On this day, a sleek black Range Rover Autobiography with sharp, angular lines slowly pulled into a slightly dated residential complex in Zhuliao Town, Baiyun District of Yangcheng.
The car's imposing presence stood in subtle contrast to the sowhat chaotic surroundings, drawing curious glances from passersby.
It stopped in front of an ordinary residential building. The driver's door opened, and Luke stepped out.
He wore a perfectly tailored deep-gray bespoke suit. His posture was tall and straight, noticeably taller and more imposing than in anyone's mory. The youthful inexperience and faint decadence he once carried had been replaced by a calm, restrained deanor that still hinted at sharp ambition.
Almost the mont he closed the car door, a woman wearing an apron and holding a spatula leaned out from the balcony of a third-floor apartnt—Luke's elder sister, Lu Fang.
She had only glanced over casually, but her eyes locked onto the tall figure and the striking black luxury car below as if magnetized.
"Is that…?"
Lu Fang blinked, wondering if she was seeing things.
She rubbed her eyes hard and looked again.
Under the sunlight, the outline of that face… seed vaguely familiar, yet so different that she hardly dared to believe it.
Was it her little brother?
But the Lu Ke she rembered had never been this tall and upright, nor had he possessed this steady, confident aura. The man standing beside the luxury car looked like an entirely different person.
Though she didn't know the exact model, she could tell at a glance that the car was expensive.
While she was still stunned, the man below seed to sense her gaze. He looked up, flashed a brilliant smile, and waved.
The spatula in Lu Fang's hand clattered to the floor.
She didn't bother picking it up. She turned and rushed downstairs, still wearing her slippers.
By the ti she reached the ground floor, panting, and stood face-to-face with the smiling man beside the car, she still could not believe it. Her eyes were full of shock and disbelief as she looked him up and down.
Luke took a step forward, saw his sister's reaction, and couldn't help laughing. "Sis, what are you staring at? It's —Lu Ke. Two years apart and you don't recognize your own little brother anymore?"
That familiar voice, carrying a hint of teasing laughter, finally shattered Lu Fang's last doubts.
She clapped a hand over her mouth. Her eyes instantly reddened, her voice trembling with emotion. "Ke… it really… really is you? How… how did you get so tall? You look completely different… I almost didn't recognize you!"
At that mont, her husband Xie Yingjun, drawn by the commotion, also ca downstairs.
He stared at his brother-in-law with the sa stunned expression, his gaze shifting back and forth between Luke's face and the Range Rover.
As an ordinary office worker and self-proclaid "car guy," he knew a bit about vehicles. Hesitantly, he asked, "A… Ah Ke? This… this is a Range Rover, right? Autobiography? You…"
Luke stood straight, letting his excited sister circle him, touching and pinching here and there as if confirming he was real.
He scratched the back of his head a little sheepishly and explained, "I know it's pretty unbelievable. Growing taller at my age—second puberty or sothing. No need to make a big deal out of it. Maybe… better nutrition and regular exercise?"
He paused, his tone turning light.
"As for the car… I'm a small boss now and have so money. Treating myself to a car I like isn't too much, right?"
"Small boss? So money?" Lu Fang and Xie Yingjun exchanged a glance, both seeing deep disbelief in the other's eyes.
The changes in their brother (brother-in-law) weren't just in appearance and vehicle—they were in the quiet confidence and ease that radiated from him, sothing they had never seen before.
Back inside the apartnt, Luke didn't keep them in suspense. He gave a simple summary of his current situation:
He had founded "Icefire Jewels Co., Ltd." dostically, held controlling shares in "Lu's Import & Export Trading Company" (mainly cross-border business), and also had companies and investnts in Arica.
He attributed his "rise" to the jadeite "lucky finds" from before, the "super lucky break" with the red diamond in Arica's Diamond District, and seizing opportunities afterward while working hard.
"In short, I got lucky and had the guts to take risks," Luke concluded sincerely.
Lu Fang and Xie Yingjun listened in a daze, but the words "jewelry company," "import-export trading," "Arican investnts," and the very real luxury car downstairs made them realize their brother had truly "made it"—and far beyond anything they could have imagined.
That evening, Lu Dashan and Lan Hua—Luke's parents—rushed over from their nearby rental apartnt after receiving their daughter's frantic call.
The mont they stepped through the door, they saw the son they had worried about day and night, the one they had "hated for not becoming steel."
Luke looked at his noticeably aged parents and felt a pang in his heart. The first thing he did was stand up, bow deeply, and apologize sincerely: "Dad, Mom, I'm sorry. These past two years… I didn't do well. I was too ashad to co ho or even contact you. I made you worry."
His mother Lan Hua's tears imdiately flowed. She stepped forward, grabbed her son's hands, and could not speak through her sobs.
His father Lu Dashan's eyes also reddened, his lips trembling.
His sister Lu Fang snorted from the side, voicing what their parents felt: "You were in Pengcheng, we were in Yangcheng! A drive of at most an hour! You made it sound like we were separated by mountains and seas!"
"Two whole years! How many phone calls did we make? You didn't even co ho for New Year! Now that you have a bit of stinking money, you finally show up? I thought you'd forgotten all about us!"
Luke hurriedly explained, his attitude even more humble: "Sis, I really was… useless back then. My business failed, I owed debts, and I was too ashad to face you. I was afraid you'd worry. Later, when things turned around with so luck, I wanted to co back only after I had made sothing of myself… I know I was wrong. Terribly wrong."
Before he could finish, Lu Fang broke down first. Tears poured down as she pounded her brother's shoulder, crying and scolding at the sa ti:
"Wuuu… You finally got your act together! Do you know how worried Mom and Dad were? How much white hair they got? Every ti I called you said you were 'busy,' 'fine,' 'no problem'… Do you know how scared I was that sothing had happened to you out there?!"
Old Father Lu Dashan listened to his children's exchange and looked at the drastically changed son who had clearly "made it." The heavy worry he had carried for so long finally eased.
He wiped his face, tears streaming, yet a smile tugged at his lips as he kept murmuring, "Good… good… My son has made sothing of himself… that's all that matters…"
It was the first ti Luke had seen his usually stern, quiet father—who had carried the whole family on his shoulders—shed tears. His nose stung with emotion.
But he was thin-skinned and not good at expressing such delicate feelings. He quickly turned to tease his one-year-old niece, who was watching everything with wide, curious eyes, using her to hide his own emotions.
His mother Lan Hua cried even harder. She didn't care whether her son had money or was a boss—she only ached that her child had been alone outside, too ashad to co ho even for New Year…
How much hardship and grievance had he endured?
Over the next few days, Luke set aside the turmoil in Westeros and his Earth business plans to focus entirely on his family.
He tried his best to make up for the two years of missing affection and the worry he had caused them.
He first took his sister Lu Fang to a Porsche dealership.
When Lu Fang saw the sleek, luxurious Cayenne and heard the price, she waved her hands in panic: "Ke! This… this is too expensive! No, no! Didn't you say your company is just getting on track and expanding overseas? There are so many places that need money! We can't spend like this! An ordinary car for daily use is enough!"
Luke smiled and put an arm around his sister's shoulders. "Sis, don't worry. You have no idea how capable your little brother is now. Money really isn't sothing you need to worry about anymore. Supporting all of you and letting you live comfortably is no problem for at all."
"Our Lu family won't need to work for the next eighteen generations. We could sit and eat until the mountains are gone and still have plenty left!"
His tone was casual, yet carried unshakable confidence.
Until Luke, without blinking, swiped over two million on the POS machine and completed all the paperwork.
When the young, pretty saleswon in the dealership began looking at Luke with burning eyes and sending him flirtatious glances, only then did Lu Fang, Xie Yingjun, and later their parents truly believe… Lu Ke had really, truly made it—and far more than they had ever imagined!
In the following days, Luke took his family on a near "nouveau riche" spending spree across Yangcheng.
He first bought everyone new phones: his father liked the "leading the charge" brand, so he got him the fully loaded flagship; his sister and brother-in-law were Apple fans, so he bought each the latest top-spec iPhone 17; his mother preferred small-screen phones, so he decided on a Xiaomi 17 for her; finally, for himself… a budget Redmi was fine.
He moved the family into the most luxurious hotel suites, treated them to Michelin-star or private-kitchen als costing tens of thousands per person, shopped at high-end malls, and outfitted everyone head to toe with designer clothes—Dior, Hermès, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, LV, Rolex, Vacheron Constantin, Patek Philippe…
Luke was a forr loser and didn't know which brands were truly prestigious, so he didn't bother researching. As long as it looked good, fit well, and was expensive… he bought it. He wasn't short on money! This would do for now; later he could go full "bespoke" so no one would call them country bumpkins.
He even felt it wasn't enough… so he took them for luxurious spa massages and wellness treatnts!
He wanted the full "nouveau riche" experience—Honey Snow Ice City style, but with full paynt… must pay in full for the "handcrafted lemon tea"!
At first, his frugal, untraveled family felt extrely uncomfortable and even a little disgusted by Luke's "extravagant" and "showy" behavior.
His parents kept saying "too wasteful," "no need," and his sister and brother-in-law felt it was too flashy and embarrassing.
Luke really looked like a classic upstart… even his own family couldn't stand it!
But he was adamant, using both soft and hard tactics: "Dad, Mom, Sis, Brother-in-law, you've suffered for most of your lives. It's ti to enjoy yourselves. This money was earned legitimately. Spending it on family is only right. If you refuse, you're treating like an outsider."
Unable to resist Luke's insistence and the heavy weight of his filial piety and desire to make ands, the family eventually accepted—half reluctantly, half gladly.
Seeing his parents look both awkward and secretly delighted in their new clothes, seeing the sparkle in his sister's eyes when she drove her new car, seeing his brother-in-law absentmindedly scratching at the million-yuan Rolex on his wrist, and seeing his little niece giggling happily among a pile of new toys, Luke felt it was all worth it.
He solemnly announced to the family: his parents would resign imdiately and return to their hotown to retire in peace. From now on, no one in the family would have to struggle for a living again!
His sister and brother-in-law no longer needed to work either. He would pay them high salaries; their job would be "taking care of the parents"—full-ti caregivers and household managers.
"From today onward, I will earn the money to support the family. You all just focus on enjoying life," Luke declared, thumping his chest.
"When shopping, don't pick what's practical—only pick what's expensive! We're country bumpkins anyway. Whatever rich people buy, we buy!"
"We can question the character of rich people, but we don't need to question their taste!"
Once everything was arranged, the Lu family returned to their old ho in Y City, X Province, with complicated feelings.
They felt both pride and relief at Luke's success, along with so confusion and anticipation about their new life.
They planned to renovate the "new house" they had barely lived in (the one that had felt like a "mountain pressing down"), and agreed to have a lively family reunion this coming Spring Festival.
They wanted all their relatives and friends to see that "the fifth child of the Lu family" had really made it—he had beco a dragon!
After seeing his family off, a great weight lifted from Luke's heart.
With his family's future worries resolved, his actions on Earth would be even freer.
He did not imdiately return to Westeros. Instead, he began a global tour.
With abundant funds and a clear strategic vision, his figure appeared in rubber plantations and electronics assembly plants in Southeast Asia, petroleum trading firms and logistics hubs in the Middle East, precision instrunt manufacturers and R&D centers in Europe, and mining investnt companies and agricultural bases in South Arica…
Under the nas of "Lu's Trading" or newly established local subsidiaries, he invested, took stakes, or outright acquired companies, weaving what appeared to be a loose but actually tightly focused comrcial network with clear core objectives.
The companies spanned many fields, but they all shared one common point:
They could either supply materials or early-stage technology that Westeros desperately needed—grain, at, basic industrial goods, agricultural technology and equipnt, mining equipnt, military products, etc.
Or they could serve as "legitimate" circulation and "value-adding" channels for Westerosi precious tals, gems, and special raw materials.
His investnt style was decisive. He ignored short-term profits and focused on strategic positioning and channel control. Many traditional competitors were baffled, yet the deals proceeded smoothly thanks to his ample funds and the outward appearance of a "rich fool with more money than sense."
Only after completing several key nodes of the global layout by the end of December did Luke board a flight back to Arica.
On Earth, the New Year was approaching.
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