novelnext Chapter 758: It's not scarcity that's worrisome, but inequality.
Chapter 758: It's not scarcity that's worrisome, but inequality.
Seeing Chen Zhe's gaunt appearance, Huang Xiaochuan couldn't help but say, "Old Chen, you can't live like this! I think you should find someone, at least someone who cares about you, right?"
Chen Zhe lowered his head and gently blew on the porridge in the spoon to cool it down before putting it in his mouth, pretending not to hear his friend's question.
Huang Xiaochuan was amused by this guy and reached out to push Chen Zhe's shoulder: "Hey! When did you learn to play dumb too?"
Chen Zhe looked up at Huang Xiaochuan with an embarrassed smile and said, "I guess this is what they call 'once bitten, twice shy'! I know you mean well, but I think things are fine as they are now."
Seeing his friend's attitude, Huang Xiaochuan offered his alternative suggestion: "I'll arrange a personal assistant for you! At least someone will take care of your daily life."
Chen Zhe shook his head and was about to speak.
Seeing that Chen Zhe wanted to refuse, Huang Xiaochuan stopped him without giving him a chance to argue, saying, "It's settled then. With a life assistant, you can focus all your energy on your academic work."
Chen Zhe nodded, and Huang Xiaochuan smiled and pushed the stir-fried beef with kale in front of him: "Eat more beef!"
After dinner, Huang Xiaochuan planned to take Chen Zhe home to rest, but Chen Zhe refused, insisting on returning to the research institute to continue revising the research report.
This time, Huang Xiaochuan couldn't persuade him otherwise and had no choice but to let him go.
When Huang Xiaochuan got home that night, it was almost midnight.
As usual, the first thing Yu Xiang did when she got home was to take a shower. After showering and entering the bedroom, she was still awake, looking through the reports and documents from Kangci Hospital last month.
Upon seeing the man, Yu Xiang stood up and said, "You didn't go to dinner tonight. My dad thought you went to some business dinner again, which is why he kept asking me for you!"
"Didn't you tell your dad I had work tonight?"
"Of course I told him, otherwise my dad would definitely nag me."
Yu Xiang then asked with concern, "Have you had dinner?"
Huang Xiaochuan replied, "We ate. In the evening, Chen Zhe and I found a Chaozhou porridge shop near the office."
Seeing that the man had eaten, Yu Xiang finally felt relieved.
At this moment, Huang Xiaochuan urged, "It's getting late, go to sleep! Staying up late is bad for your health."
Yu Xiang naturally agreed. If it weren't for waiting for the man to come back, she would have been asleep long ago: "Go to sleep, go to sleep!" Yu Xiang then got into bed.
The next day was Sunday, and as usual, I went to my parents' house at noon.
Because Huang Erhe is still in Suzhou with the Cheng family, only two families came today.
"Sister-in-law!" When Huang Xiaochuan's family arrived, they saw that his sister-in-law, Jiang Rong, had already arrived with Huang Zemin. Jiang Rong was helping her mother-in-law, Zeng Lijuan, prepare lunch, while Huang Zemin was playing chess with his grandfather, Old Huang.
After greeting the elders, Huang Zeji immediately went over to watch.
The little girl felt lonely and had no one to play with, so she went with her mother to help her grandmother and aunt.
Seeing this, Huang Xiaochuan asked, "Mom, why didn't you have the housekeeper do it?"
Zeng Lijuan glanced at her youngest son and replied, "I haven't cooked in a long time, and I feel like my skills are going to fall apart. I'll just give the aunties a day off today and cook it myself."
Huang Xiaochuan thought his mother's cooking skills were just so-so, so he said, "How about I cook later?"
Zeng Lijuan was reluctant to let her youngest son into the kitchen. She pointed towards Lao Huang and said, "Go and have tea with your father. You've already worked hard enough outside. You don't need to do these things."
Seeing that his mother was determined, Huang Xiaochuan stopped insisting and found a place on the sofa to sit down and watch his father and nephew play chess.
At this moment, Jiang Rong, the eldest sister-in-law, seized the opportunity to say to her mother-in-law, "Mom! The weather is getting warmer, so I'm planning to bring my parents over to stay for a few days, and also take them to Suzhou for a couple of days."
Zeng Lijuan immediately guessed her eldest daughter-in-law's thoughts. As the old saying goes, it's not poverty that's worrisome, but inequality. Seeing her second son taking his parents-in-law on a trip to Suzhou, her eldest daughter-in-law had her own ideas, which made Zeng Lijuan slightly displeased.
But Zeng Lijuan didn't show it on her face. Instead, she smiled and replied to Jiang Rong, "We should bring them over to stay for a while. Speaking of which, I haven't seen your parents for a long time. If they come, I will definitely treat them to a meal."
Jiang Rong is actually a pretty good person. She doesn't usually care about anything, but seeing that her mother-in-law still favors her second son as before, she couldn't help but feel a little jealous. Naturally, she wanted to stand up for herself. After all, she is the eldest daughter-in-law of the Huang family. Moreover, over the years, her parents have only come to Shanghai a handful of times and have never stayed at the villa by Taihu Lake in Suzhou.
That's why she took the initiative to make her request this time, which was a way of reminding her mother-in-law that Cheng Jing wasn't her only daughter-in-law.
Zeng Lijuan is, after all, the mother-in-law, and nowadays, because of her youngest son, she is the undisputed head of the family. Even Lao Huang usually doesn't provoke her unless he crosses his bottom line.
So Zeng Lijuan still gave her eldest daughter-in-law a light but firm rebuke: "Your father and I aren't very capable. I'm lucky to have raised three sons, and it's also thanks to Xiaochuan's brotherly loyalty. Even after he became successful, he still took care of his two older brothers. I've never heard of any other family doing this. Families with many brothers usually only think about living their own lives well, and don't care whether their brothers' families are doing well or not! From childhood, I've always taught my three sons to help each other. That's why we're all doing so well now!"
Finally, Zeng Lijuan specifically asked her eldest daughter-in-law, "Jiang Rong, don't you think so?"
Jiang Rong naturally understood the implication of her mother-in-law's words. Although she was somewhat resentful, she couldn't help but think about how good their family's living conditions were now, and how she was able to transfer from a small city in northern Jiangsu to work in Shanghai—all because she had a brother-in-law who was the richest man in Asia! So she could only nod and say, "Mom, you're right!"
In this matter, Zeng Lijuan did not treat everyone equally. In order to thank her second daughter-in-law for agreeing to give birth to a child for the Huang family, she used the Huang family's resources to entertain the second daughter-in-law's family, which inevitably drew criticism from her eldest daughter-in-law.
Yu Xiang, caught between the two, naturally knew what they were thinking. Seeing their reaction, she smiled and tried to smooth things over.
She also has the ability, after all, her status in the Huang family is very extraordinary, all because she has a man who loves her, and her man is the pillar of this family.
For example, her parents and younger siblings each have their own villas in "Tantai Villa", while the families of Huang's other two daughters-in-law do not have this privilege.
"Mom! I really have to praise you for this. I've never seen any other family with brothers as harmonious as Xiaochuan and his two brothers. It's all thanks to your excellent upbringing." Yu Xiang complimented her mother-in-law while secretly giving Jiang Rong a wink.
Jiang Rong knew that Yu Xiang was helping her, and she looked at Yu Xiang with gratitude.
Then Yu Xiang added, "I haven't seen my sister-in-law's parents for a long time. If they come, I will give them a proper welcome. My sister-in-law has worked so hard for our family. She has taken good care of our children's schooling."
Hearing her younger daughter-in-law say this, Zeng Lijuan couldn't help but think of the good qualities of her older daughter-in-law, and her expression softened considerably.
He said, "Jiang Rong! When your parents arrive, I'll have Xiao Chuan help you make the arrangements!"
Jiang Rong, knowing when to stop, smiled and thanked her mother-in-law, "Thank you, Mom!"
After saying that, he gave Yu Xiang a grateful look.