"Well, now that you're feeling better, it's time to pay a visit! Yanran, you're his wife, it's only proper to bring you along!" Tang Dapeng nodded.
Zhang Zhili hesitated for a moment, but Tang Yanran didn't object, so he agreed.
Tang Dapeng carefully selected a few items from the gifts sent by Huang Shuyue for them to take along.
The two of them went downstairs in silence, one after the other, their faces tight, resembling a couple who were still sulking. It wasn't until they reached the bottom of the stairs to get the car that Zhang Zhili spoke up: "Your car was forgotten for repairs and left in the hospital garage. But someone sent me a car today, so let's take that!"
"Someone sent you a car? Was it that woman surnamed Shu?" Tang Yanran couldn't help but think of Shu Yiyen.
"Huh?" Zhang Zhili gave Tang Yanran a strange look before unlocking the car.
Seeing the brand new Rolls-Royce, Tang Yanran was stunned. "From the Song family?"
With such extravagance, it could only be from the Song family.
"Yeah."
"I told you not to get entangled with the Song family again," Tang Yanran said with a furrowed brow.
"Song Jiaojiao's illness is not difficult to treat. Depression, according to traditional Chinese medicine, is not a difficult condition!" Zhang Zhili said calmly.
Tang Yanran just felt a wave of frustration and annoyance. "You're just an engineering student, you don't have any medical training, let alone experience in practicing medicine! What makes you think you can treat and save people by casually reading a few medical books?"
"Do you know who the Song family is? They're the kind of wealthy tycoons in the city who everyone has to give face to. Offending Mr. Huang, your parents can plead and spend money to ask for help from their uncle. But if you offend the Song family, it's a disaster. No one can save you!" Zhang Zhili frowned.
"In your eyes, am I just such an unreliable man?" Tang Yanran's lips curled in a self-deprecating arc. "How do you think I can see you? When I met you, you were already mentally ill. After you recovered, you first fought with Li Tianyang, then provoked Mr. Huang. I admit, you did it to protect me and my family, but you chose the most unreliable method, using violence to counter violence, and there will always be people you can't control. You've seen the actual results, endless troubles, and my parents had to lick their faces to ask for help! And now you're performing on a tightrope at the Song family's place, what do you expect me to think? How can I think?"
The atmosphere in the car was very heavy as the two of them got in together.
Looking at Zhang Zhili's gloomy face, Tang Yanran thought about his recent recovery from illness for a while. Then, with a grimace, she said, "If you think I've been too harsh, I can apologize to you."
"I was being overly emotional for the sake of you and our family!" Zhang Zhili sighed. "We haven't had a chance to truly understand each other. You misunderstand me, even distrust me, and I can forgive that. But I hope we can try to understand each other... The choice is yours."
Tang Yanran understood Zhang Zhili's meaning. If their marriage were to continue, they had to understand and accept each other. Otherwise, they would only go their separate ways. Is this Zhang Zhili's true thought? If so, this man is more resilient than she imagined.
Tang Yanran pursed her lips, subconsciously trying to avoid this topic. "Do you know your second uncle?"
"I have some impressions," Zhang Zhili thought for a moment and said. He had quite a few memories of his father's younger brother. The two families were very close. His father married Wu Yuan, while his uncle married Wu Yuan's younger sister, Wu Min. The relationship between the two families had always been good, until one time when he was in elementary school, his father had a fight with his uncle for some reason. His father, in a fit of anger, had slightly distanced himself from their family. His father had criticized his uncle's family more than once, saying they were ungrateful and greedy!
Zhang Zhili understood that Tang Yanran's mention of this was to remind him that it would be difficult to retrieve the inheritance that fell into his second uncle's hands.
"I just want to bring back a few items that belonged to our parents, as a memento. As for the rest, we'll see later," Zhang Zhili said.
"This is the best you can think of!" Tang Yanran agreed this time.
After Zhang Zhili and Tang Yanran knocked on the door of his second uncle, Chen Yaoyang's house, it was Chen Yaoyang's wife, Wu Min, who opened the door.
"Why are you here?" Wu Min, slightly plump but with a good temperament, couldn't hide her shock in her big, Cailan-like eyes. She turned her head quickly and called out to Chen Yaoyang.
"I'm better now, so I brought Yanran to see Uncle and you!" Zhang Zhili said.
As they spoke, Chen Yaoyang also arrived at the door. There was a flash of panic in his eyes, but he quickly concealed it. "It's Zhili, come in quickly!"
"You're better now, that's good news! My eldest brother and sister-in-law downstairs can also be relieved!" Chen Yaoyang said with a smile.
"So, this is your wife? She's very beautiful, you're quite fortunate," a series of polite words, Zhang Zhili just listened without saying a word.
Here is the translation of the passage:
"At that time, Chen Yaoyang glanced at Tang Yanran with a hint of disdain and said, 'What a tangled mess. Your father-in-law said you had an early engagement with the Tang family, so they took you away. I don't know what to say!'
Zhang Zhili smiled faintly at Chen Yaoyang and replied, 'Even at my wedding, my uncle didn't attend to bear witness!'
Chen Yaoyang's expression suddenly became awkward. Normally, as the elder uncle after his brother's death, he should have taken care of the wedding arrangements, but it seemed he hadn't fulfilled his duty.
Taking over the conversation, Wu Min interjected, 'They were your parents, as well as your father's own elder brother, my sister. At the time, everything happened so suddenly, and both of us fell seriously ill. We really didn't have the chance to think about you.'
The couple exchanged banter, diverting the conversation from the Tang family to when Zhang Zhili and his wife would have children. However, not a single person mentioned Zhang Zhili's parents' inheritance.
To an outsider, it would seem like the caring uncle was just inquiring about his nephew's life.
Disappointed, Zhang Zhili shook his head. His father had always been good at judging people; he shouldn't have expected anything from these two.
"I came here today with another purpose, which is to retrieve some mementos of my parents," Zhang Zhili said, exchanging a glance with his wife Wu Min. Leaning forward slightly, he continued, "Retrieve something? What else is there to retrieve?"
"Hmm?" Zhang Zhili narrowed his eyes.
"At that time, you were still young and unaware of many things. Your mother's company had accumulated quite a bit of debt."
"So basically, your family's belongings were mostly sold off, and even then, it wasn't enough to pay off the debts. I even helped with over three hundred thousand!" Chen Yaoyang stated confidently.
"Oh! So what you're saying is that our family's one hundred and thirty square meter house was sold off, and all of my mother's collections were sold too?"
"Yes. If you don't believe it, you can contact the creditors yourself!" Chen Yaoyang replied.
Rubbing his nose, Zhang Zhili's voice became much quieter. "I wanted to retrieve my father's tea set that he often used, and my mother's amber necklace that she wore for over ten years!"
"These two items aren't worth much, just sentimental value! So, even these two items were sold?" Wu Min's voice became sharp. "Zhili, what do you mean by that? It sounds like you're implying that we took away everything valuable!"
Chen Yaoyang nodded in agreement. "Don't be influenced by others. We're family. Could I really cheat you? Harm you? Take your family's money? At that time, everything in the house was sold off together to pay off the debts!"
Tang Yanran felt a slight sympathy for Zhang Zhili. Although Tang Dapeng hadn't taken a stand to help Zhang Zhili claim his inheritance, he had still done some investigation.
The Chen family's house was over one hundred and thirty square meters, and although it was an old house, its location was good, and it was fully paid for. Zhang Zhili's mother's company, although not large, was doing quite well. It not only had no external debt but hadn't even taken out any bank loans. Some of the collections were also quite valuable.
Speaking of inheritance, although it wasn't a large sum, it was still around four to five million. It didn't seem at all like what Chen Yaoyang and his wife had described.
"So, even these two seemingly worthless items, my uncle doesn't want to give them to me?" Zhang Zhili suddenly raised his head, his eyes shining like knives as he stared at Chen Yaoyang.
Chen Yaoyang was unnerved by the piercing gaze. "What do you mean by that?"
Then he looked at Tang Yanran, with a hint of accusation in his tone. "Is it your family who incited my nephew to come here?"
"???" Tang Yanran was speechless. "I've known from the start that your family took my nephew away for no good reason; it turns out it was for money!" Wu Min's tone was sharp.
Zhang Zhili's disappointment turned into anger. "The Tang family has only shown kindness to me! When nobody wanted me, the Tang family married their daughter to me. Now, to say such things about the Tang family, I'm very unhappy!"
"Don't let others deceive you, Zhili! Think about it, would the Tang family marry their daughter off to someone with a mental illness for no reason? Without any ulterior motive? They just want to seize your family's property and turn us father and son against each other! Do you think I'm a fool in your eyes? Forget it, let me show you this!" Zhang Zhili opened the file on his phone and handed it directly to Chen Yaoyang.
Chen Yaoyang glanced at it, his face changing dramatically. "How did you get this?"