(Word Count: 5298)
After work, Liu Mingda and Wang Peining met at the gate of Boya Xinyuan Community as usual, and then the two went home together. There was a small supermarket next to the gate of the community. Wang Peining arrived first and bought a bag of melon seeds from the supermarket. She was eating melon seeds while waiting for Liu Mingda. She was in a good mood, wondering what delicious food her aunt would make for her today.
She was eating melon seeds and humming her favorite songs. She nodded and greeted the acquaintances passing by in a very good mood. Liu Mingda arrived soon. She stuffed the melon seeds in her hand into his hand. Liu Mingda smiled and said, “I don’t eat melon seeds.”
Wang Peining glanced at him with a proud look on her face, “It’s not for you to eat. Hold it for me.”
Liu Mingda said in a good-tempered manner: “Okay, okay, I’ll help you hold it.”
The two of them walked towards home, talking and laughing. Liu Mingda noticed the uncontrollable smile on his girlfriend’s lips, and his mood also became cheerful. He asked, “What good thing happened?”
Wang Peining looked at him embarrassedly, lowered her head, and said uncomfortably, “Mingda, although it’s a bit unfair to uncle and aunt to say this, don’t you think that home has become more comfortable since Uncle Han moved away with Han Feiyu and his sister? Uncle Han is a man after all, and he is not your biological father. Every time I come to your house, I am scared to take a shower, for fear that the clothes I wear are not in accordance with the rules. Over the years, this period of time is the only time I have spent the most comfortable time in your house. There are no outsiders, only aunt and us, and I don’t have to look at anyone’s eyes…”
It may be unreasonable for her to say this, but if she could choose, she really didn’t want to live with the Han family. It was too awkward.
As Wang Peining spoke, Liu Mingda’s face gradually darkened. It had to be said that Peining was right. Acting every day would make him tired. He had lived the most comfortable life since his father moved away. When he returned home, he was not on guard, did not make calculations, did not have to think twice about what he said, and did not have to be cautious for fear of saying the wrong thing and displeasing his stepfather.
He spoke in a low voice and comforted her quietly, “It won’t be like this forever.”
Aunt Qu’s son did not live with her after marriage. She had more time. When others got off work, she had finished dinner and went out for a walk. When she saw Liu Mingda and Wang Peining walking home hand in hand, her eyes flashed and she smiled and said, “Mingda, are you off work?”
Liu Mingda and Wang Peining looked up at the same time. It was Aunt Qu from the community. They smiled and replied.
Aunt Qu looked at Wang Peining with a smile and said, “Is this your girlfriend? She’s so pretty.”
Liu Mingda smiled and replied. Wang Peining smiled slightly, with a shy smile after being praised.
Aunt Qu asked again, “I heard from your mother that you are going to get married and are considering buying a wedding house?”
Liu Mingda replied vaguely.
Aunt Qu didn’t care what he said, she looked at Wang Peining and said, “This young man is capable, thrifty, and must love his wife. You have good taste.”
Wang Peining smiled. Aunt Qu said, turned around and looked at Liu Mingda, and said with a gesture of caring for him, “After buying a house, you can move out, so you don’t have to live in someone else’s house and feel uncomfortable.”
Live in someone else’s house? What did the aunt mean?
Liu Mingda smiled slightly and said nothing.
Seeing that they were silent, Aunt Qu didn’t care and continued, “After all, Han Ze’s house is pre-marital property, and the family money is also the money from the original land sale of the old man of the Han family. Except for Han Ze’s salary, everything else is the Han family’s stuff. You are step-sons, so you definitely can’t get anything. You have to earn it all by yourself, which is hard for you. But fortunately, even if you have nothing, you can still buy a house with your own ability, which really makes your mother proud.”
Liu Mingda’s face changed slightly. How did Aunt Qu know that the house and money at home were Dad’s pre-marital property? Why did everyone in the community know about their family’s affairs? Thinking of this, he said to Aunt Qu, “Aunt, you are busy. It’s late, we should go back.”
Wang Peining glanced at Aunt Qu and trotted back home with Liu Mingda.
Han Ze came and left. Hu Xialan was in a bad mood, but she still cooked a table of dishes, waiting for her son and future daughter-in-law to return. Hu Xialan checked the time. It was time for her son and future daughter-in-law to come back. She got up and went to the house to get the dishes. Just as she put the dishes on the table, Liu Mingda and his girlfriend came back.
Liu Mingda saw his mother and asked, “Mom, how did Aunt Qu know about our family? Did you tell her?”
Hu Xialan thought of what Han Ze had said to her in the morning. She thought it was a rumor about Han Ze’s harsh stepson and Han Feiyu’s brother and sister being erratic and overbearing. She glanced at Wang Peining and said uncomfortably, “It’s just because your dad moved away. They are talking nonsense and making blind guesses. Don’t take it to heart. After a while, your dad will move back, and the rumors will naturally fall apart.”
This was also the result of her thinking for an afternoon. She planned to call Han Ze in the evening. As long as he moved back and their family lived in harmony, others would naturally not believe those words, and the rumors would change.
Liu Mingda said dissatisfiedly: “Mom, what are you talking about? Do you know what Aunt Qu said?”
Hu Xialan frowned: “Isn’t it just the rumor about Old Han being harsh on his stepson and Han Feiyu’s brother and sister being bad?”
Liu Mingda took a deep breath and said, “It would be great if that’s the case.”
Hu Xialan looked at his expression and pondered. Aunt Qu and her were always at odds. Who knows what she said to Old Han today? She hurriedly asked: “What is the rumor?”
Liu Mingda said: “Except for Dad’s salary, the assets of the Han family are all rumors of pre-marital property.”
“Impossible.”
Hu Xialan’s tone was very absolute. She lost her voice and said: “I didn’t go out and say anything about this matter. How did they know?”
On the other hand, she thought of the strangeness of Old Han when he came back. Could it be that Old Han told others? There is such a possibility. After all, he had a chat with Aunt Qu in the morning. He, how could he do this?
Liu Mingda looked at her and said in a deep voice, “You didn’t tell them, so how did they know? Mom, I know you like to tell the sisters in the community about family matters, but what should be said and what should not be said, don’t you have any idea in your mind?”
Hu Xialan whispered, “I didn’t say it, it was Old Han who said it.”
Liu Mingda’s eyes slightly opened, and he asked suspiciously, “Dad hasn’t come back yet, who can he tell?”
Hu Xialan lowered her eyes, her eyes slightly red, and said, “He came back in the morning to give me living expenses. Aunt Qu talked to him. You also know that Aunt Qu and I don’t get along. I don’t know what she said in front of Old Han to get our family matters.”
Liu Mingda sighed deeply. He knew that everything his mother did was for the good of the three of them, but sometimes, when his mother talked about Han Feiyu and Han Shutao, she would have no scruples, and she would say whatever she wanted to belittle them. Mom, doesn’t she know that some things, if you say too much, will end badly? Why didn’t she think about it, because his image of thriftiness in his father’s mind was too realistic, his father didn’t even think of buying him a wedding house.
“Mom, are you spreading rumors about Han Feiyu and Han Shutao again?”
Hu Xialan was unhappy with her son’s questioning tone. She said, “I didn’t say anything bad about them. I just said they didn’t like the food I cooked….”
Liu Mingda knew his mother’s temper best. Things were definitely not as simple as his mother said. He tried to analyze it for her, “Mom, Han Feiyu and Han Shutao have changed their strategy. In Dad’s heart, they are now sensible and filial children. If you continue to say bad things about them outside and those words get to Dad’s ears, do you think he will refute it? In order to refute their rumors, he may tell others about the true situation in our family. It’s very likely.”
Hu Xialan looked at her son in a daze. She murmured, “So, your dad told others about the family affairs because of me?”
Wang Peining whispered beside her, “Aunt, Uncle Han is not a talkative person. He wouldn’t tell others about the family affairs unless he was too angry about what he heard.”
Hu Xialan pursed her lips tightly and suddenly said listlessly, “Just say it. Old Han has nothing now anyway…”
“What do you mean?”
Hu Xialan’s expression made Liu Mingda feel panicked. He asked carefully and nervously.
She put on a smile, which was filled with resentment and hatred. She gritted her teeth and said, “Old Han gave all his houses, stocks and cash to Han Feiyu and Han Shutao. Now he has nothing except his salary.”
Liu Mingda looked at her in disbelief. His face was very ugly. He asked gloomily, “Are you telling the truth?”
Hu Xialan nodded resentfully. After all, although Old Han had abandoned his two children for more than ten years and had not cared about them, he still had a fatherly heart for them. After all, they were his own children.
Liu Mingda fell to the ground, and Wang Peining was startled. She quickly pulled him up. Liu Mingda pulled the corner of his mouth towards him and said, “I’m fine.”
Wang Peining sighed and pulled him to sit on the sofa. Liu Mingda felt that he was in a trance. He laughed at himself and said, “Dad still likes his own children more!”
Wang Peining didn’t want her boyfriend to be so decadent, and she was even more worried that he would give up on himself. She persuaded him, “Mingda, how has Uncle Han treated you over the years? Don’t you know it in your heart?”
She also wanted the Han family’s house and money, and she tried every means to calculate it. Unexpectedly, in the end, the calculation accelerated Uncle Han to give the things in the house to his own children. Now, Uncle Han has nothing left, and they have no choice but to admit it. Without those things, it doesn’t mean that they can’t live. She and Mingda’s combined salary is 20,000 to 30,000 yuan per month, which is enough for them to gain a foothold in this city.
Liu Mingda smiled stiffly and said, “No matter how good he is to me, it can’t be better than his own children.”
Wang Peining looked at Hu Xialan standing there, and she couldn’t help complaining, “Who told you to act so frugal in front of Uncle Han? Uncle Han thought you were rich, so how could he think of leaving things to you?”
After so many things happened, she still didn’t understand the characters of Hu Xialan and her boyfriend. She was a fool. However, although they were calculating, they were good to her. She didn’t want to care too much.
Liu Mingda froze, but he still insisted: “Don’t say I have no money. Even if I have money, Dad really treats me as his own son, he won’t give me nothing. After all, I am not his own son.”
Wang Peining knew that her boyfriend had gotten into a dead end, so she frowned and said: “But your last name is not Han. The Han family’s house and money are all Uncle Han’s before marriage. Some of those things are inherited by Uncle Han from Grandpa Han. Do you think Grandpa Han would give his things to someone with a different surname? If it were you, would you be willing?”
Her words did not mean that she was willing, but no matter how unwilling she was, there was nothing she could do. She could only comfort herself that those things did not belong to them in the first place, and if they were gone, they were gone.
Liu Mingda did not speak. Hu Xialan glared at Wang Peining unhappily, and she said: “Pening, you are Mingda’s girlfriend, whose side are you on?”
Liu Mingda looked at Wang Peining hesitantly and said: “Pening, you didn’t tell me that originally.”
Wang Peining sighed, and she slowly said: “I don’t think so but what can we do? Can you change Uncle Han’s mind?”
Liu Mingda shook his head. It might have been easy to change his father’s mind before, but now his father might be suspicious of his mother, and it would be very difficult to get his mother to convince him.
Wang Peining said again: “Even if you can change Uncle Han’s mind, his things have been transferred to Han Feiyu and Han Shutao. Do you think they will give the things to you?”
Liu Mingda shook his head without thinking. The two siblings hated them so much, how could they transfer the things they got to them.
Wang Peining spread his hands: “That’s it. Since we can’t get those things anyway, we just don’t think about them anymore. Isn’t it enough to live an honest life from now on? Our salaries are higher than most people’s, so there’s no need to belittle ourselves. Uncle Han is right. It’s hard to stand up if you rely on your parents for everything. If you rely on yourself for everything, you won’t be in a hurry when you encounter big things in the future. Han Feiyu and Han Shutao may not live well in the future if they rely on Uncle Han for everything. Let’s wait and see.”
Liu Mingda smiled bitterly: “You think clearly.”
His girlfriend’s open-mindedness made him look narrow-minded. But he just couldn’t accept it. He called Han Ze dad for more than ten years, flattered him for more than ten years, and calculated for more than ten years, but in the end, he got nothing. It’s not something that can be solved by thinking clearly.
Wang Peining shrugged: “What can I do if I can’t figure it out? Can’t I just live like this?”
Hu Xialan was very dissatisfied with Wang Peining today. She said: “It didn’t happen to you, but you are so arrogant.”
Wang Peining also got angry. After all, it was because Mingda’s mother was incompetent. If she was really capable, how could Uncle Han doubt her gentleness and virtue? If Uncle Han didn’t doubt her, he wouldn’t move out, let alone transfer the house and stocks to Han Feiyu and Han Shutao so quickly.
She said: “Aunt, what do you say? Can you still make trouble with Uncle Han? You have to know that the house we live in now is no longer Uncle Han’s. If we make a big fuss, do you think Han Feiyu and his sister will drive us out?”
Hu Xialan said sternly: “They dare.”
Wang Peining said realistically: “Aunt, if you really make trouble, Uncle Han will see your true colors. If they really dare to drive you out, Uncle Han won’t say anything.”
“What’s my true self?”
Hu Xialan was touched in the sore spot. She asked with red eyes, “Tell me, what’s my true self?”
Hu Xialan thought about how she tried to make delicious food for Wang Peining every day. She didn’t expect that she would say that. She hasn’t even entered the house yet. If she really marries in the future, will she have a good life? Old Han was right to worry. Wang Peining had a bad temper and would definitely bully her in the future.
Wang Peining also knew that her words just now were inappropriate. She lowered her head and said nothing.
Hu Xialan was furious and didn’t intend to let her go. She pointed at her and said, “I am a nanny at home every day, serving you, washing clothes and cooking for you, but I didn’t expect to serve an ungrateful person. Old Han always thought you were spoiled and would bully me when you got married. I didn’t believe it. Now it seems that Old Han is right. You started to blame me, the future mother-in-law, before you even got married. I can still work now. If I can’t do anything, will you kick me out? I can’t afford such a daughter-in-law.”
Wang Peining’s eyes were red. She stood up with her bag. She looked at Liu Mingda with tears in her eyes and said, “Mingda, I’m going back to my rented house tonight.”
After that, she took her bag, opened the door and left.
Liu Mingda reacted and wanted to chase her, but was stopped by Hu Xialan. She said angrily, “No need to chase her. She’s spoiled.”
Liu Mingda looked at her impatiently and complained, “Mom, Peining is doing this for our own good. Don’t you think what you said was too much?”
Hu Xialan looked at him in disbelief, “Are you blaming me?”
Liu Mingda rubbed his brows with a headache. He said, “Mom, if Peining was an ungrateful person, she would have broken up with me when she knew Dad wouldn’t prepare a wedding house for me. She didn’t, and she even suggested that we pool money to buy a house. Although she has a little temper, most girls nowadays are brought up by their parents. Who doesn’t have a temper? There’s nothing wrong, that’s all. You really shouldn’t have said that about her.”
He glanced at Hu Xialan and sighed, “I’m worried that Peining ran away alone. I’ll go chase her. I may not be back tonight. Lock the door when you’re home alone.”
After that, he opened the door and walked out.
Hu Xialan couldn’t hold back her tears any longer as she watched her son leave. It was unfilial of him to forget his mother after getting a wife. Fortunately, she still had Mingkai, otherwise she would be helpless when she got old.
Thinking of this, she took out her cell phone and dialed Mingkai’s number. After the call was connected, no one answered for a long time. She was worried and disappointed. She didn’t know why Mingkai didn’t answer her call. After hanging up the phone, she took a piece of paper to wipe her tears. She felt very anxious. She glanced at her cell phone and couldn’t help but dial Han Ze’s number.
Han Ze had just finished dinner when his phone rang. Seeing that it was Hu Xialan calling, he answered the phone and said hello.
When Hu Xialan heard Han Ze’s voice, she started crying again. She found that without Lao Han, she was nothing. She even offended her son and daughter-in-law. She choked and said, “Lao Han, when will you move back?”
Han Ze frowned and asked, “Why are you crying?”
Hu Xialan wiped her tears with the back of her hand and said in a hoarse voice, “I can’t do anything when you are not at home.”
Han Ze raised his eyebrows, “What’s wrong?”
“Peining dislikes me.”
Hu Xialan’s voice was filled with tears.
Han Ze paused as he held the phone, but he said nothing.
In his previous life, the original body gave all the things in the house to his two step-sons, and Han Feiyu and Han Shutao, brother and sister, cut off all contact with him.
After Hu Xialan’s ex-husband was released from prison, he had nowhere to go. Liu Mingda and Liu Mingkai couldn’t bear to see their biological father alone in his old age, so they took him home. Liu Bingshen couldn’t stand the original body, and during an argument, he pushed the original body down from the upstairs and he was paralyzed.
After Hu Xialan and her son knew the truth, they just grumbled a few words to Liu Bingshen and did nothing else. After the original body became paralyzed, Hu Xialan and her son took care of him for a while, and then they began to dislike him. They were so busy that they often forgot to feed him.
Later, Wang Peining gave birth in the hospital. In order to take care of Wang Peining, Hu Xialan ran back and forth between the hospital and home, and had long forgotten about him. For four or five days, he didn’t get a grain of rice or a sip of water. The original body was later starved to death.
Thinking of this, Han Ze asked in a low voice: “Why does Peining dislike you?”
From the original body’s memory, it is known that the relationship between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law has always been very harmonious. Now they are arguing?
Hu Xialan cried and complained: “I am not well-educated and I am not very good at speaking. Peining may think that my words are not very nice and dislike me for controlling them. She left in anger. Mingda also went to chase her. I am the only one at home…”
Han Ze asked: “What did you say? Let me analyze it for you and see why Peining was angry with you.”
Hu Xialan hesitated: “I didn’t say anything. I don’t know why she was angry.”
Han Ze sighed slightly, and he said: “Peining may have a little temper. As you said, she is a college student, and her parents are teachers. She is definitely a reasonable girl and will not get angry for no reason. Unless you say something to her, she will not get angry with you.”
Hu Xialan argued: “I really didn’t say anything. You also know that mother-in-law and daughter-in-law are natural enemies…”
Han Ze laughed. This woman would try her best to discredit whoever she didn’t like. What does she want to do now? Is it because Wang Peining had a quarrel with her that she wants to find Liu Mingda a new partner?
He was a little impatient: “Xialan, Peining is a junior, and it’s okay for young people to have a little temper. As long as she is reasonable and willing to live a good life with Mingda, we should not ask for too much. You are just her mother-in-law, not her biological mother. You should pay attention to your tone when you speak. You did very well before, why not now? Or do you have a hot temper that can be ignited at the slightest provocation?”
Hu Xialan panicked and her face turned pale. She hurriedly said: “Old Han, don’t you know what kind of personality I have? When have I ever lost my temper with anyone?”
Han Ze said expressionlessly: “You may not have lost your temper with anyone before, but during this period of time, you had a quarrel with Aunt Chen, and now you are quarreling with someone you like very much. The quarrel with your future daughter-in-law, and the rumors about me and the children in the community, they said they were spread by you. I don’t understand what kind of character you have…”
Hu Xialan’s heart trembled, Old Han really suspected her, no, maybe he suspected her since she quarreled with Aunt Chen, otherwise he would not have given his house and stocks to Han Feiyu and Han Shutao so quickly. Thinking of this, she tentatively asked: “Old Han, are you doubting me?”
Han Ze smiled bitterly and said: “Xialan, do you know why I transferred the house and shares to Feiyu and Shutao so quickly?”
Hu Xialan was worried and didn’t ask, she felt that the reason was not what she wanted to hear.
Han Ze didn’t care whether she wanted to hear it or not, he said bluntly: “Although I told Feiyu and Shutao that you are gentle and virtuous, with an open mind, and will not expect things that do not belong to you, otherwise you would not let Mingda save money to buy a house. But seeing you and Aunt Chen quarreling over trivial matters, I had doubts in my heart. I wanted to convince myself that I had not trusted the wrong person for so many years, and I also wanted to prove that you are really a gentle, virtuous, sensible, and considerate woman, so I gave all the things in the house to Feiyu and Shutao, wanting to see your reaction… ”
With a bang, Hu Xialan felt something shattered, and she asked blankly: “Did you see anything?”
Han Ze held the phone and remained silent for a long time.
Han Feiyu and Han Shutao next to him had been listening to him with their ears perked up. It turned out that their old man was already suspicious of Hu Xialan at that time, and he gave them the house to test her. This makes sense, but the price is too high.
Han Ze didn’t say anything. Hu Xialan seemed to be angry with herself and asked again: “Did you see anything?”
Han Ze didn’t speak. After a while, he said without any emotion: “Let’s get a divorce.”
The words of divorce also indirectly showed that he saw her true face.
Hu Xialan’s face changed drastically: “Don’t even think about it. ”
After saying that, she hung up the phone without waiting for Han Ze’s reaction.
Han Ze stared at the phone in a daze. Han Feiyu and Han Shutao looked at each other. Han Shutao looked at his silly old man, sighed and shook his head. The old man had not cared about them for more than ten years. They blamed him, but when they thought about how he had been deceived by Hu Xialan and her son for more than ten years without knowing it, they felt sorry for him. It is true that there must be something hateful about a pitiful person.
After all, he is her biological father. Looking at him like this, she couldn’t bear it and comforted him: “Dad, think about it, you still have me and my brother.”
Han Ze glanced at them, put the phone on the coffee table, leaned on the sofa, smiled bitterly and said, “Shutao, you are right, Dad is a silly old man, a stupid old man who has been deceived for more than ten years. ”
Han Shutao said, “Dad, if you think about it this way, she has only deceived you for more than ten years. At least you have not been fooled by her for a lifetime. Besides, although she has deceived you for more than ten years, she has taken care of you for more than ten years. You raised her children and sent her children to school. You have not treated her badly. ”
Han Ze hung his head and said nothing.
Han Feiyu asked, “Dad, are you really going to divorce Hu Xialan?”
Han Ze raised his eyes, a little reluctant, “After coming back in the afternoon, I thought about it a lot. It would be a lie to say that I have no feelings for her for so many years. But now that I know she has deceived me, I can’t get along with her anymore. It’s not a solution to drag it on like this. Divorce is good for everyone. It’s better to have a short pain than a long one. She is still young. After the divorce, she may be able to find a better man. ”
Han Feiyu and Han Shutao looked at each other, and Han Feiyu asked, “She deceived you, don’t you hate her?”
Han Ze lost his energy and shook his head, “I only hate myself for being blind and not being able to judge people clearly. ”
Han Feiyu said: “It’s up to you to handle this matter. No matter what happens to you, Shutao and I support you.”
Han Ze was relieved: “Fortunately, you are here.”
…
Hu Xialan hung up the phone in a daze, and then called Liu Mingda again. She said resentfully: “Mingda, your father wants to divorce me. It’s all Wang Peining’s fault. If she didn’t make a fuss with me and left in anger, I wouldn’t call your father, and your father wouldn’t divorce me. ”
Liu Mingda frowned. He suspected that he had heard it wrong, and asked: “Why would Dad ask for a divorce from you? What did you say?”
Hu Xialan cried and said: “Your father knew that I lied to him, and he wanted to divorce me. It’s all Wang Peining’s fault. If she hadn’t given me a bad idea to pretend to be sick, how could your father think of asking auntie? If I didn’t quarrel with the auntie, how could your father move out because of suspicion of me? And to test me, he gave his house and shares to those two kids? Now, because of the quarrel between her and me, your father has made up his mind to divorce me…”
Liu Mingda said weakly: “Mom, calm down. These have nothing to do with Peining. Did Dad say that he wanted to divorce you, or was it just an angry remark?”
Hu Xialan shook her head and choked with tears and said: “I know Lao Han. He is serious and cold. He originally thought that he could ignore those two kids because they didn’t listen to him and opposed him. Now he knows that I lied to him, and he will definitely divorce me.”
Liu Mingda actually knew his stepfather. He said helplessly: “Dad has nothing now. Divorce is actually nothing.”
He was speaking the truth. His stepfather gave everything to his own children. He only had a pension of more than 4,000 yuan a month. What could this money do? He might not even have enough to spend himself, let alone support him? Since he proposed a divorce, he might as well divorce him, so that he would not have to support his stepfather in the future.
Hu Xialan shouted in disbelief: “What are you talking about? I’m old, what should I do if I get divorced?”
Liu Mingda said expressionlessly: “You are only in your fifties. After the divorce, if you want to remarry, I have no objection.”
Hu Xialan shouted in astonishment: “Liu Mingda, you are also an ungrateful person.”
After that, she hung up the phone.
She couldn’t believe it. Those were her son’s words. He actually urged her to get divorced. If she got divorced at her age, wouldn’t others laugh at her?
Besides, if she didn’t get divorced, she could still live in this house. After the divorce, she would have nothing. Where would she live?
She was determined not to get divorced.
Maria Lian On CFRFGC Chapter 104