Chapter 107: Rejection

Zhou Zhongcheng talked with the villagers and understood what had happened to his wife and child years ago.

Back then, he trusted the wrong person.

But now, there was nothing he could do about it.

He hadn’t slept all night, and today Zhou Zhongcheng wasn’t feeling too well, but even so, he still went to visit his wife and child’s graves.

When he arrived, it was already past five in the afternoon, and the sky was starting to darken.

Zhou Zhongcheng stood in front of the graves and cried again.

Feng Yi, in the past, hadn’t thought much about his father.

His father had never appeared in his life; he was too much of a stranger to him.

But standing in front of his father’s grave at this moment, he felt a different kind of feeling, his eyes stinging.

Perhaps, deep down, he still had some expectations for his parents.

After the two finished paying their respects, Zhou Zhongcheng saw Shen Dahe.

Shen Dahe had indeed helped with the burial of his wife and child, but he had also concealed the truth about Feng Yi for the sake of Zhou Si’s benefits.

If he hadn’t coincidentally met Feng Yi, he might never have known in his lifetime that he actually had a grandson.

Zhou Zhongcheng couldn’t do anything to his wife and son, but he wasn’t so forgiving towards Shen Dahe.

Shen Dahe’s son and grandson had lost their jobs.

Seeing Shen Dahe now, he completely ignored the man, pretending he hadn’t seen him at all.

He didn’t do anything else, not because he didn’t want to, but because he couldn’t. After all, what Shen Dahe had done was at the behest of his son.

The villagers all knew that Shen Dahe had a good relationship with the Zhou family. He used to work for the Zhou family and grew up with Zhou Zhongcheng. They even thought that when Zhou Zhongcheng returned, Shen Dahe might soar to great heights and live a good life.

But Zhou Zhongcheng completely ignored Shen Dahe. The way they looked at Shen Dahe was a bit strange.

Seeing this situation, Shen Dahe knew that Zhou Zhongcheng must have already known about his deception.

At first, he was very anxious and eager to explain, but after thinking about it, he calmly returned home.

Shen Dahe’s son had just returned home, and early this morning, he was told that he had lost his job.

“Dad, I lost my job; please go beg them.” Shen Dahe’s son looked anxious.

Shen Dahe said, “What’s the use of begging them? And how do you beg them? Kowtowing? If you have the ability, why do you need your old man, who’s so old, to beg for you?”

Zhou Zhongcheng seemed to value him a lot, but in the end, he was just a servant of the Zhou family back then, and Zhou Zhongcheng didn’t necessarily care about him.

He wouldn’t get any good results from begging Zhou Zhongcheng, except for losing face.

At his age, Shen Dahe didn’t want to beg anyone.

Anyway, Zhou Zhongcheng couldn’t do anything besides ruin his son and grandson’s jobs.

Concealing Feng Yi’s existence was at the behest of Zhou Zhongcheng’s son! If things got out of hand, it would be Zhou Zhongcheng who lost face.

Shen Dahe’s son couldn’t bear to lose the job he had just gotten, but since his father didn’t want to beg, he could only helplessly accept it.

He didn’t dare to beg on his own, as there were bodyguards around Zhou Zhongcheng, and he was afraid of getting beaten.

But without the job, their family wouldn’t have the good life they have now! Shen Dahe’s son felt uneasy and sighed deeply.

That night, Zhou Zhongcheng slept as usual in the nearby county town.

The next day, he took Feng Yi to the village to discuss matters.

In the end, after negotiation, he donated a total of 1.2 million yuan, of which 500,000 yuan was used to repair the teaching buildings and playgrounds of the village’s middle and primary schools, and the remaining 700,000 yuan was used to repair roads.

In the early 1990s, this was definitely a large sum of money!

The villagers immediately agreed to give Feng Yi the old house of the Zhou family.

However, since the land of the house belonged to the village collectively and Feng Yi’s household registration wasn’t in that village, the house couldn’t be directly given to him. In the end, they signed a lease contract, allowing Feng Yi to use it for free for fifty years.

For Feng Yi, the house didn’t serve much purpose, but since it was left by his father, he decided to accept it.

After giving the house to Feng Yi, the people living there had things that couldn’t be moved right away.

Feng Yi wasn’t in a hurry to have them move out, requesting that they vacate before the end of May.

Besides reclaiming the house, Zhou Zhongcheng also repaired the graves of his parents and wife.

This caused a delay of several days in Lutongxiang.

Feng Yi immediately proposed going to Jiuyu Town.

Rarely back in the town, he wanted to see the home he and Jiang Liyun had in this place.

When Feng Yi returned to Jiuyu Town, Sun Jinshan, who was well-informed, already knew about his grandfather’s return.

“This kid, Feng Yi, unexpectedly has a very wealthy grandfather—really unimaginable!”

“His luck is too good!”

“His grandfather donated over a million to the village; won’t he give him several million?”

“In the future, Feng Yi will be the richest among us! The little sedan car I’ve been yearning for, he can buy several at once!”

“Why doesn’t my family have such relatives?”

…

This was big news, and Sun Jinshan spread it everywhere. The more people who knew about it, the more there were.

The Feng family heard about it too.

After hearing the news, Zhou Qiaoxia was stunned.

Before, when Feng Yi got into college, Zhou Qiaoxia didn’t say much, but deep down, she regretted it a bit.

Now, she regretted it even more.

Who could have thought that her former father-in-law would be alive and come back?

He even donated 1.2 million to the village—that’s 1.2 million!

Their family couldn’t even come up with 12,000 now, and he donated 1.2 million!

He could donate so much money; he would surely give even more to Feng Yi.

She was Feng Yi’s biological mother. If she had treated him a bit better, if Feng Yi didn’t deny her, just a small amount leaking from Feng Yi’s wealth would make her live comfortably!

However, the interactions with Feng Yi in the past few years made one thing clear to her.

Feng Yi wouldn’t acknowledge her, nor would he give her money.

So much money, not a single penny would come to her… Zhou Qiaoxia felt distressed at the thought.

Even Feng Lao, in his heart, felt uncomfortable and complained to Zhou Qiaoxia, “If you were a bit nicer to Feng Yi, our family, Wenbing and Xiaoxiao, would have endless blessings.”

He wasn’t very kind to Feng Yi, but that was because Zhou Qiaoxia didn’t take Feng Yi seriously!

If Zhou Qiaoxia cared about Feng Yi, he would guarantee that Feng Yi wouldn’t lift a finger against him.

“Your eldest and second sons have been beating him all this time, and I haven’t seen you stop them,” Zhou Qiaoxia said.

Feng Lao silently smoked, and after a while, he said, “That Jiang Liyun really has good luck!”

Zhou Qiaoxia said, “It’s not necessarily just good luck. Now that Feng Yi is successful, he may not be willing to marry her!”

Upon thinking about it, the Feng family felt comfortable. Everyone believed Feng Yi could make a lot of money, and Zhou Zhongcheng indeed intended to give Feng Yi a lot of money. Over these days, he has been getting along well with Feng Yi. Feng Yi had even started calling him grandpa. Zhou Zhongcheng felt he could talk to Feng Yi about his future.

“Feng Yi, when we return to Shanghai, I will buy a house near H University for you. I owe you for all these years, and I must compensate you,” Zhou Zhongcheng said a lot.

Feng Yi asked him, “What do you want me to do?”

Zhou Zhongcheng thought for a moment and said, “Change your name.” He already knew that his daughter-in-law treated Feng Yi poorly, and Feng Yi’s stepfather was also unkind to him.

His grandson’s surname was Feng, which bothered him.

Feng Yi said, “It’s not necessary. Changing names is too troublesome.”

He was already in college, and changing his name would require updating all sorts of documents, which would be particularly troublesome.

“Why isn’t it necessary? You have to inherit the Zhou family’s property by having the surname Zhou,” Zhou Zhongcheng said.

Feng Yi understood Zhou Zhongcheng’s meaning and replied, “Even if I change my surname to Zhou, my child won’t have the Zhou surname.”

“Why can’t your child have the Zhou surname?” Zhou Zhongcheng asked.

“My child will have Liyun’s surname in the future,” Feng Yi said.

“Feng Yi, in the past, no one planned for you. You had no choice but to agree to marry into her family. But now the situation is different! As a proud man, why do you want to marry into someone else’s family? If you feel guilty towards her, just compensate her with more money,” Zhou Zhongcheng said.

Feng Yi chuckled lightly.

He knew Zhou Zhongcheng had feelings for him, and out of guilt, Zhou Zhongcheng now even eagerly wanted to compensate him.

But Zhou Zhongcheng also had many demands for him.

Zhou Zhongcheng’s words even showed disdain for Jiang Liyun.

“Grandpa, I don’t need a house, and you don’t need to give me money. I don’t want to change my name,” Feng Yi said.

“Why not? I can give you a lot of money,” Zhou Zhongcheng said in surprise.

“I don’t care about money,” Feng Yi said.

Zhou Zhongcheng was stunned.

Feng Yi had been very poor since childhood, but these days, Zhou Zhongcheng has given him a life he had never experienced before. They had people cooking for them, and they ate ten dishes in one meal. They lived in the best house, with air conditioning and all kinds of appliances. They went out by car, and if Feng Yi needed anything, he could just tell the bodyguards, and they would immediately deliver it. He even had someone buy two of the best computers for Feng Yi.

He thought that after experiencing all this, Feng Yi would not be able to let it go and would choose to return to the Zhou family without hesitation.

And he would nurture Feng Yi well.

Feng Yi hadn’t received an elite education since childhood, so he might not be able to manage a big company well. But with some more training, Feng Yi could definitely be a good executive. If he gave Feng Yi some shares, he could definitely let Feng Yi live comfortably for the rest of his life. If Feng Yi wanted to start a business, he could also give him money.

But… Feng Yi didn’t care about money.

If someone else said this, Zhou Zhongcheng would think it was a joke, but Feng Yi’s expression is sincere.

“What has Jiang Liyun done to enchant you?” Zhou Zhongcheng blurted out.

During their recent conversations, Feng Yi often talked about Jiang Liyun, praising her for being good to him. While Zhou Zhongcheng appreciated Jiang Liyun, he wasn’t too pleased that his grandson was fixated on an outsider.

Feng Yi remained expressionless and told Zhou Zhongcheng, “Jiang Liyun is the most important person to me. If you or your family harm her, I will confront you fiercely. I mean what I say.”

When Zhou Si, Zhou Zhongcheng’s son, had people track Feng Yi before, Zhou Zhongcheng initially thought of downplaying it, treating it as a minor issue. Zhou Zhongcheng wasn’t a good person.

Feng Yi was wary of Zhou Zhongcheng. Although he did call him “grandpa,” he also addressed Zhou Qiaoxia, Zhou Zhongcheng’s wife, as “mum.” Zhou Zhongcheng noticed Feng Yi’s guard, and it sent a shiver down his spine.

Feng Yi continued, “I will tell my friends about our relationship. If anything happens to me in the future, my friends will report to the police and make it public. You and your family better not harm me.”

Zhou Si had indeed only tracked Feng Yi and not done anything else, but that was because Feng Yi had detected the surveillance early on.

Who knew what Zhou Si was planning?

If Feng Yi returned to the Zhou family and accepted Zhou Zhongcheng’s compensation, Zhou Zhongcheng might think he owed nothing and might even let Zhou Si join the company. What would Zhou Si do, then? His malice towards Feng Yi was deeper than the malice from Feng Laoda and Feng Laoer.

Zhou Zhongcheng angrily said, “Feng Yi! I told you before; I will ensure your safety!”

Feng Yi responded, “I know. I’ve skipped classes for a week. I need to go back to school. Would you like to take me back, or should I take the bus?”

Zhou Zhongcheng felt extremely frustrated. “I’ll take you back.”

He never expected that, despite his efforts to build a relationship with Feng Yi, Feng Yi would remain cautious.

He had already dealt with his wife and Zhou Si. They wouldn’t harm Feng Yi!

Feng Yi said, “Thank you, grandpa.” Since Zhou Zhongcheng was willing to take him back, Feng Yi got into Zhou Zhongcheng’s car. He couldn’t wait to see Jiang Liyun.