Chapter 109: Entering the City

The matters involving Feng Yi and the Zhou family in H City circulated for a few days and then faded into obscurity.

If there were internet access at this time, the incident might have caused a sensation online, leading to discussions about the Zhou family. However, without the internet, H City students remained oblivious to Zhou Zhongcheng, making any continuous discussion impossible.

This infuriated Zhou Zhongcheng, and he was determined to teach Feng Yi a lesson. If Feng Yi didn’t yield, he wouldn’t give him any money!

Of course, he would create opportunities for Feng Yi to yield.

In the following days, coinciding with holidays, Zhou Zhongcheng would invite Feng Yi for meals, but he never gave him any money.

Feng Yi didn’t refuse Zhou Zhongcheng’s invitations, but he often delayed them by a day. For instance, on the Mid-Autumn Festival, he would celebrate with Jiang Liyun, but on August 16th, he could have a meal with Zhou Zhongcheng.

Feng Yi didn’t particularly like Zhou Zhongcheng, but he acknowledged him as his grandfather and didn’t mind socialising with him as if he were an ordinary relative.

Compared to Zhou Qiaoxia or the Feng family, Zhou Zhongcheng was relatively decent. Not to mention the two computers Zhou Zhongcheng gifted him, which proved immensely helpful, providing him with more opportunities to learn computer usage.

Occasionally having a meal with Zhou Zhongcheng wasn’t something Feng Yi rejected. Every time Zhou Zhongcheng treated him, it was at a luxurious hotel, giving him the chance to explore the high-end dining industry with Jiang Liyun.

Apart from Charles Hamburgers, Jiang Liyun also planned to start a Chinese restaurant brand, but it was still in the preparation stage and hadn’t officially launched.

According to Jiang Liyun, the current consumer spending power isn’t strong enough. Time passed swiftly.

Feng Yi entered university in 1990, completed all credits by 1992, graduated early, and stayed on for postgraduate studies.

During his postgraduate studies, he also helped teach other students at the school. Similar to him was Shao Chengdong. Both were talented in computer science, and they even developed some useful software together. The professors couldn’t keep up with them, so they had to learn on their own.

Due to their achievements, H City provided them with considerable support, allowing them to visit other universities and exchange ideas with their high-achieving students.

In the domestic computer industry, Feng Yi had become a well-known figure.

However, Zhou Zhongcheng dismissed Feng Yi’s achievements. What did Feng Yi’s current reputation matter when he had no money?

January 1, 1993, was New Year’s Day.

On this day, H University was on break, and Feng Yi had returned to their residence with Jiang Liyun a day earlier.

In the two years that passed, Jiang Liyun had opened several Charles Hamburgers stores, not only in Shanghai but also in major cities nearby. The food sold in these stores came from Jiang Liyun’s own food factory, and the managers were trained by her. Therefore, the management wasn’t troublesome, and her income continued to double and grow.

With substantial income, Jiang Liyun had purchased some houses during this time. Since it was the 1990s, there were few good real estate options. Therefore, Jiang Liyun either bought new houses in the Pudong Development Zone or old, dilapidated ones that were likely to be demolished.

However, these old houses had land underneath!

In the next two or three decades, some of these old houses will experience a significant price surge due to being in school districts. But at this time, the prices of these old houses were genuinely cheap. Jiang Liyun seized the opportunity and bought quite a few, waiting for demolition.

Although they had acquired many houses, Jiang Liyun and Feng Yi still lived in the initial one they bought. However, by now, they had nicely renovated the house.

They bought two units and, while living in one, renovated the other. After connecting the two floors and adding an internal staircase for convenience, their living space became more comfortable.

Unlike high-rise buildings where developers prohibit merging floors, their house had lower floors, and even the fifth floor and the loft above it were sold together after the developer had opened them up.

The original layout of the two units wasn’t great, so Jiang Liyun made some changes. Now, the downstairs comprised the living room, dining room, kitchen, and maid’s room, while the upstairs had the master bedroom, guest room, dressing room, and study.

Jiang Liyun and Feng Yi lived comfortably here, and when they had children in the future, the space would accommodate their family.

Early in the morning, when Jiang Liyun woke up, Feng Yi was already gone. She got up from the bed and opened the curtains.

The master bedroom had a large balcony, but since both Jiang Liyun and Feng Yi were busy, there were no flowers or plants on the balcony. Instead, they placed tables and chairs there for tea sessions.

At this early hour, the sky was just starting to brighten. Jiang Liyun glanced at the outside view, started getting dressed, and when she went downstairs, she smelled the aroma of lamb.

Last night, Feng Yi had stewed a pot of lamb, and this morning, they were having lamb noodles.

After finishing the noodles, Jiang Liyun looked at Feng Yi. “Feng Yi, let’s leave at nine to pick up my parents; it’s the perfect time.”

Two years ago, when Jiang Liyun came to Shanghai to open a store, she was so busy that she didn’t return home for a long time. However, since mid-1991, after she bought a car, she has occasionally taken Feng Yi with her to visit her family.

Her parents had never been to Shanghai, but Sun Jinshan, accompanied by Jiang Liping, visited once. At that time, the house wasn’t renovated, and Jiang Liping criticised it.

This time, Jiang’s parents, Jiang’s brother-in-law and sister, and Jiang’s brother-in-law’s wife were all coming over. Recently, Jiang Liyun finally convinced her parents to transfer Liyun Pan-Fried Dumplings to Gu Lan.

Now that Jiang’s parents had free time, Jiang Liyun invited them to Shanghai. Jiang’s brother-in-law didn’t want them to come alone, so he decided to accompany them with his wife and child.

When Jiang Liping heard about this, she also wanted to come.

In the end, a total of eight people, big and small, came.

They took a bus to Shanghai. As they got off the bus, Jiang Liping let out a long sigh. “Finally, we’re here. If we stayed any longer, I would’ve vomited; the smell on this bus is too unbearable!”

“Liping…” Wu Xiaochun reached out to pull Jiang Liping, asking her not to speak like that.

As soon as they got off the bus, the passengers who shared the ride with them were right besides them!

Jiang Liping’s comment about the smell inside the car was akin to saying that these passengers smelled bad.

Wu Xiaochun felt extremely embarrassed, and Jiang Lihai, Jiang Zhuanzi, and He Chunlin were also quite awkward.

Jiang Liping said, “What’s wrong? Am I not allowed to say it smells bad?” She remarked that the people sharing her car hadn’t bathed in months and nearly suffocated her!

“Don’t worry, Liping. You’ll only endure this once. In a couple of days, I’ll buy a car!” Sun Jinshan said.

Sun Jinshan had been wanting to buy a car for a while. Even when he brought Jiang Liping to Shanghai last time, he had considered it. However, with only a hundred thousand yuan at that time and the high prices of cars, he could only afford the worst ones.

Feeling dissatisfied, he didn’t buy one, and the matter got delayed until now. Of course, the delay was worthwhile. The Santana, which would have cost two hundred thousand, was now available for one hundred and fifty thousand.

He planned to directly buy a Santana, and driving it around would be quite prestigious! Then, the people in Jiucun Town would surely address him as “Boss Sun!”

As they were talking, they saw Jiang Liyun and Feng Yi.

“Dad! Mum!” Jiang Liyun waved, and after greeting them, she arranged for the three women and two children to take her Santana back, while the remaining men would go with Feng Yi on the bus.

There was a direct bus from the bus station to their home, which was quite convenient.

The Santana could only accommodate five people, and they had six. However, since two of them were children, it wasn’t crowded at all.

If this were in the future, it would be considered overloaded, but the traffic rules at this time were different, and no one cared about overloading. Even drunk driving wasn’t illegal at this time.

Jiang Liyun, driving the people, arrived at her home.

Jiang Liping said, “Liyun, you still live here? Your house doesn’t look too good.”

Jiang Liyun replied, “I’ve redecorated it.”

Jiang Liping teased, “You’re so stingy; even if you redecorate, it probably doesn’t look that good.”

Jiang Liyun didn’t say anything and went upstairs to open the door.

At this time, most people’s decorations weren’t great, but her house was indeed well-decorated!

She had decorated several houses in her previous life, so she had experience. Moreover, she was wealthy now, so the furniture she bought was relatively expensive.

Jiang Liping was dumbfounded as soon as she entered the house.

The house was completely different from the last time she saw it!

When did Jiang Liyun decorate the house so beautifully?

She had just criticised the house, and now she was proven wrong!

Jiang Liyun said, “Mum, this is mine and Feng Yi’s house. Rest here for a while and have dinner. Feng Yi has stewed lamb for you.”

Jiang Lihai and the others must have been tired from the journey, so Jiang Liyun didn’t arrange for them to eat outside. Instead, she had them eat at home and take a rest. Once they were rested, she planned to send them to a nearby hotel.

After connecting the upper and lower floors of the house, Jiang Liyun had over two hundred square metres of actual space. However, when she was decorating, she didn’t allocate a guest room, deciding not to have guests stay over.

She naturally mentioned this.

“Stay in a hotel? No need for that; we can sleep on the floor,” Wu Xiaochun said.

Chunlin nodded repeatedly while holding the child.

Jiang Liyun: “SlSleeping on the floor in the middle of winter? There’s really no need for that!

Jiang Liping was more reasonable: “I won’t sleep on the floor; I want to stay in a hotel.”

“Mum, I’ve already booked a hotel. If you don’t go, I’ll still have to pay for it,” Jiang Liyun emphasised.

Wu Xiaochun had nothing more to say but started worrying. He was afraid Jiang Liyun would spend money recklessly and exhaust her funds.

The Jiang family never really knew how much money Jiang Liyun had earned. They thought she just had a bit of money.