Chapter 680: Maternal Relatives
Auntie Ren’s brother’s name is Ren HongDe. He was the child born the year gramps Ren went out to wander the world and meet meet friends through martial arts (the old generation of martial artists believe that after they pa.s.s on their genes, they can go out to fight for real. So even if they die, there would be someone to mourn them).
Since it took twenty years for Master Ren to return to his hometown and give birth to Auntie Ren with his partner, Auntie Ren was twenty years younger than her brother, which was not an ordinary age difference between siblings.
Ren HongDe did not have a father when growing up and there were rumors that his old man had been killed in a fight. If you add in gramps Ren’s unscrupulous younger brother, who wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to seize the family property of his older brother, Ren HongDe grew up under a considerable amount of pressure.
As the saying goes, “a poor man’s child becomes a family man earlier”. Although Ren HongDe’s family was not poor , he still had to mature early to help his mother support the family.
Ren HongDe did not know martial arts, of course, it was because his father was still wandering and his uncle had evil intentions, so he refused to pa.s.s on their family martial arts, but realistically speaking, he really did not have the talent to practice martial arts.
Instead, he had the talent to run a business and school.
He went from a private school student in the countryside to a public school lecturer, then he went from a public school lecturer to the chairman of Qing Zi Education Group. Ren HongDe, who was nearly 60 years old, had accomplished a business miracle that others would take several generations to accomplish.
Gramps Ren commented on his son’s success in the education industry, “He’s not doing his proper duties.”
What do you mean by “proper duties”? Would learning the family secrets the hard way and defeating his ill-intentioned uncle to take back the martial arts school be the proper duty?
Ren HongDe had a heavy responsibility since a young age, so he has always had a serious expression and can be described as never smiling.
Ever since his father’s death was unknown, he fought to support the family which resulted in him being busy with his career, so he married very late. He was almost 60 years old, but his son Ren Peng was only in his second year of college.
Workaholics inevitably neglect their families. Ren HongDe, as the chairman of the Qing Zi Group, a corporation with a huge chain of educational inst.i.tutions with branches in all 36 cities across the country, ran into problems with his own son’s education.
I heard that he plays LOL every day late into the night, he would even forget to eat if he get a five kill streak in a ranked match. He was obviously from a rich family, but he doesn’t focus of picking up girls with his family wealth like other rich kids, instead he was focused on forming LOL professional team because he wants to rank domestically and internationally.
It was because his father was strongly opposed and refused to give him funds, so he was not able to form his own team, so he came to Ai Mi’s team as captain.
Serious addiction can only be cured with electrotherapy! The genes his parents gave him was not bad, but because he stayed at home too much, both his arms were full of fat, his eyebrows were semi-bald, his eyes were lifeless, and he had a small belly, so he was very unhealthy.
It seems that Ren HongDe’s weathered face, as well as his graying hair, was not only caused by overwork.
In general, due to their occupation, Ren HongDe seems much more stable than his 80 year old father, but he was also much more rigid.
Because gramps Ren was still somewhat childish, he was basically unreliable. That’s why Ren HongDe felt like both a brother and a father to Auntie Ren, who was twenty years younger than him.
The good thing is that he takes care of his sister, but the bad thing is that he often lectures Auntie Ren like an elder, leading to Auntie Ren’s rebellious att.i.tude.
In terms of the marriage between Auntie Ren and Huo ZhenBang in Hong Kong, both Ren HongDe and gramps Ren vehemently opposed it. In the end, Huo ZhenBang did not change his flirtatious nature after marriage, proving they were both right.
But Auntie Ren, who returned to the mainland alone with Xiao Qin, felt that her father and brother were waiting for her to bow down and admit her mistake.
Auntie Ren had a lot of pride, even if her choice was really wrong, she will not bow down to her father and brother, thus a long cold war began.
When Huo ZhenBang was caught cheating, Auntie Ren beat him up and divorced him without asking for a single penny, she did not even ask for child support. To show her determination to break up, she told Huo ZhenBang: my daughter has nothing to do with you, you don’t need to raise her, and you are not allowed to visit her.
So when she returned to the mainland, Auntie Ren was strapped for cash, so she had to live in the old apartment compound, where she became neighbors with me and my dad.
If I think about it, I think I saw Ren HongDe when I was a child. A stern-faced, middle-aged man, frequently came over to find Auntie Ren, and each time I could vaguely hear Auntie Ren yell at him:
“I don’t need your money, I can raise my daughter by myself!”
Because of the age difference, I always mistook him for Auntie Ren’s father, not realizing that he was Auntie Ren’s older brother.
As for gramps Ren, he never even came once, so it was clear that the relationship between father and daughter was very stiff at the time.
As Xiao Qin grew up and showed great talent in martial arts, gramps Ren used the excuse of teaching his granddaughter martial arts and gradually improved his relationship with Auntie Ren.
But still, whenever they met, he would urge Auntie Ren to quickly find a suitable person to marry, so as to put an end to the possibility of getting remarried to Huo ZhenBang.
He would make Ren HongDe use his network to find marriage candidates as if Auntie Ren was desperate to get married.
There was a huge generation gap between Auntie Ren’s older brother and father. Although she knows they are both trustworthy relatives, she tries to avoid meeting them other than on holidays like New Years. Otherwise, one mention of Auntie Ren’s marriage (whether it was before or now), would 100% lead to a quarrel.
Auntie Ren was injured in a car accident and admitted to the hospital, so her father and brother had to visit her after they found out. Ren HongDe also found out from gramps Ren that the car accident was a minor injury, but she was suffering from the blow of a miscarriage.
Unlike gramps Ren, Ren HongDe was always prepared. When he heard that his sister’s daughter was chasing a boy, he even investigated my background.
Now, he also knew that my dad, Ye YuanFeng, who was taking care of Auntie Ren, was the father of Auntie Ren’s miscarried child.
So, the way he looked at me at this moment was a bit complicated.
“Dad.” Ren HongDe ignored me for the time being, he greeted gramps Ren who was talking to me, “Let’s go in together to see Hong Li, I know you’re embarra.s.sed to go in yourself.”
“Who’s embarra.s.sed to go in? I’m her father, what’s embarra.s.sing about me going to see her? Listen up, Hong De, after so many years, it’s not easy for Hong Li to have another man around. We have to force her to get married this time, marrying anyone is better than remarrying Huo ZhenBang.”
Ren HongDe felt that was not suitable to say in front of me, so he sent a look at his dad, but gramps Ren remained oblivious.
“Wait a moment, you get started with Hong Li’s first. Compared to me, she still listens to you more. I’ll go work on Ye Lin’s father, if he dares to play with my daughter and still not marry her, I’ll kill him with a slap…”
“Hey hey.” I hurriedly shouted, “Master, don’t talk about killing my dad in front of me, that’s detrimental to a young child’s growth.”
Ren HongDe frowned, “Dad, you took him as a disciple?”
“What, you don’t want to learn martial arts, but you also don’t want me to teach others?” Gramps Ren rolled his eyes at his son and said to me, “Don’t worry, I wasn’t really serious earlier. Look at your father, he seems to be an honest man, so I won’t kill him as long as he’s willing to marry my daughter.”
Ren HongDe muttered, “Dad, we can’t rush into these things…”
“No rush?” Gramps Ren slapped his thigh, “We have to get her married when people still want her, then I’ll have a peace of mind. I’m already so old, if Hong Li is still alone, I can’t die in peace!”
I guess Ren HongDe has been a siscon for many years, so he was unhappy when he heard gramps Ren say that.
“Dad, Hong Li has had colleagues in the film industry pursue her over the years, but she was traumatized by Huo ZhenBang, so she didn’t agree.”
Gramps Ren was furious, “Huo f.u.c.king ZhenBang was also in the film industry. The film industry is not a good thing, the men are thieves, women are prost.i.tutes, and they are in the triads. They also indiscriminately film martial arts films, so that people think only Tai chi has Fa Jin and Hua Jin…”
I’m not sure how much resentment you have towards Tai chi, but if the current master of Tai chi is here, are you going to fight him.
Ren HongDe said sternly: “Dad, Hong Li is a martial arts director right now, do you not consider her a part of the film industry?”
“Um…” gramps Ren inadvertently cursed at his daughter, he was embarra.s.sed and his face turned bright red.
Ren Peng stood at one side for a while, but seeing his father and grandfather talk endlessly, his legs went a little numb.
So he said, “When are we going to see my aunt?”
“Right now.” Ren HongDe replied.
“Well, let’s go.” Gramps Ren also said.
Ren Peng scratched his head, “Um… Xiao Qin will find out if you two discuss it with my aunt… getting married to the Ye guy, can Xiao Qin accept it?”
“That’s right.” Gramps Ren nodded, “Later, when we go in to see Hong Li, we have to find an excuse to get Xiao Qin away.”
“Don’t we have an excuse right in front of us.” Ren Peng took two steps closer to me. Due to Ai Mi’s organization of a professional LOL team, we both have met before. He must have also gotten a further understanding of my ident.i.ty from Ren HongDe.
“Ye Lin, I heard that you’re Xiao Qin’s boyfriend.”
The LOL G.o.d, “Prince of the underbrush”, Ren Peng looked at me mischievously.
I did not know how to answer in front of so many of Xiao Qin’s maternal relatives, so I had to say: “Not, not really a boyfriend, we just have a good relationship. We were neighbors when we were kids, so we could be considered as childhood friends…”
“Childhood friends?” Ren Peng made a strange expression, “You played with her as a child and actually lived until now?”