RBCT Chapter 465: Seeking Help from Uncle
Chapter 465: Seeking Help from Uncle
After dinner, Uncle Zeng Jiahua and his wife strolled over to Zeng Lijuan's house. The two families lived close by and often visited each other.
Yesterday, Huang Erhe and his wife brought their child to visit their maternal grandmother, uncle, and aunt. Tonight, Zeng Jiahua and his wife plan to visit their second nephew's family, as well as their eldest sister and brother-in-law, to invite them to their home for dinner tomorrow. This is a custom in their hometown of Suzhou.
The two entered the house with practiced ease, but as soon as they stepped inside, they sensed something was amiss. The nannies were acting cautiously, and the food on the table remained untouched. What time was it? Had they not eaten dinner yet?
Also, I didn't see Huang Erhe and his family of three.
Zeng Jiahua shouted loudly, "Brother-in-law, eldest sister!"
After a while, Zeng Lijuan appeared, her eyes red.
Seeing his older sister like this, Zeng Jiahua felt a pang of anxiety and quickly asked, "Big sister, what's wrong? Did you have a fight with your husband?"
Zeng Lijuan shook her head: "We didn't argue, I'm fine."
"Are you really alright? Where's my brother-in-law?" Zeng Jiahua was still worried.
Zeng Lijuan pointed upstairs: "He's in the study."
Zeng Jiahua instructed his aunt, "You chat with my eldest sister, I'm going to see my brother-in-law."
Aunt nodded in response, "You go ahead, I'll stay with my older sister."
Zeng Jiahua went upstairs to find Lao Huang.
Pushing open the study door, the room was filled with smoke, and Old Huang lit up his cigarette again.
Zeng Jiahua walked quickly to the window and opened it.
Then he asked Lao Huang, "Brother-in-law, why are you smoking again all of a sudden?"
Old Huang frowned and didn't respond to Zeng Jiahua, just kept smoking.
Zeng Jiahua couldn't stand it any longer, so he took the cigarette from Lao Huang and stubbed it out in the ashtray.
"Brother-in-law, what exactly happened between you and my sister? Say something!"
Only then did Old Huang speak up: "Jiahua, I want to remove Huang Erhe's name from the family genealogy."
Zeng Jiahua was startled by Lao Huang's words. You see, removing someone from the family tree is a big deal, especially for someone like Lao Huang who has strong traditional values.
"What did Erhe do wrong?"
Because Zeng Jiahua was the maternal uncle of his three sons, Lao Huang didn't hide anything from him and told Zeng Jiahua about how Maowa's name and surname had been changed.
Zeng Jiahua was also baffled by the bizarre actions of Huang Erhe and his wife. Were Huang Erhe and his unfortunate wife out of their minds? Wasn't this just creating trouble for no reason?
Zeng Jiahua also wanted to slap his second nephew a few times. He was over thirty years old, how could he be so ignorant and let his wife run wild?
However, since he was his nephew, Zeng Jiahua still offered a few words of advice.
"Brother-in-law, Erhe was definitely wrong in this matter. I even wanted to give him a beating. But the name can still be changed back. Let's have him go back and change Maowa's name back on the household registration. When a child does something wrong, education is the priority. I think we should just let it go about removing him from the family genealogy."
Old Huang shook his head: "Jiahua! Do you think I'm only doing this because he agreed to Maowa's name change? Since ancient times, people have always chosen virtuous wives, for harmony in the family brings prosperity. He married a wife like that, and she will surely cause unrest in our family in the future. It's better to end it now than to suffer for a long time."
Old Huang paused for a moment and continued, "If our family were still the same as before, just an ordinary family, I would let it go. At worst, we wouldn't have any contact in the future. But now you know how big Xiao Chuan's family business is. Huang Erhe's wife will definitely cause trouble for Xiao Chuan's family business in the future, and it will also cause discord among the three brothers."
So, to prevent the three brothers from turning against each other in the future, I'll play the villain!
After sighing, Zeng Jiahua fell silent. He was already in his forties and had experienced a lot of human relationships and family feuds. He knew that what Lao Huang said was very likely.
She often warned her two daughters and sons-in-law not to covet Xiaochuan's family business, as it was not something they should be interested in.
Judging from Fan Yingrong's current behavior, this woman is an unpredictable factor. As long as she's around, Xiao Chuan and his two brothers will likely turn against each other in the future.
After a while, Zeng Jiahua advised, "Stop smoking. I see you and your older sister haven't had dinner yet. Let's go downstairs and have dinner first."
Old Huang was forcibly pulled up by Zeng Jiahua and walked downstairs.
Meanwhile, downstairs, the aunt learned the reason for the matter from her husband's older sister. To be honest, the aunt had also had some issues with her husband's older sister. Back then, her husband's older sister had three sons, and she and Zeng Jiahua wanted to adopt Huang Xiaochuan, but the older sister refused. Now she said that if the Fan family didn't have any boys, it wouldn't be impossible to discuss the matter. Why couldn't it be discussed back then?
However, time has passed and these things are best left unmentioned. Although she was unable to adopt Xiao Chuan as her son, he is now no different from her son. He still takes good care of her and is even closer to her two older sisters than her own. She is content!
Now, Aunt Zeng has long since let go of what happened back then. She tries her best to comfort Zeng Lijuan, saying that it's just bad luck to have such a daughter-in-law. Kind-hearted Aunt Zeng can't bring herself to gloat.
While the two were talking, Zeng Jiahua brought Lao Huang downstairs.
Zeng Jiahua walked up to Zeng Lijuan and said, "Sister, I know everything. You and your husband should eat first. Nothing is more important than eating."
Zeng Lijuan waved her hand weakly: "Let your brother-in-law eat, I can't eat!"
Seeing this, Zeng Jiahua gave his aunt a look, and the two of them forcibly lifted Zeng Lijuan up.
"Food is as essential as iron; even if you don't want to eat, you have to eat something."
After calming down his older sister and brother-in-law, Zeng Jiahua and his wife returned to their own home.
When they got home, they saw Huang Erhe sitting in the living room chatting with his grandmother. Huang Erhe was obviously distracted, and his grandmother could also tell that something was wrong with her grandson. However, the wise grandmother did not ask why. In her opinion, this was something that her eldest daughter and son-in-law should worry about.
Upon seeing Zeng Jiahua and his wife return, Huang Erhe immediately stood up to greet them.
"Uncle, Aunt!"
The old woman chimed in, "Erhe has been waiting for you for quite a while."
"Mom, it's getting late, you should go and get some rest!"
"It's getting late." The old lady glanced at the grandfather clock in the living room.
My aunt helped my grandmother to her room.
After the old woman closed the door, Zeng Jiahua asked, "Where are your wife and children?"
"I've temporarily arranged for them to stay at the military guesthouse."
Zeng Jiahua nodded and then said, "I just came back from your parents' house."
Upon hearing this, Huang Erhe lowered his head.
Zeng Jiahua looked at his second nephew with exasperation and cursed, "You beast, has your brain been kicked by a donkey? You just let your wife do this kind of thing? Don't you know what kind of person your father is?"
Huang Erhe lowered his head even further at this moment.
Zeng Jiahua continued, "Your father was the only one in his generation with the surname Huang. Before your grandfather passed away, he repeatedly told him to carry on the Huang family line, which is how you three brothers came to be. Back then, your aunt and I wanted to adopt Xiaochuan into our family, but your father wouldn't agree. You actually changed your son's name and surname! I just don't understand. Your wife isn't exactly stunningly beautiful, is she? What kind of spell did she cast on you?"
"It's all my fault, I didn't take this seriously!" Huang Erhe admitted his mistake.
Zeng Jiahua glared at Huang Erhe with displeasure: "Your wife is obviously no pushover. Your father was right, you're really blind."
Huang Erhe offered no explanation.
Zeng Jiahua continued to berate Huang Erhe: "Your wife was a proper, lawful marriage brought into your Huang family through the proper matchmaking process. How come it's like you were the one who was married into the family? Did you marry into the family? And your son took your wife's surname?"
"Uncle, Yingrong and I know we were wrong. We'll change Maowa's name back when we get back this time. Could you please talk to my parents and tell them not to be angry?"
Circumstances dictate actions. Fan Yingrong wasn't stupid; she knew that if she didn't admit her mistake, everything in Shanghai would be completely out of her reach. So when Huang Erhe said he wanted to change Maowa's name back, she immediately agreed.
Huang Erhe then went to Zeng Jiahua's house to ask him to mediate, since only Zeng Jiahua, as the uncle, had the authority to do so.
Faced with his second nephew's request, Zeng Jiahua was so angry that he had a headache. It wasn't that he didn't want to mediate, but the things this rascal had done were too infuriating. His brother-in-law wouldn't forgive him anytime soon. Having been relatives with Lao Huang for so many years, he knew Lao Huang's temperament.
But the person sitting in front of him is, after all, his own nephew, so he can't just ignore him!
After thinking it over, Zeng Jiahua said, "You know your dad's temper. I need to wait until he calms down before I can talk to him. Go back and change Maowa's name first, then send over a copy of Maowa's household registration certificate so I can plead with your dad on your behalf."
Huang Erhe said softly, "Uncle, my dad wants to sever our father-son relationship. Could you talk to him about it as soon as possible?"
Zeng Jiahua glared angrily at Huang Erhe: "Who do you take me for? I'm not a god who can make your dad forgive you right away!"
Huang Erhe fell silent; he knew his uncle was right.
Zeng Jiahua glanced at the time and gave the order to leave: "Alright, it's getting late. Your wife and children are still at the guesthouse; you should go home now!"
Huang Erhe had no choice but to get up, say goodbye to Zeng Jiahua, and leave the Zeng family.