Chapter 1006: Turning into Old Mature Vinegar
When Ling Sheng beat Dongfang Fan, the people who were angriest about it weren’t her Peanuts, but Nangong Lengyu’s Cold Palace fans and Huo Ci’s Little Cis. Both sides were extremely protective of her.
In front of outsiders, they definitely wouldn’t say a bad word about her. They swore to protect her with their lives. What nonsense are they spewing? My daughter isn’t in the wrong. Doesn’t a grown man who couldn’t even beat a girl feel ashamed to say anything?
Besides, you’re a full-grown man. Why are you bullying a woman? My daughter couldn’t take it anymore and wanted to save her. Moreover, you attacked first. You deserve to be beaten up.
However, the onlookers didn’t care about such stuff or what the truth was in the video, especially some anti-fans. Even if the other party had attacked first, you shouldn’t beat the h.e.l.l out of him. Since you beat someone up so badly, it would be considered a.s.sault.
After Dongfang Fan posted on Weibo to clarify the matter, regardless of whether the netizens supported Ling Sheng or not, or those who criticized her, the commotion all died down. The trending topic had long been removed too. If people didn’t search online, they would not see the relevant news.
The incident of Ling Sheng beating someone up had only lasted two days. During this period, there were even people stirring up chaos. Together with the tens of thousands of He Sha fans in China, they tried to remove Ling Sheng from the filming crew of ‘Brilliant’. After all, on the day after ‘Brilliant’ had announced the female lead, the incident of Ling Sheng a.s.saulting someone appeared.
He Sha was a hero in the hearts of the Chinese citizens. Be it her achievements or charisma, she was the people’s object of worship. They definitely couldn’t let an actor with a problematic moral character act as her. However, no matter how they tried to object or say anything, this matter was left unsettled in the end. People even snarked about how impressive she was because she had a strong background.
The day that the filming crew’s relevant actors and actresses would attend the national team’s training had already been finalized. It was on the 20th of February and would last 10 days. They would start entering the set for filming at the end of February and early March.
As soon as Ling Sheng returned home and opened the door, she saw Huo Xiao sitting on the sofa with a scowl on his face. He had not switched on the television nor was he looking at his phone. Upon seeing her return, he only swept a glance over her but didn’t even speak to her.
Normally, this shouldn’t be the case. Every time she came back, Grandpa would be very happy. However, he seemed to be angry today!
She changed her shoes and ran over to sit beside him. “Grandpa, what’s wrong? Who made you angry? I’ll seek revenge for you.”
Huo Xiao took a look at his dear grandchild but he still felt unhappy. He sighed and said, “Sheng Sheng, help Grandpa talk to your grandma.”
“Talk to Grandma about what? What happened to Grandma?” Ling Sheng was baffled. Had he quarreled with Grandma?
It couldn’t be. Grandpa doted on Grandma the most. Apart from the last time Grandma had binge-watched Senior Sheng’s television series and Grandpa had gotten angry and jealous, the two of them never really had any conflicts.
Speaking of which, that incident was hilarious. Grandpa had filled the bedroom with posters of his younger self and forced Grandma to choose who was handsome. Grandma had said that this was the first time she had seen Grandpa act so jealous. As he aged, he truly was getting more childish.
Although Grandma sounded utterly disdainful, bliss and happiness were written all over her body.
In the end, after Grandma had finished watching the television series, she never mentioned Sheng Xichen again. On the other hand, the wedding photo and self-portrait that Grandpa had hung at the head of the bed in the bedroom were still there!
Grandma didn’t really like to hang things on the wall. She liked to leave it empty for a refreshing feel. There had never been a photo hung in the Huo Family’s old residence either. She always said that they were already so old, so why would they still fuss around with such bells and whistles?
However, Grandpa had secretly told her proudly and excitedly that the last time they went home, Grandma had gotten someone to enlarge their wedding photo. It was hung above the bed in their bedroom and had even been restored to a color photo. It looked really nice.
“Your grandma takes Xiaoqi downstairs to play every day and does public square dancing[1].” Huo Xiao was fuming. “Tell me, she’s already so old. Why is she dancing at the square? And also, that square dancing? Is that what they call dancing? It’s more like a group of demons dancing madly. It’s vulgar and isn’t tasteful at all.”
The more he spoke, the angrier he became. His spittle flew everywhere. He looked down on the dance. He simply despised it.
If a group of people wanted to dance, just dance then. Why did they have to come up with some sort of ballroom dancing? They even said that after some time, they were going to organize a compet.i.tion with the district opposite them.
That bunch of old folks in the district did not know how to dance either. That old woman who was the leader had even come to find his wife and asked her to teach them how to dance.
“What’s wrong with dancing in the square?” Ling Sheng laughed. Could it be that Grandpa had gotten angry that he could not dance together with Grandma because his legs weren’t well? She tried to advise him gently. “Grandpa, square dancing can also train your body and cultivate your mind.”
“Cultivate what mind?” Huo Xiao let out an angry snort. “What’s so good about square dancing? Those shameless old farts are all staring at your grandma like wolves and tigers!”
Upon hearing this, Ling Sheng looked at her grandpa with a complicated expression and held back her laughter. She finally understood why her grandpa was angry. So, it wasn’t because her grandma had gone dancing, but because there were old geezers looking at her. She laughed, “Grandpa, you already said that people are staring at Grandma hungrily. Why didn’t you follow them down to keep watch?”
“I won’t! Why should I go? No one wants me to go either!” Huo Xiao let out a snort and said very haughtily, “I won’t go. I’m not going! Can I stay healthy just by dancing that thing? Can I live a long life?”
Upon hearing her grandpa’s endless and unhappy mumbling, Ling Sheng finally found out that there was going to be a fifth elderly dance compet.i.tion between the districts. There would be both square dancing and ballroom dancing. None of the elderly people in the district could dance well; only her grandma was the best at it. So they had asked her to be a teacher and got her to teach them dancing.
Grandma’s personality was easy-going to begin with, and she liked to help others too. They were all from the same district and would see one another often, so it wouldn’t be nice to reject them.
Besides, the president of the dance a.s.sociation, who was also the leader, had a pretty good relationship with her grandma. Xiaoqi also played with her grandson every day. He was two years older than Xiaoqi and the little children got along well!
“In that case, Grandpa, if you don’t want Grandma to go, try to stop her!” Upon seeing her grandpa’s angry face turn as black as the bottom of a pot, Ling Sheng wanted to laugh, but she felt that it would be too evil of her.
“Why should I stop her? If she wants to dance, she can dance. I won’t stop her.” Huo Xiao let out a cold snort and poked the floor with his walking stick. “If she doesn’t want to go, she won’t go even if they come over to invite her a hundred times.”
Ling Sheng laughed out loud. You’re my grandpa, so whatever you say is right. She took a look at him and said, “Then Grandpa, you can stay at home. I’ll help you keep an eye on Grandma. I want to see which old fogey is so bold that he dares to look at Grandma!”
Ha ha ha ha! Grandma and Grandpa are so adorable! Grandma had even told her that she had never seen Grandpa get jealous before in the past. When he got old, he turned into an old mature vinegar[2]. He was quick to smell of jealousy from head to toe.
[1] A popular exercise routine performed to music in squares, plazas or parks, mostly by middle-aged and retired women in China.
[2] The term directly translates to ‘old mature vinegar’, but vinegar is also slang for jealousy.