vncnus Chapter 10 Let me chat with your dad for a bit
Chapter 10 Let me chat with your dad for a bit
On the other end of the phone, he acted like a father, while on this end, cold sweat poured down his back—making such trivial workplace matters sound like licking honey off a knife's edge.
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Seeing Zhang Zhishan's relentless attitude, Zeng Jia's heart trembled. She knew there was no way to avoid it, so she had no choice but to grit her teeth and hand over her phone.
Her fingertips were icy cold, and she was trembling like a leaf. Luckily, she had already changed Wang Haowen's contact name to "Pillar of Strength," so pretending to be her father made sense.
"Hey, bro! This is Zhang Zhishan from Tianyi Group!" Zhang Zhishan pressed the phone tightly to his ear, his tongue slurring, the smell of alcohol seemingly carrying through the airwaves, his tone unusually warm.
When Wang Haowen heard the name on the other end of the phone, his mind went blank, his scalp tingled, and he trembled, not daring to open his mouth.
This isn't a casual chat; it's clearly the Black and White Impermanence coming to collect souls!
But now that things were at an impasse, remaining silent wouldn't be appropriate. He could only grit his teeth, pinch his nose, and force out a Beijing accent mixed with a thick Northeastern slang: "Hey...hey Mr. Zhang! Listen up! I'm Zeng Jia's father! It's a miracle my daughter is making a living in your backwater place, please be understanding!"
He had barely finished speaking when he blushed with embarrassment. His Northeastern accent sounded like a Spring Festival Gala skit, so awkward it could have been carved out of a three-bedroom apartment!
"Brother!" Zhang Zhishan, oblivious to the accent, his eyes glued to his phone screen, pressed on relentlessly despite his slurred speech, "Give me a straight answer: are the supplies of ginseng, lingzhi, and black fungus from Northeast China reliable enough? Can you help me contact the bases to ship in large quantities?"
Zeng Jia's heart pounded wildly as she listened. Let alone Wang Haowen, even her real father wouldn't be able to talk about this topic for long! She gripped the hem of her clothes tightly, hoping that Wang Haowen would quickly say a few words to get rid of Zhang Zhishan.
Wang Haowen was so anxious that sweat poured down his neck. His mind wasn't working; he was only thinking about how to make sure his accent wouldn't give him away. "Tough! It has to be tough! In our area, the old farmers treat ginseng like their own sons; it's become an entire industry! How much do you want? Plenty!"
He deliberately spoke "honestly," trying to steer the conversation in a more ambiguous direction. Zhang Zhishan frowned, shoving the phone closer to his ear. The alcohol was clouding his mind, but his shrewdness hadn't faded: "Hey? Bro, your tone...why does it have a bit of a Beijing accent? Aren't you a native Northeasterner?"
Zeng Jia's legs went weak and she almost slipped to the ground. Wang Haowen was even more terrified. This old fox, even after getting so drunk, is still so difficult to deal with?
Wang Haowen finally had a sudden inspiration and decided to try and connect with the "veteran Beijing drifter" persona. He raised his voice high, with a touch of arrogance, "Hey Mr. Zhang, you have such sharp ears! When I was young, I worked in the renovation industry in Beijing for over ten years. I dealt with Beijing construction workers every day, and my accent got totally mixed up!"
He emphasized the word "I" forcefully, steer the conversation towards personal relationships, "You can rest assured! Just tell me if you need anything! Your daughter is under your care, how could I, as her father, not lend a hand?"
Zhang Zhishan scratched his head, still somewhat doubtful. The alcohol was taking effect, and his tongue was slurring even more: "Then...then tell me, what's the market price for ginseng? Is it...aged enough?"
Zeng Jia, listening nearby, barely dared to breathe, and now she was suddenly filled with a surge of ambition! She was so drunk she wouldn't even recognize her own mother, yet she was still fixated on ginseng—did she have a grudge against ginseng?
Another layer of sweat poured down Wang Haowen's back. He had no idea how much ginseng weighed; he wiped the cold sweat from his trouser seams with his fingers and quickly, furtively, opened a Douban (a Chinese online shopping platform) to search for "Jilin ginseng." While reading the information, he insisted, "Mr. Zhang, you're a true expert! Honestly, the ginseng from our area is all wild, grown in the old forests! Just look at the roots... yes, the roots, every single one is vigorous, definitely not the fake stuff from greenhouses!"
He made things up as he prayed that no more questions would be asked.
"How much silver would it cost to lease... a whole mountain?" Zhang Zhishan squinted and blurted out another question.
Wang Haowen's finger hovered over the "Doubao" search page, unable to press the button.
You should ask something more reliable. If even "Doubao" (a nickname for a person) can't provide data right away, what is he going to make up?!
"Mr. Zhang, please don't laugh at me. This isn't my area of expertise. If you want to know any details, I'll find out for you later."
"Okay, then leave me your phone number, let's add each other on WeChat, and I'll talk to you in detail later!"
Wang Haowen was so startled he almost threw his phone away. His contacts only included his future mother-in-law; where was he supposed to find Zeng Jia's father's phone number to add him on WeChat?
"Hey, why aren't you saying anything, bro?" Zhang Zhishan urged.
"Um..." Wang Haowen went all out and started "feeding" too. "Feeding? Hello? Oh dear, my crappy phone is about to die! The signal is dead! What did you just say, Mr. Zhang? A phone call? 133... Hello? Hey, can you hear me? This is really messing up our business!"
Wang Haowen yelled at the top of his lungs, pretending the signal was intermittent. For the first time, he was screaming internally: Hang up! Hang up! Hang the hell up already!
Zhang Zhishan then said "hello" twice more, and held up his phone in the hotel lobby looking for a signal. Just then, a food delivery call came in, and the ringing interrupted the voice call.
Zeng Jia snatched her phone back as if it were a family heirloom. Her voice was panicked, and she was so guilty her teeth were chattering: "I'm so sorry, Mr. Zhang! My takeout arrived, haha, I haven't eaten all day!"
Afraid that Zhang Zhishan wouldn't believe her, she quickly shoved the caller ID displaying "delivery guy" in front of his eyes, then turned and rushed towards the revolving door to find him. She took the fried rice bag and even ran back to open the lid so that Zhang Zhishan, who was staggering over, could take a look.
The steaming hot double-portion rice is glistening with oil.
But Zeng Jia really had no appetite at all.
Zhang Zhishan's train of thought was interrupted, and he seemed to be getting a little more drunk. He waved his hand impatiently, "Fine, fine, you...you eat quickly, I...I'll go upstairs and lie down for a while..." As he spoke, he stood up with a dazed look in his eyes, his body swaying, and he stumbled toward the elevator.
Zeng Jia stared longingly until the figure disappeared into the elevator. Only then did she feel like a limp skeleton had been pulled out, leaning against the cold glass door, too weak to get up!
But she didn't dare linger. Taking a breath, she rushed back to her room and locked the door with a "click." After a while, she realized her clothes were soaked with cold sweat.
With trembling hands, she dialed Wang Haowen's video call again.
As soon as the screen connected, the two stared at each other for three seconds, their tense nerves suddenly relaxed, and they burst into wild laughter as if they had survived a disaster.
"Oh my god! Your Northeastern accent... hahaha..."
Zeng Jia clutched her stomach, which was cramping from laughing, and tears streamed down her face. "Our little corner? Wang Haowen, which village did you study in?! It's a good thing he was drunk, otherwise if he had talked to you for a few more minutes, he would have pulled your underwear off!" She wiped away the tears from her laughter and touched her soaked back. Who would have thought that she would run into Zhang Zhishan in the lobby in the middle of the night!
Wang Haowen laughed so hard he collapsed on the bed, limbs outstretched like a dead dog. "What could I do? I had to bite the bullet and go for it! Besides, what's wrong with saying he's your boyfriend? If he insists on saying he's your dad, am I that ashamed to be seen in public?"
"I'm just feeling guilty!"
Zeng Jia opened the takeout packaging, stuffed a big mouthful of fried rice into her mouth, and said indistinctly, "I'm afraid he'll recognize your voice, and that old fox is unpredictable. What if he suddenly decides to let me introduce my boyfriend to him one day?" Zeng Jia wanted to eliminate all possibilities.
Wang Haowen's smile froze slightly, and his heart felt a light but not heavy lump in his throat. "So, will I still pick you up from the airport the day after tomorrow?" His voice carried a hint of barely perceptible disappointment and trepidation.
"Don't answer." Zeng Jia paused in her eating, the light in her eyes dimming. "I'll hitch a ride back to the city with him, and then I'll contact you. It's better to avoid trouble and not cause any more problems."
Both seemed to have lost interest in continuing their rant and hastily ended the video call. Zeng Jia focused intently on wolfing down her food, trying to calm her nerves with the food.
But after a couple of bites, Zhang Zhishan's face, which had been drunk and frantically working on business, flashed before her eyes again. Logically, he and Yu Li were a couple from their university days, having fought their way up together. How did things end up like this, with them smashing glasses and breaking bowls, seemingly determined to fight to the death?
She and Wang Haowen were also friends in college, and now they're both struggling in the workplace. Could it be that they'll...? This thought, like a cold, venomous snake, suddenly sprang from her mind, startling Zeng Jia so much that she almost choked on her fried rice.
"Pah, pah, pah!" she spat three times to the side in annoyance, as if trying to get rid of the bad luck.
"Impossible, impossible! We're not like them!"
No wonder Wang Haowen always says she's a worrier; she really needs to get rid of this bad habit of overthinking!
Pushing the half-eaten fried rice container aside, Zeng Jia took a deep breath, reopened her computer screen, and forced herself to focus on the densely packed price list.