Both your salary and your salary will be as you wish.

Chapter 37 Running Away from Home

They can afford the most expensive trophies, but they can't afford to ask "What do you like?" In the end, they raise the loneliest children with the most extravagant displays.

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The celebration banquet had been prepared long ago; the die was cast, and it was time to go.

Zhang Zhishan took the lead in inviting all the guests and the organizing committee to head straight to the hotel banquet hall. Even if things didn't go as planned, this show had to go on until the very end and have a perfect conclusion.

Yu Li sent everyone away, including Wang Haowen, and went straight backstage to see Zhang Zihao.

In front of outsiders, her back was ramrod straight, and her shrewd, fake smile seemed welded on. Only after the last person left backstage, leaving only her and her son, did Yu Li's expression completely change, and she stared coldly at Zhang Zihao.

Zhang Zihao leaned against the cold wall, reverting to his signature nonchalant attitude. He was delighted to see Yu Li trembling with anger. "I've really used your face like a rag today, and you can even turn it into performance art to celebrate? Mom, you're amazing!"

Before Zhang Zihao could even raise his thumb, a sharp "slap" suddenly erupted in the narrow passage, striking Zhang Zihao's face.

Yu Li's chest heaved violently. The usually impeccably dressed woman didn't even care that her lipstick had gotten smudged onto her sleeve. "What sins did I commit in my past life to give birth to such a bastard?!"

Her voice was hoarse, and her eyes flashed with a turbulent mix of anger, disappointment, and utter disarray, but her appearance amused Zhang Zihao.

He licked his cheek, his mouth tasting crimson, and there was a scratch on his face from the diamond ring on Yu Li's hand.

"Aren't you just committing a sin? You spent a fortune to buy me a gold medal, and then I ruined it... What was the point of having me? If you ask me, you should just buy a robot son online, make him do whatever he wants, and let him fly to the sky but he won't dare to go to the ground. Just don't forget to program him to not eat shit."

"Zhang Zihao! Do you have any conscience? How much effort have I put into you, and this is how you repay me?!" Yu Li couldn't hold back her tears.

"conscience?"

Zhang Zihao scoffed, wiping the injury from his face. "What you yourself don't have, where am I, as your son, going to inherit? I'd rather be a useless piece of trash than a puppet you flaunt everywhere. Seeing those bought trophies makes me sick! I feel so insecure! I can't sleep at night! I'm even afraid to strain when I poop, for fear of losing my heart!"

"Get out! Get out of here! I never want to see you again!!" Yu Li completely lost her composure, letting out a sharp, unprecedented scream. She never imagined that everything she had carefully crafted would be betrayed by her most prized son. It was like she had personally embroidered a brocade robe inlaid with gold and jade, eagerly anticipating showing it off, only to have it torn apart and smeared with excrement by her closest person, leaving her with not even the last shred of dignity.

"I can leave, but don't think you're right. You have the time to buy me trophies, but not to ask if I want them?! You're the one who said you didn't want to see me, so don't regret it!" Zhang Zihao turned and left, his back view exuding a cold and resolute air.

As she watched him disappear into the end of the passage, Yu Li felt a sudden emptiness in her heart and completely panicked. Usually, when she got angry, Zhang Zihao, no matter how stubborn he was, would come over with a grin, hug her arm, and say sweet words.

Where can he go this time? Home? Yes! Besides home, where else can he go in this vast sea of ​​people in Beijing?

Yu Li forced herself to calm down, quickly touched up her makeup with a small mirror from her bag, dabbed her lipstick, and once again adopted her impeccable demeanor, she stomped off in her high heels towards the celebration banquet. Since things had already gone awry, she had to see it through to the end and make it a perfect conclusion; she couldn't let Zhang Zhishan enjoy the glory all to himself.

Zeng Jia caught a glimpse of Yu Li arriving alone at the banquet hall entrance, and her heart sank. Had Zhang Zihao, that little devil, really abandoned his post and disappeared? Looking at the two bosses, they were bustling about, clinking glasses, beaming, as if nothing had happened. Zeng Jia genuinely admired their composure; it was incredible!

The seemingly glamorous celebration banquet finally came to an end. Zhang Zhishan and Yu Li did not leave empty-handed. In order to thank the two sponsors for their contributions, the organizing committee specially awarded the couple a letter of appointment as "Music Culture Ambassadors".

The appointment letter gleamed with gold, bestowing honors upon them, as if they had truly made a great contribution to music culture through their generosity.

Seeing that most of the guests had left, Yu Li dialed the home phone, "Is Zihao home yet?" Judging by the time, he should already be home.

"Madam, the young master hasn't returned!" The nanny's voice sounded bewildered and helpless, clearly unaware of the situation.

Yu Li's heart tightened, and she hurriedly dialed Zhang Zihao's number, only to hear a cold female voice on the other end: "The user you dialed cannot be reached..."

The WeChat voice call failed to go through with a single click, and a big red dot popped up, indicating that Zhang Zihao had already blocked and deleted her.

The atmosphere around Yu Li instantly turned as cold as an icebox in the dead of winter; her face turned deathly pale. Zhang Zhishan keenly sensed that something was wrong with her. "What's wrong with you?"

Yu Li shoved her phone screen right in front of his eyes, revealing Zhang Zihao's blocked account. "See? Zihao's been completely spoiled by you!"

Zhang Zhishan frowned, glanced around, and precisely spotted Zeng Jia in the corner. "Go find her!" Zhang Zhishan said succinctly.

"Find him right now!" Yu Li ordered Wang Haowen, her voice hoarse with anger.

Zeng Jia and Wang Haowen quietly slipped out of the banquet hall.

"What kind of mess is this? This young master is really outrageous and has no bottom line! Not only is he wasting so much money, but he's just causing trouble!" Wang Haowen couldn't help but complain.

Zeng Jia glanced at him sideways, "You really are President Yu's good assistant, starting to worry about the money on her behalf?"

"Was I worried about the money? I thought he was being ridiculous!"

"It's not like I'm asking you to pay, so why are you getting all worked up?"

"Hey!" Wang Haowen tilted his head, his eyes scanning Zeng Jia's face like searchlights. "Something's not right, Zeng Xiaojia. You keep retorting to everything I say. Did you know he was going to pull a fast one?"

Zeng Jia's heart skipped a beat. Was it really that obvious? Actually, her phone had just started buzzing as soon as she left the banquet hall. It was a location sent by that little devil: Sister Jia, Guijie Street, hurry up and come over. Don't tell anyone, or we're done!

She didn't know if Wang Haowen, that silly deer, was included in this "anyone". What if he got angry and made a scene if she really brought him along?

"I don't know anything!" Zeng Jia retorted, starting to hide things from him, "You two share miHoYo accounts, didn't you see where his game IP is listed?"

"What the hell! Do you think I'm some kind of Matrix? Climbing over the internet cable to catch people?"

"Then what are you waiting for! Let's split up and search!" Zeng Jia quickly tapped her finger on the map. "You search around the school area, I'll go to Guijie Street. This kid is usually kept like a caged bird by his mother. In my opinion, if he's suffered a huge injustice, the first thing he'll do is eat to appease his stomach!"

Wang Haowen sighed deeply, "He's even complaining..." He doesn't even have the good fortune to have his own mother discipline him; this young master is really too arrogant.

Without further ado, the two got into their respective ride-hailing cars and went their separate ways.

Zeng Jia headed straight to Guijie Street. She needed to check things out first before deciding whether to inform Wang Haowen.

She plunged headlong into the sweltering, noisy, and smoky atmosphere, heading straight for the darkest corner at the back of the hall.

Zhang Zihao was curled up like a wounded kitten. In front of him, a small square table was piled high with plates of red oil, including spicy shredded tripe, duck intestines, spicy blood curd, and various flavors of bright red crayfish. It was piled up so full that it looked like a battlefield.

Upon seeing Zeng Jia, Zhang Zihao grinned, his greasy lips parting in a wide smile. "You're really something, Jia-jie! You even left your boyfriend aside for me? Well done, just like my mom, you're ruthless!"

Zeng Jia paused, as if struck by a blunt object. Zhang Zihao actually mocked her for being like Yu Li, whom she hated most? Just now, when Wang Haowen was criticizing Zhang Zihao, she thought Old Wang was being a bit pretentious. So, in other people's eyes, she had changed too?

"Stop nagging me, just tell me what you're thinking? You're a grown-up, why are you running away from home? With your spending habits, the balance in your card isn't even enough for a few days of shopping!" She didn't have time to think about herself.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Zihao suddenly lost his appetite for the crayfish in his hand. "I just want to test my abilities fairly, I don't want to be manipulated by them. Is that really so difficult?"

Zeng Jia raised her eyelids, stared at him for a full half minute, and finally snorted through her nostrils, "What? Do you want me to curse your parents for you and smooth things over, or do you want to hear something practical?"

Zhang Zihao was taken aback by her sudden retort.

Zeng Jia didn't even need his reply before launching into a full-blown tirade: "You want me to flatter you, huh? Fine, I'll praise you for your personality, your backbone, and how awesome you are. But you want the truth? Your thinking is like green tea that's been steeped in milk tea for three days—it's all stale, yet you're still pretending to be refreshing!"

Zhang Zihao: "..."

"From the moment you were born into your mother's womb, your prenatal education was on par with Rolls-Royce; you were born into a prime school district in Haidian District. You're talking about fairness with me, a test-taker from a small town in Northeast China? Do you even have a key to your house? How many keys do you have?"

She pointed with her chopsticks at the mountain of lobster shells on the table: "These things, I'd only grit my teeth and order twenty at most during holidays to taste them. Look at you, ordering a whole bunch without even blinking, wasting them all. And you're complaining? What are you complaining about? Want to pursue a free spirit? Fine! Don't ask me to pay the bill. The secret stash you keep with me, isn't it just money that slipped through your father's fingers? Is that your money?"

"Yes, Mr. Yu is domineering, controlling you like a satellite, spending money to buy you trophies, which hurts your fragile heart. But if it were me, I would rather my family be so rich that I could enjoy the fruits of their labor and flaunt my wealth every day, instead of working myself to the bone and having to coax a rebellious sixteen-year-old like you."

"Don't take offense at my harsh words, but I'm filled with envy, jealousy, and resentment towards you, this privileged second-generation rich kid who doesn't know how lucky you are. I wish a bolt of lightning would strike and switch our identities so I could enjoy a few days of happiness too!"

Zeng Jia grabbed a bottle of Beibingyang soda from the table and gulped down half of it. The icy sweet water made her shiver and she let out a burp. The weight that had been pressing on her chest for eight hundred years seemed to have really lightened a few pounds, and her breathing became smoother.

Zeng Jia ignored him, quickly put on disposable gloves, and started peeling the shrimp shells. Her favorite garlic flavor wasn't available, and the spicy thirteen-spice flavor would do, but she couldn't stand this extravagance and waste; anything left uneaten had to be packed up.

Zhang Zihao stared blankly at her, never expecting Zeng Jia's lips to move so rapidly, firing at him like a machine gun. He slumped, his fingers digging into the edge of the table. "I... I just wanted to see her really angry. Not the cold, aloof kind, but genuinely furious, to let me know she still has some life in her, not some AI robot..."

"Fine, still a masochist." Zeng Jia didn't even bother to lift her head. "So what if you deserve a beating? I'll tell your mom to find a rolling pin and give you a few whacks, and that'll cure your masochistic tendencies immediately!"

Zhang Zihao curled his lip: "Is there any difference between you and my mother? She always says the same thing: 'It's for your own good,' without caring whether I like it or not."

"First, 'For your own good' is three words! Second..." Zeng Jia stopped what she was doing and stared at him very seriously, "Let me make this clear, I'm on your dad's side. You can lie back, eat, drink, and have fun with someone covering your expenses—who wouldn't be happy? This kind of blissful life is something I never even dared to dream of!"

Whether Zhang Zihao truly listened or was simply overwhelmed by her criticism, he completely shut down his microphone. The two of them focused on their meal, the only sound on the table being the "snap" of peeling shrimp, until Wang Haowen's WeChat message came ringing like a persistent ghost.

"We've found him. He's on Guijie Street. You go back to the villa and wait. I'll take him back now." Zeng Jia didn't hide anything anymore.

Once Wang Haowen received confirmation, he immediately called Yu Li to let her know he was safe. Zeng Jia also quickly called Zhang Zhishan.