093 Father and Son

What did you say? Zhong Pingjiang thought his ears must be malfunctioning.

Zhong Yun picked at his ear with his little finger and said innocently, "Well, at first I didn’t know she had such an impressive background either. But now that I’m already with her, I can’t just dump her, can I?"

The way he put it was rather outrageous. Zhong Pingjiang shot him a glare but said nothing. The shock had not yet left him. He knew very well what the name Yang Bingchang represented. A family of marshals was no exaggeration at all; the Yang family ruled Dahluo with overwhelming power.

In the military, the Yang family’s prestige was unmatched. In business, their wealth was unsurpassed, and they controlled the nation’s largest weapons manufacturing company. It could be said that if the Yang family stamped a foot, all thirteen planets would tremble.

Then what sort of status would Yang Bingchang’s daughter have? No matter how wild his imagination became, he would never have guessed that his own son could have any connection with her, let alone be dating her.

In that instant, only four words filled Zhong Pingjiang’s mind: utterly absurd.

Seeing that his cup was empty, Zhong Yun picked up the teapot and refilled it, then went on enjoying the ever-changing expression on his father’s face. It was truly a rare sight. In the past, his father had always worn the look of a man with everything under control, calm and composed; it was seldom he saw him so rattled.

After a long while, Zhong Pingjiang looked at his son with grave seriousness and could not help asking once more, "Is everything you said true?"

"Why would I lie to you?"

"How did you two meet?" Zhong Pingjiang’s expression was extremely stern.

"My heavens, you’re not seriously interested in my romance, are you?" Zhong Yun slapped his forehead in mock agony.

Zhong Pingjiang’s lips moved a few times, but in the end he did not say what was on his mind. He could only sigh inwardly. Such matters were never easy to interfere in.

Learning that his son was dating Yang Bingchang’s daughter, his first reaction was not joy but deep concern. The difference in their statuses was far too great. When they were together, his son would likely be the one at a disadvantage. Women from aristocratic families were often spoiled from birth, many of them thoroughly pampered into becoming impossible. They were by no means ideal girlfriends or wives.

Besides, his son could be stubborn at times. Though he had become more cheerful lately, one could still see the pride in his bones. He was not the sort who could easily endure humiliation. If the two ever clashed, the one who would suffer would surely be his own son.

If what his son said was true, and Yang Bingchang had granted such enormous benefits to Zhong family merely out of regard for his daughter, that alone was enough to show how much he valued her. If one day she were to suffer some grievance and run to her father in tears, the consequences...

"Wait." Zhong Pingjiang suddenly remembered what his son had just said. "Did you say you have two girlfriends?"

Zhong Yun rested his chin on his hand and nodded. "Strictly speaking, two and a half. There’s one more in a kind of reserve position."

Zhong Pingjiang opened his mouth, and after quite a while said, "And does she know?"

Zhong Yun knew he was referring to Liu Yunqi. He thought for a moment. "Probably. But she’s never asked me."

Zhong Pingjiang was utterly speechless. Had he really fallen behind the times? Young people nowadays... Thinking of their ages, he decided that perhaps it was only a bit of youthful fun, no more than playing house. With that thought, he felt somewhat relieved.

Still, when he thought about a business deal worth over a hundred billion being struck simply because a few young people were playing at romance, he could not help feeling a flood of emotion.

After a moment, Zhong Pingjiang remembered the real matter at hand and said seriously, "That so-called stabilizer was also something you came up with, wasn’t it? I won’t interfere in your affairs with those girlfriends of yours, but you must explain this matter to me clearly. Tell me, who gave you that thing?"

Zhong Yun stuck out his tongue, put off by his father’s stern tone. "If I said I invented it myself, would you believe me?"

"What do you think?" Zhong Pingjiang countered. He knew perfectly well what his son was capable of. When he first took the intelligence test at school, his score was so low that several schools refused to admit him; in the end, he only managed to enter a public school. After middle school, he had improved somewhat, but was still only at an ordinary level.

Even though his grades had improved greatly recently, Zhong Pingjiang still could not believe that his son had created such a revolutionary machine. He had studied that device before. The knowledge involved was far too vast and complex; some of it even belonged to new theories in physics. Not to mention a middle school student like Zhong Yun, even an A-rank physicist could not possibly master so much knowledge.

In the modern world, where labor had become increasingly specialized, what great invention had ever been accomplished without the joint effort of talents from many different fields? A person’s life and energy were limited. Even if one devoted an entire lifetime to a single discipline, it might still yield little real achievement. Let alone reaching master level in multiple fields; such a person existed only in legend.

So he did not believe Zhong Yun’s explanation at all.

"If you don’t believe me, there’s nothing I can do about it." Zhong Yun shrugged, unconcerned. Then he remembered something and reminded him, "Also, Dad, absolutely do not tell anyone that I invented it. If people ask, just say it’s a business secret. I don’t want people looking at me like I’m some monster."

Seeing his son say that, Zhong Pingjiang actually became a little more inclined to believe him. Of course, only a little. The truth would always surface one day. With that thought, he set the matter aside for the time being.

He asked, not committing himself, "You came today just to tell me this?"

Zhong Yun snapped his fingers. "I almost forgot. If you hadn’t brought it up, I would’ve missed the important part."

"Oh? What is it?" Zhong Pingjiang straightened a little in his chair. Ever since his son had cultivated flowers worth tens of billions, then brought in a B-rank mechanic to sit in charge when the company first opened, and later secured a heavyweight partner like the Giant Machinery Group, he found it increasingly difficult to think of his son as merely a seventeen-year-old boy.

Zhong Yun wore a mischievous smile. "I’ve found another partnership opportunity for you. How are you going to reward me?"

One eyebrow lifting, Zhong Pingjiang smiled. "That depends on what company you’ve found."

"Stellar Group. Big enough for you?" Zhong Yun said with a sly grin as he revealed the answer.

"Hiss—" Even with some preparation, Zhong Pingjiang was still shaken by his son’s words. Stellar Group, a titan of the metal industry. Though slightly inferior to Giant Machinery Group, for the Zhong family it was still a colossus one could only look up to.

What kind of people did his son even know?

One such event had already been exciting enough to burst a blood vessel. If it happened again, he did not know whether his heart could withstand it.

Taking a deep breath, Zhong Pingjiang asked with a slight tremor, "Don’t tell me your other girlfriend is Chen Feng’s daughter."

Fortunately, Zhong Yun only shook his head. "I have a close friend who happens to be from the Chen family."

That was better. Zhong Pingjiang let out a breath of relief, then hardened his expression. "This time you must not act recklessly again. Last time you nearly made me lose face because of you. You need to explain the details of this partnership to me, thoroughly and clearly."

"I was just about to tell you." Zhong Yun chuckled inwardly. Such a joke could be made once, but not again. If it happened a second time, his father might well explode.

He took a document folder from his backpack and handed it over. "This is the preliminary contract I worked out with the Chen family. Take a look."

Zhong Pingjiang accepted it, skimmed through a few pages, then looked up at Zhong Yun. "Don’t tell me this Cloud Alloy was also invented by you."

Under his suspicious gaze, Zhong Yun nodded innocently.

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