DLRAS Chapter 152

Chapter 152: Mr. Huo, did you take care of the children yesterday?

What Chen Wengang did not know, however, was that just before he arrived, a massive, earth-shattering row had broken out at his uncle’s house.

With Mid-Autumn approaching, Chen Zeng had bought some crabs. The day after tomorrow was Saturday, and he intended to invite his nephew over for a meal. He had kept them on ice in the refrigerator, ready to be steamed when the time came. His two sons, driven by their greed, clamored to eat them, but he refused. Yet when he returned home from work on Friday evening, the enticing aroma of steaming crabs filled the entire flat.

Lifting the pot lid, Chen Zeng felt a surge of displeasure. “Didn’t I say we would steam them tomorrow?”

His wife, entirely unconcerned, replied, “The boys are growing. What’s the big deal if they eat a few crabs?”

“What do you mean, ‘what’s the big deal’? These were meant for hosting guests! Wengang is coming over for dinner tomorrow. He isn’t going to eat all of them himself; the whole family would have shared them anyway. Couldn’t you have waited just one day? Are those two young brats really that greedy for food?”

His wife sneered. “Greedy? How novel. This is the first time I’ve ever heard that a son eating a bit of food is called greedy.”

Chen Zeng slammed the lid back onto the pot. Finding it a waste of breath to argue with this shrew, he opened the refrigerator to count how many crabs were left.

Instead of dropping the matter, his wife became even more relentless, nagging and muttering, “Why don’t you look at your own lack of ability? Making that meager bit of money, and you almost lost it all in bad investments. You didn’t manage to buy this tiny, dilapidated apartment until your beard turned grey, and now we pay a mortgage month after month, leaving your pockets entirely empty with barely any household allowance left…

“What did I even gain by marrying you all these years? Have I enjoyed a single day of good fortune? I act as a maid and a servant for your family, doing all the chores and catering to the kids, while I personally can’t bear to spend on food or drink. And yet, here I am, still having to serve you and serve your relatives!

“Furthermore, what do you mean by ‘the whole family’? Who is family with you? That nephew of yours is completely muddled and an ungrateful wretch whose heart belongs entirely to outsiders. Did he ever treat you as family? Are you suffering from senile dementia? He tricked us out of our original house just like that, never once considering that you are his uncle and I am his aunt. He’s a heartless, ungrateful white-eyed wolf…”

It came like a rapid-fire volley. Growing thoroughly impatient, Chen Zeng pointed directly at her nose: “A woman’s hair is long but her wisdom is short! Watch your mouth when you speak. Who are you calling a heartless, ungrateful wretch? We who bear the surname Chen are still one family. Are you cursing me along with him?”

It would have been better if he hadn’t spoken. His wife, who had been mincing ginger, suddenly slammed the cleaver onto the chopping board with a loud thud. “Who are you threatening? I bore you two sons. What, the two of them are named Chen and your nephew is named Chen, so I’m the only one who isn’t? So after all this, I’m just an entitlement-free servant wife to be ordered around!”

They traded barbs back and forth like this for half the evening until Chen Zeng’s patience was completely exhausted.

He pointed at the tip of her nose: “We could have lived a decent life, but you insist on throwing a tantrum. Don’t forget, this entire household depends on me to support it! You never hesitate when buying makeup, bags, and shoes for yourself. If you have the ability, go earn your own money to buy a few crabs in the future!”

Defying the searing heat, his wife reached out and flipped the entire steamer over. “Then nobody gets to eat them!”

Chen Zeng trembled with rage, the pot lid spinning noisily on the floor as white billows of steam rose from the overturned pot. The two sons had been in the living room playing video games, completely ignoring their parents’ prolonged shouting match. But upon hearing the pot being flipped, they came running one after another. Seeing the crabs scattered all over the floor, they began wailing and shouting in distress.

With the household turned upside down, dinner was entirely ruined. Feeling utterly suffocated with frustration, Chen Zeng slammed the door and stormed out, heading down to the residential compound’s pavilion to smoke a cigarette.

When a married couple fights, the initial trigger is rarely significant. A single spark causing such a massive explosion usually indicates that resentment has been festering for months, if not years.

Chen Zeng felt that his job was already grueling enough. He had initially secured a position at the Zheng Group by relying on his connection with Zheng Yucheng. In the beginning, everyone treated him as a privileged connection of the eldest young master, and his colleagues treated him with a fair amount of deference. As time went on and people realized his background wasn’t actually that formidable, coupled with the fact that Zheng Yucheng didn’t remember to show him any special favor, that exceptional treatment and respect gradually evaporated. Despite this, changing jobs was absolutely out of the question. His current position was at least that of a minor supervisor. Having reached this age, if he were to seek employment outside, he would only be forced to take a step down; what chance would there be for a promotion?

Chen Zeng was muddled about certain things, but clear-headed about others. Though that Young Master Zheng no longer shared any special relationship with his nephew, there was still the bond of growing up together, along with some lingering sentiments from the past; at the very least, Zheng wouldn’t fire him. The shrew at home had short-sighted vision, only capable of throwing fits and egging him on to completely break ties with Chen Wengang. Did she want him to lose this job? Should he switch to unloading cargo at the docks or hauling bricks at a construction site in the future?

As for the situation at home, it was equally aggravating.

The salary Chen Zeng earned was theoretically enough to support his wife and two sons—while they couldn’t stop Chen Xiangling from going abroad to study, at least she hadn’t taken a single penny from the household, which Chen Zeng, upon reflection, had accepted. However, when actually balancing the accounts, raising two sons felt like pouring money into two bottomless pits; no matter how much was filled in, it never seemed to be enough.

For instance, in order to secure a good school for the children, the couple had deliberately bought a property in a designated school district and moved. Who could have foreseen that the boys would fail to meet the required exam scores? As a result, two exorbitant school-selection fees had to be paid out. Furthermore, his wife held extremely high expectations for their sons and wanted to give them the absolute best of everything—one-on-one tutoring sessions and various extracurricular interest classes. Whatever others signed up for, she insisted her children must attend as well, hoping to send them abroad for studies in the future so they would at least turn out better than her daughter. In addition to that, video game consoles, mobile phones, computers—she gave them whatever they asked for, and they would still need to buy properties for both of them in the future…

With this kind of appetite, even if Chen Zeng were to sell his kidneys, he wouldn’t be able to earn that much money.

Under immense pressure, his temper was inevitably volatile, and his wife’s temper rose correspondingly. When their daughter was still at home, she was obedient and sensible, helping to shoulder the majority of the housework, which allowed the mother to live a relatively comfortable life. Now, just as she said herself, she was reduced to being a maid at home day in and day out.

By the next day, the tension between the couple had not dissipated in the slightest.

Chen Zeng got out of bed, while his wife remained under the covers with her back facing the door, claiming she felt unwell.

Left with no alternative, he said in an irritated tone, “Fine! If you won’t cook, I’ll do it!”

At noon, the doorbell rang. He called out a couple of times, but his two sons remained glued to their video games in the living room as if they were deaf, not budging for the longest time. Cursing the little brats under his breath, Chen Zeng wiped his hands and went to open the door. Chen Wengang was standing outside, carrying two bags of fruit.

Uncle and nephew looked at each other. Chen Zeng sized up his nephew; having not seen him for a while, Chen Wengang was dressed in an Oxford shirt and black trousers, looking every bit like a refined young scholar. His expression was calm and his smile gentle, leaving no room for fault.

He ushered Chen Wengang into the living room. Chen Guangzong and Chen Yaozu had their eyes glued to the television, controllers gripped tightly in their hands as their necks craned forward, completely absorbed in a fierce in-game battle, looking as though they wished to crawl inside the screen.

The boys usually behaved this exact way at home, but with a contrast suddenly present, an indescribable wave of irritation surged within Chen Zeng’s heart. He abruptly barked out an order: “All you know how to do is play, play, play! Guests have arrived and you don’t even know how to pour some water!”

Chen Guangzong and Chen Yaozu looked at him in bewilderment, having no idea why their old man was suddenly throwing such a massive tantrum.

Chen Wengang smiled faintly, easily picking up on the bizarre atmosphere permeating the household. Though he knew a fight had taken place, he refrained from prying. The two nephews reluctantly paused their game and poured some water, and the three of them sat staring at one another until Chen Zeng called them over for the meal.

He had prepared the dishes entirely by himself. Chen Wengang’s aunt still claimed she had no appetite and refused to eat.

After a long round of persuasion, she finally emerged and took her place at the table, her face still dark. Throughout the entire meal, she continuously launched indirect scoldings and made sarcastic, passive-aggressive remarks.

The moment she finished eating, she pushed her bowl away and returned to the bedroom to lie down again.

A trace of embarrassment surfaced on Chen Zeng’s face. Telling Chen Wengang not to mind her, he quickly cleared the table, and the two sat down to drink tea and chat.

Everyone knew exactly why Chen Wengang had come today. However, his mastery of Tai Chi diplomacy had reached perfection; whenever the property and shops registered under Chen Xiangling’s name were brought up, he simply feigned ignorance, and if pressed further, he merely remarked that a girl ought to have some dowry, and that it wasn’t much anyway.

Chen Zeng played several emotional cards with him, even unearthing an old family photo album to indulge in nostalgia. That album was ancient, dug out from some forgotten corner and smelling heavily of dust. Inside were photographs of Chen Wengang’s grandparents, as well as childhood photos of his father and uncle—images Chen Wengang was seeing for the very first time.

Ultimately, it was to no avail; each side simply stuck to their own narrative. Having completed his visit, Chen Wengang dusted off his trousers and departed.

Four or five days later, he received another phone call from his two nephews.

The reason Chen Guangzong and Chen Yaozu were looking for him this time was that their parents had been locked in a cold war for several days. In a fit of rage, Chen Wengang’s aunt had stopped cooking meals and washing clothes for her husband, taking care of only herself and her two sons each day.

As a consequence, Chen Zeng flew into a great rage as well, accusing her of spending money without restraint and withholding his salary from the household. This domestic dispute acted like fuel added to a fire, escalating continuously. The couple had clashed physically several times, even smashing the television in the process, and the boys’ video game console had barely escaped destruction.

Chen Wengang was forced to make another visit, going through the motions of offering a few words of mediation.

Whether it had any effect was unclear, but he played a small trick of his own. He gave Chen Guangzong and Chen Yaozu a bit of pocket money, and before leaving the house, he had them retrieve that ancient photo album. He selected a few choice photographs from it and took them back for his own collection.

His uncle, Chen Zeng, likely never looked at the photo album again, as he never discovered their absence afterward.

The film negatives for these old photographs were long gone, so Chen Wengang scanned them to keep a digital backup, while the original prints were arranged into a newly purchased album.

He placed this album on the bookshelf alongside three others. Apart from the one from his childhood, the other two consisted of a portfolio of his own works and an album dedicated to photographs of him and Huo Niansheng. Among the pictures updated this year, Harley’s shadow had also been added.

When the Mid-Autumn Festival arrived, Chen Wengang and Huo Niansheng went strolling through the street market and noticed a stall selling hairy crabs. Recalling that he had barely touched them during that meal at his uncle’s house, they purchased a whole basket, distributing a few to the neighbors and taking the rest home to eat.

The freshly available crabs were steamed until done, their roe rich and the meat tender and sweet. Mixing a bit of ginger and vinegar, the two turned on the television and poured a little yellow wine. Aside from the crabs, Huo Niansheng had also prepared a few dishes to celebrate Chen Wengang’s birthday.

He had requested a simple birthday celebration—since his supervisor’s return to the country, his academic schedule had naturally become quite hectic, and he had to balance his work while squeezing in time to prepare for the wedding, picking out and custom-ordering suits during whatever free slots he could find.

Regarding this second wedding ceremony, although Huo Zhenfei viewed it as a trifling matter, he had ultimately compromised.

As for Chen Wengang, though his outward demeanor remained serene and unaffected, it was obvious that he had been in an exceptionally good mood lately. He frequently bought items from a grocery shop where the owner had recently launched a promotion gifting decorative stickers with purchases. One day, when Huo Niansheng returned home, he found Chen Wengang earnestly reading academic literature with absolute concentration—yet Harley’s face had been entirely covered in glittering, colorful sequins, making the dog look as though it were wearing a Venetian mask.

When night fell, Huo Niansheng went into the study and discovered that the outer shell of his laptop had also been completely covered with The Little Prince stickers.

He admired it for a good long while without peeling them off, carrying it to work exactly like that for the next few days.

One day upon arriving at the company, his head secretary hesitated for a long moment before asking tactfully, “Did Director Huo spend yesterday taking care of a child?”

Huo Niansheng replied, “No.” He then asked, “Why?”

Amanda walked over, a look of confusion on her face as she peeled a sticker of a little fairy off his back.

Huo Niansheng thought back for a moment. That morning, while Chen Wengang was tying his necktie, he had gently stroked his back and softly told him to work hard.

In front of his entire group of subordinates, he let out an unreserved laugh.

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