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Chapter 724: Chapter 714 Are You Stupid
"Hello? Who is this?" Shen Yunfang heard the phone ringing, quickly turned down the stove, and then ran to the living room to answer the phone.
Nowadays, phones didn’t have caller ID, so you wouldn’t know who was calling until you picked up the phone and heard the voice.
"Yunfang, are you home? I was thinking if you weren’t, I’d call Hongjun," Ma Liguo’s voice came from the other end of the line.
"Brother Ma, I’m at home. It’s about that time, isn’t it? I need to get back and cook for the kids," said Shen Yunfang with a chuckle.
Although she was busy with all sorts of things at the farm every day, she always made sure to come back early at mealtimes to cook for her husband and children, unless something special came up, a routine she kept up with consistently.
"You’re really something, earning money without neglecting the family. I should have your sister-in-law sit down and have a good talk with you sometime. When she’s busy, she doesn’t even think about me and Transcendent," Ma Liguo complained a bit on the other end.
His wife worked at the public security bureau. It was fine most of the time, but whenever there was a case in her jurisdiction, she’d get incredibly busy, often working overtime. Forget about cooking for her husband and child; in the end, he, the husband, would have to take care of the child and deliver meals to her in a lunchbox.
"Ha, my sister-in-law is someone who handles big affairs; don’t you hold her back," Shen Yunfang of course knew he was joking. Over the years, that’s just how the couple got by, and she could tell that it was a matter of "one willing to fight, and the other willing to endure."
"Right, your sister-in-law does have bigger matters to deal with than I do. Oh yes, I’m calling today because there’s something I need to discuss with you and Hongjun. Goudan got into a fight and hit someone a couple of days ago..."
"What happened? Is it serious?" Shen Yunfang’s tone became serious.
"No, not serious, just some scrapes, but the other party is rather troublesome. Goudan has a temper and wouldn’t back down, so he got taken advantage of. I had your sister-in-law pull some strings, and it’s all sorted now; Goudan paid the other party fifty yuan. I’m calling to suggest we talk to Goudan’s parents; it might not be appropriate for such a young kid to be working already. We’re all family here, and I speak my mind. Goudan is okay at working, but his temper can be problematic. He doesn’t get along well with others. The job I found for him, he quit after just a couple of days, saying he wouldn’t do it, and then found himself another job. Now, after working for two months, they haven’t paid him a dime. He got angry and beat up the person who got him the job," Liguo said, clearly troubled by Hongjun’s nephew. If it was his own child, a few lashes with a belt would have straightened out any misbehavior.
Shen Yunfang frowned, thinking that the foolish young boy must have encountered a labor scam. The child belonged to Hongjun’s older brother; she, as an aunt, couldn’t really intervene. They would have to wait for Hongjun to come back and have him speak with his older brother and sister-in-law.
"Brother Ma, you’ve gone to quite some trouble for Goudan. You and your wife have really put in a lot of effort on behalf of someone else’s kid," Shen Yunfang sincerely thanked him. She knew that helping someone watch their child was a thankless job; if anything went wrong with the kid, blame would surely follow. The fact that Ma Liguo and his wife agreed to take on the responsibility of looking after the child without hesitation was certainly out of respect for her and Hongjun.
"Yunfang, that’s a bit harsh to say. I didn’t call you for any other reason; I just don’t want to see the kid continue down this path, it’s not good for him."
"I understand, I understand."
They chatted a bit more about recent events and then hung up the phone.
Shen Yunfang put down the phone and suddenly remembered the pot in the kitchen. With an "ouch," she hurried over to check if it had burned.
Soon after, Hongjun arrived home with the two children.
Now, Pangpang and Manman would not go home after school. They would play with their friends downstairs, and only when they saw their dad coming back from work would they follow him upstairs for dinner.
"Mom, I want an ice pop." As soon as Manman entered the house and changed his shoes, he dashed towards the kitchen and almost bumped into Yunfang, who was walking out with a platter.
"Hey, hey, be still. Don’t run around in the house." Yunfang shifted to the side and handed the platter to Hongjun, who had reached out for it, "We’re about to have dinner, you can’t have an ice pop."
Ever since they got a fridge, she had figured out how to make homemade ice pops using milk and mung beans. This undoubtedly gave the children the perfect excuse to nag for one every time they got home.
Usually, Yunfang wouldn’t allow them to have one before meals, although taking an ice pop to school was fine.
Seeing his daughter’s disappointed expression, Hongjun felt a pang of heartache, "It’s okay. We’re having dinner, not ice pops. Mom must have prepared chilled watermelon for Manman, your favorite."
At that, Manman immediately broke into a smile and happily bounced off to wash his hands, "Oh, oh, that’s great. We’re going to have chilled watermelon!"
Yunfang looked disapprovingly at Hongjun, who was making promises carelessly, "You always play the good guy. At this time of the year, if we have watermelon and the child accidentally spills the beans, let’s see how you deal with it." He has no principles when it comes to children, honestly.
"Don’t worry, our kids know how to keep their mouths shut." Hongjun wasn’t concerned. Both Pangpang and Manman had been trained professionally by him; they wouldn’t spill their family’s secrets no matter who asked.
"All that ability you have, just hurry up and serve the rice, I’ll go get the chilled watermelon ready."
"Heh, my wife is the best." Hongjun, hearing that their child was still washing his hands in the bathroom, quickly leaned in and planted a kiss on his wife’s lips, then scurried away with the bowls.
"This man is hopeless," Yunfang couldn’t help feeling both annoyed and amused. She turned back into the kitchen and took a big watermelon out of the storage space – it had been chilled on the balcony during winter.
With a few swift cuts, the big watermelon was quartered. She stored three of the quarters back into the space and began to slice the flesh of the remaining one. Of course, this plate of chilled watermelon was the biggest hit at the dinner table, even more popular than pork.
After dinner, Husband and wife, along with their children, went out for a stroll and decided to check on their vegetable garden.
Seeing that there was no one around, Yunfang brought up the phone call from Ma Liguo earlier that day.
"You decide what we should do. From the sounds of it, Ma Liguo thinks Goudan isn’t cut out for working on his own. Right now it’s fine, the conflict isn’t that serious, and his sister-in-law can help a bit. But if the child doesn’t learn his lesson and keeps this up, and it escalates, we’ll be out of options. So I think we need to discuss this with your brother and sister-in-law. After all, Goudan isn’t our child, and it doesn’t seem right for us to make decisions for him as his uncle and aunt," said Yunfang.
Hongjun nodded, "Goudan isn’t a steadfast kid. Having him out there on his own, if he doesn’t meet good people, there’s a real chance he could be led astray." 𝔫𝖔𝖛𝖕𝖚𝔟.𝖈𝖔𝔪
Yunfang was quite surprised, "Hey, you’re pretty clear-headed. Why didn’t you say all this back when we were at our hometown to your brother and sister-in-law?"
Hongjun glanced at his wife as if to say, are you being silly, "Have you seen what kind of person my sister-in-law is, someone who listens to others’ advice? What parents think there’s something wrong with their child? Besides, the kid is full of pride; unless he hits his own head against the wall, he won’t realize his own limits."
