Chapter 218 Closing the Net
The nanny came back and said, "The young lady is in a bad mood and is staying at her parents' house tonight. She told the young master to talk about it tomorrow."
Although Zheng Huaixin was anxious, his wife was already troubled, and talking about money inevitably made her feel disgusted.
With two days to go, he smiled and asked the nanny to tell her that he would come to pick her up again tomorrow.
As a result, when they went to pick him up the next day, he had already flown to Hong Kong for a vacation to relax.
"...She said she wouldn't be back for another week. She booked the plane ticket last night and left early this morning. If the son-in-law doesn't have anything urgent, he should wait a little longer. I've never seen my aunt in such a bad mood before."
Zheng Huaixin felt extremely upset.
All the money in the house is with his wife. He is a model husband and has never carried a hundred yuan on him. If he suddenly wants to take out fifty thousand yuan, even if he were sold by weight, it wouldn't be enough!
This woman...
Why did they have to go now of all times?!
It truly proves the saying that good fortune never comes in pairs, and misfortunes never come singly!
"Has she called home? What's the phone number of the guest room she's staying in? I need to contact her urgently, I can't wait a week."
The nanny shook her head. "I don't know. I haven't received a call from her."
Zheng Huaixin, "..."
This is insane.
Having no other choice, he had to ask his parents-in-law for money.
Upon hearing that he wanted 50,000 yuan, his mother-in-law looked at him in shock. "Huaixin, how could you ask us for money? When you married my daughter, we didn't even ask for any dowry from you. The house you're living in now was also arranged for you through connections. Instead of giving us something in return, you..."
Zheng Huaixin felt ashamed and his face flushed.
Feigning a look of unspoken bitterness, she sighed, "Mom, it's my fault. I haven't been able to earn a lot of money to repay you and Dad for marrying off our daughter to me. You and Dad have promoted me so much, but I'm not good enough. However, I still give my money to Nannan every month..."
"Alright, why are you scaring the child?"
The father-in-law patted the mother-in-law gently and looked at Zheng Huaixin with a smile.
He advised, “Huaixin, don’t listen to your mother. It’s not that we don’t want to lend you money, it’s just that we don’t have much money left. We recently looked at two courtyard houses. The layouts are rare, and the locations are also rare. They’re less than a ten-minute walk from Tiananmen Square, and they’re even adjacent to each other. Your mother and I are thinking that we can live in one and give the other to you. When you get old, you can go there to retire. We’ve already invested all our money. Let alone 50,000, we can’t even come up with 5,000.”
His father-in-law's words sent Zheng Huaixin's heart plummeting to the bottom.
His wife was away, and he couldn't verify whether his parents-in-law were truly broke or not. But since they were unwilling to lend him money, he had no reason or dare to force them to.
Because the use of this money simply cannot withstand scrutiny.
But there's only one day left until the agreed time. If this matter isn't resolved, his position as deputy mayor will definitely be terminated, and who knows when he'll get another chance.
Zheng Huaixin decided to borrow money.
Fifty thousand yuan seems like a lot, but once his wife returns and he becomes the deputy mayor, it's a renewable resource.
Back home, he locked himself in his study and began borrowing money from each of his college roommates, classmates, people who had asked him for favors at work, and people who had received benefits from him.
For students, the starting salary is 3,000; for the latter two groups, it's 5,000 or 6,000.
Thanks to his network of contacts built up over the years, he had almost raised enough money by the middle of the night.
The next day at noon, he took another three thousand from his confidant, finally raising fifty thousand yuan.
With the money in hand, he went directly to the hotel to find Aqin.
"Fifty thousand, not a penny less, please count it."
Aqin stared wide-eyed at the black bag he had thrown on the ground. She crouched down, unzipped it, and saw stacks of hundred-yuan bills inside. Her breath hitched.
Little Stone's eyes widened in surprise, and he exclaimed, "So much money, Auntie!"
Aqin snapped out of her daze, feeling a little dizzy looking at the money. She quickly zipped up her jacket, took a deep breath, and looked up at Zheng Huaixin. "Come with me to the bank and deposit this money into my account. We're going to Shanghai. You should be able to buy tickets faster than us, so you can book them for us. After we deposit the money, we'll go straight to the train station. I keep my word. Give me the money and we're off."
Zheng Huaixin reached out his hand, "Where's the master tape?"
“We’ll give it to you once we get on the train,” Aqin said.
Zheng Huaixin stared coldly at her, while Aqin confronted him without flinching.
Little Stone stood protectively in front of Aqin, confronting Zheng Huaixin.
Zheng Huaixin glanced down at his son with A Yue, his eyes flickering. "Let's go."
The money was quickly deposited into Aqin's bank account. Zheng Huaixin made a phone call, and his confidant replied in less than five minutes, saying that the tickets had been bought and he would go to the train station to wait for them.
Zheng Huaixin drove Aqin and Xiaoshitou to the train station, got the tickets from his confidant, bought another ticket as a gift, and escorted the two onto the train. He then asked Aqin for the master tape again.
Aqin took a cassette tape out of her bag and handed it over.
Zheng Huaixin took it, held it in his hand, and breathed a sigh of relief. Fifty thousand yuan bought him a worry-free future.
Only then did he feel like talking to Aqin about Ayue.
Ah Qin couldn't stand it anymore and spat at him with a cold laugh, "Zheng Huaixin, don't pretend to be virtuous. An ungrateful and heartless person like you will get your comeuppance sooner or later. Just wait!"
"Aqin, take good care of my and Ayue's child. Goodbye... no, never to be seen again in this life."
Ignoring Aqin's anger, Zheng Huaixin smiled politely, grabbed the cassette tape, and got off the train. Only after watching the train disappear into the distance did he finally feel relieved after several days of anxiety.
Little Stone leaned against the window, watching Zheng Huaixin leave without looking back, and muttered, "Auntie, he said he would never see him again in this life."
"Do you want to see him again?" Aqin asked.
Little Stone shook his head, "No."
Aqin patted the child's head, touched the savings book in the tattered bag, and breathed a sigh of relief.
As Zheng Huaixin emerged from the train station, his trusted aides hurried up to him, congratulating him with smiles, "Secretary Zheng has eliminated a major threat; from now on, you will surely have smooth sailing and soar to great heights!"
Zheng Huaixin smiled and said, "Let's go. Aren't we supposed to be sending out documents today? Let's go back and see the surprise I have for you."
"Oh, thank you, Secretary Zheng!"
The confidant could not hide his excitement and wished he could worship Zheng Huaixin.
He was just an ordinary staff member at the city hall. He could get a promotion by following Zheng Huaixin to the grassroots level and then move up to become an official. Thinking about his bright future, he couldn't help but smile.
The two hurried back to the city hall, only to find that the documents had already been issued and new appointment letters were posted on the bulletin board.
A group of people were chatting and congratulating the person surrounded by them.
Upon hearing the vague mention of the new deputy mayor, Zheng Huaixin straightened his clothes, took a deep breath, and greeted the crowd with a warm smile, ready to receive their congratulations.
To his surprise, he saw a group of people who used to fawn over him not only keeping their distance but also looking at him with strange expressions.
He was wondering what was going on when his confidant pulled him out of the crowd and punched him straight in the face!
"This is the fucking surprise you gave me?!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
