Chapter 256 - Zhang Meimei’s Visit
Translator: Lav
Editor: Seliniaki Ilikia
It was already dinner time when Shi Lei returned to his apartment and recalled that Lü Jiaqiang had told him to go back to school. He originally wanted to call him, but remembered that Lü Jiaqiang hadn’t called him back after that. If there was really something important, the school would call him. The other three in the dorm hadn’t made any moves, which told Shi Lei that there shouldn’t be anything wrong.
Perhaps Lü Jiaqiang just became crazy all of a sudden and wanted to show off his authority as a member of the student council, so he decided to pick on Shi Lei.
Because he already knew that Zhen Xu’s project and his company will have massive profit, Shi Lei was exceptionally happy. He went downstairs to check out the restaurants, yet none of them seemed good enough for him. If Wei Qing was in Wudong, he could’ve asked him out for a drink, but Wei Qing wasn’t.
As for Wei Xingyue, Shi Lei thought that it would be better not to interact with her too much, since it had lately already started going in the wrong direction. Shi Lei didn’t have the extravagant hope of developing something with a fuerai like Wei Xingyue. It wasn’t entirely because of Sun Yiyi, but because he had the self awareness that Wei Xingyue’s background wasn’t something that he could encroach on.
He couldn’t contact Yu Banzhi either. It was already a big deal that Yu Banzhi had treated him like a child, and he couldn’t disturb him about small things.
The three people from the dorm? Shi Lei didn’t want to see them getting surprised over everything. It was nice to just drink and chat, but Shi Lei had something on his mind and he was worried that he’ll say it after drinking. It was fine if he only talked about the app, but it would be real trouble if he became drunk and talked about the Black Card.
After thinking about it, he realized that he didn’t even have anyone to have a good time with. He ate some random food, but he felt like he was chewing on wax. He ended up going to the wine shop, buying a bottle of wine worth over 1,000 yuan, and buying some meat snacks.
“Ah, I can’t even find someone to get drunk with. I can only drink by myself.” Shi Lei returned to his apartment gloomily. His phone rang when he had just opened the wine.
Surprisingly, it was from Zhang Meimei.
“Hello, Lawyer Zhang.”
Zhang Meimei’s voice didn’t sound as formal as before, but she did sound like she was smiling. “Teacher Shi, are you busy?”
“Not really. Please don’t hesitate to say if there’s something up.”
Zhang Meimei paused for a while. “Well, including the time when I took Er’jie to the beach and the the incident with your family, it has been more than two weeks since you’ve tutored Er’jie. Although she doesn’t say it, her emotions don’t seem right. Of course, I told her that something happened to someone in your family and so you’d be busy recently…”
Shi Lei then realized that he indeed hadn’t seen Zhang Liangliang for three weeks. She was also exceptionally obedient and didn’t pester him at all.
“I’m sorry about that. Are Er’jie’s grades stable?”
“Yes, it looks like she wants to try hard to aim for a good high school. It’s all thanks to you.”
“That’s good. Lawyer Zhang, what I think is that there’s no need for me to tutor her if her grades and learning are stable. You know the situation as well. I really didn’t help much. If you say that I did, then I just helped her with some mental health problems. I am ashamed that even if I can go back in time to when I was in middle school, her grades would be much better than mine. I can’t teach her anything at all. So I can go visit her to chat if you think she needs it. But as for being her tutor, let’s stop it here.”
Zhang Meimei remained silent for a while, but was slightly worried. “Er’jie looks like she trusts you a lot. I’m scared that once I tell her this, she’ll go back to how she was before…”
“What makes her go back to her previous state would be you also returning to when you didn’t care about her. I think she just lacks someone to communicate with. That person can be me, but you are the best person because there should be plenty of communication between mother and daughter. And even if I go to your place in a few days, I’ll have to go back to Runzhou next week because it’s a holiday. As for Chinese New Year, you know my family’s situation. My father is still hospitalized and I want to go home and help my mother look after him.”
Zhang Meimei sighed. “That’s reasonable. But how to interact with my daughter, I…Teacher Shi, do you time right now? Let’s talk face to face. Let me learn how to communicate with my daughter.”
Shi Lei thought it over for a moment. He had some questions to ask Zhang Meimei, since he and Zhen Xu would definitely be collaborating and he needed a professional to arrange the contract for the investment.
“Okay, you can decide on a place…Actually, what about my place? I actually have some questions regarding law that I would like to ask you.”
“It’s the follow-up from this afternoon, right?” Zheng Meimei immediately understood. “Send me your address. I’ll come as soon as possible.”
After Shi Lei gave his address to Zhang Meimei, the doorbell rang merely twenty minutes later.
Shi Lei placed his half-consumed glass of wine onto the table and looked at the display screen. As expected, it was Zhang Meimei. She was standing downstairs in her usual gray suit.
He quickly pressed the unlock button. “Lawyer Zhang, you can come up. I won’t go down to pick you up.”
Zhang Meimei came in and quickly knocked on the door. She scanned the room as soon as she entered. “You certainly lied to us before. I really thought that you were a poor student who tutored for living expenses. Now I know that you aren’t short on money at all.”
Shi Lei scratched his head awkwardly. “I rented this house.”
“The housing here isn’t cheap, is it? At least 5,000 yuan per month?”
Shi Lei coughed dryly. “About right. But I really needed money when I was tutoring Er’jie. The people you saw in Runzhou were really friends I just contacted and I didn’t that they were that rich.”
“Not only your friends from Runzhou, but that Young Master Wei as well. The Wei family is quite well known in Modu.”
“It was unexpected for me to meet Wei Qing. If you don’t think it’s troublesome, I can tell you about it.”
“I’ve been busy today and since you have a bottle of wine here, do you mind if I drink some?” Zhang Meimei sat on the couch herself and looked at Shi Lei.
Shi Lei quickly took a glass, washed it, and passed it to Zhang Meimei. “Please pour however much you would like. I’m just bored and I thought of drinking some.”
Zhang Meimei picked up the bottle with a smile, glanced at it, and poured some for herself. “Isn’t this wine more than 1,000 yuan? But your family is indeed strange. I thought that your parents looked like ordinary people, but Teacher Shi, you…”
“I earned this money recently,” Shi Lei explained awkwardly. Then he briefly recounted how he met Yu Banzhi, and how Yu Banzhi introduced him to Wei Qing. Of course, he wasn’t going to tell her that he had met Wei Qing before. Then he said that Wei Qing gave him some behind-the-scenes information and he used the opportunity to earn some money.
Zhang Meimei didn’t express any opinions and Shi Lei didn’t know whether she believed or not. But it wasn’t important. She began to chat with Shi Lei casually about Zhang Liangliang and earnestly sought ways to communicate with her.
Shi Lei tried his best to answer the questions, but the majority were just his guesses, since he and Zhang Liangliang just happened to get along.