Zheng Family

Biodata

Family Members

Background and History

The Zheng Corporation is described as the product of generations of work, but the family has not always dominated the Imperial Capital. Before Zheng Mother married into the household, its business was close to bankruptcy. Her work supplied the connections, resources, and initial capital that brought it back from the brink, although outsiders largely credited Zheng Father 20 36.

Zheng Ye’s accident leaves him in a vegetative state for three years. His parents subsequently arrange an engagement with Su Jin, who publicly presents himself as willing to marry their incapacitated son. Ning Shile’s arrival at the banquet exposes both Su Jin’s deception and the family’s vulnerability to a predicted future collapse 1 2 3.

Influence and Resources

Corporate Power

• Exceptional wealth: The family has extensive businesses and enough accumulated wealth that Zheng Father initially considers bankruptcy virtually impossible 3.
• Social prestige: Marriage into the household promises a major increase in wealth and standing; even corporate heirs require connections to attend its engagement banquet 1 2.
• Business authority: Li Hang’s companions fear that offending the Zhengs could bankrupt them. Cheng An likewise yields to Zheng Ye because he cannot afford to antagonize him 4 94.
• Succession: By the variety-show arc, Zheng Ye controls many major projects and holds greater corporate authority than his father 60.

Investigative and Publicity Networks

• Overseas reach: Zheng Ye uses the corporation’s international resources to pursue surveillance evidence that Cheng Yang cannot locate himself 96 101.
• Private investigations: He obtains an authenticated fetal DNA report before Assistant Wang publicly accuses Zheng Father, and later investigates Ning Shile’s childhood attack 20 25 98.
• Publicity contacts: Zheng Mother mobilizes hundreds of promotional accounts and several prominent paparazzi to advertise a livestream exposing business-circle scandals 95.

Hearing Ning Shile’s Thoughts

Zheng Father, Zheng Mother, and Zheng Ye can hear Ning Shile’s unspoken thoughts, allowing them to act on information he does not knowingly share 1 3 4.

• Zheng Father and Zheng Mother first recognize the phenomenon during the engagement banquet 1.
• Both parents can hear him from downstairs while he is in Zheng Ye’s second-floor bedroom 3.
• Zheng Ye hears him while still physically unresponsive and continues hearing him after awakening 3 4 9.
• This is not exclusive to the family: Chu Ran and Bai Qiongyu also hear Ning Shile’s thoughts in later scenes 22 80.
• Their foreknowledge depends on Ning Shile’s recollections, which begin fading and eventually diverge from the changing storyline 37 80.

Residence and Household

• Villa estate: Includes a five-story mansion, backyard, swimming pool, small elevator, and spiral staircase 3.
• Zheng Ye’s bedroom: Located at the end of the second floor, with plush carpeting, a large bed beneath the window, a night-light, and incense 3.
• Staff: The household employs a butler, servants, and housekeepers 3.
• Welcome for Ning Shile: The butler says everyone is happy to have him visit. The housekeeper remembers his liking for mango pudding and treats him like her own child 46.
• Variety-show filming: The residence appears in the livestreamed opening of Back to the ’80s. The housekeeper gives the crew homemade cakes and asks them to look after Ning Shile 61.

Family Dynamics

Zheng Father and Zheng Mother are initially presented as a loving couple. Zheng Mother values frank communication and considers cheating an unacceptable boundary; when a predicted betrayal threatens their marriage, Zheng Father asks her to trust him and promises to face the situation together 3 20 24.

The household’s affection for Ning Shile extends beyond his usefulness as a source of foreknowledge. His arrival livens up the normally quiet home, the staff welcome him warmly, and both parents readily give in to his pleading. By this point, Ning Shile also recognizes their kindness as sincere rather than an act performed by supposed “villains” 37 46 60.

Story Role and Major Arcs

Engagement Scandal and Marriage Arrangement

• Ning Shile’s thoughts reveal that Zheng Mother’s diamond ring is a replica, secretly commissioned after Zheng Father’s secretary stole the original 1.
• Zheng Mother arranges for reporters to follow the developing scandal. Su Jin’s affair is exposed, and the Zheng parents cancel his marriage alliance 1 2.
• After hearing that their family is destined for bankruptcy, the parents secure Ning Shile as Zheng Ye’s replacement fiancé 2 3.
• Zheng Mother offers a one-year contract marriage: ten million yuan immediately and thirty million after the year, followed by divorce. Ning Shile requests legally binding paperwork 3.
• Hearing Ning Shile describe his disastrous future helps rouse Zheng Ye, who awakens after three years 3 4.

Public Support for Ning Shile

• The family attends the Cheng Corporation launch with Ning Shile, publicly demonstrating his place in the household 5.
• Zheng Father helps interrupt the secretary’s warning to Cheng An, supporting Ning Shile’s effort to expose the abuse of Cheng Yang’s mother 6.
• Zheng Ye stops Cheng An from attacking Cheng Yang with a chair. The resulting publicity raises the Zheng family’s share prices, and the parents reward Ning Shile with another cash bonus 8.
• Zheng Ye discusses a grand wedding with Ning Shile’s parents. At Ning Grandfather’s birthday banquet, Zheng Mother openly warns the relatives against bullying Ning Shile 13 15.

Assistant Wang’s Scheme

• Ning Shile warns of a banquet that supposedly causes the Zheng parents’ divorce. Zheng Ye has already investigated the danger and obtained evidence 19 20.
• Assistant Wang switches Zheng Mother’s dress, wears her stolen ring, and presents misleading hotel footage and a forged paternity report 23 24 25.
• Zheng Mother makes the confrontation public. Zheng Ye produces the authentic report disproving paternity and insists that the assault allegation, theft, and defamation should be investigated by police 24 25.
• After Wang runs away, the family follows Ning Shile to find her. Zheng Ye and Ning Shile save her from jumping off a bridge 25 26.
• Wang admits that Zheng Father never assaulted her. Zheng Mother acknowledges the abuse behind Wang’s desperation without accepting it as justification for harming others 26.

Corporate Threats and Growing Attachment

• Ning Shile identifies the Bai family as a major force behind the Zhengs’ predicted bankruptcy and Zheng Mother’s disfigurement. The Bai Corporation has also been secretly laying traps for the family for years 36 47.
• As his plot memories fade, Ning Shile records the Zheng family’s story especially carefully because he now wants to protect them out of affection, not merely preserve his payment 37.
• Zheng Mother defends him against online accusations of exploiting the family for fame. Both parents eventually allow Zheng Ye to accompany him for one variety-show episode 60.

World Restart and Renewed Connections

• The system restarts the world, returning events to the engagement banquet. Su Jin is again announced as the family’s son-in-law, while Ning Shile and the Zheng parents feel an unexplained familiarity despite apparently meeting for the first time 87 88.
• Ning Shile later visits the estate and helps persuade the severely weakened Zheng Ye to eat, bringing relief to his mother and the household staff 90.
• Zheng Mother and Zheng Ye continue assisting him with publicity and investigations despite the loss of their earlier established relationship 95 98.
• The past-life revelation explains that Zheng Ye once accepted a system-imposed course of villainy, bankruptcy, and death to preserve Ning Shile’s life. Ning Shile’s audible thoughts subsequently disrupted that course, and repeated resets ultimately destroyed the system 103.
• In the finale passage, the Zheng parents wait anxiously for Ning Shile’s recovery and react with excitement to news that he can breathe independently 105.

Relationships

• Ning Family — Marriage partners in the pre-restart storyline. Zheng Father also offers to discuss investing in its innovation project after hearing Ning Shile’s prediction of its future success 2 3.
• Su Jin — Original intended son-in-law; rejected after his existing relationship and opportunistic marriage scheme are exposed. He returns to that position after the restart 1 2 88.
• Su Jinyu — Zheng Ye’s childhood acquaintance. Ning Shile’s remembered storyline casts him as a future insider who steals Zheng Corporation’s work to aid Chu Ran; this is a predicted threat, not an established outcome of the changed storyline 8.
• Chu Ran / Chu Corporation — Predicted corporate rival that overtakes the Zhengs in the original course of events. Chu Ran’s actual relationship with Ning Shile develops differently as events change 3 8 22.
• Bai Family / Bai Corporation — Longstanding covert business adversaries, identified in Ning Shile’s recollections as major contributors to the Zheng family’s intended downfall 36 47.
• Assistant Wang — Employee whose attempt to force her way into the family through fabricated claims is exposed; the Zhengs subsequently participate in saving her life 24 25 26.