Chapter Twelve: An Invitation to the Gathering

Yang Jie raised an eyebrow. A family of three, all fresh from the battlefield, basically all smoked. But he really had no grounds to criticize the fancy cigarettes—they were refined and stylish. So he entrusted Big Head to specially purchase domestic cigarettes for him.

But now that they were about to return to China, did they still need cigarettes?

Yang Jie: "No, I’m not going. Keep the cigarettes for yourselves; I’ll still pay!"

Big Head’s tone grew urgent: "Don’t say that, Brother Jie! I’ve already bragged a lot—if you don’t come, I’ll lose face!"

Yang Jie smiled faintly. "You’re stirring things up in my name again?"

Big Head knew he couldn’t hide it and immediately explained everything. The matter was simple: as his live streaming career was booming, he wanted to use Yang Jie’s name to boost his own fame and perhaps snag some agency work from him.

Yang Jie still owned a pet feed processing factory and a fish meal processing plant!

Yang Jie rolled his eyes—he really didn’t have time to waste on him.

"Damn, I’m making hundreds of thousands in minutes—your friends? That’s way too time-consuming."

One must say, the language of the Dragon Kingdom is profound. Though the tone sounded casual, it was quite clear: I’m a billionaire—what kind of level are your friends? Even governors treat me with respect.

Big Head wasn’t a fool; he understood perfectly. Since the direct approach didn’t work, he tried another route.

"Among my friends, a few are your hometown folks. Today, I prepared Dongpo pork, banquet meatballs, stir-fried diced meat, shredded stir-fry, white-cut chicken... Brother Jie, if I’m not mistaken, Dongpo pork and banquet meatballs are your hometown dishes, right?"

"Gulp!"

Yang Jie swallowed hard. He’d been living miserably lately. After firing his personal chef, he had been eating nothing but hamburgers and disgusting General Tso’s chicken—twisted Chinese food that was hard to swallow, all sickeningly sweet and sour!

As for Western food? Haha, that stuff was extreme. Poor people eat it once and need three insulin shots to control their sugar; rich people eat it once and find the whole plate full of greens! If you didn’t know better, you’d think you were eating a garden bed!

"I—I’m pretty busy today!"

Hearing Yang Jie’s wavering tone, Big Head immediately smiled brightly.

"There’s also Dragon Kingdom-style barbecue, assorted braised meats, cucumbers, peanuts, and yellow wine!"

Before Yang Jie could say anything, Li Siyao, standing nearby, licked her sensual lips and said,

"I’ll come over after I finish. I haven’t had Chinese food in a long time!"

"Oh, don’t you love Sichuan cuisine?"

"I haven’t had yellow wine in ages!"

"You had some last time."

"If cooking wine counts, then yeah, I drank some!"

Yang Jie held the phone, "Alright, I’ll come over tonight."

After hanging up, he told the women,

"My friend contacted me—there’s a party tonight!"

Zhao Baitong was surprised.

"You have friends?"

Yang Jie twitched his mouth. "What are you talking about? How could I have no friends?"

"Your so-called friends are just fair-weather buddies, so they don’t count!" Zhao Baitong shrugged. She was often annoyed by Yang Jie’s frequent visits to the Tuo Yi dancers’ club to watch games.

Yang Jie twitched again.

Watching the two bicker, the women exchanged glances and smiled knowingly.

"Hmph, you think I’d fool around outside? Don’t you trust me?"

"When it comes to women, I don’t!"

Yang Jie was utterly Spartan.

"Let’s go, business first!"

Everyone got into their cars to buy the supplies they needed.

By dusk, the women had their own things to do. Yang Jie and Li Siyao, too lazy to go home and drive, took a taxi directly.

If it weren’t for all the secretive matters requiring multiple private drivers and bodyguards, since the apocalypse was expected to happen...

The chef was fired.

The gardener was fired.

The drivers and bodyguards were reassigned to the factory.

Now, everything had to be done personally!

Watching the two leave, Cui Huizhu curiously looked at Sophia.

"Does Yang Jie like to fool around?"

Sophia glanced at Zhao Baitong in the car and whispered, "Once Li Siyao went to a conference in Los Angeles, supposed to be five days, but came back in three!"

"God knows, Yang Jie didn’t return for three days; Yaoyao stormed into the Tuo Yi dancers’ club. Their boss was in big trouble."

"Because of that, Yang Jie was blacklisted by all the Tuo Yi dancers’ clubs in Houston!"

Cui Huizhu was stunned. Honestly, for someone as rich, successful, and well-connected as Yang Jie, his women were surprisingly few.

Don’t think Yang Jie is a playboy. Even billionaires are often faithful compared to millionaire rich men who are pursued relentlessly by women. Sometimes it’s not that men are unfaithful; it’s that young women throw themselves at them relentlessly!

In an ordinary neighborhood.

In front of a three-story villa, a taxi pulled up.

"Big Head, is this your friend?"

Someone couldn’t help but ask.

Several nearby people looked displeased because Big Head had said the guests were pretty influential among the Dragon Kingdom folks.

What? Influential people taking a taxi here?

Big Head was pale and plump, wearing annoying gold-rimmed glasses, and full of curiosity. Yang Jie rarely drove himself; with his wealth, he had plenty of drivers.

"Damn, that big?"

"Damn, are there two?"

"And a foreigner too!"

Yang Jie and Li Siyao had just gotten out of the car when they overheard the murmurs. Li Siyao immediately snapped.

"Big Head, are these your friends? Why are they all fools? Who said I’m a foreigner?"

When a pure-blooded Westerner spoke fluent Sichuan dialect like that, everyone was shocked!

But Big Head noticed Yang Jie’s slightly gloomy expression.

"Hey, brother, what’s wrong? You look unhappy. Caught by your wife at the massage parlor?"

Yang Jie glanced at him.

"Caught my ass. I went to the supermarket, my car window got smashed. Houston’s security is crap."

Big Head gasped and looked at Li Siyao, who calmly said,

"Don’t blame me. Security in this crazy country is beyond what a small cop like me can fix."

Their conversation was overheard, and the crowd began to calculate. Having a cop acquaintance in this fancy place was definitely a good thing.

They entered the living room. On the dining table were twenty or thirty dishes, full of nostalgic, homely aromas that filled Yang Jie’s nostrils.

A middle-aged woman wiped her apron and smiled warmly.

"Come, don’t be shy, try my cooking."

Everyone nodded, sat down, toasted each other, and began to eat.

Hungry or not, etiquette was essential!

Yang Jie picked up a big piece of Dongpo pork and chewed thoughtfully. His eyes narrowed in delight.

Sweet but not greasy, fragrant, tender, and springy—perfect. The ultimate Dongpo pork must have sugar.

He grabbed a piece of bamboo shoot, salty, savory, and fresh. The ingredient was clearly well-prepared.

The white-cut chicken had a strong chicken flavor; the fishiness was completely removed. Especially at the broken bone joints, the slight blood traces showed perfect control of cooking time.