CHAPTER 8: CHAPTER 8 A FAMILY ETHICAL DRAMA (REVISED) (PLEASE BOOKMARK! PLEASE FOLLOW!)

He stepped out, ready to wait for the elevator. Just as the elevator door opened, he was surprised to see an old acquaintance inside.

He quickly dodged into the corner of the fire escape.

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK!

The man was knocking on the door, a gift bag in hand. Soon, the door opened.

It was Xiang Yiren, her clothes slightly disheveled. She thought Sun Dasheng had reconsidered.

A smile bloomed on her face, only to freeze a moment later. The next second, she was trying to shove the door closed.

"What are you doing here?" Her expression soured when she saw who it was.

"Yi Ren, Daddy has come to see you," the man said, wedging his foot in the door, his face creasing into a smile. "Open the door and let Daddy in. This is a gift I bought for you," he added, holding up the gift bag.

Xiang Yiren pushed against the door, unmoved.

"I don’t want to see you right now. Please go away!"

The man seemed unfazed by Xiang Yiren’s cold words, still speaking with a placating smile. "It’s okay if I don’t come in. Yi Ren, this is a little compensation from Daddy. You must accept it."

As he spoke, he tried to stuff the gift bag through the door.

"I don’t need your compensation, and you’re not my father. My father died the night you abandoned my mother and me," Xiang Yiren said through gritted teeth.

Sun Dasheng listened from the stairwell. What a situation! This is like a scene straight out of a family drama. New scandals pop up every year, but this year seems especially packed with them.

This old acquaintance was none other than his former immediate boss—Xiang Yunsheng, the man who had enticed him with empty promises, making him work tirelessly without a raise or promotion.

And now, Xiang Yunsheng was a family man with a pair of twins who had just started university. Could Yi Ren be his illegitimate daughter? Or perhaps the daughter of a former wife? I never expected that Xiang Yunsheng, who acts like such a righteous gentleman at the company, would have a side like this.

He recalled when he first graduated and joined the company. Back then, he had thought Xiang Yunsheng was a good leader.

As soon as he joined the department, his boss had said, "Da Sheng, I see great potential in you. If you ever need anything, come straight to me. Any questions, feel free to ask."

Sun Dasheng took him seriously. As a newcomer facing difficulties, he went to ask for advice, but after a few times, Xiang Yunsheng started avoiding him.

A few years into the job, the man said, "Da Sheng, ambitious and hardworking young people like you are exactly the kind of talent the company values. If you find anything unreasonable in your work assignments, bring it up anytime. Any problems or suggestions, don’t hesitate to voice them."

Sun Dasheng took his word for it again and started bringing up issues he encountered.

But Xiang Yunsheng had gotten clever, hitting him with a trio of rhetorical questions that left Sun Dasheng’s head buzzing.

"What do you think is the cause of this problem?"

"How do you think this problem should be solved?"

"What should be done if new issues arise while solving this problem?"

Didn’t he ask me to raise issues? So why was he kicking the ball back to me?

Back then, he didn’t realize leaders were all experts at passing the buck. If China formed a national team for it, these guys might actually stand a chance. He had taken their polite managerial rhetoric seriously, which embarrassed them and made his own path to promotion incredibly difficult.

After being beaten down by the corporate world, he came to understand their logic. They blow hot air with PowerPoint presentations, pushing employees to work themselves to death. They feast on the meat first, not even leaving the soup. They make you take the fall, while they excel at shifting blame. They brown-nose day after day, securing promotions and raises year after year.

His daughter’s firm rejection left Xiang Yunsheng dejected. Leaving the gift bag behind with a hangdog expression, he took the elevator and left.

When the man was gone, Sun Dasheng stepped out. Xiang Yiren, who was about to close the door, saw him. "You haven’t left yet?" she asked, surprised.

Sun Dasheng didn’t answer her directly. Instead, he asked, "Is Xiang Yunsheng your father?"

Xiang Yiren silently shook her head, then asked, "Do you know him?"

"Yes, he was a leader at my previous company," he nodded, adding, "I just resigned."

Xiang Yiren looked at his indifferent expression, which told her everything. Rich people are just bored and looking for something to do. The cleaning lady at our gym supposedly owns several properties in Shanghai City, yet she’s happy to work for a few thousand a month.

"Did you hear everything we just said?" she asked. "I know you look down on me. I’m uneducated, have no qualifications, and come from a humble background. I’m just a shameless woman who’s always looking for shortcuts.

"You... you should just delete my WeChat..." Xiang Yiren said this, lowering her head as two streams of clear tears rolled down her cheeks.

Sun Dasheng walked over and gently embraced her, stroking her hair. "I don’t look down on you. What’s wrong with liking money?"

In this day and age, who doesn’t love money? Aren’t there plenty of people who degrade themselves for it? Maybe some people don’t, but he wasn’t one of them. So he had no right to look down on anyone.

Xiang Yiren leaned on his shoulder and whispered in his ear, "You’re not going to run this time, are you?"

This time, Sun Dasheng didn’t refuse. He swept her up by the waist, hooked the door shut with his foot, and carried her toward the bedroom. As he walked, Xiang Yiren kicked off her high heels and wrapped her arms around his neck.

After the battle, the field was a mess. Exhausted, they lay motionless on the bed. The only sound was the occasional honk of a car from the street below.

Xiang Yiren was the first to recover. She sprawled on top of him, her slender fingers tracing circles on his chest.

"Brother Sun, you’re well into your thirties. How are you still like a young man?"

Sun Dasheng laughed confidently and swatted her mischievous hand away. "It’s nothing special. I’ve always exercised, so I’m in great shape."

By now, Xiang Yiren’s hair had come undone, her bangs damp with sweat. Her complexion was rosy and radiant. She was like a wilted sapling that had sprung back to life after a single, thorough watering.

Once he had regained his strength, Sun Dasheng carried the weak-legged Xiang Yiren into the bathroom, where they bathed together.

「Meanwhile, in the parking lot downstairs.」

Xiang Yunsheng hadn’t left yet. He was sitting in his car, chain-smoking, yearning for a little more time alone away from his domineering wife.

Through the swirling smoke, his squinting eyes seemed to see himself from twenty-odd years ago.

Back then, he had just graduated from college, joined a state-owned enterprise, and married his childhood sweetheart. Soon after, they had a lovely daughter, and life seemed brilliant. His parents and relatives praised him as a promising young man with a bright future, and he was the envy of everyone around him.

But within a few years, the booming enterprise collapsed overnight. He was laid off, becoming an unemployed youth with a bleak future.

After struggling in the real world for a few years, he experienced the full spectrum of human fickleness. The envious glances disappeared. Even his own parents and relatives started to gossip. He couldn’t bear the change.

It was then that he met his current wife, the daughter of a business owner. She fell for his youthful good looks and eloquent manner of speaking. In the end, he abandoned his wife and child, married her, and became a live-in son-in-law.

Life as a live-in son-in-law wasn’t easy. His own family completely misunderstood, calling him a Chen Shimei and disowning him. In his in-laws’ house, he had to be submissive and swallow his anger. He finally managed to outlast his father-in-law and mother-in-law, only to find himself completely under the thumb of his wife, who had become a veritable shrew.

Although he now earned a high salary—nearly two million a year including stock dividends and bonuses—his wife controlled the bank card. She claimed it was savings for their two children, so there was nothing he could do to get it back. He only received a small monthly allowance from his wife, and his life was far from happy.

Then, last year, he unexpectedly ran into the daughter he had abandoned at a gym near his company. He learned that her mother had passed away long ago and that she had been struggling to make a living ever since graduating from high school. The news deeply disturbed the still waters of his heart.

He wanted to reconnect with his daughter and provide her with a better life. He even scrimped and saved from various sources each year to build up a secret stash of money, using it to make the down payment on this apartment for her.

Of course, he didn’t give it to her directly. When he tried to reconcile with her, she gave him the cold shoulder. So, he found a workaround: he listed the apartment with a rental agency and had them rent it to his daughter for a pittance.

Sadly, he had wounded her and her mother too deeply, and she still hadn’t forgiven him. I just have to keep trying, he thought. Sooner or later, she’ll forgive me.

Pulling his thoughts back to the present, he rolled down the car window to let the smoke out.

Suddenly, he saw a familiar figure.

"Da Sheng, do you live here too?"

After their vigorous session, Sun Dasheng’s steps were a little unsteady as he walked down the street. When he heard someone call his name, he looked over and was surprised to see that Xiang Yunsheng was still there.

He squeezed out a smile. "Old Boss, what brings you here?"

Xiang Yunsheng straightened his clothes, sat up straight, and put on his best managerial air. "Oh, I’m here to see my daughter."

"Oh, what a coincidence. I’m here to see my daughter, too."

He wasn’t lying. A few moments ago, at her door, Xiang Yiren had indeed called him ’Daddy’ several times.

Xiang Yunsheng drove away, confused. That kid never had children, did he? Where did this daughter come from?

Watching Xiang Yunsheng drive away, Sun Dasheng chuckled to himself. "Looks like we’re peers now," he muttered.