Despite Ye Qiu's meddling, the bond between the two children grew stronger over time, and before long, the two little friends had progressed from kindergarten to elementary school.
Ye Qiu spared no effort to provide the best for his daughter; Chen Wen believed that dance would improve a girl's poise, and so she sent her to the best dance class in the provincial capital.
A couple of years later, his wife felt that a girl imbued with poetry and literature would be naturally refined, and thus enrolled her in calligraphy classes.
Then, thinking that learning a musical instrument and painting would be good, they added two more extracurricular tutoring classes, leaving Ye Qiu resigned.
Actually, as he saw it, as long as he had the means, his daughter could do whatever she wished; the Empire he had built would keep his daughter in wealth for her entire life. However, in line with Manman's preferences, in the end, only dance and calligraphy were pursued consistently.
While the boy next door couldn't swallow his pride to join the dance, he accompanied her to calligraphy consistently. When Manman went to dance classes, he signed up for a Sanda (Chinese kickboxing) course for himself.
Even though Ye Qiu found the boy annoying, he couldn't bring himself to be too harsh, knowing that in a past life, this boy had withstood pressure to marry his daughter, who had neither power, status, nor wealth.
Besides that, over the past two years, perhaps for want of other playmates, his daughter genuinely enjoyed clinging to this older brother.
Apart from his worries about his daughter, Ye Qiu lived a stress-free life.
Chen Wen's clothing factory was expanding larger and larger, with its presence spreading to adjacent provinces. In the next two years, the dream of having stores all over the country was within reach.
And she, no longer content with a unidirectional business, started a children's clothing brand in addition to men's and women's wear, as well as brands and factories for bags and shoes.
The success of her business broadened her horizons further; she flew overseas to the fashion capitals each year to watch shows and aspired to create a fashion brand in their country that would capture the world's attention.
She increasingly focused on high-end brands, dreaming of building the largest fashion empire in the country, and even influencing international fashion.
Of course, she didn't neglect the mid-range brands either; given the current national circumstances, these garments sold the most and yielded the most profit.
As for Ye Qiu, early on he stopped interfering with his wife's business. After his construction company was on the right track, he brought in a large number of professionals. Apart from general direction, he did not spend much time at the company.
He left a legend within the company and even the industry.
He never made a mistake in investments; every shopping mall and skyscraper he built gradually became the center of the city. The innovative and stylish buildings had become landmarks in many cities.
Yet, this god of real estate didn't philander like many other wealthy individuals; he was more focused on his family, much to the chagrin of those harboring ulterior motives, both women and men.
Nowadays, Ye Qiu rarely dabbled in the stock market, devoting more of his energy to the emerging Internet industry.
He didn't change the way of the future, nor did he usurp others' success; rather, he provided earlier support to these teams by injecting substantial funds.
He didn't participate in decision-making, occasionally offering suggestions, simply not wishing to see his own country fall too far behind others.
In his extra time, he registered a charitable foundation, sharing the name with his construction company, and named it Lizhi-Mingming Foundation.
This foundation didn't accept external donations; it was entirely funded by him and his company, focusing on issues such as child and woman trafficking and treatment for children with rare diseases.
As the company grew, so did the foundation, helping more and more people.
Three years passed in the blink of an eye, and people back in his hometown could hardly wait any longer.
Though he hadn't provided Granny Ye with his address in the provincial capital, Chen Wen's business was attracting more and more attention.
Nowadays, every household had a television, and the stars on TV were all wearing clothes from her company. The national media also praised Chen Wen's company for providing a substantial number of employment opportunities.
Then, Granny Ye located the factory by recognizing the brand on television.
Chen Wen was genuinely too busy to bother with them, but they made such a fuss that there was no choice but to tell Ye Qiu to handle it, especially with a TV crew coming to do a report today.
Ye Qiu had anticipated this day and wasn't surprised at all.
He didn't lead them to the small courtyard, but instead to a neighborhood far from the factory. If he had taken them directly to a hotel, the Old Lady definitely wouldn't have been willing, and who knows, she might have even caused a scene.
The entire neighborhood is also owned by his company. Because there is a botanical garden and a zoo nearby, they reserved a unit for themselves when it was built and the family would occasionally stay there.
The apartment is on the tenth floor, accessible by elevator. On the way up, Liu Ping never stopped her incessant chatter.
"Big brother, your family really has made a fortune, haven't they? We've only ever seen elevators like this on TV!" Liu Ping checked herself out in the elevator mirror, feeling awkward but also somewhat excited.
"Big brother, you're really not being fair. You've gotten rich but don't even think to help your brother out." She looked at her honest husband with hidden resentment, thinking him useless.
"And, if it wasn't for mom being smart and recognizing elder sister-in-law on TV, leading us here, you wouldn't even think of bringing mom to the city to enjoy life. There's an old saying, 'Once you have a wife, you forget your mom.' How could you be like that, big brother?"
Granny Ye didn't say a word, letting Liu Ping have her outburst.
These past years, she has truly been unsatisfied with her eldest son's family. They are obviously rich yet they're still providing the same old few bags of grain from their fields. Aside from buying a few pieces of clothing during the New Year, they haven't given a penny more.
She has brought her second son, his wife, and their eldest grandson here this time to force the eldest son to take responsibility. If he dared to completely cut them off, she would take it to the TV station. She refuses to believe that the government would allow an unfilial son and daughter-in-law to continue getting rich without a worry.
"What have I done that's so outrageously wrong to deserve your criticism?" Ye Qiu looked at Liu Ping with cold eyes.
Being labeled unfilial wouldn't affect him much, but if the Old Lady really caused a fuss, it would be troublesome for Chen Wen.
"Mother, ask yourself, have I really done so poorly?" Ye Qiu opened the door, letting everyone into the apartment: "Have I ever left you hungry or cold? Even in the village, for your comfort and convenience of walking, I repaired roads and dug canals. Who there doesn't respect you?"
It was precisely this point that had Granny Ye feeling unbalanced for two years.
Repairing roads and digging canals, how much money does that cost? Though outside, everyone praises her eldest son for providing well, what benefits has she actually received? If all that money had been given to her...
Granny Ye's discontent made her hands tremble in anger. The way her eldest son behaved made her feel so wronged she had no outlet; everyone in the village only remembers his good deeds.
"Fine, you haven't mistreated me, but what about your brother and sister? You've become successful, you can't just ignore your own siblings, right?"
"Ah, you've wronged me there," Ye Qiu spread his hands: "I have money now, but back then when I was poor, I didn't see my younger brother lifting a finger to help, did I? And about the younger sister, don't you always say so yourself, once a daughter is married off, she's like water poured away, now an outsider. Am I still supposed to take care of her?"
At these words, Granny Ye got even angrier, and Ye Xiu felt shamed, resenting himself for his short-sightedness from back then, when he offended his elder brother over a few worthless fields.
Liu Ping didn't care about losing face; tangible benefits were most important. With shrewd calculation, she began to cry poverty: "Big brother, we really had no choice back then. Your second brother is not capable and had to support mom and sister. We could hardly feed ourselves, and we thought since you were capable, we didn't need to worry."
"It's also my fault for being petty before, not letting him share his food with you and elder sister-in-law. We are brothers with the same bloodline, flesh and bones connected. If it wasn't for me stopping him, would your second brother ever let you suffer?"
"Now it's my own doing, but your second brother and your nephew are innocent. You can't just ignore them!"
Liu Ping would stoop to any low for money. Ye Qiu couldn't help but admire her relentless shamelessness—such skill could be well employed in sales!
Watching Ye Xiu silently acquiescing to his wife's words, Ye Qiu felt even more disdainful. So this was the marriage! This was his second brother, ready to forsake anyone for his own benefit.
If he offered him enough money to divorce right now, he bet Ye Xiu would head straight for the Civil Affairs Bureau.
Granny Ye thought to herself in the corner that her daughter-in-law had finally shown a spark of cleverness, feeling hopeful about the situation.
In the village, isn't it common when one person gets rich to come back and pull up their siblings? If her eldest son could truly harden his heart and send them away today, she would go to the TV station and make sure to bite a piece off them.
Looking at their greedy faces, Ye Qiu knew, they wouldn't rest until they got what they wanted.
But unless they came to the city, he wouldn't be able to enact his plans!
He wouldn't let them live comfortably in the countryside after the deadly grudges from his past life.