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Chapter 688: Chapter 678: The Purpose of Li Xianghe
Li Hongjun furrowed his brows, analyzing the feasibility of the situation in his mind.
"See, I told you, each of you has gone off to live your own lives, leaving only Dad here by himself. If it weren’t for me, his own daughter, taking care of him, our father, an old man, would be so pitiable," Li Xianghe seemed to see hope again.
In fact, she shouldn’t be lacking money and shouldn’t need to bother coming back to her maiden home every year for that one hundred yuan of elderly support. But family matters are only known to those within, and the husband she chose, although a regimental commander with a monthly salary not less than Li Hongjun’s, left little in her hands.
Out of her husband’s salary, apart from his personal expenses, the remaining thirty yuan went straight to his mother’s hands for redistribution. In the end, less than ten yuan would trickle down to his wife. For someone fond of comfort and disinclined to exertion, ten yuan really wasn’t much.
It’s not that her husband was particularly filial, but he had been under his mother’s thumb for so many years, and still didn’t dare to rebel. Xianghe, however, thought of rebelling. Why couldn’t she handle her own husband’s salary instead of giving it to her mother-in-law? Faced with a daughter-in-law’s defiance, her mother-in-law simply stated that if she didn’t receive the salary, she would go directly to her son’s unit and speak to the leaders to see what end a disloyal person like that would meet in the military.
It was a show of who was more ruthless, and, of course, it could only cow someone as unsophisticated as a rural woman like Xianghe. So in the end, Xianghe was genuinely frightened into submission. Unable to access her husband’s money, she could only turn her thoughts to her parental home.
Li Hongjun gave his sister a cold glance before turning to the old man. "Dad, if you want to come with us to Z Province, that’s fine, but the house I got in the military dependents’ district is too small for you to live comfortably. However, if you really don’t feel comfortable staying here and want to change the environment, I can find another house nearby for you. Yunfang and I both work and definitely can’t take care of you all the time, so I’ll find you a nanny. That way, whether it’s cooking or cleaning, there will be someone to help you out. What do you think?"
The old Mr. Li seriously considered his son’s words.
"Ah, but that won’t do. It’s so far away, Dad doesn’t know anyone there. Normally there would be no one to even have a chat with. How can that be as comfortable as living in our hometown? Besides, we can’t be sure how reliable the person you find will be. If you find someone unreliable, they might mistreat Dad when you’re not home. It’s not certain whether outsiders are trustworthy; how could they be as handy as his own daughter?" Li Xianghe disagreed with her second brother’s suggestion. If Dad really left with him, then where would that leave her?
Li Hongjun didn’t care about her objection. Seeing that their father hadn’t immediately refused, he knew his suggestion had gotten through. "Dad, there’s no rush on this, you think it over well. We can discuss it more after the New Year’s celebration," he said.
The old Mr. Li nodded his head.
"And you, I’ll take you back to the Sun Family later." This statement was not a question.
"Why? I’m not going back." Her goal hadn’t been achieved yet; how could she just go back?
Besides, life was so much easier at her parental home, not having to work and still getting food to eat. If she saw something she didn’t like, she could even get a few digs in, which she couldn’t do at her in-laws’.
"Fine, if you don’t want to go back to the Sun Family, then find your own place. Our home is too small," Li Hongjun wasn’t forcing her. Such a grown person shouldn’t need others to worry about how they live.
"Dad, look at my second brother. He hasn’t even done much, and he’s already trying to dispatch me. I’m part of this family too," said Li Xianghe, turning swiftly to cling to her father. If her father asked her to stay, then no one else could make her leave.
Old Li glanced at his daughter, "You’ve been home for quite some time now, it’s about time you went back to your husband’s house for a visit."
So, even though Li Xianghe was reluctant at heart, Li Hongjun still sent Li Xianghe and her daughter back to the Sun Family that afternoon. At the same time, he also had a serious talk with the old master of the Sun Family about Niuniu’s situation.
Li Hongjun was straightforward in his speech, "No matter if Niuniu is healthy or not, she’s still a child of the Sun Family. If they continue to ignore the child’s existence, then I will go and have a serious talk with the child’s father."
Even though the elderly couple of the Sun Family always used their son’s future as a threat against their daughter-in-law, they also cared a lot about their son’s job. If their son really were to come home to recover, then they would truly have no expectations for the future.
Therefore, after receiving Li Family’s capable second son, the elderly couple of the Sun Family finally took some actions. At the very least, they took Niuniu away from the irresponsible mother and from then on, no matter what, there was always a pair of chopsticks for the child at the dinner table, even if there was less scolding and beating.
When Li Hongjun found out, he sighed. As an uncle, this was all he could fight for his niece. He and his wife had discussed treatments for autism and knew that the entire world had no good solutions, only the closest people like parents could gradually rehabilitate the child by bringing her out of her own world slowly. This way, the child might gradually improve and attempt to communicate with others. But the amount of effort required from the adults need not be mentioned.
There was no hope for Li Xianghe as such a mother, but he and Yunfang couldn’t abandon their jobs to accompany the child full-time, so this was the best they could do.
Besides, on the night when they returned to the Li Family, Wang Dan and Li Hongxing brought over their three mischievous boys for dinner.
Since there were hardly any ingredients at home, Shen Yunfang could only use the few pounds of meat brought by Big Sister Li, mincing it to make stuffing for dumplings which were then served to feed everyone.
Goudan, Erdan, and Sandan had grown quite a bit. When these three rascals got together, they were so troublesome they could practically lift the roof off. Fortunately, their deep-rooted fear of their second aunt kept them somewhat behaved in the presence of Li Hongjun and Shen Yunfang.
Wang Dan enjoyed this scene, and after dinner, she directly left the three boys at the old man’s house, ostensibly to have them play with their younger brother and sister, while she cheerfully headed home to enjoy some peace and quiet.
That evening, after Li Hongjun and his wife had put the children to bed, they began to quietly discuss what to do about Old Li’s situation.
Shen Yunfang tried not to say anything, after all, he wasn’t her father. She just needed to listen, everything was up to Li Hongjun, right? They had discussed the issue of elder care before, and Li Hongjun had made a promise that if it didn’t work out, the elder wouldn’t live with them.
Li Hongjun had no other ideas and simply repeated to his wife what he had said to Li Xianghe and Old Li that afternoon. "I know what Li Xianghe is aiming for, she’s eyeing the hundred yuan we give my dad for elder care every year. If she were truly capable of taking care of people and could make my dad happy, that money would be hers. But you also know what kind of person she is, lazy and gluttonous, and if we end up giving her the money, I’m afraid my dad’s life would be even worse."
"Hmm," Shen Yunfang hummed in response.
