The Jiang family residence.
Old Madam Zhou leaned back lazily on a sun-drenched garden recliner, leisurely sipping the bird’s nest and snow pear soup brewed for her by the domestic worker, Aunt Mei, presenting a picture of wealthy and leisurely ease.
Nearby, Zhou Maowan was trimming fresh flowers for arrangement.
“…Mom.”
Zhou Maowan whipped her head around and, upon seeing Jiang Yun suddenly returning home, happily put down her scissors, walked over, and gripped her son’s hands.
“Xiaoyun! Why didn’t you let us know beforehand when you were coming back? Have you had breakfast yet?”
Suppressing the urge to cry, Jiang Yun said, “Mom… I’ve already eaten.”
Old Madam Zhou lifted her eyelids to glance at Jiang Yun, set down her soup bowl, picked up the scarf draped around her neck, and said:
“Xiaoyun is back. Look at this scarf your cousin bought me. He said the spring wind is harsh and told me not to catch a cold. Zhou Yue, this child, is just so filial.”
Jiang Yun looked toward his grandmother. The scarf was a vibrant shade of red, clearly not something suitable for an elderly woman of her age to wear. It was probably something Zhou Yue had bought for some girl, and when the girl didn’t like it, he simply tossed it to his grandmother.
Instead of going over to greet his grandmother first like he always did whenever he came home in the past, he held his mother’s hand tightly and asked, “Mom, where is Dad?”
“Your dad went fishing with some friends and won’t be back until this afternoon.”
Zhou Maowan tried to pull her hand away, but couldn’t shake off her son’s grip.
Seeing the intense emotion in her son’s eyes, her heart skipped a beat with panic.
“Did something happen at the Yan family?”
“Mom, I’m doing well. Don’t worry, I just came back to ask something.”
Jiang Yun smiled, forcing himself to appear natural.
Seeing the prosperous Jiang family and his healthy, radiant mother, he realized once again how foolish he had been in his past life, dragging his family down to such a tragic end.
The Jiang family had only one child himself. His parents had left behind abundant and generous assets so that he could live the life of a wealthy, carefree idler and enjoy peace and comfort for a lifetime.
“What is it?”
“Mom, did Dad ask Cousin to take over Dingjiang Property Management?”
“This matter, you mean.”
Zhou Maowan breathed a sigh of relief; she had thought Xiaoyun had run into some trouble.
“Zhou Yue said he studied management in college and wanted to take over the position of Dingjiang’s Property General Manager. Plus, your grandmother kept saying Zhou Yue is of age now and told your dad to arrange a decent job for him, so your dad agreed.”
What Zhou Yue wanted wasn’t just the position of Dingjiang’s Property General Manager; what he wanted was to devour the entire Jiang family’s wealth piece by piece.
Jiang Yun said, “But I want this position.”
Zhou Maowan was momentarily taken aback. Lowering her voice out of Old Madam Zhou’s earshot, she said, “Property management isn’t even a good job. Besides, the rental income from Dingjiang Building is entirely yours; you can just leave such troublesome work to others.”
Jiang Yun replied, “Mom, I’m not afraid of trouble. I want to oversee Dingjiang’s property management myself. If any of the tenants or residents inside run into issues, it could affect my rental income.”
Zhou Maowan furrowed her delicate brows. “Is this because of Yan Hang?”
“It has nothing to do with him. Mom!”
Clutching his mother’s arm and acting spoiled just as he used to, Jiang Yun said, “Mom, I’m doing this for myself. I’m idle all day long anyway, finding something to do for myself is great.”
From afar, his grandmother clicked her tongue and remarked, “Such a grown man, still acting like a kid. Look at your cousin so refined, capable, and responsible. Only when parents see a child like that can they rest easy in their old age.”
Jiang Yun’s heart turned cold.
If not for his grandmother’s blind partiality toward the Zhou family, using her status as an elder to make his parents constantly subsidize them, the Zhou family wouldn’t have been able to slowly usurp the Jiang family’s assets bit by bit.
In his grandmother’s eyes, her younger brother no, her son Zhou Liangcheng was her flesh and blood, and Zhou Yue was her own grandson.
Meanwhile, his mother was a married-out daughter, and whatever property she held in the Jiang family should rightfully be funneled to subsidize her son Zhou Liangcheng.
She enjoyed everything belonging to her daughter’s family with peace of mind while dumping all her favoritism and selfish motives onto the Zhou family.
Quietly pinching Jiang Yun’s cheek, Zhou Maowan turned back and said, “Mom, Xiaoyun just got married and left home; wanting to get close to his family is only natural. It’s his first time leaving home since he grew up.”
His grandmother retorted, “He’s only been away from home for two days and he’s already like this. Your cousin has been out making his own way for several years now. Acting like a child who refuses to grow up how can he give your parents peace of mind? In the future, you’ll still have to rely on your cousin to support your parents in their old age.”
“Grandmother, I’ll take care of my own parents myself. I don’t need him to support my parents.”
Jiang Yun had always possessed a gentle temperament, but this was the first time he retorted using such a cold tone, which greatly displeased the old madam, causing her to cast a dissatisfied, aged glance sideways at him.
Aunt Mei, who was attending to the old madam nearby, sensed the awkward atmosphere and thoughtfully supported her, saying, “Old Madam, weren’t you talking about the peonies in the garden? They blossomed this morning, let me help you go take a look.”
The old madam gave a cold snort and walked away with Aunt Mei’s assistance to admire the blooming peonies.
Jiang Yun turned back to question his mother: “Mom, do you also feel that my cousin and the others will take care of you and Dad in the future? That you can’t count on me?”
Thinking her son was upset from being scolded by his grandmother, Zhou Maowan coaxed him, saying, “How could that be? Which of you two wouldn’t take care of your dad and me? Your grandmother is getting older, don’t take to heart whatever she says.”
“But I want you to count on me. Mom, I am going to take over Dingjiang!”
“All right, all right. I’ll just have a word with the company side, you can go take office today. But you can have your cousin act as your deputy so someone is helping you out.”
“I have Brother Chen to help me at Dingjiang; I don’t have any use for Zhou Yue.”
Jiang Yun couldn’t explain to his mother what would happen in the future, but he knew that whenever he wanted something, his parents never refused him.
True to form, Zhou Maowan went along with him smoothly: “All right, I’ll mention it to your dad. It’s just a property management position anyway, I suppose Zhou Yue won’t mind.”
In Zhou Maowan’s eyes, this was never a big deal to begin with.
The rental revenue of Dingjiang Building was the Jiang family’s primary source of income, whereas property management was fundamentally outsourced to an external company, and placing one of their own people in it was merely meant to exercise supervisory oversight.
What she cared about more was how Jiang Yun was doing at the Yan family and how he was getting along with Yan Hang.
She instructed the kitchen to prepare the pastries Jiang Yun liked, and holding her son’s hands, she asked him about this and that.
As Jiang Yun chatted with his mother, he waited quietly.
Over an hour later, Zhou Yue predictably arrived at the Jiang family home in a towering rage.
He had come to complain to his grandmother.
“Grandmother.”
Entering the Jiang home as if it were his own, Zhou Yue bypassed everyone to find the old madam directly. A grown man, he aggrievedly and angrily grabbed the old madam’s arm and said:
“Grandmother, I went to assume my post at Dingjiang today, and I actually got chased out.”
That broke the old madam’s heart with distress “Who dares to chase you out? Fire them immediately.”
Her tone carried the absolute arrogance of someone believing the entire Dingjiang Building belonged to her.
Zhou Maowan frowned. “What on earth is going on? Who chased Xiaoyun—ah, who chased Xiaoyue out?”
Zhou Yue answered, “It was Xu Chen, Xiaoyun’s former driver.”
Furious, the old madam snapped, “Simply lawless! Even a mere driver dares to lay a hand on a young master of the Zhou family, without checking his own worth! Maowan, call that driver over right now and make him apologize to Zhou Yue.”
Jiang Yun stated, “Grandmother, Zhou Yue broke into the Dingjiang Property General Manager’s office without authorization. That room houses entirely confidential private documents belonging to Dingjiang’s tenants; an outsider breaking in would normally warrant calling the police to handle it. Brother Chen merely throwing Zhou Yue out was already showing him plenty of face.”
The situation was somewhat chaotic, and nobody initially noticed that Jiang Yun had stopped calling Zhou Yue his “cousin” and was now addressing him strictly by his full name.
The old madam argued, “What do you mean by breaking in? Xiaoyue is one of our own family, he can go wherever he pleases.”
She spoke as though Dingjiang already belonged to the Zhou family.
Zhou Yue chimed in, “Xiaoyun, Uncle also said he was handing Dingjiang Property Management over to me to manage, so why shouldn’t I be able to enter the general manager’s office?”
Jiang Yun asked, “Where is your official appointment letter? How can you prove to the employees that you’re the new general manager without proof?”
“The appointment letter hasn’t been issued yet.”
Eyes wide with dissatisfaction, Zhou Yue protested, “No, Xiaoyun, what do you mean by this? Do I need proof just to take up my appointment at Dingjiang? Doesn’t everyone know I’m your cousin?”
Jiang Yun sneered: Accustomed to taking things for granted without working, they naturally treat the Jiang family’s assets as their own family property.
“Dad said so? How come I wasn’t aware of it? Oh, that’s right, I actually wanted to take over Dingjiang Property Management myself. If Cousin really wants to come in, I remember the parking lot is still hiring staff with a monthly salary of eight thousand, including comprehensive insurance and benefits. The work is light and would suit Cousin very well.”
He was actually telling him to work as a parking lot attendant guarding the gates.
Zhou Yue looked at Jiang Yun in sheer disbelief.
Yet he quickly composed himself, thinking: Xiaoyun is targeting me a lot today; something is off.
Without concealing her anger and dissatisfaction, the old madam said, “Xiaoyun, how can you talk to your cousin like that? If your cousin wants to go into Dingjiang, let him work there. What can you possibly accomplish by going in yourself? Isn’t whatever he does successfully just helping you and the Jiang family anyway? Besides, your parents will still have to depend on him in the future.”
In her eyes, her eldest grandson Zhou Yue was vastly superior to her maternal grandson Jiang Yun.
The Jiang family would have to rely entirely on Zhou Yue in the future, and the Jiang family’s assets should rightfully belong to Zhou Yue as well.