Chapter 2: Enduring Humiliation

  The next day happened to be Sunday, and Zhou Hao came to Zhou Lichang's house with Yan Tong.

  Zhou Lichang built a three-story independent foreign-style house in Zhoujiacun, which is particularly eye-catching in Zhoujiacun where many tile-roofed houses are still preserved. Zhou Lichang lives inside with his wife Xu Yongwei and their two children. Under the house, there is also a black "Guangzhou Honda" parked, and villagers passing by can't help but take a second look.

  Before coming here, Yan Tong specially spent more than 50 yuan to buy a basket of fruit.

  "Are you the ones who came to visit us?" When Zhou Hao's aunt, Xu Yongwei, opened the door and saw them, mother and son, the disdain in her eyes was very obvious, without any disguise at all, making Yan Tong, who was already a bit awkward standing at the door, even more embarrassed.

  Thanks to good maintenance and no worries about food and clothing, Xu Yongwei, who is older than Yan Tong by a few years, looks more than ten years younger than Yan Tong.

  After many years, Zhou Hao saw Xu Yongwei's selfish face again and secretly laughed in his heart, "Really hasn't changed at all!"

  "Hello, sister-in-law." Yan Tong smiled and asked Xu Yongwei: "Are Zhihao and Xinxin doing well?" She was referring to Xu Yongwei's two children, Zhou Zhihao and Zhou Xinxin, who were both younger than Zhou Hao and still in elementary school.

  "It's okay, you've got a good heart, come on in and take a seat." Xǔ Yǒngwēi's face showed impatience as she invited Zhōu Hào and Yán Tóng into the house.

  Compared to the small unit where Zhou Hao and his mother lived, Zhou Li's villa was extremely luxurious, with leather sofas and large color TVs. Yan Tong felt very nervous when he entered the house, afraid of dirtying anything in the house, and didn't even know where to put his hands.

  As soon as Zhou Hao entered the spacious hall, he saw his younger cousin Zhou Zhihao enthusiastically playing video games on TV, while his younger sister Zhou Xinxin was playing with her plush toy cat on the sofa. Seeing Zhou Hao and Yan Tong arrive, these two siblings didn't even bother to acknowledge them, not even giving them a glance.

  Looking at the two of them with an air of invincibility, Zhou Hao sneered in his heart. These two guys were not good stuff from a young age, and as they grew older, they became even more outrageous. Zhou Zhihao learned how to eat before graduating from high school, and Zhou Xinxin was no better off either. After growing up, she was sent to the United States by Zhou Lichang, but it was said that she contracted AIDS there due to ***.

  "Sit down." Xǔ Yǒngwēi let Zhōu Hào and Yán Tóng sit in the dining hall on this side, but she didn't have any blame or criticism for her own children's rudeness. Zhōu Hào thought that it was all because of Xǔ Yǒngwēi's indulgence that his siblings, Zhōu Zhìháo and Zhōu Xīnxīn, would become degenerate in the future.

  Yan Tong hastily handed the basket of fruit to Xu Yongwei, "Sister-in-law, where's brother? Isn't he at home?"

  Xu Yongwei took the fruit and casually put it aside, "He went out drinking with friends last night and is still sleeping now." She looked at Yan Tong and Zhou Hao indifferently, then coldly smiled and said: "You two are here this time, I suppose you're not thinking of borrowing money again?"

  Yan Tong's face immediately showed an awkward expression, and he stammered: "Sister-in-law, can you help us? Liren took the money from home again, now we don't even have Xiao Hao's tuition fees."

  "Ah Tong, it's not me saying this, but you still haven't paid back the money you borrowed from Old Zhou last time." She then turned to look at Zhou Hao with a somewhat gloating smile and said: "Xiao Hao, you must study hard. Your dad is no good, don't follow in his footsteps. Look, your mom is worried sick about you."

  "Auntie, I can handle it." Seeing the mocking gaze in Xu Yongwei's eyes, Zhou Hao really wanted to get up and slap her. But he also knew that this wasn't the time to be impulsive, so he suppressed the anger burning inside him.

  At this time, Zhou Zhihao on the other side turned around and shouted to Zhou Hao: "Ah Hao, come over and play games with me, this game is so much fun!" His gaze at Zhou Hao seemed to say: "You must not have played a TV game console before."

  "No more, save our sofa from getting dirty." Zhou Xinxin beside him said with a disgusted face: "Mommy, when are they leaving? Look, as soon as they came in, the whole room smells bad."

  "How can you talk to people like that?" Xǔ Yōngwēi said to them, but her eyes still didn't show a hint of blame.

  Zhou Hao's fist, clenched on his leg, trembled slightly as memories of the past flooded his mind. At that time, Yan Tong had been diagnosed with liver cancer and needed to be hospitalized, but Zhou Hao's family was already strapped for cash after he went to college. With no other choice, Zhou Hao turned to Zhou Lichang for help, but he never expected that Zhou Lichang, who already had tens of millions in wealth, would bluntly refuse him. Moreover, Xu Yongwei, who was present at the scene, callously said: "It's terminal cancer anyway, whatever money you spend will be wasted. You should just prepare for the worst."

  Zhou Li Chang's family humiliation of Zhou Hao, Zhou Hao never forgot until his dying moment.

  At this time, Yan Tong, who was sitting next to Zhou Hao, reached out and grabbed the fist that Zhou Hao had clenched, hinting that he should not act impulsively. At the same time, she pleaded with Xu Yongwei: "Sister-in-law, please help us out, Xiao Hao's tuition can't be delayed, we will definitely return the money to you as soon as possible."

  "Alright, alright, it's a family affair after all." Xǔ Yǒngwēi pouted and said: "How much do you want to borrow?"

  One

  "Ten thousand." Zhou Hao said hastily before Yan Tong could speak up.

  Xu Yongwei's eyes widened as she stared at Zhou Hao, "100,000? What did you borrow so much money for? Can you pay it back?"

  Yan Tong also looked at Zhou Hao in surprise, she had only wanted to borrow a thousand yuan.

  Zhou Hao raised his head and said to Xu Yongwei, "We want to do some small business, Auntie, don't worry, this is our last time borrowing money from you, and we will definitely pay it back as soon as possible."

  Under Yan Tong's pleading gaze, Xu Yongwei thought for a moment and said: "Okay, lest people say that Old Zhou doesn't care about the life and death of his brother's family. However, Ah Tong, I'm telling you in advance, you must pay back this money as soon as possible, otherwise even if we are relatives, there is no room to talk about it, and our family's Old Zhou earning money is not easy either."

  Then, Xu Yongwei took out a stack of brand new 100-yuan bills from the room and handed them to Yan Tong.

  However, Zhou Hao saw that in Xu Yongwei's eyes, there was a kind of condescending gaze, as if looking at a beggar.

  "You wait for me, one day I will return the 'great kindness' you have shown me!" After walking out of Zhou Lichang's house, Zhou Hao looked at this luxurious independent villa and made a silent vow.

  On the way back, Yan Tong asked Zhou Hao: "Xiao Hao, why did you borrow 10,000 yuan from your sister-in-law? Are we going to start a business or something?"

  "Mom, we're not going to do some small business. After paying that tuition fee, the remaining money, I plan to use it to speculate in stocks."

  "Stock speculation?" Yan Tong's face was full of surprise. At this time in '98, stock speculation had slowly begun to rise among the common people. However, for Yan Tong, who could barely make ends meet, there was no extra money to invest in stocks. Moreover, even if he didn't understand stocks, Yan Tong knew that stock speculation was a highly risky behavior. There were often rumors in society about someone going bankrupt or even jumping off a building because of stock speculation.

  "That's right." Zhou Hao smiled and said, "Isn't there a securities company just opened across from the Chinese Bank nearby? We can go there to open an account and invest the money in several promising stocks."

  As for Zhou Hao's words, Yan Tong didn't dare to agree, and blamed him: "You're just a kid, what do you know about stocks? Let's return the rest of the money instead, lest your dad finds out and uses it for gambling again."

  Zhou Hao let out a soft sigh, he was only 14 years old and didn't have an ID card yet, so he couldn't open his own account to trade stocks. To trade stocks, he had to go through Yan Tong. Therefore, Zhou Hao had to persuade Yan Tong. He pointed at the noisy market across the street and the nearby vacant lot filled with trash, "Mom, that market is going to be torn down soon, and a large supermarket will be built there. And on that empty land, a five-star hotel will be built. Mom, Xiangcheng's development is getting faster and faster, we must seize the opportunity to improve our lives." He looked deeply at Yan Tong, "Mom, I don't want you to sweep the streets anymore, nor do I want you to hide in the back of that food stall washing dishes all night. I want you to live in a villa, I want you to drive a famous car!"

  Zhou Hao's excitement and anticipation had more or less infected Yan Tong, causing her to also fall into fantasies about the future. However, for her, the risks of stock speculation were just too high, not much better than Zhou Liren taking money to gamble.

  Seeing Yan Tong's deeply worried expression, Zhou Hao asked him: "Mom, do you believe me? Do you believe in Little Hao?"

  "Mom certainly believes in Xiaohao, but..."

  Zhou Hao smiled and interrupted Yan Tong, "Then just leave it to me, that 10,000 yuan is not too little or too much. Rather than leaving it idle, why not use it for investment? I've already analyzed several stocks and believe they will show a significant increase in the short term. Let's go open an account at that new securities company next week."

  In fact, Zhou Hao is only a fourteen-year-old boy now, and it's hard to believe that he wants to start stock trading. But Yan Tong felt for some reason that Zhou Hao's words would definitely come true, and she felt that her son was no longer the ignorant boy he used to be.