Chapter 3 - Am I the Daughter in Law?
Sun Zinan had originally planned to meet at 4 P.M., invite his new business partner to dinner after their discussion, and happily finalize their collaboration over food. Who would have expected Tang Kai to be such a difficult nut to crack – not only did the negotiations fail, but their return time was exactly during rush hour and they were stuck in traffic outside the Third Ring.
The end of the queue of cars could not be seen with the naked eye; by the time they returned to the company, the sun had almost gone down. Sun Zinan glanced at his watch. “Turn around. Drop me off at my father’s.”
His tone was awful, as if he were about to start a fight. Yu Liang had been under so much constant stress the entire afternoon that he was nearly curled up into a ball. At this point, if he didn’t speak up, he was afraid Sun Zinan would forget about his existence. He could only weakly mumble, “Then, then I’ll trouble you to stop by the road. I’ll get off and take the subway back to the company.”
Sun Zinan scowled and side-eyed Yu Liang until the assistant had completely run out of battery.
Sun Zinan seemed like he was well-mannered and easy to talk to—in business matters, he always stood by his words and had used his authority for good means. He didn’t enjoy releasing his anger on unrelated people, but he couldn’t bear Yu Liang’s weak-willed personality, so said coldly, “You can. If you leave now, you don’t have to come to work tomorrow.”
Yu Liang was so scared his tears were about to flow out for two meters. He immediately vowed, “I, I, I, I, I am not in a hurry! I want to work overtime!”
Sun Zinan snorted coldly.
The head of Hongsen Group, Sun Ying, was 76 this year. Sun Zinan was born when he was nearly 50. Usually, the youngest child was the favored, spoiled child, but because Sun Zinan was much younger than his older siblings, he became an outcast. He had gone to boarding school at a young age and rarely went home. He wasn’t close with his parents nor his siblings, and did not have many friends. His entire 27 years of life consisted of studying, going abroad, and taking up the family business. Being talented and successful was one thing, but it always felt like there was something missing, as if he lacked a template for developing a personality.
No one cared about his affections, and no one cared about his sorrows and joys.
Thus, Sun Zinan was reluctant to go home, because his father’s sudden summons usually did not bode well for him. Either there was an issue with the company, or he had a new task to assign him.
The Mercedes turned around on the Third Ring, heading out of the city.
At 6 P.M., Sun Zinan appeared on time at the Sun family villa. Behind him followed his panicky assistant who wasn’t sure where to place his hands. Sun Zinan handed his suit jacket over to a servant, but before he could go wash his hands, he heard the sound of a walking stick knocking on the ground. He sighed inwardly, then turned quietly around. “Dad.”
Sun Ying appeared at the living room entrance. Although he was getting by in age, he did not seem very elderly. The tall body still stood straight, and his eyes were bright and shining, full of vitality. “Who is this?”
Sun Zinan glanced at Yu Liang and decided that this guy was frightened out of his wits, so he responded for him. “My assistant.”
Yu Liang said shakily, “Chair-chairman, hello.”
Sun Ying did not really care for this tiny ant of a youth and he frowned as he asked Sun Zinan, “I asked you to come back home for dinner, why did you bring your assistant?”
“Working overtime,” Sun Zinan replied casually.
Sun Ying made an “en” sound but before he spoke again, the sound of footsteps and talking resounded outside. When the door opened, a large group of people walked in, and a young man asked loudly, “Guests came? Whose Mercedes is outside?”
Sun Zinan’s expression remained unchanged, but Yu Liang felt that his already poor mood had worsened by a few notches.
“Mine,” he said.
“Yo, little uncle.” The young man smiled as he greeted, “Why did you come in a car like this? Has your company encountered some obstacles recently?”
“Required for work.” Sun Zinan did not want to pay attention to him, and nodded to another, older man. “Elder brother.”
The group that had arrived was the family of Sun Zinan’s eldest brother, Sun Ziyuan. This person was the successor to the old man and the future chairman of the Hongsen Group. He was over fifty, and his visage was not one of an aggressive person. He wore glasses and looked very refined, even more scholarly than Professor Tang.
However, the age gap between the two brothers was a little big—Sun Ziyuan’s eldest son was only a year younger than Sun Zinan.
Yu Liang dizzily followed Sun Zinan to sit down on the living room sofa, listening to an earful of their discussion of small household matters. He felt that wealthy people were still similar to his numerous aunts—when they got together, all they talked about was a pile of trifles and meaningless gossip. As he drifted about in his daze, his pocket vibrated. Yu Liang covertly took out his phone and realized that it was a text message from the Sun Zinan who was currently sitting across from him.
Sun Zinan: [In a bit, after we eat dinner, make up an excuse and say the company needs me to go back and work overtime.]
Yu Liang finally understood why Sun Zinan had steadfastly refused to let him leave the car earlier. He thought, Director Sun didn’t have it easy. Work was troublesome, and he couldn’t even experience the warmth of home but instead had to remain passive in their court politics. What was the use in being handsome and rich? He still had to go back and work overtime like any other single dog.
Not to mention, even a single dog would have an eye-opening experience eating with his wealthy family, yet Sun Zinan’s meal was full of worries.
After dinner, things developed exactly as Sun Zinan had expected. The old man set his chopsticks down and calmly ordered, “Zinan, come to my study.”
Sun Zinan was annoyed to the point of his head exploding, but he did not dare defy his own father. As soon as he entered the study, Sun Ying put on the stance of someone about to begin a long lecture. “You’re not young anymore, you should consider starting a family.”
Like following instructions step by step, Sun Zinan understood what he should do at each given time for his life milestones.
He immediately refused. “I’m busy with work, so I don’t want to consider it now. Wait until I’m thirty.”
“There won’t be any suitable people when you’re willing to consider,” Sun Ying said. “I have an old friend...”
Sun Zinan interrupted the moment he heard that phrase. “Dad, I told you before that I’m gay. Don’t waste their time.”
“Stop using being gay as an excuse.” Sun Ying smacked the table as he rebuked him. “You just don’t want to be tied down! You’re almost thirty and you don’t want to start a family. If you don’t understand what responsibility is, how can you establish authority and trust in your leadership?”
This was all devilish logic.
Sun Zinan repressed his anger, not wanting to argue with him, and hopelessly asked, “Then what do you want me to do?”
Sun Ying said, “I have a friend whose son is also gay, and the two of you will be a good match. Your ages fit well, so meet up when you have time.”
Sun Zinan’s wrinkled brows turned into a ‘川’ character. “Dad, don’t forget, your friend’s son is probably the same age as eldest brother. Do you want me to be their family’s daughter in law?”
“What did you say? Who made you the daughter-in-law? I’m your father, how could I hurt you?” Sun Ying said, “My friend has not retired yet. His son is only thirty next year, he’s young...”
As soon as Sun Zinan heard ‘has not retired,’ he understood. Nine times out of ten, what Sun Ying, who viewed marriage as business, had approved of was not the young man but the father.
Although Sun Zinan had never really carefully planned out the important events in his life, he did not want to carelessly give up the next half of his life, so he refused directly. “I’m not interested. I don’t need a blind date.”
At this time, two meek knocks sounded from outside. Sun Zinan knew his rescuer Yu Liang had come. But as he moved to open the door, Sun Ying asked from behind, “Are you really not going?”
Sun Zinan opened the door to let Yu Liang in. “Really. What happened?”
Yu Liang said, “Boss, Gu Yao jie just called and said something urgent came up. She wants you back in the office.”
Sun Zinan nodded and turned his head back towards Sun Ying, saying with an assured expression, “Dad, I still have work, so I’ll go first.”
“Wait!” Sun Ying said.
Sun Zinan, “What else?”
“You’re his assistant, right? Come here.” Sun Ying called Yu Liang over. “What’s so urgent that they need him to go all the way back?”
Yu Liang faced the old man’s penetrating gaze and felt as if he was once again defending his senior thesis. Fortunately, he still had a few of his wits gathered about him, and quickly improvised, “Chairman, this is what happened. We went to see a professor at Tianhai University this afternoon to discuss acquiring his patent. The professor refused us, but Assistant Zhao just called to say that he had received a text message saying the other side changed his mind, so Director Sun needs to go back to work on it.”
Sun Zinan almost gave Yu Liang a standing ovation. He had thought this guy always appeared extremely timid, and never expected him to be brave in the face of danger and to even have some decent skills.
Sun Ying seemed like he half-believed Yu Liang’s words. “Which professor at Tianhai University?”
Yu Liang unashamedly replied, “It is Professor Tang Kai of the Biological Sciences Department.”
Sun Ying startled, then a faint smile crept into the corners of his lips. Sun Zinan could not understand why, but he suddenly had an ominous feeling.
“Look, what a coincidence. Sun Ying reclined back in his chair. “The person I wanted you to meet was exactly this person. I didn’t think you had already met.”
Sun Zinan blanked. “Who?”
“Tang Kai.” Sun Ying asked him, “He is the son of provincial party committee member Tang Zhenhua. Didn’t you know?”
Sun Zinan, “...”
He turned his head slowly and stared at Yu Liang, squeezing his words through gritted teeth. “Is that so...I haven’t heard.”
“Since you’ve already met, that’s even better. Isn’t this just fate?” Sun Ying was quite satisfied. “Our two families are old friends. Go meet up with him and you’ll also figure out your company affairs. It’ll save you time. So, let’s just have it at that. I’ll have someone send you the time and place.”
Since it was an agreement on both sides, then Tang Kai would have long since known about this...no wonder his attitude today was so hostile.
If it were Sun Zinan, had he known that this stinky and unyielding, penniless bookworm was his own blind date, he wouldn’t have gone to Tianhai University today at all.
“There’s nothing else, you can go back.” After finishing up his matters, Sun Ying did not continue their discussion.
Sun Zinan decided he might as well die struggling. “I met Tang Kai today and felt like we were not a good match...”
“I don’t care who you are a good match with, nor do I want to hear anything about your sexual orientation,” Sun Ying said plainly. “Let me remind you, if you don’t want to marry Tang Kai, then don’t even think about receiving a single cent of my inheritance.”
The study fell into a deathly silence.
Sun Ying stared at Sun Zinan, as if he had long foreseen what choice he would make.
“Fine.”
After a moment of silence, Sun Zinan finally laughed due to the absurdity of the arrangement. “Isn’t it just a blind date? If you’re not afraid of losing your old friend, I can certainly go.”
He hung a smile on his face, but it was unclear whether it was self-mockery or pity, then walked out of the study and flung open the front door.