Mei Yongfu finished speaking and reluctantly added, "My eldest sister is very wealthy, and her son also runs his own company, also very wealthy. In the past, my older sister often helped support our family." So the days in Mei Yongfu’s household were really quite good.
Yet, Du Jing didn’t fuss over so much. She had only just married Mei Yongfu, and their relationship and life together were not yet stable, when suddenly many relatives were thrown into the mix. Could life be smoothly managed in such a situation? For her, even a falling out would have been a relief, worst case scenario—they were relatives after all, it’s not like they could cut off contact entirely.
From the hospital bed, Du Jing tried to mediate, "Then just get in touch after a while. You also said your older sister cares a lot about you. Surely she wouldn’t just ignore you. Let’s just wait until her anger subsides, or when the child is born, we can take our son and apologize to her. Wouldn’t that solve the problem? When your older sister sees the child, could she really continue to blame you?"
Du Jing’s words made sense and upon hearing them, Mei Yongfu felt a weight lift off his chest.
However, while this side was at ease, Mei Yinan was not.
Once the group got home, they were too upset to eat—after all, this woman’s status was much higher than Jiang Xiumei’s—but Mei Yinan, out of curiosity, asked, "You three were right there at the scene, standing perfectly fine. Why did you move so far away?"
"Since ancient times, nothing good happens when there’s a pregnant woman near a quarrel. I’m not cursing her, but with so many people around, any slight accident would be hard to explain. Plus, my heart was beating so fast at that moment, that’s why I pulled Sister Tianhua to the side," Mei Mengzhen explained. "We were very careful when we moved; first, we shifted back, then took the opportunity to move to the side when she wasn’t looking. In short, moving far away was what mattered."
Then their move played its role. Du Jing only noticed them moving back and not to the side, so without a second glance, she directed all the blame onto those three behind her.
Mei Yifang, however, didn’t see it the same way, "This blame can’t just be pushed onto someone. It was obviously deliberate. That fall must have been intentional too."
Mei Yinan’s expression grew even worse, because Du Jing’s actions were certainly intentional. Furthermore, Du Jing’s tactics were much more refined than Jiang Xiumei’s. If she herself had to leave, what would happen to Mei Yifang? Without waiting for the children to speak, Mei Yinan herself said, "Qi Hua, Yifang, don’t stay here anymore. Just buy out your work years and leave. Yifang has two or three years left until retirement. Arrange a medical retirement through connections, spend a little more money. As for Qi Hua, just buy it out. Leave this place. If we go, what will these two families do to you?"
Mei Yinan spoke earnestly, "I’m serious. Find some connections—I’ll pay for it. Hurry up and sell the house. Tianyu, you also quickly find a place for your aunt, and move as soon as possible, really. Don’t worry about the job. Let Tianyu find you some work. Get everything done before September, and in October, we’ll all move together."
This was equivalent to uprooting the entire family and relocating, making it no small endeavor. Yet, looking at Du Jing’s behavior earlier in the day, if Mei Yinan wasn’t there, Mei Yifang wouldn’t necessarily be able to handle it. She glanced at Qi Hua, hoping he would have a suggestion. To her surprise, Qi Hua had no objections, "Fine, let’s move. We were already planning on heading over there anyway; it was only a matter of time."
Although Qi Hua also worked in Xincheng, his hometown wasn’t local to Xincheng; everyone had just settled there. So, as for leaving Xincheng, there wasn’t much to feel reluctant about.
"Let’s make inquiries this afternoon about selling the house, find out how much it’s worth, then see how much we’ll need for a down payment over there."
When it came to handling retirement matters, Mei Yongan had to be troubled, as he indeed knew a lot of people. After all, hadn’t he previously arranged a medical retirement for Hu Chunyu?
Mei Yongan wasn’t evasive, "Fine, I have today off. I’ll look for connections tomorrow and get it over with soon."
Qi Hua naturally also could only discuss the matter at his workplace tomorrow, but once that was settled and they left, they’d definitely need to find work, "Tianyu, what kind of work do you think people our age can do, security?"
Qi Hua was a minor leader in Xincheng and going to Jiangcheng to work as security might not suit him. It wasn’t a matter of physical ability but rather the mental transition, whether he could accept it.
Fan Tianyu thought for a moment and said, "Isn’t it like this, uncle, you still have so long before retirement; is taking a buyout really the best option? Why not use some connections and transfer your job instead?"
Transfer the job?
Of course, they knew that transferring a job would be great, but it was not a simple task. First, the necessary connections would be needed, followed by money—it was complicated no matter how you looked at it. Both spouses lacked in these resources, and Qi Yongwang even more so. Thus, everyone’s gaze naturally fell on Fan Tianyu, who had suggested it.
Fan Tianyu said, "The customers who come to Xiyuan are all pretty influential, some are quite... anyway, they all want to network with me. It should be possible for me to pull a few strings, right? I’ll make sure both the gifts and the money are delivered. It’s too wasteful for the uncle to handle it this way now, and for my aunt, getting medical retirement is actually okay."
With that said, everyone wasn’t sure how strong these connections actually were. Fan Hongwei said, "Why not give it a try? It’s certainly better than buying out your years. You won’t earn much as a security guard each month, and the hours are irregular—with early shifts and late ones. We’re not used to staying up all night; we may not be able to handle it. Just give it a shot, and if it really doesn’t work out, then forget it."
Qi Hua naturally agreed as well, "Alright, then we’ll have to trouble Tianyu."
Mei Yifang smiled with relief, "Whether it works out or not, I thank you in advance, Tianyu."
"There’s no need to be so formal. Aunt, you’re about to retire, and my mom’s stall is just right for three people to manage together. We’ll have two incomes every month and the pressure won’t be so great."
The decision made, it was well past lunchtime, and Mei Yinan had wanted to cook something at home, but unfortunately, there wasn’t much food available. In the end, they simply ordered takeout and had it, along with the cooking pot, delivered to their home.
The restaurant provided this service; as long as the order was large enough, they usually delivered. Once finished, the restaurant would collect the dishes, and all that needed to be done was to leave them at the door—no need to worry about any of that.
After ordering the food, Fan Tianyu turned to Mei Mengcheng, "Mengcheng, you stay here. We’ll need the car in the coming days to run errands. Once things are more or less settled, you can go back."
But Mei Mengcheng knew that Xiyuan needed deliveries, "What about the deliveries? It’s been several days, and you don’t know how to drive the delivery truck."
"Who says I can’t drive it? Don’t worry about that. Besides, you can only stay for a few days. Once the errands are run you still need to go back."
Mei Mengcheng agreed, and after they ate lunch, the group left together.