Chapter 7  : The Daughter Next Door

“Second Uncle’s house?” Ye Chen failed to register at the moment.

Ye Chen’s second uncle, Ye Ming, was considered the one with the brightest future in the Ye family. He became the deputy chief of the development department when he was young. The development department had always been the most lucrative one.

However, he became a little scared of his wife ever since he was married. Meanwhile, the Second Aunt who joined the family had not been a fan of Ye Chen’s family. Therefore, Ye Chen hardly went to their house to avoid annoying them.

Ye Hai sighed and said, “Your Second Uncle was concerned about you throughout the few years that you were missing. He got his friends to look for you through his connections. He even gave us 5,000 yuan to treat Mengmeng’s illness behind your Second Aunt’s back.”

Ye Chen nodded when he heard the explanation. Indeed, what Second Uncle did throughout the few years was worthy of him going to his house to thank him.

Over half an hour later, the father and son arrived at Ye Ming’s house.

Ye Hai stepped forward and knocked on the door. Soon, the door was opened. An outstandingly pretty face peeked out from the inside. The girl frowned. “May I know who you guys are?”

“Wenwen, did you forget your Elder Uncle?” Ye Hai said while smiling.

When the girl came to a realization, the cordiality on her face faded significantly. She then looked at Ye Chen who was next to Ye Hai. She was stunned at first and seemed to have recalled something. Without any emotion, she muttered, “Come in.”

She was Ye Ming’s one and only daughter, Ye Wen, who was four years younger than Ye Chen. When Ye Chen graduated from university, Ye Wen had just entered her first year in university. Maybe because they had not seen each other for a long time, Ye Chen felt no familial love from her at all.

Ye Chen did not reveal any signs of realizing that. After following Ye Hai in, he saw his Second Uncle, Ye Ming, sitting in the living room while watching the TV.

Ye Ming welcomed them as soon as he saw the duo. He smiled from the bottom of his heart. “Why are you here, Brother?”

“I got off work now, so I thought I would visit you,” Ye Hai smiled.

At that second, Ye Ming had just noticed Ye Chen who was standing by the side. He rubbed his eyes and asked in a testing manner, “Is this…Xiaochen?”

“It’s me, Second Uncle. How have you been throughout these years? Are you healthy?” Ye Chen nodded and asked in concern.

“I’m pretty healthy, but I’m so happy to see you home. Let’s not stand on formality. Come here and sit!” Passionately, Ye Ming invited the father and son to sit while he lifted his head to say to Ye Wen who was going upstairs, “Wenwen, aren’t you going to serve your Elder Uncle and cousin some tea?”

“Father, I’m busy. Serve them yourself,” Ye Wen responded in annoyance and went upstairs on her own, feeling a little disdainful. She thought to herself, ‘Elder Uncle? It’s a no-brainer that he’s here to borrow money from Father again!’

“That kid…” Ye Ming shook his head, feeling helpless. He then stood up and poured the father and son some hot water. Footsteps came from above just when he was about to say something.

Subsequently, a middle-aged woman who was dressed rather fashionably walked down. Perhaps because of the way she maintained herself so well, she appeared like she was only 30 years old.

The person who came was Ye Chen’s Second Aunt.

Ye Ming waved immediately. “Oh, it’s Wenwen’s mother. Look who’s here.”

“I saw, I saw. I’m not blind. Do you have to be so excited?” Second Aunt glared at him in irritation and scoffed as she spoke, “You weren’t this excited when Chief Zhang visited the last time.”

“Why do you say things like that? Chief Zhang is an outsider. How is he the same?” Ye Ming smiled honestly.

Ye Chen greeted courteously when Second Aunty got closer. “It’s nice to see you, Second Aunt.”

“What’s so nice about that? You were gone for a few years! Where did you go to make a fortune?” Second Aunty demanded in a judgemental tone. A gleam of contempt flashed deep in her eyes especially when she saw the way Ye Chen and his father were dressed.

As someone who was familiar with many luxury labels, she could tell that the father and son were wearing cheap clothing that merely cost tens of yuan.

‘How could such people dare to come to us to borrow money so that they can save a dying, stupid girl? I won’t lend a single cent to you guys. How are you guys going to return the money if the little girl dies?’ she thought.

Ye Chen had a thin smile on his face. “I was staying abroad for a few years. I didn’t really make a fortune.”

Second Aunt gave a short response and showed a know-it-all expression. She asked in a testing manner at the same time, “So, what do you plan to do now?”

Ye Chen shook his head. “I haven’t figured it out yet.”

Next to him, Ye Ming said all of a sudden, “Oh yeah, I heard Wenwen’s company has an open day for hiring in three days. The salary and benefits aren’t bad. Why don’t you get Wenwen to bring you in?”

Ye Chen was just going to reject his kindness, but Ye Hai said with joy all over his face, “Can she really do that?” He had been worried when his son was gone, and he was still worried when he returned. He worried about what his son was going to do with his life and what would he do for a living.

What Ye Ming said undoubtedly gave him hope.

“Of course, she can. Our Wenwen is pretty popular in her company. I heard she even knows the Human Resource head’s kid. Just let Wenwen do the introductions then.” Ye Ming smiled warmly.

Ye Wen came down with earphones plugged in her ears when they were chatting. She said annoyedly upon hearing what Ye Ming said, “Father, you’re giving me trouble again. Our company doesn’t just hire anyone.” She seemed to be saying Ye Chen was not worthy.

“That’s right. You know nothing. All you know is to come up with stupid ideas. What if Wenwen loses her job because of you?” Immediately, Second Aunt glared at him ferociously.

Ye Ming did not care at all. “Don’t worry. I believe in Xiaochen. He has an education background right there. How about this? Xiaochen will go for an interview in three days. If he’s accepted, Wenwen, you’ll say something good about him to your colleagues and get him a better position.”

“That’s great!” With a wide grin, Ye Hai agreed to that for Ye Chen before he could say anything.

Ye Chen smiled helplessly because he thought he would ruin the situation if he were to say something.

Second Aunt looked terrible as if she had just eaten a fly.

Meanwhile, Ye Wen was furious. After coming out of the bathroom with a grim face, she returned to her room and launched her Wechat. She posted in her work group chat: “I’m so annoyed. A cousin of mine that I haven’t seen for a few years visited my home shamelessly. I can’t believe he’s asking me to get him into our company to work.”

This group chat was created with colleagues that Ye Wen was close to in the company. There were not many people in it with only five of them. However, all of them held different roles in the company.

Soon, someone replied in the group chat: “Cousin? Then, your relationship with him shouldn’t be too bad.”

Ye Wen typed while scoffing: “Yeah, right. This cousin of mine studied abroad since he was young. We hardly see each other and he went missing for a few years. He’s like a savage when he returned. His family is so poor that they’re worried about their meals. I just can’t understand why my father treats them like treasure.”

“I get what you mean now, Wenwen. Don’t worry. If he dares come to the company in three days, I’ll get rid of him.”

“That’s right. That guy must be seeking death to be offending our Wenwen.”

“I suggest that we beat up that bastard cousin of Wenwen’s directly in three days. We must show him his place.”

Ye Wen could not really bear to hear that despite her irritation. “Calm down, you guys. He’s my cousin no matter what. I don’t want my dad to be in a pickle.”

The other person responded with a smiley face emoji. “Don’t worry. Let him come. All Master Liu has to do is move his fingers when dealing with a small fry like him.”