CHAPTER 306: CHAPTER 301: PHOENIX MAN

This year, Liu Sanying was extremely happy, not only because her son brought back a wonderful girlfriend, but she also earned a substantial income.

The new year’s eve dinner was still prepared by Granny Liu, with Ye Qiu and Zhang Meng assisting her. The three of them cheerfully finished the reunion dinner and then went to the cemetery to offer lanterns to Ye Qiu’s father.

This is a local custom, which holds that since it’s very dark underground, everyone comes to offer lanterns on New Year’s Eve to let their deceased loved ones feel the warmth and brightness. Greeting for the new year waits until the morning of the first day, and that day is not for visiting relatives unless it’s to pay respects at the cemetery or to the homes of relatives and friends who had lost someone within the year, offering a stick of incense.

The festive ambiance in the countryside was richer than in the city, and Zhang Meng also gained a lot of new experiences following Ye Qiu.

On the second day of the new year, it was the time for women to take their husbands and children back to their parents’ home. Granny Liu’s parents had passed away years earlier, and she only had one younger brother. There had been unpleasant incidents over money with several sisters in the past, so Granny Liu had no reason to go back, especially since Ye Qiu’s elder sister, Ye Mei, who had long been married, would be visiting, so the family waited together at home."

Ye Qiu had mixed feelings about the impending meeting with her sister. In her past life, Zhang Meng’s tragedy was not without her sister’s interference.

Indeed, she contributed to his continued education over the years, but that was no excuse for her to coerce him, particularly since he had long repaid the money borrowed for his studies.

But in reality, it wasn’t Ye Qiu’s fault; the blame could only fall on Granny Liu, who favored sons over daughters. Seeing Ye Qiu’s better academic performance, she naturally gave up on wholeheartedly fostering her daughter.

So, when she was arranging match-making for Ye Mei early on, she always looked for families with considerably wealthy backgrounds. Later, when Ye Mei took a liking to Zhao Yang, Granny Liu seized the opportunity to ask for a considerable sum as a bride price, giving Ye Mei a dowry that included just a few quilts and some pots, kettles, dishes, and chopsticks, which resulted in many grievances for Ye Mei after getting married.

Ye Qiu initially was unaware of these matters. Later on, when he was registering for school, Ye Mei returned crying and scolded Ye Qiu harshly, accusing him of financing his education by selling his sister out and declaring she would never forgive him for it.

Prideful, Ye Qiu, upon hearing this, confirmed it with Granny Liu, and after she admitted it was true, he made her repay the remaining money to his sister. Regarding the already paid registration fee, Ye Qiu promised to repay it himself.

After graduating from high school, Ye Qiu took up a summer job for two and a half months, and after clearing his sister’s debt, he barely had enough left for his tuition fee, which is one of the reasons why he scrimped and saved during his first two years of university, even refraining from buying meat dishes.

In that locality, it was not uncommon for families to withhold their daughter’s bride price, and Granny Liu’s actions at worst would have just drawn a few comments from others, especially since eventually all the money was repaid to Ye Mei.

However, Ye Mei always felt that without the money from her marriage, Ye Qiu would never have attended such a good school and would certainly not have become a chief physician earning so much money.

She was convinced that Ye Qiu owed her, thus, after she and her husband started a business as medical suppliers, she coerced Ye Qiu into ensuring that Changfeng Hospital bought her products. Otherwise, she would accuse him of being ungrateful and expose his true character to everyone.

At that time, Ye Qiu had just begun working at the hospital and indeed received many favors due to Zhang Changfeng’s presence, but naturally, there were also whispers and gossip, and he, being particularly proud and conscious of his dignity, naturally didn’t want his image tarnished.

Thus, he compromised, allowing Ye Mei and her husband to become suppliers for Changfeng Hospital. But what was the result? Their prices were not only higher than others’, but their quality was also problematic, which later led to a significant incident. Had it not been for spending a great deal of money and leveraging his father-in-law Zhang Changfeng’s old connections, the issue might not have been resolved.

So, he will no longer indulge Ye Mei in this life, and he owes her nothing.

"Mom, we’re back." Ye Mei got out of the car, holding her son Zhao Zihao, while her husband Zhao Yang was carrying a Wangwang gift package, and nothing else.

She herself was wearing a purple-red cashmere coat, also holding a big red handbag, with hair and nails carefully done, looking every bit the wealthy woman.

Zhao Yang’s hair was also slick and shiny, matching his leather shoes, frowning all the time since he got out of the car, walking cautiously as if afraid of dirtying anything.

"This road is really difficult to navigate. I just switched to this new car, and it nearly scraped the bottom. But the high price comes with its benefits; it has a high chassis and it doesn’t tilt, and the seats are genuine leather, very comfortable to sit in." Zhao Yang bragged proudly, looking at Ye Qiu with a somewhat haughty look, "Little bro, how do you like my car? Guess how much I spent on it?"

On the other side, Ye Mei hadn’t even entered the house and started complaining already: "Mom, couldn’t you tidy up the front of the house a bit? It smells out here." Saying so, she covered her nose, acting as if she was a noble visiting the countryside for the first time.

"Brother-in-law, from what you said about your car, it must have cost a million or two." Ye Qiu deliberately said, "Brother-in-law, you really have the ability."

Zhao Yang smirked upon hearing this, but didn’t deny: "This is a Japanese brand, the quality is really good. Little bro, work hard and hope that when brother-in-law changes cars, I can sell this one to you for a cheaper price."

Zhang Meng was speechless listening to all this on the side. Were they taking advantage of their ignorance about cars? This Honda model in its top configuration costs only about three hundred thousand, where did he get the audacity to admit he bought it for one to two million? And he wants Ye Qiu to buy his second-hand car?

Ye Qiu and the aunt were quite nice, but it turned out his sister and brother-in-law were so bizarre.

"Mom, this is something Zhao Yang respectfully offers you, keep it safe." Ye Mei took the Wangwang gift package from Zhao Yang and stuffed it into Granny Liu’s arms, proudly declaring, "See how well your son-in-law treats you, lucky for him he didn’t mind the past incidents."

If Zhang Meng hadn’t come before, and Granny Liu hadn’t made a good bit of money recently, she might have been pleased to receive the big gift package bought by Zhao Yang; but now with the things Zhang Meng bought for comparison, naturally, she didn’t care much for this gift package worth just over twenty dollars.

Moreover, these words from her daughter made her uncomfortable inside, although she kept the dowry money unfairly in the beginning, didn’t she return it eventually? Is it meaningful to mention this every year?

Granny Liu, lacking enthusiasm, put it on the table, but soon her grandson started crying and demanding snacks, she couldn’t just watch her grandson cry, so she opened the gift package and gave Zhao Zihao some snacks.

"Oh, mom, is this the sister-in-law you mentioned on the phone? She really looks pretty, and her clothes are nice too, what brand is it? How much did it cost?"

"Bought it at some mall, forgot how much it was." Zhang Meng smiled politely.

"The quality seems good, it must have cost over a thousand!" Ye Mei touched Zhang Meng’s down jacket and smacked her lips.