"..."

Tan Zongming knew all too well that he was capable of it; this kid had ruined more than his fair share of collectible-grade fine wine.

Not wanting to engage with him, Tan Zongming smiled and shook hands with Ye Zhenzhen.

"Xiao Ye, you're here too."

"Big Brother Tan, long time no see," Ye Zhenzhen greeted him with a smile as well.

"It has indeed been a few years," Tan Zongming recalled. "I heard you're working at a research institute. Is everything going well?"

As they chatted, Tan Zongming ushered the three of them to sit down in the reception hall.

"And who is this?" Tan Zongming asked, looking at Chen Cheng with a puzzled expression.

Chen Cheng pulled Zhao Rui over to introduce her to the two of them. "This is my Senior Apprentice Brother's daughter, Zhao Rui. She lives in the same residential complex as me. I ran into her when I was heading downstairs, so I brought her along to see the lair of a big capitalist."

"Rui Rui, this is Tan Zongming, the big boss Tan. You can just call him Uncle Tan."

Senior Apprentice Brother? Zhao Rui?

Connecting the relationship and the name, Tan Zongming immediately realized that this was Zhao Hui's daughter. He smiled and greeted her, "Rui Rui, welcome to my home."

The Little Girl was a bit reserved. "Hello, Uncle Tan."

Tan Zongming only then noticed the word "Uncle"?

He glared at Chen Cheng, wondering what nonsense he was teaching her, then said in a gentle tone, "Rui Rui, what do you call Chen Cheng?"

The Little Girl replied without hesitation, "Brother Cheng!"

"Is that so? You call him Brother Cheng, and he calls me Big Brother. If you call me Uncle, wouldn't that mess up the generations?" Tan Zongming guided her patiently.

Uh... Zhao Rui's little brain couldn't quite grasp the convoluted logic behind the two of them fussing over titles, but it seemed to make sense, so she couldn't help but nod.

Tan Zongming slapped his thigh. "There we go, that's right. You can call me Big Brother Tan, Big Brother, or Brother Ming."

"Big Brother?" Zhao Rui glanced at Chen Cheng and called out tentatively.

"Hey! Hey!" Tan Zongming was so happy that he slapped his thigh hard twice, then shouted toward the kitchen, "Wu Ma, Wu Ma, fruit! Bring some fruit!"

Usually, Tan Zongming wouldn't be this undignified, but he was very happy to have scored a point against Chen Cheng.

Little did he know that Chen Cheng was just letting him have this one, having not told Zhao Rui that Old Tan was only ten years younger than her father.

Otherwise, Zhao Rui would have immediately changed her address to Uncle Tan.

However, Zhao Rui had really hit the jackpot on this trip today.

She gained a business tycoon as a Big Brother.

Just think about it: this Little Girl was basically born in Rome—her dad is a bank president, and her uncle is a real estate magnate.

Yesterday, she met the Angel City and future young dragon of Shanghai, and today she gets to call a Shanghai business tycoon "Big Brother."

Isn't this the perfect protagonist template? A super level-up in generation?

"Reborn as Zhao Rui!"

Chen Cheng watched Old Tan's smug look with a grin, not wanting to spoil his fun, while already calculating in his mind what he should take with him when he left today.

"Big Brother, aren't you going to take us around to tour this big villa of yours?"

"..." Old Tan pursed his lips, clearly not very willing to give Chen Cheng a tour, but smiled at Ye Zhenzhen and Zhao Rui. "Xiao Ye, Rui Rui, come on, Big Brother will show you around."

"That would be great," Ye Zhenzhen was also quite happy.

It wasn't that she hadn't been to clubhouses before, but she was very curious to see how a house of that scale could be decorated to feel like a home.

It had to be said, Old Tan's villa—no, that wasn't right, it should be called an estate.

The estate was truly huge, covering an area estimated to be at least twenty-some mu.

There were two buildings: a main building and a secondary building.

The main building, including both above and below ground, was estimated to be three or four thousand square meters, complete with an indoor swimming pool, a media room, a wine cellar, and everything else.

The villa's facade was in an Italian style, full of artistic beauty, solemn and substantial. In the spacious and bright living room, a magnificent crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling, its brilliant light illuminating the entire space.

The villa's garden was like a beautiful painting, with all kinds of flowers competing in beauty and lush trees providing shade.

It was quite hot in July, so Old Tan only took them for a tour of the interior.

After the tour, Chen Cheng let Ye Zhenzhen take Zhao Rui off to play on their own.

Ye Zhenzhen knew that Chen Cheng had things to discuss with Tan Zongming, so she let Zhao Rui choose between the home theater, the swimming pool, and the garage. The Little Girl ended up choosing the garage. There was no helping it; Old Tan had a garage full of famous cars, including many supercars familiar to the public.

Old Tan naturally obliged, saying, "The keys are hanging on the counter, feel free to drive any of them."

In the end, Ye Zhenzhen chose an R8 to take Zhao Rui out for a joyride.

Chen Cheng got an itch to fish, so he asked Old Tan to bring out four fishing rods. The estate's lawn connected directly to the artificial lake of the entire villa district, which was perfect for Chen Cheng to satisfy his craving.

Old Tan had his butler send people to set up parasols by the lake and also prepared iced drinks and fruit.

Finally, Old Tan's white-haired butler brought people over to move the fans as well.

"Big Brother, this place of yours is truly nice." Chen Cheng lay on a lounge chair, blowing in the fan, sipping iced watermelon juice, and said to Tan Zongming, who had changed into beachwear and was sprawled out on a lounge chair.

"You like it? If you like it, come over and be my neighbor," Tan Zongming said, pointing to a spot diagonally across the lake. "That villa there happens to be listed for sale."

Chen Cheng slid his sunglasses down and looked in the direction he was pointing.

"It has a French-style facade, and the building area is about the same as mine. It's just that the garden is larger, with a total area of about 40 mu," Tan Zongming introduced.

"Whose house is it? Why are they looking to sell?" Chen Cheng asked, puzzled.

"It belongs to a foreign crown prince." Tan Zongming couldn't help but chuckle.

Uh... it wouldn't be another one of those oil-rich families, would it?

Forget it, who cares.

"How much?" Chen Cheng had experienced the place firsthand at Tan Zongming's, and now that he looked at it again, he was very tempted.

It just so happened that he was planning to buy a few larger houses; the one at Ode to Joy was a small two-bedroom apartment, which was just too small.

Tan Zongming clenched his fist and looked at Chen Cheng with a smile. "Ten targets."

He had always known that Chen Cheng was wealthy, but as to what his true background was, since Chen Cheng didn't say, he couldn't very well ask, and certainly shouldn't investigate.

"Holy crap!" Even Chen Cheng couldn't help but exclaim; this price was truly insane.

"If I listed my place, it would go for eight or nine. And that one has a garden that's seven or eight mu larger," Tan Zongming smiled.

Chen Cheng mused to himself: buying it would be ten. Renovating and redesigning the garden would probably take another three or five, otherwise, it wouldn't be worthy of its price tag.

If he brought all his girlfriends to live there—Dada in one room, Anna in one room, Aili in one room... if the master bedroom was big enough, wouldn't that be...

Hiss~ The image was too beautiful to imagine.

Chen Cheng was truly tempted. As for whether his girlfriends would be willing to share a roof with other women, that was a problem for later; for now, he had to create the conditions first.

"Big Brother, you wouldn't happen to be feeling lonely and cold living here all by yourself, and wanting me to come over to keep you company, would you?"

Chen Cheng remembered another thing; the villa he was sitting in, if one called it Tan Zongming's home...

That wasn't accurate. It was more like his private clubhouse; his elders were all living in Gusu.

For a golden bachelor like him to live in such a huge villa all by himself, it would be strange if he weren't lonely.

Tan Zongming didn't deny it, just shrugged. "What's there to hide?"

"...Alright then, I'll trouble you to help me contact them, Big Brother. It would be best if you could negotiate the price down a bit. I can pay in cash, either local currency or us dollars."

"Alright, I'll have someone look into it," Tan Zongming said, then added with a teasing smile, "It seems you've really earned quite a bit over these years, Xiao Cheng."

"I can't compare to you, Big Brother," Chen Cheng laughed sheepishly.

Although Tan Zongming hadn't fully taken control yet, Company Name was still a hundred-billion-level behemoth, involved in machinery, consumer electronics, real estate, and other fields. He was also a prominent figure in the Shanghai business world.

He couldn't compare to him, a mere brick-layer.

Then again, even the First Emperor relied on the accumulated strength of six generations.

He had only been in the game for a few years; how could he expect to be compared to the heritage of the Tan family's four generations?

"Let's not talk about that," Tan Zongming waved his hand, smiled, and asked again, "Do you think my acquisition of Red Star was the right move or not?"