireworks display.

Xia Liang’s lips twitched. It hasn’t even been that long. Yet it was already all over the internet. The post had already surpassed ten thousand comments, filled with every kind of envy and jealousy imaginable.

ThatNightYouDidNotRefuseMe: My god! This Zhou Ruo is gorgeous! Even seeing her portrait in fireworks made my eyes light up!

Morgana Nana: I’m so envious of her. To have someone put on a fireworks show like that just for you...

IAmSourMilk: Pfft! What a spendthrift! Don’t they know they could donate that to poor, rural areas? Don’t they know how many people are starving?

TheWayOfTheFlameIsAnEternalNight-BringForthMyKeyboard!: Exactly! What’s the point of showing off just because you have some stinky money?

HateKeyboardWarriors4Lyfe: Sour grapes! My god, the jealousy is palpable. Some people wish they could show off like this, but they don’t have that kind of "stinky money."

...

He exited Weibo and read the next message, which was from Luu Qi.

"Brother! This was you, right?!"

It wasn’t a question, but a statement of fact. Xia Liang had no intention of hiding it and admitted it directly.

"It was me."

After replying, he returned to his message list and opened the one from Su Yi. It was just some standard daily greetings. After all, they had shared a bed for a night, even if nothing happened. He obviously couldn’t go back to ignoring her as he had before. Xia Liang casually sent back some simple replies: "Oh," "Really?," "Impressive," and so on.

Even so, Su Yi didn’t feel brushed off. On the contrary, she was quite happy. Previously, whenever she sent him a message on WeChat, Xia Liang would never reply.

As for Luu Qi, she responded almost immediately after he confessed.

[Angry.jpg] I don’t care! You gave your third sister-in-law a huge fireworks display for her birthday, so I’d better get one for mine too!

Xia Liang knew that if he didn’t agree, Luu Qi would probably start bombarding him with phone calls. He hastily replied.

[Okay!]

On the other end of the line, Luu Qi nodded in satisfaction upon receiving his response, muttering under her breath that he knew what was good for him. Her fingers flew across her phone’s keyboard.

[That’s more like it. You can get back to what you were doing. This princess is retiring for the night. Goodnight~]

She hit send.

[Goodnight.]

Only after Xia Liang replied with a "Goodnight" did Luu Qi contentedly put down her phone and slowly drift off to sleep.

After dealing with Luu Qi and chatting idly with Su Yi for a bit longer, the clock struck midnight. Zhou Ruo quietly slipped into the room. Cuddled in Xia Liang’s embrace, she watched him send the final "Goodnight" message on his phone. She knew then that their own private, nighttime story was about to begin.

...

While Xia Liang and Zhou Ruo had their night, the rest of the group partied until dawn in the KTV room.

The next morning, Xia Liang was the only one to wake up on time. He left without saying goodbye to the others, giving a quick farewell to Zhou Ruo before heading out. Xia Liang drove off in his i8, but he didn’t go to see Qin Shiya, who had been angry with him all day. Instead, he went straight to the Qingyun Music Academy.

He had promised to have a meal with Su Yi today—a promise made yesterday just to get her off his back. Just as he arrived at the gate, he saw Su Yi looking around. Xia Liang pulled the car up in front of her.

Su Yi, who was in the middle of a live stream, assumed it was just some guy trying to hit on her. She was about to make a playful jab at him for her audience when the car window rolled down, revealing Xia Liang.

"Get in," he called out.

Confused, Su Yi opened the passenger door and slid into the seat.

"Huh? You bought a new car?"

It was a natural question. Ever since she had known Xia Liang, he had driven a Lamborghini Poison. Her confusion wasn’t about him buying a new car, but about the price of this one—a mere two yuan. In her eyes, with Xia Liang’s fortune, any car he bought should be in the tens-of-millions range, like a high-end Lamborghini—a "big bull." This two-yuan car was completely at odds with his status.

"Yeah, bought it a little while ago. It’s my main ride these days."

Su Yi’s wide eyes were filled with confusion. She clearly couldn’t understand why Xia Liang would sideline his expensive supercar for a BMW.

"I like sports cars," Xia Liang stated plainly, "but they only seat two people. This one seats four."

"Oh..." Su Yi was speechless. That’s a powerful reason, I guess.