DLRAS Chapter 59

Chapter 59: It’s natural to please people you like.

The grandfather clock by the wall struck nine times in succession.

Huo Zhenfei turned his head to look. “It’s already this late.”

He turned back to face Huo Niansheng. “No one will ever mention that matter again. I doubt Huo Yingfei has the face to talk about it to outsiders anyway, and I had my secretary contact that girl a while ago. She’s grown up now, matured a lot, and she already knows it wasn’t you. Neither she nor her family will speak recklessly to the media.”

Huo Niansheng said, “This sounds more like you’re reminding me not to speak recklessly.”

Huo Zhenfei replied, “Our family certainly doesn’t need to drag old scandals out to be hyped up all over again.”

Huo Niansheng smiled, a hint of amusement in his eyes. “Then let’s hope everyone is happy.”

“We already paid compensation back then,” Huo Zhenfei interrupted. “That’s enough. Let’s drop this topic. Sometimes I wonder if you’ve really let it go, but it’s been ten years. I can’t exactly call all the parties involved back here to demand justice for you.”

He looked at Huo Niansheng. “But the people who need to know the truth already know it, even Grandfather. He just didn’t want to cause any more unrest in the family—otherwise, your father’s shares wouldn’t have all ended up in your hands. Huo Jingsheng didn’t get a single thing.”

Huo Niansheng put on a look of sudden realization. “Ah, so that’s how it is. If you hadn’t mentioned it, I wouldn’t have realized it was a gesture from Grandfather.”

Huo Zhenfei paused. “You can’t phrase it like that. What you got is what you deserved.”

Huo Niansheng looked at him for a long time, so long that Huo Zhenfei shifted uncomfortably. Then, he suddenly smiled. “Don’t take it seriously, I know what’s going on. Actually, I’m very grateful to Third Uncle for supporting me. Third Uncle is the chairman now, and from what I can see, Second Uncle can’t make any waves anymore. In the future, doesn’t that mean this seat is yours? Come to think of it, I should start sucking up to you as early as possible.”

“All you know how to do is talk nonsense.”

Huo Zhenfei raised his glass to his mouth, but nothing came out. He looked down and saw it was empty.

He set the glass aside and suddenly added, “By the way, don’t completely disregard Second Uncle. He’s not as honest as he seems. I think many of his investments are tied up in gray industries. Even if it’s just small-time stuff, we can’t let him drag us down.”

Huo Niansheng kicked off the ground with both feet, pushing his chair back. “I’ll keep an eye out. Alright, get some rest.”

Before he headed upstairs, Huo Zhenfei stopped him again.

Huo Niansheng asked, “What else?”

Huo Zhenfei hesitated for a moment. “I don’t think I’ve ever asked you—how were you really doing during those years abroad?”

Huo Niansheng said, “You’re asking if I was harboring resentment, but lacked the power to openly oppose Grandfather, so I deliberately caused scandals every day to get in the papers, just to make the family lose face along with me?”

Huo Zhenfei replied, “My question includes that, but not entirely. However… is that how it was?”

The two faced each other from a distance, one on the stairs and one below, their eyes meeting.

Huo Zhenfei felt that there was something in his gaze that remained exactly the same as it was back then.

Equally full of indifference.

Huo Niansheng smiled. “You just said yourself it’s been ten years. Who remembers what they were thinking back then? But I’ve always felt there’s a lot of truth to the old saying: Dragons beget dragons, phoenixes beget phoenixes, and mice are born to dig holes. Whether one is a dragon, a phoenix, or a mouse, they should live the life they were born to. What is there to be resentful about? You’re the future head of the family; don’t waste your energy worrying about these trivial matters that aren’t worth mentioning.”

Right before the end of the summer holidays, the renovations on Chen Wengang’s old house were successfully completed.

A normal renovation might have taken one to two months, but his requirements were low, and he had skipped the design phase entirely. The construction details were left completely up to the renovation team, so the entire project was finished in just over twenty days. Chen Wengang treated the foreman and the workers to a meal at the Wanghai Restaurant.

Afterward, the construction debris was cleared, a deep clean was performed, and he hired two workers to move his old furniture back in.

The house now possessed the basic semblance of a livable space.

The foreman was an honest man, and the construction team had also redone the courtyard, scrubbing away years of accumulated moss and stains. The walls were plastered perfectly straight, and the small flowerbed facing the kitchen was rebuilt using gray bricks. This flowerbed had always been there, but previous tenants had used it as a dumping ground for junk and recyclables. It used to be crammed full of beer bottles, tin cans, stacks of cardboard boxes, and broken chairs and tables missing legs and arms.

Now, all the scrap metal and junk had been swept clean. The flowerbed was filled with moist soil, making the courtyard look significantly more spacious.

When Huo Niansheng arrived to find him, Chen Wengang was sitting alone on the edge of the flowerbed.

“What are you doing?” he asked with a smile. “Trying to plant yourself in there?”

“That wouldn’t be a bad idea.” Chen Wengang looked up at him.

“Forget it, I couldn’t bear to part with you,” Huo Niansheng said. “I’m not greedy either; one of you is enough for me.”

Chen Wengang smiled, lowered his head again, and crushed a biscuit into powder bit by bit. An army of ants on the ground slowly gathered around.

Huo Niansheng sat with him for a while, stretching his long legs out and looking around. Chen Wengang asked, “What are you looking at?”

Huo Niansheng put his arm around his shoulders. “Looking at the place you grew up in.”

He was imagining what he looked like as a child—if he also liked sitting under the flowerbed like this, intently feeding ants.

“I lived here from birth until I was nine,” Chen Wengang said. “Until one day after school, my eldest uncle told me something had happened… and then we moved away.”

“That’s all in the past.” Huo Niansheng knew he had skipped over a massive chunk of the story.

“Before we left, they gave me a suitcase and told me to pack what I wanted to bring. I didn’t even know what to pack. There were so many things in the house, what should I bring? And the suitcase wasn’t even that big; at most, it could only fit a few sets of clothes I wore regularly. The bowls I liked at home, my drinking cups, the complete sets of toys I collected, and my books… what about those? My uncle said they would watch over them for me. When I got in the car, the key to my house was still hanging around my neck. It felt a bit strange; I kept feeling like I’d be back by the afternoon.”

“And what happened to the things in the house later?”

“I don’t know either. Whatever could be sold was probably sold, and whatever couldn’t be sold was probably thrown away.”

“Now we can buy new things to replace them,” Huo Niansheng said. “What else do you need to add to this place?”

“I need to buy a mattress.” Chen Wengang also looked inside the house. “And a dining table, a sofa, a gas stove, a washing machine…”

“Speaking of which,” Huo Niansheng said, “Yu Shanding is dead set on helping you with the soft furnishings. Why don’t you just accept his offer?”

Granny Zhou had already been taken home by her unfilial grandson to recuperate. Lately, Yu Shanding had indeed been very attentive—so attentive that it made people want to avoid him. Chen Wengang couldn’t help but laugh. “That might make him feel better, but not me. By doing that, he makes it seem like I’m forcing him to repay a favor.”

Huo Niansheng also smiled, looking at his face. “In that case, how about leaving it to me?”

“You want to help me furnish the house? Don’t you have other things to busy yourself with?”

“What do I have to be busy with? Right now, my only job is trying to win your favor.”

“What?” Chen Wengang was momentarily stunned. “Why would you say that?”

“Why do you think?”

“…”

“Does the good student’s brain sometimes short-circuit too?” Huo Niansheng looked at him with an almost affectionate gaze, raising a hand to stroke the top of his hair. “I thought it was only natural to want to please the person you like.”

When Chen Wengang arrived at work early in the morning, a colleague teased him: “Did something good happen?”

He smiled and wished them a good morning. “Why do you say that?”

The colleague asserted weakly: “No one smiles that gently coming into work on a Monday unless they found money on the street.”

Of course, there was another scenario—most people are happy when they’re close to leaving their jobs. Chen Wengang wouldn’t say he was necessarily happy, but he did feel a sense of impending freedom. Opening his computer, he began to craft his wording, drafting the body of his resignation letter.

He would likely have to hand this resignation letter directly to Zheng Bingyi, and a simple “for personal development reasons” wouldn’t be enough of an explanation. He needed to think carefully about how to phrase it. So, even though he wasn’t submitting it immediately, it was always better to be prepared in advance.

At noon, Zheng Yucheng came to the Documentation Department.

He called Chen Wengang out into a small meeting room to talk. “I heard about what happened with your eldest uncle.”

Chen Wengang wasn’t surprised in the slightest; Chen Zeng hadn’t hitched a ride in his car for nothing last time. “You want to meddle in this?”

Zheng Yucheng hesitated under his gaze but nodded anyway. “It’s like this: I recommended Lawyer Cao to him.”

Chen Wengang suspected it wasn’t as simple as just a “recommendation.” Lawyer Cao’s team was Zheng Bingyi’s personal, retained legal counsel. They had no obligation to solve the problems of relatives, friends, or neighbors for free. By helping in this way, Zheng Yucheng was granting a favor—one that he expected Chen Wengang to repay.

He smiled faintly. “Thank you for your kindness. But an elite firm like that isn’t something my uncle can easily afford.”

Zheng Yucheng hadn’t caught on yet. “You mean you’re worried about the fees? That’s not necessary…”

Chen Wengang said, “I will recommend a more suitable lawyer to him, one within his financial means.”

Slowly, an expression of absurdity appeared on Zheng Yucheng’s face. “Lawyer Cao isn’t that unreachable! So—your uncle ran into trouble, and even though there’s clearly a way to help him through this crisis, the only thing you care about is drawing a clear line with me?”

Chen Wengang frowned at him. “Don’t make it sound like I’m just standing by and watching. I said I would find a way to help him.”

Zheng Yucheng also furrowed his brows. “I don’t think this is ‘meddling.’ No matter what stage our relationship is at, your eldest uncle is at least your closest blood relative. It’s impossible for me to hear about this and pretend I don’t know. What’s your solution? Call a legal aid hotline and ask if there’s free support? Pick an option he can ‘afford’?”

Chen Wengang looked at him. “And what’s your solution? Bestowing a few million on him in charity to directly pay off his debts?”

Zheng Yucheng choked on his words.

He softened his tone. “OK, Wengang, I don’t want to fight with you. But please think about it. Your uncle is a middle-aged man with a family to feed. He was set up by his boss and even lost his job, and he still has your three younger cousins to support at home. If he gets sued and can’t afford to pay, he’ll be blacklisted as a dishonest judgment debtor in the future. I know he made a mistake, but is this the outcome you want to see just to stick to your principles? Don’t worry, giving him a little help was my own decision. I won’t use this to blackmail you in the future.”

When their colleagues saw the two of them come out of the meeting room with a noticeably tense atmosphere, no one dared to step forward and ask what happened.

For a while after that, Zheng Yucheng indeed kept his word. Chen Wengang learned that he had arranged a position as a dock supervisor for Chen Zeng.

This arrangement had even received Zheng Bingyi’s approval—which meant Chen Wengang couldn’t intervene anyway. But to Zheng Bingyi, this certainly wasn’t a major issue. Family enterprises were naturally full of nepotism; it was commonplace for relatives, fellow townsmen, and friends to have intertwined interests. Chen Zeng wasn’t even significant enough to be ranked among them; he was just being given a job.

However, as Zheng Yucheng walked out of the study after reporting the matter, his feelings were incredibly complex.

He knew that saying he wouldn’t use this to blackmail Chen Wengang was a blatant lie. The truth was, he had known for a while that Chen Wengang was thinking about submitting his resignation. The only reason he inserted his uncle into the Zheng Group was to create some sort of tie to hold him back. It wasn’t a brilliant scheme, but Zheng Yucheng truly had no other options left.

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