Chapter 48
“Cai Daosheng,” Cheng Shi finally asked the question that had been on his mind, “Do you remember someone named Cai Daosheng in the Office of Government Services?”
An Zheyuan frowned, looking thoughtful. "Cai what? Which floor?"
"yes……"
Suddenly, An Zheyuan perked up and exclaimed, "Cai Daosheng? You mean Cai Daosheng? That Malayan guy? Damn, I know him, but I've never dealt with him. He's an old man from over twenty years ago. I remember Cai Daosheng was in charge of distributors back then, but he retired not long after I joined. Wait a minute, you couldn't have joined the company when he was still there. How old were you?"
So Narumi briefly recounted to Ahn Cheol-won the time he had lunch in a luxurious restaurant similar to this private room. However, when Narumi recounted this past event, his own detailed and slow-paced voice startled him.
“Cheng Xinhua,” An Zheyuan leaned back in his chair, squinting as he tried to recall, “Are you talking about Cheng Xinhua from the Northeast region? Let me think… After I joined the company, I vaguely remember hearing about a distributor named Cheng Xinhua. He used to do very well, but his performance was greatly affected by the overall economic situation. But that person was either in Harbin or Dalian, not Shenyang. And I remember he was quite old back then, how could he be your father?”
“Dalian? That’s right. My dad worked in Dalian for a while, but then he went back to Shenyang. I remember I even went to Dalian with him one summer.”
“Cheng Xinhua,” An Zheyuan nodded, “Now that you mention it, I think you two really do look alike. I didn’t associate him with Shenyang because I wasn’t in charge of the distributors back then, so I didn’t deal with them much, and in my memory, he was a very old man.”
“You’re right, my dad is indeed quite old. I have an older brother who’s a full twelve years older than me.” Cheng Shi quickly stopped himself from saying what he was about to say.
What he actually meant to say was: "Actually, I was an accident; I was a child they didn't want."
A few hours later, as Chengshi's drunkenness gradually subsided and his mind slowly cleared, he tried to recall what he had said to An Zheyuan at noon, especially whether he had told him what was on his mind. He was no longer sure if he had actually said it. Chengshi even suspected that he had lost control and shouted, "Do you understand, Forrest? My parents are afraid I'll run around, so they often tie me to the bed frame and give me my brother's worn-out clothes to wear..."
However, none of the scenarios that Cheng Shi was worried about came to pass. What did happen was that An Zheyuan shook his head in surprise and said, "This is really incredible. I didn't expect that after so many years you would still remember this private room, and even remember the name Cai Daosheng!"
"Well, actually, there's nothing strange about it. First of all, that was the only time my dad ever brought me to Beijing. Also, a lot of other things happened during that trip. My dad thought Cai Daosheng would offer him a job at the Head Office, so he and my mom planned everything out, including how to handle the house in Shenyang and everything else. They even inquired about how I could study in Beijing. So when his hopes were dashed, I think my dad never really got over that failure, which is why his performance suffered later, not because of the overall environment in Northeast China."
An Zheyuan lowered his eyes apologetically and said, "Yes, this is a problem with the company's system. A long time ago, when our company first entered China, there were some precedents of excellent distributors working in the Head Office, but later, in order to develop more professionally, this path was abolished."
Then An Zheyuan quickly steered the conversation to the more interesting part of the story, saying, "But this is really interesting, Frankie. I didn't know your father had served in Haosikai. You didn't even tell me about this class minister."
"The class monitor probably doesn't know. I didn't mention my dad during the interview."
An Zheyuan frowned but smiled as he said, "You mean to say that your father has made so many contributions to the company, but you didn't mention it as part of your interview?"
"No, I didn't mention it. He had already stopped working there when I came for the interview. As for me... I don't know. Anyway, I didn't say anything. At that time, I felt it was better not to say anything."
“Frankie, I have to tell you, I really admire you for this. You don’t want anyone to give you special treatment because of your father; you just want to do this job well on your own, right?”
Narumi awkwardly shifted her position: "No, it's not entirely because of that. I don't know, anyway... it's quite complicated."
“Of course, of course,” An Zheyuan said solemnly. “Many people probably can’t understand. Although the concept of succession doesn’t exist anymore, prioritizing the children of employees, distributors, or agents for entry into the company is a consistent principle of Haosikai, and many other companies do the same. But Frankie, I still have to say I really admire you. I think your father is very proud of you, isn’t he?” As An Zheyuan spoke, he leaned back, his eyes narrowing slyly, and said with a smile, “Wait, I want to test how accurate my judgment is. I have a guess, a guess based on experience. I’m sure you told your father that you got this job because of him, because that would make him happy. Am I right?”
What's frustrating is that An Zheyuan guessed correctly. That year on October 1st, when Cheng Shi, dressed in a mature suit, brought Huang Ruoyu—his new wife—home to visit his parents and hold a belated wedding ceremony, he did indeed say that to Cheng Xinhua.
On his way back to Shenyang that year, Chengshi had been plotting how to casually yet solemnly announce these two important pieces of news to his parents: he had a job, and Xiaoyuer was pregnant. He thought he could say something like, "Oh, by the way, I found a relatively stable job, but it's not very interesting, not something I'm interested in, but the pay is pretty good..." Then he could "casually" tell his parents everything.
But when that moment actually came, he changed his mind.
The two-bedroom resettlement apartment in Shenyang was filled with the scent of drugs, aging, and impending death. It was clear that Cheng Shi's parents weren't entirely satisfied with Huang Ruoyu, who was too young, a junior in college, too strikingly beautiful, grew up in a big city like Shanghai, and was studying acting—a profession that required public exposure. What displeased the elderly couple even more was that Cheng Shi and Huang Ruoyu had obtained their marriage certificate without even informing them, and no one from the Huang family had shown up for such a significant event as the wedding. They didn't even know anything about their in-laws… All of this infuriated the traditional elderly couple.
The scene was quite chaotic at one point, but fortunately Cheng Shi's older brother, Cheng Guo, was there to prevent any dramatic breakup of the couple.
However, since things had come to this point, Cheng Jianhua adjusted himself and tried his best to appear "kind" in front of his new daughter-in-law, while Wang Xiuhua tried her best to show excitement and joy at the impending birth of her grandson. Huang Ruoyu, who was meeting her parents-in-law for the first time, tried her best to appear well-mannered and naive...
In short, everyone is fake, except for my own achievements.
So when Chengshi was surrounded by this feigned warmth, he suddenly lost his composure and blurted out: I got into Haoskai China headquarters! — Just like when he returned home with his Peking University admission letter to share the good news with his parents.
"So who did you meet?" Cheng Jianhua asked excitedly, looking 10 years younger than he had 10 minutes ago. "Ban Jianhua? Which Ban Jianhua? I've never heard of him before. I've forgotten a lot of people's names, but he should know me, right? I'm a two-time winner of the Northeast China Sales Champion!"
“Of course,” Narumi’s voice burst out directly from his throat, “He certainly knows you, and he speaks very highly of you.”
Three days later, when Chengshi and Huang Ruoyu were on the train back to Beijing, he finally returned to normal. He pounded his thigh with his fist and muttered angrily, "He won again! Our old man won again!"
“I knew this would happen,” An Zheyuan said smugly. “Let me tell you, Frankie, I’m rarely wrong about people. How about some more wine?”
As the luncheon drew to a close, Cheng Shi thought that Huang Ruoyu might berate him like this tonight: "Are you trying to tell me that you just sat there eating with that An Zheyuan for the entire lunch, telling him about your life, but you didn't tell him that you're leaving in September? What are you thinking?!"
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