Ch112.2 – Negotiation
Yu Hao broke his chopsticks apart. Zhou Laichun poured some beer for him, and Yu Hao said, “My alcohol tolerance isn’t too good.”
Zhou Laichun answered, “Mine isn’t either. Just drink a little, it’ll be fine.”
Zhou Sheng sent Yu Hao a message on WeChat, asking him to go downtown to have dinner with him and Fu Liqun. Yu Hao took a glance but didn’t reply. Zhou Laichun saw it too; in the notification that popped up, Zhou Sheng called Yu Hao “wifey”.
“After so many years, I still remember the day of my divorce.” Zhou Laichun said, “I left the marriage with nothing. After completing the divorce proceedings with his mother, I went home to pack a bag, stuffed two pairs of underwear in it, and left.”
Yu Hao didn’t interrupt and just listened quietly to Zhou Laichun.
Zhou Laichun said, “Sheng’er stood by the door of the room as he looked at me, he was this big.” As he spoke, he made a gesture, “I said ‘come over here, Dad has something to tell you’, then he came. I wanted to tell him, ‘Dad will be back’, but he ended up slapping me instead, hahahahaha!”
Zhou Laichun’s face flushed red, and he couldn’t stop coughing from laughing so hard. He studied Yu Hao and muttered to himself, “That was a really violent slap, and it almost made a blood clot form in my brain. I’ll never forget that for the rest of my life– of how my own son slapped me in the face. His mother probably taught him that.”
Yu Hao took a sip of beer, thought about it, then said, “What were you thinking about at that time?”
Zhou Laichun said, “I thought, once I’ve earned enough money, I’ll come back to pick you up, then I’ll let you buy whatever you want and live whatever life you want.”
Yu Hao fell silent. Zhou Laichun asked, “The two of you have been living together for awhile now, ever fought?”
“Never.” Yu Hao answered.
Zhou Laichun said, “During the incident with Ou Weihong, I saw how he calmed down right after you shouted at him and thought yo, there’s finally someone who could stop him at last. At that moment I had a vague sense that something was wrong, but I didn’t really think too much about it, until your counsellor told me later on……”
The boss carried over a plate of twice-cooked pork and a bowl of tomato egg soup, placed it on the table, wiped his hands on his apron, and went back to watch TV.
“You believed it.” Yu Hao said.
Zhou Laichun’s brows furrowed deeply. Yu Hao pondered for a bit before saying, “Both of you want to control him, to control this only son of yours and show off your strength to each other through your control over him. Although aunt does nag him, once her nagging doesn’t work, she’ll leave him be. That’s also a kind of respect. She’s not like you, who wouldn’t give up unless you achieve your goal.”
Yu Hao had already realised this problem through contact with Zhou Sheng’s parents. Zhou Sheng’s mother might scold him a lot, and the words she utters aren’t exactly pleasant to the ears, but once she realises that she can’t get through to him, she would just hatefully conclude her rant. She would only unleash a torrent of emotional attacks on him, but she wouldn’t go through a series of other means to suppress Zhou Sheng, to force him to comply with her expectations.
It was just like how she used to urge Zhou Sheng to find a girlfriend: Zhou Sheng didn’t want to find one, so she would only scold him but not arrange blind dates for him all the time. She definitely doesn’t wish for her son to be gay because her relatives would mock her for it, but she wouldn’t exhaust all means to split them up by hook or by crook.
Zhou Laichun said, “You’re not me, you don’t understand my feelings for him. Yu Hao, I want to give him the best of everything.”
Yu Hao once heard Zhou Sheng say the same thing and thought, you father-son pair really do have inherent similarities in your personalities.
Zhou Laichun continued, “Do you know that throughout all these years, whenever I slept with all kinds of women, I would always remember to wear a condom?”
Yu Hao studied Zhou Laichun. The last time they met, although Zhou Laichun was near his fifties, he still possessed much grace and appeared very energetic. But over the past year, Zhou Laichun actually looked like he had aged quite a bit; he had a lot more white hairs now, and his expression carried slight despondence too.
“After divorcing his mother, I’ve never had another son or daughter.” Zhou Laichun said sincerely, “Do you know why?”
Yu Hao answered, “You want to leave everything you have, your money, your assets all to Zhou Sheng alone.”
“Yes.” Zhou Laichun put his palms together and said politely to Yu Hao, “So, could you please be a magnanimous guy, Yu Hao? I know you’re a good kid.”
Yu Hao stared at him in silence and didn’t answer him.
“I want to train him well.” Zhou Laichun said, “All the way until he started senior high, I’ve been waking up early while groping my way through the dark to exchange my life for money. His mother refused to let me visit him, and I thought that after he got into college, he would gradually come to understand. I want to send him abroad, to get a business degree……”
Yu Hao finally understood Zhou Sheng’s reaction and attitude whenever he mentioned getting a business degree now.
“He won’t go.” Zhou Laichun said, “And he wouldn’t even come ask me for any conditions. I think you definitely won’t let him refuse……”
“That’s true.” Yu Hao said, “He never told me before, and if he did, I would have certainly asked him to go. That’s not much, it’s just two to three years; we won’t break up because we’re in different countries. I’m confident that we’ll be able to withstand any trial.”
Now it was Zhou Laichun’s turn to stop speaking. He watched Yu Hao silently, Yu Hao said. “So what do you want me to do for you? Say it ba.”
Zhou Laichun said, “Although I know you’re not this kind of person, I still can’t help asking, how much money do you want?”
Yu Hao thought it’s finally happening.
“One hundred million, and 7% of Yun Lai Chun’s shares.” Yu Hao said politely to Zhou Laichun just like how Chen Yekai had taught him.
Yu Hao thought that Zhou Laichun’s expression would turn into a spectacular sight and was already ready to admire it, but Zhou Laichun said, “The shares won’t do, uncle will give you 30 million.”
Yu Hao, “!!!”
Yu Hao thought, that was a close call! Zhou Laichun was actually willing to fork out 30 million just to split them up?
“Then forget it.” Yu Hao laughed.
Zhou Laichun said seriously, “45 million? And I’ll give you another company too? I have a company in Shanghai……”
Yu Hao sensed that something was wrong, so he changed his tune, “I was just joking, uncle, I now know that you really do love him a lot.”
Zhou Laichun still refused to give up and said, “Yun Lai Chun’s shares will be left for my son. Aside from that, everything else is negotiable. You……”
Yu Hao said, “I really was just kidding, uncle. I don’t want a single penny, and I don’t want your shares either. I love him.”
Zhou Laichun smiled, “Everything in this world has a price tag. Even human lives have one, so don’t say that in front of uncle now.”
“Okay then.” Yu Hao, “Everyone has different values, so let’s not talk about that anymore.”
Zhou Laichun opened his handbag to take something. Yu Hao thought about it for a bit and said, “The feelings we have for each other are much stronger than you think. At a time when I had given up on everything in this world, he was the one who saved my life. So the only thing in this world that can make me let go, is if he wants to, in other words……”
“……there is only one reason that will drive us to break up, and that is if he stops loving me someday.” Yu Hao continued, “Aside from that, I won’t break up with him.”
“Alright, alright.” Zhou Laichun sighed, “I got it. At the time, I had thought that I loved Zhou Sheng’s mother very much too……”
Yu Hao didn’t want to talk any further. Zhou Laichun took out the bank card that had been returned to him more than a year ago.
“Zhou Sheng hasn’t found an internship yet, has he?” Zhou Laichun said, “Give all three of your internship forms to me, I’ll stamp them.”
Yu Hao said, “There’s no need for now, we’ll think of something first.”
Zhou Laichun and Yu Hao looked at each other. Zhou Laichun didn’t insist anymore and placed the card on top of the internship forms. Yu Hao shook the internship forms to shake the card off. Zhou Laichun’s expression looked a bit angry, but he was trying his utmost to control himself.
“Take it first for expenditures ba.” Zhou Laichun said, “If you don’t mind, then let him come to Yun Lai Chun. After experiencing many things, his frame of mind might somewhat change……”
“But I do have a question I want to ask.” Yu Hao suddenly said, “Uncle, I’m just asking out of curiosity. How much money do I have to give you before you’ll let me be with your son?”
Zhou Laichun watched Yu Hao, and after awhile, he said, “If you’re willing to change your sex, then it’s not like it can’t be considered……but you can’t get married to him.”
Yu Hao, “……”
Zhou Laichun was extremely worn out. Since they’ve already laid their cards on the table, he decided that he might as well say, “But since Zhou Sheng likes men, it wouldn’t matter even if you underwent a sex change operation. What I mean is, he must get married to a girl, and this girl must be of use to his career and life; it can’t be the way it was with myself and his mother. After marriage, he can date whoever he likes, that would be his private affair. As long as his family can be set up……”
Yu Hao said quietly in an enigmatic manner, “You want him to find a wife who’s powerful enough to support him, but how could such a girl allow him to hoodwink her into a marriage and cheat on her with another guy outside?”
“Yes.” Zhou Laichun said sincerely, “So you understand where my difficulties lie.”
“You’re too shameless.” Yu Hao said from the bottom of his heart, “Uncle, I actually admire you a little.”
Zhou Laichun said, “If I wasn’t that shameless, do you think I would’ve been able to climb up to where I am now? Yu Hao, the two of you won’t last long. Why don’t you retain your memories now for the rest of your life, and treat it as your most beautiful memories? Must you wait until the two of you fight over life’s daily expenses, fight until your faces turn red and the two of you start rolling your eyes at each other? Only the feeling of disgust would remain then. Yu Hao, consider it again properly……”
Zhou Laichun filled their wine glasses and said patiently, “Fifty million yuan in cash. Yu Hao, it’ll be transferred in a week, and it can’t be any more. Go back and think about it ba. If you really refuse it, you’ll regret it one day in the future.”
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