Wang Cheng had been seeing Chu Yifeng more often lately. Using the jam factory as a convenient excuse, he sometimes stayed directly at Chu Yifeng’s apartment. Papa Wang and Mama Wang assumed he was staying at his elder brother’s apartment, though he still returned to Chengping from time to time.
The help-wanted notice they had posted a few days earlier had already brought people in to ask about the jobs. Papa Wang eventually hired a middle-aged man named Liang Youshan, who lived in Chengping not far from their shop. After asking around and hearing that he was an honest man, Papa Wang felt comfortable hiring him. Since Liang Youshan knew how to drive, his wages were somewhat higher.
The other employee was a young man named Song Hai, also from Chengping. His previous job had been at a restaurant, but after the restaurant closed, he became unemployed. He had spent more than a month looking for work. Either the job did not suit him or the pay was too low. When he saw the Wang family’s help-wanted notice, he decided to give it a try. Delivery work would be somewhat tiring, but the pay was satisfactory, so he stayed.
When Wang Cheng and Chu Yifeng walked into the shop, Song Hai mistook them for customers and even asked what they wanted to buy. Only when Guan Ying called Wang Cheng by name did he realize his mistake.
“Brother Cheng, Uncle Wang called me this morning and said he wouldn’t be coming in. Right now, it’s only me and Song Hai at the shop. Brother Jiahe and Uncle Liang went out to make deliveries. They probably won’t be back until four or five.”
Guan Ying could not drive. After the new employee was hired, she no longer needed to accompany Guan Jiahe on deliveries. Papa Wang now left her to watch the shop. Song Hai was temporarily learning from her, and after some time, he would be able to go out with the delivery truck too.
“No need to entertain us. Go do your work.” Wang Cheng stopped Guan Ying when she started to make tea for them and walked farther inside with Chu Yifeng. It was his shop, after all. He had built it up bit by bit himself.
Guan Ying smiled awkwardly. She was used to serving anyone who came in. Her young boss did not appear at the shop very often, so the reaction had become almost automatic.
“Guan Ying, who’s that man who came in with the young boss?” Song Hai was a little too curious.
“He’s a friend of Brother Cheng’s. I don’t know exactly what he does. Anyway, I’ve seen him plenty of times since I started working here.” Guan Ying shrugged and turned back to her work.
Wang Cheng pulled a packet of tea leaves from beneath the tea table. He rarely drank tea because the old monk had never drunk it, but after returning home, Papa Wang liked tea, so Wang Cheng occasionally drank some with him. Tea was bitter, but it could keep a person alert. Chu Yifeng drank coffee, and coffee without sugar was even more bitter, so a little bitter tea was no challenge for him.
“How are things going with the jam factory?” Chu Yifeng knew Wang Cheng had been busy with it lately, but he had not asked about the details and did not know how far things had progressed.
Wang Cheng was about to answer when the phone in his pocket suddenly rang. “Wait. Let me take this call.”
The call was from Lu Dade. His relative, Xiao Ma, had asked him about what happened the previous night, and Lu Dade was confused too. Lu Dade told him he did not know anything. The new factory manager had instructed him to do nothing and said he would handle the matter, so Lu Dade had not known that the manager would apparently make no move at all. When he told Xiao Ma that, Xiao Ma suddenly went silent and hung up, which was why Lu Dade decided to call the manager and ask what had happened.
“Supervisor Lu, you still don’t understand?” Wang Cheng said.
“Understand what?” Lu Dade was still completely lost.
“The information was fake. That relative of yours was probably bought off by the Du brothers a long time ago. He deliberately fed us false information. The trucks last night were perfectly legitimate. The Du brothers were only trying to teach our factory a lesson. They’ve probably already guessed that we were the ones who reported them and caused the Health Bureau to raid their factory.”
Lu Dade immediately fell silent.
“Money can make people do almost anything. Besides, you and that relative probably aren’t especially close, are you?” Wang Cheng had become suspicious the moment Lu Dade told him about the tip. It was simply too convenient. The Du brothers’ factory had just been inspected by the Health Bureau, and immediately afterward, one of their own workers delivered wonderful information to them. So Wang Cheng did nothing, and sure enough, the other side exposed itself.
Thinking back carefully, Lu Dade realized that Xiao Ma really had behaved strangely. He had never heard of the man passing them information before, yet the moment a new factory manager took over, he suddenly came offering a tip. It looked like Lu Dade had trusted him too easily, and guilt flashed through his heart.
“Factory Manager, I’m sorry. I didn’t know Xiao Ma was that kind of person.”
“Supervisor Lu, you don’t need to apologize to me. This didn’t cause the factory any loss. The only benefit is that you got to see Xiao Ma’s true colors. Next time he tells you something, you won’t be fooled again.” Wang Cheng comforted him.
“Thank you, Factory Manager. We really owe you this time.”
“Supervisor Lu, there’s no need to thank me. I’ll still be relying on all of you to help with the factory from now on. I definitely can’t manage everything by myself.”
The two exchanged polite remarks for quite a while before hanging up.
When Chu Yifeng asked about the call, Wang Cheng told him that the Du brothers probably thought he was an easy target because he was a new factory manager and assumed such childish tricks would be enough to trip him up.
“What are you planning to do?”
Wang Cheng said, “Of course I can’t let unscrupulous merchants like them off. Forget the malicious competition. They knowingly use rotten fruit to make food that can harm people. Since I’ve seen it, I can’t pretend it isn’t happening.” The Du brothers’ factories made not only jam, but also canned fruit, fruit juice, and other products. If they were using large amounts of rotten fruit for the jam, those other fruit products must have used it too.
Chu Yifeng made no comment. In truth, unscrupulous merchants were nearly everywhere in the country. If many foods on the market were inspected seriously, hardly any would pass without some problem. Still, as Wang Cheng said, once you saw something like this, you could not simply ignore it.
That night, Chu Yifeng stayed again as usual.
At night, the jam shop had practically become a private little world for the two of them. They did not need to worry about Papa Wang or Mama Wang discovering them there, because neither would arrive until the following morning. So Chu Yifeng openly stayed overnight. Even his change of clothes was kept together with Wang Cheng’s. Sometimes he did not come with Wang Cheng but arrived later in the evening instead. In this way, the two handled their own affairs during the day and secretly came and went together at night. For a while, no one noticed a thing.
A little after nine that night, at the Zheng family residence.
Papa Zheng knocked on his son’s bedroom door. After receiving permission, he pushed it open. Zheng Jingen had just come out of the shower. He wore a thick bathrobe, and water was still dripping from his hair. Seeing his father, he tossed the towel in his hand beside the bed. “Dad, what brings you here?”
“There’s something I want to talk to you about. You’re not busy right now, are you?” Papa Zheng casually pulled over a chair and sat down, looking as though he intended to have a long conversation.
Under circumstances like this, could Zheng Jingen really say he was busy?
“If you have something to say, just say it.”
“This morning, your grandfather called me over and spoke to me about you. You’ve seemed somewhat distracted lately, and you’ve inexplicably made several trips to Shanhai City. I don’t know what important matter you’re dealing with, but since your grandfather has spoken up, you should be more careful. You know what he’s like. He thinks very highly of you and doesn’t want to see you go down the wrong path.”
Papa Zheng’s words were suggestive. Zheng Jingen did not understand at first, but by the end he did. He knew there was no way to hide all his movements forever, but he had not expected them to be misunderstood like this. The situation was so absurd he almost wanted to laugh.
“Dad, you know what kind of person I am.”
“Precisely because I know what kind of person you are, I’m reminding you. No matter how important the matter is, the most important thing is not to leave anything others can use against you.”
“What if it has something to do with my younger brother?” Zheng Jingen blurted out.
Papa Zheng froze and stared blankly at his son, unable to say a word. Several seconds passed before he finally spoke, his voice trembling slightly. “What… what did you say?”
“I said I found my younger brother. The reason I’ve been going to Shanhai City is because of him.” Before, Zheng Jingen had not been certain and did not dare tell them, afraid of giving the family false hope. Now that he had confirmed it, there was no reason to keep it secret. With his father’s help, they would also have a better chance of bringing his younger brother back into the family.
Papa Zheng shot to his feet and gripped his son’s shoulders tightly, his fingertips whitening with force. “Really? Are you sure the person you found is your younger brother?”
“I’m certain. He looks a little like me. That was why I investigated him in the first place. Now I’m sure it’s him.” To find former residents of Wangjia Village, Zheng Jingen had spent a great deal of effort lately. Only a few days ago had he finally located a family who knew the truth. The elderly man was over eighty and was one of Wangjia Village’s longest-standing residents. From him, Zheng Jingen finally learned that Wang Cheng was not the biological son of Wang Hongxin, the Wang family’s third son. Wang Hongxin had found and taken him in twenty-five years ago.
Very few people knew the truth. Wang Cheng’s father was a good man and had a much better reputation in Wangjia Village than his two elder brothers, so villagers rarely discussed the matter. They certainly would not bring it up in front of Wang Cheng or strangers. Zheng Jingen had needed considerable effort to pry the information out of the old man.