Lin Mengxi had no idea that such a melodramatic idea had already taken root in her mind.

Considering that Yinuo and Youyou were still at home, Ye Chen didn't stay out long. He soon returned home with the Honda Fit's keys in hand.

On the sofa, the little one was still carefree, engrossed in her cartoons.

But Chen Yinuo immediately got up as soon as she saw Ye Chen come in.

"Did you talk to Mr. Zhang? Will this incident cause him any trouble?" she asked anxiously.

"It's fine. I spoke with him. He said he can handle it and had anticipated how things might unfold from the start," Ye Chen reassured her, patting her arm lightly.

"If he's confident, that's a relief. But the online buzz has escalated into a public outcry!" Chen Yinuo still couldn't help but worry.

She'd feel deeply uneasy if this incident ended up causing trouble for Zhang Jingshan or the retired official Zhang Weimin.

"Relax, it's not as serious as you think," Ye Chen said casually, brushing off her concerns with a smile.

He then walked over to Youyou on the sofa.

"Youyou, stop watching TV. Quickly recite the Tang poems you learned yesterday!"

"Oh... alright!"

The little girl reluctantly tore her eyes away from the TV.

"Which one should I recite first?" she asked obediently.

"Start with Mín Nóng (Toiling Farmers) and Jìng Yè Sī (Quiet Night Thoughts)," Ye Chen instructed.

"Okay! Hmm... Toiling Farmers by Tang poet Li Shen: 'The midday sun scorches the soil...'"

Watching the father and daughter share such a warm interaction, Chen Yinuo's heart softened.

For a while, she seemed to forget about the rear-end accident and the smashed Porsche.

Smiling with genuine happiness, she listened as Ye Youyou obediently recited one Tang poem after another at Ye Chen's request.

When Ye Chen started explaining the poems to his daughter, Yinuo quietly left for the bathroom to prepare a bath for the little one.

"Youyou, after your bath tonight, how about sleeping on your own?" Ye Chen suggested gently after finishing their lesson.

"Why do I have to sleep alone? What about Mommy? Isn't she sleeping with me?" Youyou asked with her big, curious eyes.

"Because Mommy has to sleep with Daddy," Ye Chen shamelessly replied.

"Why does Mommy have to sleep with Daddy? Doesn't Daddy usually not sleep with Mommy?" Youyou countered.

"I-! @#￥..."

Ye Chen's face twitched involuntarily.

"Well, because you were still little before, so Mommy had to sleep with you. But now that you're a big girl..."

"But I'm still little! I'm not big yet!" Youyou retorted.

Ye Chen:

This conversation is going nowhere.

At that moment, Yinuo came out of the bathroom and shot Ye Chen an annoyed glance.

"Can't you stop being so impatient? Why are you even discussing this with her?"

"Mommy, what does 'impatient' mean?" Youyou asked curiously before Ye Chen could respond.

Yinuo, flustered, said, "It's nothing. Mommy was just talking to Daddy. Come on, let's take a bath. Afterward, you need to go to bed!"

"Okay-dee-cha!"

The little girl skipped away cheerfully, repeating some phrase she'd learned who-knows-where.

Ever since she'd taken a bath in the tub, she had fallen in love with the experience.

Tonight was no exception. Once she got in, she refused to come out, almost pushing Yinuo to her breaking point before she finally stopped playing.

In the living room, the TV was broadcasting evening news bulletins one after another.

Leaning back on the sofa with his eyes closed, Ye Chen seemed calm. But in his mind, his thoughts were racing, triggered by a news segment about online games.

In his previous life, a game called Reincarnation had taken the world by storm for decades. From the moment it launched, it attracted a flood of capital. Investors, acquisition attempts-they were endless. Even the tech giant Tencent, which had practically monopolized the gaming industry, repeatedly raised its offer to buy it.

But neither Tencent nor any other major player succeeded in acquiring it. Even attempts at securing funding were turned down.

This created immense challenges for Reincarnation. Tencent quickly tried to develop a copycat game, hoping to crush Reincarnation the way it had with so many competitors before.

But Reincarnation was unlike any other game that had fallen to Tencent's tactics. Despite Tencent's access to top-tier talent, its team could not replicate the immersive experience of Reincarnation. The two games weren't even in the same league.

Within a year, Reincarnation had dominated 90% of the Chinese online gaming market. Even mobile gamers who had been obsessed with titles like King of Glory and PUBG were drawn to Reincarnation.

At the time, the rise of mobile gaming had pushed online games into decline.

But no one had expected Reincarnation to revive the golden age of online gaming.

Tencent, once an unstoppable force in the gaming world, was shaken. Desperate, they employed every trick in the book to bring Reincarnation down-but all in vain.

Instead, their underhanded tactics backfired. With most adult gamers flocking to Reincarnation, Tencent's mobile games were left with a player base made up almost entirely of minors and elementary school students. This marked the beginning of Tencent's downfall.

Reincarnation eventually expanded globally, inspiring a fervent fanbase wherever it went. Its development team remained vigilant, continually upgrading the game alongside advancing technology. With official backing, the game ushered in the era of fully immersive gaming via neural-linked headsets and pods.

These devices didn't require traditional computers or keyboards. Instead, players used iris recognition to connect their brains and nervous systems to the game. It was a true second world-both virtual and real.

Battles between players, faction wars, and even national conflicts played out within Reincarnation.

But that was all later.

Amazingly, this game that changed the world had originated in a struggling company on the brink of collapse, developed by a team of fresh graduates.

Ye Chen remembered that in his previous life, the game company Hidden Dragon had been acquired for less than 30 million yuan just before it went under. That acquisition included its genius development team.

A year later, Tencent offered 700 million yuan to buy the company. Eighteen months later, the offer rose to 1 billion. Two years later, it hit 2 billion, and within three years, Tencent was willing to pay 5 billion.

But Hidden Dragon stood firm. They had refused Tencent from the beginning, even at the risk of relentless suppression.

In his past life, after Ye Chen had made his fortune, he had investigated Hidden Dragon extensively. He knew that while they eventually found an investor, they had been on the verge of disbanding due to financial woes just a month before that.

As Ye Chen's thoughts swirled, Yinuo tiptoed out of the bedroom after lulling Youyou to sleep with a bedtime story.

Seeing Ye Chen leaning back on the sofa with his eyes closed, she couldn't help but call out softly:

"Hmph? Ye Chen, are you asleep?"