CHAPTER 48
“Li Xia, as this year’s major taxpayer, how did you get to where you are today? It is said that behind every successful man there is a woman who silently contributes. Do you have a man in your family who supports you?”
Li Xia took the microphone with a smile. After taking a deep breath, she calmed her nervousness. She said openly, “Yes, I have three children. If my husband hadn’t been silently supporting me from behind, I would have been too busy to focus on my career.”
“So should we take this opportunity to express your feelings to your husband?”
Li Xia is facing the camera, her cheeks rosy, her eyes shy and happy. “We are husband and wife, hand in hand, through thick and thin together. I am grateful for having you in my life. You have contributed half to my success today. Let’s celebrate together when we get home.”
The host took the microphone, his voice rising and falling. “Husband and wife join hands, through thick and thin, together. What a beautiful relationship. In the new era and new look, women can hold up half the sky. Let’s walk hand in hand on the road of time. Next, please enjoy “We Walk on the Road.”
The family of five—three of them—appeared on the screen this year. The Shen family was the center of attention among the people they knew. Li Xia’s program was also recorded, so when she saw this scene on TV, she was sitting with her family, drinking tea, and chatting.
On TV, she held a microphone, but in reality, she held a teacup. Her eyes were like spring water, and her cheeks were full of rosy clouds. She smiled at Shen Haiyang in front of all her family members. Moreover, she did not speak properly but started to sing.
“The medal of honor is half mine and half yours.”
After the song was over, everyone led the applause. Shen Haiyang also blushed. His wife was sometimes quite romantic. It would be fine to say this in private, but why was she so serious about it?
“Dad, Dad, please sing a song in response to Mom.”
You little brat, do you think this is Liu Sanjie singing a duet? Everyone laughed for a moment. Li Xia clinked her teacup with her husband’s. She drank the tea with such gusto that even Huihua was afraid that she would drop the cup on the ground.
“It seems like a wedding wine.”
They murmured one by one, and the elder brother and sister nodded in agreement. Li Xia was so happy to see her family that she took out a bottle of Wuliangye from the cabinet and poured herself a glass. She tilted her head back and drank it in one gulp. The spicy and sweet aroma of the wine made her very addicted.
“Take it easy.”
Shen Haiyang knew she was happy, so he didn’t stop her. The old man went out wearing his military coat to set off firecrackers with the children, while the two of them drank and chatted in the house.
She leaned close to Shen Haiyang and put her arms on his shoulders. They could smell each other’s breath, and she couldn’t suppress her excitement. “Do you know how much money we made this year?” She stretched out her hand and said, “So much, so much money; we don’t have to worry about money anymore.”
“So you’ve paid off your debt?”
Li Xia shook her head and said, “No, I put most of the money into research and development and am preparing to expand production. Now the factory basically relies on external assistance, just assembly. In the future, we have to produce our own products. It is always unreliable to rely on others.”
“Wife, you are really generous.”
Being praised by her husband, Li Xia’s already excited nerves became even more excited. “We agreed to pay off the debt with interest in two years. I didn’t use the money I earned this year to pay off the debt, but I added a new production line and invested the rest in research and development. Shen Haiyang, do you want a car? I’ll buy you one.”
“I only earn 180 yuan a month, and you want me to drive a car to work.”
“It seems like it has a bad influence.” She laughed and said nothing. “Then what do you want? We have plenty of money now.”
“I do not want anything.”
He held her in his arms and sat down, and Li Xia picked up her glass and drank another one. The children outside called her to set off fireworks, and the couple got up and went out. When crossing the threshold, Li Xia stumbled and fell into Shen Haiyang’s arms, and the two almost fell down together.
“Ha ha,”
“Drunk?”
She felt a little dizzy, but she refused to admit that she was drunk. “No, we are just getting started. Let’s stay up all night to celebrate the New Year and set off fireworks.”
The fire was blazing in the yard, and the children were running around happily, setting off fireworks. Many children from the neighboring families came to join in the fun, so the children called them out to set off fireworks.
At that time, fireworks were still high-end products, and many ordinary workers were reluctant to buy them. There were only a few firecrackers around. This year, Li Xia bought more than a dozen big fireworks, and in such a lively atmosphere, of course they had to set off two to make the children happy.
Shen Haiyang turned around and prepared to get the fireworks, but the two brats had already carried one out. After putting it down, they clapped their hands and continued, “Dad, don’t worry about it; we can just move it.”
They shouted one by one, “Don’t release it; wait until we come back.”
Two barrels of fireworks were placed a few meters apart, and Shen Haiyang asked the children to stand further away. The bravest of them took a match and lit the one on the left. The fuse burned with a crackling sound, and a beam of light shot up into the sky.
Colorful fireworks exploded overhead, and before one wave of colorful mist faded, another wave rose up. People who were watching TV in the small shop in the front yard came out when they heard the noise, and adults and children enjoyed a romantic star shower from a distance.
“Hey, how much money did Li Xia make this year?”
The older sister, who has worked in the bun shop for several years, really admires the boss. She used to laugh at her, but now she feels so embarrassed. She is not only a pioneer in entrepreneurship in the province, but she also has a harmonious family. Look at the couple talking to each other from a distance—how sweet it is—that many men and women envy.
“Our boss is really capable and courageous. At first, the factory was said to be going bankrupt, and some people wanted to buy the land. Now, it seems that she has revived it.”
“We are still saving money to buy a TV, but they have already started making TVs. Why is the gap between people so big?”
“There’s nothing we can do. Even if we were offered a job at a factory like that, we wouldn’t dare take it.”
“That’s right. This woman is really courageous. She sold such a profitable shop without hesitation.”
A group of people were envious and sighing. They envied others for having such a good life and sighed that they themselves would not dare to take this opportunity given to them.
Li Xia has the foresight of rebirth, and she really dares to do it. No matter how big the risk is, if she fails, she will have to start all over again. Selling goods from north to south and sitting on a hard seat on a train, some people probably don’t want to start all over again. But she is determined to go forward and not retreat. The opportunity is right in front of her, and she has to try her best no matter how big the risk is.
Two big fireworks were set off, and the three little ones stole the show. After that, they went to play with their friends, and they were all still talking about how beautiful the fireworks were.
The old man was old, so he went to sleep after the New Year’s bell rang. The couple turned off the main lights in the house, leaving only a small, dim yellow light.
Li Xia said she would stay up all night to celebrate the New Year, but in fact, she returned to her room, was pushed down by her husband, and fell asleep after that. She was also tired this year, not physically but mentally. Now that she is finally on the right track, she will take a good rest this New Year.
She slept soundly in her husband’s arms. The three little ones came back to see that the lights in their parents’ room were turned off, so they went to sleep obediently.
On the third day of the New Year, the old man hosted a banquet for all the relatives of the Shen family at the restaurant. When Li Xia saw Uncle Shen, she shook her head silently. How could this man be so shameless? His face was even thicker than the corner of the city wall.
Shen Haiyang had told him to cut off the relationship, but he came back after the old man came back. The old man was closer to him, and they still had a childhood friendship. As people age, they are more nostalgic, so he borrowed a few hundred yuan from the old man. She guesses the old man just thought of it as a companion for him to reminisce.
“My niece-in-law is really capable. She now runs a factory and appears on TV. My niece-in-law is so successful. I envy and praise her when I watch her on TV. Our Shen family has such a daughter-in-law. It must be a blessing from our ancestors.”
The old man liked to hear this and immediately smiled. “Yes, Haiyang has a good wife.”
The waiter poured tea for them. Li Xia didn’t want to sit with a group of old men. She got up and went to the private room next door with a few little kids.
“Mom, and that uncle is so annoying.”
Huihua sat down and complained, and Shen Hui nodded and continued, “He’s so shameless. How could there be an elder as shameless as dad’s uncle in our clan for people like me and my father?”
“A dragon gives birth to nine sons, and each of them is different. What’s more, they are just from the same clan.” Li Xia explained.
“Oh, brother, you are just too thin-skinned. Although dad’s uncle is not very capable, he can still get benefits from being thick-skinned. He knows that my grandfather misses his country very much; specifically, he misses his home and his family. He relies on this fact and knows that my grandfather will never kick him out.”
Li Xia looked back at her son. How old is this brat, and he can actually see all this?
She was still nostalgic for the first half of her life, so she didn’t bother with him. And that thick-skinned man was so shameless that he had offended her and Shen Haiyang before, but later he apologized happily when he saw them both.
“Isn’t he just like the villains in the books?” Shen Hui looked down on him. He might be able to accept a hypocrite, but he really couldn’t accept such a shameless villain. “Will Grandpa be deceived by him?”
“Brother, you think too much.” Yiyi took a piece of raw carrot and ate it. “Grandpa is a smart man. He gave him some benefits just to have someone to accompany him and tell him about the past. As for saying that he lied to Grandpa, that’s impossible. The second uncle was able to transfer so much money because he is Grandpa’s biological son. Uncle Shen is far from that.”
Li Xia looked back at her son and said, “Shen Ruyi, who taught you this?”
The little guy stuffed the last bit of carrot into his mouth and tilted his head back to let his mother wipe his mouth. “Sometimes adults would say that grandpa would give me some pointers when I played chess. And the fact is there. Grandpa was happy to have someone to recall his childhood with, and dad’s uncle was also happy to receive some small things from grandpa’s fingers.”
“You think this is a win-win situation?”
“That’s right.” The little guy looked up, his big eyes rolling around, not understanding where he had said anything wrong.
“He called you a burden before; don’t you bear a grudge? Don’t you find him annoying?”
Li Xia asked this, and Shen Hui also expressed the same meaning with his eyes and expression. He has offended me, and I just hate him. I hate him in my heart and on my face.
“He is an eyesore and bears grudges. Why do you bother about him, brother? You know what kind of person he is. Just start calculating with him without getting emotional. If you are happy on the surface, others will not be able to say anything. Otherwise, outsiders will think you don’t respect your elders. This will be disadvantageous to you.
You forgot the story of Zeng Guofan that Grandpa told us. He failed in the officialdom at the beginning , and he didn’t understand why he was not tolerated by others even though he acted uprightly. Later, he wrote to his brother: “I have recently seen the way of heaven and earth—that hardness and softness can be used together, and neither can be neglected.”
Well, Li Xia didn’t say anything this time. Who did her son take after? He was so young, yet he could get rid of the contempt others had for him.
In his previous life, no one taught him to figure things out. He was sensitive when he was young, but he still had a lot of good friends. He learned to hide things when he grew up, and he had very good interpersonal relationships in college. In this life, the old man actually taught him at such a young age that he should be gentle but firm and use both firmness and gentleness. In this life, he is very confident in such a family environment, and the inferiority and arrogance in his previous life did not show up at all.
The mother and her children were talking when Shen Haiyang came in.
“Should I learn from Yi Yi? In the business world, it is inevitable that there will be people you don’t like or have grudges against. If you meet someone, it’s only beneficial, so you should put aside the past grudges.”
Shen Haiyang nodded. “You already knew that the previous shop was bought by Murong Danling, and you didn’t argue with her. You already knew the truth, and you have always done it this way. You don’t like my uncle, but you still treat him as a relative. In your eyes, relatives should be based on feelings, and you are disgusted by such relatives.”
She slapped her forehead. “I’m still stupid. Why should I treat him as a relative? I should just treat him as someone who can entertain the old man.”
“All those who came today are here to show respect. If the old man chooses to be buried in the Shen family’s ancestral tomb a hundred years later, these people will still come and go. The Shen family members gathered together because of our prosperity, and we entertained them for the old man’s sake. Didn’t you see that the old man didn’t hold a banquet at home but chose to hold it outside?”
Shen Haiyang looks gentle, but he is actually very savvy. He is ruthless when it comes to fighting back and has a good grasp of interpersonal relationships.
At the dinner table, the uncle gave red envelopes to the children and started by praising them. “Oh, our Yiyi has grown up so much. He is so sensible.” He took out a red envelope from his pocket and gave one to each of the three children. “Look how good this is. Other families have only one person, but we have three people, so it’s lively. They grew up together and will continue to support each other in the future. We are better than them.”
As the oldest child, Shen Hui felt awkward at this moment. If it were in the past, he would have gone up one by one. But today, the brat did not move and just looked at his brother. He stood behind his brother and followed his brother’s lead. Grandpa taught us that people should not be arrogant but should have pride. There is no need to bend when it is not necessary to compromise.
Shen Hui hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward and politely took the red envelope and thanked him.
“Thank you, Grandpa Uncle.”
“Hey, look how sensible our Huihui is. He looks like the eldest grandson of the Shen family.”
Shen Hui took it, and Huihua and Yiyi followed suit to take it and thank him. Old Master Shen nodded secretly and said, “Huihui, pour tea for Grandpa Uncle.”
The little boy was stunned for a moment, then did it obediently. After pouring it, he paused and said, “Grandpa Uncle, please have some tea.”
Young boys are teachable. Old Master Shen gave his grandson an approving look. Stubbornness is the worst thing for boys. Shen Hui is especially easily influenced by others. If someone instigates him, a stubborn child will easily get stuck at a dead end. It is too easy for people to see through his emotions, and he will be easily taken advantage of.
Yiyi is a little slippery and can easily see through the conflicts of interest between people. His slippery personality easily gives people the impression that he has no backbone. But this child has a very good advantage; he is ruthless and sentimental. He will never abandon those who are rejected, and he will never abandon those who are in his heart. Just a simple hint, and he will immediately follow his brother today.
The little one is not important; at most, he will be accused of being a child with no rules and no respect for elders. But the elder brother is very important; if the elder brother can’t let go, he will be scolded together with the elder brother.
Neither of the two children let him down. They were very malleable and could listen to the teachings of their elders. Huihui was too sentimental and could not learn to scheme against his relatives. This was both good and bad, because love can warm people but also hurt them. And he had a biological mother like that, so he could not be too naive or simple.
The elders of the Shen family sat down at the table one after another. The uncle felt that he had guessed correctly and had connected with the rich cousin again. When people get old, they miss the past, and he really misses his cousin. He thought that the old man didn’t care about his past because he missed it, but in fact, that was not the case at all.
After coming back for so long, the old man discovered his grandson’s shortcomings and kept him to correct his character. Shen Hui was too straightforward, and his guts were straight to the end. Everything was written on his face, and this was not okay.
Too much rigidity will break easily, and too much softness will lead to failure. Only by combining rigidity and softness can one prosper forever. He is the eldest grandson of the Shen family. Even if he does not have to take on the responsibility and does not have to worry too much about interpersonal relationships in the future, he cannot be too simple and must be well matched with Yi Yi.
The uncle thought he had guessed the old man’s thoughts. After dinner, when most people had left, he spoke to Li Xia without knowing whether to behave or not.
“Niece-in-law, Uncle wants to trouble you for help. My nephew still has no job. Can you arrange for him to work in your factory? Don’t worry; I will never cause any trouble for you. Just give him an ordinary position.”
He had told his cousin before, but the old man said that Li Xia was in charge of the factory and asked him to contact Li Xia directly. He then found an opportunity to ask for help from the woman who had once made him lose his face.
“I’m really sorry, but the factory is so full of people, there are no extra positions. I recruited a group last summer; why didn’t he sign up?”
Sign up? You are so strict, I don’t need to tell you that he won’t be selected. “I didn’t hear the news; I missed it. Niece-in-law, we are all relatives. My nephew is looking for a wife, and it’s hard to find a job. You can make some concessions. You are the factory director; it’s not a big deal to arrange someone.”
“Uncle, you said you wouldn’t embarrass me.”
She didn’t even bother to find a reason to refuse, and she directly blocked his words. With that tone, if you’re nice, we can just maintain our face for now, but if you keep talking, I’ll fight you.
The uncle, who was such a troublesome person, was suddenly stunned. Now he was the one begging others, not others begging him. The uncle listened to Li Xia’s words and would never confront his daughter-in-law for him. If he confronted Li Xia, he might be kicked out by Shen Haiyang in the next second. His nephew looked gentle, but in fact, he would not retreat at all when he had to confront him.
“Well, forget it then.”
The uncle left in disgrace, and Shen Hui looked at his back and shook his head. This guy is really thick-skinned, and he probably won’t be able to be so thick-skinned in his life. But if you don’t like him, just stick to your bottom line, just like mom didn’t promise him anything today.
And the speed at which Mom’s expression changed just now was also very fast, just like Yi Yi. He seemed to have some understanding of the limits of doing things. He should give up when it is time to give up and not dwell on blood ties. Some people should not be taken to heart.
When they got home, the child held her hand and said, “Mom, are we going to grandma’s house tomorrow?”
“Yes, get up early tomorrow. Grandpa is going to visit an old classmate for a few days. We just happened to have some free time, so the whole family is going home to pay New Year’s greetings to your maternal grandparents.”
On the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, the family drove to Li Xia’s parents’ home. This was Shen Haiyang’s first visit to his parents-in-law’s home. Li Xia had told her third brother during the holiday, so the family was already prepared.
As soon as they entered the house, they were quickly invited to sit on the kang, and hot eggs and sugar water were served to quench their thirst. The dinner was also sumptuous.
The dumplings were stuffed with three kinds of fillings and made into three different kinds of styles. You can eat whatever you like. Stewed mutton, braised fish, stewed chestnuts, braised pork chops, tofu with spring onions, cold bean curd, shredded ear with red oil, onion, and black fungus. Four main dishes, four cold dishes, and a casserole of mutton soup.
(Vegetable Dumpling)
(Beef Dumpling)
(Garlic Chicken Spinach Dumpling)
(Stewed mutton)
(braised fish)
(stewed chestnuts)
( braised pork chops)
(tofu with spring onions)
( cold bean curd)
( shredded ear with red oil)
(onion and black fungus)
T/N :- Hey guys, sorry about the zero updates till now in this week. I had so many work piled up that I couldn’t update the chapters. So I am updating all the 3 chapters today !! And I think i will try to schedule the chapters of next week i.e on Mon, Wed, Fri.
Please do comment and let me know you thoughts about the chapters or the novel. I like to read all your comments.<3
