Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
On the second-floor balcony, Chen Jin looked at his father in confusion. “What is it that you need to talk to me about, dad?”
“Uhm…” Chen Gang hesitated for a moment. His expression contorted, as if he were struggling. He wanted to speak, but swallowed it back several times. But since she had pleaded with him, not matter how hard it was for him, he knew he had to speak. “Son, here’s the thing, I have a friend of mine asking me for help in finding a job for her daughter…”
Chen Jin nodded his head and said, “No problem dad, my company is doing some mass recruiting right now, and there are many positions available for fresh graduates as well. Ask your friend’s daughter to submit her resume and go for the interview session. If she performs well she’ll get the job for sure.” Chen Jin received similar requests quite often as of late. Some of them were relatives and some were schoolmates who he hadn’t spoken to for a very long time.
This wasn’t the first time Chen Gang had made such request of his son. There were already three of his colleagues’ children joining Xing Hai Technologies after passing the interview. Facing all the job requests, Chen Jin gave the same answer all the time: submit the resume, go for the interview, and according to their capabilities, they will be arranged into suitable departments.
There are too many who got in with connections, will it cause my company to crumble?
Chen Jin was not too worried about that particular issue. When Ling Dong Jun was formulating the company’s management system, he had already foreseen this problem. Thus, he came up with a policy called the “Connection Arrangement Policy” to ensure that staff who fell under this category possessed the ideal work etiquette, and at the same time prevent those who were only slacking around waiting for free meals from ruining the company’s working environment. When necessary, some sacrifices would be made through the “Meat and Potato Elimination” policy, which would then produce vacancies.
This time, however, Chen Gang did not comply and leave as he usually did. Instead, he said, “This time is a little bit different, that friend of mine hopes that I can get her daughter a slightly better position, best in a state-owned enterprise. But as you know, Shang Fei has stricter policies, so it won’t be easy. Are there any suitable job positions within your company that you could possibly arrange for my friend’s daughter?”
“About your friends’ daughter, where did she graduate from, and for what profession?”
“She graduated from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, for financial management.”
“Shanghai Jiao Tong University, that’s a prestigious university!” Chen Jin was surprised. “So, dad, what position do you want me to arrange for her?”
Chen Gang pondered the options for a moment and said, “For her profession, maybe an administrative assistant, CEO assistant, or any similar posts.”
Chen Jin looked at him. At that moment, he was suspicious. His father was someone who was very principled and normally had his own limits even when helping people, so that he won’t land him in a difficult position. But this time, however, he wanted him to arrange someone to a high job post such as an administrative assistant or a CEO assistant. This was absolutely considered going through the back door.
Suddenly, Chen Jin had a strange moment of clairvoyance. He asked, “Dad, about your friend’s daughter, how old is she? What’s her name? Do you have her photo?”
“W…why are you suddenly asking about all of that?” Chen Gang grew flustered and tried to avoid eye contact. He turned his head and said, “Just say whether are you helping or not.”
“Dad, the friend you are helping… is she your lover? As for your friend’s daughter, hmm…” Chen Jin squinted his eyes, as if he had seen through everything.
“Shh! Quiet! Lower your voice!” Chen Gang became even more flustered. He gave him a gesture to keep quiet and lowered his voice. “Don’t let others hear us.”
Chen Jin further affirmed his initial guess. He knew that his father had a lover on the outside since he was young. Over the years, his parents were estranged and quarreling frequently. His mother kept on mentioning the word ‘divorce,’ mostly because of the very issue of Chen Gang being unfaithful. His mother doted Chen Jin so much and devoted her whole heart to him. The reason she forbade his father to interfere with his education was also because she was extremely heartbroken. Thus, she focused all her love onto him.
Towards his father, she only had an endless amount of criticism. The reason they were still together but sleeping on separate beds was all for his sake. They did not want him to live in a single-parent environment. He couldn’t have a say towards his father’s blunders when his father was young. Who doesn’t make mistakes? His father was quite the prince charming when he was young and the girls flocked towards him. It was normal that he succumbed if a beautiful lady were to seduce him. It was just that things went off and they ended up making a baby. Chen Jin could not say anything.
Chen Gang felt disdain from his glare and kept quiet for a moment. It was only after quite some time that he said, “Son, you were too young and innocent to know about adult stuff in the past, so I kept this from you. Now that you are all grown up, the time is ripe for me to tell you some things. Actually… I never betrayed your mother, and I have never ever had another woman aside from her! I never even hold hands with that lady. All misunderstandings were caused by that woman being too much of a peacock…” Chen Gang then told him everything from the beginning to the end.
The fact was, that when dad was still young, there was this pretty lady in the same department that he was in. She was deeply attracted to him because of his handsome appearance, outstanding talents, and his warm character, and so she started to woo him wildly. She completely ignored the fact that he already had a family and continued like a moth darting to a flame. Rejected again and again, her love towards him still persisted. As they were working in the same department and were actually partners at work, they were together almost every day. As days passed, rumors began to spread. The gossip ultimately reached mom.
Mom was, of course, infuriated. Livid with anger, she went to his office and created a scene. As things kept on snowballing and people were getting mentally exhausted, the lady was fired. But unfortunately, it did not end there. After two years, that lady came back to mom with a big belly, and told her that she was carrying dad’s child. Mom almost fainted out of anger. After that, they both went into a cold war which persisted to this day.
“Dad, tell me the truth, is the child she had really yours?” Chen Jin asked solemnly.
“No, you must believe me! After Zhen Xiao Qin got fired from the department, she did come back to me a couple of times, but I didn’t care for her at all. Then one day she suddenly came and told me she was pregnant. The father of the baby is the son of some rich man, who ditched her and vanished. She didn’t know what to do at that moment!”
“Why didn’t she just go for an abortion?”
“I said the same exact thing, but she was already pregnant for over three months. An abortion is not good for health, and besides, the child she was conceiving is innocent, so she wanted to have her. She begged me to sign the child’s birth certificate.”
“Then why did she appear before mom while she was pregnant and say that the child is yours? And cause such a big misunderstanding?”
“I am infuriated as well. I asked her why she did that, but women will be women. She wanted to have her revenge towards your mom with this. Your mom actually thought it was real and totally refused to listen to my explanation,” said Chen Gang while scratching his head.
In shock, Chen Jin looked at his father and said, “Dad, you… you actually became the legendary ‘honest man’, do you know that that woman fooled you completely? She’s a scheming b***h, why did you even bother to help her?”
“You believe me, son?” Chen Gang lifted his head and looked at him with surprised. No matter how many times he told He Li the same thing, she never believed him. This was the first time he told his son about this and he actually believed it instantly?
“What’s so hard about this drama? Just go to the hospital, do a paternity test, and all will be clear. Am I correct?” Chen Jin rolled his eyes.
“Yes, I said the exact same thing as well, but Zhen Xiao Qin won’t let me do it, and your mom said that it won’t be necessary because she was certain that the child was mine.”
“Isn’t that too irrational? Mom won’t even give you a chance to clear yourself?”
“The picture of that kid, your mom saw it and she said she resembles me, and therefore she insisted that she’s mine.”
Many question marks appeared in Chen Jin’s head, and things once again became perplexing. He looked at his dad with suspicion, thinking about whether or not he lied to him. Chen Gang could only give him a bitter smile. The helplessness of an honest man was written all over his face.
“Alright dad, I’m certain that something was wrong in this, but I still believe what you said. What is there to hide man to man? About that girl… I do want a sister at home though. She can cook for me, wash my clothes, accompany me and whatnot.” Chen Jin had read countless volumes of mangas, the impression of a little sister was etched deep within his heart, like the wild and arrogant Kosaka Kirino, the cute and clingy Umaru, the prodigious cook Hashima Chihiro… the image of a sister portrayed by these characters made him jealous. The country owes me a sister!
“Mhm.” Chen Gang nodded his head repeatedly. The fact that his son believed him made him want to cry.
“That woman, Zhen Xiao Qin, you really want to help her?”
Chen Gang nodded. “Just give her a little help, for all these years she seldom asked for my help. She raised the kid alone, and after all that, she called me for the sake of her daughter…” His voice became weaker as he spoke, realizing that he would never be able to change the soft side of his heart.
“Okay, let me give Ling Dong Jun a call.” Chen Jin picked up his phone. This was the first time his dad begged him to this extent, he felt obligated to comply. He was also curious about this girl named Zhen Ker Shin. Did she really look like his father?