Morbid Addiction

On the second day, Ning Junyan still showed up on time for the birthday banquet of old man Ning. The birthday banquet was actually not a big deal, but just a gathering of the family for lunch, but this year there were many relatives coming, so they decided to reserve three tables in the restaurant in a hurry.

       When Ning Junyan arrived, his distant relatives greeted him warmly. Although his response was not enthusiastic, it was polite enough. He was regarded as the best of the younger generation of the Ning family, and even if he was a little cold at ordinary times, his relatives would never feel offended.

       Ning Zhanghong was sitting and talking with one of Ning Junyan’s cousins at this time, and Ning Junyan did not see Shu Rong beside him.

       Ning Junyan greeted the elders first, and then asked Ning Zhanghong, “Where is Mother?”

       Ning Zhanghong glanced at him and said, “She still has some things to deal with, and will come here later.”

       Ning Junyan went to congratulate his grandfather on his birthday again.

       Grandpa Ning took his hand to ask him to sit beside him, and asked in a low voice, “Are you okay?”

       Ning Junyan said, “Who are you asking about, Grandpa?”

       Grandpa Ning said, “Of course it’s you and your mother. I haven’t seen her today.”

       Ning Junyan answered him, “Yuncheng and I are fine. I haven’t seen Mother today, so I don’t know how she is.”

       Grandpa Ning felt a little emotional, patted the back of Ning Junyan’s hand with his thin hand, and then let go of him.

       Before Ning Junyan got up, his lively cousin came over to talk to him again, asking him about his graduate studies, asking him about his postgraduate studies, so he talked to his cousin in a low voice for a few minutes until he saw Shu Rong hurrying in.

       Shu Rong was a little haggard. Although her make-up and hair were neatly done, she was wearing a decent dress, and smiled warmly as soon as she approached, but Ning Junyan could still see the fatigue on her face.

       In front of so many relatives, Shu Rong didn’t say anything to Ning Junyan but just greeted everyone and then took the initiative to order the waiter to prepare the dishes.

       After lunch, all the guests were sent away.

       Ning Junyan called out to Shu Rong in the parking lot, “Mom.”

       Shu Rong looked at him sullenly.

       Shu Rong drove a car by herself today, and she still had something to deal with in the afternoon, so she asked Ning Zhangyu and the others to send Ning Zhanghong back.

       Ning Zhangyu and his husband drove a seven-seater SUV. Before leaving the parking lot, the car stopped when it passed Shu Rong and Ning Junyan.

       The window of the back seat was lowered, and Ning Zhanghong raised his head and said to them, “Let’s talk about what you have to do when you get back.” It seemed that they were afraid that Ning Junyan and Shu Rong would start arguing here.

       Shu Rong gently lifted the shoulder bag on her shoulder and said, “I won’t go back for now. I have something to do in the afternoon.”

       Grandpa Ning was also in this car, sitting side by side with Ning Zhanghong, trying to stick his head over, and said, “Junyan, don’t quarrel with your mother here.”

       Ning Junyan said, “I won’t, Grandpa, you guys go back first.”

       Ning Zhanghong sighed and said to his brother-in-law who was driving, “Let’s go first.”

       The SUV slowly drove away from the two of them.

       Ning Junyan asked Shu Rong again, “Are you okay?”

       Shu Rong sneered, “I thought you didn’t care about me at all.”

       Ning Junyan said: “It’s not that I don’t care about you, it’s you who care about me beyond the limit.”

       Shu Rong turned her face away from him, was silent for a while, and asked, “That Yu Jie. Chen Yuncheng knows him very well, right?”

       Ning Junyan frowned slightly, “Yuncheng doesn’t know him very well. He just knew him in the past. What? Do you have some business going on with him? What’s going on at your new hospital?”

       Shu Rong said, “I don’t have any business dealings with him.” She paused for a moment, squeezing the strap of her bag tightly with one hand, “It’s just that the building we rented for the new hospital was introduced through him.”

       In the beginning, Shu Rong and her partner Zhang Chong had already talked to Yu Jie about investing in a branch of the plastic surgery hospital. Later, Ning Junyan mentioned to Shu Rong that there was something wrong with Yu Jie, and Shu Rong became more thoughtful. After some discussion with Zhang Chong, they pushed Yu Jie aside.

       It was said to be a plastic surgery hospital, but in fact, it was just a beauty salon with micro-plastic surgery programs, and the scale was not significant. At that time, they had already contacted an address through Yu Jie to open a new hospital. The two-story building was originally a private dental hospital, and the conditions were suitable in all aspects. Even the renovation did not require significant changes. They were delighted with the building and wanted to continue negotiating the lease with each other.

       Yu Jie showed great generosity. Although the business could not be done, he took the initiative to act as a middleman for them and introduced a person in charge of the floor leasing project of the other company, surnamed Wang. Shu Rong then signed a contract with the other party and paid a large amount of rent in advance.

       Everything seemed to be going well until two days ago when the renovation was in progress, and she met another team of people who said that they had also signed a contract with the other company to rent the building and were now ready to move in for the renovation.

       Shu Rong hurriedly contacted the company’s person in charge, who said that the person was on a business trip and would not be able to return for the time being and would help her contact the company to inquire about the situation. After two days, Zhang Chong was worried and went to the company to find the person, only to find out that the project leader surnamed Wang, hadn’t come to work for many days. The lease contract they signed was probably a fake, and all the official seals on it had been stolen by the manager surnamed Wang.

       Ning Junyan held the car keys in his hand and heard Shu Rong talk about the current situation; millions of dollars in rent had been paid, but there was no way to enter the venue for renovations. They had reported it to the police, but they didn’t know if they could recover the money.

       “Yuncheng asked me to tell you that there is something wrong with Yu Jie,” Ning Junyan said in a low and serious tone.

       Shu Rong raised her head and looked at him, “I checked Yu Jie, and he has no criminal record. On the surface, he seems to be a clean businessman. Isn’t he more reliable than Chen Yuncheng?”

       Ning Junyan said, “You still think so?”

       Shu Rong’s tone was a little hasty, “I went to find Yu Jie, but he said he didn’t know where Wang had gone, and he was adamant that he had nothing to do with the incident.”

       Ning Junyan looked at her, “Since you trust him so much, then I have nothing to say.”

       Shu Rong reached out and grabbed Ning Junyan’s arm, “It’s not that I want to trust him. I have no choice now, and the key to solving the problem is to find that person surnamed Wang.”

       Ning Junyan asked her, “Don’t you pay rent by transferring money to a corporate account?”

       Shu Rong said, “There was a problem with the account he gave. At that time, his procedures were too complete, and his identity was not faked. We never thought of doubting him. How did we know he would do such a thing? And now we can’t get this building, we’ve spent so much money before and after on the renovations we have booked, and we also have ordered beauty equipment in preparation. Now, we have to raise another sum of money to rent another place, and there is no way to turn around.” Her greatest fear was that her flow of capital would break, and she would not be able to repay the bank loan in time, which would then become more and more troublesome.

       Ning Junyan looked at Shu Rong in silence. There was no good solution to the problem except gaining money. Even if the police had arrested the person, they might not be able to recover the money.

       Shu Rong answered the phone and drove away in a hurry.

       Ning Junyan didn’t have a job in the afternoon, so he drove directly to the trade market to find Chen Yuncheng. When Ning Junyan arrived, Chen Yuncheng was sorting out the order form with Wu Xiaozhu and asked him to go inside to rest by himself.

       After a while, Chen Yuncheng finished the work in hand, went into the inner room and saw Ning Junyan lying on his single bed with a pair of long legs stretched out, and his feet almost reached the railing at the end.

       Chen Yuncheng stretched out his hand to close the door. He then walked over to the bed and knelt down to look at him, “What’s wrong?”

       Ning Junyan stretched out his hand towards him.

       Chen Yuncheng couldn’t help but look back to make sure the door was closed, then hugged Ning Junyan and squeezed into the narrow bed with him.

       “Are we going to break the bed?” Chen Yuncheng was inexplicably worried.

       Ning Junyan said, “Guan Anlin shares the same bed with you every day, and the board of your bed hasn’t collapsed.”

       Chen Yuncheng felt a little helpless, “Let’s sleep in two beds, shall we?”

       Ning Junyan didn’t speak. He stared at the wooden bedboard above as if in a daze.

       Chen Yuncheng felt that Ning Junyan had something on his mind, so he asked again, “What’s wrong?”

       Ning Junyan said, “I’ll sell the current house now.”

       Chen Yuncheng sat up and looked at him, “Didn’t we say we wouldn’t sell it?”

       Ning Junyan folded his hands under his head and looked at him, “My current house was bought for me by my parents when I first came back from abroad.”

       Chen Yuncheng tried to understand what he meant, “You don’t want to live in the house they bought for you.”

       Ning Junyan didn’t mention Shu Rong’s business matters but simply said, “My mother just needs a sum of money, so I can just sell the house and return the money to her.”

       Chen Yuncheng did not speak.

       Ning Junyan looked at him, “Why aren’t you saying anything?”

       Chen Yuncheng thought for a while, “I don’t think you need to be so clear-cut with them. They are your parents, after all.”

       Ning Junyan shook his head, “That’s not what I meant. It just so happened that she needed money, and that’s why I thought about this.”

       “How much does she need?” Chen Yuncheng recalled the call Shu Rong answered last night and knew that there must be a problem with her business, “I’ll get you some money first, okay? You don’t have to sell the house, do you?”

       Ning Jun extended his arms to hug him and asked him to lie on his chest, “It’s not that I have to sell the house, but I want to do it.”

       Chen Yuncheng kind of understands Ning Junyan’s thoughts. Ning Junyan wanted to repay the financial debt he owed his parents. Of course, it was not just a house debt, but if he could repay some, he could gain more autonomy.

       “But I still don’t think it’s necessary. Where do you plan to live after you sell the house?” Chen Yuncheng asked him.

       Ning Junyan answered quickly, “Live here with you.”

       “Then what about Guan Anlin?”

       “Tell him to get lost.” Ning Junyan replied with an expressionless and straightforward face, probably wanting to say this for a long time.