“Is this the residence that applied to have a telephone installed?”

“Yes, it’s me. I applied over a month ago. It’s finally my turn.” When Shu Yan applied to have a telephone installed at her shop, it took over ten days. She thought that was pretty slow already but it took even longer toward the end of the year. She waited almost a month and a half.

“You are pretty lucky already. Some less fortunate ones had to wait for almost 6 months.”

As soon as the phone was installed, Shu Yan called up Shu Jianyang immediately. “This is my new home phone number. Jot it down. You can reach me here from now on.”

“What? 10,000 yuan? You’ve gotta be kidding me!” was the response coming from Shu Jianyang.

“Third Brother, what are you talking about? I....”

“Oh? 9,000 yuan? I’ve placed such a large order with you and now you are raising the prices on me? That’s not how you do business! Stop with the nonsense and stick with what we have agreed upon. 5,000 yuan. I shall not pay you a penny over that.”

Then the call was disconnected.

***

“Who called you? Is that that brat Shu Yan?” Lin Zixiang, original owner’s mother, wanted to take the cellphone over and look.

Shu Jianyang lifted his hand and avoided hers that was reaching over. “Second Aunty, my cellphone cost 20,000 yuan. Can you afford to pay me back if you break it?”

Facing Shu Jianyang who feared nothing, Lin Zixiang had no choice but to suppress her anger and said in an appeasing tone, “I am just anxious is all.”

“It’s a vendor of mine. Didn’t you hear the conversation? I have always been buying from home and now he wanted to raise his prices because I am doing well over here. He really should have asked around to see what kind of a person Shu Jianyang is. How dare he tries to pull that on me. I am going to bring some of my boys with me later and break an arm and a leg of his. That ought to teach him,” said Shu Jianyang viciously.

Lin Zixiang and Shu Jiangbin gulped. Lin Zixiang immediately smiled and said, “I didn’t mean it that way. I am just too worried. She’s a single woman with two children and a lot of money on her. What if she was scammed? Can you believe what she did? She didn’t even tell her own parents that she was getting a divorce and didn’t say a word before she took off after the divorce. We don’t even know where she is right now. How can I, as her mother, not worry about her? I worry in the daytime and cry at night. If anything happens to you, it’d hurt me more than it hurts her.”

Shu Jianyang didn’t care about Lin Zixiang’s crying a complaining. He just insisted that he did not have Shu Yan’s contact information.

Neither Lin Zixiang nor Shu Jiangbin dare to make a scene over here. Not even the original owner’s father dared to do that.

Shu Yan waited for a long while before Shu Jianyang finally called her back.

“Your mom and your younger brother were here earlier.” Shu Jianyang explained.

“I figured as much. Why were they looking for you again? Still trying to find out where I am?” Shu Yan couldn’t help but snickered. Had she not have so much money with her, they probably wouldn’t even care if she had died on her own.

Shu Jianyang let out a sigh. “She’s still your mother no matter what. You sure you don’t want to visit her over the new year?”

“No. I thought about sending them some money but decided against it. I’ll be familial to them when they are older.” There was no way she was going to go visit them.

“Alright then. You take care of yourself and call me if you need anything.” Thinking about what kind of person his Second Uncle and Aunty were, Shu Jianyang decided against continuing trying to talk her into it.

“Don’t worry. I will take good care of myself. You do the same as well.”

On their way home, Shu Jiangbin asked Lin Zixiang in an unreconciled tone, “Did Shu Jianyang really not have Shu Yan’s contact information.”

“Of course he does. Ye Zhiqiang said they would not have divorced if it wasn’t for Shu Jianyang. There was so much money involved and I am sure that Shu Jianyang got most of it. How else could he have bought his house and his car? And look at the scale of his business. I am sure that’s money from your sister. That no-good girl. She didn’t turn to her own brothers for something like this but turned to a distant cousin instead. I shall beat her to death when I see her again.” The thought of all the money was killing Lin Zixiang.

“But nothing we can do if he doesn’t tell us. There is no way we can get the money back from Shu Jianyang. But where did Shu Yan go with all the money? China is so big. We won’t be able to find her if she doesn’t decide to come home herself.” Shu Jiangbin wasn’t very happy either. There were so many houses. Each of the brothers could get one of them. Then there was the money. They could each get hundreds of thousands of them and would never have to work another day in their lives.

“Hrm, she will show up sooner or later...” said Lin Zixiang confidently.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by lotustale.com