Chapter 103: My Father, the Richest Man

A black Mercedes S500 with a Beijing license plate was parked on the side of Nanyuan Road.

The middle-aged man handed a Zhongnanhai cigarette to Xu Heng: "Young man, do you smoke?"

Xu Heng glanced at his hair-gelled, shiny head, then nodded and took it.

"I'm her father." The middle-aged man pointed at Jiang Mengyuan, who was standing not far away with her head down, silent. "Jiang Lianghui, just call me Uncle Jiang."

"Uncle Jiang." Xu Heng replied.

Jiang Lianghui nodded with satisfaction, then asked: "What is your name, young man? Where do you live? What do your parents do for a living?"

Facing his interrogation, which felt like a census check, Xu Heng only gave a brief introduction of himself; as for his parents, he said they were ordinary workers.

"Wannan... Xu Heng, that's a good name. 'Proceeding slowly and persevering'—your parents are cultured people." Jiang Lianghui smiled, then immediately added, "Do you know what I do?"

"President of Hongjiang Group, in real estate." Xu Heng answered.

Hearing this, Jiang Lianghui was stunned for a moment, then laughed: "It seems you've done quite a bit of homework to pursue my daughter."

Xu Heng shook his head and said: "Uncle Jiang, I think you may have misunderstood. Your reputation in the Beijing real estate circle has been very high these past two years. I know you from the news; it has nothing to do with your daughter."

Jiang Lianghui took a puff of his cigarette, then exhaled a smoke ring slowly through his mouth and nose: "I don't believe it."

"Hongjiang Group Co., Ltd., founded in 1990, is a large-scale international enterprise group integrating real estate construction, entertainment services, port logistics, overseas trade, and other industries. Its market valuation reached 31 billion US dollars in 2006. Uncle Jiang, you hold 45 percent of the shares personally, ranking fourth on the Huaxia Rich List and the richest man in Beijing."

Xu Heng spread his hands, "If I were just pursuing your daughter, there would be no need to know so much."

Jiang Lianghui glanced at him, quite surprised: "Did you memorize the Baidu Encyclopedia?"

"I just have a good memory," Xu Heng said modestly.

To be honest, if this big shot hadn't come to Tong City to invest in building a plaza in his previous life, he might not have recognized him either.

However, what he didn't expect was that Jiang Mengyuan's father was actually this richest man in Beijing!

One of the few wealthiest people in the entire country.

No wonder she told her viewers not to send tips during her livestreams in her previous life, saying her streaming was purely a personal hobby; it turns out she just didn't care for that little bit of money from streaming.

"Then you can't be faking the fact that you just said you liked my daughter, right?" Jiang Lianghui questioned.

Xu Heng smiled awkwardly: "A misunderstanding, it's all a misunderstanding. There were other reasons for that just now. Why don't I find a place to treat you to tea, Uncle, and we can talk slowly."

Jiang Lianghui checked the time on his watch and then said: "I have things to do later, so let's not talk more."

"Then what about tomorrow?"

"I have arrangements tomorrow too. I'm only staying in Jinling for these two days to handle some company business and incidentally come to see my daughter."

Jiang Lianghui said with a smile, "You don't need to be so guarded against me, young man. I'm not one of those old fossils in TV dramas who demand equal social status for marriage. I won't interfere in the matter between you and my daughter. If you want to pursue her, go ahead; if you can win her over, that's your ability."

He waved his hand, said something to the driver, and then walked over to Jiang Mengyuan. He spoke over there, and Jiang Mengyuan kept nodding.

After the father-daughter chat ended, Jiang Lianghui strode into the big Mercedes.

When the car engine started, the black one-way perspective window was rolled down halfway. Jiang Lianghui seemed to have more to say, so he leaned out to instruct his daughter.

"Listen to your teachers at school, don't cause trouble, make more friends, expand your network, and change that mopey personality of yours. If you get bullied at school, tell your father immediately. Your father doesn't have much power, but I can still uphold justice for you."

After saying this, he glanced at Xu Heng on the side of the road, the engine roared, and the Mercedes sped away.

With Jiang Lianghui gone, the aura and pressure that had shrouded the surroundings dissipated by more than half.

Chang Lingling, who had been too scared to say a word, patted her chest and let out a long sigh: "Yuanyuan, your dad is so terrifying."

"He's always like this," Jiang Mengyuan said, looking down.

"So your dad is the richest man; I wouldn't have known if Senior Xu hadn't said it." Chang Lingling complained, "You didn't say anything about such an awesome identity. If I had known your family was so rich, I would have hugged your thigh tightly. Then, no matter what, I could have at least gotten a position as a small supervisor in your company."

"I was afraid that if I said it, your attitude toward me would change," Jiang Mengyuan whispered. "Back in class, after others found out about my dad's identity, they all started to suck up to me, but no one was willing to be real friends with me anymore."

Jiang Mengyuan's withdrawn personality was partly due to her naturally introverted nature, and partly due to the environment around her during high school.

At that time, her father brought her to register, and all her classmates knew about her family background.

Later, they were either fearful and respectful toward her, or they were greedy for her family's connections and approached her intentionally.

So her personality became more and more withdrawn, and she lived in a two-dimensional fantasy world.

It wasn't until she came to register for university alone, freed from her parents' constraints, and with no one knowing her dad was the richest man, that she was able to make those few friends.

She also regarded these few friends as incredibly important and was unwilling to let this hard-won relationship be destroyed by outside forces.

Fortunately, Chang Lingling was not the type of person to abandon her principles for profit, and her attitude toward Jiang Mengyuan remained the same after learning about her father's identity.

At this time, Xu Heng also walked to their side. He smiled bitterly at Jiang Mengyuan and said: "Your dad was in too much of a hurry when he left, and there are some things I haven't explained clearly to him. That is, when I said I liked you earlier, that was my fault; I used it intentionally to make my ex-girlfriend give up. If you mind, I apologize to you here, and please help me explain it to your dad as well, so as to avoid any misunderstandings."

"Oh." Although Jiang Mengyuan was introverted, she wasn't stupid. She had guessed it a bit at the time, but hearing Xu Heng admit it personally now, she couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

She felt that Xu Heng might still have some misgivings and distance toward her because of her father's identity.

Xu Heng saw Jiang Mengyuan's inner thoughts from her expression, sighed, and smiled: "Actually, I do have a bit of a crush on you. If you were my girlfriend, I would definitely be willing. I was just afraid that you didn't have that kind of feeling for me."

"Ah?" Hearing him say this, Jiang Mengyuan couldn't help but be stunned.

It was completely different from the confessions in anime where the male lead expresses his love to the female lead in a subtle and affectionate way during the romantic pink cherry blossom season, or where the male and female leads experience various hardships in a torrential downpour and finally hug each other while crying.

This was the first time she had seen such a direct, "straight-ball" style of confession from Xu Heng.

Before she could say anything, Chang Lingling on the side couldn't wait: "Senior Xu, Yuanyuan has feelings for you! Quick, quick, quick, Yuanyuan, hurry up and agree to him."

Xu Heng looked at Chang Lingling speechlessly, thinking to himself that he was confessing to Jiang Mengyuan, so why was she acting more anxious than the person involved?