Chapter 174: Chapter 40 Jiang Ziyan: I Cut All Ties with That Family_2
She said this as she looked toward Sun Dasheng. He nodded and smiled, "Of course! Eat up before the food gets cold."
After breakfast, the two women left for work. Not long after, as he was getting ready to leave himself, the doorbell rang. Who could that be? He opened the door to find a little she-devil standing there—it was Yang Xintian.
"Is it the weekend? Why aren’t you at school?"
"Uncle, you’ve completely lost track of the days. It’s Saturday," Yang Xintian said, cutting him no slack.
Oh? Is it? He glanced at his watch and saw that she was right.
That meant he didn’t have to go to the office. The head office observed a five-day work week, so no one would be there. While some people were working overtime at the branch office, there was nothing that required his attention for now.
"What brings you here so early?"
"Uncle Sun, are you going to keep blocking the door, or are you going to let me in for a bit?" A cunning glint appeared in Yang Xintian’s eyes.
Sun Dasheng chuckled and stepped aside, letting her slip past him like a slick eel.
"Uncle Sun, your living room is huge!" she exclaimed, plopping down on the sofa and crossing her legs.
"You little rascal, it’s not like this is your first time here," Sun Dasheng said, sitting down nearby and rolling his eyes at her. "Alright, out with it. Why are you really here? Are you hiding from some kind of trouble?"
"How did you know?" she blurted out, then immediately realized her mistake and fell silent with a sheepish chuckle.
"If you’re not going to tell me, then you can leave. I don’t want to get mixed up in your problems." Sun Dasheng stood and took her by the hand, making as if to drag her out.
"Don’t!" she cried, clinging to his arm and begging for mercy.
"Then start talking."
"Ugh, it’s my parents. They’re so infuriating," she said with a frown.
A rare sight. Sun Dasheng’s interest was piqued.
"What did your parents do to you?"
"They want me to go on a blind date!"
"What?" Sun Dasheng felt like he’d misheard her. "You’re only a college freshman, right? Why are your parents in such a hurry to marry you off? That can’t be right." He found it completely unbelievable.
Of course, age was one factor, but her family background was another. It wasn’t unheard of for people to marry young in rural areas, but even there, girls who were pursuing an education rarely married so early. Besides, her family was quite well-off. Their business might not have been huge, but being able to afford a villa put them ahead of most families in the city.
"You’re telling me!" Her face scrunched up in frustration. She propped her chin on her hands, looking thoroughly dejected.
"Are you sure you didn’t misunderstand?" Sun Dasheng asked.
Yang Xintian shook her head. "It’s true. They even invited the family over today. The guy is already at my house."
"But you’re too young. You can’t even legally get married yet, can you?"
"They said we could get engaged first. Then, by the time I graduate college, I’ll be old enough to get the certificate."
The whole thing was preposterous, but then again, crazier things had happened in this world. "So, what’s your plan?" Sun Dasheng asked.
"Hmph! I’m going to tell my grandparents and my aunt on them," Yang Xintian said indignantly.
However, being young, she was kept out of the loop on many family matters and had no idea why her parents were doing this.
"You should call your aunt from here," Sun Dasheng suggested. "She probably knows more about the situation than you do."
"Okay!" Yang Xintian dialed the number.
The call connected quickly. "Tian Tian, where did you run off to?" her aunt’s voice exclaimed from the speaker. "Your parents just called me looking for you! I was about to call you myself."
"Auntie, Mom and Dad are bullying me!" Yang Xintian wailed, bursting into tears.
Her aunt quickly tried to console her. "We don’t agree with the ridiculous thing your parents are trying to do. If you’re upset, you come straight to me. Where are you right now? Are you safe?"
After they talked a bit more, Yang Xintian finally said, "Don’t worry, Auntie. I’m hiding at Uncle Sun’s house. I’m perfectly safe."
Sun Dasheng chimed in from the side to confirm.
"Brother Sun," her aunt said, sounding relieved. "I’m so sorry to trouble you with this kid. Old Qian and I will come pick her up from your place after we get off work."
"No problem," he replied. "Don’t worry, she’s safe with me."
After the call ended, he finally understood the whole story, since Yang Xintian had kept the phone on speaker the entire time.
It turned out that her parents’ trading company was in trouble. They couldn’t secure new orders, and with their performance declining, they were bleeding money. Their finances had been solid enough to weather the storm, but then the bank unexpectedly demanded early repayment of their loans. That put them in an impossible position. Anyone in business knows what a broken capital chain means for a company—it’s a death sentence, much like what happened with that notorious real estate tycoon recently. They later learned that someone was orchestrating all of this from behind the scenes, and it was someone they couldn’t afford to cross.
And that someone was, of course, the family visiting today to propose marriage. Their son was a good-for-nothing delinquent who had only gotten into a mediocre university thanks to his parents’ connections. He spent most of his time hanging out in bars and nightclubs, where he had unexpectedly taken a liking to Yang Xintian, a fellow party animal.
Naturally, if Yang Xintian’s family had been ordinary, things never would have gone this far. His parents had broken up all his previous relationships, telling him to stop looking for girlfriends in seedy places like bars. Out of sheer defiance, he’d sworn he would find someone from exactly that kind of scene. This time, he’d stumbled into a perfect match. After a little digging, his parents discovered that the girl’s family was surprisingly wealthy. As they had some influence themselves, finding a local girl with a solid family background for their son was the ideal scenario. The fact that their son had chosen her himself made it seem like a match made in heaven.
Unfortunately, the other party seemed to lack foresight, and the initial approach went nowhere. Later, left with no other choice, they resorted to underhanded tactics to force the family’s hand. As it turned out, the method was tried and true.
And so, today, the couple had welcomed them with forced smiles. They were, however, quite displeased that the daughter was nowhere to be seen.
After a few more sips of tea, Feng Wenwu could no longer hold back. He cleared his throat and said, "We’ve had our tea, we’ve had our cigarettes. It’s getting late. Shouldn’t your daughter at least come out and say hello?"
Feng Wenwu was the father of the family proposing marriage. His son, Feng Feng, was sitting on the sofa, completely engrossed in a video game. His wife sat silently beside him, her long face fixed in a sour expression.
Yang Fei appeared calm, but inside, his heart was in turmoil. He had no idea where his disobedient daughter had gone. How was he supposed to bring her out to meet these people? From the very beginning, he had been against this marriage. First, his daughter was still a college freshman, far too young and well below the legal age to marry. Second, this family was simply awful; one look at the mother’s long, sour face was enough to explain why her son was so unattractive. Third, he couldn’t stand the feeling of being coerced. They had been aggressive and demanding from their very first visit. Who would have thought that when their initial plan failed, they would resort to such despicable tactics? He had cultivated connections in the business world for years, but none of them were powerful enough to help. The ones who might have had enough clout weren’t close enough to him and refused to offend this family on his behalf. Now, if he refused their demands, his company would go bankrupt, leaving him with a mountain of debt. He might even lose their large villa. His wife was crying in her room, his daughter had run away, and he was left to face this nightmare alone. He felt so cornered he even considered suicide. If not for his parents and his child, he would have grabbed a knife from the kitchen and gone after them. Damn it. They’re taking this too far.
"I see no sincerity here. Let’s just go. If they don’t want their little company anymore, we won’t force the issue," the woman with the long, sour face said. She picked up her Chanel bag and nudged her son with it.
"Mom? What’s up? Let me finish this match," her son whined impatiently.
"Let’s go. They obviously don’t want you. Why are you still sitting here, shamelessly?" The sour-faced woman was frustrated with her hopeless son.
Cowed by the ferocity of his tigress of a mother, Feng Feng finally got up. Just as the family of three was about to leave, the front door of the villa swung open. A young girl stood in the doorway. It was the one they had all been waiting for—Yang Xintian.
"Tian Tian, you’re here!" Feng Feng exclaimed, excitedly pocketing his phone.