Chapter 1: The Prodigal Son

What is character?!

Character is when you're squatting in the outhouse, and someone else's wallet falls in, but you only drop your lighter.

Xu Feng always thought he had good character. He and a classmate were flirting with a beautiful woman in a bar at the same time. His classmate got slapped, but Xu Feng only got spat on. Of course, Xu Feng had made the first move.

Dragging his slightly drunk body, he walked unsteadily towards his residential complex, thinking about the lab report from the hospital. Xu Feng wondered if he had used up all his good character in the past twenty years.

"Boom..."

A bolt of lightning split the sky, followed by a thunderous roar. The weather in July was as unpredictable as a woman's temper. The lightning that tore through the air illuminated the sky as bright as snow. Xu Feng looked up and saw a layer of gray, gloomy clouds covering the sky.

"Damn, it's going to rain."

Xu Feng shook his head but didn't quicken his pace. He continued to walk unsteadily. The cool breeze before the heavy rain helped to sober him up a bit.

"Kid, it's about to rain. Hurry up and come over for shelter!" The cool wind was wild, and an old man selling goods under an eave saw Xu Feng's unsteady steps and called out to him.

Xu Feng turned his head and saw the old man's face, lined with wrinkles, a sign of the passage of time. Xu Feng didn't listen to him and go under the eave; instead, he smiled at the old man and said, "Old man, it's about to rain heavily. You should pack up and go home quickly."

The old man's face showed a smile, his wrinkles bunching together, not looking fierce but rather kind: "Hehe, let's wait a bit longer. I usually sell until two in the morning, and it's only midnight now."

Xu Feng took a few steps forward and casually picked out a few items from the old man's stall. He took out a hundred-yuan note and gave it to the old man without haggling. Anyone who persists in selling at two in the morning must have a hard life. Ten or twenty yuan might not mean much to him, but it could be a lifeline for the old man. Therefore, Xu Feng rarely haggled with street vendors, even when his girlfriend, who liked to haggle, was with him. He would stop her from haggling with them.

Who would be happy to sell on the street in the middle of the night if they had any other choice?!

The old man took the hundred-yuan note from Xu Feng, felt his pocket, and then said awkwardly, "Kid, I can't give you change. How about you give me the rest next time?"

Xu Feng smiled and said, "How about this. I'll take a few more pairs of slippers."

Xu Feng thought to himself that since he was going to drag something anyway, he might as well buy a few pairs of slippers from the old man. If it didn't work out, he could add some brand labels and sell them to his friends who liked brands for a few hundred yuan!

"But, a hundred yuan is still too much," the old man said honestly, looking a bit flustered. The slippers at the stall were only ten yuan a pair, and with the items Xu Feng had already chosen, it was only about seventy yuan.

Seeing the old man's reaction, Xu Feng was about to take a few more pairs of slippers when his gaze was caught by a stone. The stone wasn't particularly attractive, just a different color from ordinary bricks, probably due to moss turning it green.

"Old man, give me this stone, and we'll call it a hundred yuan," Xu Feng said to the old man, thinking that he could use the stone to smash the BMW parked under his building. Damn, it was too much of an eyesore.

The old man was equally stunned by Xu Feng's words. He had picked up the stone from an old house being demolished to weigh down his stall cloth to prevent it from being blown away. How could it be worth anything?!

"Kid..."

The old man was about to say something, but Xu Feng interrupted him, "Let's do it this way."

Without waiting for the old man's response, Xu Feng took a few pairs of slippers and a brick and walked away. The sky was still filled with lightning. However, the sight of Xu Feng carrying a brick in one hand and slippers in the other was extremely comical. A few women out for a night of fun saw him and giggled, covering their mouths.

Xu Feng whistled loudly at the women, but before he could flirt, they scolded him, "Whistle what? Whistle again, and I'll pluck your feathers."

Xu Feng was speechless, thinking that female hooligans were becoming more and more rampant.

The thunder continued, but the rain didn't fall. As Xu Feng entered the elevator and saw the BMW parked downstairs, he looked at the stone in his hand and smiled slyly: I'll drop this on you in a moment to get rid of the eyesore.