935 Unreliable Relative
Gluttonous, lazy and unable to live without cigarettes, booze, and women.
He was a 40-year-old many with the body of someone who was 50.
Tsk, tsk, tsk. w.a.n.g Yao was speechless.
“I don’t have that much,” w.a.n.g Fenghua said. “$10,000 is the most I can spare.”
“Huh? $10,000? That’s all?” w.a.n.g Yao’s third uncle thought the sum was quite a bit more than what he had expected.
“Yep, that’s all.”
w.a.n.g Yao’s third uncle turned around and looked at him. The uncle knew just how famous his nephew was. The younger man was, at present, a famous doctor in Lianshan County. Many people came to seek treatment from him, among them were high officials and people with deep pockets. He was so famous that people from other counties and faraway cities went to him for treatment. It was also thanks to his nephew that he was employed at his current job.
Being a doctor with his own practice was something lucrative. It was more so when the doctor was so famous. w.a.n.g Yao had likely earned a lot of money.
However, w.a.n.g Yao seemed as if he was entirely oblivious to how his third uncle looked at him. He continued to eat as he had been. Just as w.a.n.g Yao had thought before, he would rather donate his money to help poor children in the slums in the countryside than lend it to an unreliable relative.
“Well, do you have it with you now?” his uncle asked. He is actually shameless enough to do that! At that moment, w.a.n.g Yao decided he had underestimated his uncle. He had never expected his uncle to be someone that shameless.
It was a sad thing to have such relatives in one’s family.
“No. I’ve just donated my money to the slums,” w.a.n.g Yao replied.
“What!” His third uncle was baffled.
“What did you say?”
“I said, I’ve donated the money I earned to the kids in the slums in the countryside,” w.a.n.g Yao repeated himself.
“Just hold on a second,” his third uncle replied with a gasp. “Man, you can’t let those people cheat you. How could you simply donate all of your hard-earned money?”
Although it was nothing he could ever say, w.a.n.g Yao thought, It’s better to donate my money than lend it to you regardless.
His third uncle was silent for a bit before taking a sip from the wine gla.s.s on the table. It was good wine that tasted delicious, but he somehow felt like the wine tasted like water instead.
“I’d make do with $10,000,” he finally said.
After hearing that, w.a.n.g Fenghua became silent for a while.
“Please wait for a bit,” he said. “Yao and I are going to get the money.”
The father and son soon walked out.
“Dad, if you’re going to lend money to him, make sure you know that you’re not getting it back,” w.a.n.g Yao said after he got in the car.
“I know. This will be the last time I do so,” w.a.n.g Fenghua said.
They were brothers who shared the same parents. His willingness to help was sentiment for them being brothers of the same blood. w.a.n.g Fenghua was unable to bring himself to just leave his brother be.
“Alright, have it your way,” w.a.n.g Yao said. He did not mind that he was going to fork out $10,000, but he thought that it was not worth doing so.
“Alright, let’s head to town.”
They soon arrived in town and withdrew the money. They went home immediately afterward. w.a.n.g Yao’s third uncle did not stay long after taking the money.
“Drink with me for a bit,” w.a.n.g Fenghua, who was clearly not in a good mood, said to w.a.n.g Yao.
“Sure.” w.a.n.g Yao sat down and drank with his dad.
“Try to find out if your third uncle is getting on with bad habits.”
“Alright, I’d head out in the afternoon,” w.a.n.g Yao said.
“There’s no need to get too worked up.”
“d.a.m.n, over 40 years old and still behaving like a punk!” w.a.n.g Fenghua was getting upset thinking about his brother. He quickly chugged down another drink.
w.a.n.g Yao did not head back to the clinic. Instead, he drove to the town center. Tian Yuantu was at home.
Tian Yuantu smiled and said, “Well, well, that’s not a face I sed every day. What brings you here?” It had been a while since they last saw each other.
“I have something to talk to you about.”
“What could that be?” Tian Yuantu invited w.a.n.g Yao into his office and made a pot of good tea for his guest.
“Have a taste,” he said. “I just brought it back from the south.”
“Hmm, it smells nice.” w.a.n.g Yao smelled it for a bit before taking a sip.
“It is good tea.”
“I knew you’d like it. Take some with you when you leave.”
“Thanks, but I’ll pa.s.s. I still have a lot back home. I actually have far more than I can drink,” w.a.n.g Yao said with a smile. When friends went to his place, most of them would bring tea leaves along. He received good tea leaves from all sorts of places. As such, many tea leaves were sitting at his place, and he was nowhere near being able to finish them.
“So, what brings you here?” Tian Yuantu asked.
“I really do have something to talk about,” w.a.n.g Yao said.
“What is it? Just say it.”
w.a.n.g Yao was silent for a bit. That was a topic that he had trouble talking about.
Tian Yuantu smiled and said, “Look, just tell me what you need from me. There is nothing between you and me that can’t be brought up, alright?”
“How is my third uncle doing here?” w.a.n.g Yao asked. “Is he causing you any trouble? I want the truth.”
Tian Yuantu did not answer right away. Instead, he took a sip of tea.
“Well…”
That was indeed a tough subject. w.a.n.g Yao’s third uncle’s performance was lackl.u.s.ter, and he was nowhere near being capable. Worse still, his relations.h.i.+ps with several women at work were messy. If it had been someone else and all that had been brought to him, he would have fired the person a long time ago. However, Tian Yuantu continued to tolerate him due to him being w.a.n.g Yao’s uncle. Surprisingly, his uncle was shameless enough to ask for a promotion, which truly startled him. w.a.n.g Yao and his uncle were related by blood. Tian Yuantu had met w.a.n.g Yao’s father before, and his father was definitely an earnest elder. As for w.a.n.g Yao, Tian Yuantu knew him very well. Thus, he never thought w.a.n.g Yao’s third uncle would turn out to be someone like that. He wondered how a nephew and uncle could be so different.
“The truth, please.”
“Alright, the truth. His performance has been lackl.u.s.ter, and he’s not all that capable. Worse still, his private life seems to be a mess,” Tian Yuantu replied. He was actually cus.h.i.+oning the blow with that answer, but w.a.n.g Yao was still able to tell just how bad things were.
“Yeah, I’m truly sorry for giving you so much trouble,” w.a.n.g Yao seriously said as he got up. He never expected that his third uncle would squander such an opportunity. His uncle was no longer that poor, downtrodden man who showed up at his door before.
“There’s no need to be such a stranger with me,” Tian Yuantu said. “It’s nothing much after all. I do have a big company, so it’s fine.”
Tian Yuantu actually kept quite a few inept people around. Some of them were relatives or had relations.h.i.+ps with the leaders of the county. He needed to look after them all.
“In that case, just get any reason whatsoever and fire him,” w.a.n.g Yao said after thinking for a bit.
“There’s no need to go that far,” Tian Yuantu quickly added.
The matter with w.a.n.g Yao’s uncle was nothing much to him. He definitely had no intention of ruining the relations.h.i.+p between him and w.a.n.g Yao because of something so insignificant. Although he knew w.a.n.g Yao was not such a person, it would be a huge loss one way or another.
“Does he have other vices?”
“I truly know little about that,” Tian Yuantu said. “How about I call his superior over for a bit?”
“That will do.”
“Hang on.” Tian Yuantu made the call. It took mere moments for a man in his 40s to enter the office.
“Is there something you need from me, Sir?”
“There is something I need to ask you about.” Tian Yuantu asked about the performance of his subordinates for a bit before narrowing down on w.a.n.g Yao’s third uncle.
The direct superior had a bad impression of w.a.n.g Yao’s uncle. He was also able to tell that the man was holding something back.
“Other than that, do you know of any vices he’s gotten himself into?” Tian Yuantu asked.
“Umm, I’ve heard that he is into gambling.”
“Gambling?” w.a.n.g Yao frowned a bit after hearing that. This was bad news. It was now no surprise why his uncle came to w.a.n.g Yao’s place and asked for money.
“That’s just what I heard.” The manager glanced at w.a.n.g Yao when he said that. He wondered who w.a.n.g Yao was and why the man was there.
“Anything else?”
“Umm, booze, cigarettes, and umm…”
“Just tell the truth,” Tian Yuantu said.
“His relations.h.i.+ps with several women in the company have been messy.”
Tian Yuantu dismissed the man after he was done with the questioning.
“Don’t tell anyone about this,” Tian Yuantu said before he sent the man away.
“Will do, Sir,” the manager said.
“Why all these questions?”
“That guy came to my place and asked to borrow $10,000. My dad was worried, so he had me come here to see if I could find out anything. Man, never would I have thought that he had gotten himself into so many bad habits. My, my, what an uncle I have!” w.a.n.g Yao sighed and was speechless.
“Man, I thought you’d gotten yourself into trouble,” Tian Yuantu said. “There’s no need for you to worry so much.”
“h.e.l.l, I’m not all that worried myself. It’s my dad who is worried. It is his brother after all. If this goes on, I think my uncle will eventually become a piece of garbage, and the family will get wrecked.”