Chapter 1303 - 1175: Discovery

Chapter 1303: Chapter 1175: Discovery

Zhou Jiao couldn’t be bothered to respond, but once something landed on her plate it still had to be dealt with; even if she didn’t handle it, she at least had to show some reaction, maybe even cough up some money.

Right now she was frowning tightly, looking at the writing paper that May 1st had handed her.

Huang Cuilan was really sick!

Of course she refused to admit it was her own crow’s mouth!

The woman wasn’t mentally ill yet, but she probably wasn’t far off. Any woman living such a lousy life would end up with her nerves shot.

"Mom, do you think someone could’ve coached her to fake being sick?"

Zhou Jiao looked up and glanced at her son.

"Think about it: she’s now all depressed and threatening suicide, and insists she has to see my eldest uncle before she can calm down. Doesn’t that mean my eldest uncle has to take her along to the provincial city?"

Zhou Jiao looked at him, amused. According to his analysis, what a grand conspiracy!

"How can things line up that neatly?" May 1st curled his lips. "Our family just bought a courtyard in the provincial city for Grandpa and Grandma, and she picks this time to threaten suicide?"

Zhou Jiao looked at her son, thoughtful.

"Have you considered this: if Grandpa and Grandma move to the provincial city, then next summer, after Ming Zuo and Ming You graduate from college and stay on in the provincial city, other than Mai Miao, she really won’t have a single person by her side in the county town."

Zhou Jiao was the kind of person who, once she lost interest in someone, never bothered to spend another thought on them; but hearing her son say this now, the logic actually held!

"Back in our hometown, when you said you wanted to buy a courtyard for the old folks in the provincial city, I was against it. Not because I couldn’t part with the money, but because there was no need. Second Uncle is so dutiful, he wouldn’t fail to leave a room for the old couple."

Zhou Jiao shot him a sidelong look—typical backseat driver! Why didn’t he bring it up then? Not mentioning it at the time was one thing, but even after they came back, he could’ve said something.

May 1st gave her a fawning grin. "I was worried Dad would misunderstand me. Back then we couldn’t find a courtyard on short notice, and I wasn’t home during summer break.

Besides, the courtyard’s ours anyway, so if we buy it, we buy it."

"Enough, I’m not blaming you."

"So what do we do now?"

Zhou Jiao pressed her fingers to the bridge of her nose. "Mountain high, road far—we can’t manage that much. If she’s not well, we can only follow social convention for now, send along a token and mail some nutritional supplements over."

May 1st stood up and pressed on her temples, swept a glance outside, and whispered a reminder: "Mom, you really don’t need to take this to heart. She’s got three sons and a daughter. If the kids aren’t thinking of solutions now, what’s the point of raising them?

It’s Dad you should keep an eye on. Whatever you do, don’t let him get involved. It’s their domestic business—if he sticks his nose in, he’ll end up the bad guy on both sides."

"Okay."

May 1st smiled, started thumping her shoulders, and went on: "I’m not just fearmongering. Look at Second Uncle—he’s been all over their situation. But do you think Xi Zi and his two brothers see him as a good guy?

It’s only because he’s transferred to the provincial city now. Otherwise, just imagine: would Xi Zi and the others be acting the way they are? No matter how bad their mother is, she’s still their birth mother.

To be honest, I’m really disappointed in those three brothers. It’s only because it’s them—if it were me, I don’t care if he’s Second Uncle or not, if he dared to split up my parents, humph..."

Zhou Jiao burst out laughing and patted him on the back.

"And Eldest Uncle, what a selfish man. I have no idea where Dad and Second Uncle get this idea that he’s full of brotherly affection. That way their brains work, I really can’t agree with it.

If he truly cared about his younger brother, he shouldn’t have put Second Uncle in such an awkward position. He knows perfectly well Second Uncle has broken with her, so why keep that woman around?

Think about it: if, in the future, my wife got into it with my brother and I still kept her, then which matters more—my brother or my woman?"

Zhou Jiao couldn’t help laughing out loud. Her son really cut to the heart of it!

"Mom, don’t laugh. Listen carefully—that should be Dad coming home outside."

"It’s fine, even better if your dad hears. The good big brother he remembers is the one from his memories. People change with their environment."

As she spoke, Zhou Jiao glanced outside. "Back then, your eldest uncle really was decent. A bit too honest, always the first one to pitch in with work, and whenever there was something tasty, he gave it all to the family.

It’s not that your dad can’t see how much your eldest uncle has changed—he just thinks your eldest uncle’s misfortune now is all because of him. If he hadn’t arranged for your eldest uncle’s family to move to the county town and had kept them in the village, none of this would’ve happened. Your dad feels guilty toward your eldest uncle."

"Then Dad is seriously overthinking it."

Out of the corner of his eye, May 1st flicked a look toward the yard; his old man should be about to come in. "I can practically picture it: if Eldest Uncle’s family had stayed in the hometown, they probably would’ve broken up even earlier.

You can’t change a person’s nature. Even if Eldest Uncle didn’t resent Dad, would his wife and kids feel nothing? Why should Second Uncle’s whole family get to go to the county town for jobs while his has to stay in the village?

If you ask me, the only way around it would’ve been for Dad to stay in the countryside all his life without achieving anything. Actually, that doesn’t hold either—just from hunting alone, Dad could’ve kept our family living well.

So doesn’t that mean, even if we all stayed in the hometown, the day we failed to share some game with them, Eldest Aunt would start complaining, the couple would quarrel, and it’d all blow up anyway? Same difference."

As Zhang Guoqing stepped into the courtyard, he hadn’t noticed anything at first—who goes out of their way to listen intently to what the family is saying? It’s not like he was paranoid!

But when he’d walked halfway across, something suddenly felt off!

Every time he came home from work and caught sight of the gate,

even if his wife wasn’t the first to come out to greet him, his grown son, with those sharp ears, would have already rushed out, lifted the cotton curtain, and be beaming at him.

Today this mother and son were acting strange!

Once he focused his attention, Zhang Guoqing heard his wife and son chattering away inside, and he couldn’t help a muted laugh as he shook his head.

—So they’d already set the stage and were waiting for him!

His sly, sly son—was it really necessary to rack his brains and twist around in circles just to rope his own old man in?

Ai... He’d already done everything a younger brother should do. Like he’d told Old Second on the phone, his elder brother was no longer a young man; as younger brothers, they really couldn’t meddle in everything. In the end, his brother still had to live his own life.

Just like always, Zhang Guoqing called out, "Wife, I’m back," and when he reached the living-room door, he lifted the curtain. "Well, you two are home."

"Dad, you’re back." May 1st hurried forward to take his overcoat. "Want your son to thump your back for you?"

Zhang Guoqing rolled up his sleeves and waved him off. "No need. What’s for dinner tonight?"

"Yam and bone soup. Mom also had Grandma Chen roast a tray of your favorite honey-glazed venison." May 1st hung up the coat, then thought a moment and sat down beside him.

Listening to father and son yak about this and that, Zhou Jiao rolled her eyes up at the ceiling: honestly, the pair of them were putting on quite the act.

And her man, holding back his laughter so much he wasn’t afraid of getting a stomachache!

"Wife, how about we go soak in a hot spring in a couple of days? Da Yi found a great spot—hardly anyone goes there, and you can ski too."

"Dad, can you take me along?"

Zhang Guoqing looked at him teasingly. "Not selling your couplets anymore?"

May 1st shrugged. "Don’t feel like playing anymore."

"Son, you’re something!"

"Hahaha, I’m okay." May 1st winked at him. "I just don’t feel like entertaining them anymore."