Very Pure and Ambiguous: The Prequel

Yang Mei picked up the phone and said a few words, nodded, and finally said, “Thank you, Liu Ying! I returned in a hurry for two days. If I have time, I will certainly invite you to dinner!”

“You don’t have any sincerity huh. Asking people for a favor yet telling them you don’t have enough time.” As I saw Yang Mei hang up the phone, I said to her.

“The friendship between us doesn’t need something like this. In the end, a meal is just to enhance friendship between people!” Yang Mei gave me a side glance, “You think a meal will be enough to get someone’s help?”

“Alright now, no need to talk about all this. So how was it, what did your classmate say?” I asked.

“You started it first!” Yang Mei said with anger, “She told me that there are four people with the same name Zheng Shaopeng in the city. One of them is 40 years old so it’s obviously not him. Another one is 12 years old, while one of them is in his twenties, still serving time in prison for a robbery, so there’s only more left!”

“Is this the hypothesis your friend Liu Ying arrived at?” I interrupted Yang Mei’s words.

“How did you know?” Yang Mei asked inexplicably.

“Listening to your tone and how everything is analyzed, it is obviously done by your classmate who’s in the police!” I said, “I only want to know about this Zheng Shaopeng. No need to talk about the others.”

“I was about to talk about him but you interfered!” Yang Mei frowned and said with discontent, “This Zheng Shaopeng is 25, graduated from the Industrial University in D City, and is now working for the Feitong Logistics and Cargo Company in D City. This company is his family business founded by Zheng Huawen, Zheng Shaopeng’s father. A long time ago, he used to mix in with the underworld and had some criminal records, but now, he does legal work, and has a net worth of tens of millions!”

Legal work? I shook my head. Logistics and Cargo were transports that had to go long distances with valuable goods. It was certainly not a legitimate industry. I might not be clear about the matter in my previous life but I know about it in this life quite clearly! Unless you had a background with the underworld and good relations, it was impossible to run a business like that. For example, the several Cargo stations in Songjiang had to regularly pay a protection fee to the Three Rock Gang so they could freely travel, otherwise, it would be very hard for them to operate their business.

It seems that Yang Mei has found a real problem for me to deal with this time. This Zheng Huawen is certainly not any good character. He was certainly some bigshot in the underworld. If that was the case, then this Zheng Shaopeng won’t be any good kind either.

“What’s wrong?” Yang Mei saw me frowning, so she was puzzled and said, “You won’t be afraid now after hearing that Zheng Shaopeng’s family has a net worth of tens of millions?”

“Of course not.” I didn’t know whether to tell Yang Mei about the other identity of Zheng Huawen or not. After all, the mess was serious this time around.

“I say, aren’t you a person who doesn’t care about money at all. Otherwise, why would you not take the 4 million that we won in the casino.” Yang Mei said.

“Miss, you are thinking in the wrong direction. That money, we could take it if we wanted because I knew the manager of that place. Otherwise, we would have been chopped into pieces!” I didn’t want to speak too much and only said this much as a warning to Yang Mei. It was to tell her not to go to that place in the future. If she went there and treated the casino as her personal cash machine, then she will only bring disaster upon herself.

“I think my mother has taken a liking to his family as they are rich!” Yang Mei said, “My mother is someone who loves to satisfy their vanity.”

“That’s possible. Let’s see what your mother does when we get to your home!” I nodded.

Yang Wei’s family wasn’t an extravagant and rich family, instead, they were an ordinary wage earning family. Their house was an old-fashioned patterned building with an area that was a bit more than 40-square meters. There were two rooms, a kitchen, and no hall.

As I entered the house, Mother Yang had an unnatural expression while Father Yang didn’t feel anything wrong and even helped me find a pair of slippers.

“Well, you see Little Liu, I didn’t know you were going to visit us beforehand, so I didn’t prepare enough food!” Mother Yang said as she looked towards me.

There was already a row of stacked cans on the dinner table in the house. There were at least ten dishes, yet she said there wasn’t enough. She obviously didn’t want me to eat here!

As Father Yang saw this, he immediately said, “It’s nothing but adding another bowl and set of chopsticks, so there won’t be a deficiency!” As he said that, he went to the kitchen and brought a bowl.

Yang Mei was also angry, so she just sat on the table and didn’t speak the entire time.

“Little Zheng, you go and sit next to Yang Mei!” Mother Yang said as she pointed to the seat next to Yang Mei.

After Zheng Shaopeng heard her words, he was very happy as a provocative smile appeared on his face as he looked towards me.

On the other hand, Mother Yang sat on Yang Mei’s other side. She obviously wanted to keep me away from her.

I also didn’t bother to disturb the mother and daughter, so I sat next to Mother Yang quietly.

After Father Yang prepared the dishes and tableware, everyone was ready to dine.

“As today is the first meeting between our Yang Mei and Little Zheng, it’s a matter of great significance. Everyone should eat more!” Mother Yang said as she looked at me.

“No need for the polite words aunt. We are soon going to be a family, so you should treat me like your own son!” Zheng Shaopeng said sincerely.

“Oh, as the saying goes: a son-in-law is a half son! I think that’s how it went! Little Zheng, you are correct and we are all a family, so there isn’t a need to be polite. Pick up your chopsticks and start eating!” Mother Yang said with a self-satisfied smile.

“Little Liu, which University did you graduate from?” At this time, Father Yang asked me, making Mother Yang and Zheng Shaopeng feel a little awkward.

“Uncle, I am a graduate of Huaxia University,” I replied according to the agreement I had with Yang Mei. Actually, I wasn’t deceiving him as I had indeed graduated from Huaxia University in my past life for a long time!

“Huaxia? You graduated together with Mei Mei or an alumnus?” Father Yang asked.

“Yeah. We only met as we work in the same company,” I said.

“Oh, so that’s how it is.” Father Yang didn’t ask anymore.

“What is your position in the company? How much do you earn per month?” Mother Yang was even more unhappy as she listened to me. Listening to my tone, I was obviously a student who just stepped into society. There was certainly no economic foundation behind me. How could she give her daughter to me and let her be happy?

“I am in the technical department. As for the monthly salary, it isn’t too much, just a few thousand!” I replied.

“Oh?” Mother Yang stared at me. In her opinion, a new graduate student could only find a job that would pay a bit over a thousand if they were lucky in the current employment system. It was already quite good. Yet I actually said that I made a few thousand every month. This made Mother Yang look at me in a different light. After all, one who already had it was better than one who will have it in future. Though Zheng Shaopeng was rich, it was all his family’s money, not his. And his father, Zheng Huawen also had two mistresses outside who also gave birth to two sons. When the time came to divide the family property, who could guarantee who will get what!

Right now, Zheng Shaopeng was a fixed salary employee who earned 2000 Yuan a month. In 1999, it was a good salary for a newly graduated student.

“Your income is good, but do you have a house, a car? What are your plans for our Yang Mei? You need to be a magnanimous man, so if you really love Yang Mei, you shouldn’t delay her from finding her happiness. You should let her be happy!” Mother Yang said.