Because of You: Junping and Yuerong

Chapter Ten: Confrontation

Interning at the bank confirmed what I already knew: I didn't want to work in banking. Cheng suggested that instead of a regular internship, I should ask our father's permission to work in each of the main areas to see different aspects of the business. He didn't want me to reject working in the business out of spite against my mother and father. He knew from Jundao about my interest in math, and he thought that could be an interesting connection to the Finance major my mother wanted me to consider.

Thus, I basically had an intense Banking 101 course for five weeks. Cheng insisted that I really pay attention and act like a real intern. He seemed to know that I probably was going to sulk my way through the situation, but he told me that wouldn't help our plan, nor would it help with convincing my mother that she didn't need to watch me.

I didn't understand Cheng at the time, but I noted his tone and how, ever since that dinner, he talked to me like I was an adult and not some annoying or pathetic little brother that had been thrust upon him. I wondered if I would have been the same if the roles had been reversed. What if I had been the brother born first and had his mother discarded? How would I have treated those other brothers?

I thought about it the first week of my internship, wincing because I knew I would've been a complete ass. As I said, I was not close to my brothers. We were more like people who grew to know each other because we had been forced to work together on a group project, but Cheng never seemed to resent us even though he may have resented Jundao's mother at first. I've seen other kids be jealous of step siblings, especially if they were one they were the eldest. I know I had been resentful of the times when our father would talk about the others in front of me, but now not only was that rare,  it also didn't last long.

I learned fairly early—after Cheng's mother died—that Cheng was going to look out for me more, even at a distance, even being in country only 6 months out of the year, than either my mother or our father did. Maybe he recognized that our father didn't treat any of us any better than he treated him. Maybe he recognized that we—he, Jundao, and I—were just a group of lost boys without parents.

In any case, I took Cheng's lead and focused during my internship. He had been correct. After a bit, my mother relaxed and didn't bother me hardly at all. I tried not to be bitter because although her argument about missing me and wanting to spend more time with me had been the cornerstone to her argument to keep me from traveling with Yuerong, she didn't spend any more time with me than usual—which was hardly any at all. This didn't surprise me; I just worked hard so that it didn't enrage me. Jundao would remind me that I had to be patient.

So I went to my internship every day and every evening for five weeks. But even before that, right after the dinner with my brothers, I went to my room and went over the entire thing with my RF bug detecting wand. The first time I did it, I found three listening devices and a camera. One of the listening devices was in my private bath. I was furious, but I remembered what Cheng had said, so I called in the head housekeeper. I showed her the devices and her eyes went wide, but she wasn't surprised. She didn't even resist when I insisted that I wanted different people cleaning my room.

I went two days before finding several more devices. Did my mother really think that I wouldn't notice after the first time? Cheng said that I had to keep doing it as long as I lived in the house because she would assume that I would get tired of checking the longer I went without finding things. He also said I had to be more careful that items were not stowed away in things I carried or bought.

By the time my father came back from his trip to America, I had a medium-sized box full of devices. Under Cheng's advice, I contacted his secretary and demanded to see him as soon as he came home. I even threw a fit in full view of several servants about how he was bugging my room. I think the housekeeper knew that it wasn't him, but she kept silent.