“Why are you still just working for him?”
“Are you stupid? Ask him for shares. Become a shareholder. Be a boss yourself.”
“He bought your workshop back then for just ten or twenty thousand and even kept you on.”
“If it weren’t for you, could his brand ever have taken off? Could it have sold that well in department stores? Could he have built such a big factory?”
“Yeah, Dad.”
The son finally spoke. “You can’t be muddle-headed. What you’re entitled to, you have to fight for.”
“The workshop was yours in the first place. You sold it cheap, and you even stayed on to make clothes and build the brand for him.”
“Now that a new factory’s being built, you should have shares in it.”
“I’m your son. If you have shares in the factory, I could go work there as management. Why not?”
“You… you people…”
Zhang Ningfu looked as if he’d just heard something out of a fairy tale, his face full of shock.
“Grandpa, play with me.”
The daughter-in-law stood up and took the little girl by the hand. “Nannan, go to your room first. Daddy, Grandma, and Grandpa have something to talk about.”
“I don’t want to go in, I don’t want to go in! I want Grandpa to play with me!”
The fourth day of the Lunar New Year. At a café, Zhao Mingshi finally met Zhao Shuo, who had been giving him the cold shoulder for days.
Zhao Shuo sat down, set his brick-sized cellphone on the table, his face tight—clearly still annoyed.
Zhao Mingshi played nice and went to the counter to get coffee. “Bro, your latte. I told them to add extra milk. Here’s sugar—I’ll put it in for you.”
He tore open the sugar packet and poured it in, every bit the good little brother.
No matter how angry Zhao Shuo was, seeing him like this eased it a little.
He took a sip. Zhao Mingshi sat across from him and smiled. “How is it? I think this place is pretty good. I’ve always thought you’d like it, so I picked it on purpose and brought you here to try.”
Zhao Shuo’s expression softened. He set the cup down. “You went to the Jiang family’s place?”
Zhao Mingshi paused, his mind racing. “Yeah.”
He nodded vaguely—he hadn’t gone at all.
“Take these.”
Zhao Shuo pulled out a stack of red envelopes from the inside pocket of his suit and handed them over—New Year’s money from relatives.
“Thanks, bro.”
Zhao Mingshi took them with a smile, set them on the table, and kept acting sweet. “How’s everything at home lately? Is Mom really upset? I wasn’t there, and Jiang Luo didn’t come back either.”
“Did Uncle blame me?”
“I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”
“I didn’t know he’d get that angry just because I was home.”
“If I’d known earlier, I would’ve—”
Zhao Shuo frowned. “What nonsense are you talking about? Who’s blaming you?”
“Everything’s fine at home. Don’t worry.”
“My dad’s busy. After the New Year he’ll definitely leave again. You’ll be back in school too. Come home on weekends when you can. No matter what, that’s still your home.”
“Thanks, bro.”
Zhao Mingshi put on his obedient look again.
The brothers chatted casually for a bit. Then Zhao Shuo thought of something. “Once you’re back at school, talk things out properly with that girl. If you’re breaking up, then break up—don’t turn it ugly.”
“If you really like her and want to keep dating, that’s fine too. But stop going to hotels, understand?”
Zhao Mingshi nodded obediently. “I know. I’ll listen to you.”
Zhao Shuo was finally in a good mood again.
Zhao Mingshi probed carefully. “Bro, did Jiang Luo… come home? Did Dad, Mom, and Uncle see him?”
“And the relatives—did they see him too?”
“No.”
“No one knows where he is. He didn’t come back.”
As he spoke, Zhao Shuo looked at Zhao Mingshi, as if weighing something.
“Bro?” Zhao Mingshi took a sip of coffee and looked up. “What’s wrong?”
Zhao Shuo took another sip, set the cup down, straightened up, and leaned forward slightly, hands on his thighs—clearly about to say something serious.
Zhao Mingshi guessed it had to do with Jiang Luo.
Sure enough, Zhao Shuo said, “Dating and all that is normal. You’re young—it’s normal to lose control.”
“When I went to find you that day, I was angry. That had something to do with my own emotions.”
“I felt like you were fooling around.”
“Compared to you, Jiang Luo is much more serious.”
“Not just more—way more.”
What did that mean?
Zhao Mingshi’s mind spun while his face stayed obedient. “I know I was wrong. I won’t do it again.”
“What’s going on with Jiang Luo?”
“Isn’t he doing business now? Driving such a nice car.”
Testing the waters, he asked, “Uncle didn’t buy that car for him, right?”
Zhao Shuo said, “Not my dad.”
“There’s something I’m about to tell you—forget you. Even my dad, Mom, everyone would be completely shocked. And you’d be totally outmatched.”
He leaned forward again and looked straight at Zhao Mingshi. “I heard that before the New Year, Jiang Luo got a ten-million loan from the Haicheng headquarters of Bank of China, with a township as guarantor. After the New Year, he’s using that money to buy imported equipment and build a factory.”
Zhao Mingshi: !!!
Ten million?!
Zhao Shuo said, “Mingshi, now do you understand why I was so furious when I went to that hotel and saw you doing something ridiculous?”
“Think about it—what were you doing? And what was Jiang Luo doing?”
“That’s impossible!”
Zhao Mingshi blurted out. “He couldn’t even get into college. He’s just a punk!”
“Mingshi!”
Zhao Shuo said, “It’s real. I checked.”
“This has been spreading all over Haicheng’s business circles. It was already going around before the New Year.”
“Mom and Dad are busy with their system jobs—that’s why they haven’t heard.”
“When I first heard, I was shocked too.”
“I specifically had someone verify it. It’s absolutely true. The loan is Jiang Luo’s.”
“Ten million.”
“Not a single digit wrong.”
“No way he got that much money on his own.”
Zhao Mingshi immediately said, “Then Mom and Dad must’ve pulled strings with the bank, right?”
“Or Uncle? Your dad?”
Zhao Shuo said, “Not Mom and Dad. Not my dad either. They don’t even know about this.”
“That’s why I was mad at you on New Year’s Eve.”
Lowering his voice, he added, “While you were in a hotel room sleeping with some girl, Jiang Luo had already secured the loan. The factory’s about to break ground.”
“I’m not trying to compare you two. He’s doing business; you’re in school. They’re not the same track.”
“But still—what is he doing? And what are you doing?”
“Others might not compare you, but what about yourself?”
“How are Mom and Dad supposed to see you then?”
“Will they like Jiang Luo more and more? Pay less and less attention to you?”
“Mingshi, I’m honestly a little worried about you.”
“You’re not Mom and Dad’s biological son. Jiang Luo is already so much better than you—what are you going to do in the future?”
“When all their affection goes to Jiang Luo, what about you? Are you really okay with that?”
“How are you supposed to stand your ground in this family?”
Zhao Mingshi felt like he’d been struck over the head. He didn’t believe it, couldn’t accept it, and was even more unwilling.
Over and over he thought: Jiang Luo is just a punk who couldn’t even get into college!
Just a punk!
How could he possibly—
How could he possibly do this?!
Ten million!
A full ten million!
“Someone helped him, right?” Zhao Mingshi said. “It wasn’t Mom and Dad, not your dad—then who?”
“Did he meet someone important?”
Zhao Shuo thought of Huo Zongzhuo, but said nothing. “Whether someone helped him or not, Mingshi, you really need to wake up and stop drifting through life.”
“You’re my little brother. We’ve been brothers for eighteen, nineteen years. I don’t want our real brother to come back and everyone start liking him while liking you less and less.”
“You saw my dad’s attitude—he even made you move out of your old room.”
“If they find out how capable Jiang Luo really is…”
Zhao Mingshi couldn’t hear a single word anymore.
How could that be possible?! How could that be possible?!
A small-time punk gets a ten-million loan and builds a factory?
How could something this absurd exist?!
He thought of the time he’d called the tax bureau to report Jiang Luo’s company. He didn’t know whether that report had caused any consequences or impact, but right now his mind was filled with one thought:
No.
He couldn’t let Jiang Luo turn things around.
He couldn’t let Jiang Luo succeed.
He couldn’t—absolutely not!
If Jiang Luo made it big and returned to the Zhao family, Mom and Dad would go love him.
Then what about me?
What about me?!
Zhao Mingshi was truly panicking now. He stood up, walked over to Zhao Shuo, and grabbed his arm. “Bro, you have to help me. Help me, okay?”
“I don’t want to be overshadowed by Jiang Luo.”
“If he outdoes me, I won’t be able to stay in this family.”
“Not only would Uncle kick me out—Mom and Dad would silently allow Jiang Luo to push me out too.”
“I don’t want to leave. I love you all. I don’t want to go.”
At the same time, a cold, rational edge rose in Zhao Mingshi’s heart.
Turn things around? Succeed?
No.
You wish.
I will only be better than you—never worse.
If you really can succeed, then I’ll just succeed even more than you.