Chapter 537: Chapter 520 Lu 2’s Sister-in-law Apologizes (1)
A gust of cold wind whooshed by as soon as he got off the plane, stinging his face painfully. Luckily, the car came quickly, and once inside, he no longer felt cold.
Both Lu Jiaxin’s and Gu Xiuxiu’s houses had turned on the heating. Returning to Shichahai, a wave of warmth enveloped him as he entered, and Lu Jiaxin took off his thick military coat.
Sitting in a chair, Lu Jiaxin touched his still somewhat cold face and said, “In this cold weather, there’s no going anywhere, just stay home for a couple of days.”
Miao Na chuckled and said, “Other people might have nowhere to go, but doesn’t your dad still need visiting?”
That was an easy problem to solve, Lu Jiaxin said, “We’ll pick him up and take the opportunity to invite my elder brother and sister-in-law over for dinner. It’s always been so rushed, we haven’t formally invited them to come over for a meal.”
Miao Na asked curiously, “So, you don’t hate him anymore?”
Lu Jiaxin fell silent for a moment, then said, “We have an old saying here, ‘Don’t act the wiseacre if you’re neither deaf nor mute.’ It means that you should play dumb when it’s time to play dumb, and be shrewd when it’s time to be shrewd. He has only one daughter, me, and he has given me all his property. If I continued to ignore him as before, people would say I’m heartless.”
Miao Na didn’t believe her, “Boss, you’re not someone who’s afraid of gossip. Even if you’re accused of being unfilial, you wouldn’t care.”
Lu Jiaxin glanced at her and said with a smile, “Of course, there are other considerations.”
Why are so many people not good to their daughters? That’s because they think their sons will take care of them in their old age, while daughters, once married off, are like water splashed out–unreliable. If she inherited the family wealth and still didn’t take care of Lu Hongjun, not only would she be called heartless, but it would further convince people that daughters are unreliable. Believing that daughters are unreliable and won’t pay back, they wouldn’t be willing to nurture them.
Miao Na didn’t ask further.
After resting for a bit, Lu Jiaxin called Lu Jiaguang, telling him she was back, “Aunt has been making a fuss about returning. She even climbed down from the second-floor window.” “Yes, she sprained her ankle, no danger, just needs to suffer for a bit.”
Lu Jiaguang felt that was too much trouble, “Jiaxin, you have to go to school, and later you’ll have to work; running back and forth can delay your studies and work.”
Lu Jiaxin said with a smile, “It’s okay, I won’t be going back to Hong Kong this time. Her illness is incurable; it’s the same no matter where she is. The doctors also said that keeping her in a happy mood is enough.”
Lu Jiaguang felt a mix of pity and blame toward Lu Hongjun. If he hadn’t been so blinded by lust back then, Jiaxin wouldn’t have gone to Hong Kong, nor would she be burdened with such a big responsibility now.
Lu Jiaxin said, “Big brother, after renovating my house, I haven’t invited you for a meal yet. Come over for dinner at my place tomorrow night.”
Lu Jiaxin took the initiative to mention Lu Hongjun, “After school tomorrow, I’ll have the driver pick up my dad, then you can all come over together!”
She felt she had been foolish before. Why always run to Chaoyang District when she could simply have them picked up, which was less tiring!
Lu Jiaguang immediately said, “Let Jiajie bring the two kids by car then! Your sister-in-law, Zhenzhen, and I can take the bus.”
Lu Jiaxin did not want to see Lu Jiajie; her patience had worn thin, “I repeatedly warned him not to go to the border for investment dividends, as it was too dangerous. He treated my words like a breeze by his ear.”
“To find her, it took over two hundred thousand greenbacks just asking around, and that’s the least of it. Ah Zhan also incurred debts of favor to his classmate because of this. Big brother, my patience is not that good.”
Lu Jiaguang sighed and said, “He has stated that he will only do business domestically and won’t go abroad anymore. Even for the sake of the two kids, he wouldn’t dare.”
Lu Jiaxin didn’t want to hear such equivocal words, “Big brother, I don’t trust him anymore. Time and time again, he ends up dismissing his own words as if they were farts.”
“I told him, this is the last time. If anything happens in the future, I won’t care. Not just him–any family member who causes trouble, I won’t involve myself.”
“I have a ton of my own things to deal with, super busy every day, no time or energy to clean up after them. Big brother, I hope you relay my words to them.”
Lu Jiaguang had nothing more to say. Tracking someone from Moscow to the border, and then from the border to Ulaanbaatar–if it wasn’t for the sake of sibling affection, why would anyone be so persistent? The fault lies with Jiajie, who got elated with a bit of money and wouldn’t listen to advice. Hopefully, this time he really learns his lesson, for no one would save him if there’s a next time.
In the evening, Second Sister-in-law Lu came over.
When it was clear that only Second Sister-in-law Lu had come, Lu Jiaxin said, “Please invite her in!”
If Lu Jiazong himself had come over, she would not have seen him. The matter of the adoption had already made her very dissatisfied; it was unexpected that Tang Sufen would stir the pot with a few words and he would take it to heart. She used to think he was honest and kind-hearted, but now it seemed he was just cloaking his true nature.
When Lu Jiaxin saw Second Sister-in-law Lu, she got up to greet her, inviting her to sit and asking Miao Na to pour tea.
Second Sister-in-law Lu thought she would be barred at the door and didn’t expect to be welcomed in immediately with tea to drink, making her face burn with embarrassment, “Jiaxin, I’m sorry, the adoption thing was wrong of your second brother and me; I’ve been wanting to apologize to you.”
Lu Jiaxin said, “Shanzi told me you didn’t take a stand in this, and I knew you disagreed, believing it wouldn’t come to fruition. But second sister-in-law, you should have communicated with us over such a significant matter.”
She held no anger towards Second Sister-in-law Lu; after all, spouses are one. It would not have been possible to go to dinner last time and simply turn Lu Jiazong away at the door. Besides, that was her elder brother’s house, and she didn’t have the right to do that.
Second Sister-in-law Lu explained, “Your big sister-in-law scolded me for that too, indeed I hadn’t considered thoroughly. Jiaxin, please forgive me this time!”
Lu Jiaxin said, “If I were truly angry, I wouldn’t have let you in today. Second sister-in-law, you should have told us from the start, there wouldn’t have been any follow-up issues then.”
With a wry smile, Second Sister-in-law Lu answered, “I thought you were so busy, I didn’t want to bother you with these vexing family matters. Sigh, you have no idea how shameless the Peng Family can be. Lu Yun went back, and as our parents were arranging a new marriage for him, those people from the Peng Family actually spread rumors he couldn’t have children.”
She didn’t bring up Lu Yun’s philandering outside because that wouldn’t exactly be slandering him, but the rumor that he was infertile was disgusting.
“Did Big Uncle and Big Aunt just let them spread those rumors?”
Second Sister-in-law Lu replied, “Not at all. Our mother shouted outside the Peng Family’s door for over an hour, and even brought up the matter of us compensating them with ten thousand yuan.”
With any other family, there might be concerns about thieves, but since Jiaxin had helped so many, everyone knew their family had money. And about thieves–if anyone dared to target the Lu Family, the villagers would beat the thief to death upon capture.
Lu Jiaxin could only say, Big Aunt was formidable; but this also meant the two families had completely fallen out. Nevertheless, that was good; there’s no need to leave room for a family like the Pengs.