The next day.

In the morning.

Zhang Ye was still fast asleep.

His entire family was already up and was having breakfast in the villa’s living room.

Sisi kept turning around to look behind her with every bite. “Mommy, when will Daddy wake up?”

Wu Zeqing smiled and said, “Daddy is tired. Let him sleep for a little longer.”

Sisi gave an OK.

Zhang Ye’s mother nagged, “Eat the egg. Don’t be picky.”

Sisi widened her eyes and looked back again. “Nana, when will Daddy wake up?”

His mother rolled her eyes. “Why do you only know how to look for your daddy?”

His father doted on his granddaughter. He immediately shouted to the bedroom, “Little Ye, your daughter is looking for you.”

After a while, Zhang Ye came out in his pajamas, yawning.

Sisi jumped off Wu Zeqing’s lap and ran straight for Zhang Ye. “Daddy!”

Zhang Ye’s sleepiness immediately disappeared. He smiled and bent down to pick his daughter up and gave her a kiss. “Hey, why are you looking for Daddy? Little one, you’re quite clingy, aren’t ya?”

Sisi got prickled by his stubble and started giggling.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang.

His mother said, “Who’s that so early in the morning?”

Zhang Ye said, “It must be Little Tian and the others again, right?”

When the door opened, everyone in the house was startled.

They saw Wu Changhe and Li Qinqin standing right outside the door.

Zhang Ye was shocked. “Dad, Mom, what are you two doing here?”

Li Qinqin hurriedly said, “How could we not come over knowing that you’re back? Your dad and I rushed over on a red-eye flight to get here. Quick, let me take a look at you. You didn’t lose weight, did you? Did you have a hard time?” Then, after checking out Zhang Ye for a long time and squeezing his shoulders, she said, “Eh, why does it seem like you’ve put on weight instead?”

Zhang Ye smiled and said, “I was treated well in there and ate well too.”

Meanwhile, Wu Changhe was glaring at Zhang Ye the moment he stepped in. He said angrily, “Rascal, get over here!”

Zhang Ye refused to go over to him. He played dumb and said, “Dad, what is it?”

Wu Changhe pointed at him angrily and said, “Why didn’t you tell me about something as important as you coming back?”

Zhang Ye immediately diverted the blame. “It wasn’t me. Old Wu said not to tell you about it.”

Wu Zeqing said with a chuckle, “Dad, it was me who told Little Ye not to tell you.”

When Zhang Ye’s mother heard that, she smirked.

His father was also amused.

When Wu Changhe heard that it was his own daughter who didn’t want him to be informed, his anger lessened. “Why would you hide such an important matter from me?”

Li Qinqin looked at her husband. “You’ve been nagging about Little Ye every day for the past few years, so would anyone dare to inform you about something like that?” She then smiled and looked at Zhang Ye. “It’s good that you’re back, it’s good that you’re back.”

Sisi said in a childish voice, “Grandpa, Grandma.”

Li Qinqin said happily, “Aye.”

When Wu Changhe saw Sisi, his expression instantaneously became one of joy. “Sisi, come here. Did you miss Grandpa? Does your daddy treat you well? If he doesn’t, tell Grandpa about it. Grandpa will punish him for you.”

Sisi replied, “Daddy is very good. Daddy even taught me how to play Go.”

Wu Changhe harrumphed, “Didn’t Grandpa teach you as well?”

Sisi said innocently, “Grandpa isn’t as good as Daddy.”

Wu Changhe got furious. “Who did you hear that from? Huh? I’m not as good as him? I can win against three of him in one go. Do you believe that?”

Zhang Ye seethed. “Hur hur.”

Wu Changhe said, “What are you hurhur’ing about?”

Zhang Ye laughed and said, “Dad, don’t say that I’m trying to talk back. But if you insist that you can take on three of me and still win, I’m having none of that. It’s more like I’ll be the one taking on three of you and winning.”historical

Wu Changhe was irritated. “You? Take on three of me? I’ll take on four of you!”

“I’ll take on five of you!”

“I’ll take on six of you!”

Li Qinqin said in a speechless manner, “You two are grown men. Why are you arguing the moment you meet? It’s been so long, yet the both of you are still the same.”

Everyone laughed.

Li Qinqin whispered to her son-in-law with a smile, “Don’t listen to your dad. When you won against PeterGo yesterday, he was showing off at the Qiyuan and being all proud.”

Zhang Ye laughed.

Wu Changhe said, “What are you two talking about?”

Li Qinqin turned around. “Good things about you.”

Wu Changhe thought of something and said to Zhang Ye, “Oh yes, there’s a batch of newcomers that came to Sanya as well. You met them yesterday, right? Afterwards, train them a little for me.”

Zhang Ye exclaimed, “I’m on vacation here. We’ll talk about it again when we get back to Beijing.”

Wu Changhe clearly knew what he was thinking. “Can I find you when we get back to Beijing?”

Zhang Ye said perfunctorily, “Alright, alright, I’ll do it.”

Wu Changhe said with a stern face, “Take this seriously. They’re all good saplings!”

Zhang Ye said, “I got it, Dad, I’ll teach them well.”

Wu Changhe said, “Oh yes, there’s a consultant role available at China Qiyuan. I’ve already accepted the appointment on your behalf.”

Zhang Ye said, “Why would I want to be a consultant?”

Wu Changhe said, “Don’t talk nonsense. It wasn’t easy for someone to beat PeterGo, so we can’t allow this honor to go to someplace else. It would definitely have to come to the Qiyuan.”

Zhang Ye did not argue back. “Alright, alright, handle it however you like.”

Li Qinqin smiled and said, “You’ve really done us proud this time. In fact, your dad and quite a few people at the Qiyuan were very worried. They were afraid that your skill level would drop and that you wouldn’t be able to defeat PeterGo since you haven’t touched Go in so long.”

Zhang Ye smiled and said, “You’re thinking too much. My skill will never drop. It can only go up.”

Zhang Ye caught a glimpse of a huge stack of newspapers on the table. He picked them up and flipped through them. Looking at the reports, he broke into a smile.

It was his news all over the papers.

“PeterGo suffers a terrible defeat.”

“HEOR’s identity turns out to be Zhang Ye.”

“China Qiyuan has confirmed this news.”

“A former Heavenly King gets an early release from prison.”

“A long-forgotten name.”

“Heated discussions are set off across Asia.”

“PeterGo’s development team expresses: It is not a shame to have lost to Zhang Ye.”

Zhang Ye asked, “Where did all these newspapers come from?”

Wu Zeqing smiled and said, “We got them from the front desk of the hotel.”

His father said, “When we were watching the morning news, several of the TV stations were discussing you. You’ve come back too suddenly this time and left everyone in shock.”

Li Qinqin looked at him. “Now that everyone knows you’re back, what are your plans from here?”

Zhang Ye picked up a mango and started eating it. “I’ll rest for a bit first and think about it after getting back to Beijing.”

A delivery person arrived.

Wu Zeqing went to receive the package and handed it to Zhang Ye. “I bought you a new cell phone. Have a look.”

Zhang Ye smiled and said, “It’s still my wife who is the meticulous one. What brand is it?”

Wu Zeqing said, “Ruihe, made in China.”

His mother said, “This is the best domestic cell phone brand in China right now.”

Zhang Ye spread his hands. “Whatever, I’ve never heard of it before.”

“But your SIM card is no longer usable.” Wu Zeqing said gently, “They’ve switched the card type. If you still want to use your original number, you’ll have to get the card replaced.”

Zhang Ye exclaimed, “Eh? They’ve switched to a new generation of SIM cards so quickly?”

Wu Changhe said, “Quick?” Do you know how many years it has been?”

Wu Zeqing said, “Many things are no longer the same.”

Zhang Ye said, “Alright, I’ll slowly get accustomed to it.”

Li Qinqin said with a hint of pain. “How have you been spending the past few years?”

Zhang Ye smiled and said, “About that, I won’t be able to finish telling you all about it even if I spoke for three whole days and nights. I’ll explain it in detail in the future when I have more time.”

Zhang Ye already knew that it would be very difficult for him to continue his journey in the entertainment circle after being away for close to four years. Actually, even before he was released, he had a premonition of how things had become. Although he hadn’t watched the Spring Festival Gala during the years of his sentence, and the restrictions on communications were rather strict, and it was all the more so for Zhang Ye, he still occasionally heard some news and developments from the people around him. He could clearly tell that the world had changed. As such, Zhang Ye was already mentally prepared for this. Now that he was back, he would have to slowly get used to the environment again.

How should he proceed from here?

What direction should he take?

What was going to be the focus of his work?

How was he going to build a team?

All of this needed re-examining.

However, there was one thing that he had already decided on. Zhang Ye’s return this time was not going to be for trivial reasons. He wasn’t just going to do this to make a living. He had never forgotten about his goal and ambition. Until the day he rose to the top of the international entertainment circle, he would never stop in his tracks. This was the one and only thing that he was stubborn about. No matter what happened, no matter how bad the circumstances, he had never wavered on his path.