Zheng Yang obediently took the 5,000 yuan, changed into the short-skirted school uniform, and headed out the door.
‘If I don’t spend it all, I’m not allowed to go home?’
Zheng Yang thought about her experience doing housework these past few days and came up with an idea.
Because she had quite a few items to buy, Zheng Yang didn’t make it home until 12:00 PM.
However, she sent Old Zheng a message in advance, saying she would pick up some food for lunch and told him to just wait at home.
When Zheng Yang opened the front door, she immediately shouted inside.
“Dad, I spent all the money!”
Zheng Shiqiang walked over from inside.
He saw Zheng Yang drenched in sweat and panting heavily, as if she had just finished some intense manual labor.
“How did you get so tired just buying clothes?”
Just as he finished speaking, Zheng Yang dragged in a knee-high cardboard box from outside the door.
It looked quite heavy.
“What’s this, Yangyang?”
“A small washing machine specifically for washing my underwear.”
Zheng Yang gave a mischievous smile.
“Don’t think I don’t know how to enjoy myself with Dad’s money!”
“Good, good. A great purchase…”
Before Zheng Shiqiang could finish, Zheng Yang exerted all her strength to lug in another machine, over 1 meter tall.
“This is a floor scrubber! Mopping will be so much easier for me from now on!”
Zheng Yang’s face was flushed from exhaustion, and stray hairs were dampened by sweat and stuck to her forehead.
She spoke with great pride.
“Dad, you’ll never guess how much this cost!”
Zheng Shiqiang’s expression darkened slightly as he asked plainly.
“How much?”
“Two thousand three hundred!”
Heh…
Zheng Shiqiang suddenly realized what was happening.
This brat would rather buy things to make her chores easier than buy clothes for herself.
Her thoughts were always on how to contribute, never on how to enjoy life.
He squinted at her and asked.
“How much more is outside the door?”
“Not much!”
Zheng Yang replied casually.
She bent over and moved three or four more large boxes and small containers inside one by one.
Finally, she carried a shopping bag filled with clothes into the house.
Zheng Shiqiang felt a pang of heartache.
They lived on the sixth floor.
Even with an elevator and a car to transport everything to the bottom of the building, moving so many items up was still a lot of effort.
Yet, Zheng Yang had a “mission accomplished” look on her face.
She held up the bag.
“These are the clothes I bought. Pink and bright! See how well I listen to my dad?”
“Oh, and there are ten pairs of socks inside for you,” she added.
Zheng Shiqiang didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
At the very least, it was an improvement that she knew to buy something pink.
But when he curiously took the bag and looked inside, his face immediately fell.
“It’s another tracksuit!”
“It’s pink!”
“A pink one is still a tracksuit!”
Zheng Shiqiang was reaching his breaking point.
He pointed at the pile of items Zheng Yang had brought in and questioned her loudly.
“I told you to buy clothes and bags! You spent 5,000 yuan on this pile of junk?!”
Zheng Yang stood there obediently.
“You said I wasn’t allowed back if I didn’t spend it all. I spent it all!”
She whispered.
Zheng Shiqiang rubbed his temples.
‘Such a good girl. Playing tricks on me?’
“Cancel all company meetings tomorrow. I’m going shopping with you for the whole day!”
“Huh?! No, Dad! I was wrong, okay? I was wrong!”
Zheng Yang grew frantic.
“No! Regarding this matter, you have zero ‘credibility’ with me anymore!”
Zheng Shiqiang snorted and pointed toward the dining room.
“Eat first!”
Zheng Yang quickly grabbed another bag and walked inside.
“Dad, I bought… Huh? Why does it smell so good?”
When she reached the dining room, she saw Zheng Shiqiang carrying steaming dishes out of the kitchen.
“Dad, why did you cook? Didn’t I say I’d buy something back?”
Zheng Yang was genuinely confused.
Zheng Shiqiang smiled.
“We can heat up what you bought for dinner. Come, try your old man’s cooking!”
Zheng Yang froze for a moment.
To her, those words seemed incredibly foreign.
In the past, his wife had found it troublesome and rarely cooked for him.
He had been considerate and didn’t want to make things difficult for her.
Every day, he would eat ten-yuan fried rice or noodles outside.
Sometimes, he felt it was too expensive to eat out every day, so he would just skip a meal.
The main reason he didn’t cook for himself wasn’t just because he was busy.
It was because if he cooked for himself, it would make his wife feel guilty, as if she never cooked for her husband.
He didn’t want his wife to feel guilty.
And now, the richest man in the city was personally cooking just so she could have a good meal…
Thinking of this, Zheng Yang’s eyes grew red again.
“Dad… why are you cooking for me? You shouldn’t cook for me! Waaah…”
Zheng Shiqiang knew her “overly considerate” habit was acting up again.
He walked over, held her shoulders, and gently pressed her into her seat.
“What? Afraid your dad’s cooking tastes bad? You haven’t even tasted it yet, so how do you know?”
“No, Dad! It smells amazing. I want to eat it just from the scent…”
Zheng Shiqiang raised an eyebrow, looking skeptical.
“Is that so? Don’t just try to flatter me.”
Zheng Yang let out a watery laugh, a bubble even appearing at her nose.
She grabbed a tissue and wiped her face.
“Dad, don’t be so good to me…”
“Yangyang, you’re worth it.”
Zheng Shiqiang placed his large hand on the back of Zheng Yang’s head and stroked it gently.
Zheng Yang burst into tears again.
She really couldn’t handle words like that.
“Alright, enough with the sentimentality. Eat, eat!”
Trembling as she cried, Zheng Yang picked up her bowl.
She took a bite while sniffing back tears, then set it down.
Looking at her father, she said solemnly.
“Dad, from now on, I will do whatever you tell me to do. I am at your command, with no ulterior motives!”
“Oh, look at you using fancy language!”
Zheng Shiqiang was surprised at first, then he laughed and pointed at the bowl.
“Eat! Don’t make me say it a fourth time!”
Zheng Yang closed her eyes and savored Zheng Shiqiang’s cooking…
Mmm… It’s so delicious…
Because she had been too exhausted in the morning, Zheng Yang became sleepy soon after finishing lunch.
She wrapped herself tightly in a summer quilt on the bed and slept very soundly.
However, in the end, she dreamed of herself as a 38-year-old man hugging Zheng Shiqiang.
She woke up in a fright.
“Dad, I’m sorry…”
Zheng Yang muttered to herself uneasily.
“If you knew the truth about me, would you regret this? But… I really didn’t mean to lie to you…”
*
After another night, Zheng Shiqiang indeed took Zheng Yang to the city’s largest shopping mall early the next morning.
The fourth floor of the mall was for women’s clothing.
In the past, she had accompanied her wife, Bai Jie, here many times.
Her favorite thing back then was finding a seat to rest while her wife tried on clothes.
Now, Zheng Shiqiang was accompanying her and making her pick out clothes.
She still just wanted to find a seat and rest.
“Pick out what you like!”
Zheng Shiqiang kept urging Zheng Yang, who looked like she hadn’t fully woken up yet.
“Dad, I don’t know. How about we stop looking for now? You need to get to your meeting!”
‘Heh, such a transparent little scheme…’
“I’m not leaving until you pick out a few things. The sooner you finish, the sooner I can leave. Maybe I’ll even make it to the meeting.”
Zheng Shiqiang smiled and continued.
“Who was it that told me yesterday they were ‘at my command’?”
Upon hearing that, Zheng Yang let out a painful groan.
She really wanted to add a condition to her promise—specifically, “don’t force me to buy clothes.”
She had a great figure now, so picking out clothes was easy.
Despite being an old office worker in her past life, she believed she still had high aesthetic standards.
However, she had baggage.
It wasn’t just the shame of having a man’s soul…
She spotted a light blue floral dress.
She knew that from an aesthetic perspective, it would definitely look good on her.
But then she remembered the dream from yesterday afternoon.
If the day ever came where she revealed the truth and was abandoned by Zheng Shiqiang, then the prettier the clothes she bought now, the bigger the joke she would become.
How could she dare to sink too deep into this beautiful dream?
Zheng Shiqiang thought she was still worried about delaying his meeting.
Unable to bear it, he sighed softly and walked to her side.
“Actually, I didn’t even have any meetings today.”
“Wow, you… you’re so mean, Dad!”