"Exactly," Zhang's father thought the same. Could their family afford to put a single scholar through school? Over the years, hadn't they been scraping by, selling whatever they could? Their son couldn't even wash a bowl, how could he serve other people?
"Let's go and take a look," he suggested.
Zhang's mother quickly grabbed her husband's sleeve and followed him.
They had come this time without telling their son because they were afraid that this woman would distract him from his studies. They couldn't bear the idea of him struggling to find a good job after graduation.
Zhang Yong'an was truly a hypocrite. In his calls home, he boasted to his parents about having a girlfriend whose family was in the real estate business and owned a courtyard house in Beijing. She was studying medicine, he claimed, and was sure to become a doctor with a steady job, easing the family's financial burden.