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Chapter 713: Chapter 703: The Dragon Has a Reverse Scale
Meanwhile, over at Old Li’s place, after seeing Li Hongxing’s two children, and remembering how Li Hongjun had just talked back to him, he couldn’t hold back his anger any longer and ended up scolding his youngest granddaughter. He always cared more about his grandsons; the girls were, well, dispensable to him.
After he sent the children away with a scolding, he felt much better.
Standing in the courtyard and waiting for a while, he heard crying from the other house, and then, with hands clasped behind his back, he pushed open the door of Li Hongxing’s home.
But Li Hongxing wasn’t home, only his oldest daughter-in-law was there.
Sandan had already rushed in to tell Wang Dan that Grandpa had gotten angry and driven his sister away.
At that moment, when Wang Dan saw her father-in-law, she asked with a smile that wasn’t quite a smile, "Well, what kind of wind brought you here today, Dad? What brings you to our house? You must need something."
Wang Dan appeared friendly, but her words weren’t very pleasant to hear.
Old Li, despite his age, wasn’t foolish or oblivious, and he naturally detected the mockery in his oldest daughter-in-law’s tone. Normally, he could just turn around and leave, but at this time, he needed Li Hongxing’s help.
"Is the oldest at home? I need to talk to him about something."
"Oh dear, what bad timing, Hongxing has gone to my mom’s place, and he won’t be back until the afternoon," Wang Dan said exaggeratedly. "Dad, what is it that you need? You can tell me just as well."
"Since the oldest isn’t home, tell him to stop by my place when he gets back in the afternoon," Old Li said, and then he walked away with his hands still clasped behind his back.
Wang Dan spat after watching him walk out the door and muttered under her breath, "There’s not a single good person in the Li Family."
After thinking it over, she called to Sandan to mind the house, and then she stepped out the door. Standing in the courtyard, she watched Old Li walk toward the village entrance, and then she pushed open her own gate and stepped out, not even a few steps farther before entering the old residence.
"Yunfang, are you home? Oh, you haven’t started cooking yet. Hey, what are you up to?" Wang Dan walked in, making quite a fuss as she did.
Upon seeing her sister-in-law enter, Li Hongjun said, "Then you carry on; I’ll go let Big Sister know." Before he left, they always had to notify her; besides, it was simply courtesy to inform Big Sister.
"Mhm, okay, just have lunch at Big Sister’s place, and try to get back early in the afternoon, otherwise it’ll be dark by the time we make it to the county town," said Shen Yunfang, as Wang Dan came in. She put down the large bundle she was sorting out and pulled Wang Dan to sit on the kang bed, "Sister-in-law, don’t stand there, come sit down."
Wang Dan just sat down on the edge of the kang, watching Li Hongjun leave and vaguely understanding what the couple was up to, yet she found it hard to believe—they had agreed to wait until after the 15th, hadn’t they?
"Why have you come over, Big Sister-in-law? Not busy at home?" asked Shen Yunfang.
"What’s there to be busy with during the New Year? Goudan and Erdan have run off somewhere, and I’ve left Sandan at home to keep an eye on things. The old man just came to our house, but now he’s gone, so I hurried over to see what’s going on." Wang Dan eyed Manman’s little red eyes as she spoke. She felt a bit smug inside, thankful for having three sons. If they lived any closer, how many times would the old man have scolded them by now?
Shen Yunfang looked back at Manman and Pangpang on the kang, "Do you two want to go say goodbye to Brother Sandan? Once your dad comes back, we’ll be heading home." 𝘯𝑜𝘷𝘱𝘶𝑏.𝘤𝘰𝑚
"Okay, I want to go play with Sandan too," Manman was the typical kid who forgets the pain once the wound heals. He was just crying his eyes out a moment ago, and now he’s all better, as if the skies had cleared after the rain.
"Sure, go ahead. Mom will call you guys back for dinner later."
Watching the two kids run out, Shen Yunfang followed them to the main room to see Niuniu playing happily by herself. Then she sat back down inside and started chatting with Wang Dan.
"What’s this? You guys leaving now? Didn’t you say you’d leave after the 15th?" Wang Dan realized they were really going to leave.
"Yeah, that was the plan. But I think the old man doesn’t really like us staying at home for such a long time either, so rather than being an annoyance, we should just leave as quickly as possible," Shen Yunfang didn’t mince her words this time, expressing her discontent bluntly.
In the past, when Wang Dan complained to her about the Li Family elders, she would agree, albeit more diplomatically, because speaking ill of the elderly behind their backs wasn’t something a daughter-in-law should do. But like a dragon has its reverse scales, her children were Shen Yunfang’s. Touch them, and you’ve crossed the line. This time, the old man had completely angered her by losing his temper at Manman for no good reason.
"Whoa, listen to you! Did the old man do something unreliable again? Right before I left home, I heard Sandan run back and tell me his grandpa scolded Manman. What exactly happened? Tell me all about it," Wang Dan said with a gossipy look on her face.
"Hmph, what else could it be? With no granny and no Li Hongqi, the only one making trouble in the Li Family now is Li Xianghe," and so Shen Yunfang recounted the incident of Niuniu being thrown out to the gate, the old man’s attitude, and everything else that had happened that day.
"Tsk tsk tsk, what did I tell you? Our old man isn’t easy to deal with either. You didn’t believe me before, but now you do. Let me tell you, when the old lady was around, it overshadowed the old man, but now, with nobody in the way, you get to see what he’s really like in just a few days."
This time, Shen Yunfang nodded without hesitation, agreeing completely.
"So I can’t take care of him, and I won’t."
"Are you really leaving? Did the old man find someone like he wanted?" Wang Dan asked tentatively.
She was quite conflicted, not wanting to live with the old man anymore, but also somewhat unable to let go of the retirement money given by the second son, which left her feeling quite torn.
"Not yet. We’re not getting involved in that anymore. The old man said this morning that he would find someone himself. I think that’s better, after all, since they’re coming to take care of him. If we get involved now, in the future, if there’s blame or praise, it falls on us. Better to let the old man find someone himself. He’ll be satisfied, and later on, he can’t complain to anyone," Shen Yunfang had made up her mind; if she was going to stay out of it, then she had to stop interfering altogether, or people might start thinking they actually liked to meddle.
"What if Li Xianghe comes back to meddle again?" Wang Dan asked, feeling that it was very possible.
"If the old man thinks Li Xianghe can take good care of him, then we have no objections. After all, we only give him that much retirement money each year. How the old man wants to spend it, and who he wants to spend it on, we’re not going to manage that anymore," Shen Yunfang had thought it through; if she said she wouldn’t manage it, then she wouldn’t manage anything, otherwise people might think they like to take on responsibilities.
"I mean, you’re angry, but you don’t have to just up and leave like that, making it so sudden. I wanted to get you some local specialties or something to take with you, and now you’re leaving all of a sudden, where am I supposed to go and get them for you?" Wang Dan complained, half in jest. She had indeed thought about giving the second son and his wife some local gifts, but it was just a thought and that was it. The second son’s family was much better off than her own; they hardly needed anything from her. But it was still a polite thing to say.
"Elder sister, why be polite with me? Besides, what local specialties do we even have here? I don’t know of any," Shen Yunfang glanced at Wang Dan. There were no mountains or rivers here, nothing noteworthy to offer.
"Hehe, even if there’s nothing good, there’s nothing wrong either, right? It’s the thought that counts," Wang Dan had a way with words, "By the way, there won’t be any buses from the county to the city later in the afternoon. Even if you go to the county this afternoon, you won’t be able to leave, so what’s the rush?"
