Ch. 5 – Madman

Although the original Shen Yu grew up in this city, the current Shen Yu was someone who showed up unexpectedly and without an invitation [1] . He was not familiar with the city’s routes, so he gave all the work of arranging the itinerary to Uncle Zhang.

Unfortunately, Uncle Zhang is an old man and didn’t enjoy shopping at all, so he could only to turn to Aunt Chen on the topic of where to go. The similarly unaware Aunt Chen had to run to ask her daughter before she learned where they sold some good things.

They did not take bodyguards on this trip, and instead only brought Uncle Zhang and Aunt Chen.

Uncle Zhang was responsible for driving and pushing Shen Yu’s wheelchair. Aunt Chen was responsible for carrying things. The work was evenly distributed.

Perhaps because Shen Yu sat in a wheelchair, as soon as they entered the shopping mall, they attracted the attention of a considerable number of people. The per-capita consumption rate in this shopping mall is one of the best in the country [2], and only VIP customers are sent membership cards.

As early as when the mall opened, it took the initiative to send a membership card to the original Shen Yu. Unfortunately, the original owner was not interested in leisure activities such as shopping and watching movies, as a result, he never once set foot in here.

Shen Yu and his party went to the lobby on the first floor and saw a nervous looking middle-aged man in a stiff suit rushing to meet them.

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“It’s a pleasure to meet you Mr. Shen.” The man’s face was full of smiles and both his words and deeds carried a tone of flattery. “I’m the manager here. My surname is Fu. Please, just call me Xiao Fu. [3]“

“…” Shen Yu looked at a middle-aged man who was obviously older than himself for a couple of seconds and finally greeted with a smile, “Hello.”

Manager Fu rubbed his hands and said with a slight nervousness, “It’s rare for Mr. Shen to come here. Is there anything I can do for you?”

Shen Yu looked at the silent Tang Li beside him, and his originally cold eyes unconsciously became gentle. He said, “I want to buy some clothes and daily necessities for my family’s child [4].”

“Oh-“

Manager Fu lengthened his tone and quickly glanced at Tang Li, then a trace of doubt and surprise flashed in his eyes.

But he dared not gossip about the Shen family. Instead, he recommended himself, “I am very familiar with this place. If it is convenient for Mr. Shen, I can show you around.”

Shen Yu did not refuse: “Then we’ll inconvenience you.”

Manager Fu started laughing and replied, “It’s no inconvenience at all.”

—————————

Shen Yu has always known that the Shen family has a pivotal position in the upper circle. Even the rich and powerful officials will concede their greatness in front of the Shen family, not to mention a group of rich people who can’t boast about their own identities and instead want to hug the Shen family’s thigh.

When he first came to the world, Shen Yu did not know why this was. Later, he slowly learned about the Shen’s history. A hundred years ago, the founders of Shen’s family began operating in the underworld.

It was not until Shen Yu’s father’s generation that the Shen family was completely washed white.

However, the dark forces that the Shen family cultivated a hundred years ago cannot be dissolved overnight. With the current growth of the Shen family, those forces still seem to be vigorously developing.

In short, the Shen family has been a family of black and white people for centuries. Not only is it as simple as having money, as long as they latch onto the Shen family, many subsequent projects will be much easier to carry out.

With this knowledge, even if Shen Yu seldom appeared in public for the past year, even a passer-by with a certain identity can recognize him at a glance.

So, while Shen Yu and others were led around by manager Fu, and a group of people started to create a chatter around them. Eventually, even a few paparazzi mixed in with the crowd.

Through the crowd and the security guards, the paparazzi raised their voices and asked their questions.

“Mr. Shen, I heard that you have given up the management of the company over the past year. What are you going to do next?”

“Mr. Shen, we are all curious about how you will handle the company without a successor. You and Miss Du’s engagement has reached a critical point. Will you cancel the engagement and marry another one?”

“I heard that Elder Shen intends to let you adopt the child of the Tang family, but before your parents’ bones are even cold, your grandpa will ask for the property of the Shen family under their surnames. What do you think of this matter?”

The paparazzi kept chattering, making Shen Yu’s ears hum.

Shen Yu lowered his head and rubbed his temple irritably.

He has never been good at dealing with these types of problems. When his dessert shop was popular on the Internet, a group of lively girls would come around to take pictures of him every day and happily ask personal questions.

Shen Yu could not answer, so he could only choose to escape.

“Enter the elevator.” Shen Yu muttered to Uncle Zhang, who was pushing the wheelchair.

“Understood.” Uncle Zhang answered, and immediately asked Aunt Chen to press the elevator key in front of her.

The current situation is not optimistic for them. Six security guards are not enough to resist the aggressive passers-by and paparazzi. The support team called by the manager is still on the way. It most likely it won’t be long before they are completely surrounded by those people.

Uncle Zhang suddenly regretted not bringing the bodyguards with them.

The young master is just an ordinary businessman. He does not belong to the entertainment circle. Why should he be besieged by this group of parasites?!

Besides, the young master is recovering from a serious illness, he stays at home day and night and refuses to meet people. What if this event leaves a shadow in his heart.

The more Uncle Zhang thought of this, the more irritable he became, and the more he had the impulse to tear up those vermin in the past. Just as he tried to suppress this emotion, he suddenly heard a cry of alarm.

Shen Yu was also frightened by the sudden sound and immediately looked back.

The gauze wrapped around Tang Li’s hand had been removed at some point. He had a baseball bat in his hands.

The little villain’s expressionless face exuded murderous intent; his obsidian-like eyes surged.

There was a distinct atmosphere of disgust surrounding his whole body. His dark eyes seemed to glow with blood. He stared fiercely at the leading paparazzi member. He squeezed out a word from the gap between his teeth: “Leave.”

This type of Tang Li shocked everyone.

Even Shen Yu was too shocked to speak at that moment.

The forehead of the paparazzi leader showed a large conspicuous bump, he squatted on the ground gritting his teeth in pain. Next to him, his companion reacted, and quickly put away his equipment. He began cursing Tang Li and stepped forward to teach him a lesson.

Who knows why Tang Li suddenly threw away his baseball bat and took two steps back?

The man grinned ferociously: “Where did this kid come from? How dare you run to our Mr. Shen and slap my friend? Today I’ll teach you a lesson in place of your mother!”

As soon as the voice fell, Tang Li’s right hand shook slightly, and there was a flash of silver.

Shen Yu was so frightened by the sudden situation that he turned pale and before he could get Uncle Zhang to go to persuade him, he saw Tang Li holding a dagger in his right hand.

The dagger shined horribly in the bright light.

With a grin on Tang Li’s lips, his tender face showed an expression of gloom that did not match his age. He lowered his voice and said, “Come here if you are not afraid of death.”

The man suddenly froze, suddenly not knowing what to think, his whole being was in a state of shock.

“That’s the Tang family’s son!” The man turned to his companion and exclaimed.

The paparazzi with a bump on his head was very angry and shouted, “Who cares whose dog he is, teach him a lesson first! Spare the rod, spoil the child! [5]“

“Get your head out of your ass!” The stunned man grabbed his companion and ran away. “Who the fuck cares with that madman you say? He almost stabbed his relatives to death!”

After that, the two men had run out of sight.

At this time, the security team called by Manager Fu finally arrived late, driving out the remaining passers-by and paparazzi, and escorting out the other customers in the mall.

At last, the noisy atmosphere was quiet, and Shen Yu, who had been having a headache, was relieved.

“Sir.” Uncle Zhang asked, “Shall we go back?”

Shen Yu shook his head. “We haven’t bought anything yet.”

Zhang Shu had thought that Shen Yu would be affected by this incident. Now that the young master looks so calm, he can rest assured.

However, Tang Li’s performance just now really shocked Uncle Zhang and Aunt Chen. If Tang Li only hit the paparazzi with a stick, they could also understand that the child was angry, but what Tang Li said later…

It’s chilling.

Thinking of this, Uncle Zhang and Aunt Chen looked at Shen Yu at the same time.

Yesterday, Shen Yu decided to adopt Tang Li by his own will, they feared that after this incident, he would regret it.

[1] 半路殺出個程咬金 meaning “Cheng Yaojin shows up suddenly along the way”. Used to describe a situation where someone shows up unexpectedly and disrupts a plan. It is also used to describe an unwelcome busybody who shows up where he/she is not wanted. Cheng Yaojin was general in Ancient China. Incidentally, he is also the star of another well know Chinese idiom, “Cheng Yaojin and his three axe strokes” (程咬金三板斧). Which is used to describe someone with a limited repertoire of skills, i.e. someone relying on the same old tricks. Apparently he is not well liked.

You can more about him here (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheng_Yaojin). Also I took all this information directly from Wikipedia.

[2] for those of you wondering (and also because it gives me a chance to flex that economics/finance degree), when the author says per-capita consumption rate is one of the best, per-capita means the amount of something (usually money) divided by people. For example, if 3 people collectively earn $10,000 and 1 person earns $1 million dollars, then the earnings per-capita is $252,500 (($10,000+$1,000,000)/(3+1)).

So, by saying the per-capita consumption rate is one of the best, it’s implying that a lot of money is spent by a very small amount of people.

[3] I assume most of you know that “xiao” means small, and to call someone “Xiao [Name]” is an incredibly casual tone to have and is usually used among close friends and family. So it’s inappropriate to call someone that when that person is considered “above you” in a sense, such as being significantly older than you.

[4] He’s very specifically calling him “my family’s child” and not “my child”. I’m pretty sure this is like saying “a child of my household” and is subtle way of saying that he is not the biological child of Shen Yu. It’s a pretty vague way to describe a child’s relationship within the family, so it leaves a lot of room for people to make assumptions.

[5] The actual idiom was something like, “if the mother hits at an early age, the child won’t sit in prison when they’re an adult.”