Lu Zheng is in quite a pitiful state now.
He's been abandoned by the entire upper class society, with only a million or so left in his pocket, yet he despises the snobbery of the rich young masters. He keeps trying to use this small amount of money to start a big business venture.
But is it really that easy?
Just when the last million in his hands was swindled away by con artists, Shen Qingqing approached him once again.
Isn't it said that they're fated rivals?
When he had money before, Lu Zheng was very loyal to her.
Now that he's penniless, they seek comfort in each other.
Neither knows who suggested it, but once they got together, passion ignited between them.
Shen Qingqing said to Lu Zheng, "Don't think your father is heartless now, he's just too angry. If we have a child, it will be the first grandchild of the Lu Group. We'll surely be accepted back then."
Lu Zheng thought this made sense.
So, he reluctantly agreed.
...
The driver Zhang Daming had been acting strange all day today.
Liu Chef even said, "Daming, I fried some skewers today, take some home for your wife and child."
These things use a lot of oil, so they usually make extra.
But it's usually just for the staff to eat, rarely does anyone take it home.
Liu Chef had noticed Zhang Daming's oddness, but couldn't pinpoint exactly what was strange. It was just a feeling.
Zhang Daming said, "Thanks, brother."
Liu Chef said, "Keep up the good work, there's still the year-end bonus to be distributed this year."
Speaking of hard work, the most unsung hero would be the driver Zhang Daming.
He works from dawn to dusk, picking up and dropping off students, driving all over the city.
He arrives the earliest and leaves the latest.
And he's never taken a day off.
If he were to take a leave, no one could fill in for him.
After doing this job for so long, he knows which parents are impatient and wait early, and which are more laid-back and arrive a bit late. It's all within his planning.
So when his bus arrives, the children are just right there on the roadside.
This is a rare talent, he was born to be a school bus driver.
Now that there are more children, he's still the only driver.
He makes a few extra trips every day.
After hiring Zhang Daming, it became difficult to use anyone else. Who else could drive so smoothly?
Now Zhang Daming has finished work, the bright yellow school bus parked downstairs.
He even rented a parking space specially.
This way he won't waste time when starting work early tomorrow.
Time in the morning and evening is extremely precious.
Now, as soon as he returns home, there's a table full of dishes.
It's just a family of three, yet there are seven or eight dishes.
And they're all holiday foods like ribs, chicken, and fish - everything you could want. To prepare such a feast would take at least half a day.
As soon as Zhang Daming enters, his son timidly calls out "Dad."
Ever since this child racked up 800,000 in online loans, he's always had a mouse-seeing-a-cat feeling when he sees Zhang Daming.
Zhang Daming grunted in response, then sat down at the table.
Today his wife is happy, she bought the best baijiu from the corner store. She also bought two bottles of beer for herself.
The beer cap makes a popping sound as it's opened.
His daughter-in-law smiles broadly, saying, "Come on, Daming, I'll drink a bit with you."
His daughter-in-law used to never touch a drop of alcohol.
This time she wants to drink with him, she must be really happy.
The reason is simple, the 800,000 in online loans their son owed, after going to court, some of the irregular ones were reduced.
But there were still several hundred thousand in regular loans.
Now they've paid off all of this money.
Zhang Daming and his wife have been honest all their lives, never borrowing money from others.
This number weighed heavily on his heart, keeping him awake day and night.
Finally, it's been paid off.
He sat at the table and poured himself a small jug of baijiu.
He took a sip, the mellow aroma spreading in his mouth.
In an instant, the 56-proof baijiu made his eyes sting.
Zhang Daming's eyes turned red.
The child had been on leave from school this whole time, not allowed to return to the dorm.
They were afraid he'd start borrowing money again if he went back to that environment.
Tian Tian stayed sweetly at home, tempering his character.
Now seeing his father's reddened eyes, he felt extremely guilty: "Dad, I did wrong in this matter. Don't worry, I'll never use online loans again in my life."
This child used to be quite sensible.
But after entering university, his roommates were all rich kids.
The vanity of youth.
Add to that a girlfriend, and money flowed like water.
As the debts piled up, he became numb to it.
It wasn't until it all exploded that the family knew such a big problem had occurred.
At that time, his father was just a chauffeur earning a little over 2,000 a month.
His wife hadn't worked for years due to poor health.
But since this incident happened, his father quit his stable job in the system.
His mother also went out to work as a cleaner.
Both of them were extremely tired.
Seeing his parents' haggard appearance, there were moments when he felt he wasn't human.
Fortunately, after the bitter comes the sweet, and all this is over now.
Zhang Daming, as the head of the family, rarely smiles or speaks.
At this moment he wanted to say something, but as soon as he opened his mouth, a sob came out, and he increasingly lost control. Slowly it turned into loud weeping.
As a man who married and supported a family in his twenties, he had never cried like this before.
It was a wail coming from his throat, hearing it made everyone's eyes sting, and the whole family burst into tears.
If not for the grievance, he wouldn't have cried like this in his life.
Before, he had to grit his teeth, he was the pillar of the family, he couldn't fall.
But this time he truly felt the fatigue of more than a year.
At this moment, it was finally released.
The child was stunned, then raised his right hand and slapped himself hard, falling to his knees with a thud: "Mom, Dad! I'm sorry!" He kowtowed repeatedly.
Making money isn't easy. But he had spent so much.
And it was all on meaningless things.
It's fortunate that Starry Sky Kindergarten paid such high wages.
Otherwise, with just the debts he owed, it would probably take 8-10 years to pay off.
All three of them would have had to struggle under the pressure of enormous debt.
At this moment, he finally understood that for ordinary people, taking out high-interest online loans is a dead end.
No wonder, now that they've finally paid off the last bit, the whole family feels relieved, and they've made so many dishes.
It's like celebrating the New Year.
After crying, Zhang Daming said to his son, "Go back to school, join the next year's class."
During this time, he had also consulted education experts. Away from that environment, perhaps he could start anew.
After crying, Zhang Daming felt the depression that had built up over more than a year completely dissipate.
The whole person was left with unprecedented lightness and gratitude towards Starry Sky Kindergarten.
