Chapter 21

In the living room, the kerosene lamp flickered uncertainly.

Grandfather sat in his chair, silently smoking.

Cheng Mingliang, with a swollen nose and blackened eyes, sat below, head bowed, while Grandmother wiped tears as she applied medicine to her daughter-in-law's lips.

"Bang!"

"This is too much! Does the Liu family have no shame at all? Do they really think the Cheng family has no one left? Let's go confront them!"

Grandfather slammed the table hard, his face flushed with rage.

"Forget it, Dad. The Liu Wenjiang family has always run wild in the village; I heard they have connections in the county and city."

"Today when we went to ask for help, the moment they heard it was a lawsuit against Liu Wenfeng's brother, not one of them dared to make a sound—not even the clerk writing the complaint dared to pick up his pen."

Father Cheng Mingliang sighed helplessly.

"Dad, Grandpa's right—we can't let Liu Wenjiang keep bullying us. We need to teach his family a lesson."

Cheng Chen stood up and said.

"Bullshit! Who do you think you are? Teaching them a lesson? Your old man was the one who got taught a lesson!

I told you to focus on college, and what did you do? You dropped out to act? You've gone mad wanting to be a star? Our ancestors' graves never emitted that kind of blue smoke!"

Having endured a day of humiliation, then been beaten up halfway home by Liu Wenjiang's three sons, Cheng Mingliang was now seething.

At this very moment, his son dared to speak up—perfect, he'd finally found someone to vent on.

Cheng Chen lowered his head, silent under his father's tirade, sitting there meekly.

Cheng Mingliang, seeing his usually defiant son not even retort, thought: Has the sun risen in the west?

"I'm the one who's full of bullshit! Full of your mother's stinking bullshit!"

Grandfather, enraged that his beloved grandson was insulted, blew up, and hurled his cigarette butt straight at Cheng Mingliang's head.

"Dad, what are you doing! The cigarette's still lit! You'll burn my hair off!"

Cheng Mingliang leapt from his chair, shaking his head and complaining.

"Full of your mother's stinking bullshit—how dare you speak like that?" Grandmother scolded Grandfather, her face grim.

Grandfather mumbled: "My bad, my bad—I just yelled back for our grandson."

Grandmother snorted, then turned back to applying medicine to Cheng Mingliang's face.

Sitting on the small stool, Cheng Chen watched this scene and grinned secretly.

The old saying "Affection skips a generation, tied by blood" was perfectly embodied in the Cheng household.

When he was a child, whenever his parents scolded him, his grandparents always rushed to shield him.

If you had to sum up Cheng Mingliang's life in two words, it would be: filial.

When his parents fell ill in bed, he never left their side, never took off his clothes to rest.

So he listened most to his parents' words—and the usual scene at home was:

He scolded his son, and his parents scolded him.

He was nearly forty, yet still got scolded daily like a grandson.

"Look here—this is the money Chengzi gave me today, all earned from acting on set."

Grandfather tossed a black plastic bag onto the table. Cheng Mingliang opened it curiously, his eyes gleaming at the stack of cash inside, and asked:

"How much is it?"

"Sixteen thousand."

Cheng Chen answered plainly.

Cheng Mingliang stared at his son, frozen in silence.

"Dad, this money's clean—I earned it myself."

Cheng Chen said nervously.

"Son…"

Cheng Mingliang's throat went dry, and for a moment, he nearly choked up:

"Does your production crew need more people?"

Cheng Chen: …

"Cough, cough… My son's grown up. He's bringing money home now."

Seeing his father staring at him with wide eyes, Cheng Mingliang tucked the money away and cleared his throat to hide his embarrassment.

Beside him, Mother Lu Ling began to sob:

"Sixteen thousand—

You silly child, how much hardship did you endure to save this?"

"It's fine, Mom. I didn't suffer at all—every day they fed me well, treated me like royalty. I only acted a few hours a day. I earned this in two months.

The director says I have talent—he's already planning to hire me for the next film. I'll make even more then."

Cheng Chen comforted them, then realized the whole family was staring at him.

Remember, in 2002, the average urban wage was only 1,025 yuan; factory workers outside the city earned about 1,500 yuan a month.

Cheng Chen had earned in two months what they made in a year—how could his family not be stunned?

"Son, have you noticed your acting talent might've come from your old man? … Does your production crew have any roles I could play?"

Cheng Mingliang asked seriously.

Cheng Chen was truly awed—he'd never realized his father was this hilarious.

"Cough, cough…"

Grandfather happened to cough.

"Just joking, haha. By the way, you asked how much it costs to build a house? The government allotted us a three-room plot. Brick house? Probably twenty thousand."

Seeing his father about to lose his temper, Cheng Mingliang quickly changed the subject.

"What about a single-story house?"

"That would cost over thirty thousand."

"What if you build a three-story single-story house?"

"Probably need… why are you asking this? Don't even think about a single-story house—three brick rooms are enough to live in."

Cheng Mingliang waved his hand.

Building a three-story single-story house? That'd be a little villa.

Even the richest family in Liu Jia Cun, the Liu family, only has a two-story single-story house.

Every time you enter the village, you can see their house from far away—it's so grand!

Honest, simple-minded Cheng family members couldn't even dream of such extravagance; just living in red-brick houses would be good enough!

Seeing his father's reaction, Cheng Chen silently sighed.

If he said he wanted to build a three-story villa, his father would probably be so shocked he couldn't sleep, thinking he was talking nonsense.

But a few ten thousand yuan? Back in his past life, he would have been powerless to afford it.

But now… he had plenty of ways to make money!

To reassure his family, he revealed little, only smiling and saying:

"Let's start with red-brick houses—I'll gather the money. Don't worry, Grandpa, Dad—Liu Wenjiang won't take our land…"

And he'll pay for today's actions!

Looking at the bruises on his parents' faces, Cheng Chen silently vowed in his heart.

…

At this moment, Gao Yuanyuan, filming in Jingcheng, had just finished work on set.

"Teacher Gao, hello, you've worked hard."

A man around forty, dressed in crew attire, walked up to Gao Yuanyuan.

"Hello, Brother Liu, what do you need?"

Gao Yuanyuan looked warmly at the man.

She knew this man—Liu Guanguang, Cheng Chen's hometown fellow and the extras supervisor of the "Yi Tian" crew.

"This is what Cheng Chen asked me to give you before he left. He was shooting on location and never had a chance to find you, so he asked me to deliver a letter."

As extras supervisor, Liu Guanguang had met countless stars, but this was the first time a lead actor treated him so politely.

But he knew his place—this courtesy was only because of Cheng Chen.

"Cheng Chen left?"

Gao Yuanyuan's hand paused as she took the letter, her eyes turning to Liu Guanguang.

"Yeah, something happened at his home…"

After reading the letter, Gao Yuanyuan sat quietly in the car, expressionless, thinking for a long time.

A sister visiting her brother is perfectly normal—just consider it a trip to clear her mind.

Besides… thinking of that person's actions, she felt a sense of vindictive satisfaction.

After a while, she lifted her delicate, expressive face, as if making a decision, and resolutely walked toward the place she saw as a "hellhole."

"Director Lai, I need three days off."

…