Futile Devices Scans

The news that Wang Cheng and Chu Yifeng were getting married spread at lightning speed. Great families like the Zheng family, Chu family, and Zhou family had long known about the relationship between the two younger men, so they were not surprised by the outcome. However, since two men could not legally marry within China, the wedding ultimately had to be held abroad.

Compared to the calmness of these influential families, the general public and the media within China could not remain calm at all.

China was unlike some other countries. Not only were there no laws allowing same-sex marriage, but society still largely held opposing attitudes toward homosexuality. Ordinary people absolutely would not dare come out to the entire nation. But that only applied to ordinary people. When wealthy and powerful people wanted to be willful, not even thousands or tens of thousands of voices could stop them. Besides, if even the families and relatives of the people involved said nothing, what qualifications did outsiders have to object?

Although there were always a few attention-seeking clowns trying to make noise, they ultimately could not stir up any major waves. Online, there was not much condemnation either. Instead, there appeared a group of endlessly screaming fujoshi. In their eyes, the two should have been together long ago. Some of them had even worried the two might not end up together. Now that their wish had finally come true, some fujoshi immediately began mailing wedding gifts to Yazhi in advance.

Pan Zhihai once called Wang Cheng to complain that the gifts sent by fans had already filled an entire room at the company, telling him to hurry and send someone to deal with them.

However, there were also many people who felt disappointed by the good news.

Wang Cheng was a golden son-in-law. Especially after inheriting Zhou Corporation, countless people wanted him as their son-in-law. Many women had long coveted him. Some female employees had even joined Yazhi or Zhou Corporation specifically because of Wang Cheng. No woman did not dream of becoming Cinderella. So when they heard the news, their hearts shattered. Such a dazzling, glittering diamond bachelor had ultimately not benefited the vast female population, but instead was marrying another man. It was simply unbearable.

As for Chu Yifeng, most of the women who liked him were overseas. Since he rarely appeared publicly in China, only a few influential families and close acquaintances knew of him, so there were not many women who liked him domestically. When the news of Chu Yifeng’s marriage spread, they were shocked, but did not dare do anything. At most, they cursed the couple to divorce quickly, hoping they themselves might still have a chance.

Wang Cheng held his phone while listening to Guan Jiahe report on matters regarding Guan’s Jam. Its original name had been Wang Family Jam, but after learning that their family had absolutely no blood relation to the Wang family, Wang Cheng simply changed the name. Now that he had handed the jam business entirely over to Guan Jiahe to manage, it became Guan’s Jam.

At first, Guan Jiahe disagreed, because once people heard his surname Guan, they would assume Guan’s Jam belonged to him. But Wang Cheng’s attitude was firm, and he even transferred twenty percent of Guan’s Jam shares to him.

Wang Cheng had already decided that he would not be able to continue personally managing the jam business in the future. The only person he truly trusted was his second cousin, so handing the jam factory over to him was the best decision. Guan Jiahe had not disappointed him either. Guan’s Jam flourished under his management. It already had a respectable reputation in Shanhai City, with seven or eight branch stores opened. He had even introduced local village specialty foods. Some customers who did not buy jam came specifically for those specialty products. Given time, Guan’s Jam might even expand beyond Shanhai City.

At first, Guan Jiahe refused to accept the shares. He felt Wang Cheng already paid him a very high salary and year-end bonus. Adding the shares on top of that made him uneasy.

Wang Cheng felt twenty percent was not much. Compared to the money-printing Zhou Corporation, Guan’s Jam was merely a small business. Besides, Guan’s Jam would still rely on Guan Jiahe in the future. However, Guan Jiahe was stubborn by nature. In the end, Wang Cheng had Bai Ma step in to persuade him.

Facts proved Wang Cheng’s decision had not been wrong.

Ever since receiving those shares, Guan Jiahe became even more cautious than before. Every decision was carefully considered multiple times. For small matters, he usually made decisions himself, while for bigger issues he would consult Wang Cheng.

Because the Guan family had many members, whether immediate family or married daughters, their financial situations could only be considered average. Some were even still struggling just to get by. So Guan Jiahe wanted to help some of the Guan relatives, but did not dare make plans recklessly, which was why he called Wang Cheng to ask for his opinion.

“If Cousin wants to help the relatives, that’s fine, but don’t overdo it. Don’t let them develop dependency and think our contributions are something they deserve.”

Although Wang Cheng had not personally experienced such matters before, he had heard enough stories to understand. Even if they currently believed the Guan family members could never become ungrateful people, the human heart was something difficult to predict. No one knew when people might change.

Guan Jiahe understood the meaning behind his words. He did not think Wang Cheng was looking down on the Guan family. Just like himself—his current position had been given to him by Wang Cheng, but Wang Cheng had only provided the opportunity. His achievements also depended on his own efforts. Otherwise, Wang Cheng would never have handed Guan’s Jam over to him. Then he told Wang Cheng about his aunt and his own ideas.

Earlier, Guan Jiahe’s youngest aunt had subtly mentioned wanting her son to work at the Guan’s Jam shop.

The aunt’s name was Guan Jufang. The four sisters had all been named after plum, orchid, bamboo, and chrysanthemum. Since she was the youngest, she received the “Ju” character. She had only one son. Her son was eighteen years old and about to graduate high school, but he did not plan to attend university. First, the family lacked the money to support him through a good university. Second, he himself was not suited for studying, so he planned to start working early. This was common in rural areas.

Seeing that her eldest and third sisters had both obtained stable jobs thanks to her second sister’s family, with incomes reportedly much higher than average, and even Guan Jiahe, her nephew, had already taken over Wang Cheng’s jam business and earned considerable money, Guan Jufang felt her second sister should not play favorites, so she brought up the matter.

After hearing her youngest sister say this, Guan Lanfang unexpectedly felt somewhat guilty, so she mentioned the matter to Guan Jiahe. Guan Jiahe knew a bit about his youngest aunt’s son, Zhu Mingxin. Because he disliked studying, he often skipped classes in high school and frequently went to arcades and similar places with friends. But whenever he ran out of money, he would always find ways to earn it himself. That was one of the reasons Guan Jiahe did not dislike him.

In truth, Zhu Mingxin was fairly moldable talent. Apparently, he loved tinkering with machinery. Furniture at home was constantly dismantled and reassembled by him. Things like televisions—his aunt often complained that Mingxin always took the TV apart into scattered pieces. The first time she found out, she nearly beat him to death. Fortunately, once he reassembled it, nothing was wrong. Later he dismantled washing machines, refrigerators, and many other appliances. Such incidents happened every so often. After he had tampered with everything at home, he was still unsatisfied, and later began bringing broken items home from junkyards. At one point, the house was filled with a foul smell from all the junk, nearly driving the family insane.

After learning this, Guan Jiahe instead felt that letting Zhu Mingxin simply leave school to work would waste his talent. Since he liked dismantling things so much, he should instead be encouraged to develop his strengths. That way, in the future, he could make a living off his abilities. He would definitely fare better than most people with no skills blindly taking labor jobs. So Guan Jiahe’s idea was for Zhu Mingxin to continue to university and study the field he was interested in.

“Since Cousin has already made a decision, then do it your way. But one thing must be made clear beforehand—we can pay for Cousin Mingxin to attend university, but he must guarantee he’ll study seriously. If he cannot persevere halfway through and wants to quit, then all financial support for his education will immediately stop.”

Hearing this, Guan Jiahe was delighted. “Then I’ll find a time to talk to Aunt about this. But Mingxin’s grades don’t seem very ideal. Better universities probably won’t accept him.”

“What’s difficult about that? I’ll handle the school arrangements. But he absolutely cannot neglect his studies because of this. He still has to seriously take the college entrance exam,” Wang Cheng said.

“I understand. I’ll make sure to remind him properly.”

After ending the call, Wang Cheng subconsciously glanced at the time again. Seeing there were still fifteen minutes before work officially ended, he had thought it was already time to leave. For the first time ever, he felt time passed far too slowly. He had never felt half an hour could be so long.

Thinking this, Wang Cheng simply grabbed his coat and left.

Assistant Liu had just been about to knock when the door opened. Seeing Wang Cheng already wearing his coat as though preparing to leave work, he immediately looked shocked. Ever since Young Master Zhou became Vice President of Zhou Corporation, he had never left work early. Leaving exactly on time was already common enough.

“Vice President, you’re…”

“Do you need something?” Wang Cheng interrupted.

Assistant Liu knew he was probably in a hurry to leave, but still handed over the documents in his hand. “President Feng asked me to bring these over for your review.”

“Is it urgent?”

“Uh, not very urgent.”

“Then leave them on my desk for now. I’ll look at them tomorrow. I have something to do and I’m leaving early today. If anything important comes up, call me. Alright then, I’m leaving first.”

After saying that, Wang Cheng left.

Assistant Liu stared blankly at his departing figure. Only after Wang Cheng disappeared did he mutter to himself, “Leaving in such a hurry… Could something have happened with the wedding?” Although everyone in the company already knew Young Master Zhou was marrying Aimoer’s president, there were still many people hoping the marriage would fail. Maybe the curses had actually come true.

The moment he said that, he immediately spat twice. Better not let bad omens come true. Although he himself was a straight man, he still hoped the two could stay together.

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