Everyone was in high spirits after the video and chatter filled the hall.
In no time at all, the birthday cake was brought forward. Nan Zhengde was not as young as he used to be and was unable to stay up too late. Hence, instead of waiting until twelve midnight to cut the cake, they decided to move the time forward.
“Great-Grandpa, I still haven’t given you my present yet!” Dabao suddenly exclaimed as he rushed over to stand before Nan Zhengde.
“Really? My darling has something for me as well? You’re already the best present I can get!” the old man replied with a chuckle.
The little boy’s face was serious as he said, “My present is really special! Make sure to get a good look, Great-Grandpa.”
“Okay. I’ll love it no matter what you give me!” Nan Zhengde was in a wonderful mood.
“Alright. Then prepare yourself, Great-Grandpa!”
With that said, Dabao headed for a nearby table where a laptop was resting.
His fingers flew across the keys rapidly before he told Nan Zhengde, “Great-Grandpa, count to three and look over there.”
Although confused, Nan Zhengde did as instructed. “One, two, three…”
The word “three” had barely left his lips when the guests cried out in shock.
The reason for their outburst? All the lights in the direction Dabao had asked Nan Zhengde to look in had been turned off.
The view out the windows was amazing, showing the busiest part of Flower City. This part of the city was perpetually lit up by neon lights and was always bustling no matter the time of day.
But at that moment, everything was plunged into darkness. Not a single speck of light could be seen.
“What’s happening? Did that kid just cut off the electricity for that part of the city?”
“Oh my, how did he do that?”
Just then, light burst into life among the sea of darkness. However, it was only limited to the massive screens on the sides of the buildings. Since this was the most prosperous area of the city, nearly every single one of the high-rise buildings had large screens built into their sides.
Currently, all the screens were lit up brightly but the usual advertisements were nowhere to be seen.
Instead, every single one of the screens showed the same content: Sirui and Sihan wish Great-Grandpa a happy birthday!
Against the dark backdrop of the night, the words were glaringly obvious.
It was almost like half the city was celebrating Nan Zhengde’s birthday with him. The sight was absolutely glorious!
“How wonderful!” Some of the guests began to cheer.
“Wow, that’s amazing! How did he do that?”
Dabao’s voice cut through the noise, reaching Nan Zhengde’s ears, “Great-Grandpa, could you count to three again?”
“Sure. One, two, three…”
On the count of three, the darkened city lit up again.
Once more, everybody present cheered and clapped.
It had taken less than a minute for the city to go from total darkness to lighting up the night sky again. The visual display was incredible and indescribable unless one personally experienced it themself.
Ning Ran was absolutely stunned. She had not expected that this was what Dabao had planned in mind. She also could not wrap her mind around how he managed to do all that using only a laptop.
“That kid is a genius! He’s amazing!”
“As expected of the Nan family. So young yet so capable already! It’s shocking!”
Praise for the young boy rang out incessantly.
At last, it was time to sing the birthday song. All the lights in the hall dimmed before a sweet and melodious child’s voice drifted through the air. “Happy birthday to you…”
The angelic voice belonged to none other than Erbao.
Her brother had gotten his chance to show off earlier so now it was her turn. I’m not going to lose to my brother!
Under her lead, everyone started to sing along as well. At the end of the song, the two children blew out the candles together with Nan Zhengde.
Just as everyone was busy cheering, the distant sound of explosions could be heard.
Brilliant fireworks exploded off in the distance, gradually nearing where they were. They followed the Emerald River, leaving shimmering ribbons of color in their wake.
Nan Xing had specifically arranged for this fireworks display. It was befitting of his flashy and flamboyant attitude.
After the stunning show, the atmosphere was jubilant as everyone was bubbling with exhilaration.
An hour later, Nan Zhengde departed for home and the guests left as well.
Erbao had already fallen asleep on the couch a while ago. She had been in a heightened state of excitement for the entire day and had not taken an afternoon nap. It was no surprise that she was exhausted.
Nan Chen carefully picked his daughter up while Ning Ran held Dabao’s hand. Together, the family of four walked out.
The moment they entered the car, Erbao woke up. “Where’s Uncle?”
Nan Chen and Ning Ran were bewildered. Why is she asking for Nan Xing the moment she wakes up?
“Your uncle went singing with several Aunts. Why are you looking for him?” Ning Ran questioned.
“Uncle said he would pack up the tasty leftovers for me. Did he pack them?” the little girl pressed urgently.
Ning Ran could not help but giggle at her daughter’s words.
You little glutton! Is food all you can think about?
She assured Erbao, “Don’t worry. Your uncle did as he promised and had them pack the leftovers. Go to sleep. He’ll bring them over for you tomorrow.”
“Okay.” Satisfied, the little girl put her head down and went back to sleep.
Upon arriving back at Red Maple City, Ning Ran told Nan Chen, “Xiangyun is here so you should probably go back. Give me Erbao, I’ll take her upstairs myself.”
“No, she’s not. She’s out of the country on official business,” Nan Chen answered.
“Huh? Even I don’t know about that. How did you know?”
“I’m the boss,” was the simple reply.
“You’re the CEO of Nanshi Corporation while Star Entertainment is just one of your many subsidiaries. Xiangyun is not exactly a very important figure in the company. Why should you care about whether she’s out of the country or not?”
“I just do.”
Something occurred to her and she asked, “Don’t tell me you sent her off to learn something again?”
“I didn’t send her, the company did. She’s off to Korea this time,” he clarified.
“You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”
“Korea’s idol trainee system is probably the best in all of Asia, maybe even the world. The way they produce their high-quality stars is something the rest of the world’s entertainment industry should follow. Sending her over there to learn from them is incredibly beneficial to her future.”
Listening to his thorough explanation, Ning Ran had to agree that he had a point.
There were two reasons why Nan Chen had ordered his subordinates to send Cheng Xiangyun to Korea for training. One was so he could spend more time with Ning Ran while the other was so that Cheng Xiangyun would have a higher chance of getting promoted.
“Will she be an important asset to the company in the future?”
“Are you hoping she will be?”
“Of course! She’s helped me a lot so I hope we’ll be able to work together for an even brighter future.”
“That’s why she needs the training. However, I won’t value her just because of her relationship with you. I’ll still consider her capability first.”
“Aunt Xiang is very capable!” Dabao piped up from beside them.
Unlike his sister, who was already sound asleep, Dabao was still very alert.
If these words had come from any other kid other than Dabao, the adults would probably have rebuked him for speaking up when he did not know anything.
However, nobody dared to berate Dabao for saying something like that. Despite being just a small child, he was remarkably understanding for his age. In fact, sometimes he was even smarter than the adults.
“By the way, how did you turn off all the lights earlier?” Ning Ran asked the boy.
“You wouldn’t understand even if I told you, Mommy. To put it simply, I entered a system and was able to control everything from there.”
“You cut off the electricity for quite a large area of the city. What if you had inconvenienced someone?”
It was Nan Chen who answered, “Nothing like that happened. All the hospitals and other important organizations still had full use of their electricity.”
“So you supported him in this? I knew you were probably behind this! He wouldn’t have been able to do that himself. You spoil him too much!”
“He’s my son. If I don’t spoil him, who am I supposed to spoil? You?” Nan Chen retorted.
