Chapter 13 Regret

Chapter 13 Remorse

The train had been moving for about twenty minutes when Wang Chuang, munching on an apple, finally remembered to ask Jiang Luo, "By the way, why are we going to Wencheng?"

Jiang Luo glanced at him, a smirk playing on his lips. "Took you long enough to ask."

"Well?" Wang Chuang nudged him with his elbow.

Only then did Jiang Luo explain, "We're going to place an order."

"What kind of goods?" Wang Chuang asked.

Jiang Luo replied, "I’ve been at Pacific Department Store…"

In recent days, besides spending time at the Jing'an stock exchange watching stocks, Jiang Luo had also been frequenting department stores in bustling areas like Nanjing Road.

He noticed that even though people were generally poor and short on money in 1990, many "foreign goods" were selling exceptionally well in the department stores.

Jiang Luo focused on a few products that were almost sold out, such as "imported dolls" and "European-style table lamps." He sought out the manager of Pacific Department Store and struck a deal: since they were having trouble sourcing these high-demand products and lacked supply channels, Jiang Luo would handle it.

Jiang Luo claimed he could supply the goods.

Upon hearing this, Wang Chuang was stunned. In the noisy train carriage, he leaned closer to Jiang Luo and whispered, "Bro, where are you getting these goods?"

"Where exactly are the goods?"

"Isn't this a scam?"

Jiang Luo said calmly, "That's exactly why we're going to Wencheng."

Wang Chuang pondered, "Is there stock in Wencheng?"

Jiang Luo: "No."

Wang Chuang: "...?"

Wang Chuang was incredulous: "You...!"

Jiang Luo snorted: "They don’t have the goods now, but they will once we get there."

Wang Chuang didn’t get it: "What do you mean?"

Jiang Luo knew Wang Chuang couldn't grasp the concept, so he patiently explained: "Pacific Department Store is short on stock, right? The department store is in our city, Haishi. Would the factory owners in Wencheng know that the department store is out of stock? No, right?"

"So when we go, we’re representing Pacific Department Store, there to place an order."

"Except Pacific Department Store doesn’t know that we’re using their name to source products."

Wang Chuang understood some of it and asked again: "But didn’t you just say there’s no stock in Wencheng?"

Jiang Luo: "But Wencheng has factories—lots and lots of them."

Jiang Luo: "We know what Pacific Department Store is missing. We’ll go, place orders locally in Wencheng, have the factories there produce the goods, and then we’ll be responsible for getting everything shipped back to Haicheng. Does that make sense now?"

Wang Chuang heard this and thought, right, that’s how it works—isn't this just how business is done? He immediately got excited and praised Jiang Luo: "You’re just too smart!"

Then, suddenly remembering something, he paused: "Hold on, that's not right."

Jiang Luo looked at him.

Wang Chuang: "We're supposed to place orders, but that requires money. We don’t have any money!"

"Is the money you have on you enough?"

Jiang Luo curled the corner of his lips: "Who told you that placing orders always requires capital?"

"Even without money, we can still place orders."

Just as the green train clattered down the tracks toward Zhejiang Province, over at the Peace Hotel, Xue Zhizhong, wiping sweat from his brow, had just finished apologizing profusely to Huo Zongzhuo for the no-show. After seeing Huo Zongzhuo off, he saw Lu Fuhua show up late at the hotel entrance. Xue Zhizhong’s face was contorted with rage. As soon as Lu Fuhua got close, he raised his hand and slapped him hard across the face, barely holding back his fury as he roared: "You fucking played me?!"

"Where is he?!"

"I’m asking you! Goddammit, where is he!?"

"Why didn’t he show up!?"

"Huh!?!"

Lu Fuhua hadn’t expected Jiang Luo not to come either.

He took the slap, feeling both humiliated and furious, but he had no time to dwell on his anger. He hurriedly explained to Xue Zhizhong: "Cousin, I really didn’t know that kid would agree but not show up."

"Don’t be angry, I’ll go grab that little shit right now."

"This time, no matter if he agrees or not, I’ll knock him out, strip him naked, and deliver him—"

But mentioning it only made Xue Zhizhong think of Huo Zongzhuo, fueling his rage. He kicked Lu Fuhua: "Get out! Get the hell out of here!"

The thought of himself, a prominent businessman in Haicheng, being made a fool of by a teenager enraged Xue Zhizhong even more. He immediately pointed at Lu Fuhua and ordered: "Go catch him and bring him to me."

"I don’t care if he agrees or not."

"Taking a liking to him was doing him a favor."

"Don't fucking spit on my goodwill!"

"Capture him!"

"Go and catch him now!"

As he spoke, he grabbed Lu Fuhua by the collar, pulled him close, and slapped him repeatedly across the face: "You fucking idiot! Do you have any idea how much face I lost today?!"

"That was Huo Zongzhuo! That was fucking Huo Zongzhuo!!"

"Do you know how much effort I put into connecting with this cash cow?!"

"Get out!"

"Go and catch him for me!"

"I’m going to personally skin that little bastard alive!"

Meanwhile, Wang Chuang’s mother and father received a call from the school and learned from the class teacher that Wang Chuang had left a note in the dorm saying he was quitting school to go to Zhejiang Province with a friend to do business. He also asked the teacher to inform his parents that he wouldn’t be gone long and would return soon, and that he would call the factory to let them know he was safe once he arrived in Zhejiang.

Wang Chuang’s parents, who were at the factory when they got the call, were in shock and furious. Any fool could see that Wang Chuang had gone off with Jiang Luo.

Without even waiting to go home, Wang Chuang’s parents went straight to the factory to find Zhang Xiangping and Jiang Jianmin.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Jianmin and Zhang Xiangping finally realized that Jiang Luo, who had been missing for a while, had gone to Zhejiang Province.

Zhang Xiangping put on an apologetic face and and explained gently, "Wang Chuang’s parents, we didn't know anything about this either."

"Jiang Luo hasn’t come home for a long time."

"As you know, Jiang Luo isn’t actually our son…"

Jiang Jianmin, on the other hand, waved his hand impatiently and said sharply, "Why are you coming to us? Jiang Luo isn’t my son—my son is a top student at Fudan University!"

"Go on, go look for Jiang Luo’s real parents. Don’t bother me."

"Hey, you…"

Wang Chuang’s parents almost started arguing with Jiang Jianmin and the others right there in the factory.

Eventually, the call reached Su Lan and Zhao Guangyuan.

When Su Lan and Zhao Guangyuan heard that Jiang Luo had gone without telling anyone to Zhejiang Province with a friend and said he wanted to go into business, they were naturally anxious and worried.

To make matters worse, during the call, Jiang Jianmin was very blunt, saying, "Your son—you should keep better tabs on him, okay?"

"Don’t come to me now that something’s happened. I’m not his real father!"

"I’m the father of a Fudan University top student!"

Su Lan was so angry her hand shook as she held the receiver.

She had indeed been somewhat dissatisfied with Jiang Luo before, feeling that he had a bad personality, wasn't applying himself, and at such a young age, only knew how to hang out at dance halls and associate with questionable people.

But after more contact with Jiang Jianmin’s family, Su Lan began to understand what kind of life Jiang Luo had lived with them over the past eighteen years.

Su Lan felt heartbroken and deeply sorry for Jiang Luo.

The problem was that Jiang Luo couldn’t be found. He had no money, and now he had gone to Zhejiang Province. Just thinking about it made Su Lan’s heart ache, fearing that Jiang Luo, who had received so little love over the past eighteen years, was now suffering hardships out there.

Su Lan regretted it—she regretted not bringing Jiang Luo home immediately when she first went to the silk factory’s apartment complex to find him.

At that moment, she thought: Although she had raised him herself and they shared eighteen years of deep affection, in the end, Jiang Luo was her own flesh and blood, the child she had given birth to.

She'd been so foolish before. How could she have left Jiang Luo with Jiang Jianmin’s family, knowing full well that Jiang Luo was her own child?

The fact that Jiang Jianmin now kept bringing up "the Fudan University top student" only showed how little Jiang Luo was favored by that couple.

His birth parents didn’t take him home, and his adoptive parents neither cared for nor liked him.

How could he not run away from home?

Su Lan was overcome with regret!

Author's note:

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