Chapter 795 - 689: A Messy Romance

On the twenty-ninth of the last lunar month, Tang Qingyun returned to Beijing. He had three days to stay at home and wouldn’t have to rush back to work until the second day of the new year.

Grandpa Tang and Grandma Tang were originally quite happy to have their youngest son home for the New Year. But the romantic trouble Tang Qingyun attracted had followed him home, causing no small disturbance, and his family was annoyed with him all over again. Luckily, Tang Qingyun had learned how to sweet-talk and developed a thick enough skin to avoid being swept out the door by Grandma Tang.

To be fair, while Tang Qingyun’s judgment with women was questionable—he had been so captivated by Wu Xiaowen that he willingly let her control him—he did have one redeeming quality: he could endure loneliness and wasn’t promiscuous. After his divorce from Wu Xiaowen, he didn’t go around womanizing, and he repeatedly refused matchmaking attempts by friends and relatives who urged him to remarry. Grandma Tang once asked if he was still hung up on Wu Xiaowen, but he firmly denied it. Xiao Man, Tang Qingshan, Hao Wenli, and even Hao Hao didn’t believe he was still pining for her either. The Wu Xiaowen of the past might have held a beautiful place in Tang Qingyun’s heart, but after the incident involving Xiao Man, and after she rekindled her old flame with Bai Lihua and shamelessly cheated on him, he would have to be a true romantic saint to still be in love with her after such a betrayal.

But clearly, Tang Qingyun was no romantic saint, nor was he unshakably devoted to Wu Xiaowen. He simply hadn’t met anyone who caught his eye and with whom he felt a real connection.

Case in point, he came home for the holidays this year and confessed to Grandma Tang about a new relationship. However, this relationship made Grandma Tang furious, and the rest of the family was left speechless after hearing the details.

Tang Qingyun’s new partner was a woman from the Fan family, but it wasn’t Officer Fan, the one who had been pursuing him.

According to Tang Qingyun, he had firmly rejected Officer Fan from the start. But she refused to give up and continued her pursuit, visiting him whenever she had free time. Tang Qingyun treated her coolly; if not for an old friendship between the Fan family’s patriarch and Grandpa Tang, he likely wouldn’t have even agreed to see her.

But then came Tang Qingyun’s own bizarre and unexpected move: he didn’t like Officer Fan, yet he fell in love at first sight with her younger half-sister!

Officer Fan’s sister, Fan Mei, had been married before and was divorced with no children. Apparently, she had been traveling in S Province, where Tang Qingyun was stationed. Knowing Tang Qingyun loved fruit, Officer Fan asked her sister to bring some local varieties to him. When Tang Qingyun and Fan Mei met, they hit it off immediately, talking as if they were old friends. Tang Qingyun eagerly treated her to dinner, arranged her accommodations, and even took time off work to show her around. As a result of all his attentiveness, the two developed feelings for each other and officially became a couple.

In truth, if you examined the situation closely, you couldn’t really say who was at fault. After all, all three of them were single. Officer Fan was pursuing Tang Qingyun, but he had consistently rejected her, so there was no actual relationship between them. The controversial part was that he rejected Officer Fan only to get together with her sister. To make matters worse, Officer Fan was deeply and passionately in love with him. And Fan Mei, despite knowing her sister’s long-held wish, disregarded her feelings and fell for the very man her sister dreamed of marrying. One could say love is a powerful force that transcends all, but in this case, it just created a massive conflict.

Two women fighting over one man, sisters at each other’s throats—the Fan family was in total chaos. The conflict soon spread to Beijing. Unable to withstand Sister Fan’s attacks, Fan Mei followed Tang Qingyun’s footsteps to the capital, and Sister Fan pursued her. Tang Qingyun, having learned his lesson from the Wu Xiaowen debacle, was wiser this time. He avoided all contact with the Fan Family Sisters and informed Grandma Tang about the relationship in advance. Grandma Tang gave orders not to receive any member of the Fan Family, barring both sisters from the house. Otherwise, a single misstep could lead to the pair fighting inside their home, and the Tang family would once again become a laughingstock, the talk of the town in Beijing.

The two sisters were staying in a hotel, where they fought at the slightest disagreement. Tang Qingyun was at his wit’s end just from fielding Fan Mei’s tearful phone calls. Grandma Tang couldn’t stand to see her son in such a state over a woman, so she directly forbade him from taking the calls. Seeing that his mother was angry, Tang Qingyun didn’t dare to protest. ’It’s the New Year,’ he thought, ’I can’t risk upsetting her again.’

Ever since the two little darlings arrived, New Year’s Eve at the Tang family home had been exceptionally lively and festive. This year was no exception. The table was laden with fine food and wine, the house was filled with laughter, and everyone wore a cheerful expression—everyone except Tang Qingyun, whose smile would occasionally stiffen. It happened whenever the phone rang. He would breathe a sigh of relief upon hearing that the call wasn’t for him, yet his expression would betray a hint of disappointment and unease. Even the silver-fish soup, a dish he loved and hadn’t eaten in ages, tasted bland and flavorless, though Grandma Tang had specially ladled a full bowl for him.

After the New Year’s Eve feast, the family gathered in the living room to watch TV. The coffee table was laden with sweets and fruit. The little ones chased each other and played under the loving gazes of their grandparents. Xiao Man washed and cut fruit for a platter, while Hao Wenli helped Tang Qingshan set out the tea service to prepare tea. Tang Qingyun sat on the sofa, watching TV for a bit. Seeing how happily Grandma Tang was doting on her grandchildren, he scooted closer and said something. Her warm expression immediately turned icy. She shot him a harsh glare and said:

"If you want to go, then go. Don’t bother coming back."

Tang Qingyun: "..."

He looked up to see his father engrossed in the program, so he sat up straight and stared at the television too, though the expression on his face betrayed his inner turmoil.

Tang Qingshan glanced at his younger brother. Although he was also displeased, he wouldn’t say anything in front of their parents.

But Grandma Tang’s anger had been stoked, and she wasn’t about to let the matter drop. She said to Tang Qingyun, "You’re not young anymore. You can handle your own affairs. I wanted to worry about you before, but you wouldn’t let me. Now, I don’t have that much energy, and I can’t manage you anyway. I have far too many other things to worry about! My eldest granddaughter is about to be married into the Gu family this year. I don’t know how my eldest grandson is doing abroad, whether his life and studies are going smoothly. And my two little grandsons are clever and cute, but also mischievous, so I can’t take my eyes off them for a moment... I can barely look after your father and Qingshan. It’s a good thing my elder daughter-in-law helps with the household. Where would I find the spare time to deal with this messy love life of yours? You couldn’t even handle one woman, and now you’ve attracted two! You make up your own mind. Marry whoever you want. I only have one thing to say: if you marry a good, virtuous woman, she is welcome in this home. As long as your father and I are alive, this family will not be split. But if you marry a troublemaker, then you’d better move out. We’ll live with our eldest son, and you can live somewhere else. That way, we won’t have to see each other and nobody gets upset!"

Tang Qingyun pressed his lips together. He turned his head to see Xiao Man approaching with a beautifully arranged fruit platter, trailed by two little shadows. The young girl was graceful and lovely, her smile sweet. The little ones were as precious as carved jade, lively and adorable. The three of them left a trail of endless laughter in their wake. Then, he thought of his son overseas. ’If Hao Hao were home, he’d definitely be joining his sister and little brothers, chasing and laughing with them... This joyful, warm family holds his parents and his children. How could I ever leave?’