Even after shopping in many different boutiques recommended by Yang Feng, Zhao Lifei still believed the gifts were not good enough. They were also personally purchased with Yang Feng's money which caused an inclination for her to explore more so that she could buy the gifts with her own money.
She went to other stores and when they went to the cashier, she would push Yang Feng aside and fight through his hand that was desperately trying to shove his limitless black card into the machine. Atlas, she prevailed and was able to purchase things with her own credit card.
If there was one thing her mother ever taught her, it was to not rely on a man for money, for there would come a day when he would stop giving the sufficient amount. She suspected Yang Feng would not end up like those men, but who's to say, his current treatment towards her was not the effects of the puppy-love stage of their relationship?
Zhao Lifei was studying a highly sought after ginseng and jujube gift-set when Yang Feng's phone suddenly went off. She shooed him away to pick up the call, while her's also dinged a few seconds later.
Yang Feng saw the call was from Guo Sheng. The long-awaited answer had come. Guo Sheng finally tortured the information from Ren Xiong.
He walked outside of the store and towards a secluded corner to pick up the call. Even from where he stood, he had a perfect view of his woman.
"Big Boss! Good news, can you guess what it is?!" Guo Sheng squealed in delight, the sound scaring the men in the room. They were cleaning up his bloody mess, the limbs and intestines on the floor was a gruesome sight to witness, but it was pretty much a daily occurrence for them since Guo Sheng was known for getting messy.
Even as he stood, covered head-to-toe in blood, with some even splattered on his sickly pale skin, and with a crazed look in his eyes, Guo Sheng still had the guts to grin like a madman.
"Who is it?" Yang Feng did not beat around the bush. He wanted to get it over with and return back to his woman already.
"Boo, you're no fun." Guo Sheng pouted, wanting to engage in a guessing game just so he could drag out this conversation.
"..."
"Alright, I'll tell you!" Guo Sheng exclaimed, his eyes ditsy as he happily skipped out of the room.
Yang Feng raised his head to look at his woman again, who was still engrossed in her phone. He noticed she was rapidly typing on it, presumably deep in conversation, or having an argument.
"Hurry up, Xiao Sheng."
"Okay so it was super hard to extract the name from Ren Xiong, but after I threatened him with his daughter, who by the way, is fugly beyond words, and even had the men drag his wife here—"
"Xiao Sheng." Yang Feng snarled, his temper not at its finest. He already had a suspicion of who it was. Kin and flesh. The man behind the kidnapping was someone related to Zhao Lifei. His heart hurt for her. Even her own family plotted against her.
"I'm sorry, Big Boss…" Guo Sheng's cheery mood dropped. He paused in the hallway, squatting down and hugging his knees while he drew dusty circles on the floor, giving off an extremely pitiful image to the onlooker. One would look at his face and think he was being emotionally abused!
"I'm not mad. Just spit out the name." Yang Feng knew how bipolar this child was. He could already picture Guo Sheng's signature pose to evoke sympathy from him. By now, he was pretty sure the entire floor was cleaned from the number of circles Guo Sheng was drawing on the floor with his fingers.
"It's Zhao Moyao's eldest son, Zhao Junkai."
Zhao Lifei's eldest uncle.
Yang Feng was perplexed by this turn of events. What would that man gain from selling off his niece to an arranged marriage? Some quick cash? This did not make sense to him.
Did Zhao Lifei have dirt against him? Was that it? He could've sworn the two had a very platonic relationship. Suddenly, Yang Feng remembered something.
Zhao Moyao had one rule. He would not give the CEO position to someone just because they were family. In the end, the one with an intelligent brain, a wise hand, and competence would become the next CEO of Zhao Corporations.
Did Zhao Junkai view his eldest niece as a threat? It was very likely.
If there was one person in this world that Zhao Moyao cherished and listened to, it would be Zhao Lifei. She might've been his granddaughter, but that was not the only reason why he thought she would be a good candidate.
She did not know this but Zhao Moyao only allowed her to work as Vice President of Zheng Corporation to test if she was truly qualified as the position of a CEO. Seeing how fast Zheng Corporation was able to succeed because of her, it was needless to say, she passed with flying colors.
"Big Boss? Are you still there? Did...I do a good job?"
"You did a good job, Xiao Sheng." Yang Feng responded. He decided to investigate more into this matter to prevent making the wrong move.
He debated if he should tell Zhao Moyao of this or not. If the rumors spoke the truth and he truly did not care about his children, it would be good to inform him of this.
To Yang Feng, taking down Zhao Junkai was as easy as flicking his fingers, but taking him down without permission from Zhao Moyao and Zhao Lifei would be much harder.
He knew Zhao Lifei and Zhao Junkai did not have a close relationship. They were simply uncle and niece by name.
Yang Feng recounted an incident in the past when Zhao Lifei was over at his house and a girl her age accompanied her. It was clear the little girl was sent by her parents in the hope of approaching Yang Feng as a friend, but she was too weak-hearted and ran away the second he glared at her.
Guo Sheng was happy at the compliment and hurriedly stood up from his crouching position, eager to be rewarded. "Then, Big Boss, the reward…"
"Will be delivered tomorrow."
Guo Sheng happily clapped his hands. "Okie!" He hung up the phone before Yang Feng could take back his words.
Yang Feng eyed his phone for a few seconds before he sent a text to Chen Gaonan asking for a full report of Zhao Junkai.
After receiving the confirmation that the report would come before the end of his shift, Yang Feng walked back into the store. His stealthy steps concealed any sounds being made by his leather shoes. He snuck up behind Zhao Lifei to see who she was texting.
Zhao Junkai.
He squinted to read the message.
[Eldest Uncle, I understand you want to meet Yang Feng, but he is a busy man. I've rejected a similar request made by father, the same treatment applies to you.]
She was about to hit send when he grabbed her phone, a surprised gasp leaving her lips.
"Hey!" She frowned, angered that he was spying on her and even had the audacity to take her phone.
"I'll meet him." Yang Feng deleted her initial message and typed in a different one.
"Are you sure?" Zhao Lifei was confused that he suddenly wanted to meet her uncle.
"Yeah." Yang Feng slipped the phone back into her purse, hiding the devious look in his eyes.
"Have you decided on what to get my parents?" He changed the topic and when she had an expression that refused to back down, he turned her face towards the two grand gift sets on the crystal-glass counter.
"I'll get both, they're for your mother." Zhao Lifei heard from Yang Feng that lately, his mother had a fondness towards traditional herbs linked to Chinese medicine. After careful consideration, Zhao Lifei had bought a wide variety of highly-sought after herbs beneficial to an aging woman.
"She'll like these." Yang Feng nodded in approval, knowing his mother would already be ecstatic that he willingly brought a woman home, but seeing that his woman was so thoughtful enough to buy gifts, his mother's happiness would surely increase by ten folds.
He figured his mother should still remember Zhao Lifei from the childhood years she had spent with Yang Ruqin, but had warned his parents in advance to not bring up topics from the past or else he would not come home with her.
"Go pick out a color for the boxes." Yang Feng pushed her in the direction of a store employee who was already on the sidelines awaiting her next order.
Zhao Lifei rolled her eyes at his weak attempt to drift her attention elsewhere. "Thanks, but no thanks." She retorted, pulling out the sleek black card with three sole characters etched into it.
She pushed Yang Feng aside and handed the card to the cashier. When he made moves to take the card from her fingers, she dodged it and practically shoved the card into the machine, watching the screen load and then a check mark came up. The transaction went through.
Smiling in triumph, she childishly stuck her tongue out at him, taking the bag herself. He shook his head at her behavior, a small grin on his lips.