"Previously, when my sister had only Shouxin as her son, I didn’t dare to mention it, but since Shoulu doesn’t need to inherit the family business, why not let him be my son? Would I ever mistreat my sister’s son?" Gu Xinseng spoke calmly, his words logical and orderly.
Han Kuang’s hesitation was brief. He shook his head and said, "It still won’t work. The country is implementing family planning now. Shouxin has only the daughter Nuonuo; I can’t just look at the immediate situation." As for Shouyi, even if he hasn’t changed his surname to Liu, Han Kuang had never thought of handing over the Han Family to him.
"Are you sure Shoulu would agree to recognize his ancestors and return to the clan?" Gu Xinseng pointedly asked, "Considering the temperaments of you and your sister, whoever Shoulu takes after, he would not want to return to the Han Family." Otherwise, he wouldn’t have brought it up.
"Right now, he harbors resentment, but given time, he’ll come to see things differently," Han Kuang said, though his words lacked conviction.
Gu Xinseng shook his head, "Putting other things aside, Shouxin has no sons while Shoulu has a son. When the time comes, to which one do you plan to hand over the family business?"
What he referred to as the family business was not the Han Family’s properties, but the family’s network of relationships.
"You better not let the brothers come into conflict."
He was genuinely worried; his cousin-in-law had always been a bit naive about such matters. Take the matter of Shouzhen for example. When Xu Qian was wrongly killed, it wasn’t that Han Kuang wasn’t angry or truly believed Liu Yuzhi was innocent, but he thought that the dead could not be brought back to life. The key was not to let Shouzhen and Liu Yuzhi have a greater conflict, thus revealing clues to outsiders and causing the already precarious Han Family to be criticized. Thus, he incredibly appeared to trust Liu Yuzhi, aside from punishing her severely in secret. For three years, he didn’t write a letter or send anything to Han Shouyi, who was sent to Yunnan to do forced rural labor as part of the Down to the Countryside Movement, and he even told his daughter that Liu Yuzhi had merely made an unintentional mistake.
Look at how he handled things. Others cure the symptoms but not the disease; he didn’t cure either and even added fuel to the fire.
Han Shouzhen hated Liu Yuzhi to death, and was angered and frustrated by her father’s protection of her. Liu Yuzhi also deeply resented Han Shouzhen because of Han Kuang’s secret punishment and the suffering her son endured.
Similar instances were numerous; Han Kuang, despite being especially confident, had never realized his low emotional intelligence. People had advised him briefly, but he always forgot soon after.
Indeed, frowning, Han Kuang said, "What’s so difficult about this? I’ve already handed over much of the Han Family’s connections to Shouxin. When the grandson grows up, it will be easy for Shouxin, acting as uncle, to pass it on to him, won’t it?"
Gu Xinseng shook his head, "Do you still remember Geng Jiang from the Fourth Brigade? You worried about his old injuries flaring up and unilaterally transferred him from the artillery brigade to a safer logistics team. How did he repay you?"
"Wasn’t it his betrayal and false accusations that resulted in your half-month imprisonment during the Cultural Revolution? Shouzhen was doing well in a civil position in the Military Department, on the verge of a promotion, so how did she end up being demoted to the Cultural Troupe? Shouyi had already graduated from university and was about to enter a research institute. What forced him to endure several painful years in Yunnan?" after all, though the Han Family had survived the Cultural Revolution, it wasn’t without cost.
Touched on a sore point, Han Kuang’s face turned ugly, "Don’t bring up that ungrateful Geng Jiang."
"How have you still not understood?" Gu Xinseng sighed, "Do you know why Geng Jiang originally wanted to stay in the artillery brigade?"
Han Kuang looked puzzled, "Wasn’t he initially part of the artillery brigade?"
"That’s correct, but he’d fallen in love with a female soldier there. They were about to commit to a relationship, but because of your transfer order, they had to part ways. Later, that female soldier even sacrificed herself in a battle."
"Put yourself in their shoes, replacing yourself and your sister for the two of them. Could you not hate, not resent? Could you simply let go because of a few small favors?"
"Was there such a thing?" Han Kuang looked stunned, "Why didn’t he tell me before?"
"How to tell? It wasn’t a secret; he probably thought you knew. Besides, with the order already issued, could you compromise your own authority for his personal feelings?" Gu Xinseng, drinking his now-cold tea, continued with a helpless face, "I’ve tried indirectly advising you to pay more attention to your subordinates’ personal lives before, but you always take it lightly, believing that as long as soldiers are physically fit and battle-ready, those personal feelings don’t matter."