Xie Ran published a paper in Universe, and it was a highly valuable paper in the field of quantum mechanics. This news quickly caused a sensation across all the schools in the city.

For a while, the phone lines at the Education Bureau and Qixing High School were overwhelmed with calls, and admissions offices at major universities competed to offer generous conditions to recruit him.

A student who could publish a physics paper in the Universe while still in the second year of high school was undoubtedly of enormous academic and publicity value, making it worth all costs for universities to secure him.

The municipal government departments responsible for scientific research, culture, and education took this very seriously. They held an overnight meeting with Qixing’s management to discuss various preferential policies and publicity plans related to Xie Ran.

Qixing’s reputation soared. The management at Qixing was overwhelmed with mixed feelings—happiness was obvious, but the more the authorities paid attention and the more sensational the news became, the less room they had to resist Xie Ran’s list of demands.

Fortunately, it was all worthwhile. For Qixing, any issue solvable with money was not a problem. Retaining Xie Ran and the subsequent resources he would bring were invaluable.

Within Qixing, there was much discussion. Various student groups talked about it for several days straight.

Especially Xie Ran’s classmates, who initially thought he had been corrupted by the flashy world and that his grades were dropping, soon facing losing his scholarship. But after Xie Ran went to the office and returned, all the school leaders and teachers practically worshipped him.

…It was truly unexpected.

The following news also shocked Qixing’s students. The school first expelled Xie Ran’s homeroom teacher, Wang Siyi, and then ordered Xu Feiyan to publicly apologize to Xie Ran.

At first, everyone thought it was revenge because Wang Siyi had bullied Xie Ran in the past. But later, insiders learned the truth: Xie Ran never mentioned any past difficulties caused by Wang Siyi. The school punished Wang Siyi because he knowingly ignored Xie Ran being bullied by other students.

After this incident, the atmosphere at Qixing changed significantly. First, with Wang Siyi’s example, other teachers began to take bullying seriously. After all, offending wealthy students was not worse than losing one’s job.

Secondly, many previously arrogant students became more restrained. Even Xu Feiyan, a privileged aristocrat, had to apologize humbly. If it had been other students, it might not have been so simple. Moreover, who knew if another top student might suddenly emerge among the specially admitted students and crush everyone?

Regrettably, despite having such a celebrity in school, many students went to Xie Ran’s class to see the true top scholar but were told that Xie Ran had already applied to stop attending classes and was self-studying at home.

Qixing naturally had no objection. With Xie Ran’s current qualifications, attending school or not made little difference, universities lined up to choose him anyway.

The entire Qixing was abuzz, but Xie Ran felt little and continued his work methodically.

When he first traveled to this world, he was troubled for hours by the original owner’s financial situation. He was uncertain about the original owner’s fixations and couldn’t easily leave school.

At first, Xie Ran only wanted to participate in online academic competitions to win prize money and later use the results to negotiate with Qixing to resolve the original owner’s crisis.

Unexpectedly, when doing competition problems at an internet cafe, Guan Heng, a troublesome kid, forcibly made him quit, and Xie Ran lost patience to redo the problems, so he directly submitted a paper to Universe.

For him, publishing a paper in this world’s Universe journal was not difficult and not a big deal.

In fact, he exercised considerable restraint in choosing the paper topic.

Xie Ran chose a topic that would be widely noticed in this world over the next decade. This world’s technology level was far behind his original world. This topic only had initial breakthroughs shortly before the original owner died.

After graduation, the original owner was supported by Xu Feiyan at home without a job, and spent time immersed in various topics. Unfortunately, due to bullying, his academic ability had severely regressed, and he could only grasp many theories superficially.

Xie Ran proposed new ideas based on this world’s existing knowledge. They were enough to achieve his goals but not enough to raise suspicion.

Otherwise, deeper exploration would bring multiplied attention and pressure, which would affect his future plans.

Meanwhile, Xu Feiyan nearly got his family elders angry to death for privately threatening to force Xie Ran to drop out. He was also punished within his family.

Xu Feiyan was confused about Xie Ran’s situation until he saw the title of Xie Ran’s published paper and suddenly understood.

Xie Ran chose a topic that would be widely reported by the media years later.

Xu Feiyan’s own grades were average, and he didn’t understand academic matters, but since technological development was closely tied to economic industry, he paid some attention. This topic affected later technological advances and was a headline in the media for a long time.

Xu Feiyan remembered Xie Ran bought many related books and read them at home. Xu Feiyan never flipped through those books but remembered their titles.

Finally, Xu Feiyan realized what had happened.

Xie Ran was indeed reborn like him and, like him, wanted to use future information to gain an early advantage.

The difference was, Xu Feiyan wanted to use information gaps to invest and gain wealth and resources.

Xie Ran used future knowledge.

At night, Xie Ran returned to his rented house in Ruijin Garden.

Xie’s father was cooking in the kitchen. Hearing the door open, he peeked out and smiled: “Xiao Ran is back! Rest first, dinner will start when your mother gets home.”

The original owner’s parents had demanding jobs, but they took turns returning before his school dismissal to prepare dinner.

This was a very unfamiliar experience for Xie Ran. In his original world, his parents were always busy, either on business trips or returning home later than him. Life was not worrying, though, because there were cooks and housekeepers at home who cooked well.

Xie Ran ate the cook’s carefully prepared dinner alone and quietly returned to his room to do his things.

Later, his parents came home separately, ate alone, sometimes checked on him in his room, but mostly continued working—everything orderly.

In this world, Xie’s parents insisted on eating together as a family. The dinner table was lively, and his parents always happily shared little stories from their day, with no strict rules about not speaking while eating.

Today was the same. Xie Ran had just come home when his mother returned, washed her hands, helped his father bring out the dishes, and called Xie Ran to the table.

At dinner, Xie’s mother cheerfully shared her work news: “The batch of hairbands and bag charms I got a couple of days ago sold out today, making almost double profit. Tomorrow we’ll have a feast. I’ll cook seafood for you.”

After moving to Ruijin, Xie’s mother stopped her old street vending and switched to selling trendy products near a university.

Xie’s father was surprised: “Sold out so fast? I thought you got a lot this time.”

Xie’s mother was very pleased: “Thanks to Xiao Ran helping me check online.”

Xie Ran put down his chopsticks and looked at her: “You thought of it yourself.”

After spending more time with his parents, Xie Ran found they were not as clumsy and dull as he had imagined. The day after moving to Ruijin, his mother toured nearby and quickly picked a new vending spot near a university with heavy student traffic.

Later, when Xie Ran brought home a computer, his mother didn’t understand the tech but had heard everything could be found online, so she asked him to help research popular products among college students.

Actually, street vendors rarely had precise online data, and most picked products based on intuition and luck.

But it was rare his mother had this awareness, so Xie Ran helped a bit. Though there was no direct data on street vending, using Meng Feixuan’s search and computing power, analyzing the college market was easy.

If worse came to worst, Meng Feixuan could infiltrate student groups to observe consumption trends closely.

Xie Ran gave his mother a report recommending products, styles, and sourcing channels with costs.

His mother was ecstatic. She had awareness before but lacked time, access, and capital, fearing unsold stock.

Now with some surplus, no pressure from Xie’s father, she stocked according to Xie Ran’s report, selling better than expected because the products were popular and prices slightly lower.

Xie’s mother said: “The internet’s amazing. Xiao Ran can find so many cheap sources without leaving home.”

In his earphones, Meng Feixuan proudly claimed: “Not the internet, I’m amazing! I made that report.”

Xie Ran relayed to his mother: “Lawyer Meng helped.”

“Ah?” His mother was surprised: “Lawyer Meng’s really a great person.”

Xie’s father said: “We owe Lawyer Meng big time but haven’t thanked him properly. We should invite him for a meal when we have time.”

“No need,” Xie Ran said calmly: “He’s busy.”

“Oh,” his father replied without suspicion: “True, lawyers’ time is expensive, better not disturb him.”

Meng Feixuan began nagging: “I’m free! We can video chat for dinner!”

Xie Ran: “…”

This successful vending seemed to boost his mother’s confidence. She said: “Xiao Ran, teach me how to use the internet sometime. I want to figure things out myself.”

Xie Ran thought and said: “I’ll have Lawyer Meng teach you.”

“Lawyer Meng?” His mother paused: “Isn’t he very busy?”

“He’s not. He’s free.”

His mother and father exchanged confused looks: Is Lawyer Meng busy or free?

After this, his mother and father calculated their savings and felt life was looking up. His father sighed: “Too bad housing prices are so high now. If prices were like years ago, maybe we could save enough for a small apartment here in Ruijin…”

They really liked Ruijin Garden’s environment but felt discouraged after inquiring about local housing prices.

Given their income, it would take a lifetime to save a down payment, assuming prices stopped rising.

His mother was less pessimistic: “It’s okay. We’ll try harder. When Xiao Ran starts working and earns money, there’s still hope.”

“Yes, yes,” his father said, slapping his head: “Xiao Ran will work eventually. He’s so outstanding, his salary must be high. Maybe he can save enough for a bigger place…”

Dinner was almost over. Seeing them talk about this, Xie Ran put down his bowl and said: “I have something to tell you.”

He rarely brought up topics lately. His parents quickly put down their chopsticks. His father asked: “What is it?”

“We have to prepare to move.”

“Why? Didn’t we just move here?” His father was shocked, then sighed: “Is the money running out and we have to cancel the lease? Ruijin is really too expensive for us…”

“Is it because Qixing’s expenses are too high?” His mother frowned, reluctant to leave Ruijin’s environment but comforted him: “Don’t stress. If you need money, tell us… Ruijin’s environment is good and worth the cost. We’ll figure something out. Don’t rush to move out.”

His mother sounded more confident now with higher income. Although not rich, they could endure living in Ruijin a bit longer.

“No,” Xie Ran interrupted: “We’re moving to a bigger house in the same community.”

His parents were puzzled.

He explained: “I published a paper in a scientific journal. The house is a reward from the school.”

His parents were stunned.

After a moment, his father dazedly asked: “A reward means the school gave you the house?”

“Yes,” Xie Ran said: “But I’m not yet an adult, so I told the school to register it under your names.”

This was one of the items in his conditions list to Qixing. Actually, Ruijin Garden wasn’t his first housing choice, but his parents liked it and often talked about saving to buy a small apartment here. He was too lazy to move often, so he just specified this house.

His parents gasped simultaneously. His mother’s eyes widened: “H-How big is the house?”

“Four bedrooms, two living rooms, 140 square meters.”

His father quickly calculated the price in his head, his voice trembling: “Over five million yuan…”

His mother felt she could hardly breathe: “What kind of paper did you publish? The school gave you a five-million-yuan house?!”

Xie Ran found it hard to explain the nature of Universe to them, so he said: “When Lawyer Meng teaches you to use the internet, have him explain it.”

The AI assistant Meng Feixuan: “Okay, sir.”

Xie’s mother: “…Lawyer Meng is really a good person.”

Xie’s parents had never seen so much money in their lives. They were very uneasy. Xie’s father still didn’t quite believe it and asked repeatedly: “Is this true? A house worth over five million… That’s too much money. Did they ask you to do anything in return? No, Xiao Ran, I’ll personally go with you to the school to find out. What if there’s some trap?”

Xie Ran: “…Okay.”

Qixing wouldn’t give so many rewards without requiring the presence of a guardian for an underage student.

But seeing Xie’s father’s current state, Xie Ran suspected that once he found out the full checklist he had given Qixing, he might faint on the spot.

The house was only one part. There was also a five-million cash reward and requests for Qixing to provide some convenience in his future activities—like not having to attend classes anymore and not participating in promotional events he was not interested in.

These conditions were based on Xie Ran’s calculation of the comprehensive benefits his Universe paper would bring to Qixing, and they were just within Qixing’s affordable range.

Qixing had their own professional analysis team. They clearly understood that Xie Ran’s demands were reasonable and precisely within their limits, which showed that Xie Ran understood the situation better than they did. No wonder he gave them no chance to negotiate.

Because Xie Ran had already figured out their bottom line.

To avoid his parents fainting at the signing scene, Xie Ran thought it better to reveal the actual situation gently and mentioned the cash reward as well.

This time, Xie’s parents were speechless. Seeing their stunned looks, Xie Ran was glad he had prepared them beforehand.

After a while, Xie Ran remembered something else and told his mother: “There will be a city-wide ‘create a civilized city’ campaign soon, so stall vending might be restricted. I asked Lawyer Meng to look at a shop near the school. You can open a store there…”

Xie’s mother’s expression turned horrified: “Is the shop also a school reward?”

Xie Ran: “No.”

Xie’s mother finally breathed a sigh of relief: “Oh, it’s rented? That’s good.”

Xie Ran: “…”

The shop wasn’t a school reward, but he planned to buy it.

Xie’s mother was in poor health. Pushing things back and forth for the stall every day was exhausting, so he planned to buy a shop near the university.

As for the funds, starting with Guan Heng’s sparring fee, making money from money was not a problem for him, especially now with Qixing’s bonus.

Seeing Xie’s mother’s expression, Xie Ran hesitated and said: “Well, it’s rented from Lawyer Meng.”

The author’s note: Schrödinger’s Lawyer Meng — before Lawyer Meng collapses (makes up his mind), you don’t know if he’s busy or free.

Xie’s mother: Lawyer Meng is really a good person.

Mark: Don’t send me cards!!! I’m not a good person, I’m not even human!