CHAPTER 29
There were already many people gathered at their house gate. She saw a family car in the crowd and immediately quickened her pace out of curiosity. Cars are rare nowadays. What kind of important person has come to her house?
”Finally you’re back. Haiyang’s brother came back from abroad to look for you. We were just talking about it when you came.”
The person who spoke was an older sister-in-law from Li Xia’s steamed bun shop. Hearing this, the couple looked at the man in a suit and tie, and the man also turned around and looked at them.
Their eyes met in the air, and both parties were silently looking at each other. Shen Haiyang had recovered well in the past few days, with a full complexion and gentle features. The man who looked a bit like him had a slicked-back face, wore a black custom-made suit, and stood in the crowd with a somewhat impatient look. The woman next to him was wearing high heels and a fashionable Western-style suit, and she had rolled her eyes several times in such a short time.
”Hello, I’m Shen Haiyang.”
”I’m Shen Yaozong, and my father’s name is Shen Xiao.”
Shen Haiyang went over to say hello and held out his hand. The man who claimed to be his younger brother also held out his hand after introducing himself, but he shook it lightly with an impatient look. The two brothers who met for the first time in decades were more unfamiliar than strangers.
Don’t talk about your family affairs in public, Li Xia quickly opened the door and invited the guests in. The two of them looked around with disdain in their eyes. After entering the house, they looked down on the furnishings. Li Xia made some tea for them, but the woman rolled her eyes and said she didn’t want to drink it.
“I only drink hand-ground coffee.”
”Sorry, we don’t have that at home.”
A mainland woman, she was not afraid at all when talking to her. The woman looked up at Li Xia and silently sized her up in her heart.
”That’s understandable. People in the mainland just drink broken leaves.”
”So, if you don’t like anything, what are you doing here?”
Li Xia’s words were full of sarcasm, and Shen Haiyang looked at his cheap brother with a questioning look on his face. What the hell, if you don’t like it, don’t come. If you come then show off your dead look to whoever wants to see you.
”Do you think we are willing to come? It’s because you guys keep calling us. Otherwise, we wouldn’t care…”
”Annie,”
The man interrupted the woman with a shout, and the woman rolled her eyes in anger and said nothing more. The man nodded to Shen Haiyang, then explained his purpose.
”Father heard the content of your phone call from the servant at home, and also received your letter. When the old man was sick, he said that he missed home and wanted to return to the mainland. He asked me to come back and buy a house near your home for him to live in.”
So that’s how it is, Shen Haiyang nodded to show that he understood. His father sent him so much money, and now he wanted to live with him in his old age, he couldn’t refuse.
”It’s not easy to buy a house in a provincial capital, and it’s even harder if you want a house with a private door and yard. I’ll ask my friends to keep an eye out and let you know if there’s a suitable one.”
”Do you really agree with your father coming back to live with you?”
The man’s eyes were wide open, as if Shen Haiyang had done something unforgivable. His wife was also angry, looking at Li Xia and her husband with great rage.
”I said they went to so much trouble to contact our father over and over again, it must be for the inheritance. Now that the old man is coming back, of course they are happy.”
It turned out to be about money again. Li Xia and her husband looked at each other and understood. This was the Shen family’s business. Li Xia didn’t say much and let Shen Haiyang solve it himself.
”You said it yourself just now. It was the old man’s idea to return to China, and you came here to buy a house for him to live in. I was just doing my duty as a host and offering to help you. You two are so rude to ridicule me like this. Isn’t it said that everything abroad is better than in China? I don’t think so.”
The couple was embarrassed by the ridicule. The woman wanted to say something but was stopped by the man’s eyes, so he started the conversation with Shen Haiyang.
”I grew up abroad. The environment and language habits are different from those in China. Maybe you didn’t understand what I meant. I came here to tell you that the environment in China is too bad and not suitable for father to live in. You should work with me to persuade father to give up this idea.”
”It is a traditional Chinese thought that fallen leaves return to their roots. It is the old man’s freedom to decide how to spend his old age. I think it is fine to spend his old age overseas or in China. I don’t think There is something wrong with this decision, I’m sorry I can’t help you in advising him.”
Shen Haiyang refused directly without even beating around the bush. As soon as he made his attitude clear, the couple’s faces turned black. They had already looked down on him, and now they thought he was after the old man’s property.
”Dad has been ill for the past few years and we have been taking care of him. Isn’t this too unkind of you?”
”When he returns to the mainland, I will also fulfill my filial duty.”
Another soft nail was hit back, and Shen Yaozong was speechless. He was also his father’s blood, and had the same inheritance rights as him. The old man had untied the knot in his heart, and after learning that he had a son and a grandson, he must return to the mainland. It seemed that it would be difficult for him to stop it.
”Let’s go. I told you it’s useless to come to them, but you won’t give up.”
The woman was the first to leave the house in annoyance. Shen Yaozong glanced at the brother he met for the first time and then shook his head and left together. The two of them couldn’t find the door they came in through in the yard. It was Shen Hui who was playing in the yard who pointed it out.
The gate of the traditional Chinese courtyard house is located in the southeast corner, hidden in the courtyard and impossible to see at a glance. The ancient oriental thinking is incomprehensible to these two people who grew up in foreign countries. After leaving the courtyard, they were extremely dissatisfied with the house.
The two got in the car and drove away. The three little ones came in and Shen Hui asked his father: “Is Grandpa, coming back?”
Shen Haiyang nodded, and said nothing more to the children, asking them to go back to their room to do their homework. Li Xia had time to go into the kitchen to cook today, and after dinner the children watched TV, she took out her wallet and showed it to Shen Haiyang.
She has done a lot of wholesale business since she came back, and she has recovered some of her funds. Shen Haiyang looked at the wallet on his lap in a daze, and asked her what she meant.
”Why, do you want me to help you count the money?”
”There are about six or seven thousand yuan here, which is almost enough to buy a yard.”
Shen Haiyang looked at her and slowly opened his lips, revealing a knowing smile. She could see that he wanted to do something for his father whom he had never met. After all, he had accepted so many gifts.
“Will it affect your cash flow?”
”No. I still have a lot of goods. Once I sell them all, I will have money.”
”Thanks.”
”We are a couple, no need to be so polite.” Li Xia smiled and said, “You said it.”
”With a wife like this, what more could a husband ask for?”
Li Xia didn’t quite understand what this meant, but she knew it was definitely a compliment to her. He could put a property worth hundreds of millions of yuan in her name, and he could listen to her and use all his money to buy a shop for her to do business. She just took out money to buy a house for his father, wasn’t this what she should do?
”I’ll also help inquire and see if there is anyone suitable.”
”Okay.” Shen Haiyang said as he looked back. There was actually a complete courtyard behind his yard. The backyard was somewhat damaged and several families lived there. The original alley was blocked, and the two courtyards that were originally connected were now independent.
”How about you find a way to buy the yard behind our house? Then we can renovate it and turn the blocked alley into a small door. When it’s closed, it’s independent, and when it’s opened, we can communicate with each other.”
”There are five or six families living in the yard behind our house. How can we buy it? We should talk to each family one by one. There are no commercial houses in the provincial capital now. Ordinary people will not sell their houses, right? Even if the price is high, they can’t sell it. Otherwise, where will they live?”
This is indeed a problem. Today, it is not like the past when you can buy a house at will. As long as you have enough money, you can buy a house anywhere. Nowadays, everyone relies on housing for survival. If you sell your house, will the whole family live on the street?
”I’ll try my best to figure it out. Whether it succeeds or not, I’ll see first.”
”That’s fine. Just tell me what you need me to do, and we’ll do our best to buy a suitable yard.”
