Chapter 197 The First Branch of Tang Family
At the weekend, the whole family plans to go to her eldest uncle"s house. Yan Hua thought that she had to get up early. But Bai Susu tells her.
“Let"s go there in the afternoon. It will be just in time to dinner. So we can chat at the dinner table, and come back soon after dinner.”
Tang Cao smiles knowingly, “Would you like to go in the early morning and stay there all day? Then I"ll be crazy.”
“Hua.” Chang Pei"e takes her hands and says, “Everyone says that your uncle loves you, and our second male branch runs wild in Yanjing because the first branch supports us. Today, you should use your eyes to feel it yourself.”
Yan Hua is stunned, then she nods, “I"ll. Grandma.”
So the family moves slowly and doesn"t leave until it is more than 4 o"clock in the afternoon. They pa.s.s through the most part of Yanjing City. When they get to the house of Yan Hua"s eldest uncle, it"s more than 6 o"clock, which is just in time to dinner.
A woman hears the sound of the car then runs out to shout, “How late you come!” She wears a purple cashmere cardigan, which seems that she is in her 50s. She says, “We"ve waited for you all afternoon.”
Huo Liyun is Tang Ming"s wife. Yan Hua thinks about the reference material. She knows the woman is her aunt, her uncle"s second wife. Tang Ming"s original wife hemorrhaged badly when her second child was born. At that time, Tang Ming was still a department-level cadre. The hospital was not as humanized as it is today. So she died directly on the obstetric table.
In order to take care of two young children, Tang Ming married Huo Liyun in the second year.
Yan Hua steps forward and greets her, “Aunt!”
Tang Cao also says h.e.l.lo to her. Huo Liyun intimately takes Yan Hua"s hand to look around her up and down. Then she says, “Ah, it"s like a dream! It"s great to be alive!” Her eyes turn red. Then she looks at Chang Pei"e and says, “Aunt, you"re so wayward. Now you finally want to come back!”
Chang Pei"e smiles, “That"s right. My granddaughter is back. Can I not come back?”
“This is Hua"s child?” Huo Liyun sees Gungun hidden in the arms of Tang Cao.
Gungun is held by Tang Cao, and looks at Yan Hua a little nervously.
“Gungun, call Grandma!”
Gungun immediately calls her Grandma. Then he buries his head in the neck of Tang Cao and keeps silence.
“How beautiful Gungun is!” Huo Liyun praises him.
Tang Yao and Bai Susu stand at the end. They also greet her, “Sister Liyun!”
Huo Liyun pa.s.sionately lets everyone come in and says, “Let"s come in quickly. It"s just in time to eat!”
Tang Ming"s house is naturally in the fabled compound. His house is located in the best place and also the largest building there. A deputy building is next to it. Several security guards live there, and listen to the command at any time.
Yan Hua enters into the sitting room. It is about the same size as her home, but its decoration is Chinese style and very luxurious. All the furniture is made from mahogany. All the green plants are almost orchids, and the price of every pot equals to a flat.
“Uncle!” Yan Hua calls. She sees Tang Ming at the first glance.
Sitting in the middle of room, a middle-aged man, who wears a blue cotton Tang suit and a gold-rimmed gla.s.ses, is looking at Yan Hua.
Some people are sitting around him. Yan Hua has already remembered the appearance of these people in her heart. There are two couples on the left. One is Tang Yu, the oldest son of Tang Ming, and his wife Yang Yanqing. The other one is Tang Jie, Tang Ming"s second son, and his wife Zhao Mei.
The younger one on the right is Tang Rui, the third son, and his fiancée, Hua Yating. On the far side are Tang Ming"s daughters. They are Tang Yixiao, his fourth child, and Tang Ziyan, his fifth child.
“It"s good to come back!” Tang Ming reaches out and says, “Come here quickly. Let me see you clearly.”
Yan Hua walks forward and sits down next to Tang Ming. Next to her is Yang Yanqing, the wife of Tang Ming"s oldest son. Yang Yanqing smiles, “Hua is more beautiful now than a few years ago. Even if I"m a woman, I almost fall in love with your good appearance!”
“Bah!” People hear a mocking voice that is neither loud nor low. The mocking voice still says, “Even if you look good, you are still an incompetent. I"ll feel ashamed to tell others that you don"t graduate from the college.”
“Tang Rui!” Tang Ming stops him angrily, “How dare you say it?”
Tang Rui shakes his head casually and says, “Dad, I"m telling the truth. Everyone says that.”
“Your mouth is like a…” Tang Cao says. He wants to say Tang Rui"s mouth is like an a.s.s. But his father covers his mouth as soon as possible. Tang Cao casts a glance at his father and complains, “Dad, are you going to suffocate me?”
Tang Yao stares back and blames him, “Don"t behave casually. Your uncle, your brothers and your sisters-in-law are here! They will make a fair judgment for Hua. What are you worried about?” Then he smiles to Tang Ming, “Am I right? My eldest brother?”
“… Yes.” Tang Ming says. His eyes darken for a while and his face becomes cold. He reprimands Tang Rui, “When you were a child, you liked bullying Hua. I thought it was not important that you fight with your cousin because you were young. But how could you say that just now?”
“Hus is two years younger than you. She is your younger sister. How can you treat her like that?” Tang Ming suddenly slams the table and says, “Hua just comes back. It"s not easy for her to live outside these years. But when she gets home, she has to face that her loved ones create difficulties to her. You… you should go out of here quickly. Don"t let me see you.”
“Dad!” Tang Rui stands up and shouts, “Every time I quarrel with her, you will blame me. Who is your kid?”
Tang Ming"s face becomes black. Before he talks, Huo Liyun quickly says, “What happened to you? How could you be so rude in front of Grandma? And your father is right. We are a family. You can"t bully Hua in the future.”
Chang Pei"e sees that everyone"s eyes are on her. She smiles to Huo Liyun slightly and says, “Just let the juniors do what they want to do. We, as the seniors, can"t beat them or scolds them. Just turn a blind eye to them.”
“Aunt, don"t say like that.” Tang Ming cast a stern glance at Tang Rui and says, “I will throw him to the army for a few months.”
“Okay. Shall we go to the table to eat? The dishes are all prepared!” Huo Liyun changes the topic. Then everyone moves to the dining room.
Yan Hua helps Tang Ming to the dining room. Tang Ming asks her in a low voice about how she has been through these years. They don"t finish talking after sitting on the chairs. Huo Liyun doesn"t care about that. She just asks house maid to serve the dishes. Others is accustomed that Tang Ming makes a pet of Yan Hua. Everyone just picks up their own bowls and chopsticks to eat.
During the dinner time, only Tang Ming and Yan Hua chat happily, at least superficially. Tang Rui always looks up. Hua Yating sometimes glares at Yan Hua in secret.
Gungun isn"t lively all night. This is might because he is in a strange place and many strangers are here. “Gungun, do you want to eat more?” Bai Susu asks him. She takes care of him carefully and talks to him in a low voice from time to time.
The families of Tang Ming"s oldest son and his second son don"t say anything. But they keep listening to the talk and also say few words at the ending. As they are finishing the meal, Tang Yu"s son wakes up and pounds down the stairs.
“Where is my younger brother? Don"t you say a younger brother will come today?” The little boy shouts loudly.
Yan Hua looks at him and smiles, “In my impression, Kai is still a two-year-old baby. He grows up so quickly in a blink of an eye.”
“Kai, call your auntie!” Yang Yanqing pulls his son over and says, “That is your younger brother.”
Kai looks at Yan Hua and nods, “Auntie, you are our family because you look so good.”
“Hah, hah!” Tang Cao teases him, “Kai, you should also look at your family. Your father and your mother look normal. I tell you, maybe you are…”
Tang Yao covers his mouth and says to Kai, “Kai, ignore your Uncle Tang Cao. He always be nonsense!”
Kai doesn"t care about them at all. He puts all his eyes on Gungun.
He asks, “Is this younger brother from Auntie"s family?”
Bai Susu wipes Gungun"s hands and says to Kai, “Yes. Your younger brother is called Gungun.” Then she says to Gungun, “Gungun, this is your elder brother Kai.”
Gungun calls Kai obediently, “Brother Kai.”
Kai is so happy. He is the only little child in Tang Family. Yang Yanqing has several nephews in her family, but they are all older than Kai. It"s the first time of him to be elder brother. He immediately grabs Gungun"s hand and doesn"t let him go.
“Come on! I will take you to play.”
Gungun looks at Yan Hua again. Yan Hua nods, “Go! Don"t run quickly.”
Then everyone moves to the sitting room. Tang Ming is planning to play chess with Tang Yao. But Chang Pei"e stops him.
“Ming, I have something to talk to you.”
Seeing her look is not like usual, Tang Ming also says seriously, “Aunt, please tell me.”
“We"d better let Hua talk about it. After all, she is the victim.”
On the other side, Tang Rui has already taken the car key and prepares to go out. Hua Yating wants to go with him. But Tang Rui refuses her. The two people begin to dispute and pulls with each other.
“You"d better sit down and listen.” Yan Hua says. Her gaze pa.s.sed through Tang Rui. Tang Rui is stunned immediately. Then his expression becomes ferocious.
“Sit down!” Tang Ming opens his mouth, and no one dares to move.
Yan Hua says the a.n.a.lysis of her family and Lang Ruoxian. In a short, someone behind the scene has designed her disappearance five years ago. She doesn"t know if this person aims at her or the Tang Family.
“If they aim at me, it"ll be easy to deal with.” Yan Hua looks sideways unconsciously and sees Tang Ziyan hurriedly turning her eyes back. Yan Hua doesn"t care about it and continues to say, “If they aims at me, they must have some affairs with us or has a grudge against my parents and my younger brother. But if they aim at the entire Tang Family…”
Tang Ming"s expression turns grave. If they aim at Tang Family, it may be upgraded to a political conspiracy, even the country.
“How could it be possible?” Tang Rui ridicules her again, “If they are against the Tang Family, why don"t they take any actions these years? If you don"t run back yourself, everyone thought you were dead. Nothing would happen at all.”
Bai Susu"s eyelids move a little. She raises her head and shows her smile to say, “In our family"s view, they might aim at Hua simply. But we also think about Goujian, the king in ancient time, who endured hardships for more than 10 years to accomplish his ambition. So how can"t these guys who want to destroy us hide 5 years?”
“Brother, don"t forget that the election held every five years will arrive soon. According to the rules that have been in place, you should stay the course for two terms. But in case something unexpected happens…”
Bai Susu"s expression becomes more and more serious as she says, “Brother, the whole Tang Family is on the same boat. We are bound together for good or ill. I dare not take risks. So I have to say that and let you think about it.”
The atmosphere becomes quiet suddenly. Even Tang Rui, who always likes to find faults with them, does not say anything.
“Investigate it.” After a long time, Tang Ming says with his teacup slammed on the coffee table. “Let"s check one by one from the group of relatives who went with us five years ago.”
The faces of Tang Ming"s two daughters-in-law are pale suddenly. Most of the relatives who went there are their family members…
“Don"t be scared.” Huo Liyun says quickly, “Your dad means that it is necessary to check all the people who went there last time. We may have no problem ourselves. But we can"t make sure that the friends around us or people we know have no problem.”
“You are right!” Bai Susu nods, “They can play a sly trick in short time. They definitely know us well.”
Tang Rui stands up quickly and asks, “Aunt, do you mean that there is a mole in our Tang Family?