“Both of your families are really good friends with each other. Qiao Nan, you know Zhu Baoguo’s father?” Zheng Lingling asked in surprise. She had thought that Qiao Nan was joking when giving such reasons so that she would not be seen to have a close one-to-one personal relationship with Zhu Baoguo. Unexpectedly, the two families were really on good terms.
“It is true all this while.” Qiao Nan put away her schoolbag. “Have you all gone to the dormitory yet?”
“We did.”
“He Yun reached the school the earliest today. The sun is strong and she has taken all our blankets to dry in the sun.”
“Thanks, He Yun.” Qiao Nan was quite happy that the blanket was drying under the sun. The blanket in the dormitory had been untouched for one month. If this were not done, there would be a musky smell when they slept with it.
“Don’t mention it.” He Yun smiled big-heartedly. “You’ve helped me so much in normal times. It’s rare that I can be of some help. Next time, if I reach the school later than all of you, please be more self-aware and help me dry the blankets under the sun.”
“I’ll go back and take all the blankets down later,” Qiao Nan said with a conscience.
“I know that Nan Nan is the best.” He Yun gave a thumbs-up. She really did not wish to return to the dormitory after she finished her meal.
The school life in Ping Cheng High School was quite dynamic. After the students paid their tuition fees, the class monitor of respective classes made arrangements to collect and distribute the textbooks. They would commence self-study in the evening and start attending lessons the next day.
Seeing that the sun was not that bright anymore, Qiao Nan tasked the mission of tidying up her desk to Zhu Baoguo and made a trip back to her dormitory. She then took down all the blankets that were drying under the sun.
After placing them properly, Qiao Nan opened the letter that Zhu Baoguo passed to her.
As Qiao Nan read its contents, she finally understood why her mother was willing to delay one and a half years before getting a divorce. Even if her father was not willing to give them any money, she and Qiao Zijin would not care. Wang Yang was the mastermind behind this matter.
With Wang Yang as the backing, of course Qiao Zijin would not bother about her poor father.
After reading the letter, Qiao Nan tore it without a word and flushed it down the pipe until she was certain that not a single piece of paper was left.
It was nothing bad that Wang Yang was willing to help her father support Qiao Zijin and her mother. However, was Wang Yang’s family situation that good? Were they so wealthy that they were willing to support other people’s wife and daughter?
Beside Qiao Nan, Zhu Chengqi, who just received this news, had the same thoughts too. “If the Wang family is so rich, they don’t need to disburse that sum of money requested by the Wang family previously then.” He would let Wang Qinglin gradually think of a solution himself. Wang Qinglin wanted to have achievements in his career, yet he was not willing to fork out money. That wouldn’t do.
“Chief Zhu, that sum of money has already been withheld.”
“Withheld? Who did it?” Zhu Chengqi lifted his head in surprise. Not many people dared to withhold the money from Wang Qinglin. After all, those people had to give some face to the Zhu family.
“It was done by the Zhai family. To be precise, it was done by Zhai Sheng.”
“Zhai Sheng?” Zhu Chengqi put down what he was doing. “Do you know the reason?” Wang Qinglin had always been quite smooth and slick in his dealings with people. How did he offend Zhai Sheng? If he did not remember wrong, he had tried to let Wang Yang bond with Zhai Sheng before. However, he did not know why Wang Yang, who was so capable of pretending to be a good kid, failed to gain any benefit from Zhai Sheng.
At the thought of his son having been ‘toyed’ by Wang Yang for so many years, whereas Zhai Sheng would always make Wang Yang suffer a setback, Zhu Chengqi lamented. There was a big difference between his son and other people’s son.
“I’m not sure. If the information that I received is not wrong, Zhai Sheng not only withheld Wang Qinglin’s money but also seemed to be investigating the Chen family.”
“The Chen family? That Chen Jun?” Was it the Chen Jun that he knew?
“The Chen family which has a deputy police commissioner in Ping Cheng.”
Zhu Chengqi made a few light knocks on the table with the pen in his hand. “Alright, I understand the situation now. You may leave.”
“Then, how about Wang Qinglin?” Did Chief Zhu still want to take action to teach Wang Qinglin a lesson?
“There’s no need to do so now.” Since someone had already taken the action to teach Wang Qinglin a lesson, he did not have to rush into it. Zhu Chengqi just wanted to teach Wang Qinglin a lesson, not to crush him. After all, Wang Qinglin was his brother-in-law. His sister, Zhu Qin, was still Wang Qinglin’s wife.
“I’m leaving then, Chief Zhu.”
Wang Qinglin had wanted to rise to the top of his career wholeheartedly. He was in this position today because of Zhu Chengqi, his elder brother-in-law. Everyone gave Wang Qinglin some face no matter what he did as they knew that he was Zhu Chengqi’s brother-in-law. They would make things convenient for Wang Qinglin if it was within their means.
With Zhu Chengqi as his elder brother-in-law, only Wang Qinglin himself knew how much he had benefited. He was often able to yield twice the results by doing half the work.
However, the ever successful him actually ran into some trouble on this occasion.
Wang Qinglin wished to achieve something prominent and successful while he was young, riding on his relationship with Zhu Chengqi. The speed at which he climbed the career ladder was definitely not slow.
Recently, Wang Qinglin was interested in a project as he saw the value in it. As long as he secured it, he would be able to make a great achievement. The biggest problem was the sum of money that was needed for the project. The rest of the problems could easily be settled.
For the sake of this, Wang Qinglin had been working on it long before the Lunar New Year. Basically, it was almost settled. Once the sum of money was disbursed and approved, he would then be able to commence work.
However, Wang Qinglin suddenly received a call. “What? The money was not disbursed? There were problems with certain parts of the project during the examining process? Are you sure? Didn’t you tell me before the Lunar New Year that the money would be disbursed within three months?”
“…”
“Impossible. Did anyone make a mistake? Can you help me check on this?”
“…”
“… It’s like that? Will this matter be easier to settle if I look for my elder brother-in-law?”
“…”
“Sure, I’ll settle my elder brother-in-law’s end. Once I’ve done that, you have to take faster actions. Take it as doing me a favor and disburse the loan. I’ll treat you to a meal next time. Ah, yes, let’s agree on this. I’ll have to trouble you, then.” Wang Qinglin hung up in a happy tone. Once the beeping sound was gone, Wang Qinglin’s face was all black.
This matter was only missing a nail on the board, yet someone dared to obstruct him at this juncture.
After pacing for a while in his office, Wang Qinglin simply picked up his phone and made a call home. “Zhu Qin, it’s me. I have something to tell you. Last year, I told you about a project, didn’t I? It was already confirmed, but someone just told me today that someone held back the money. Do you think you should call the house of the Zhu family to inform Dad?”
“Who has the guts to hold back your money?” Zhu Qin was astonished. “The matter about this project had initially been settled, yet they had to stir up so much trouble. I’ll tell Dad. Dad will bring this up to brother. Thereafter, brother will certainly pull some strings. Most likely, there won’t be any more problems then.”