Chapter 4: Happiness
Afterwards, Mo Shaoqing found a flower shop that discovered a premium flower shop that was inharmonious with the surroundings. If this was in the years 201x, then this was really common, but this was more than ten years ago, so it is very rare. As expected, its business isn’t doing very well and the shop was deserted.
The shop owner was a young girl who was dressed beautifully. She was watching a TV show on her chair. It did not look like she opened the store to make money, and just something she opened to play with.
Mo Shaoqing explained his purposes for coming. The owner carefully observed the plants and said: “Wow! These roses looks really well-cared for. Little guy, how much do you sell this? I want to buy!”
“Really? Thank you, jiejie.” Mo Shaoqing didn’t expect for it to go so smoothly. He quickly gave an affordable price.
“Aiya, this little guy is really sweet and good looking when he smiles.” Then, Mo Shaoqing’s cheeks were pinched.
“If you are interested, I still have other plants.” Mo Shaoqing continued to sell.
“Such as?” The owner looked very interested.
“Some green plants, such as the spider plant, and other flowers, like the Chinese rose,” Forgive him for not saying anything else. After all, those are the only ones that he planted.
“Ah… I mainly need flowers, such as roses, lilies, carnations and the like. Oh, by the way, my surname is Wu. You can call me Wu-jie.” After that, she brought out some paper, and wrote her name, address, and contact number. “Those grown in small pots are fine.” Wu-jie added.
Mo Shaoqing calling her Wu-jie made them closer. He knows that this means that he reached a long-term agreement with her. He can feel his future wallet’s bulging already.
He is now determined to start making money from childhood, wait until after graduating from college then open a shop of his own, become his own boss and live happily. As for what to do, he hadn’t thought about it yet but this did not hinder his life plan.
Afterwards, he meticulously chose several small plants to give to Mother Mo. He then bought some flower and vegetable seeds for his s.p.a.ce, to test the waters. The money he earned from selling the plants today is almost finished and it seems that he is still a long way from realizing his dreams!
Everything went smoothly.
After returning home from school one day, he found that the atmosphere at home was very strange. The Mo family’s husband and wife, and Mo-gege’s faces are filled with happy expressions, with Li Lier and an unknown couple on the side. Mo Shaoqing guessed the intention of the dinner.
“Shaoqing, quickly come to your brother.” Mo Shaohong beckoned, “Are you thirsty, or hungry? Dinner will be served in a moment.”
Mo Shaoqing looked at him with a hint of laughter in his eyes and quipped, “Gege, are you getting married?”
“Yeah, but you should not feel unhappy. Even if you get a nephew, you are still your gege’s favorite younger brother.” Mo Shaohong consoled his younger brother who just recently started p.u.b.erty, fearing that he wouldn’t be happy.
Mo Shaoqing, who worked hard for 30 years, is obviously not a child, nor a little schoolboy who will get jealous or make it difficult for them. His brother is getting married, it is only natural for him to feel very happy. Li Lier is also very caring towards his brother, and very attentive to his parents. The two of them will also be together for a lifetime, and its their marriage. Even if he is his brother, he won’t have an opinion in this matter.
As expected, the adults were discussing the details of the wedding on the table, but he didn’t understand a single thing. Who told him to be an unmarried single dog for three decades, ah! He believed that their parents will arrange only the best for them, he is more worried about what happened to the seeds he planted over the last two days.
Regarding the bride price, the Mo family’s husband and wife had their own plans. Although their occupations were pretty good, they do not have much savings. They also had to plan for the future, it is important to leave a bit for their younger son, so Mo Shaoqing’s bride price can only be around 10,000 RMB. In the end, they decided to give 9,999 RMB. In addition, they added another 20,000 RMB for buying jewelry and furniture.
[T/N: They did this because 9 (九 －jiǔ) is a h.o.m.onym for forever (久－ jiǔ) in Chinese.]
This surprised the Li family. They thought that since the Mo family’s cirmustances were good, then they were going to give them 400 to 500,000 RMB, but they just gave them 10,000 RMB so Mother Li was dissatisfied. But Li Lier wanted to marry Mo Shaohong, such an excellent person, you definitely would not want to miss, so she gnashed her teeth and agreed.
Their wedding was held on National Day. Although it was a done all of a sudden, there was a lot of everything. At this time, not many wedding photos were taken abroad, but the bride’s side demanded for it, so the Mo family paid for their trip abroad to shoot their wedding photos. The largest photo was arranged to be at the front of the hotel. Their hotel was also the best in the region.
[T/N: It is a Chinese tradition for couples to marry on festivals because… good luck…?]
This was the first wedding Mo Shaoqing attended in this world.
Simple makeup, simple dresses and suits, but this could not conceal the merry smiles of the pair. I hope my gege will be happy for the rest of his life, Mo Shaoqing wished silently.
In an instant, half a year had pa.s.sed by. Mo Shaoqing had truly integrated to the family, and had learnt the knowledge he studied in his past life, he even had the chance to study the piano he had wanted to learn before.
Elder brother is now married, and is preparing for a child. Soon he will have nephews and nieces, truly this life is getting more and more satisfying.
However, he did not expect that the following incidents that was going to happen will change his family’s current situation.
Recently, Mother Mo was unhappy because Li Lier’s belly hasn’t moved yet. The neighbor next door kept on making thoughtless remarks in front of her, making Mother Mo feel very agitated.
[T/N: making thoughtless remarks – to criticize or gossip]
In Y City, people always marry and have children as early as possible, commonly at the first year of marriage. On the second year, they already celebrate a baby’s one-month-old birthday, but even after a year, their daughter-in-law’s belly still hasn’t moved. Mother Mo wasn’t an unreasonable mother-in-law, but her own in-laws were very anxious.
Father Mo did not take it to heart and thought about it. He thought that it was not a pressing matter and persuaded his wife about it. The two of them still goes to work and it doesn’t matter when they get to hold their grandson. Although Mother Mo understands this, she is afraid that there is something wrong with her daughter-in-law and no one knows about it. When they got married, the Mo couple did not say anything, but now they aren’t getting any younger and it is important for them to have a child. Even Li Lier considerately said that they will surely have children early, and everyone from Mo family were appeased by that.
On the other hand, Li Lier was anxious. She originally had an irregular menstrual cycle, and Mo Shaoqing was busy with work. He wanted to take advantage of his youth to be promoted so he always go on business trips, or was always working overtime. When he returns, he immediately goes to sleep and pestering him is no good.
In the evening, Mother Mo carefully boiled a pot of soup and made it clear that Li Lier must drink everything. Li Lier’s heart felt sour. Mo Shaoqing also felt it was too much, “Mom, this child is feeling really anxious, I can’t even think of how sister-in-law is feeling, ah! Dage over there….”
“Aiya, this kid must know a lot, ah!” The Mo family’s customs compared to others are more open, so Mother Mo simply ridiculed him a few times and swatted his head. Mo Shaoqing let her have his way awkwardly. After all, he was a grown man.
“Okay, okay, I have good news for everyone.” Father Mo waited for the noise to stop before starting to talk, “Ke ke―this place is going to be demolished!”
This time, everyone focused on Father Mo, clearly surprised. Father Mo elaborated: “The situation is like this―Actually ah, because the city is continuously expanding, it is necessary to build a new high-cla.s.s district, but there is no open s.p.a.ce for it. As soon as they saw our old district, they fell for it.”
“This is what I want to say, our district has more than ten years of history, it deserves to be reconstructed, and the recently built houses in the suburbs are beautiful.” Mother Mo agreed with him.
Li Lier listened to the conversation and can’t help but ponder about it. She felt that if she had a child at home, then she wouldn’t stretch it and turn away. If she could move out and live as a family of three, then she would. She really does not want to live under her mother-in-law’s eyes. This demolition can distract everyone’s attention, so she asked hesitantly: “How will they compensate us, ah?”
Mo father carefully thought to return: “Two sets, there is a garage, then a demolition subsidy.”
Li Lier listened with delight, two houses, surely one is for her and Mo Shaoqing, after all, they are now considered a small household.
However, Mother and Father Mo did not think that way, they first thought of their two sons, they certainly need a house then they can get married. Their oldest son and daughter-in-law worked in the city, while the units given to them are in the suburbs, it is not very convenient. The couple decided to discuss this carefully at dinner.
The next day, Mother and Father Mo went to ask for the details of the building’s demolition. When night fell, the couple went home, filled with joy. Mother and Father Mo discussed with each other first before going to the table to announce the arrangements concerning the demolition.
“Today, we talked about the demolition with Old Wu. When it comes to this, ah you need to have good connections. He leaked some details regarding the new buildings. We could actually choose to get three units, but to get subsidies, your mother and I have made some plans. Let me tell you two about it. We fixed the two units. This is the floor plan, both of you take a look. If you don’t like something then it’s possible to change it.” Thanks to his past life, Mo Shaoqing knows a little bit regarding houses, while both Mo Shaohong and Li Lier does not understand a word.
“I think it’s okay! Mom and dad, what you have decided is fine.” Mo Shaohong said while drinking soup. Li Lier wanted to inspect it, but seeing her husband’s not in the least concerned appearance, she was forced to let go of it, and grumbled in her heart.
“I specifically chose smaller units so that the remaining can be turned into demolition subsidy. A 120 square metre unit at j.a.panese Rose Park, with three rooms and two halls, and a 90 square metre unit at Donghu District, it is also has three rooms and two halls but the rooms are smaller. This way, we can get over 200,000 RMB of demolition subsidy.”
Father Mo continued: “I think that since you and your wife works in the city, the Donghu District apartment will be too far, so you can just buy a suite in the city then renovate it. If the demolition subsidy is not enough, then we can give you an allowance. Then we will renovate the apartment in j.a.panese Rose Park so that we can move in. You and your wife can live with us there with Shaoqing temporarily until you can buy a new unit. As for the other apartment, since it is too far from the city, then you should just give it to Shaoqing. If that won’t do, then in the future, you can just sell it off. What do you think?”
Mo Shaohong answered without hesitation: “I agree.”
Li Lier who was listening, felt angry. Did his own family not exist! However, she soon thought that Donghu District really is too far from the city center, the apartment is small, with a market value of no less than 200,000 RMB. This also allowed her to be indulge in buying a large house to move in. That place wouldn’t be as good as buying a large suite in the city. In case that only the down payment can be paid using the 200,000 RMB subsidy, she and Mo Shaohong also had some savings, and if that truly is not enough, then ask his parents for some more money, there is no need for buying a property on a loan. Prices in the future will surely rise, one should think about it to make a profit.
“I also agree.” Mo Shaoqing still lives with his parents,so he naturally has no opinion.
。。。。
I think the Li family is too greedy QAQ Mo Shaohong just look for a shou–!!
I’m sorry if I get any of my explanations wrong, I just found them on google ;;
Anyways, what do you guys prefer? The english translation (Sister Wu / Elder Brother Shaohong) or the pinyin? (Wu-jie / Wu-jiejie / Shaohong-ge / Shaohong-gege)
See you next week!