It was a beautiful, sunny day, and Li Xiang’s home was teeming with guests.

You had to admit, having money really sped up the renovations. After the house was finished, Li Xiang had planned to keep a low profile and skip the celebratory banquet. But his grandmother insisted. She said the family hadn’t hosted a banquet in many years, nor had they ever had so many wonderful things happen at once. First, the house was built and beautifully renovated. Second, he’d passed his driver’s license test. Third, he’d bought three new cars. And fourth, he’d been elected to the county’s Political Consultative Conference and had even been on the news. This was a fourfold blessing! How could they possibly not hold a banquet to celebrate?

His grandmother’s desire to host a party was earnest and full of anticipation, so Li Xiang decided to give her the grand celebration she craved.

In fact, Li Xiang thought to himself, ’Four blessings? It’s more than that. If you add in my Realm breakthrough and the sky-high price I got for those three Spiritual Medicines I was ready to toss, that makes it a sixfold blessing. Now that’s really worth celebrating.’

’Grandma’s right; life needs a sense of ceremony. So what if the Apocalypse is coming? Does that mean you should just stop living? You still have to find joy where you can!’ 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

’Spending every day fraught with anxiety, tearing your hair out, living under constant pressure and sorrow... I’d rather die on the spot than live like that. Some "Apocalypses" are unavoidable natural disasters, but other "Apocalypses" are entirely self-inflicted.’

’Besides, I’m confident I can reach the Saint Tier before the Apocalypse arrives. And how could a Saint Tier expert—or someone of an even higher-level Tier—not live comfortably during the Apocalypse? What do I have to be worried or stressed about? To put it bluntly, when the Apocalypse comes and might makes right, that will be my time to truly soar.’

’Great heroes are born from times of chaos.’

’I’m not the one who should be worried and stressed—it’s the ordinary people. It’s just a shame they have no idea what’s coming.’

’I don’t have some grand ambition. My bottom line is to save a hundred thousand people; that would be enough to say I’ve done my duty to the Human Race. As for anything more, I’ll have to take it one step at a time. The power of the Saint Tier only goes so far. I wouldn’t even dare to dream of saving the entire world.’

For now, it was still a time of peace. His grandmother wanted to be happy, and so he would make her happy.

So he decided to go all out and throw a huge party. Aside from sending paper invitations to a few key relatives, he didn’t send out any special invites. Instead, three days beforehand, he simply posted an electronic invitation to his social media feed. It clearly stated that he would not be accepting cash gifts, adding: "We would be honored if you could join us, but no offense taken if you can’t make it."

Along with the electronic invitation, he included a picture: his newly renovated "mansion" and a photo of his grandmother sitting on the stone steps, basking in the Sun with a blissful smile on her face.

After the post went live, a flood of relatives, friends, and acquaintances left congratulatory comments and likes. The thread grew so long you had to scroll for several pages to reach the end.

As for the banquet itself, he hired a catering team from the county seat. He arranged for one hundred tables for lunch and another one hundred for dinner, making for two hundred tables in total.

He figured this would be more than enough, even if every single person who liked the post showed up. But that was fine. When you’re the host, it’s always better to overestimate.

The villagers came, too—in fact, practically the entire village showed up.

Everyone toured Li Xiang’s new home and admired his three new cars, wandering about and praising them nonstop. In truth, many of the villagers had already seen the cars, but that didn’t stop them from showering him with more compliments.

The old village chief, Li Jinyu, voluntarily took on the role of "Accountant," taking out a notebook to collect and record the cash gifts for Li Xiang’s family.

Although Li Xiang had said he wouldn’t accept cash gifts, nearly every family brought one anyway. People urged him to take the money, explaining that it was often repayment for gifts his family had given out over the years. His family had given far more than they had received. Li Xiang asked his grandmother what to do, and she told him to just accept it. "This is how social obligations work," she said. "It’s all about reciprocity. If you don’t accept their money now, what happens the next time they host a party? Should they accept your gift then? Are you even going to go? And if you show up empty-handed while everyone else has brought a gift, won’t you feel awkward?"

The truth was, although Li Xiang had said he wasn’t accepting gifts, everyone just assumed he was being polite. No one took him at his word.

So Li Xiang just let them be. He wasn’t going to force the issue. He would record the gifts he received so he could reciprocate in the future, and he certainly wouldn’t hold it against anyone who didn’t give. ’Of course,’ he mused, ’if they don’t give, I won’t have anything to reciprocate for their future events.’ Grandma was right. Having an elder in the family is like having a treasure.

Li Jintang and his wife were there as well. Remembering the mocking words he’d directed at Li Xiang just last year, Li Jintang wanted to slap himself. ’How could I have been so hot-headed and said such shameless things?’ he thought.

However, thanks to Li Xiang’s magnanimity, the relationship between their two families had long since eased. So, Li Jintang and his wife quickly joined the chorus of praise.

In the past six months, Li Xiang had helped their family a great deal.

He had helped them sell their winter bamboo shoots last year and their spring ones this year. Before Li Xiang’s return, they could never sell all their bamboo shoots and ended up eating them until they were sick of the sight of them. It was a blessing he had come back and brought better days for everyone.

’Li Xiang was a truly capable young man. To build such a fortune in just over half a year and even become a member of the county’s Political Consultative Conference... He was far more successful than his own son, the construction contractor.’

’The real estate market was in a slump, and his son wasn’t doing well in the provincial capital. Just a few days ago, his son had called home asking for money. He’d lost a fortune in the stock market and needed to cover his position. Asking his own father for a bailout... He was just getting worse and worse every year.’

Li Jintang had cursed his son out over the phone and refused. After all, was playing the stock market ever a sure thing? He’d seen it on TV—plenty of powerful people lost everything and ended up jumping off a roof. Did his son really think he was more capable than those characters? It was a bottomless pit that no amount of money could fill. His wife had fully supported his decision. The old couple knew they couldn’t rely on their son and needed to keep some money for their own retirement.