“You actually seem like a man,” Zheng Shiqiang muttered, seemingly just a casual remark.
He wasn’t as captivated by the act of taming her as Zheng Yang had imagined.
Instead, after speaking, he immediately pulled out his phone, dialed a number, and turned on the speakerphone.
He placed it on the table between himself and Zheng Yang, as if specifically wanting her to hear.
“Lao Shen, I’ve taken in a daughter. She’s a Black Household. I’ll send you her photo in a moment. Get her onto a household registry and get her an ID card. I need it by tomorrow.”
‘Is it that simple?’
Listening to words that sounded like lines from a CEO romance novel, Zheng Yang felt the true power of capital for the first time.
No wonder so many idiots called that capitalist surnamed Ma ‘Daddy’.
But those people called him that for nothing.
Here she was, actually receiving tangible benefits for it.
However, the response from the other end of the line plunged both Zheng Yang and Zheng Shiqiang into silence.
“Wait, Brother Qiang, tomorrow is the weekend. The staff doesn’t work then.”
‘Wait, that’s not right!’
‘Could such powerful capital really not make a corporate slave within the system work some overtime?’
Zheng Shiqiang remained calm and said, “I’ll pay the overtime fee. 100 times the rate!”
“Brother Qiang, even if you dare to pay it, we wouldn’t dare to take it.”
Zheng Shiqiang finally couldn’t help but roll his eyes.
“I say, Lao Shen, I’m finally trying to act cool here, and you just shut me down like that? My daughter is right here listening. You’re making me lose face!”
*Pfft!* Zheng Yang couldn’t help but let a small sound escape her throat.
‘No, this contrast is just too much…’
The tone on the other end of the line immediately changed.
“Oh! Why didn’t you say so earlier? I didn’t know my niece was there!”
“Now say it again. Can it be done by tomorrow?”
“It can! It definitely can! I’ll arrange it! Here’s the thing, Brother Qiang—since my niece doesn’t have a household registry, does she have any relatives? What information does she have now? Tell me everything, and I’ll write it down…”
“She has no relatives at all. Her name is Zheng Yangyang, gender is female. Other than that, there’s no information.”
“Holy crap, that’s a complete blank slate. Wait, she has to have an age, right?”
Zheng Shiqiang looked at Zheng Yang.
“How old are you?”
Zheng Yang opened her mouth, almost blurting out 38, but luckily she caught herself.
“I… I don’t know…”
“Approximately?”
“I don’t know that either…”
Zheng Yang didn’t dare to make something up.
Her current body, though well-curved where it should be and slender where it should be, generally looked like a high school student.
But a high schooler’s age range could span three or four years.
Zheng Shiqiang shook his head.
He had looked into Zheng Yang’s background and found absolutely nothing.
He had assumed Zheng Yang knew her own age, but it turned out she didn’t even know that…
Lao Shen let out a clicking sound over the phone.
“She doesn’t even know her approximate age? My niece has had a hard life. How about this: if you have time tomorrow or the day after, go get a bone age test or something. That will give us a basis. As long as she’s healthy, the margin of error for bone age is only about a year. When the time comes, we can make her a year younger or a year older, whatever she wants.”
“Fine then. Looks like we’re going to the hospital tomorrow.”
“Right. Call me as soon as the report is out, and we’ll get it done for her immediately!”
Zheng Shiqiang hung up the phone and gave Zheng Yang a slight smile.
“Now, are you a bit more at ease?”
Zheng Yang lowered her head slightly and hummed in affirmation.
“That’s good. Alright, take the collar off.”
“Huh?” Zheng Yang could hardly believe her ears.
“You don’t want to take it off? If you like wearing it, I don’t mind.”
As Zheng Shiqiang finished speaking, his two followers also began to laugh.
It wasn’t that Zheng Yang didn’t want to take it off; she just couldn’t quite figure out what Boss Zheng was trying to achieve with all these twists and turns.
Was he just messing with her for fun?
“Are you confused?”
Zheng Yang nodded.
Zheng Shiqiang leaned forward, smiling seriously.
“If yesterday you were acting high and mighty while in the gutter, then today is about building anew through destruction.”
‘To build anew, one must first destroy? Does he mean crushing my dignity first before helping me?’
“While I trust my ability to read people, I still had to test you. Those things just now—wearing the Bell Collar, barking like a dog—the goal wasn’t to humiliate you, but to see your reaction in the face of humiliation.”
Zheng Yang suddenly understood.
Her small mouth remained parted in surprise for a long time.
“You passed the first two trials, which gave you the qualification to reach the third trial of calling me ‘Daddy’. This third trial wasn’t to humiliate you either, but…”
“To make it easier to help me with the household registration…” Zheng Yang finished for him.
“That’s only one part of it,” Zheng Shiqiang chuckled.
“The second part is that I genuinely want to take you in as my daughter.”
“This…” Zheng Yang felt a wave of panic upon hearing this.
“What? You have no parents, and I have no children. Plus, we share the surname Zheng. Is someone like me not worthy of being your father?”
“I… Boss Zheng, this is too sudden, I…”
Zheng Shiqiang burst out laughing.
“Now you finally look like a young girl. But, I like it.”
Zheng Shiqiang stood up, walked to Zheng Yang’s side, and patted her shoulder.
“I understand it’s hard to adjust. You can think it over. It’s fine whether you agree or not. But rest assured, even if you don’t agree, I will still handle the Black Household issue for you.”
With a wave of his hand, he led his two followers toward the door.
“Oh, right. Take the collar off, unless you want to wear it yourself.”
Zheng Yang felt like she was dreaming.
‘They’re just… leaving?’ They had booked a private room and hadn’t even stayed for more than a few minutes.
Private rooms here required a minimum booking of 2 hours.
As she watched Boss Zheng’s departing back, a line that didn’t seem quite appropriate popped into her mind: ‘To leave after the deed is done, hiding both name and fame.’
She hadn’t even had the chance to say thank you…
Zheng Yang looked at the new phone on the table and picked it up.
Although her emotions were complex, that bright splash of pink on the box didn’t seem as repulsive as it used to be.
Then there was the collar box…
If she hadn’t seen the box, her dazed state might have actually made her forget there was a shameful restraint around her neck.
But to be honest, this restraint wasn’t actually that uncomfortable…
‘Should I take it off?’
For many years, Zheng Yang had always been the type to repay every kindness.
Whenever she received even a small favor she couldn’t return, she would fall into a state of panic and self-reproach.
This time, Boss Zheng thought so highly of her and was solving a massive identity crisis for her.
What did she have to offer in return?
Agreeing to be his daughter?
No.
Although subjectively it still felt shameful, objectively speaking, a Black Household girl in a grey profession becoming the goddaughter of a local tycoon was an absolute leap in status—a miraculous encounter that countless girls could only dream of.
As long as the man’s character wasn’t a major issue, this only benefited her.
It couldn’t be considered ‘repayment’ at all…
Then, surely it couldn’t be through her body…
Zheng Yang fell into that familiar sense of confusion once again.
‘Repayment’ seemed to be something she could only offer right now by continuing to wear this collar.