Chapter 360: Chapter 357: Family Affairs
"My fever started around three or four in the afternoon, and I didn’t wake up until evening. I was the one who had Sister Fang send a message to the garden, telling them not to let anyone come to my courtyard to see me. After all, Liu Shengnan was pregnant at the time. After I recovered, I couldn’t stand being cooped up in my room, so I went for a walk along the veranda. Ping Jing and his wife came over, and since I didn’t want to go back inside, I sat in the courtyard and talked with them for a bit. The whole thing took less than half an hour!"
Zhou Lian gave Li Xiu a gentle look and said with a smile, "For that half an hour, I had a hot water bottle in my lap, a cup of hot tea in my hands, and a cloak wrapped around me. With Sister Fang’s temper, do you really think she’d let me get sick a second time? Wait, Jin Chen, you actually believed her!"
"Why wouldn’t I? Bao’er, you know I can’t think straight when it comes to you. Besides, what Sister Fang said was true. How could I not believe it!" Li Xiu said, shaking his head with a hint of resignation.
"No wonder Ping’an made that long journey back to the Capital City in secret. You didn’t cut off contact with him then, did you?" Zhou Lian asked, looking at Li Xiu in shock after a moment’s thought.
Smiling, Li Xiu gently stroked Zhou Lian’s hair. "Mmm, I did. And that includes Ping Jing, who was living in the garden at the time."
She looked at Li Xiu in surprise, but considering how much he doted on her, it wasn’t strange at all that he would make such a decision after hearing what Sister Fang said. Zhou Lian wrapped her arms around Li Xiu’s neck and said with a grin, "Jin Chen, I’m starting to feel like a real femme fatale!"
"Silly girl. Is there anything in this world more important than you? If Ping Jing had really made you sick with anger, I wouldn’t have hesitated to wash my hands of everything. Ping’an knows my limits. He didn’t dare to gamble, which is why he resorted to a self-pity ploy!" Li Xiu said with a small laugh.
"A self-pity ploy?"
"Well, not exactly. Ping’an was genuinely panicking at the time. I had unilaterally cut off contact, and then he heard a garbled phone call from Liu Shengnan. He couldn’t question his older brother over the phone, and he couldn’t return to the Capital City openly, so he had to come back alone. That way, he could both reassure me and make you worry. That kid knew exactly what he was doing!" Li Xiu snorted.
Zhou Lian smiled and said nonchalantly, "They’re all incredibly shrewd."
"Aren’t they, though? Bao’er, you’re not angry, are you?" Li Xiu asked gently, looking at her with a tender expression.
Zhou Lian patted his hand and said dismissively, "At them? It’s not worth it. I heard from Li Bao that Aunt Li went to see Aunt Li to discuss this. From what he said, Aunt Li already knew, but we came back before she had a chance to deal with them. If they had known we were coming back so early this year, both aunts would have dealt with them long ago!"
"That sounds like something Aunt Li would do. I hear she has a very short fuse these days!" Li Xiu said, smiling and shaking his head.
Zhou Lian glanced at Li Xiu and said softly, "It’s perfectly normal for Aunt Li to be like that. Her children are successful and obedient, and Uncle Li has always listened to her. She can hold her head high and is full of confidence. Isn’t it natural for her to have a bit of a temper?"
If Zhou Lian was an object of envy for many modern women who wanted to live her life, then Aunt Li was the object of envy and jealousy for her peers. Back in the day of arranged marriages dictated by parents and matchmakers, Aunt Li had chosen Uncle Li herself before their parents gave their blessing. After marrying, her husband was obedient, her mother-in-law was kind, and even her eldest sister-in-law doted on her. The only point of disharmony was her bad relationship with Ge Er Ya, the wife of her second brother-in-law, but she never got the short end of the stick!
She had two sons and three daughters. Her eldest daughter married within the village, right under her nose, to a good son-in-law, and she now has a son and a daughter of her own. Her second daughter was admitted to a prestigious university in the Capital City. Her youngest daughter is sensible and smart, so getting into a top university will be a breeze for her as well. Her eldest son settled down in the Capital City, with a successful career and a family of his own. Her second son also got into a top university in the Capital City. You couldn’t quite say she could strut through the village like she owned the place, but it was close. So what if she had a bit of a temper? It wasn’t like she was unreasonable or needlessly difficult.
"I heard Grandma went to Eldest Li’s house this afternoon," Li Xiu said after a moment.
Zhou Lian shook her head and said softly, "Jin Chen, let’s just leave it at that. We should get to sleep. We have things to do tomorrow." ’It’s a pool of muddy water; let them stir it up as they please!’
Meanwhile, at Li’s house, the old couple, Eldest Li and Aunt Li, looked at their three children sitting across the table and gently shook their heads.
"What is it? Didn’t you say enough this afternoon?" Eldest Li asked his three children, his face dark.
Li Bo scoffed. "If you want to hear more, I’ll say it. If not, I can’t be bothered."
Glancing at Eldest Li, Aunt Li said softly, "Just say what you want to say."
"Then don’t blame me for being harsh, Mom and Dad. What kind of life did Big Brother live before? Forget our Li family, is there anyone in the entire village who doesn’t know? Why is it that now that you see he’s successful, you’re thinking of helping *them* out? What are they thinking? Do they really think my big brother is a pushover? When Second Uncle died, who didn’t know what happened? Who doesn’t know that Big Brother and Second Aunt swore an oath to never see each other again, in life or in death!"
Glancing at Eldest Li’s scowling face, Li Bo shrugged and continued, "Have our first branch, the third branch, and Grandma not received enough help from Big Brother over the years? And now you want to help those... creatures... from the second branch get their claws into him? What are you all thinking? I get it, of Nuonuo’s generation, the four successful ones are all in the Capital City. Grandma’s surely thinking about it, but even so, you can’t just add *them* to the list to round things out!"
"Xiao Bo, those ’creatures’ you mentioned still have to call you uncle," Li Cui stated plainly, looking at her younger brother’s disgusted expression.
Waving his hand, Li Bo frowned and said, "I’m not trying to be harsh, but it’s true that the fish rots from the head down. I have no idea what they’re thinking. A son un-nurtured is a father’s failure. They ruined every good kid that fell into their hands!"
"Xiao Bo, that’s enough. Some things, even if they’re true, shouldn’t come from your mouth. Let’s just hope they straighten themselves out eventually," Li Yuan said, glancing at her parents’ dark faces before looking nonchalantly at her younger brother. ’If they did it, they shouldn’t be afraid of people talking. She just didn’t want her brother to be all talk. Besides, she was afraid that saying such things would just dirty his mouth!’
"Dad, I know you and Second Uncle had a deep brotherly bond, and you turn a blind eye to the second branch. But don’t forget how Second Uncle died. And Big Brother... as much as I hate to admit it, he is Second Uncle’s biological son. When a person is biased, they start to deceive themselves. Dad, if not for anyone else, then for the sake of the late Second Uncle, you should really think about this. You can’t let Grandma keep on like this!"
Li Cui looked at her parents and spoke quietly. Living in the Capital City, she knew just how capable her brother and sister-in-law were, and she knew they had helped their younger siblings back home. But the elders in the family were another story, always coming up with one whimsical idea after another.