Chapter 16: The Sixth Young Lady of the Leng Family

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“What nonsense are you talking about? How could I possibly afford to buy QQ? Is QQ even something I could buy?” Huang He felt as though his little sister-in-law must be out of her mind.

But soon enough, Huang He realized that he himself was the fool.

“Brother-in-law, what silly thing are you saying? QQ isn’t expensive at all. They’re willing to sell for just five million. Our family has assets worth hundreds of millions—surely we can spare five million, right?” Leng Zhimeng grinned as she spoke.

“Nonsense! How could QQ possibly sell for just five million... Wait, this isn’t... No, hang on, this is 2001!” Huang He slapped his forehead. His mind was full of images of Tencent as the giant it had become by 2021, but this was 2001, twenty years ago. In all of China, hardly anyone knew about QQ at this point!

But then, how did his little sister-in-law know to buy QQ? Could she be a time traveler too?

“Zhimeng, tell me, how did you know to buy QQ?” Huang He asked curiously.

“It’s not about how I know, I just want to buy it!” Leng Zhimeng pouted. “That silly Zhao girl in the next class, she brags all day because she has a five-digit QQ number, while mine is six digits. I wanted to swap for a five-digit number, but QQ customer service said they’re no longer available.”

“I told them, there’s nothing in this world that can’t be bought. If not, I could just spend ten yuan and buy a five-digit QQ number. But the customer service actually mocked me, saying that if I were so rich, I might as well buy the whole QQ company—only five million, and then the 1000-number QQ account would be mine. Isn’t that infuriating?” Leng Zhimeng complained, cheeks puffed in anger.

“Yeah, pretty infuriating. That customer service is seriously unprofessional!” Huang He muttered. He recalled an amusing anecdote from his previous life.

Back when QQ first launched, the company had only five people. Comrade Pony, besides being the general manager, also had to double as the customer service representative.

The other four employees were all programmers, busy maintaining QQ’s daily operations. Only Pony had nothing else to do, making him perfect for customer service.

At the time, QQ’s active users numbered fewer than a hundred. Many people joined, tried to chat, and found not a single soul to talk to—no friends to add—so they promptly uninstalled QQ.

To keep these users, Pony set his QQ account’s gender and avatar as female, chatting with newcomers, doing everything possible to retain them. Only when QQ’s user base grew did Pony stop doing this.

“My goodness, I remember Pony’s QQ number was 10000. But it’s been two years now; QQ must have over a million registered accounts. Surely he’s not still doing customer service?” Huang He mused, lost in thought, paying no attention to Leng Zhimeng’s words. This made her unhappy. She plopped herself right onto Huang He’s stomach, grabbed his cheeks with both hands, and began shaking him, whining playfully.

“Brother-in-law, that customer service said I had no money—that’s like saying you have no money! You have to prove to him that you’re rich, that you’re a billionaire!” Leng Zhimeng was relentless. Huang He was shaken wide awake, and his nose began to bleed uncontrollably.

Because of their position, Leng Zhimeng was nearly sprawled atop him, her shirt collar falling open in front of his eyes, exposing swathes of pale skin, collarbones, chest...

“I’m not a pervert!”

“I’m not a pervert!”

Huang He silently admonished himself, raising his head just a little.

This girl—she’s not wearing anything underneath!

No, I have to take another look.

But unfortunately, his chance was cut short. A sweet, childish voice piped up, “Sister, brother-in-law, are you fighting?”

“No, how could I dare fight my brother-in-law!” Leng Zhimeng immediately sat up straight, adopting the demeanor of a mature, steady elder sister.

“Brother-in-law, are you fighting?” the little one persisted, still unconvinced.

“No, your sister was just checking how many teeth an adult human has. It’s an important biology topic—could even come up on the college entrance exam!” Huang He replied with a serious face.

“Oh!” The little one nodded, then stretched out her arms. “Brother-in-law, carry me! I want to watch TV, I want to watch ‘The Big Windmill’!”

“All right!” Huang He picked up the little one—this was the youngest member of the Leng family, Leng Zhiyuan, only seven years old, just starting first grade.

“Brother-in-law, can you lend me fifty cents?” Suddenly, another small hand reached out toward Huang He. This was a girl with long silver hair, dressed in the traditional school uniform, her face eager and impatient.

“What is it? What do you need money for?”

“For snacks, of course!”

“We’re about to eat dinner. Why buy snacks now?”

“Snacks aren’t the same as dinner! Brother-in-law, considering I pick up my sister from school every day, hurry up and give it to me—the shop’s closing soon!”

“Fine, here’s a yuan. Come back quickly!”

“Brother-in-law is the best!” The little one cheered and dashed out.

This was the fifth child of the Leng family, Leng Zhitin, twelve years old, in fifth grade, with a passion for eating and the uncanny ability never to gain weight.

Chanting, “Brother-in-law is the best! I love brother-in-law!” Leng Zhitin zipped back and forth, spending less than two minutes in the house.

“Leng Zhitin, you little rascal! If you dare buy instant noodles again, don’t come home!” Her mother, not quick enough to react, finally shouted after her from the window, berating her as she ran off into the distance.

Seeing all this, Huang He felt deeply nostalgic—it was a perfect reflection of his own childhood.

Leng Zhitin was gone for more than an hour. Huang He watched ‘The Big Windmill’ with Leng Zhiyuan, followed by today’s episode of ‘Light Power Messenger,’ and his mother-in-law had finished cooking, yet Leng Zhitin still hadn’t returned.

Worried, his mother-in-law and Leng Zhiruo began to fret. Huang He was about to volunteer to look for her when the door swung open and Leng Zhitin was dumped onto the floor by someone.

“Sister, be gentle! I could get hurt!” Leng Zhitin cried out.

“Hmph, you won’t get hurt from that. If you want, come with me to martial arts training tomorrow—I guarantee you’ll get hurt then!” came a cold voice. Leng Zhitin instantly fell silent, her face ingratiating, and she darted behind Huang He, pitifully crying, “Brother-in-law, sister is going to kill me!”

“Zhiyun is back!” Huang He tried to recall the name of his second sister-in-law, the one dressed in sportswear with an air of heroic vigor—Leng Zhiwen, a university student, a sports major, currently captain of the school’s martial arts team, and a national champion in the women’s university division.

“Mm!” Leng Zhiwen merely replied loftily, heading straight to her room without sparing her brother-in-law a glance.