Chapter 119 Jinjiang's Unique Moral Character
Su Ruyi was stunned and found it hard to believe when she saw the photos.
Whether it's the Zhang Qingfeng I usually meet or the one described in the book, I never would have guessed he was so cunning.
But upon closer examination, it's actually quite understandable that he was juggling multiple relationships.
In the novel, the story is told from the female protagonist's perspective. Although the author tries his best to describe his deep affection, his helplessness, and his tragic experiences, Su Ruyi still senses that something is amiss.
Su Ruyi saw the man's cowardice, hypocrisy, and irresponsibility. Like many naive young girls, the female protagonist was easily fooled by the mature man's one-sided story and did not delve into the underlying issues.
Judging from the text, Su Ruyi felt that the author's family conditions were not good and the family relationships were also average.
The author portrays the female protagonist as someone who is showered with love and comes from a very wealthy family, yet the author's own predicament and lack of family can be felt between the lines.
Therefore, the author projects their deepest desires onto the female protagonist, giving her everything the author wants.
As for the male protagonist, it's the author projecting her own favorite character onto him, imbued with admiration and longing. The female protagonist is somewhat cautious, insecure, and sensitive in her presence towards the male protagonist, which often contradicts the character's established persona in the story.
The author clearly views successful men through a heavy lens, believing everything they do is right and reasonable, without any independent thought. The minor character, 'she,' who doesn't even appear in the story, carries a great deal of the author's malice.
Even though he didn't appear much, you could tell the author disliked this character.
Su Ruyi originally thought this was just a writing technique, and many novels liked to use the contrastive writing style in order to seek a sense of satisfaction, but it could not express the author's values.
But the more deeply she became entangled with this world, the more Su Ruyi felt when she read the novel again that the author had written it with strong personal feelings.
Therefore, the Zhang Qingfeng in the story is actually different from the Zhang Qingfeng that the female protagonist saw; the female protagonist only saw one side of him.
Just like the real Zhang Qingfeng, he has one face in public and another in private, and there are many problems with him.
Zhang Qingfeng clearly has a childhood sweetheart, Li Yiyi, but he still keeps showing up in front of her, which tells you he's not an honest man.
It's not surprising that he has other women outside the marriage.
Although Zhang Qingfeng was not valued within the Zhang family, he was still a popular young master outside the family, driving luxury cars and living in mansions, which was the envy of many.
People like him are surrounded by temptations, and he doesn't have high moral standards, so he's prone to living a life of pleasure and debauchery.
Su Ruyi scoffed, "You act like an innocent young man in front of me, you're really playing games."
During this period, Zhang Qingfeng intentionally or unintentionally distanced himself from Li Yiyi, constantly emphasizing that he treated Li Yiyi as a younger sister and asking his younger siblings not to make jokes about them, so as not to damage Li Yiyi's reputation.
Su Ruyi immediately sensed that the conversation was directed at her, so she pretended not to hear it.
Lu Ting took out Li Yiyi's photo and handed it to Su Ruyi.
"This woman has the deepest relationship with him."
Su Ruyi nodded: "They are childhood sweethearts and have a very good relationship."
Lu Ting clearly didn't want to say those things, but rather said: "According to the investigation, many of the decisions Lu Ting has made over the years are related to this Li Yiyi."
"What's the meaning?"
"The 'canned food for airplane' deal was brought up by this woman to Zhang Qingfeng, as was the suggestion to buy the land where the plastics factory was located. This woman looks like an ordinary pampered young lady, but she has incredibly powerful information channels."
Su Ruyi asked in surprise, "How did you find out about something so private?"
Zhang Qingfeng was extremely concerned about his image and held women in utter contempt. He acted as if he admired her in front of her, but Su Ruyi could sense that he didn't take pride in it.
Zhang Qingfeng did not believe that Su Ruyi's current success was due to her own efforts, but rather that she relied on Old Master Zhang and Lu Ting.
Although all of his efforts ultimately failed, he never intended for anyone to know that he had listened to a woman's advice and then went through all this trouble.
"We were overheard arguing," Lu Ting said calmly.
The person who leaked the information was a trusted lieutenant of Zhang Qingfeng. Although Zhang Qingfeng would deliberately conceal many things, those around him could still guess some of them.
This person took the blame for Zhang Qingfeng's failed investment and was not properly taken care of. He was kicked out of the company, which made a very ugly scene and made it impossible for him to stay in Qing Province.
This man harbors a lot of resentment. He had warned Zhang Qingfeng before, but Zhang Qingfeng insisted on listening to that woman. Now that there's a problem, he's blaming everything on him.
Therefore, as soon as Lu Ting came to his door, he confessed everything for a little money.
"This woman herself is also someone who can't keep a secret. She often boasts to others about her powerful information channels and how much she knows."
Zhang Qingfeng did indeed gain an advantage and make money by relying on some information about Li Yiyi.
Therefore, Zhang Qingfeng had always treated Li Yiyi very well, but recently a few things went wrong, and he was not as enthusiastic.
Su Ruyi had thought it was too much of a coincidence before, and now the information she had gathered confirmed it.
According to Zhang Qingfeng's investigation, Li Yiyi was just an ordinary pampered young lady who spent her time shopping and playing around. Her academic performance in school was also poor.
Although the family has some influence, it is limited, and their information network is not very efficient.
Moreover, if Li Yiyi obtained the information from the Li family, the Li family would make better use of it and would not let Zhang Qingfeng benefit from it for nothing.
No matter how good a son-in-law is, he can't be as good as your own family.
The relationship between Zhang Qingfeng and Li Yiyi is still undecided. Zhang Qingfeng was previously involved in a childhood betrothal, which adds a lot of uncertainty to the situation.
But if Li Yiyi is a time traveler, why has she accomplished nothing and done nothing all these years?
In this era, information is extremely important.
For someone like Li Yiyi, who comes from a good family background, success is even easier.
While it's not true, as some say, that even pigs can fly in the right wind, and many people will be crushed in the process, those with a forward-looking vision are generally more likely to seize opportunities than the average person.
Su Ruyi's current achievements are all due to her ability to foresee the future, coupled with the efforts she made in her previous life, which are now being demonstrated.
Was he scared off by Zhang Qingfeng's failure? But Zhang Qingfeng's failures were all related to his ruthless actions. If he had honestly bought the land from Lu Ting, Lu Ting would have sold it directly. He could have waited for the government to expropriate the land and then sold it, still making a considerable profit.
As a result, he insisted on taking advantage of everything, but others weren't stupid and wouldn't let him have his way.
Zhang Qingfeng has experienced failures, but he has also had many success stories of seizing opportunities.
Li Yiyi's decision to rely on Zhang Qingfeng instead of developing herself is something Su Ruyi cannot understand.
Look at her, she's given her all, while others are having affairs outside, and now Zhang Qingfeng is even eyeing Su Ruyi.
Zhang Qingfeng's feelings for Su Ruyi were different from his feelings for other women; he was considering marriage as the goal. It wasn't that Su Ruyi thought too highly of him, but rather that Su Ruyi had Old Master Zhang behind her.
"Li Yiyi knows nothing about these women's affairs, does she?"
Lu Ting: "I don't know."
"Then let them all know. Sharing happiness is worse than keeping it to yourself."
Since Zhang Qingfeng is so free, let's keep him busy.
Lu Ting acted swiftly, and before long Su Ruyi learned from Wang Huiting that Zhang Qingfeng had been caught cheating on several women, and Li Yiyi had caught them all red-handed.
Because of her good relationship with Zhang Qingyun, Wang Huiting always got to know the Zhang family's gossip before Su Ruyi.
"Sister! Just as I guessed, Zhang Qingfeng is a two-faced person!" Wang Huiting's eyes lit up with excitement.
Zhang Qingfeng was caught cheating the first time, and he managed to fool Li Yiyi, but unexpectedly, the second and third times came soon after.
Li Yiyi couldn't take it anymore and made a huge scene. When Grandpa Zhang found out, he was very disappointed in Zhang Qingfeng and directly resorted to family discipline.
Although the Zhang family is a traditional family, their food, clothing and daily necessities reflect the grandeur of the old nobles, but in this new era, they no longer practice the old system of family discipline.
Grandpa Zhang was furious and immediately took out a long-forgotten rattan cane and whipped the man.
"You don't know, that Li Yiyi is out of her mind. Even in this state, she still rushed to stop the old man from hitting people, and said that it was all those women's fault. Do you think she's sick? If you didn't care, why did you make such a fuss? Since you care and made a fuss, you even feel sorry for that dog of a man being punished."
Wang Huiting was cursing and swearing. The reason Zhang Qingyun shared her family matters was because she was speechless and needed someone to vent to.
Su Ruyi also felt speechless. Li Yiyi was such a good person, she could find any kind of man, yet she still treated this kind of man like a treasure at this critical juncture.
However, because of this commotion, Zhang Qingfeng didn't have time to go find Su Ruyi.
It wasn't that he felt ashamed and gave up, but rather that Old Master Zhang explicitly told him not to provoke Su Ruyi anymore.
Old Master Zhang knew everything about the family, and naturally he also knew that Zhang Qingfeng had been trying to please Su Ruyi all this time.
Old Master Zhang very much hoped that Su Ruyi could marry into their Zhang family, but none of the younger generation in the family had this intention. Now that Zhang Qingfeng had taken the initiative, he would just wait and see.
But now that this has happened, Old Master Zhang has to speak up. How can a descendant like this pursue Su Ruyi? Isn't that a disgrace to him?
Therefore, Su Ruyi finally had some peace and quiet.
Su Ruyi and Lu Ting stopped pretending and resumed their previous way of getting along.
Seeing this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
"Boss, I thought you broke up with your brother-in-law! I was so scared!" Li Guangqian said thankfully.
He quite admired Lu Ting, thinking that such a person was barely worthy of his eldest son, and it would be a real pity if the two of them separated.
Li Guangqian has also bought four houses in the Luting new housing development, all with loans.
His monthly salary is quite substantial, and he also receives bonuses, so his income is excellent. He is not only able to afford the down payment, but also finds it easy to pay off his high monthly mortgage.
One set was for himself, one set was for his sister, one set was for his grandmother, and another set was to be rented out. Li Guangqian had arranged all of this.
He also planned to hire Lu Ting's decoration company to renovate the house after taking possession, because if things fell apart, it would be inconvenient to deal with them in the future.
Wang Huiting also said, "My mom is so worried at night that she can't sleep."
Li Mei genuinely thought Lu Ting was a good person and was afraid that if Su Ruyi missed this opportunity, she would never find someone as good as him again.
But she couldn't say much, so she could only worry about it behind her back, even more so than Su Ying, her own mother.
Although Li Mei has started to focus on her career, she is still very traditional at heart.
Su Ruyi laughed and said, "What are you thinking? If I really broke up, I would definitely tell everyone. I wouldn't be so vague."
"Who wouldn't find it terrifying to see you guys like that back then?" Wang Huiting muttered.
"Sorry to have worried everyone. I'll treat you all to dinner tonight. I heard there's a new seafood restaurant called Da Long Wan Seafood Restaurant, let's go there and eat lobster!"
Qing Province is located inland, so seafood is scarce and expensive. Dalong Bay is a very expensive place, but the ingredients are all top-notch. A meal there can cost tens of thousands of yuan, making it a truly luxurious meal.
Therefore, everyone cheered upon hearing this.
The demolition of Xinghua Village is progressing very quickly. Zhang's Real Estate is very generous and prompt in paying the money, and everyone is very satisfied with the result.
Occasionally, there might be troublemakers, but Zhang's Real Estate is not one to be trifled with and will quickly suppress them.
Su Ruyi was not surprised at this moment, wondering why this part was different from the text.
This was probably Li Yiyi's way of avoiding the same mistake as Zhang's Real Estate, based on the original plot.
Su Ruyi sent someone to test Li Yiyi again, which further confirmed her suspicions.
Li Yiyi is indeed a time traveler, and she is extremely careless, daring to show off her special qualities to people she has only known for a short time.
While she wouldn't be foolish enough to claim she was a time traveler and could foresee the future, her behavior was enough to convince Su Ruyi, a fellow time traveler, of her identity.
Li Yiyi inadvertently revealed information such as that her current family background and beauty are all due to her own efforts, and that she is the biological mother of this world.
This made Su Ruyi wonder if Li Yiyi was the author of this book.
Based on the information revealed between the lines of the original text, the author and Li Yiyi evoke the same feeling.
Su Ruyi remained calm in the face of this.
Because the world today is very different from the original text, it is no longer bound by the original text, and everyone is moving forward according to normal course.
This world is neither the original world nor the world of Su Ruyi's previous generation; it seems to be gradually merging together.
Su Ruyi didn't focus too much on the two of them. Once she knew their identities and characteristics, she had nothing to worry about.
After receiving the money, Tong Dahua's first action was to go find Su Ruyi.
"Ruyi, what should we do with all this money?" Tong Dahua's voice trembled as she spoke.
She still feels like she's dreaming, and has no sense of security at all.
Although he had known for a long time that he would receive so much money, he was still in a daze when he actually saw the account balance. He stopped opening the shop and the whole family went to the provincial capital to find Su Ruyi.
Zhang Dagui was equally unsettled, a cigarette dangling from his mouth, but he didn't light it.
Zhang Dagui doesn't usually smoke, but today was different. He smoked several cigarettes before stopping when he reached Su Ruyi. However, he still had one in his mouth to calm himself down.
"Buy houses, put all your money into buying houses, that's the safest investment."
Tong Dahua: "But that much money could buy several apartments in the provincial capital. There are only so many people in our family, we don't need it at all."
Tong Dahua's family all received the money but did not request resettlement housing. Therefore, after repaying Su Ruyi's money and deducting the portion allocated to her, they still had a considerable amount of money on hand.
The location of the resettlement housing is not good, and it is unknown when it will be completed. It would be better to take the money and buy a ready-made one in the provincial capital.
“You can keep one unit for yourselves and rent out the rest. I will set up a management company to manage the rental properties. If it is inconvenient for you to manage them yourselves, you can entrust the properties to the company and we will take a corresponding fee. Alternatively, you can simply list them with our company and we will just help you find tenants. Or you can directly lend us the unfurnished units and we will take care of the renovation and other related matters.”
As Su Ruyi acquired more and more shops and houses, she gradually began to rent them out, so she needed to find someone to manage these matters.
This was something she was used to doing, so she could quickly set up the framework, and the person in charge was Fang Yongnian.
Fang Yongnian had to study, so unlike Li Guangqian, he didn't follow him around from a young age.
After graduating from high school, he stopped studying and went directly to the provincial capital.
Fang Yongnian couldn't handle things at home. His mother would only cry and complain, but she just wouldn't leave her father who beat and scolded her.
Fang Yongnian stepped forward to help, but his mother still said he was unfilial.
This distorted environment led Fang Yongnian to run away after finishing the college entrance examination, unwilling to stay in Liulin County.
Fang Yongnian was also a very capable worker, so Su Ruyi entrusted him with handling matters related to the houses under her name. Lu Ting also owned quite a few houses, which he also entrusted to him.
Fang Yongnian may not be able to handle things at home, but he is absolutely meticulous when it comes to work.
He wasn't very old, but he had been involved in gangs before, and although he was involved in small-scale gang activities, he was known to be anything but honest.
Therefore, he always collects rent smoothly and never lets anyone default on their payments.
When selecting tenants, we also go through a screening process, preferring to leave the house empty rather than find tenants who seem like troublesome at first glance.
Fang Yongnian was very satisfied with the job and worked with great enthusiasm. He was much more energetic than when he was at home.
Upon hearing this, Zhang Dagui said, "We'll rent the house to you."
His family was used to being bullied. Although Zhang Dagui is much more confident now, he is still worried about not being able to collect rent.
He trusted Su Ruyi completely and felt most at ease entrusting her with full responsibility.
"This method also involves the least amount of money among the various options."
Zhang Dagui waved his hand dismissively: "But we don't need to worry about the renovations, we just need to get the money from you."
Tong Dahua initially considered trying her hand at being a landlord, but then changed her mind and gave up.
They really didn't have time to deal with these things. Although they bought a house in the provincial capital, they couldn't bear to give up their business in town.
"Ruyi, what do you think about me buying a house in town?"
"Aunt, aren't you planning to move to the provincial capital?"
Tong Dahua quickly shook her head: "We still need to do business."
Tong Dahua was reluctant to give up the customers she had worked so hard to build up.
They earn quite a bit of money every day now; even without the demolition compensation, it's more than enough to support their families.
“You can do business in the provincial capital. Li Yunyao, who went to see you before, has opened her own shop, and business is booming now.”
Su Ruyi also knew that the business in the town had been hard-won and it would be a pity to give it up. The area would also develop in the future, so buying a house and settling down there would be a good idea.
Tong Dahua's family is very familiar with the area, and it is a good place for them to live.
But the compensation they received for the demolition was too much and too conspicuous. Small places can't keep secrets, and the people in the town must have heard about it.
This family is an easy target, and now that the plastics factory has moved, she can't take care of them all the time. It's better for her to leave as soon as possible.
Tong Dahua shook her head subconsciously: "No, no, the provincial capital is not a place we can go."
Although she is now wealthy and frequently travels to the provincial capital to purchase goods, Tong Dahua's deep-rooted reverence for the provincial capital is difficult to change in a short time.
Moreover, the current environment has already accepted the disabled and mentally challenged members of their family. If they were to move to a new environment, they would be stared at with strange eyes again. Just thinking about it made her feel suffocated.
Going to town to do business was the only option left out of necessity, so I went without hesitation.
Now that I have plenty of money, I don't have that kind of courage anymore.
“Let’s do as Ruyi says and go to the provincial capital,” Zhang Dagui said after a moment of silence.
"Master..."
"It doesn't matter where we do business. We're not short of money now, so it's okay if business is a little bad."
Tong Dahua knew that with so much money in their hands, they would definitely attract unwanted attention, so she couldn't bring herself to voice her objections.
I was reluctant to give up the business before, but now I think it's more important to hold onto the money I have.
"Ruyi, are there any houses still for sale in your neighborhood?"
Tong Dahua was very satisfied with this community. The security and other aspects were done very well, and Su Ruyi and Lu Ting's brothers were all here.
If they move in, they won't have to worry about being bullied.
“There are no new houses available, but there are second-hand houses. I can help you contact them if you need them. However, houses here are very expensive. You can buy in the developments that Lu Ting has built. There are good schools nearby, and there is also a commercial street downstairs where you can open a shop. You can buy large apartments there, where everyone can have their own private room.”
"But we're in a hurry to move in. The roof has only just been completed, right? There's still some time before the houses are handed over, isn't there?"
"You can rent a place here first, and then move over later. The houses you want to buy are all over there, so it will be convenient to manage them yourself if you want in the future."
Tong Dahua immediately made the decision, "Okay, it's settled then."
Tong Dahua and Zhang Dagui were both efficient; the money had barely settled in their accounts before they used it all to buy houses, emptying their pockets in no time.
The family returned to the village to pack their belongings and prepare for moving.
The village has been extremely lively lately; countless families have been fighting over compensation for their demolished homes.
I got the money today, and then I saw someone drive a brand new Santana into the village.
Tong Dahua was shocked: "The Yao family only lost a few dollars, and they dare to buy a Santana!"
With that money, you might as well buy a house; it won't break down. But a car is different; it's a gas guzzler.
"You don't know if you live in town all the time. Ever since our village was going to be demolished, so many families have gone crazy. Old Zhang from the east end brought back a girl in her early twenties today. You didn't see the scene, oh my god, it was so disgusting. It made me want to throw up my dinner from last night."
When Aunt Liu saw Tong Dahua return to the village, she ran over to chat with her.
Previously, at Su Ruyi's suggestion, Aunt Liu's family also expanded their house and received a lot of compensation. They were overjoyed and their relationship with Tong Dahua improved even more.
"What? You mean Old Zhang? Isn't he almost seventy and has lost all his teeth? He still wants a wife?"
Old Zhang was never good-looking as a child. He was thin and hunchbacked. When he was young, he finally managed to marry a wife, but he beat her away.
My family is poor, so I can't get married anymore and I've been a bachelor ever since.
Old Zhang had always looked down on Tong Dahua's family, because he felt that no matter how bad they were, they were still better than Zhang Dagui, who was born without legs. But then he saw that Zhang Dagui had a wife and children, and he felt incredibly envious.
Later, Zhang Shitou was dumbfounded. He was overjoyed, thinking that Zhang Dagui deserved it, and he made a lot of sarcastic remarks.
Tong Dahua disliked him because she felt that the way he looked at people, especially women, was creepy and made her feel uneasy. She usually told the children to stay away from him.
Looking at him now, he really is a lecherous old man. As soon as he gets money, he goes looking for women, and the women he finds are old enough to be his granddaughters!
"That's him! A man who isn't hanging on the wall doesn't miss women." Aunt Liu slapped her thigh, her eyes shining.
"He lives alone. Although his house is dilapidated and small, he gets a lot of money all by himself. Sure enough, money-grubbing girls immediately flocked to him. I have to say, that girl is ruthless. She could do that to a man like that. No wonder he makes money."
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