Chapter Forty-Two: When the Dust Settles, a Lifetime of Happiness

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Mayfield High School in Pasadena, Los Angeles, is a prestigious and historic all-girls school, ranked twenty-seventh among the best girls’ schools nationwide. It was the school chosen by Wei Lai’s parents for both her and Luo Ting.

At the end of September, Wei Lai and Luo Ting had been enrolled for over a month. During this time, they had enjoyed an exceptionally comfortable life in a foreign land. Not only had their academic performance earned recognition from their teachers, but they had also navigated social circles with ease, fitting in seamlessly with their classmates.

Shortly after enrollment, they befriended Jessica, the school’s dominant senior figure. From then on, it felt as if they had returned to their days at Anqiao School, roaming the halls with Jessica’s clique, acting with impunity.

In this comfortable environment, Wei Lai and Luo Ting reverted to old habits, bullying those they disliked. Jessica showed ambiguous approval, sometimes even cheering them on, proud to call them her chosen sisters.

Encouraged by such support, the girls grew reckless, occasionally bullying others just to gain Jessica’s favor.

Their behavior escalated until one day, they cornered a Black girl in the bathroom and humiliated her using the same tactics they had once used on Hu Xiaodie.

What followed took them by surprise: the girl reported them to the police, who arrested them at school and charged them with bullying and racial discrimination, sending them to court.

The case sparked an uproar, even triggering regional protests among the Black community.

At that moment, Wei Lai and Luo Ting still clung to the hope that there was no evidence against them. But to their shock, Jessica—who had always called them sisters—testified against them in court.

What shocked them even more was that the incident involving Hu Xiaodie was also exposed by local international students, revealing this was not their first offense.

From then on, Wei Lai and Luo Ting became pariahs both in their home country and in the U.S., notorious figures scorned by all.

Wei Lai’s parents, looking disheveled, traveled to the U.S. to help their daughter, only to be accused of attempting to bribe a witness. They too were arrested, later released on bail, and faced another pending trial.

With the criminal records of Wei Lai and Luo Ting and Jessica’s testimony, the evidence was overwhelming. The court found them guilty, but considering their remorse and a plea bargain with the prosecution, Wei Lai was sentenced to seven years and Luo Ting to eight years in prison, to be deported upon release.

It is worth noting that Luo Ting received the longer sentence, as she was often the one who acted most aggressively.

After the case concluded, Jessica, once the American close friend of Wei Lai and Luo Ting from Mayfield High’s senior class, appeared at the law firm where Hua Twelve had previously been.

Middle-aged lawyer Allen pushed a file folder containing thirty thousand dollars in cash across to her with a smile and said:

“Miss Jessica, this is for you and your friends. Please don’t feel pressured—after all, you didn’t do anything wrong. Legally, you bear no responsibility.”

Jessica took the folder, opened it immediately, and her eyes lit up at the sight of the green bills. Smiling, she said:

“Don’t worry, sir. We’re not children, and those two Asian girls really did those things to my friends!”

Rising to her feet with a smile, she said, “If there’s ever another opportunity like this, please remember to come to me. Goodbye, sir.”

After she left with a smile, Allen called Hua Twelve:

“Sir, I believe you have seen the news. Congratulations—the outcome we wanted has appeared, and we didn’t break any laws. Everything was their own choice!”

From late May to late September, international crude oil prices fluctuated downward from the year’s high of $113.70 per barrel to $75.30, a drop of 33.4%.

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Thanks to the precise information Hua Twelve provided, his team turned the one million dollar startup capital into five hundred million dollars as if by magic.

Hua Twelve had known he would make money, but he never imagined it would be so much. When his team’s first operation earned over ten million dollars, he believed everything.

He still remembered being perplexed, asking the financial experts on his team how the profits were calculated to be so large.

One trader explained a formula for calculating profit:

The profit from each trade is the per-barrel profit divided by the per-barrel price, multiplied by the product of margin used and leverage.

For example, if crude oil falls from $50 to $40 per barrel, the per-barrel profit is $10.

Using one million dollars on a full position with 100 times leverage to short crude oil would yield a profit of:

10 ÷ 50 × 100 million dollars × 100 = 200 million dollars.

In other words, this single trade, excluding the principal, earned a pure profit of twenty million dollars.

After hearing this, Hua Twelve recalled the classic phrase, “Kid, do you have a lot of questions?”

Well, Hua Twelve relented—money was money.

With wealth in hand, when Chen Nian came to the capital city, Hua Twelve also purchased properties. He bought a villa in Purple Jade Manor, a courtyard house in Houhai, and had his investment team acquire commercial storefronts in prime city locations.

Though property prices were considered high now, compared to the future, these were guaranteed profitable investments.

When Allen called, Chen Nian had already enrolled in school. Hua Twelve sat in his detached villa in Purple Jade Manor, smiling as he said into the phone:

“Allen, well done. I’ll transfer the final payment to your account. Pleasure doing business!”

After hanging up, Hua Twelve looked at a news headline on his computer: “International Students Convicted of Overseas Bullying, Sentenced to Re-education by Foreign Law!”

A smirk touched his lips as he muttered:

“One life lost, and you get seven or eight years? You got off easy!”

But thinking of the notorious rumors about American prisons, Hua Twelve smiled slightly—karma, indeed!

A month later, the cases in Anqiao City related to Hua Twelve also concluded one by one.

Wei Xiao Wu was sentenced to three years for robbery.

Ma Qi, implicated in homicide and leading a criminal gang, received multiple sentences culminating in the death penalty.

Boss Wang was sentenced to ten years and fined over two million for high-interest loan sharking, underworld ties, and violent debt collection causing injury.

Old Yang called Hua Twelve in the capital to report the verdicts and asked:

“Is the case of Wei Lai and Luo Ting in the U.S. connected to you? I checked—you were in the U.S. recently!”

Hua Twelve laughed:

“You can blame me even from so far away? By the way, can you handle things over there?”

“No!”

“Then it’s settled!”

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“Hey...” Old Yang hung up in frustration.

“Yeah, I can’t handle it anyway. Why bother worrying!”

Four years later, Chen Nian graduated from university and chose to pursue graduate studies. During this time, she married Liu Beishan, entering the sanctity of marriage.

Three years later, they had twins—a boy and a girl—living a blissful and complete family life.

During this period, Da Kang succeeded in his proposal, marrying beauty Zhou Lei and becoming Liu Beishan’s father-in-law.

Da Kang and Liu Beishan became true brothers in every sense.

With his wealth, Da Kang married a beautiful actress and had a lovely little princess. Hua Twelve often joked that his son should marry Da Kang’s daughter to be his daughter-in-law, causing Da Kang to roll his eyes.

Lai Zi behaved well in prison, earning sentence reductions and early release. Afterward, his family moved away from Anqiao, disappearing without a trace.

By 2022, Hua Twelve had become a billionaire with assets worth hundreds of billions of dollars. He invested in two major food delivery services, several sharing economy platforms, and held 2% of a fruit company’s shares.

As for Maotai stocks, Bitcoin, and real estate in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou—they were trifles.

In the days that followed, Hua Twelve no longer pursued grand ambitions. He established a fund to manage his assets while spending his days enjoying life with his wife and children.

During this time, he and Chen Nian enriched themselves through study, knowing the world was vast and time abundant; it would be a waste not to improve themselves.

Sixty years passed. Da Kang and Zhou Lei had long since passed away; Da Kang himself died two years earlier. Liu Beishan and Chen Nian were now elderly.

One morning, Hua Twelve awoke in his courtyard house to find Chen Nian had ceased breathing. Yet the peaceful expression on her face suggested she had passed quietly.

At the same moment, Hua Twelve received a system notification: mission complete, asking if he wished to activate the mission lottery.

With the little yellow duck gone from his side, Hua Twelve had no heart for the lottery and chose to return to the real world before drawing.

The system then offered a choice: leave immediately or stay an additional 24 hours before departing.

Sighing, Hua Twelve chose not to disturb others. His mood was bittersweet—grief, reluctance, and acceptance all mingled. He gently touched Chen Nian’s wrinkled cheek; it was cool, no longer warm. The little yellow duck had truly left.

He did not wait 24 hours but chose to leave at once.

In the next instant, consciousness slipped away. Liu Beishan slowly closed his eyes, his hand falling to rest perfectly atop Chen Nian’s.

Truly, “In life and death, we vow together. Holding your hand, we grow old as one.”