I am not just a tycoon

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"Mom, I'll be off the highway in about fifteen minutes, which hospital are you at?"

Chen Na was driving her little Honda Fit towards Ling County.

The thought of her father lying in a hospital bed made her anxious and uneasy, and she was also filled with deep guilt.

If she had known, she would have gone home to go through the motions of the arranged meeting. Even if it wouldn't have led to a relationship, seeing each other would have at least reassured her parents, and she could've reminded her dad, Chen Yongxiang, to drink less alcohol as he usually took her words to heart.

"Nana, you should head back to the house first."

Her mother Yooi Shufen's voice came through the car's Bluetooth.

"Ah? Aren't you at the hospital?"

Chen Na was somewhat puzzled.

"Come home first, and we'll talk. Your dad and I are both at home."

"Uh... okay then."

Chen Na was stunned for a moment, but she didn't think too much of it. Perhaps Old Chen, her father, wasn't that serious; maybe he was hospitalized yesterday and discharged today.

Chen Na comforted herself with this thought and arrived home twenty-five minutes later.

Her family lived in an old neighborhood in Ling County. Her parents bought the place around 2006 when housing prices were cheap, especially in small towns like this one.

By 2006 standards, the house was nice, but with the rapid development of real estate, compared to today's modern complexes, it looked very crude.

The facilities and amenities were too poor. Not to mention the basic separation of pedestrians and vehicles; there was no elevator or garden either. Their apartment was on the 7th floor, which meant climbing seven flights of stairs every time.

As housing prices rose, the incomes of Chen Na's parents did not. After retiring from the factory, they managed a small convenience store, which barely made any profit, so upgrading to another house was virtually impossible.

Chen Na had always wanted to buy a new house for her parents, but she could barely save 30,000 to 40,000 yuan a year, making even a down payment difficult.

"Knock knock."

Lost in thought, Chen Na had unconsciously climbed to the 7th floor and automatically knocked on the door, having forgotten to bring her house keys in her hurry to leave.

"Nana's back!"

Chen Na heard her mother Yooi Shufen's familiar voice from inside, but the tone was strange. Shouldn't her mother be sad because her father was ill? Why did her voice have notes of joy and excitement?

The next second, the door opened, and Yooi Shufen, smiling broadly, pulled Chen Na aside, "Nana, I have something to tell you."

"?????"

"Mom? Didn't you say Dad had a stroke?"

Chen Na felt something was off and glanced inside involuntarily. Old Chen was actually chatting lively with visitors.

There were two guests inside, one was her maternal aunt, and the other was a young man she didn't recognize.

Chen Na finally realized why they hadn't let her come back the night before, and why they had told her to come directly home. The story about her father having a stroke and being hospitalized was just a lie her mother had concocted to get her to come home for a blind date.

And that man was probably her matchmaking candidate.

Yooi Shufen, looking a bit guilty said, "Nana, your father and I didn't mean to trick you into coming back on purpose. It's just that you're not getting any younger, and you're going to be 27 next month. You still don't even have a boyfriend. Look at Xiaoli upstairs and Tingting from the building next door; they're your age and already have two children."

In small towns like this, women generally marry early, most plighting their troth by age 22-23. So, the fact that her daughter, Chen Na, was still unmarried at 27 was a constant worry for Yooi Shufen.

These situations sparked neighborhood gossip in small towns.

Yooi Shufen cared about her reputation and was also worried her daughter would never marry.

"Mom!"

Chen Na was exasperated and amused, relieved her dad hadn't had a stroke, but annoyed her mother had resorted to such an excuse.

"You could have just talked to me properly. Why resort to such a frightening excuse?"

Chen Na couldn't help complaining.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"Would you have come back if I talked properly? I've been asking you for months, and you just won't come. If it weren't for this trick, you'd probably wait until Chinese New Year to come back. Think about it—if you wait another year, how old will you be then?"

Yooi Shufen said with a hint of defeat, "After celebrating your 27th birthday, you'll be 28! That makes it even harder to find someone to marry!"

"Let me tell you, the match your Aunt Gan brought is quite a catch. He owns his own company, has a car and a house. The house in Zhu City is over 130 square meters, and his car is a BMW."

Yooi Shufen took Chen Na's hand and said earnestly, "When you go in, you can have a good chat with him; he's quite interested in you."

Chen Na felt helpless. They hadn't even met, and he was already interested—probably just from seeing a couple of photos.

Yooi Shufen pointed in the direction of the sofa: "There, see? Doesn't he look good? Such a catch really, and don't be so picky anymore. Wait another year or two and you'll be hitting thirty, which will make it even harder to marry off."

"Alright, fine."

Chen Na sighed silently. Since she was already home, it would be too unreasonable not to meet him, and it might put her parents' minds at ease.

She really wanted to tell her parents that she was seeing someone.

Only, this man... it seemed, couldn't marry her...

Even so, he was very good to her. He not only helped open a cafe for her, but also bought a 3 million yuan house, and was planning to buy her a car as well.

But with no formal title to their relationship, Chen Na couldn't bring herself to tell her parents, especially since Shen Yuan might not come forward anyway.

She was just a canary, after all...

Feeling a twinge of heartache, Chen Na followed Yooi Shufen into the house.

"Nana's back."

The speaker was Aunt Gan, Gan Fengzhen, who beckoned Chen Na to sit on the sofa and chat amiably, "Nana, we haven't seen you for half a year, and you've grown even fairer. You've maintained your figure so well."

Chen Na nodded lightly: "Thank you, Aunt Gan."

"Let me introduce you; this is Dong Qitao, who came all the way from Zhu City just for this. He's a good friend of my son's," Gan Fengzhen said with a smile.

Dong Qitao appeared to be in his thirties, dressed in a crisp shirt and trousers, with silver-framed glasses that gave him a scholarly look. He smiled and said:

"Hello, Chen Na."

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"Hello."

Chen Na nodded slightly.

"Nana, I heard you were selling cars in Star City, that must be going quite well, right?"

Dong Qitao asked very familiarly.

Ever since three months ago, Dong Qitao had seen Chen Na's photo and found that not only was she beautiful and had a good figure, but she was also of a suitable age.

According to Aunt Gan, it seemed Chen Na didn't have much romantic experience.

Such a woman was perfect to become a wife!

Therefore, over these three months, he constantly asked Aunt Gan to help him make connections and finally got the chance to meet today. He had initially been a bit reluctant about buying those two bottles of Wuliangye and a carton of Huazi cigarettes.

But now, having seen her in person, everything was worth it!

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Chen Na replied indifferently, "I'm not doing that anymore, I'm working at a café now."

Dong Qitao was momentarily stunned, then quickly recovered, "A café is good, the work is much more relaxed than in sales, which can be indeed very tiring."

Dong Qitao silently criticized Aunt Gan's outdated intelligence; how could she not know that Chen Na had changed jobs?

But it was fine, once Chen Na followed him, the kind of public-facing work in sales wouldn't suit her.

He could afford to take care of her anyway.

"Nana, let me tell you, Qitao has his own company with dozens of employees. The company's annual turnover is over ten million, plus he has bought both a car and a house. Qitao, what model is your car again?"

While speaking, Gan Fengzhen gave Dong Qitao a knowing look.

Dong Qitao immediately took the hint, pulling his car keys from his belt and flashing the BMW logo, "It's nothing special, just a 5 series."

Chen Na fought the urge to roll her eyes; not a good car? A 5 Series would set you back around four or five hundred thousand anyway; it was quite impressive for an ordinary person to drive one of those.

But the pretense was too clumsy, and it needed other people's support; Chen Na couldn't be bothered to burst their bubble.

Chen Na thought it was still important to give some face, after all, her aunt was a relative they'd see during the New Year, so she nodded and said, "It's indeed pretty good."

"It's nothing to speak of, really," he demurred.

In truth, Dong Qitao was also helpless. He didn't like putting on such a low-level show; Chen Na had previously sold luxury cars and must have seen her fair share of wealthy people. He just hadn't expected that Aunt Gan would insist on making him play along, making the whole thing feel kind of low.

Gan Fengzhen signaled for the two young people to chat on their own then headed to the kitchen to tell Yu Shufen, "Look, those two look so well-matched together, a match of talent and beauty."

While cutting vegetables, Gan Fengzhen couldn't help but glance toward the living room and exclaimed, "Indeed, they're not bad. It's just I don't know whether Nana likes him."

"Liking someone depends on the guy, but as parents, you also have to put in a good word for him. After all, Nana is at the age to get married, and when you find someone suitable, you have to act quickly."

Gan Fengzhen said with a sly smile.

The truth was, her enthusiasm in playing matchmaker had its own selfish underpinnings—if this match resulted in a marriage, the red envelope from the groom's side would surely be substantial. Considering the man's excellent circumstances, he certainly wouldn't skimp in this regard.

She had been earning extra money as a matchmaker since her retirement.

"I'll have a good talk with Nana, but sometimes, that girl doesn't listen to me."

Yu Shufen replied.

"Ultimately, it's all about whether Nana likes him or not. These days, we advocate for freedom in love, cannot force it upon them."

Chen Yongxiang said as he was washing vegetables.

He actually didn't agree with this excuse to "deceive" Nana into coming back for blind dating, but he couldn't win against his wife Yu Shufen. What he valued more was the young man's character and whether his daughter would be happy with him, not the financial conditions.

After letting the young people talk for a while, Yu Shufen put aside her work and called Chen Na into the bedroom, "How about it, he's not bad, right? I saw you two seemed to get along quite well."

"It's okay, I guess," she answered.

Chen Na had just been chatting to be polite and was quite distracted.

"This Dong guy even bought your dad two bottles of Wuliangye and a carton of Zhonghua cigarettes, he seems quite generous. So I think you should get to know him a bit more."

"How about after lunch, you two take a walk downstairs or go out for some milk tea or coffee," she suggested.

"We'll see when the time comes, not there yet," Chen Na replied noncommittally, shifting the subject, "What about my sister? Isn't she home?"

Hearing her daughter's response, Yu Shufen felt somewhat displeased, "You forgot today is Friday, your sister hasn't finished class yet. But I told her, she'll come back for lunch at noon."

"Okay then."

Chen Na pretended not to notice Yu Shufen's expression, "I'll rest for a bit then, I'll come out for lunch later."

Yu Shufen became even more indignant, "You girl, Dong is still waiting outside, we must at least show basic hospitality, right?"

Chen Na fluttered her beautiful eyes innocently, "Your daughter got up early today and drove over two hours."

Ultimately, Yu Shufen still doted on her daughter, letting out a resigned sigh, "Alright, then rest awhile, I'll call you for lunch."

After Yu Shufen left the bedroom, Chen Na flung herself on her sister's bed, took out her phone, and noticed she had missed a message from Shen Yuan, so she replied:

"I'm really pissed off by my mom. Turns out my dad wasn't hospitalized; they lied to get me back here for a blind date."

"Don't worry, I'll be back in the afternoon."

"Mwah~"

Chen Na looked at her chat with Shen Yuan, satisfied, and couldn't resist wanting to give him a new nickname; remembering how he had deceived her time and time again, she simply typed in "Master of Deception."

Looking at this nickname, Chen Na's lips curled into a radiant, floral smile.

Meanwhile, Shen Yuan, having received Chen Na's WeChat message, also breathed a sigh of relief. It was good that nothing was wrong.

But Chen Na was his woman, and being constantly urged by her parents to get married wasn't okay. Even if she got through this time, there would be more blind dates to come.

He needed to think of a permanent solution.

Shen Yuan pondered for a while then picked up his phone to make a call...

...