Zhou Mu brought Lin Fan to a villa on the outskirts of Shanghai.
Through the fence, a group of children could be seen playing joyfully in the courtyard. A man in his thirties was leading them in a game of "Eagle Catches the Chicken."
Zhou Mu led Lin Fan inside and called out,
"Xiao Kang, come see who's back."
Lin Fan stepped out from behind Zhou Mu.
Their eyes met. The next second, Xiao Kang rushed over and hugged Lin Fan tightly.
"Xiao Fan! Where the hell have you been all these years? I thought you'd forgotten your brother."
Lin Fan was a little speechless. Ever since they were kids, Xiao Kang had always treated him like a younger brother… even though he was only Zhou Mu's son and Lin Fan had called Zhou Mu "Grandpa." Their bond had gone beyond blood long ago.
But those details didn't matter. What mattered was—they were close. Like real family.
"How could I forget you? If Grandpa Zhou hadn't found me, I'd probably be dead already."
Xiao Kang slapped Lin Fan's shoulder, laughing heartily.
"Let's go! Since you're back, we brothers need a good drink!"
Just like that, he dragged Lin Fan off, waved goodbye to Zhou Mu, and headed straight to their favorite place—
Old Six BBQ!
"Boss! Two big mugs of draft beer, twenty lamb skewers, twenty chicken gizzards, two grilled eggplants…"
Xiao Kang fired off the order like rapid fire.
The Boss raised an eyebrow and teased, "Yo~ Young Zhou, you're really going all out today."
"Of course!" Xiao Kang laughed. "My brother's back—I have to treat him right!"
He flopped onto a stool and then added, "Also give us a plate of boiled peanuts."
"Alright, coming right up."
The Boss smiled and started preparing their order.
Before long, the plate of boiled peanuts arrived first.
Lin Fan picked up a peanut with his chopsticks.
System, what's the value of this boiled peanut?
> [Item: Boiled Peanut]
[Market Price: ¥0.10]
[True Value: ¥0.50]
Heh, I can even see the value of food now.
Curious, Lin Fan picked up another one.
> [Item: Boiled Peanut]
[Market Price: ¥0.10]
[True Value: -¥0.00]
What the hell? Minus zero?!
Same price, but completely different value?
He picked up another.
> [Item: Boiled Peanut]
[Market Price: ¥0.10]
[True Value: ¥1.00]
All boiled peanuts. All priced the same. Yet their true values were drastically different.
A realization began to dawn on Lin Fan.
He smirked and handed the worthless peanut to Xiao Kang.
"Here, have some peanuts."
Without hesitation, Xiao Kang popped it into his mouth.
Chew, chew...
"Blegh! Ptooey ptooey ptooey! This one's spoiled!"
Lin Fan chuckled.
He then passed Xiao Kang a ¥1 peanut.
"This time, peel it first. Don't just toss it in."
Xiao Kang followed the advice, peeled it, gave it a look.
"Looks fine to me."
He tossed it in and chewed.
"Mmm~ Now this is good. Fragrant, juicy—delicious!"
"You eat some too, Xiao Fan," he added happily.
But Lin Fan already understood.
The System could see the hidden quality of the food.
By picking only the peanuts with high value, Lin Fan avoided all the bad ones.
Naturally, Xiao Kang ended up eating all the spoiled ones on the plate.
"Wait a minute—Xiao Fan, you didn't get a single bad one?!"
Lin Fan feigned indifference, "I did. I just didn't act as dramatically as you."
"Ah... okay, that's more like it." Xiao Kang grinned sheepishly.
As they continued eating and drinking, Lin Fan's thoughts drifted to something serious.
"Xiao Kang, tell me… what's going on with the Loving Heart Orphanage?"
The air turned solemn.
Xiao Kang sighed, put down his chopsticks.
"The orphanage... has always been supported by Miss Zhou's father."
"But he passed away in a car accident not long ago. Now, the board of directors from his company wants to demolish the orphanage and develop the land."
"Miss Zhou doesn't want to give up what her father worked his whole life for. She refused."
"So now, the board is ganging up to force her out of the company."
"We want to help. But we're just ordinary people. There's not much we can do…"
Lin Fan's expression darkened.
That orphanage… was his home. No one would take it from him. Not while he was alive.
As they were talking, a slim, baby-faced girl was standing at the bar, holding a piece of paper and discussing something seriously with the restaurant Boss.
Lin Fan's eyes wandered, curiosity piqued.
A passing waiter approached, and Lin Fan casually asked,
"What's that girl over there talking about?"
"Oh, her?" The waiter glanced over. "She's trying to sell her family's secret seasoning recipe."
"Her dad's in the hospital and needs emergency surgery. She's desperate."
"The Boss was interested at first, since it's a BBQ place, but... she wants 10 million yuan for it."
"Ten million! That's not pocket change. Even if the recipe's real, who would dare gamble that much?"
The logic was sound.
But just as Lin Fan was about to stop caring, the corner of his eye twitched.
The System popped up again.
> [Item: Secret Seasoning Recipe]
[Asking Price: ¥10,000,000]
[True Value: ¥200,000,000]
PFFFFTTT—COUGH COUGH COUGH!!
Lin Fan had just taken a swig of beer—
—and nearly spat it all over the table.
Two hundred million?!
That seasoning recipe sitting in front of everyone, worth a fortune, was being dismissed as nonsense.
But Lin Fan saw the truth.
And no one else knew it yet.
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