But why was it that when outsiders talked about them, he always ranked behind Zhu Baoguo?
When they grew older, Wang Yang finally understood that it was not that others really felt that Zhu Baoguo was better than him. The reason why those people praised Zhu Baoguo was that Zhu Baoguo was the Zhu family’s only paternal grandson, while he was a maternal grandson. Compared to Zhu Baoguo, he did not mean much. Everything of the Zhu family would eventually belong to Zhu Baoguo, and based on this alone, Zhu Baoguo had won against him.
To tell the truth, Wang Yang hated Zhu Baoguo very much. However, he was not evil and did not have very complex schemes toward Zhu Baoguo. All he was thinking of was having Zhu Baoguo mix around with those gangsters so that he would eventually become useless. After all, there was no saying whether all of the Zhu family’s assets would truly go to Zhu Baoguo alone.
Every time his uncle saw him, his uncle would always praise him and treat him well.
Wang Yang had never expected that Zhu Baoguo had gotten into an argument because of his short temper and had eventually lost his life. Wang Yang had been scared out of his wits at that time. Thankfully, security within the country had not been as tight at that time as it was now. Wanting to arrest the criminal involved, the police had put up his photos all over the internet.
Because of Zhu Baoguo’s death, every single one of those gangsters had been shaken and had all run away. Although the Zhu family had never given up on this matter, this short period of time was enough for the Wang family to interfere and pave the way for Wang Yang such that anyone who was arrested would never implicate Wang Yang.
After Zhu Baoguo’s death, the entire Zhu family was understandably upset. As such, Wang Yang’s abnormal behavior at that time had gone unnoticed by the Zhu family. They simply took it that Wang Yang was upset by Zhu Baoguo’s death as well. That was why the usually alert and intelligent Wang Yang suddenly looked as though he had lost his soul for a few days.
That incident had happened so many years ago that Wang Yang had almost forgotten about how he was the root cause of Zhu Baoguo’s death. But Zhu Baoguo had died such a long time ago, and now, his son was almost at the age that Zhu Baoguo had died. And it was now that Wang Yang started to feel uneasy, especially in front of Zhu Chengqi.
It went without saying that Wang Yang would never have anything to do with anything that belonged to the Zhu family if Zhu Chengqi were to find out about the truth of the matter. As long as Zhu Chengqi found someone, Wang Yang might very well be implicated.
One did not need to be afraid as long as they did not do anything against their conscience.
Seeing that Zhu Chengqi did not have much longer to live, Wang Yang felt even more so uneasy. Even when he napped, he would dream of what happened to Zhu Baoguo. With everything that had happened, it was inevitable for Wang Yang to be on the edge. Even his wife felt that Wang Yang was being overly anxious.
Yes, they were indeed after the Zhu family’s assets, but Zhu Chengqi did not have other relatives. If Zhu Chengqi were to pass away, Wang Yang would definitely be the legal successor. Besides, Zhu Chengqi was not in good health because of how hard he had worked in his youth. It had nothing to do with Wang Yang’s family.
They had not caused Zhu Chengqi’s illness, and neither did they have anything to do with how long more Zhu Chengqi could live. As such, Wang Yang’s wife could not understand why Wang Yang was always so anxious as though they had killed someone.
Despite this, Wang Yang’s wife did not dare to bring this up to him. She knew that Wang Yang might not tell her what was going on even if she were to ask him. As long as she did her job and did as Wang Yang instructed her to, the day Wang Yang prospered would be the day her own family would as well. After reminding herself of this, Wang Yang’s wife told herself to press on and tolerate everything that was happening.
As a young woman in her early thirties, she never left the house to go shopping. Instead, she spent all her time looking after Zhu Chengqi, who seemed to have one foot in the grave. But she had never complained about anything, much less showed any sign that she was miserable in front of Zhu Chengqi.
Because of her obedience, Wang Yang found a job for that troublemaker brother-in-law of his without hesitation and gave him a sum of money, instructing him to lay low for the time being. His wife’s performance was good and his brother-in-law listened well to him. All that was lacking now was Zhu Chengqi’s death.
No outsiders knew about what was going on within the Zhu family. Everyone that was close to the Zhu family knew that Zhu Chengqi no longer seemed to be in good spirits after his son’s death. He initially already had a cold expression. After his wife and son’s death, Zhu Chengqi had become a recluse and hardly kept in touch with his old comrades.
The only understanding everyone had of Zhu Chengqi was that they had not seen Old Zhu in a long time but that he was still alive.
Outsiders might not have understood the Zhu family’s situation, but they were all surprised when receiving the wedding invitation. Oh, Zhai Sheng had finally agreed to get married. They would definitely have to make time to attend this wedding.
Zhai Sheng’s imminent wedding was certainly a joyous occasion for the people in the Ping Cheng quad.
Especially those neighbors who had seen Qiao Nan staying in the Zhai family’s courtyard for a few days. They could not help but wonder whom Zhai Sheng would be getting married to. Could the bride really be the young lady from the Qiao family?
But that was impossible. While the Qiao family’s younger daughter was not ugly, she was old and already forty. Those neighbors thought that a chief would have certain standards and would never marry Qiao Nan who had such a background. Besides, Zhai Sheng’s status and position were much higher than their own. There was no way Zhai Sheng would take a fancy to someone whom they themselves did not.
If it was not Qiao Nan, then which young lady had won the heart of this chief, Zhai Sheng?
There were some who could no longer hold their curiosity in and immediately ran to the Qiao family’s courtyard to ask about the matter. “Is Old Ding around?”
Ding Jiayi, who was sunning her quilt, was not very happy upon hearing her neighbor’s voice. “What’s the matter?” Ding Jiayi knew that the Qiao family had gone through too much lately, especially on the news. Their neighbors had been treated to a good show. At one time, their neighbors had even lambasted her and Zijin, saying that they had exploited Qiao Nan.
As such, Ding Jiayi could not find it in her to be friendly toward these old neighbors or even try to get along with them. Even though they all stayed in the same quad, they had never shared good relationships. The Qiao family was not very well-to-do, and these neighbors in the northern part of the quad were always comparing to see which family was better off. It was ridiculous that the pot was calling the kettle black.
