Chapter 796 - 690: Happy to See It Happen

Tang Qingyun felt helpless. ’Why do I always have to choose between family and love?’

He didn’t mention going out again. Instead, he dutifully sat at home with his parents and family, watching TV. When he saw Tang Qingshan, Xiao Man, and the two little kids playing a game, he joined in. He had a lot of fun and laughed heartily, which finally earned him a kinder look from Grandma Tang.

A little after nine, Hao Hao called from overseas. Tang Qingyun was thankful he hadn’t actually gone out; otherwise, he would have missed another chance to talk to his son. It was the New Year, after all. His son would surely have been disappointed if his father wasn’t there to wish him a happy holiday.

The Gu and Tang Families celebrated the first day of the New Year together. On the second day, it was time for Tang Qingyun to leave. Before he left, Grandpa Tang summoned his two sons into the study as usual, and the three of them talked for a good part of the day. No matter how annoyed Grandma Tang was with Tang Qingyun, how could a mother truly resent her son? She still fretted over her younger son’s daily needs. She called the nanny and Hao Wenli to help, and even pitched in herself. They packed Tang Qingyun’s car to the brim with food and clothes. Anyone who didn’t know better would have thought Tang Qingyun was being exiled to some impoverished region to suffer from a lack of food and clothing.

The whole family saw Tang Qingyun to his car. Xiao Man stood at the back, holding Little Bo. Unexpectedly, after opening his car door, Tang Qingyun walked back over. He patted Little Bo’s head, then moved his hand directly onto Xiao Man’s. Xiao Man was speechless for a moment. Tang Qingyun stroked her hair and sighed reluctantly. "Our girl is still young. There’s no rush to get married. I’ll discuss it with Grandpa Gu and Uncle Gu. Let’s wait a couple of years."

Tang Qingshan, standing to the side, agreed with the "no rush to get married" sentiment. However, finding his younger brother rather irritating at the moment, he didn’t openly express his solidarity. He just said coolly, "Don’t you worry about things at home. Just take care of your own mess. You need to be decisive in your relationships. Stop dragging things out. Be mindful of your reputation."

Tang Qingyun: "..."

He really couldn’t explain how things with the Fan Sisters had gotten to this point. Dejected, he could only get in his car. He’d head back to his unit first and deal with it later.

They watched the car drive away as the ornate iron gate slowly closed. The family turned and went back inside. Grandma Tang and Hao Wenli went to the second floor to tidy up the storage room. Xiao Fang, on Grandpa Tang’s orders, came running to find Little Bo, saying Grandpa wanted to play chess. After seeing the two little ones follow their grandpa to the small parlor, Xiao Man sat down on the living room sofa to talk with her dad. She began to curiously probe into Tang Qingyun’s entanglement with the woman from the Fan family.

"That Officer Fan, she’s in her early thirties at most. She looks so impressive and heroic. She could easily find a great guy in the army. Uncle Tang is divorced and has a son that old, so why is she so fixated on chasing him? And her sister, that Ms. Fan, she’s something else too, trying to steal him from her own sister. Do you think maybe Grandpa owed the Fan family some huge favor in the past? Since Uncle Tang is divorced anyway, did he just decide to sell him off to the Fan family as a son-in-law? Otherwise, why would the Fan Family Sisters be so confident and self-righteous, acting like it’s a ’finders keepers’ situation?"

Tang Qingshan had just taken a sip of tea. Hearing this, he burst out laughing with a SPIT, spraying tea everywhere. He quickly grabbed a towel from the table to wipe his clothes while reaching out to rap Xiao Man on the head. "You rascal. Even if you don’t think much of your uncle, you can’t just make up wild stories about your grandpa! If he heard you, he’d definitely punish you!"

"Well, I made sure he was out of earshot."

Tang Qingshan laughed heartily, then took a couple more sips of tea before setting down his cup. "My daughter really is smart. You guessed half of it right.

"It all goes back to an old friendship. A long time ago, when your grandpa’s generation was still young, Mr. Fan was one of your grandpa’s subordinates. He was said to be brave, resourceful, and very capable, and your grandpa relied on him heavily. Later, your grandpa went into politics, and Mr. Fan joined the army. The two families rarely had contact after that.

"Then, when your Uncle Tang was doing his studies, didn’t he go to another province for research for a while? As it happened, he went to the city where the Fan family lives. Mr. Fan ran into him. Although they didn’t see each other often, Mr. Fan had met both me and your uncle before and recognized him. As they were catching up, the conversation naturally turned to his friendship with your grandpa. Your uncle called Grandpa to tell him about it, and Grandpa told him to pay a formal visit to an old friend of his father’s generation.

"After that, the two old friends called each other to catch up. When Mr. Fan learned that your uncle was divorced, he half-jokingly said that he had sons and grandsons, but still had one unmarried daughter. He asked if they should become in-laws. At the time, your grandpa replied, ’We of the older generation can’t make that call. It’s all up to the children’s wishes. If they are fated to be, I would, of course, be happy to see it happen!’"

"Oh, so Grandpa really did..."

"Keep your voice down, you little rascal." Tang Qingshan looked up and saw his mother and wife coming down from the second floor. He shushed Xiao Man. "Your grandma is very unhappy about this. Grandma has a sharp eye, and she trusts her intuition. She’s seen photos of the Fan girls. She doesn’t say anything, but deep down she doesn’t approve of them. She was furious about your grandpa’s ’happy to see it happen’ comment, which he made on his own. She argued with Grandpa about it, so he never brought it up again."

"So, from the Fan family’s perspective, Officer Fan has a good reason to pursue Uncle Tang. But Grandpa feels guilty because Grandma objects. Since things have already progressed this far and Officer Fan is relentlessly chasing Uncle Tang, Grandpa has no choice but to turn a blind eye and say nothing. If it works out, he’ll probably just have to accept it. If it doesn’t, he can breathe a sigh of relief in front of Grandma," Xiao Man whispered with a smile.

"I guess that’s about the long and short of it. It’s a lesson, really. You have to be careful what you say to people and not make promises you can’t keep, or else... But your uncle is also to blame for this. Can’t he even reject someone? He’s just let this thing with Fan drag on until now. I’m really at a loss with him."

"..."

Grandma Tang and Hao Wenli had come downstairs, so Xiao Man stopped voicing her opinions. It was a rare, leisurely moment of gossip for the father and daughter, and thinking about the whole affair, they found it amusing and couldn’t help but chuckle. The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law came over and sat down. Thinking they were happy because of a comedy skit on TV, they also laughed for a bit. Then, Hao Wenli, just like Xiao Man, began to ask Grandma Tang about Uncle Tang’s "marriage situation."

Grandma Tang took a sip of the hot tea Tang Qingshan had poured for her and snorted. "This will never work. I won’t agree to it. If Qingyun could accept Fan, I suppose I could reluctantly let it go. Fan joined the army in her teens. She has the dignified and upright bearing of a soldier, she can endure hardship and loneliness. At worst, her temper is just a bit too rigid and blunt, and she doesn’t understand the ways of the world. But this Little Sister Fan is absolutely out of the question. You haven’t seen her in person. She’s basically another Wu Xiaowen—an artist type, all delicate and flighty, looking like a gust of wind could blow her away. That’s Qingyun’s taste for you. Her previous marriage was a love match, and she got divorced in less than three years. She said her husband only focused on his work and didn’t care for the family or her, that the feelings were gone. What kind of reason is that? What kind of man doesn’t work and just idles around all day? If feelings can vanish so easily, how did they even begin? Qingyun is also constantly busy, without even regular times for meals or sleep. If he married this Little Sister Fan, after a while, wouldn’t she start to despise him too?"