Chapter 55: Paranoia

Translated by: kevin1782

Edited by: Isalee

Gao Yang’s mom frantically rushed into the kitchen but soon came out again. She told them hurriedly, "You guys talk first, I’m going out to buy meat and vegetables. Will be back soon. Old Gao, you look after Yang Yang, don’t let him run around.”

After saying that, his mother went to the bedroom and took some money out. Gao Yang was very observant and immediately found his mother clutching only change, most of them one RMB bucks. A lot of them were fifty cent coins.

Gao Yang’s house conditions were good and his father had worked hard for most of his life. There was at least one million in savings at home. There was a set of more than a hundred and fifty square meters of large houses in addition to that. There were a.s.sets from the plant too. They were at least five million altogether. Being a millionaire was really nothing these past few years, but they were still a rich family.

Reminiscent of the sale of the big house, Gao Yang didn’t need people to tell him what had happened. He stood up from the sofa and whispered, "Dad, Mom, you have endured much hards.h.i.+p."

Gao Yang’s dad smiled and chuckled, "As long as you’re back, everything else is nothing. I'm not old yet, just gonna get going with work man. Since you are back too, let's do it well together. It’s gonna take only a few years and the days will be good once again. My son, you don’t need to feel burdened, we’ll celebrate properly today."

Gao Yang nodded and then took out a lot of red and green banknotes from his pocket. He put them on the coffee table.

Those in red were RMB, the green, USD.

"Dad, Mom, I wasn’t able to come back these few years. However, I did I happen to complete a business deal. Now we have money, hundreds of thousands of it! No need to worry, our days will get better really soon. Don’t be afraid, it’s wholesome money, spend it with no guilt. When there’s time, I’ll tell you how the money came about. Now we should get a good feast going first!”

Gao Yang's mother nodded repeatedly and said, "Good, good, Gao Yang’s a fine man now! I already knew that if Mommy trusted you, our days wouldn’t be bad at all. I’m going out to buy food right now."

Gao Yang's mother spoke about going to buy food, but her feet didn’t move and neither did her eyes move away from her son. She only saw her son just now and she couldn’t bear to leave even half a step — but she remembered that she had to make a feast for Gao Yang. It seemed to be extremely contradictory.

Gao Yang smiled, grabbed a pile of banknotes, and said, "Mom, I’m going with you. Let Dad prepare the dough with flour so we can come back and pinch some dumplings."

Gao Yang's proposal was unanimously approved by his parents. Gao Yang and his mother then bought cabbage and meat as quickly as possible at the market and hurried back home so that she could make Gao Yang’s favorite pork-cabbage dumplings. While they were buying groceries, Gao Yang’s mother didn’t let go of her son’s hand no matter what she was doing.

They got back home after buying groceries. Gao Yang's mother immediately began mincing up the meat and Gao Yang’s dad was at the side, making the dough. Gao Yang didn’t know anything so he just stood at the side. Gao Yang took this opportunity to describe how the three years had been for him. The three pinched dumplings and conversed at the same time. When the family of three sat down and ate the hot dumplings, Gao Yang also fluently narrated the story of how he saved Morgan and his son. Of course, Gao Yang omitted the parts about the war and killings. He just said it was coincidental that he saved them. They were also grateful and hence sent him a large sum of money. They were the ones that also sent him back.

 Gao Yang also found out why his parents had moved back to the old house.

The plane crashed in Ethiopia. Search and rescue workers quickly found the wreckage and found most of the bodies, bits and pieces some of them, on the plane. Only Gao Yang’s was missing. However, they came to the conclusion that n.o.body could survive that.

Ethiopia refused to continue the search for just Gao Yang’s cadaver. They reported that everyone had already died. However, Gao Yang's father didn’t succ.u.mb to it. Gotta see the man if alive, cadaver if dead.

In order to find Gao Yang, his father hired people to find his location with his own money. When there was a lot, about one to two hundred people would be searching for Gao Yang.

Gao Yang's father had really sunk into a state of paranoia. In three years he had gone to Ethiopia six times, each time for a period of two to three months. In order to find Gao Yang, he gave up his factory and used the savings first. After that, he sold the house and the money was used up so he sold the factory. Even the small house of only sixty square meters that they currently lived in was mortgaged to the bank. The loan amounting to hundreds of thousands of bucks was his father's expenditure to his trip to Africa.

All the valuable things would be sold up until Gao Yang’s return. If he hadn’t come back with the hundred grand with him, the small house they lived in would become the bank’s property.

Of course, not all the valuables were sold. Everything in Gao Yang’s bedroom was left alone as they were taken to the smaller apartment and placed exactly the way Gao Yang wanted in his bedroom.

Gao Yang's family was now impoverished in fact, but Gao Yang's parents weren’t bothered. They felt that it was fine as long as Gao Yang came back. Though he was touched and was tearing up, he didn’t care about his family's financial situation. Except for the ninety-plus thousand USD in transit that could help succor the situation, he also believed that his ability to make money could let his parents live a comfortable life again.

Although the content of the whole conversation was melancholic, they spoke about it in a tone like it didn’t matter. When they were about done talking and were enjoying the familial joy while eating the dumplings, the door suddenly sounded.

Gao Yang's father happily opened the door but saw four to five shaved-bald, brawny men.

Gao Yang's father froze for a moment, and asked puzzledly, "Who are you looking for?"

One of the men gave a cold smile and said, "Gao Wu, right? We’re looking for you. The money that you owe, when are you going to return it?"

After saying that, the ruffians flocked into Gao Yang’s small living room. Gao Yang who was sitting down stood up straight away. Although his mother didn’t know what was happening, she pulled Gao Yang tightly and shook her head repeatedly with tears in her eyes and repeatedly shook her head.

Gao Yang didn’t speak temporarily, but after his father looked at Gao Yang, he said to those few hostile and menacing-looking men, "You guys must have made a mistake, right? I don’t owe n.o.body money."

The baldie who was also the leader said, "You wanna deny it? Hehe, not so easy, the five hundred grand you owe Mr. Zhao? Don’t intend on returning it?"

"Mr. Zhao?"

Gao Yang's father paused in thought for a moment. Then suddenly became furious and said, "You are talking about Zhao Xin Wen?"

"Yes, that’s right, that Mr. Zhao. Good that you remember. When do you want to return him the money you owe?"

"Bullsh*t, I have paid it off, I sold the factory at a discounted price. He got a sweet deal, how is it that I owe him now? Where’s Zhao Xin Wen? You tell him to confront me face-to-face! Oh, I got it. I was in a hurry to go. I didn’t return the IOU[1] loan agreement. He was going to make me pay the debt twice. "

"Cut the c.r.a.p, the IOU is still in our boss’s hands, if you don’t return the money today, he he, we bros ain’t going nowhere today."

Translator’s note(s):