Chapter 146: Bitcoin So Cheap No One Cares

Building this house didn’t cost much for the main structure—less than 100,000 yuan—but the renovations were twice that.

As for the renovation materials, Cao Shujie had his childhood friend use eco-friendly supplies.

Back then, Cao Tiemin had said it wasn’t necessary. “If you’re not in a rush to move in, just leave it to air out for another six months or so.”

But Cao Shujie insisted, and since he wouldn’t budge, Cao Tiemin didn’t argue further. Naturally, they ended up spending quite a bit.

After stepping out of the master bedroom, Cao Shujie walked through the other bedrooms nearby, checking them out one by one. He muttered, “Once Mengmeng gets a bit older, she can stay in this one.”

“This one’s for the second child.”

When he reached the third bedroom, he opened his mouth to say something but stopped himself and turned away. “Forget the third kid. Too much of a hassle!”

With what little he had, he couldn’t afford that kind of expansion.

There were three bedrooms on the first floor as well. Two of them faced the sun. Cao Shujie planned for his parents and grandfather to stay in those.

“Come to think of it, there’s just over two months until the New Year. I should find time to bring Grandfather back,” Cao Shujie thought to himself.

“Woof!” Daha barked, followed by the other three dogs. Cao Shujie glanced outside and saw his father walking in from the yard.

“Dad, what brings you here?” Cao Shujie was a bit surprised.

Cao Jianguo said, “I just finished eating and was heading up the mountain to take a look. Saw the door open as I passed by, so I figured I’d stop in.”

“Dad, look, the house is almost done. Once it gets colder, why don’t you and Mom move in too?” He led his father inside and pointed to the sunny room on the east side. “I was thinking this big room would be for you and Mom.”

Then he raised his hand and pointed to the room on the west side. “That one’s for Grandfather when he comes back.”

“With sunlight during the day and the boiler running, there’ll be heating. It won’t feel cold at night—almost like spring.” As he spoke, Cao Shujie felt deeply satisfied.

This had been his plan from the start.

Seeing how happy his son looked, Cao Jianguo felt gratified, but he still said, “We’re not moving in. You guys live here.”

“Dad, you really think I’d let you two cook for us?” Cao Shujie teased, trying to lighten the mood.

But Cao Jianguo was firm. “We’ve lived in that house for over a decade. I could find everything with my eyes closed. It’s just a few steps away—we’re used to it.”

“Besides, it takes less than ten minutes to walk here. Even faster on the electric scooter. What difference does it make whether we move or not?” Cao Jianguo looked every bit the picture of practical wisdom.

A golden nest or a silver nest, nothing beats your own doghouse.

“You really won’t move in?” Cao Shujie asked again.

Seeing his father still shaking his head, Cao Shujie fell silent for a moment, then said, “Okay, if you’re really not moving in, then while it’s still not too cold, I’ll install radiators at your place.”

“No need. We’ve got the air conditioner,” Cao Jianguo replied instinctively.

Cao Shujie waved him off. “Dad, stop fooling yourself. If we weren’t living at home, would you and Mom even turn on the AC?”

Seeing his father’s face sour a bit, clearly hit by the truth, Cao Shujie added, “Dad, I make at least a few hundred thousand a year. We won’t be short on money.”

Then he remembered something. “Once I get the radiators installed, I’ll buy the coal too. You can’t keep being stingy about burning it.”

But Cao Jianguo was stubborn and had his pride. “We don’t need you to buy coal. We’ve got money for that.”

Alright then. Cao Shujie knew his father’s personality and didn’t push it.

He leashed the four dogs and walked out of the house with his father, locking the door behind them. Then they headed toward the northern slope of the mountain.

As they walked, they chatted. Cao Shujie brought up the idea of picking up Grandfather from his uncle’s place.

“Dad, when you have time, give Uncle a call. Once I get the radiators installed, we’ll head over and bring Grandfather back,” Cao Shujie reminded him.

Cao Jianguo nodded. He was all for it.

With less than three months until the New Year, it was about time to bring the old man home to celebrate.

They entered the orchard. At a glance, all the leaves had fallen off—whether from the old fruit trees or the newly planted saplings. Only bare trunks remained, looking like crooked, lifeless branches.

Cao Jianguo walked over and pinched one of the saplings. “We’ll need to turn the soil and fertilize again soon.”

“Got it,” Cao Shujie nodded. He understood. It was to keep the saplings from freezing to death in the cold.

As they walked, Cao Shujie looked off into the distance. The saplings twisted and curled like little dragons, looking quite majestic. He pulled out his phone and snapped a few photos to document the scene.

Unfortunately, the phone camera wasn’t great. The photos came out blurry. He muttered, “I’ll grab the camera when I get home and take a few better shots.”

“What are you taking pictures of that for?” Cao Jianguo asked, puzzled by his son’s thinking.

Cao Shujie chuckled. “For reference material. You never know when it might come in handy.”

“Besides, Dad, don’t you think the bare branches look kind of beautiful?” he asked.

Cao Jianguo gave the trees another look, then shook his head. “Beautiful, my ass. They look like firewood sticks. Ugly as hell.”

Clearly, father and son didn’t share the same aesthetic.

After coming down from the mountain and bringing the four dogs home, Cao Shujie saw his wife helping Mengmeng get dressed.

The little one was still full of sleepiness. Her face was scrunched in displeasure. Eyes closed, she lay limply against her mother, whining, “Mommy, I’m sleepy. I wanna go back to bed.”

“Mengmeng, no more sleeping. Let’s get up and eat first. Once it warms up a bit, Mommy will take you out to play,” Cheng Xiaolin coaxed her.

She’d woken up too late in the morning and refused to nap at noon. If they pushed her nap to the afternoon, she’d be wide awake at bedtime, which meant a long night for the adults.

The moment she heard the word “play,” Mengmeng perked right up. Her eyes flew open, and all traces of sleepiness vanished. She asked eagerly, “Mommy, where are we going to play?”

“After lunch, Mommy will teach you how to draw, okay?” Cheng Xiaolin said.

To catch Mengmeng’s interest, she added, “Mommy will teach you to draw puppies and kittens.”

That hit the sweet spot. Mengmeng’s face lit up with a big smile. She nodded quickly. “Okay! Okay! I love drawing!”

She sat up straight on the bed, raising her arms cooperatively so her mom could dress her. She even added, “Mommy, I love drawing puppies and kittens the most.”

“That’s right. Mengmeng is such a good girl,” Cheng Xiaolin said.

Watching this scene from the side, Cao Shujie thought to himself, “Mengmeng, you’re way too easy to please.”

“Shujie, are you free the next couple of days?” Cheng Xiaolin asked, turning to her husband.

“I must be free, just tell me what it’s about,” Cao Shujie said.

“If you’re not busy, come with me to visit my mom.”

As soon as he heard what it was, Cao Shujie readily agreed. “When are we going?”

“The day after tomorrow, how about that?” Cheng Xiaolin said. “My dad will be back then too.”

“No more work outside?” Cao Shujie was puzzled. Right now, the whole country was pushing hard on real estate development. Construction teams shouldn’t be stopping work at a time like this.

Cheng Xiaolin shook her head. “I didn’t ask in detail, not really sure.”

Cao Shujie told his wife to buy some things in advance to bring along. When he saw Mengmeng already dressed and shouting to put on her shoes and get out of bed, he bent down to get her shoes and helped her put them on.

“Mengmeng, want me to carry you?” he asked.

But Mengmeng refused to be carried. She insisted on walking herself. When she saw her dad trying to pick her up, she took off running, her little legs moving fast. Cao Shujie didn’t even dare to chase her.

“Grandmother, Daddy’s trying to hit me! Come protect me!” Mengmeng shouted without missing a beat.

Cheng Xiaolin, walking behind them, heard her daughter and immediately put on a stern face. “Mengmeng, you’re already making things up at such a young age. You really do need a spanking.”

“Yeah, go ahead and spank her later. I’ll record it for you, and when she grows up, we’ll show it to her,” Cao Shujie chimed in.

Before he could finish, his wife kicked him in the calf and said, “Shujie, you really are a father, huh? Looks like you need a good spanking yourself.”

Wang Yuelan glanced over when she heard the commotion, then quickly looked away and took Mengmeng inside for dinner.

Kids grow up and stop listening to their mothers. Nothing she could do.

During dinner, Cao Shujie said to his mother, “Mom, I’m going to Mengmeng’s grandma’s place the day after tomorrow.”

Wang Yuelan didn’t even ask why. She just nodded and said, “Go ahead. Don’t worry about the orchard. Just remember to bring plenty of things with you.”

She remembered something and added, “We still have a lot of apples at home. Take more of those with you.”

Cao Shujie nodded. “Alright, got it.”

After dinner, Cheng Xiaolin helped her mother-in-law wash the dishes. Wang Yuelan tried to stop her. “Linlin, go keep an eye on Mengmeng. You don’t need to do this.”

“Mom, it’s fine. Let her play by herself. A few bumps and scrapes help her grow faster.”

Cao Shujie went to the bedroom, turned on the computer, and logged into the BTC trading system. He saw that the price per coin was still just over 13 yuan, nearly a full yuan lower than the 14.2 yuan he had paid at the lowest last time. Without hesitation, he transferred 100,000 yuan into the account and started buying up the big orders.

Strangely enough, this time felt different from when he bought back in September.

Back then, the price had plummeted from over 100 US dollars to just 3 dollars per coin. At what seemed like the bottom, everyone was scrambling to buy.

But this time, after a slow decline over two months, the price dropped even further, yet no one was rushing to grab orders.

There were large orders of over a thousand Bitcoins just sitting there, untouched. It took ages for even one to get filled.

Starting from the lowest price of 13.3 yuan, Cao Shujie bought through orders at 13.31 and 13.32 yuan, all the way back down to 13.3 yuan. In that narrow 0.04 yuan price range, he bought 7,514 coins, spending 100,070 yuan, using up every last bit of change left in his account from last time.

He didn’t even realize he had already spent the entire 100,000 yuan, converting it all into 7,514 Bitcoins.

He kept trying to buy more, but when he went to pay, the system wouldn’t let him. Only then did he notice his account balance was empty.

“Well, damn, that went fast,” Cao Shujie muttered in disbelief.

He had thought it would take just as long as last time, with lots of steps and time to fill the orders. Who would’ve guessed it would be over in just a few minutes?

That meant no one else was buying. In his previous life, Cao Shujie had never dabbled in this stuff, and he never imagined Bitcoin could get so cheap that no one even cared.

“Shujie, are you done?” Cheng Xiaolin called from outside.

“Yeah, just finished. What’s up?”

“Come with me to town to buy a few things,” she said.

Cao Shujie agreed right away. He needed to go to town anyway to visit the shop that installed his radiators.

As they were about to leave, he saw Mengmeng happily playing with the little Pekingese. He figured they’d leave her behind this time. But Mengmeng had sharp eyes. The moment she turned around and saw her parents heading out, she dropped the dog and ran after them.

“Daddy, where are you going?” she asked, then ran over to her mom and wrapped her arms around her legs, refusing to let go.

“Mengmeng, stay home and play with Grandmother, okay? Mommy and Daddy are just going to town to buy some things. We’ll be back soon,” Cheng Xiaolin coaxed.

Mengmeng didn’t care. She shrieked, “No! I’m going too!”

Cao Shujie had a headache. He said to his wife, “Go change her clothes, quick.”

What else could they do?

Ten minutes later, they had Mengmeng dressed and ready. Just as they were about to leave, Mengmeng pointed at the little dog and cried, “And the puppy too!”

“No way. Mengmeng, if you keep this up, we’ll leave you at home too,” Cheng Xiaolin said firmly.

They were going shopping, not out for fun. Taking Mengmeng was already a handful. There was no way they could manage a dog too.

As soon as she finished speaking, Mengmeng went limp like she had no bones in her body. She plopped down on her mother’s feet, one arm wrapped around her leg, half her body leaning on her mom, the other half slouched sideways, clearly ready to throw herself on the ground if they didn’t give in.

“…”

Cheng Xiaolin turned to look at her husband, her eyes clearly asking, “Should I just spank her now?”

“Go ahead. I didn’t see anything,” Cao Shujie said, resigned.

He was completely at his daughter’s mercy. Before his wife could act, he put on a stern face and said, “Mengmeng, get up. Just this once. If you ever do this again, I’ll leave you behind for real.”

“Hmph!” Mengmeng tilted her head back and looked at the sky, as if to say, “What can you do to me?”

Smack! Cheng Xiaolin gave her a light slap on the butt. The little girl immediately covered her backside with both hands and ran off.

In the end, Cao Shujie put the Pekingese into a small cardboard box, tied it up with a leash, and took both mother and daughter with him to Qingshi Town. They bought everything they needed for the visit to his mother-in-law’s house.

He also stopped by the same shop that had installed his radiators before and arranged for the owner to install radiators in a few rooms at his parents’ place too. Before leaving, he paid a 1,000 yuan deposit.

Maybe it was because her mother had slapped her, or maybe it was because her father brought over the little pug, but this time Mengmeng was surprisingly well-behaved. She held the pug’s leash all by herself and didn’t make a fuss at all.

Cao Shujie also noticed something else: the little dog was very obedient with Mengmeng. When it was by her side, it didn’t bite things or run around. Every now and then, it would even put on a little show, spinning in place and chasing its tail, making Mengmeng burst into peals of laughter.

This little dog was something else. It really knew how to read the room.

(End of chapter)