Chapter 215 - 200: Mayday
Chapter 215: Chapter 200: Mayday
After coming downstairs for some tea, Grandpa Tang bathed and changed. Then, the old couple sat together in the living room, tending to their orchids. "Don’t you dare tell our son," Grandma Tang said. "I’m not planning on stopping by their place on this trip."
Grandpa Tang, who was carefully wiping the orchid leaves, paused. "Not tell Qingyun? You’re traveling so far. Shouldn’t he at least be there to look after you?"
Grandma Tang snorted. "Have him look after me? I’ll be lucky if he doesn’t kill me with rage! I knew long ago he was a heartless boy. The moment he got a wife, he forgot his own mother. If it had been any other woman he married without telling me, I could have stood it. But it just had to be Wu Xiaowen, the daughter of Wu Yu Xuan and Lin Aizhen! Isn’t that just a knife to my heart? This illness of mine... more than half of it is from the frustration and anger he’s caused me!"
Grandpa Tang reached out and patted his wife’s back. "There, there. It’s all in the past. Let’s just let it go and look ahead. From now on, no more getting angry or worked up over them, alright?"
"I’d love to let them go, but they won’t let me! That woman gave birth to a daughter, and after all my efforts to prevent it, she still got her way, snatched my son, stabbed me in the heart, and then tried to harm my own flesh-and-blood granddaughter... And you can stop your act, too! You’re so two-faced, saying one thing and doing another. You think I don’t know how much you’ve helped the Wu Family? I haven’t forgotten how charming and alluring Lin Aizhen was when she first came to Beijing. Didn’t she try to cozy up to you, the great playboy? A pity for her she could only be a ’confidante’—because I married you first! She wanted to get a foot in the Tang family’s door? I wouldn’t even leave her a crack!"
Grandpa Tang was exasperated. "Now you’re blaming me unjustly again? First, you say to let the boy suffer a little, so I let him take the transfer. Then you say not to be too hard on ’my son,’ and you go back to protecting him. Your son isn’t an idiot. When you put power in his hands, he knows how to use it. Helping the Wu Family is his own doing, not mine! You’re such a jealous woman. Aren’t you tired after carrying that grudge for decades? Huh? So any woman who smiles at me is a ’confidante’? By that logic, I, Mr. Tang, should have confidantes all over the world! Except I don’t know any of them and don’t feel a thing!"
"How could you not know Lin Aizhen? You acted as her gallant escort and took her home! What more ’feeling’ were you looking for? Just wait for your next life! In my next life, I’ll let you go and you can do whatever you please!"
"I don’t want a next life either, alright?"
Grandpa Tang carefully loosened the soil around the orchid, his tone teasing. "Me? I’ve always been a gentleman. Giving someone a ride home is a perfectly normal thing to do. There have been hundreds, if not a thousand, young women who’ve ridden in my car; Lin Aizhen was just one of them. And for your information, my dear wife, they all sat in the front passenger seat, right next to the driver. None of them ever got into the back—I’m not an idiot! You bribed all my aides. I knew better than to ask for trouble!"
"And yet, even though you couldn’t get away with anything, you never seemed to get tired of it!"
"Heh heh heh! Actually, the title of ’great, womanizing playboy’ isn’t just for show. It’s also quite useful. You wouldn’t understand!"
Grandma Tang rolled her eyes at him, though the corners of her mouth curled up slightly. "As for Qingyun’s further training, you handle it. If you want to take pity on your son, I won’t stop you. But if you dare play the part of the doting father-in-law to Wu Xiaowen and let her move to Beijing without a hitch, I will absolutely not allow it! And another thing: you are forbidden from meddling in the Wu Family’s affairs anymore!"
"I know, I know. You’ve repeated it so many times it’s become my personal mantra. Qingyun’s further training is canceled. He’s getting a lateral transfer to another impoverished region to toughen him up for a few more years! That boy has truly been outrageous. I’m all for a man loving his wife and children, but what has he done? He knew Manman existed, but instead of finding her immediately, he abandoned his own flesh and blood out of concern for his adopted daughter’s health! Is that a son of mine? I certainly never taught him to be like that! If a grown man lets his wife control his every thought, he’d be a liability even if he were promoted. It’s safer for him to stay at a lower rank! Wu Xiaowen isn’t coming to Beijing either. She’ll stay put. When Qingyun passes his assessment and gets relocated, she can follow him then. As for the Wu Family, I’ve already washed my hands of them—no helping, no hindering. I’m letting them follow the standard procedures and come to Beijing in batches according to policy. The Wu couple should be able to move to Beijing within two years. After all, Wu Yu Xuan is one of the last remaining giants in the world of literature and history, and Lin Aizhen studied foreign theater abroad in her youth. Now that the country is opening up to the world, her profession will likely become more and more sought after."
"I don’t care if she’s ’sought after’ or not! She raised a home-wrecking daughter who nearly destroyed my own granddaughter. She can forget about riding our coattails! Two years? I’d be happy if I could just hold her up for two days!"
"Yes. I spoke with Qingyun a couple of days ago. I told him to explain it to Wu Xiaowen himself and to stop calling home every other day. The decision has been made, and it can’t be changed."