Chapter 100: Tears Not Shed Lightly

Back then, we were in the same class, and Ling Tian was an orphan, with a much worse starting point than these people, but after several years apart, Ling Tian had become so awesome that the Nanguang Family, one of the Four Great Families, treated him with utmost respect, honoring him as a distinguished guest. The ice-snow beauty executive president who was praised as the epitome of beauty and intelligence in Yunhai City had become Ling Tian's little wife.

How could the gap between people be so vast? Where did this make any sense?

"Everyone, Young Master Ling just instructed me to treat you all well. All the eating, drinking, and playing here today is on me, so now you just need to do one thing." Nanguang Ye shouted loudly.

Once the crowd's attention was fully on him, Nanguang Ye continued, "Eat, drink, and have fun to your heart's content."

Cheers erupted from the crowd. This time, no matter how loud they shouted, the waiters didn't come to stop them.

Hearing the cheers in the hotel, Ling Tian smiled and said to Zhao Ming, "Let's go see where you live."

Zhao Ming didn't speak, his face looked hesitant, but in the end, he nodded and agreed.

The two didn't choose to take a taxi but walked while chatting, recalling their past high school life, talking about it all the way to now...

I don't know how much time passed, but the two arrived at the urban village in Yunhai City. Surrounding were towering skyscrapers, bustling streets with heavy traffic, yet here it was extremely desolate, with a touch of slum-like atmosphere—mismatched illegal buildings, dark alleys near supermarkets, garbage everywhere, and flies buzzing about.

Under the dim yellow streetlights, several fat rats were even fighting over food, and even when Ling Tian and Zhao Ming passed by, they didn't flee.

"Urban planning didn't reach here, and now it has become a dirty and dilapidated urban village," Zhao Ming introduced, continuing to walk inside. Ling Tian followed closely behind, brows furrowed tightly. He wasn't concerned about the environment here; compared to the harsh conditions during his past tasks, this place was like heaven.

It was because Zhao Ming was living in such a place that Ling Tian felt a pang of heartache.

"Here, there's no hope, no future to be seen. The people living here have no culture, making it hard to find jobs and integrate into the prosperous city life. But greed and luxury thoughts have spread here." Zhao Ming continued, having deep personal experience with this deformed product known as the urban village.

Living in chaotic, dark, dilapidated houses yet enjoying the eating, drinking, and playing of a big city, greed and money were corroding the residents here.

By the roadside, there was a woman dressed coquettishly, wearing revealing clothes, shaking her white thighs, standing on the dark roadside, looking around, and holding a lady's cigarette. Occasionally, she would take it up, place it in her red lips for a puff, then exhale a faint wisp of white smoke. "Aiya, husband, you're finally back." Upon seeing Ling Tian and Zhao Ming, the woman immediately discarded the cigarette, pounced directly onto Zhao Ming who was walking ahead, with great intimacy, her red lips covering Zhao Ming's mouth, her hands tightly hugging him, then twisting him towards the nearby rental house.

Ling Tian was stunned. What was going on? This kid Zhao Ming had found such a hot wife? Kissing him right in front of outsiders.

Zhao Ming struggled free from her embrace, wiped the lipstick off his face, took out several 10-yuan notes from his pocket, stuffed them into her hand, and said, "I don't look for women. You go."

The woman accepted the notes, put them away, took a puff of the cigarette, and said, "Handsome guy, I took your money but you don't play. You're too unfair. How about you touch me?" After saying that, the woman thrust her chest toward Zhao Ming.

"You go." Zhao Ming walked hurriedly over. Ling Tian stopped, glanced at the woman, took over 100 yuan from his pocket, and stuffed it to her, saying, "Great youth, don't waste it like this."

The woman held the money, a tear flashing in the corner of her eye. If not forced by life, who would willingly engage in human flesh business?

Only after the woman disappeared from sight did Zhao Ming stop, facing Ling Tian and saying, "See? I'm so poor now that I don't even have money to look for a woman."

"So, you don't not want to play, but have no money in your pocket?" Ling Tian teased.

Zhao Ming laughed heartily and said, "This was seen through by you. No way, who could have thought I'd end up in such a situation."

Actually, Ling Tian knew Zhao Ming was kind-hearted, but sometimes joking between men, saying it not face-to-face was more intimate.

The two continued walking forward while joking, stopping in front of a six-story residential building. The damp, dilapidated walls were covered in dark green moss, the large iron door at the entrance rusty and seemingly ready to collapse at any moment, with a heavy musty odor surrounding it.

"Now I live here." Zhao Ming said quite naturally. In front of brothers, there was nothing to be embarrassed about. Even living under the viaduct, Zhao Ming wouldn't feel anything because the one standing in front of him was his good brother.

"You sold the house?" Ling Tian looked around in confusion. Although several years had passed, Ling Tian remembered Zhao Ming's house wasn't in this location, or perhaps the changes around here were too great, and he couldn't recognize it?

Zhao Ming nodded and said, "My father left early. My mother was hospitalized due to cerebral hemorrhage, spending tens of millions. The family's savings were not only spent but also left with a huge debt. No other choice, I had to sell the house. As a result, my mother didn't survive either and ultimately passed away."

As he spoke, Ling Tian noticed under the dim light that Zhao Ming, this originally iron-blooded man, had a trace of tears flashing in the corner of his eye. As the saying goes, men have tears but don't easily shed them unless at the point of heartbreak.

Ling Tian patted Zhao Ming's shoulder, comforting him, "Everything has passed. Now you should work even harder to let your sister live a better life."

"I've been working hard. To earn more money, I work 18 hours a day in the factory. If tired, I nap somewhere in the factory. Basically, I only come back once a week to change clothes, take a bath, and rest properly." Zhao Ming took out the key and opened the door.

Zhao Ming lived on the sixth floor because the rent here was the cheapest, only 300 yuan per month, including water and electricity.

Reaching the sixth floor, Zhao Ming took out the key to open the door. Before inserting it, he froze because he found traces of prying on the lock.

"Someone pried the lock." Ling Tian also noticed. Using his divine sense to probe, he found the door lock had been completely ruined. "Definitely someone came. The lock is already broken."

Zhao Ming smiled bitterly and said, "I didn't expect someone would covet me like this. I guess the thief came in smiling and went out crying. The most valuable thing inside is just a broken bed, which I bought for 50 yuan from the second-hand market."