allendalepharm Chapter 23 Disparity
Chapter 23 Disparity
The warmth of affection melted away the winter chill, but the belated help quietly planted a thorn in my heart.
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Zeng Jia's guess was spot on. Zhang Zhishan indeed seized on Zheng Shanhe's sore spot and ruthlessly exploited it. He claimed to be helping him "solve his immediate crisis" and "revitalize his funds," but the price he offered made the flesh on Zheng Shanhe's cheeks tremble.
But he was truly choked by greed, and could only swallow his anger. He gritted his teeth and nodded: "These days, earning a living is fucking tough!"
"Brother, in this economic situation, being able to eat is better than starving." Zhang Zhishan's empty words of comfort were completely ineffective in stopping Zheng Shanhe's bleeding wounds.
"Alright, let's leave it at that. We need to feed these brothers. We're just destined to be scum. Let's get to work!" Zheng Shanhe looked dejected, his initial enthusiasm gone. Zeng Jia seized the opportunity and stepped forward to work out the details of the contract terms. After a flurry of activity, they rushed back to the company at 4:30 in the afternoon.
Zhang Zhishan couldn't contain his curiosity and asked her why she smelled so much medicine. Zeng Jia, afraid he wouldn't ask, quickly shook her hands, which were wrapped up like a dumpling, and said, "Don't even mention it. I spent the whole night at the police station for training last night, and the police officers even took me to the hospital to have my stomach pumped." She deliberately made it sound very light.
"Gastric lavage?"
Zhang Zhishan was genuinely moved.
Putting aside the fact that this girl helped him fend off drinks last night, if Zeng Jia hadn't blocked that attack today, his head would definitely be cracked open. Forget about the pain in his wound; Yu Li's gloating was enough to make him furious.
Besides, even cattle and horses need to be fed some good feed after working, right? He rarely showed kindness and gave Zeng Jia an early day off.
"Then you should go home early; you don't need to do anything today."
Leaving early?! Zeng Jia's eyes lit up instantly. "Thank you, Mr. Zhang! I'll definitely go back and recharge my energy so I can be back to work with flying colors tomorrow!"
"Here, take this and play with it." Zhang Zhishan opened the drawer, took out a small box, inside was a piece of stone seal material.
Zeng Jia felt a wave of disgust. A broken rock for a work injury? It would have been more worthwhile to just throw money at them last time! But she still had to force a smile and offer a string of profuse thanks to avoid any emotional value.
As she left the office, she glanced at the seat opposite her, where Wang Haowen was engrossed in typing on his keyboard.
She secretly sent him a WeChat message: "Want to go home and have a nice meal? I got released early today! If you can't get away, I'll go back and make arrangements?"
Wang Haowen had just finished ordering that ridiculously expensive private restaurant for Yu Li that evening when he saw Zeng Jia's WeChat message. He looked up and gave her a "wait a moment" look, then gathered up the documents he was working on and headed straight for Yu Li's office.
"Mr. Yu, I've finalized the VIP salon plan for the day after tomorrow. I need to go to the Rosewood department store to scout out the venue and finalize the setup. If you're free, I can go check it out first?"
Yu Li was engrossed in a phone call, barely lifting her eyelids. She casually waved her hand, "Go ahead. I have a private gathering tonight, you don't need to come along." She pointed to a bottle of red wine on the table, "It's not to my taste, you can take it and try it."
Wang Haowen quickly thanked her, not expecting to get such a bargain. He grabbed the bottle of wine and immediately slipped away, lest Yu Li remember something after hanging up the phone and he couldn't leave again.
He left the office, exchanged a glance with Zeng Jia, and sent her a WeChat message: I'm going to Rosewood first, then I'll be on my way!
The two immediately split up, circled around the grand chessboard of Beijing, and then victoriously reunited at their home.
Zeng Jia worked quickly and efficiently; by the time Wang Haowen entered, the hot pot was already set up. Beef and lamb rolls, vegetable meatballs, and other ingredients filled the table—hot pot was the most economical option for the dead of winter. But when she saw Wang Haowen carrying a bottle of red wine, she couldn't help but tease him, "Hot pot with red wine? Your fusion of East and West is quite fancy, isn't it?"
"Who cares if it matches or not? It's free, it'd be a waste not to drink it!" Wang Haowen slammed the bottle on the table and turned to look for a bottle opener.
Zeng Jia took the wine out of the bag, her eyes almost popping out of their sockets.
"Put that corkscrew down right now!" She held the bottle of liquor like it was a gold bar. "What are we drinking? This bottle is enough to buy half a toilet!"
The Romanée-Conti Rieg-Bellagio Golden Dragon series! A set costs two or three hundred thousand, and a single bottle costs thirty or forty thousand! Do they deserve to drink such expensive stuff?!
Wang Haowen darted back, and was dumbfounded when he saw the bottle: "What? This is expensive?"
Yu Li casually said, "I don't like the taste," and he didn't even take it out to look at it. He still thought it was an entry-level bottle that cost a thousand or eight hundred in the liquor store. If he had known it was so expensive, he would have said more flattering words.
"Tsk tsk tsk," Zeng Jia clicked her tongue, "Yu Li is really good to you. Comrade Wang Haowen is highly regarded by the leadership!"
Wang Haowen chuckled and countered, "You risked your life to save that tightwad Zhang Zhishan, almost disfiguring yourself, and he didn't give you anything in return?"
Zeng Jia then remembered the stone and quickly took out the small box from her bag. "Here it is, this is it, a piece of stone material for a seal."
Wang Haowen opened the box. "Shoushan stone?"
He pulled out the appraisal certificate inside and quickly searched for "Shoushan fish brain frozen stone square seal" on his phone. The screen was filled with thousands of words of description, but Wang Haowen immediately saw the glaring number: 7!
"Zhang Zhishan is really good to you, giving you a 70,000 yuan item so easily!" Wang Haowen's jealousy flared up again, and he said sourly.
Upon hearing the price, Zeng Jia immediately snatched the stone away. "This worthless stone... 70,000?"
In an instant, she realized that those glittering bags and shoes in the SKP shop windows weren't such unattainable things anymore. Indeed, the gap between the rich and ordinary people is like the distance between the moon and the earth—they're simply not even in the same league!
She quickly and carefully wrapped them up and put them away, along with the expensive bottle of red wine. "If we can't cover the shortfall in the down payment, we'll sell these two treasures! You hurry up and buy two bottles of Yanjing beer; that's the perfect accompaniment to hot pot!"
Wang Haowen rubbed his nose. "How about I give your dad some red wine for the New Year? It's a rare treat, after all." You can't go to your father-in-law empty-handed, can you?
"Giving him this little sweet drink is not as good as giving him two bottles of Zhongnanhai liquor and Erguotou. He won't be happy with that." Zeng Jia knew her father's temper.
Wang Haowen was obedient; he turned around, rushed out the door, and brought back half a dozen chilled Yanjing beer bottles, along with a bag of fried peanuts, which would be even better with the beer.
The two ate around the steaming pot, sweating profusely. After a few rounds of drinks, perhaps due to the alcohol, they lay on the bed and just stared at each other with silly grins.
"What are you grinning about?" Wang Haowen poked her little nose with his finger.
Zeng Jia laughed even louder. "I was just thinking, who would have thought that I, Zeng Xiaojia, would have the glorious history of staying overnight at a police station? Don't you think I should send them a banner that says 'Warmly Helping You Sleep, Making You Feel at Home'?"
Seeing her carefree smile, Wang Haowen finally felt relieved. He reached out and ruffled the back of her head, saying, "Just wait until I see your aunt during the New Year, she'll tell on you!"
"Ugh, if you dare tell on me, I'm ignoring you!"
"You really scared me to death yesterday. My mind went blank. I didn't even think to call the police station to ask. I just wandered around the alleys like a headless fly!" Wang Haowen looked at her pitifully, his wet eyes making him look like a puppy abandoned by its owner. "Zeng Xiaojia, promise me something, okay? Don't treat yourself like this anymore. Your reckless behavior makes me look like such a useless person."
Zeng Jia felt a pang of tenderness in her heart, but she pursed her lips, not voicing the question that had been lingering in her mind all day.
Do we really need to dig into the details of what happened in those two hours?
Even if she asked, he would definitely say that Yu Li wouldn't let him leave, and he had no choice because of work. He might even lie and say his car broke down. No matter how you steer the conversation, it always boils down to him working like a slave to buy a house and get married. Isn't buying the house all for her? Who told her she wouldn't marry him without a house? Now he's putting his job before her to buy a house—what's wrong with that?
Her dream of love was to walk hand in hand, becoming each other's support. But now, the hand is still there, but is the strength still there? He puts work first, is it really for her sake?
Zeng Jia imagined a series of pretentious lines, forcibly suppressing her grievances. She pinched his nose hard and said, "Fine! I promise I'll keep my phone fully charged and reply to messages instantly from now on, and you will too."