Su Aihong patted Chu Zhenhua’s hand, "It’s been hard on you. If it weren’t for Chaohu’s duty, you two would probably be married by now."
Chu Zhenhua blushed and said, "Please don’t say that. Chaohu is a soldier, and his duty to the country comes first. I understand, and neither my second uncle nor my second aunt would criticize him for it."
It was agreed that the engagement would be on the sixteenth of the twelfth lunar month. By then, the Han family would go directly to Chu Zhenhua’s second uncle’s house for the ceremony.
After Han Chaoxu and Chu Zhenhua’s matter was settled, everyone turned to Sun Zhenling.
This time, Sun Zhenling also sorted things out, "His name is Yuan Yikai. After his biological father died of illness, his mother remarried twice. He was left at the Yuan Family, spending three years with his grandparents.
When he reached school age, the other children in the family all went to school, but he couldn’t. After a few disputes, even his grandparents thought he was troublesome and decreased his meals compared to usual, saying he was ungrateful.
Out of resentment, he ran out of the town. That made the Yuan Family anxious. When they couldn’t find him in his usual places, they had to search at several aunts’ homes.
At that time, his aunt had just lost a baby due to an accident with her sister-in-law’s son. The doctor said that under her circumstances, it would be difficult to have children in the future. Upon learning of her nephew’s situation, she considered adopting Yuan Yikai.
The process went quite smoothly. The Yuan Family didn’t want another mouth to feed, so since someone was willing to take over, they promptly signed the agreement.
It was agreed that after adopting Yuan Yikai, he couldn’t change his name, as he was his father’s only son. Apart from this, he would have no further ties with the Yuan Family.
Afterwards, Yuan Yikai went to live with his aunt Wang Xiaodan. His uncle Zhang Hongbing was a good man. Feeling guilty that because of his nephew, his wife lost the chance to be a mother, he treated Yuan Yikai really well.
After Yuan Yikai graduated high school, he joined the army. If it wasn’t for his uncle’s illness, he might not have chosen to retire.
However, when Zhang Hongbing fell ill, his job position became vacant. Initially, his intention was undoubtedly for Yuan Yikai to take over.
But since it was a serious matter, the Zhang family had a different idea. They felt that since Yuan Yikai hadn’t changed his surname, he wasn’t really one of them, so the job should not be given to him.
Yuan Yikai, being ambitious, didn’t want the job to make his uncle uncomfortable, so he resolutely passed the exams and started working at a brewery.
The Zhang family, hoping to get the job back for Zhang Hongbing, constantly bothered him, making it impossible for him to rest peacefully. Considering how much his illness had cost the family, he discreetly found someone to sell the job.
That stirred up a hornet’s nest, and the Zhang family accused Zhang Hongbing of being shallow and not understanding the ways of the world, saying they wouldn’t lend a hand in the future.
They talked as if they had been so helpful, but since he got sick, his siblings only visited at the beginning. Afterwards, they barely dropped by, even though they lived in the same courtyard.
He had already felt cold-hearted.
Later, when the money from selling the job was nearly depleted by his medical expenses, his siblings became even more wary, afraid they would come by to borrow money.
Not too many months ago, Yuan Yikai’s uncle ultimately couldn’t make it.
Now the Zhang family even wanted to drive Yuan Yikai and his aunt away to seize the part of the house allocated to them.
To achieve their goal, they secretly contacted the Yuan Family, telling them that Yuan Yikai now had a job, trying to instigate them to reclaim him to accomplish their objective.
Yuan Yikai didn’t want to involve Sun Zhenling, so he planned to resolve everything before visiting the Sun Family. But unexpectedly, before he could settle things, he was caught red-handed by his future in-laws.
After hearing Sun Zhenling’s words, everyone was actually reluctant about this marriage. The reality was that Yuan Yikai’s family was too complicated. If he couldn’t handle it well, he would not only face entanglements from the Yuan Family but might also have to deal with demands from the Zhang family. The biggest concern was his biological mother; if she ever found her way back into his life, how could they manage?
For a moment, the room fell silent.