harleyscars Chapter 16 The Zhang Family
Chapter 16 The Zhang Family
Ignoring his wife's objections, Wei Jianguo took Yang Ming's bank card and went to the bank to check the account. The banquet to welcome the new son-in-law also came to an abrupt end with Wei Jianguo's sudden departure, and the dishes gradually went cold.
The three of them sat at the dining table, waiting for Wei Jianguo to return.
Xue Hua's face turned pale. Actually, she didn't quite believe her daughter and son-in-law's words, but you can't really take someone's bank card to check their account, can you?
It's often said that menopausal women are unreasonable, but men in this age group are even more unreasonable, often doing things that are embarrassing, and sometimes they themselves are completely baffled by them.
Wei Qingqing's expression also turned sour. Her father's behavior was too embarrassing, especially in front of Yang Ming. It was really beneath him.
Yang Ming didn't have any other feelings. Wei Jianguo's behavior was still within his acceptable range. After all, his original intention was for the good of his daughter.
Before long, Wei Jianguo returned looking dejected. He threw his bank card at Yang Ming, sat back down, poured himself a full glass of wine, and without saying a word, downed it in one gulp. He then poured himself another glass and drank it all.
Hiss...
The spicy liquor was very stimulating. Wei Jianguo drank three cups in a row, a full six ounces of liquor, until his face turned red. Only then did he put down the cup, pick up his chopsticks, and start eating.
For a moment, the only sound at the dining table was Wei Jianguo eating.
"What's wrong? What's gotten into you?" Although Xue Hua hated her husband for being unreasonable, she was worried when she saw him not saying a word and drinking and eating like crazy.
Wei Jianguo seemed not to hear his wife's words, not saying a word, and just focused on eating. The scene was a little strange for a moment. Wei Qingqing was frightened. Although she was angry that her father was unreasonable, he was still her father and the person she was closest to in the world. So she reached under the table and gently poked Yang Ming's thigh, asking him to make a decision.
Yang Ming stared at Wei Jianguo's face for a few seconds. Seeing that his face was flushed, he understood what was going on. He quickly picked up his chopsticks and started eating without saying a word.
Wei Jianguo glanced at Yang Ming with approval and gratitude before burying his head in his food.
The mother and daughter stared intently at the expressions of the father and son, exchanged a glance, and roughly understood that Wei Jianguo must have realized what had happened after leaving. He knew that his actions were ridiculous, so when he came back, he drank heavily, using the alcohol to make his face red, so that no one would notice his embarrassment. It was fortunate that Yang Ming reacted quickly; even if he had said just one word, it would have made Wei Jianguo feel incredibly ashamed.
So the mother and son started eating quietly, giving Wei Jianguo face. After they had eaten enough, they went to cook dumplings. Throughout the whole process, neither of them said a word.
When Yang Ming first stepped into his father-in-law's house, he was met with a silent banquet...
After the banquet, Wei Qingqing pulled Yang Ming into her bedroom. Sitting on the bed, Wei Qingqing blushed and said, "I'm sorry, my dad was so embarrassing! You won't laugh at him, will you?"
"No, people his age are all impulsive like that. My dad is the same way. Once, my dad and mom even got into an argument at the market over whether or not to buy rice cakes! It attracted a lot of onlookers," Yang Ming said.
"That's good!" Wei Qingqing breathed a sigh of relief. Losing face didn't matter; the important thing was having someone by her side. Father-in-law vs. father-in-law—they were well-matched, so neither of them had to laugh at the other.
"What's so good about it? Why do I feel so awkward listening to you say that? You can't tell anyone about my dad's embarrassing stories, not even your parents." Yang Ming glared at Wei Qingqing and said.
"A fair exchange..." Wei Qingqing smiled slyly.
"make a deal!"
The two made a vow with a high five, but Yang Ming took the opportunity to grab her hand and pull her into his arms. The two of them fell onto the bed and started playing around.
In the other room, only Wei Jianguo and Xue Hua remained. Xue Hua took a stack of test papers from the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), sat on the kang, picked up a red pen, and began to correct them, chuckling softly as she did so.
"What are you laughing at? What's so funny?" Wei Jianguo, who was lying on the kang (a heated brick bed) sobering up, muttered with a red face.
"Hehe, Jianguo, what do you think of our son-in-law? Isn't he clever enough?" Xue Hua giggled as she climbed up to her husband, nudged his shoulder, and whispered.
"It's alright! If Qingqing likes it, then it's fine!" Wei Jianguo said with an attitude of "what does it have to do with me?"
"You're just being stubborn. If your son-in-law hadn't given you face today, I wonder where you'd put your face after this?" Xue Hua scoffed, pinching her husband's nose. "Tell me, how much money is in your son-in-law's bank account?"
"There's a second... I'm his elder, how could I possibly look at his bank card? What kind of person do you take me for?" Wei Jianguo almost let slip the secret, but quickly realized his mistake. His face still turned red, though he had been drinking and his face was already flushed, so the reaction wasn't very noticeable.
"You've already said half of it. You mentioned a 'two.' According to your usual everyday speech, numbers starting with 'two' should be twenty, two hundred, two thousand, twenty thousand, two hundred thousand, two million, or two million. If there are any zeros at the end, they would be twenty-something, two hundred-something, two hundred-something, two thousand-something, twenty-something, two hundred-something, two million-something, two million-something. Judging from your son-in-law's confidence, you definitely have more than five figures in your account. Is it two hundred thousand or two million? What are you hiding from me? Hurry up and tell me the truth!" Xue Hua, as expected of a Chinese language teacher, spoke fluently and logically.
"It's such a waste that you're not a detective!" Wei Jianguo said, quite annoyed, and gestured a two, an eight, and a zero to his wife.
"280 million?" Xue Hua was so shocked that he didn't know what to say.
"This kid is only 26 years old, and his family isn't particularly well-off. I wonder how he earned this money?"
"Could he be doing something illegal?" Xue Hua's heart jumped.
"Probably not. It seems Qingqing knows what he does. We trust our daughter's character."
"He said he's a gardener, could he be a marijuana grower? I heard that growing that stuff is really profitable!" Xue Hua's heart clenched at the thought.
"What nonsense are you talking about? You need a place to grow marijuana! A few million marijuana a month, that's tens of millions, almost a hundred million a year. How big of a field would that be? If he really dared to grow it, the police would have arrested him and put him in a gun long ago." Wei Jianguo glared at his wife in annoyance.
"As long as it's not illegal, that's good. Living a down-to-earth life is the most worry-free thing." Xue Hua breathed a sigh of relief.
"When you have a spare moment, ask Qingqing for your in-laws' phone number. We need to get in touch with them too," Wei Jianguo said quietly, pulling his wife along.
"We need to contact them. I'll call Qingqing out now." Xue Hua got off the kang (a heated brick bed), put on his slippers, and went to Yang Ming's room.
knock knock...
The young couple, who were taking a nap together, were startled awake by a knock on the door. Wei Qingqing quickly got out of bed to open it, and Yang Ming also sat up from the bed.
"Mom, what's wrong?" Wei Qingqing opened the door and saw her mother, Xue Hua, standing outside. She asked in confusion.
"Is your son-in-law sleeping? Go to sleep, Qingqing and I are going to talk for a bit!" Xue Hua smiled and pulled his daughter away, closing the door behind him.
Xue Hua pulled her daughter into the yard and found a shady spot under the pomegranate tree to sit down.
"Mom, what's wrong?" Wei Qingqing asked.
"Do you know your father-in-law's phone number?" Xue Hua asked bluntly.
"You know? Yang Ming has it on his phone," Wei Qingqing said, she was beginning to understand what was going on.
"Do you remember writing it down for Mom?"
"I remember, I'll write it down for you in a bit. It'll be good for you to contact them in advance, so they won't be caught off guard when we go back tomorrow. Neither of our families have told us about our wedding."
"You're going to meet your in-laws tomorrow? Remember, be diligent, help with any chores, and talk less, so they won't find fault with you." Knowing her daughter was going to meet her in-laws tomorrow, Xue Hua quickly gave her these instructions.
"What's wrong with me?" Wei Qingqing retorted.
"You don't know, people in the countryside are really picky. When a new bride comes to visit, all the aunts and uncles come together to see her, and they go around finding fault with her as much as they can."
"Ah? That scary? Mom... I... I'm a little scared!" Xue Hua's words were so terrifying that they scared Wei Qingqing out of her wits.
"What's there to be afraid of? They're not going to eat you! Our Wei family's daughters are so beautiful, they can't find any fault with them no matter how hard they try. Before you speak, you should think about whether what you're saying is appropriate, and then speak slowly. It's okay to speak slowly; that way, people will think you're a gentle person!"
"I'm pretty quiet by nature," Wei Qingqing muttered. "How about I have Fangfang come with me tomorrow? Fangfang is very talkative, I can let her say whatever she wants."
"Are you going to meet your in-laws or is she going to meet them? But it's fine to let her go, since you're not familiar with the area yet. Having someone to look after you will prevent your in-laws from bullying you and leaving you with no one to help you."
"Okay, I'll call Fangfang right now and ask her to come with me tomorrow. Here's my father-in-law's phone number; I'll bring it to you later."
Before Wei Qingqing went to make a phone call, Xue Hua returned to the room, where Wei Jianguo was waiting for her on the kang (a heated brick bed).
"How's it going? Did you get it?" Wei Jianguo asked anxiously.
"It will be delivered in a bit. Qingqing is going to meet her in-laws tomorrow. These two kids are really something, getting married without even telling either set of parents."
"You mean, even our in-laws didn't know about their marriage?" Wei Jianguo's eyes lit up.
"Indeed, I don't know what those two kids are thinking. It seems like they're planning a surprise attack on their in-laws!" Xue Hua climbed onto the kang (a heated brick bed).
"What do you mean by 'surprise attack'? They got married without the consent of both families! They don't know how to explain it! This attack was so sudden, it caught us completely off guard. It's a once-in-a-lifetime event, and I think it's quite exciting. If our in-laws hadn't pulled this stunt, I would have felt like we were taking advantage of them!"
"You're so naughty!" Xue Hua realized what her husband was planning to do.
"This isn't bad, it's kind. Aren't they going back tomorrow? They're going back to Baiyun County in T City, which is 700 li away from here. They'll be there by evening. We'll call them again tonight. On one hand, it's like a daughter-in-law entering the house, and on the other hand, it's like the in-laws calling. Let them have a good time."
Wei Jianguo was caught off guard by his daughter and son-in-law today. It would be a lie to say he wasn't furious. The two of them had gotten their marriage certificate without his knowledge, which made him feel like his daughter had been kidnapped. He wanted to explode, but his son-in-law was quite well-behaved, and he couldn't find fault with him. On the contrary, he had been humiliated. Now that he heard that his in-laws didn't know about this either, he decided to let them have their turn. That way, he would feel better.
"Whose house should we make lively? Mom and Dad, this is my father-in-law's phone number, please keep it safe." At this moment, Wei Qingqing peeked in through the curtain and handed over a piece of paper.
"This is none of your business, go back!" Wei Jianguo took the note and waved to his daughter.
"Oh!" Wei Qingqing responded and went back to her room.
"Meow……"
As Wei Qingqing passed by the main room, a meow reached her ears. Looking in the direction of the sound, she saw a large tabby cat with yellow and white stripes crawling out of the stove pit, its yellow and white fur covered in ash.
The main house of Wei Qingqing's family had a stove for heating a kang (a heated brick bed), but it hadn't been used for many years. Only in winter would they add a handful of firewood to the stove to heat the kang, saving them the trouble of lighting the stove for the night, which was quite economical.
"Mom, why is there a cat in our house?" Wei Qingqing exclaimed.
"Oh! You mean that tabby cat? That's a stray cat I picked up. It scurried into the kitchen as soon as I brought it home. It's a female, and it even had a litter of kittens! There must be six or seven of them." Xue Hua, wearing slippers, came out from the inner room.
"There are kittens too? Mom! Can I get two to raise?" Wei Qingqing's eyes lit up.
"If you like it, keep it. There are stray cats and dogs on the streets now. They usually look for food in the trash cans. They look so pitiful." Xue Hua said, taking two dumplings out of the refrigerator and throwing them to the big tabby cat.
The big tabby cat didn't stand on ceremony. It pounced on the dumplings, gathered the two dumplings together, and started eating them while hunching over, growling softly as it ate.
Seeing its possessiveness towards its food, Wei Qingqing laughed; this big tabby cat was just too adorable.
"Mom, can I see its kitten?"
"It's best not to look. This cat is very protective of its kittens. If it thinks you're trying to steal its kittens, it will take one and hide it, then eat the rest."
"What? That's so cruel! Even tigers don't eat their cubs!"
"It just wants people to think that it ate all the cubs in order to protect the one that was hidden away. It's hard to say whether it's cruel or not."
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