Zhang Zhili's eyes suddenly turned icy, resembling a wounded beast. Tang Yanran took a moment to gather her thoughts before speaking, "My dad is quite familiar with your family! He said your father is a wise man, once a top student in archaeology at Tsinghua University and Peking University. It seems that he initially ventured into entrepreneurship, but later for some reason returned to Nanbin and became a civil servant."
"Your mother's collectibles company, at first, only dealt with low-end curiosities, but after marrying your father, it started to delve into antique collecting. Although your mother manages the company, it's your father who supports it from behind because of his professional expertise. Several successful finds by him stabilized the company," Tang Yanran paused, "Perhaps because your father holds a public position, even if it's just an ordinary civil servant, he still considers avoiding suspicion, which is why he hasn't disclosed these things publicly."
Although Tang Yanran's words were something Zhang Zhili already knew, hearing them from her brought a slight calmness to his previously agitated emotions. After hesitating for a moment, Tang Yanran continued, "There's another thing I'm not sure if I should tell you."
"Hmm?" Zhang Zhili raised his head.
"My dad speaks highly of your father, describing him as a man of integrity, a gentleman, and a top student from Tsinghua University and Peking University. But with such qualities, why has he remained a low-level civil servant all these years?" Tang Yanran initially had doubts about her father's decision to marry her off as repayment, and Tang Dapeng had repeatedly mentioned the father-son relationship in the Chen family to convince her. She even visited Zhang Zhili's university to understand his character before he fell ill.
Zhang Zhili remained silent for a moment, feeling some doubts similar to when he had shown the family company's accounts to Chen Yaoyang, which had shocked him. Initially, he thought his father treated him as a mere boy, hence his willingness to share these details. But now, he felt a sense of illusion, as if his father had been preparing for something all along, as if he knew that an accident could happen at any moment. Was the fatal incident during the home robbery just an accident? Why did the collectibles company pay a high price for his parents' belongings? And the claim that he was born of his father and another woman was the hardest to accept.
He thought of one person—Tang Dapeng! The man who dared to marry his daughter to him when he was suffering from mental illness, unsure if he could be cured, couldn't possibly be unaware of his family's situation. With these thoughts, Zhang Zhili accelerated his car.
When they returned home, Tang Dapeng was sitting on the sofa, studying information on medicinal herb cultivation. Seeing the two of them looking downcast, he knew they had been mistreated at Chen Yaoyang's house. He was about to offer some comfort when Zhang Zhili spoke up, "Dad, I want to talk to you alone."
"Oh, okay. Yanran, you go back to your room. We'll talk here," Tang Dapeng nodded.
After Tang Yanran gave her father a nervous look, she returned to her room. Zhang Zhili asked straightforwardly, "I've been diagnosed with a mental illness, and you didn't even know if I would recover. Plus, I was left penniless after Chen Yaoyang seized our assets. Why did you still marry Yanran to me?"
Tang Dapeng furrowed his brows, "Your mom has a great debt of gratitude towards me and the Tang family. I promised her that if you ever faced trouble in the future, I would protect you! My mom was just the owner of a small curio company; how could she owe you or the Tang family any great favor?" Zhang Zhili's gaze was piercing as he looked at Tang Dapeng.
Tang Dapeng sighed, "Did Chen Yaoyang say something?"
Zhang Zhili remained silent.
"It's not Wu Yuan!" Tang Dapeng didn't evade.
"Oh," Zhang Zhili turned and left.
"Don't you want to know who she is?" Tang Dapeng had thought of various ways to avoid answering if Zhang Zhili ever asked him, but he never expected Zhang Zhili not to ask.
"A person who could abandon her husband and son, I don't want to know who she is. I only have one mom, and that's Wu Yuan!" Zhang Zhili said firmly, his eyes no longer showing any trace of confusion as before. Tang Dapeng sighed, "Some things may not be as you imagine."
Zhang Zhili smiled and said, "I know you would say she had her difficulties. But everyone has their own struggles in life. Some choose to face them, while others choose to avoid them! You chose to marry your daughter to someone with mental illness just because of a past promise. Wasn't it difficult for you back then? And did Maran decide to marry me only because of the great favor our family owed? Both of you were in a difficult position, but you both made your choices, didn't you?" Tang Daipeng was momentarily speechless. "Now that you've recovered from your illness, you still talk in circles. Are you lecturing your old man?"
"That Chen Yaoyang is a greedy man. It's impossible to make him cough up the money after three years! He certainly won't! But I'll make him realize the consequences of not doing so!" Zhang Zhili said firmly. "In these three years, something fortunate happened in his family. Suddenly, his company expanded, and he got involved with some shady characters!" "You'll be at a disadvantage if you confront him!" Tang Daipeng said earnestly.
"Our family's situation is ordinary, but we have two houses and two shops. The income from the medicinal herb plantation is also stable. All these will be yours and Maran's in the future!" Tang Daipeng changed the subject, trying to console him.
Zhang Zhili nodded. "Well, we don't have to worry about food and drink in our family, and I'm not worried about not being able to earn money in the future!"
"But that doesn't mean he can squander my parents' hard work!" Tang Daipeng became more and more worried as he listened, not knowing how to advise him.
At this moment, the bedroom door of the old couple was pulled open, and Zhang Yuehong walked out aggressively. "Do you have a problem with your brain? Can't you understand what your father-in-law is saying? What kind of person is your second uncle? And what kind of person are you? Do you want them to know what the consequences will be? I think you don't even know your own weight!"
"Do you still think they're the poor relatives of your family? Now they're the hotel tycoons of Nanbin City. With the money they have, they could bury our family alive! You're seeking death on your own, don't drag the whole family down with you!" Zhang Yuehong unleashed a barrage of words without any shame about eavesdropping.
Zhang Zhili frowned. "I have my own way, and I won't involve the family!"
"You talk the talk, but when you mentioned the matter with Huang Wuye before, you said Maran wouldn't be involved, didn't you? But in the end? We had to spend two million to fix it!" Tang Daipeng was helpless against his fiery-tempered wife and yelled, "Is this argument going to end? We're all family here, aren't we?"
When Zhang Yuehong heard this, she became even more furious. She directly grabbed the gift prepared at the corner of the wall and threw it at Zhang Zhili's feet. "Zhang Haimin asked you to go and congratulate his daughter's birthday. Your father was going to go, but now you two go. Experience how embarrassing it is to ask for help, so you won't always think you're invincible." Zhang Zhili felt annoyed for a moment. Giving money to Zhang Haimin, from another perspective, was like paying an intelligence tax! But he had agreed to it in the first place!
"Okay!" Zhang Zhili agreed with one word. "Maran, you go with Zhili!"
"Tang Daipeng couldn't resist his wife's insistence and shouted towards the room.
Tang Maran came out and said, "I'm not going, and Zhang Zhili isn't going either!" Zhang Zhili must have been upset by what happened at his uncle's house, and Tang Maran was afraid he might have a relapse: "It's okay, I happen to have something to discuss with my uncle!" Zhang Zhili said lightly. Being extorted for money, it wasn't easy to get hold of that two million!
"What do you have to discuss with your uncle?"
"Take a guess?"