Chapter 1304 - 1176: You Have Your Reasons for Not Saying

Chapter 1304: Chapter 1176: You Have Your Reasons for Not Saying

When May 1st said that, Zhang Guoqing wasn’t surprised at all. With his son’s temperament, the fact that he’d already taken his cousins along to make money for two years was already giving them a lot of face.

Besides, the printing factory had started running its own operations, and with the leftover gravy, May 1st wasn’t going to be interested in playing anymore.

"As long as you’re happy." Zhang Guoqing smiled, noncommittal. "They must’ve made quite a bit and should be satisfied. There’s no such thing in this world as getting the advantage forever."

May 1st tilted his head. "You don’t think I was too blunt?"

"What else do you want, hold their hands and lead them around?" Zhang Guoqing’s smile faded. "Has Shi Tou come to you?"

"No, Brother Shitou isn’t a greedy person." May 1st glanced at Zhou Jiao. "He’s graduating next year. I suggested he focus on his studies."

Zhou Jiao lowered her head and smiled as she handed the fruit plate to Zhang Guoqing. And he has the nerve to talk about his own dad—like father, like son!

"Oh? Has he decided where he’s going?"

"He didn’t say and I didn’t ask." May 1st reached out for an apple and weighed it in his hand. "Grandpa Zuo will probably make plans for him. If he needs anything from our family, Brother Shitou will come straight to you."

Zhang Guoqing glanced at his son, who had lowered his head to peel the apple. "No chance if he comes to me. I can’t intervene. If it’s Zuo Lin, he’ll have..."

"Come to my mom? Then who’s supposed to speak up? My Second Uncle wouldn’t. My Second Aunt listens to my Second Uncle. Grandma Zuo speaking up is still not as good as you. If you talk to my mom, then it’s almost certain."

Zhang Guoqing glared at him, annoyed. "You’re quick, aren’t you! If your mom can hang in there a few more years, she can move up another step. If anyone comes to you, remember not to agree to things rashly."

Hearing that, May 1st immediately looked up. "What if Grandpa and Grandma come to you?"

"They won’t!" Zhang Guoqing said, then caught his son’s skeptical look and rolled his eyes at him. "They heard what I told those people who came visiting back in the old hometown!"

"You really handled it impartially?"

Zhang Guoqing’s lips curled into a mocking smile. "How else? Even my own son has to go to the battlefield and earn merit. Are my nephews supposed to be ranked higher than him?"

A flicker of worry passed through May 1st’s eyes as he looked at him: was he, as a son, going too far? His dad seemed to be overthinking it. He and his brothers truly weren’t jealous.

"Stop overthinking!" Zhang Guoqing ruffled his son’s hair. "Go and see if your grandma’s back from work. Let’s have dinner early tonight."

May 1st laughed at that, shoved the peeled apple into his hand, then stood up and bolted outside. "Dad, you have to eat it, okay?"

Zhang Guoqing looked at the apple in his hand and curled his lips in disgust. "Little brat did that on purpose. Of all the places to shove it, he had to shove it into this hand."

That’s what he said, but he still opened his mouth cheerfully and took a bite, chewed a few times, and praised, "My son really knows how to pick apples. It tastes pretty good."

Zhou Jiao watched him, amused: it wasn’t that his son knew how to pick apples, it was that with special-supply fruit there basically isn’t any difference.

After finishing the apple, Zhang Guoqing took the hot towel she handed over and wiped his hands before getting back to the point. "So who tipped our May 1st off this time?"

"Heh heh..." Zhou Jiao immediately took a letter out of her pocket and handed it to him with both hands, obediently. "Have they contacted you?"

Who were "they" supposed to be?

Normally when Zhou Jiao asked about people from the old hometown, she’d surely say "Dad and Mom." The reason she said "they" this time was because Zhang Guoqing knew the scope of who she meant was very broad.

He hadn’t planned on hiding anything from his wife anymore. He took out the letter paper, glanced at it, and handed it back along with the envelope. "Actually, Dad and Second Brother already called me last week."

"Oh."

Zhang Guoqing pinched her cheek with a smile. "You’re not asking why I kept it from you? Or what they said to me? You’re really not curious?"

"You’re a grown man. The kids will see in a minute." Zhou Jiao slapped his hand away and rolled her eyes at him in mock reproach. "If you didn’t tell me, you must have your reasons."

As she spoke, Zhou Jiao gave him a sidelong glance. "Is Dad trying to get you involved? Big Brother’s grandson is already that big."

Zhang Guoqing heard the implied meaning in her words and smiled. "We really are husband and wife; we think the same way. That day, Dad asked me on the phone what we should do."

Hearing that, Zhou Jiao lowered her eyelids, hiding the flicker of emotion.

"I said Big Brother’s grandson and granddaughter are already that big, and as his younger brother I’d better not express any opinion. Besides, I’m so busy every day I barely have time to eat, I really don’t have the energy to worry about those things. Dad probably hadn’t expected me to refuse in one go. After that, it was Second Brother who came on the line."

Zhang Guoqing sighed. "Second Brother told me not to worry about what’s going on at home and said Huang Cuilan did it on purpose. I then added that regardless of whether Big Sister-in-law’s really got something wrong with her head, he shouldn’t get involved either."

Zhou Jiao looked at him thoughtfully. "With you refusing so straightforwardly, they must’ve been angry. No, plus this year May 1st not staying to help them sell Spring Festival couplets—they’re sure to be angry."

"If they’re angry, so be it. Actually, when we went back to the old home for New Year before, I’d already hinted many times that we wouldn’t be able to look after the next generation anymore. If they can’t get their heads around that, there’s nothing I can do."

A flash of irritation darted through Zhou Jiao’s eyes, but she quickly soothed him with a pat. "You can’t expect everything to go perfectly; you just need to be able to face yourself. You’ve already done your best."

Zhang Guoqing gave a bitter smile and shook his head. "This month’s support money has already been remitted over... Forget it, let’s not talk about them. Come on, let’s go out and see why our son still hasn’t come back in."

"Okay. Mom’s probably still at work." Linking her arm through his, Zhou Jiao went out with him, while inwardly deciding to cancel sending nutritional supplements to Huang Cuilan.

As for the support money for her father- and mother-in-law, Zhou Jiao wasn’t about to shortchange the elders, but any further demands were off the table—for now, at least, unless her husband felt content again.

Why had she helped Old Zhang’s family before? Purely for Zhang Guoqing’s sake. Otherwise, who were those people to her? What did they have to do with her?

Once you’ve had Laba porridge, it means next year’s New Year is just around the corner.

Come Little New Year, when Ping’an and Liu Yi both came home together, the grudge-holding Zhou Jiao noticed that Zhang Guoqing still seemed a bit depressed when he mentioned the old home.

So she privately instructed her three sons to start cutting down on letter exchanges with those cousins.

The reason?

If someone made her husband unhappy, then no one was going to have a good time!

Of course, that wasn’t how she phrased it to her sons.

"You’re already busy enough with your studies. Where are you supposed to find so much time to write people back? If you’re back-and-forth too often, think of those few sisters-in-law of yours—and their natal families.

Consider it prevention. Families like ours are most afraid of ending up tangled with relatives who then stir up some messy nonsense."

Once Zhou Jiao left, Ping’an and Liu Yi looked at each other. The two brothers immediately pinned down their little brother. They didn’t believe for a second that nothing had happened and their mom would just randomly issue orders!

After listening to May 1st’s account, Ping’an frowned slightly. "There are all kinds of messed-up people. It’s simply that life’s gotten too easy—when you’re not starving or freezing you see whether they’ll keep making trouble."

Liu Yi’s lips curled into a mocking smile. "It’s not just that their ambitions are big, they’re stupid and have no sense of propriety. They even dragged this trivial crap over to our family. Do they think my dad has nothing better to do and is just like them all day long?"