DLRAS Chapter 64

Chapter 64: Run your marriage like a business.

The cafeteria was on the first floor, so they got there quickly.

It was Jiang Wanxia and her daughter, Jiang Cai, who were arguing.

When initially agreeing to let Jiang Wanxia try working at the school, acting director Luo Suwei had agreed reluctantly, noting that while they of course sympathized with them, it was like keeping a ticking time bomb nearby; who knew what unexpected troubles would arise in the future.

At the time, they were mainly worried about Jiang Wanxia. Unexpectedly, the trouble came from her daughter, Jiang Cai.

Jiang Cai was sixteen. For some, adolescence meant sensitivity; for others, rebellion. In her case, it manifested as an intense, abrasive pride. Every day, she decked herself out in cheap accessories and pitch-black eye makeup, styling herself like a delinquent.

The argument started because Jiang Wanxia told her daughter to go change her clothes and wash her face, saying she was practically half-naked and looked disgraceful.

Jiang Cai retorted that instead of nitpicking her every move, Jiang Wanxia should mind her own business. Jiang Wanxia then asked if Jiang Cai dressed like that to go out and sell herself.

A mother with poor health and extreme mood swings, and a daughter who was a rebellious thorn in her side—they were like fire and water. Living at the school, they saw the staff all day long, and everything was on display. The slightest issue or a few sharp words could send sparks flying.

Luo Suwei had said privately that if things continued like this, they wouldn’t even wait for the month to end before seriously considering asking them to leave.

By the time Chen Wengang and Qiao Sijin arrived, other staff members were already intervening, pulling the mother and daughter apart.

Jiang Wanxia was so furious she looked ready to faint. Colleagues pulled her into a room to calm her down.

The two men also stepped in to help maintain order.

A moment later, someone fetched the logistics director. The director, looking equally exasperated, criticized them from a superior’s standpoint, warning her not to make a scene in the teaching area. But this wasn’t the first time the mother and daughter had waged war like this; her departure was only a matter of time.

Jiang Cai stood ramrod straight in the open space outside. Her top was cropped short, exposing a sliver of a slender waist, her entire being seemingly radiating defiance from head to toe.

Someone went over to play peacemaker. “You’re a big girl now, you need to be sensible and understanding of your mother. She’s already so sick and still has to support the two of you. You should know how hard it is; how good of a temper can you really expect her to have?”

But for a half-grown child of this age, the reasonable ones could be taught; the unreasonable ones were exactly like her.

Jiang Cai toyed with her phone and impatiently rolled her eyes. “You guys really love sticking your noses into other people’s business. She kneels, and suddenly she has a job—wasn’t that just your bleeding hearts acting up, bringing this trouble on yourselves? Why don’t you just kick us out and be done with it?”

She locked her screen and met Qiao Sijin’s gaze head-on.

Qiao Sijin asked, “Is there anything we can do to help you?”

Chen Wengang, standing beside him, shared in the eye roll she gave them: “No, no, no! Aren’t you annoying?”

With that, she answered a phone call. It was unclear what the other person said, but perhaps they promised to come pick her up, for her expression flipped like the page of a book. “Okay!” After that, she strode off toward the school gates.

Jiang Wanxia charged out, yelling at her back, demanding to know where she was going, but was held back by the others.

Back in the office, Chen Wengang shrugged at Qiao Sijin. “I’m used to it, anyway.”

Qiao Sijin shook his head. “The way this mother and daughter interact is extremely unhealthy.”

“Yes, it is,” Chen Wengang agreed. “But outsiders can’t talk them out of it. Actually, sometimes when you look at them, you can tell they depend on each other for survival. When Jiang Wanxia goes for dialysis, her daughter walks her to the car, and when she isn’t at school, she washes clothes and cooks at home. But these two just absolutely cannot open their mouths to speak to one another. The moment they do, the most venomous, awful things spill out.”

Later, when Lu Chenlong came to pick up the kid, he clicked his tongue in amazement upon hearing the story. “How did you guys end up with such a mess?”

“In this line of work, you run into everything,” Chen Wengang said. “Right now, we’re just trying to figure out how to find a new place for her.”

He left late that evening and ran into Jiang Wanxia again in the first-floor corridor.

She was carrying a few mops inside. The explosive rage from earlier in the day was gone, her face covered in its usual haggard exhaustion.

She offered Chen Wengang a smile that bordered on fawning. “Teacher Chen, you’re only just leaving?”

Chen Wengang said yes, taking the opportunity to offer a few words of advice, urging her to be patient and communicate properly with her daughter, as shouting matches wouldn’t solve anything.

Jiang Wanxia nodded submissively, alternately agreeing and apologizing.

She always gave off an unnatural vibe. Furthermore, perhaps because she had begged Chen Wengang first, or because she felt he was good-natured and easy to talk to, her attitude toward him always carried a subtle servility, as if she were eager to draw closer to him.

Chen Wengang maintained a sense of vigilance and distance in the face of her attentiveness.

He was always willing to be kind to others, but he also didn’t want to make himself look exploitable.

Suddenly, she said, “Teacher Chen, could I trouble you with something? I’m old, and I really can’t control her anymore. Could you talk some sense into her? Otherwise, she just hangs around those little thugs every day, learning nothing but bad habits. What kind of future can a girl expect like that?”

Chen Wengang neither immediately agreed nor outright refused. “You have to work together with her to find a solution.”

The two said their goodbyes.

Seniors naturally didn’t have many classes, and students like Chen Wengang, who had already completed their credits, didn’t have to attend any classes at all this semester.

However, he still had to drop by the campus from time to time, sometimes to discuss his thesis early with a professor. As for today, it was for a class dinner.

In another year, everyone would go their separate ways. Soon, people would be interning, taking grad school entrance exams, or going abroad. The class committee felt obligated to organize a gathering while everyone still had free time. Of the dozen or so people in the class, the vast majority showed up.

After dinner, a few returned to the dorms, while those who still had energy clamored to move the party to a bar.

Chen Wengang went with them.

He didn’t usually live on campus, so it was rare to have the chance to hang out with his classmates like this, and he wasn’t in a hurry to leave.

They went to a quiet lounge bar with a relaxing atmosphere. The students got a private booth, fruit wine, beer, and fruit platters. After singing a couple of songs, they started playing dice games. Chen Wengang lost, and someone challenged him to Truth or Dare. The one asking the question was a fragile-looking underclassman who stammered for ages.

As the atmosphere heated up, someone next to him spoke up on his behalf: “He wants to know if you’re available!”

The room erupted into roaring laughter and jeers. “Hurry up and say yes!” “Get together, get together…”

Chen Wengang smiled and said, “I can’t answer that question. I yield. I’ll just drink instead.”

No matter how much the others teased, he remained unfazed, downing a bottle of beer in one go.

Some people were relentless. The boy, anxious and deeply embarrassed, waved his hands frantically.

Chen Wengang stood up and said he was going to the restroom. There was one right inside the booth, but he pushed the door and walked out instead.

A moment later, the boy chased after him, looking around until he found him in the emergency stairwell. Chen Wengang was leaning against the railing, head bowed, sending a message.

The boy caught a glimpse of the screen; it was a private chat interface.

He lowered his head, his voice as quiet as a mosquito. “I’m sorry. It really got awkwardly out of hand just now.”

Chen Wengang studied him closely. “It’s fine. Sorry… are you in our class?”

This young guy reminded him a bit of Qi Tongzhou, but the two were completely different. The boy standing before him was pale and skinny, with spindly arms and legs, exuding a very weak aura. One could easily imagine him being called a sissy growing up.

“No, I’m really not. Sorry, Senior, I’m actually a sophomore. The guy who spoke up just now is a department head I know from the Student Union. Since you guys are graduating soon, I wanted to seize the chance to try, so I just tagged along. I didn’t mean to make things unpleasant.”

“And here I thought I just hadn’t recognized everyone in my class.” Chen Wengang breathed a sigh of relief and smiled. “Thank you for the affection. Unfortunately, I am unavailable. Go back and have fun. I told them to stop teasing.” He turned off his phone screen.

Only then did the boy realize what message he had just been sending, and his eyes grew a little hot.

He looked up. “Senior, when I realized you were also one of us, I was really happy. You should know how messy our circle is, but I could feel that you were different…”

Chen Wengang said, “I’m just the most ordinary of ordinary people. Go find someone who is a better fit for you.”

When they returned to the booth, indeed, no one brought it up again, as if nothing had happened.

Chen Wengang used the excuse of having drunk too much to take his leave. After he left, the boy sat for a little while longer before standing up and saying he was leaving too.

Only then did someone suddenly remember: “Oh right, did Zheng Yucheng not show up today? I was just thinking it felt like someone was missing.”

The class monitor scratched his head. “When I informed him, he said he didn’t have time. He must be busy. Think about it—he’s got a massive enterprise waiting for him to inherit. He doesn’t have the time to come out and shoot the breeze with us. Different people, different destinies.”

At this moment, Zheng Yucheng was in Zheng Bingyi’s study, reporting on work to his father.

He truly wasn’t in the mood to bond with his classmates.

Aside from being disheartened in his romantic life, with graduation approaching, there was simply too much on his plate right now. Even though he was the acknowledged heir apparent, seizing control of the company was by no means an easy task. Within the conglomerate, interest groups inevitably formed, and every faction had its own calculations. Internal struggles were an invisible tug-of-war; no change in regime happened without someone expending immense effort to secure their footing.

After discussing official business, Zheng Bingyi suddenly asked him, “By the way, how are things going between you and Wanxin?”

Zheng Yucheng stiffened for a second, masking his reaction. “Average. I really can’t develop any feelings for her.”

Zheng Bingyi felt around on his desk for his reading glasses, put them on, and nodded with an “oh.” “To be honest, I’m not entirely optimistic about that girl either. Being a bit domineering is fine, but she’s too willful and doesn’t prioritize the bigger picture. With a personality like that, it would be hard for her to manage the household’s affairs.”

He peered through his reading glasses at a few photographs, placing them on the desk and pushing them toward Zheng Yucheng. “But you still need to consider dating someone. The He family has other girls. Otherwise, what do you think of He Qinfang? She looks quite pretty to me.”

Zheng Yucheng’s smile was faint. “Are you locked onto the He family or something?”

Zheng Bingyi replied, “This is a connection your Uncle He made for you. If her surname isn’t He, what else could it be? Of course, given the generations of friendship between our two families, I favor the He family. If you have the capability to date other girls on your own, you’re more than welcome to bring them to show me.”

Zheng Yucheng remained silent, his reflection in the glass blurred and unreadable.

Zheng Bingyi stared at his son. “Right now, you’re only considering the question of whether marriage makes you happy, whether you like it. Yucheng, let me tell you, take a look at other people’s marriages. Who is still happily in love twenty or thirty years after getting married? Don’t think that calculating interests to find a marriage partner equates to being overly utilitarian. Treating a marriage like a business to run is what makes it the most stable.

“Being someone’s husband, father, or son-in-law—these are all positions, no different from being a general manager or chairman at the company. When you negotiate a business deal, you can only negotiate with someone of a general manager’s caliber if you are one yourself. When you start a family, have a wife and kids, only then will others perceive you as reliable. As a general manager, do you prioritize what you like first, or the responsibilities you must bear?”

Zheng Yucheng let out a long breath. “I know.” He didn’t want to say more. “Then shall we leave the recent work report at this for now?”

Zheng Bingyi agreed. “Fine. Also, the Mid-Autumn Festival is next month. You need to prepare in advance for the family banquet.”

The Mid-Autumn Festival was a holiday for reunion, so hosting a banquet was a given. However, for families like theirs, holiday banquets were even more of a social arena. Cultivating relationships was inseparable from cultivating interests. Every connection had to be managed and catered to; it was exhausting but essential.

Upon returning to his room, however, Zheng Yucheng received a call from Huo Niansheng.

He found it baffling. “You’re telling me Chen Wengang needs to go out that day?”

Huo Niansheng laughed. “You know his birthday falls on the Mid-Autumn Festival, right? If you guys aren’t going to celebrate it for him, are you not going to let anyone else do it either?”

Zheng Yucheng said stiffly, “That’s not his birthday. When it’s his actual birthday, it’s not like we won’t celebrate it.”

“Then obviously you’re going by the Gregorian calendar,” Huo Niansheng said. “When he was a kid, the elders always celebrated his lunar birthday out of habit. It only got changed after he arrived at your house. Your family will be hosting a banquet for the holiday; you wouldn’t have the time to care whether he wanted to change it or not.”

“So what? What’s your intention in telling me this?”

“Just letting you know this is happening.” Huo Niansheng chuckled. “Of course, if you’re willing to cover for him, run some interference.”

Zheng Yucheng furrowed his brow tightly, tongue-tied, momentarily unable to handle the sheer audacity of this man.

Yet, after a moment of silence, he found he had no words to refute him.

Before hanging up, Huo Niansheng asked him, “After all these years, can’t you let someone else have a relaxing time for once?”

Coming out of the bar, Chen Wengang was just about to hail a cab when he suddenly remembered he had a tail. At the same time, Baldy’s car pulled up to the curb.

He got in and fastened his seatbelt. “Thank you. Sorry for the trouble again.”

Baldy politely said it was his duty, stepping on the gas and slowly gliding forward.

There were a lot of people hailing cabs around the bar at this hour, so he drove slowly. Amidst a group of men and women loitering on the street, Chen Wengang saw something and suddenly called for him to stop the car.

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