On the eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival, Qi Fenglian returned home with various festival gifts, and accompanying her was Zhang Jisheng.
In the car, Zhang Jisheng asked her, "Did you talk to Cheng Su?"
"Talk about what?" Qi Fenglian was feeling irritable. She had been probing Cheng Su before and felt as if she saw through something, leaving her feeling extremely uneasy and embarrassed.
"About changing the procurement." Zhang Jisheng frowned.
"You just say change, but this business isn’t ours. Besides, she said she thinks Song Xiaojang is doing well." Qi Fenglian snorted, "Just stop thinking about this. Work diligently as a renovation worker, save up for a couple of years, and we’ll consider starting some small business!"
Zhang Jisheng’s face sank, and he said, "Renovation work, how much can you save? It’s terribly hard."
Upon hearing this, Qi Fenglian turned her head and said, "Jisheng, you’ve changed!"
Zhang Jisheng’s heart skipped a beat, "How have I changed?"
"Back when we were at home, you would occasionally take on short carpentry gigs, earning just a few yuan, and you’d come back happily telling me about it. But you never mentioned it being hard back then!" Qi Fenglian said, "But now? Your salary has increased by who knows how many times compared to the past, right? How many times have I heard you say it’s hard recently? Is it really that hard?"
Zhang Jisheng was so red-faced and embarrassed by her rebuke, he said, "I can’t talk with you, no expectation for your own man to do well."
Pretending to be angry, he leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes to sleep.
Seeing this, Qi Fenglian felt even more disappointed, "Jisheng, we should be content with what we have!"
"Content with what? What kind of life does your brother’s wife live, and what kind of life are we living? Can you see that? They change clothes every day, and you, wearing the same clothes for years, why? Isn’t it because we don’t have money. How can you be so content?" Zhang Jisheng sneered, "I know, you just look down on me, think I won’t achieve anything big!"
Qi Fenglian was furious, "You know I didn’t mean it that way."
"Then what is it? Asking you to talk to her about letting me switch to procurement, and you wouldn’t even dare. Isn’t it because you think I can’t do it and would be embarrassed? I don’t believe it, what’s so hard about buying a few vegetables, do you need a college degree for that?" Zhang Jisheng said quite indignantly.
Qi Fenglian’s chest heaved with anger.
"Or, when you go back home to give the festival gifts, you can tell your mother-in-law and father-in-law, and let them say something to her. She certainly wouldn’t dare not to listen!" Zhang Jisheng added, "Your mom has always been fond of you. If I have money, wouldn’t you have money too? She’d surely know this is good."
"You..." Qi Fenglian was full of disbelief, "How can you think like this? Where did you learn these scheming thoughts?" Even going around to attack from the elders’ side, how did he come up with these ideas?
Zhang Jisheng felt a bit guilty, his eyes dodging, rebutted, "What about it? Isn’t this just human nature? Aren’t people supposed to strive towards better things? I’m also doing this for our good. Anyway, for procurement, whoever does it is the same, we are honest relatives, how would we deceive her?"
Changed, Zhang Jisheng has truly changed, used to be honest and shy, timid and weak, now after half a year in Qing City, he’s like a different person.
Is it the environment that changes people? Or is it gaining more insights?
Qi Fenglian felt a chill in her heart, suddenly realizing she might have been wrong; she shouldn’t have called him to Qing City to work with her in the first place.