Chapter 103: Chapter 100: The Furious Su’s Father
But what Su’s mother didn’t expect was that while she didn’t mind, Zhou Wenxiu was becoming increasingly excessive...
After just a few bites of food, it was as if that picky nature couldn’t be held back!
"It’s better to eat less cured meat and such. It’s unhygienic to prepare, and salt is not good for the body. Nowadays, city folks eat fresh dishes during New Year, and cured goods are rare on the table; young people don’t like them..."
"This tablecloth is already so dirty. In the future, you could use a disposable one. It’s much more convenient to clean..."
"Du Qing and Du Qian are in elementary school now, right? Going to a rural elementary school is no good. The elder generation was from the countryside; the next generation shouldn’t still be rustic rural folk, right?"
"Children must be well educated from a young age... so they’ll study abroad like my Hao Hao!"
"Oh, right. Xiao Meng seemed to have gone to Beijing for studies a couple of years ago, didn’t she?"
"...Beijing is a good place. After graduation, Xiao Meng must find a way to stay in Beijing for work. Your dad doesn’t have much ambition; you shouldn’t follow in his footsteps."
Su Xiaomeng frowned slightly, looking at the woman in front of her who kept rambling!
If she had previously suspected that the woman was mocking her dad, she could now be sure that she looked down on her dad!
"My dad is great! Why can’t I follow him? My future ambition is to inherit my dad’s flower shop!"
Su Xiaomeng thought she was protecting her dad, but for Zhou Wenxiu, it just sounded laughable.
"Really?"
"Of course it’s true!"
Su Xiaomeng said with a serious face!
Yin Shixiu glanced at her, picked a piece of meat and put it in her bowl, not taking her vows too seriously.
Zhou Wenxiu found it even more ridiculous and couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
This laugh...
Su Xiaomeng’s face turned green!
Unfortunately, the other party was an elder. Feeling belittled by them made her angry, but she could only bury her head in eating meat!
Who knew—
"Girls should eat less meat, maintain their figure, and dress up nicely. I haven’t seen you in two years; Xiao Meng seems to have gotten fatter. Aren’t you back to the way you were when you were little?"
Zhou Wenxiu joked, causing Su Xiaomeng to feel extremely irritated!
"Auntie! I’m pregnant with twins, of course I’m fatter! Didn’t you gain weight when you were pregnant with my cousin?"
Su’s mother closed her eyes. When she realized this girl had a bit of Su Chengji’s temperament, she should have put an end to it!
"Yes, my daughter is not fat; she’s pregnant with twins."
Su’s father quickly added.
Su’s mother took a deep breath and gritted her teeth as she softly said, "Su Chengji, haven’t you had enough of kneeling on the washboard..."
Su Chengji shivered, quickly lowering his head to eat.
Zhou Wenxiu and even the usually less talkative Su Jianyi were shocked, looking at Su Xiaomeng and glancing at Yin Shixiu.
"Pregnant?"
Su Xiaomeng seemed to realize she had said something wrong... and didn’t dare to respond.
"Yes, twins. Mine."
Yin Shixiu straightforwardly admitted without any embarrassment.
Zhou Wenxiu immediately wore a disapproving expression.
At this moment, Su Jianyi, as the eldest among his peers, couldn’t help but put down his chopsticks and with a somewhat solemn expression, said to Su Chengji, "Xiao Meng is only nineteen and hasn’t finished her studies. Chengji, how on earth are you educating your children..."
Su Chengji scratched his head, feeling a bit embarrassed, "An accident, an accident, we didn’t expect it either, but although it’s a bit early, fortunately Xiao Yin—"
"You, with no ambition, ran a small shop aimlessly for a lifetime. Now, finally having a bright daughter, but..."
Su Jianyi sighed, then glanced at Su’s mother, his words harsher, "You got pregnant when you were young and unmarried; how can you let your daughter be like you? Do you have any family discipline at all?"
Su’s mother’s eyes narrowed, her expression turned cold, and her slender fingers reached for the cup with the beverage—
"Have you gone mad, Su Chengji!"
Zhou Wenxiu screamed!
Only to see Su’s mother hadn’t acted yet, but Su Chengji was already with a cold face, splashing a glass of liquor at Su Jianyi and his wife!
"This is my family discipline! My daughter didn’t steal or rob; she got into Beijing on her own! She hasn’t caused any worry to me or her mother while she’s been away! My son-in-law is decent and humble, responsible and capable, a lot better than your son who is studying in Australia and doesn’t even call his grandpa during the New Year!"
"Oh, and studying abroad in Australia... give me a break, it’s just a whole Chinese district! Everyone talks in Chinese, what’s so special about that?"
"Your wife’s clothes are brought by girlfriends from abroad, right? With this splash of alcohol, they look no different from those thrown out for sale at a roadside stall for tens of yuan!"
"Showing off in front of my wife? My wife is a hundred times more noble than yours even in rags! Wearing a fur coat to the countryside, are you treating the countryside like an Oscar award ceremony?"
The dinner table fell silent, and most people dared not breathe.
Su Xiaomeng watched her dad at this moment, with a cold face, belittling Su Jianyi and his wife to nothing...
No... he hasn’t been possessed, right?
Su Xiaomeng swallowed her saliva, only feeling a chill down her spine.
At the entire dinner table, it seemed only Yin Shixiu was still active. He picked another piece of braised meat and placed it in Su Xiaomeng’s bowl.
Angering someone with a good temper is far scarier than upsetting someone who’s always been quick-tempered.
This saying is not wrong.
"Chengji, sit down!"
Grandpa Su saw that his third brother beside him had a gloomy face and quickly warned him.
But Su Chengji didn’t stop, "I know Third Uncle feels uncomfortable, but Su Jianyi comes back once every two years; who knows when the next time will be? If you want to hit or scold him, do it early! Working in the municipal government is impressive? What a joke! Leaving a seventy-year-old father at home with no care, what’s so great about that?"
"Once you leave this village, you can dress exquisitely and act extremely noble, but a person shouldn’t forget their roots! Before becoming a civil servant, you were just a parasite living off the family farm run by your elderly father!"
"Su Chengji! Have you said enough?!"
Su Jianyi slammed the table and stood up!
If he hadn’t stood, it would have been fine, but once he did, he was unexpectedly splashed again, full in the face!
"That last cup was to wake you up. I can’t bear to say a word against my daughter, son-in-law, or wife, so what gives you the right?"
"As for this cup, it’s for Third Uncle not being worth it!"
"Su Chengji... you’re just a lunatic! If your family doesn’t want to live well, just say it! Today, I’m going to—"
As Wu Wenxiu spoke, she tried to grab Su’s mother’s hair, but as soon as she reached out, her wrist was caught tightly by a strong force!
Yin Shixiu’s long arm directly reached over the table to stop Wu Wenxiu, then walked around the table to stand in front of her, "Ma’am, mind your actions."
Wu Wenxiu was stunned for a moment when she met Yin Shixiu’s cold gaze, then suddenly became even more irritated!
Without thinking, she raised her other hand and swung it toward Yin Shixiu’s face!
"Who do you think you are!"
That swipe...
Left five blood-red marks on the right side of Yin Shixiu’s face!
"Uncle!"
Su Xiaomeng’s heart tightened, and she was scared!
The relatives saw this and quickly stepped forward to pull Wu Wenxiu away!
"Uncle, uncle..."
"It’s okay, don’t panic."
"Your handsome face is scratched! You say it’s nothing!" Su Xiaomeng looked at the five scratches seeping with blood, and her small face wrinkled into a ball.
Yin Shixiu rubbed her head and looked at Su’s mother behind him, "Are you okay?"
"What could happen to me? I already find you unpleasant, and that face was just barely passable. Now it’s wrecked; can I still marry Meng Meng to you?"
As soon as Su’s mother finished speaking, Su Xiaomeng became anxious and rushed over, "Mom, even if Uncle is disfigured, I still want to be with him!"
Su’s mother sighed... this daughter, what a waste of effort raising her.
Yin Shixiu looked at Su Xiaomeng, slightly dazed.
"I’ll take Shixiu to deal with the injury. You and Xiao Meng take care of things here. All the elders are present, don’t argue, understand?"
Su’s mother said to Su Chengji.
Su Chengji looked guiltily at Yin Shixiu, "Xiao Yin... you really are..."
"Just a minor injury."
Su Chengji rarely furrowed his brows.
Su Xiaomeng wanted to follow along, but at this moment Grandpa and Grandma and Third Grandpa needed calming. She glanced at Uncle and, though anxious, stayed behind obediently.
Yin Shixiu followed Su’s mother up to a room on the second floor.
Su’s mother got the first aid kit.
"Aunt, shall I do it myself?"
Su’s mother glanced at him without speaking, but directly took a cotton swab, dipped it in disinfectant, and started cleaning the wounds on his face...
"Shuiling Village... the ancestral home of the Yin Family, right?"
"...Yes."
Su’s mother suddenly smiled, then said, "Were you scared by her father too?"
"A little bit, but it’s still within reason."
"Oh?"
Yin Shixiu sat on the edge of the bed, Su’s mother stood in front of him, gently tending to his wounds.
"Even the most heartless person has a breaking point. I know that Su’s father’s breaking point is... you and Xiao Meng."
Su’s mother gently curled her lips; this was the first time she showed such an approachable expression in front of Yin Shixiu...
"Before bringing you here, I hesitated. Here is vastly different from where you live, vastly different from where I lived twenty years ago..."
Su’s mother looked at him and smiled, "Do you want to know how Xiao Meng’s father and I met?"
"If you’re willing to tell..."
"Chengji used to be a gardener at my family. When I met him, he was only twenty. Handsome features, upright posture, but thin. The way he cared for flowers was very gentle, making people unconsciously envy the flowers and plants he tended to..."
Su’s mother reminisced lightly, her hands not stopping, applying ointment and then starting to cut gauze.
"At twenty, he should’ve been in college like me, or advancing his studies in other ways, not carrying the family burden when he should have been in his prime."
"Xiao Meng’s grandmother was seriously ill at the time, requiring a large sum for treatment. The family savings were depleted, and there was a younger sister to care for. So, after graduating high school and about to attend college, he took on all sorts of part-time jobs."
"There are always people in this world bearing burdens of suffering."
Yin Shixiu said softly, his tone slightly indifferent.
Perhaps in his eyes, what Su Chengji bore at the time wasn’t that rare, or worthy of excessive sympathy.