After returning to Shanhai City, Wang Cheng slipped back into his three-stop routine. That weekend, he made a trip home. The new house had already been renovated, though they would have to wait about a month before moving in. He and Papa Wang went to the market and bought seven or eight pots of spider plants.
Spider plants could draw formaldehyde from the air and help purify the new house. Although they wanted to move in as soon as possible, Mama Wang hoped the whole family could live in a healthy, comfortable environment, so they still had to take the necessary precautions. To keep the rooms ventilated, they also opened all the windows.
The three of them did not stay at the new house for long and returned home before lunch. After all, there was still a stupid pig at home that loved scampering all over the place. Mama Wang had taken such good care of the miniature pig that it was even rounder than when Wang Cheng first brought it back. Every time Wang Cheng saw it, he felt that the pig was living better than he was.
Their house had been renovated fairly quickly, costing a total of 150,000 yuan. If they had kept the renovation simple, forty or fifty thousand would have been enough, but Mama Wang had higher standards. The new house was somewhere they would live for years to come, and she was also counting on it becoming a marital home for her son someday, so she had not been too stingy about it.
The older couple could think this way only because their son was capable of earning money. Other parents in their position would probably have been thinking first about saving money so their son could marry. Their family, however, already had a Wang Ning’an, enough to let the two elders enjoy the rest of their lives in comfort. “Mom, I heard Second Uncle sent Cousin Ningxiang off to university.” Wang Cheng casually brought up the gossip he had heard when he arrived that morning. The matter Xiaoyu had mentioned on the phone was probably connected to Eldest Uncle’s or Second Uncle’s family.
“Mm. They finally managed to pull some strings. Supposedly they got her into some third-rate university. Who knows if it’s true.” Mama Wang’s expression remained indifferent.
Their family had little contact with Eldest Uncle’s or Second Uncle’s households. Ever since Wang Ziyu got into Jing University, those two families had become even less willing to mention their own children’s academic situations. Still, Wang Cheng thought this was probably true. If it were fake, Second Aunt would never dare boast about it, because she would be the one humiliated once the lie was exposed. He simply had not expected them to actually have some connections.
Papa Wang said, “Actually, this is good too. At least your Second Aunt won’t keep finding fault with all of you.”
Because their family had refused to help, Madam Zhang always pulled a stepmother’s face whenever she saw them, speaking in a sarcastic, insinuating tone as though their family owed her something. Papa Wang would take a detour whenever he saw her. Mama Wang, on the other hand, refused to let Madam Zhang become even more arrogant. Not only did she refuse to avoid her, she would occasionally fire back with a few barbs, leaving Madam Zhang so angry she practically smoked from the top of her head.
Wang Cheng had always known Mama Wang was not the sort to let herself be taken advantage of. With someone like Second Aunt, retreating was absolutely the wrong move. Give her an inch and she would take a mile.
Back home, Mama Wang busied herself in the kitchen preparing lunch.
Wang Cheng wanted to go in and help, but Mama Wang chased him out, so he could only sit in the living room and talk with Papa Wang. Father and son chatted for a while about Wang Ziyu.
Papa Wang had lived to his current age, and two of his children had gotten into Jing University, yet he himself had never been to the capital.
Wang Ning’an was a very independent and self-reliant person, something that had already been obvious when he was little. He was the child Papa Wang and Mama Wang worried about least. After getting into Jing University, he had been the one to say he would go to the capital on his own and did not need an adult to accompany him. The family had not been very well-off then. Seeing how determined he was, Papa Wang could only agree.
Seeing that Papa Wang was interested, Wang Cheng vividly described the whole scene for him. He went from the prosperity of the capital to Jing University, from Jing University to Eldest Brother, then to society, life, and the meaning of living… Somehow, the conversation circled back around to Eldest Uncle’s family.
Their eldest cousin, Wang Ningkai, was the only son in his household and had been spoiled since childhood. He was two years older than Wang Ning’an and still unmarried. His family had been much better off than Wang Cheng’s and could be considered fairly wealthy by Wangjia Village standards at the time. Most of that, however, was thanks to Grandpa and Grandma’s favoritism toward Eldest Uncle’s family. Almost everything good went to Eldest Uncle. Second Uncle occasionally received some too, but Papa Wang never did.
Wang Ningkai had grown up eating well and dressing well, and the indulgence had spoiled his personality. He had never liked studying either. Even so, Eldest Uncle had supported him all the way through university. Unfortunately, his eldest cousin still had not amounted to much. Although he was a university graduate, none of what he had studied seemed to remain in his head. His years of schooling had basically been wasted.
It had been four years since he graduated. Wang Ningkai had repeated a grade in primary school, so he was already twenty-five when he left university. Afterward he found several jobs, but none lasted long. His shortest stint did not even last a full day before he quit. His temper and habits had long been spoiled by Eldest Uncle, Eldest Aunt, and his grandparents. He was the very picture of someone accustomed to having everything handed to him, and someone like that could never settle down to hard physical work.
Half a year after graduation, Eldest Uncle grew tired of seeing his son sit at home all day and gave him some money to start a business. The business failed and lost tens of thousands of yuan instead. Wang Ningkai then stayed home for another half year. Three years ago, Eldest Uncle finally decided he could not let his son keep wasting away. This time, rather than sending Wang Ningkai off to start a business alone, father and son went into business together.
The two opened a construction company in the city. Within a single year, they recruited quite a few construction workers, but business was poor at first because the competition was fierce.
They were not the only ones who had noticed the development potential of Shanhai City’s real-estate market. Plenty of other people had seen it too. That year alone, there were eight hundred, if not a thousand, newly established construction companies.
Back then, Eldest Uncle spent all his time cultivating connections and searching for business opportunities. He barely returned home a few times all year. Later, even Eldest Aunt went to the city. After more than half a year of hard work, the company finally stabilized and acquired a steady group of clients. The company was not large even now, with only around two or three million yuan in assets, but in their village that was more than enough capital for showing off.
Half a year ago, Eldest Uncle handed the construction company over to Wang Ningkai and returned to the countryside with Eldest Aunt. They went to check on it a few times each month and otherwise lived even more comfortably than Wang Cheng’s family, supposedly eating abalone and ginseng at every meal. That was obviously an exaggeration, but it was true that Eldest Uncle’s family planned to move into the city in another few years. The house currently being renovated in the village was meant for the occasional visit after that.
There was nothing wrong with having money and enjoying it quietly. Everyone understood the principle of not flaunting wealth. Eldest Uncle and Eldest Aunt, however, were precisely the kind of people who wished the entire village knew they had money.
“Your Eldest Uncle has been more and more pleased with himself lately. A while ago, your Eldest Aunt let something slip. She said your eldest cousin has a girlfriend, and apparently she’s from a rich family,” Papa Wang said.
Wang Ningkai had remained unmarried because he was far too picky. He did not want anyone poor, did not want a village girl, and did not want anyone who was not from the city. He would only consider someone rich, pretty, and urban. If those demands were announced aloud, they would definitely earn him a sea of eye rolls. It might have been one thing if he were outstanding himself, but unfortunately, he was not.
A rich girl?
Wang Cheng had a feeling Eldest Uncle’s household was heading for trouble. It was good to have aspirations, but one also had to be realistic. A rich girl was not so easy to marry.
“Dad, has Eldest Cousin brought her home yet?”
“Doesn’t seem like it.” Papa Wang shook his head. News traveled fast in a village. Given Eldest Aunt’s personality, if Wang Ningkai had brought the woman home, she would have made sure the entire village knew her son was about to marry a rich girl.
But since no one had seen her with their own eyes, some villagers said Eldest Aunt was bragging. How could a rich girl be so easy to marry? Wang Ningkai’s construction company might claim assets of several million yuan, but to the truly wealthy that was nothing. Their family was only a little better off than an ordinary comfortably well-off household.
“What are you two muttering about? The food’s ready. Hurry up and come help carry it out.” Mama Wang poked her head out of the kitchen and saw the two of them sitting together discussing something. Wang Cheng and Papa Wang exchanged a look, then immediately went over to help. Mama Wang did not like talking about Eldest Uncle’s and Second Uncle’s families, so they did not dare let her hear.
The three sat around the dining table for dinner. Wang Cheng picked up some greens and put them in Mama Wang’s bowl. She liked vegetables and ate relatively little meat. Papa Wang, on the other hand, loved meat. Perhaps this was where Wang Cheng most resembled him. But with Mama Wang supervising, Papa Wang was forced to eat plenty of vegetables alongside his beloved meat.
By the time they finished dinner, the sun had disappeared, though there was still some light in the sky. Papa Wang was planning to go take a look at the new house. Wang Cheng told him to get some food and feed the stupid pig instead, then took the keys from his hand and went to the new house himself.
Wang Cheng walked quickly and arrived in five or six minutes.
In the faint moonlight stood his family’s new house. Not far away were Eldest Uncle’s and Second Uncle’s houses. Their renovations were not yet finished, so the exteriors were still made up of those dark-red bricks. The previous owner of the house Wang Cheng’s family had bought had wanted to save money and never decorated the outside.
Wang Cheng unlocked the door to the new house. The sight inside startled him. The floor, which had originally been cleaned spotless, was littered everywhere with chunks of broken brick, as though whole bricks had been smashed against the ground and exploded outward. There were even pale scrape marks across some of the floor tiles. One look was enough to tell him this had been done deliberately.
To ventilate the interior and disperse the smell of paint as quickly as possible, they had opened all the windows that morning. They had never expected someone to do something like this.
Wang Cheng checked several of the windows and found a few obvious cracks in one pane, as though someone outside had thrown something in and accidentally struck the glass. Beneath the outer corner of the wall were two bricks broken cleanly in half.
His family had a good reputation in Guanjia Village. His parents never offended people, and because of Grandma and Grandpa’s standing, it was even less likely anyone would deliberately do this to get revenge on them. Once outsiders were ruled out, Wang Cheng immediately thought of the figure he had happened to see that morning.
He had not brought up Wang Ningxiang going to university out of nowhere. She was the person he had seen that morning, standing at a distance and watching them. Although Second Uncle had managed to get her into a third-rate university, he had heard that her school would not start until after the Mid-Autumn Festival, so she was still around. With a sharp-tongued mother like Madam Zhang, it was perfectly normal for Wang Ningxiang to dislike their family.
Wang Cheng’s gaze turned cold. Other than that household, he could hardly think of anyone else who would do such a thing.