After hanging up the phone, he sat on the living room sofa with a stern face and said nothing.
It was well over half an hour before Duan Qingqing and Meng Chaojun finally returned home.
They had gone to the Duan Family for dinner tonight.
Actually, Meng Chaojun spent three or four days a week dining at Duan Qingqing’s parental home.
Upon entering, both of them saw Old Meng, sitting motionless, and exchanged a glance; Duan Qingqing revealed a somewhat timid expression and instinctively stepped back behind him.
Seeing his wife’s behavior, Meng Chaojun knew that she was worried about being scolded by her father again.
Old Meng didn’t like them always dining at the Duan residence, but the atmosphere at home was too serious when the three of them ate together. Duan Qingqing had been suffering from stomach pains for some time, and she initially kept the reason to herself. It wasn’t until one day at the Duan Family that he overheard her talking with her mother that he understood. Duan Qingqing was always tense during meals with her father, fearing being scolded for making noise while eating, eating too fast, or too slow; she didn’t dare reach for dishes in front of her father, and since her father ate quickly, she felt it was inappropriate to eat noticeably faster or too much slower than him.
Dining under such pressure had led to her stomach issues.
Meng Chaojun thought that this couldn’t go on, and coupled with the fact that Old Meng indeed always found fault during meals, he had started taking Duan Qingqing to her family’s home from time to time.
At least there, she could eat with ease.
Meng Chaojun felt that his father was too harsh on Duan Qingqing.
His authority had made many of his soldiers fear him; how much more for Duan Qingqing, a gentle woman?
"Dad, you haven’t rested?" He soothed Duan Qingqing with a pat on the shoulder and walked toward Old Meng.
Old Meng noticed the small gesture he had just made towards Duan Qingqing, and his chest tightened again.
This daughter-in-law always acted as if she was terrified of his abuse; what did he do to deserve that?
And his foolish son actually believed it to be true, thinking his daughter-in-law was terribly aggrieved.
He didn’t even know how to defend himself. Was he, an old man, expected to compete against his daughter-in-law’s tears?
Arguing with his daughter-in-law was something Old Meng truly found himself unable to do.
He harrumphed and said coldly, "Rest? How could I possibly sleep?"
Meng Chaojun replied somewhat helplessly, "What’s wrong now? Who has upset you again?"
"I want to ask you, when you said there was a good opportunity for Xinian, what exactly was it? It’s been nearly a year; hasn’t the mission ended yet?"
"Dad, didn’t I tell you before? It was a small-scale special training; a full year of closed training with no contact with the outside world. Though it sounds harsh, it’s very beneficial, and it’s not a bad thing for Xinian," Meng Chaojun explained.
"Not a bad thing? Why didn’t you tell me before you submitted his name? Were you afraid I would object?" Old Meng slammed the table and said angrily, "Xinian is very skilled and capable! He trains to the brink every day in the army; that Officer Yang Zhiqi, whenever he calls, he tells me to advise Xinian not to push himself too hard! And you, as his father, do you know that? Does he even need to participate in that so-called special closed training?"
Meng Chaojun said, "Dad, he is Supervisor Guard, and a Supervisor Guard should not be afraid of hardship, should contribute with the heart for the team and family’s stability, and must also aim to reach higher peaks! Xinian is still young, he needs to be tempered, what’s wrong with letting him make progress?"
"Fine! Then tell me, where did he go for this special training?"