Chapter 14: That Kid Has Made It
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Cheng Shi said, “Dad, as the saying goes, when a father and son go into battle, they fight side by side. Stop taking odd jobs and come help me instead. I’ll pay you—far more than anyone else out there. More importantly, you understand the trade. Hiring you is much more dependable than hiring a stranger. It’s a win-win for both of us.”
Cheng Yongjin was delighted, though he could not quite swallow his pride. He gave a grunt. “Hmph. How dare you order your own father around.”
After sitting there for a while, he asked, “What do you want me to do?”
“We’re out of raw materials, and I don’t have time to go to the city steel mill. Could you make the trip for me? I’ll tell you what sizes to buy.”
Once the automobile factory received the shipment tomorrow, they would surely ask him to make deliveries every day.
He also had to find a stable source of raw materials.
After all, searching through the steel mill’s scraps for pieces of the right dimensions was simply too difficult.
And the volume of his orders would only grow larger from here on.
Cheng Shi turned to his mother. “Mom, you should stop collecting recyclables too. All you need to do is cook and do the laundry for me each day. Once I get busy, I won’t have time to take care of those things.”
Cai Aiping said, “Oh, even if you weren’t busy, I’d still be doing those things anyway. Collecting recyclables at least brings in a little extra money.”
“Mom, trust me. I’m going to make a lot of money. I don’t want you suffering like that anymore. If you truly get bored with nothing to do, knit some sweaters or make handicrafts.”
Cheng Juan added, “Mom, I told you before—the weather is terribly hot, and going out could easily give you heatstroke. It just isn’t worth it.”
Cai Aiping shifted uneasily in her chair. “I don’t want to sit at home and live off you.”
People of their generation held a deeply ingrained belief: if they took a day off and loafed around today, they might go hungry tomorrow.
It was not that they were determined to make themselves suffer. They had simply endured so much hardship that they had grown terrified of having nothing to eat.
Besides, Cheng Juan had not yet been made a permanent employee, and Cheng Shi had lost his secure government job as well.
Although she said she believed in him, fear still rose involuntarily in her heart.
“Mom,” Cheng Shi said, “once I open a factory, you’ll be my chief of logistics. For now, start by familiarizing yourself with the work.”
Only then did Cai Aiping reveal a shy smile. “All right. I understand.”
When Cheng Shi went downstairs to work at noon, he found the yellow tabby crouching in the stairwell on the sixth floor again. It came over and rubbed against him.
He stroked it a few times. “Are you hungry?”
The cat sat down and licked its lips at him.
Cheng Shi went back upstairs, fetched some water and leftover food, then carried them down and placed them in front of the cat. “I’ve never kept a cat before. I don’t know what you eat.”
There did not seem to be anywhere to buy cat food at this time, either.
The cat was indeed hungry and ate with great relish.
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“Don’t worry,” Cheng Shi said. “Since I’ve already petted you, I’m responsible for you now. I absolutely won’t let you go hungry.”
In the afternoon, Cheng Yongjin first went to the cold-drink factory to get several large blocks of ice for Cheng Shi, then went to the steel mill to buy stainless-steel stock.
Cai Aiping brought Cheng Shi his dinner in the storage room. In a rare extravagance, she had even bought half a watermelon.
Although there were blocks of ice, the storage room was still stiflingly hot.
After making four or five pieces, he had regained his feel for the work, and his yield had already reached ninety percent.
Moreover, the one defective piece had not failed to meet the automobile factory’s requirements. It had merely failed to meet Cheng Shi’s own standards.
Cheng Shi locked the door of the storage room and came out, only to find Qian Xiaoying waiting for him at the foot of the stairs again. He felt a headache coming on.
Was this woman never going to stop?
Qian Xiaoying had had a miserable day.
Without Cheng Shi, she had discovered that she could not make a single qualified part.
She brushed off the workshop director by claiming that she had been feeling unwell lately.
But she could not keep doing that forever.
So today, she had to persuade Cheng Shi to come back.
Qian Xiaoying stepped forward and said in the sweetest, gentlest voice she could manage, “Xiaoshi, are you over your anger yet? You’re truly the only one in my heart.”
Cheng Shi frowned. “Do you not understand human speech? I told you already—we aren’t even colleagues anymore. You should call me Comrade Cheng Shi.”
“Cheng Shi, do you really hate me that much?” Qian Xiaoying said. “People say that the deeper the love, the deeper the hatred. You only hate me because you love me too much, right? Or perhaps you found out that I cast a vote for you this time when the list for the restructuring was decided, and that’s why you’re angry. You have to understand me. I couldn’t risk being exposed by speaking up for you. I did nothing wrong.”
She did not care how hard Cheng Shi’s life was. As long as she could coax him into doing a little work for her, that was enough to get her through another day.
Cheng Shi’s voice was as calm as a still, ancient well. “Don’t think so highly of yourself. I stopped hating you a long time ago. It’s like biting into an apple with a worm in it. You don’t hate the apple, but whenever you remember that taste, you still feel sick.”
He truly had hated Qian Xiaoying once. He had laid his heart bare for a snake, only to be bitten in return.
Later, after experiencing every kind of deception in the business world and being cheated countless times, he realized that Qian Xiaoying’s tricks had been clumsy beyond belief.
Only the naïve, almost foolish boy he had been back then could have fallen for them.
He had also come to understand that every trap that failed to kill him was merely a cushion on the road to the summit. There was no need to waste himself on hatred.
Qian Xiaoying stood frozen for a moment, then began to cry. “No, Cheng Shi. You’re only saying that to spite me. You don’t really mean it, do you?”
He had said so much, and it had all been for nothing. Why was this woman like a broken recording?
Sure enough, there was no way to communicate with someone who was not right in the head.
With a helpless shake of his head, Cheng Shi left Qian Xiaoying behind and sauntered upstairs.
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Qian Xiaoying thought Cheng Shi would come back to comfort her, but he never returned.
After crying for a while, she found it pointless and could only go home.
Auntie Qian came out to greet her. “Oh, Yingzi, you should have seen it. Cheng Shi arrived today in a Crown. Who would have thought that little hoodlum would ever have a day like this?”
The words sent Qian Xiaoying into an even deeper collapse of despair and regret. She screamed hysterically at Auntie Qian, “It’s all your fault! You were so eager to cut ties with the Cheng family. Look what happened—I can’t win him back now even if I want to!”
Auntie Qian was stunned. In truth, she regretted it quite a bit herself. Muttering, she said, “If I’d known that boy would turn his life around, I never would have said those things to him.”
“I don’t care,” Qian Xiaoying snapped. “You said those things yourself. You figure out how to take them back.”
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Cheng Shi got up early and went to work. After lunch, he immediately continued.
When he finished, he glanced at the osmanthus watch on his wrist. It was already after two in the afternoon.
He locked the storage room and went upstairs. He had just taken a shower when he heard a car horn from below.
Cheng Shi leaned out to take a look.
Sure enough, it was that fellow Zhang Ziqiang.
They really were in a hurry.
Cheng Shi picked up his things and went downstairs.
Zhang Ziqiang asked, “Are they done?”
“Mm.”
“Where did you make them? I never saw you come back from the workshop. You’re not pulling my leg, are you?”
He had come over first thing that morning and kept watch all morning, yet he had not seen Cheng Shi enter or leave. It was truly strange.
Cheng Shi narrowed his eyes at him. “Were you spying on me?”
Zhang Ziqiang looked a little uneasy. “N-No. I just wanted to see your workshop.”
Cheng Shi said coolly, “That’s a trade secret. How could I let you see it casually? Are you leaving or not? If you’re not, I’m going upstairs to sleep some more.”
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