Zhang Yun waited for Ouyang Kunpeng to propose a marriage into the family, having already figured out his lines for rejection.
He needed to be a bit more tactful than Ouyang Mingruo.
“I’d like to sponsor you with one million yuan to develop agricultural products, start a rural business, or even buy a house in the county to marry a wife.
What do you think?”
Zhang Yun was stunned.
Give him a million yuan?
Wasn’t Old Ou supposed to be recruiting him as a live-in son-in-law?
His carefully prepared, tactful rejection caught in his throat.
It finally dawned on him—this was what a real tactful rejection looked like!
Wasn’t this basically, “Here’s a million yuan, now stay away from my daughter”?
Old Ou had seen his daughter speaking privately with him, assumed she had designs on him, and was now throwing money at him to make him leave.
TV shows really didn’t lie!
Seeing him stay silent, Ouyang Kunpeng maintained his smile.
“Forgive my presumption.
Let’s just consider it repaying you for saving my life!
We always repay our debts of gratitude.
How about you help me clear this debt early?”
Zhang Yun scratched his head.
“I really do want to take it.
A million is definitely a lot of money to me.”
“But?”
“But to be honest, I don’t dare take it.
Too much money burns the hands.
What if I get framed for extortion or money laundering or something…” Zhang Yun had felt perfectly at ease taking the previous hundred thousand, as half a Mysterious Petal was definitely worth more than that.
Ouyang Kunpeng was speechless.
Would he really stoop so low?
“I know what you mean,” Zhang Yun continued.
“You’re afraid I’ll pester your daughter, or that she has strange tastes and took a liking to me.
You want to send me packing, but I don’t want to get involved with your family anyway.”
Seeing him point it out so bluntly, Ouyang Kunpeng tacitly agreed.
“How about this?
I’ll go find you a centennial ginseng.
You can arrange for someone to pick it up in a few days.
We’ll do a direct exchange—cash for the goods!”
“Deal!” Ouyang Kunpeng nodded.
How could a centennial ginseng be found just because one wanted to?
In his eyes, this was just Zhang Yun’s way of setting up a transaction because he didn’t dare accept the money for nothing.
Since Ouyang Kunpeng was a busy man, he didn’t waste any more words once the agreement was reached.
Zhang Yun went straight downstairs to leave.
Stepping out of the elevator on the first floor of the inpatient department, he immediately saw Zhang Lifeng waiting for him.
“How did it go?” Zhang Lifeng greeted him warmly.
“Did Mr.
Ouyang mention me at all?”
“He said you scammed him out of his money and is going to find someone to fire you right away.”
“Impossible!
How could he…
Did you tell him?” Zhang Lifeng lowered his voice, looking at him with exasperation.
“Are you stupid?
To people of his status, tens of thousands of yuan is no different from a few bucks.
But to you, it’s not a small sum! New chapters come out on g.com first.
When are you ever going to dig up another old ginseng?”
Seeing Zhang Yun’s faint, teasing smile, Zhang Lifeng finally realized.
“You tricked me?
I knew you couldn’t be that stupid!”
“Don’t think you’re the only smart one.
They aren’t stupid either.
Treat me to a meal!
I just let you earn fifty thousand for nothing.”
“You should be treating!
I helped you earn a hundred thousand for nothing, and they didn’t even take my ginseng.”
Zhang Yun shook his head.
What was the point of eating with an old man?
“I’m not eating!
Just give me a ride back.”
“I don’t have time to take you back, but I’ve arranged for a driver to pick you up at seven.”
“Seven?”
Zhang Lifeng patted his shoulder.
“Rich Man’s Restaurant isn’t far from the entrance.
Just give them my name and eat whatever you want!
The driver will pick you up directly from there later!
Pretty generous of me, right?”
“That’s more like it.” Without the old man tagging along, Zhang Yun’s interest was piqued again.
The ginseng hadn’t caused any trouble, and another hundred thousand was in his pocket.
Zhang Yun was so happy that his steps felt a bit light, though he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was forgetting something.
Walking out of the county hospital, he could see the sign for Rich Man’s Restaurant from afar.
Zhang Yun had never eaten there before.
Usually, when he came to the county town, he would just grab fast food at a small diner.
Today, he would go to Rich Man’s Restaurant to see how good the food was.
Old Zhang had said he could eat whatever he wanted, and he could even pack up a few dishes to bring back for his old man…
As he strolled unhurriedly to the entrance of the restaurant, Zhang Yun heard the BEEP BEEP of a motorcycle behind him.
He was standing right at the door and didn’t need to make way, so he didn’t turn around.
“Hey!
Zhang Yun!”
Zhang Yun looked back to see two of his high school classmates on a motorcycle.
The one who had just called out was Gao Dajin, while the other, Liu Yu, was parking the bike by the wall.
“Oh, it’s you guys.
Long time no see.”
“I thought it looked like you!
You wouldn’t even answer your phone when I called!” Gao Dajin laughed, clapping him on the shoulder.
Zhang Yun was taken aback.
“My phone?
Ah, I knew I was forgetting something.
My phone got waterlogged, and I forgot to bury it in rice.”
Gao Dajin looked a bit displeased.
“That’s just lame, man!
If you said you didn’t hear it, I might have believed you.
We don’t even call you once a year, and your phone just happens to be waterlogged?”
Zhang Yun felt a bit awkward.
“It really is just a coincidence…
It got water in it this afternoon, so I didn’t bring it with me.”
Liu Yu finished parking the motorcycle and came over to greet him.
“Zhang Yun, you’re here too!
I didn’t expect you to be invited.”
“Uh…”
As long as you weren’t embarrassed, the awkwardness fell on everyone else!
Zhang Yun smiled and said, “No one invited me, and I didn’t even know you guys were having a get-together here.
I just came out of the hospital and decided to grab a meal nearby.
Just a coincidence.”
“Ha, I didn’t mean it like that…” Sure enough, Liu Yu was the one who felt awkward now.
“I just meant that since you live out in the countryside, which is pretty far, they probably wouldn’t have notified you…”
Gao Dajin rolled his eyes.
He might as well have said nothing at all! New chapters come out on g.com first.
He quickly stepped in to smooth things over.
“Yang Bo is treating us to a meal.
He sent out the invites this afternoon.
Maybe he couldn’t reach you because your phone was waterlogged.”
He certainly didn’t forget to throw Zhang Yun’s “excuse” right back at him.
“Yang Bo?
Nah, I don’t even have his contact info.
You guys go ahead.
I still have to head back after I eat,” Zhang Yun said, preparing to head inside on his own.
“Don’t be like that!
We couldn’t even invite you, but now that we’ve run into each other, how can we not eat together?”
“Yeah, since you’re already here, it’s just a matter of adding an extra pair of chopsticks.”
Even though someone else was treating, they were all former classmates, so it wouldn’t feel right not to invite him.
Zhang Yun waved his hand dismissively.
“I’m really fine.
Just pretend you didn’t see me.
If you keep inviting me, I’ll have to find somewhere else to eat.”
They always said that class reunions were just an excuse to show off.
If Yang Bo was paying for dinner, he was definitely doing well for himself.
Zhang Yun only had an average relationship with him, so why would he go over just to watch him brag?
If it were in the past, he might have felt awkward or even a bit inferior.
But today, he had made a hundred and fifty thousand!
Liquor emboldened cowards, but money emboldened them even more!
Zhang Yun was afraid he wouldn’t be able to resist showing off himself.
If he left early later, wouldn’t he be expected to foot the bill?
Why should he spend his money treating people he barely knew?
Wasn’t it much better to enjoy Vice Director Zhang’s free meal by himself?
“Hui is coming too.”
“Come on, join us!
We haven’t seen each other in ages, and we hardly ever ate together in the past either.”
Hearing Hui’s name, Zhang Yun froze for a split second.
Chen Hui…
She had been their class’s academic representative and one of their top students.
She had later tested into a prestigious university far away, and he hadn’t seen her since.
It wasn’t that she was Zhang Yun’s ex-girlfriend; she was simply so outstanding.
Back in their ignorant youth, many of the boys had harbored a crush on her, and some would even deliberately cause trouble just to get her attention.
“Haha, say hi to her for me!” Zhang Yun laughed it off and walked inside.
What a joke!
If he refused to go when he heard Yang Bo was treating, but suddenly changed his tune the second he heard Chen Hui was coming, wouldn’t it look like he harbored a secret crush on her?
Who knew what kind of rumors they would spin about him the moment he walked away!
Grumbling inwardly, Zhang Yun entered the restaurant and told the waiter that Vice Director Zhang had made the arrangements.
“Vice Director Zhang from the People’s Hospital?”
Zhang Yun nodded.
The waiter still looked at him with a hint of suspicion.
“Just you, sir?”
Zhang Yun nodded again.
Did Old Zhang forget to explain things properly?
Was he just putting a working-class fast-food meal on the hospital’s tab?
Wouldn’t that make him a laughingstock to Gao Dajin and Liu Yu?