"Bro, I found a bunch of other fun places here we haven’t been to yet..."
Li Yueting’s voice came from outside. When she saw the two of them lying side-by-side and her best friend’s face an impossible shade of red, she couldn’t help but look them over.
"Junjun, why is your face so red? You two didn’t get up to anything while I was out, did you?"
"Don’t be ridiculous. We didn’t do anything. It was just a massage."
"Huh? My bro gave you a massage? Where’d he massage you? Tell me everything."
Li Yueting said with a sly grin,
"Am I being a third wheel? Why don’t you two just continue?"
"Hey, don’t go! It was the massage service here, not what you’re thinking."
"Oh, so it was the one *here*," Li Yueting said meaningfully.
"But there’s no need to rush. We’re staying here tonight, after all. I’ll get my own room, and you two can share one. Do whatever you want, sister-in-law..."
"Hey!" Xu Yingjun protested shyly.
"Okay, okay, I’ll stop talking. Actions speak louder than words, anyway."
After they got back, Li Yueting hung around for a bit before dragging the two of them off to do a bunch of indoor activities.
That evening, there was a bonfire party, and they had a blast.
Although she’d talked about arranging for Xu Yingjun and Lin Jiang to stay together, it was just teasing. There was no way she could actually make that happen.
This worked out conveniently for Lin Jiang, who chatted with a few women late into the night.
Jiang Xiaoqi, in particular, even showed off some new lingerie she had bought.
The next morning, the three of them had breakfast and then headed back.
They had no plans to go sightseeing today. Li Yueting was going to take Xu Yingjun for a walk around the county town, and Lin Jiang would stay home to keep Li Xiaoping company.
As soon as he stepped into the courtyard, he saw the electric scooter he’d bought the day before.
"Mom, how’s the scooter? I picked out the most expensive one, so it should be pretty good, right?"
"I was just about to talk to you about that. Are you trying to make him angry on purpose? Instead of buying from your eldest uncle, you just had to go to the shop next door. I heard from your other uncle that he’s absolutely furious."
"The stuff he sells is junk. Why would I buy from him? If something goes wrong, he won’t be able to provide any after-sales service," Lin Jiang said.
"No matter what, this is a Yadea Electric Vehicle. At least the after-sales service is guaranteed."
"Then you should have picked a time when no one was around. He’s family, after all. You have to be considerate of his reputation."
"Your life has been so tiring all these years because you care way too much about this stuff," Lin Jiang said, putting an arm around Li Xiaoping’s shoulders.
"Forget about being polite and just enjoy your life. Who cares what they think?"
"I can never win an argument with you."
Lin Jiang didn’t go anywhere for the rest of the day, just stayed home with Li Xiaoping.
The morning was fine—a picture of motherly love and filial piety, all warm and fuzzy. But by the afternoon, things started to fall apart, and he’d been scolded several times.
That evening, Li Rongjun arranged dinner. The two families were the first to arrive at the county’s largest hot pot restaurant, Mountain City Hot Pot.
"Tongtong, you and Junjun go ahead and order. Get whatever you want to eat; don’t worry about anyone else."
"You got it."
"Not everyone’s here yet. Maybe we should wait a little longer," Xu Yingjun said quietly.
"My uncle invited me to dinner. My uncle’s here, and I’m here, so as far as I’m concerned, everyone’s arrived. Go ahead and order."
"Oh, okay."
"Let’s just wait a bit longer. Your eldest uncle and second aunt aren’t here yet."
"We told them six o’clock. If they don’t show up on time, who’s to blame? I don’t have time to wait for them. I have work that needs my attention."
When Lin Jiang mentioned work, Li Xiaoping and Li Rongjun didn’t press the issue, letting the younger ones order as they pleased.
After they finished ordering, Li Yueting pulled Xu Yingjun along to make their dipping sauces.
When the food arrived, Lin Jiang and Li Yueting ignored everything else and just dug in.
Seeing this, Xu Yingjun had no choice but to start eating as well.
Just then, a white Honda sedan pulled up to the entrance of the hot pot restaurant.
There were two men and two women in the car. Two of them were Li Rongmin and Li Xiaoli. The other two were Li Rongmin’s son, Li Hengyuan, and Li Xiaoli’s daughter, Cui Jialing.
"That must be the Maybach, right? It looks even bigger than a Range Rover," Cui Jialing exclaimed. "A car worth over three million yuan looks so impressive."
"It’s okay. The Range Rover Autobiography Long Wheelbase is also close to three million, and I’ve ridden in one of those," Li Hengyuan said nonchalantly.
"Besides, I’ve sat in cars like Bentleys and Rolls-Royces at auto shows. They’re much better than his."
"But in our family, he’s still the first one to drive a car this nice."
As the eldest male cousin of his generation, Li Hengyuan felt a little embarrassed hearing Cui Jialing say that.
"It’s just a car. When he got married, he couldn’t even afford one. It hasn’t even been two months, so how could he possibly afford a car this nice?"
"What do you mean by that, Cousin?" Cui Jialing asked, turning around.
"What else could I mean? It’s not like he’s printing money. What kind of business makes that much money in two months?" Li Hengyuan said with a sneer.
"Think about it. There’s no way that money was earned legitimately."
Cui Jialing thought for a moment. "Now that you mention it, that does make sense."
"Let me tell you, I work for the tax bureau. I’m an expert on this stuff. I can see right through these kinds of schemes," Li Hengyuan said.
"No matter what, he’ll always be my junior. If I want to put him in his place, it’ll be a piece of cake."
"Cousin, try to keep your temper in check later. There’s no need to get angry over something like this," Cui Jialing said.
Everyone in the family now knew about Lin Jiang buying the scooter from the shop next door.
As the eldest brother of his generation, Li Rongmin cared deeply about his reputation.
In addition, he owned a shop, and his son had a stable government job. This led Li Rongmin to see himself as the family’s authority figure, someone who had to meddle in every matter, big or small, and offer his so-called "valuable" advice.
But since Lin Jiang’s return, he had been disrespected twice in a row, causing him to lose face in public. This made Li Rongmin feel his status was being seriously challenged, and that he was even losing his rightful authority within the family.
This had made Li Rongmin fume all day, and he had immediately told his son all about it.
They had come to dinner today for two reasons: first, to see just how rich Lin Jiang had become, and second, to knock him down a peg.
To remind him that even with a little money, he needed to keep his head down and stay in his place.
"Lin Jiang was always an outcast, even as a kid. I never bothered with him before. Now that he has a little money, he comes back and pulls this kind of stunt. As his older cousin, I’m going to have to teach him a lesson," Li Hengyuan said, flicking the ash from his cigarette.
"The problem is, I’m afraid he won’t listen to you."
"I’m his older cousin, and I work for the tax bureau. What kind of people haven’t I met? These small-time entrepreneurs are nothing in my eyes."
"You should still try to control your temper. We’re all family; it would be bad to make things unpleasant."
"We’ll see. If he shows me, his older cousin, some respect, I’ll let it slide. But if he starts acting all high and mighty in front of me just because he’s made a little money, you can bet I’m going to have a ’talk’ with him."
"Fine."
Seeing that she couldn’t convince him, Cui Jialing dropped the subject.
RING RING RING—
Just then, Li Hengyuan’s phone rang.
"Hey, Brother Zhang."
"Yeah, don’t worry. I’ll make sure the car is arranged. I’ll drive the Maybach over tomorrow."
"That’s right, cancel your lead car. Using the Maybach as the lead car is way better than that A8 you arranged. They’re not even in the same league."
"I’ve got something to do, so I’m hanging up."
"Cousin, are you planning to drive our other cousin’s Maybach?" Cui Jialing asked.
"Yep."
"Will he even let you drive it?"
"I’m his older cousin. You think he’d dare say no to me?" Li Hengyuan said, full of confidence.
"Just you wait. I have my ways of handling him. Come on, let’s get out."
Li Hengyuan opened his door, and the others got out as well, heading toward Room 204.
As they entered the private room, Cui Jialing’s eyes immediately locked onto Lin Jiang.
"My cousin is getting more and more handsome."
Cui Jialing ran her own clothing business in the county town, and her greatest asset was her silver tongue—she knew exactly what to say to whomever she was talking to.
Now that Lin Jiang was rich, the flowery compliments started pouring out.
Before, you’d never hear such pleasantries from her; she’d be more likely to make a sarcastic jab or two.
"I’ve noticed I’m getting more handsome, too. You, on the other hand, should probably buy some better makeup and take care of your skin."
"Oh, stop teasing me. I’m not as old as you make me sound."
Cui Jialing wasn’t offended by Lin Jiang’s comment and simply pulled up a chair and sat down.
The other three, however, did not look pleased.
’They started eating before we even got here? What’s that supposed to mean?’
"Big Brother, Second Sister, come sit down. We were waiting for you," Li Rongjun said, standing up.
"You’ve already started eating. Does this look like you were waiting for us?" Li Rongmin snorted.
"Well..."
"We agreed on six o’clock. You didn’t show up until almost seven. You can’t blame us for that," Lin Jiang said without looking up from his food.
"Alright, it’s rare for us to get together like this. Everyone just sit down and eat."
Li Xiaoping didn’t look very happy.
Li Xiaoping had been holding onto some resentment ever since Lin Jiang came home two days ago.
’Her son rarely came home, yet when she called her two siblings, they both said they couldn’t make it.’
’Then Tongtong made a post on social media, and as soon as they saw her son was driving a nice car, they all showed up.’
’Are they here to see my son, or to see his car?’
But, for the sake of keeping up appearances, Li Xiaoping didn’t let her anger show.
But today, they had agreed to eat at six, and it was almost seven when they finally arrived.
’This wasn’t just them looking down on her son; they weren’t showing her any respect either.’
Everyone at the table noticed the change in Li Xiaoping’s expression. Li Rongmin and Li Hengyuan swallowed the words they were about to say and quickly took their seats.
"Cousin, I heard you started a company. What kind is it?"
"I turned the noodle shop into a chain."
"You’re amazing, Cousin. You haven’t even been running the noodle shop for a year, and it’s already a chain. Our family has finally produced a real entrepreneur," Cui Jialing complimented.
"Not everyone is cut out for business. It depends on whether you have the luck for it," Li Rongmin said, a cigarette dangling from his lips.
"I’ve been in business for over a decade. No one has more experience in this than I do."
"Wow, that’s so impressive. I wish you the best, Uncle. May your electric scooter dealership grow bigger and stronger, have its IPO soon, and surpass Yadea Electric Vehicle. If that happens, I’ll never buy one of their scooters again."
Li Rongmin’s expression froze, and the mood at the table instantly plummeted.
Even the naive Xu Yingjun could detect the sarcasm in Lin Jiang’s tone.
"Hurry up and eat. Don’t be polite, just grab whatever you want," Li Yueting whispered to Xu Yingjun.
"My brother’s about to storm out of here any minute now."
"Huh?"
"Never mind that, just eat."
"Mm-hm."
With that said, the two of them went back to eating quietly, not wanting to get involved in the family drama.
"You make a little money and suddenly your tone changes," Li Hengyuan said with passive-aggressive sarcasm.
"It’s just pocket change."
"Oh, so you know it’s just pocket change? At least you have a clear understanding of your place."
"If I were making real money, do you think you’d still be qualified to eat at the same table as me? Impossible," Lin Jiang said with a chuckle.
"I don’t remember you being like this. You earn a little money and suddenly you think you’re better than everyone?" Li Hengyuan retorted sarcastically.
"I’m not trying to lecture you, but this isn’t right. No matter what, you have to stay humble."
As he spoke, Li Hengyuan lit a cigarette and said with the air of a man critiquing the world,
"Look at me, your older cousin. I got a government job, but you don’t see me lording it over everyone. You should learn a thing or two from me."
"You’re just a low-level clerk. Even if you wanted to lord it over people, you don’t really have the status to."
Li Hengyuan: "..."

Comments

Loading...