The salty life in Life of Pi

Chapter 90 Broken Family

Listening to Lin Miaomiao's voice coming from the stairs

"Haha, I said Haozi would definitely cry."

"Yes, yes, you are right."

The two people's voices faded away, Jiang Tianhao held back his tears and said unhappily

“I didn’t cry.”

Just as he finished speaking, tears started streaming down his eyes.

Duan Xiaohong and Jiang Qilong looked at each other silently. They had been so busy during this period that they even forgot their son's coming-of-age birthday.

Patting Jiang Tianhao's back gently, Duan Xiaohong looked at him distressedly, feeling guilty, but Jiang Tianhao quickly recovered, wiped his tears, and spoke to his mother.

"I'm fine, let's eat."

"Okay, I'll make you a bowl of noodles."

Duan Xiaohong returned to the kitchen. Jiang Qilong stood up, took out a bottle of wine, looked at the bottle, and opened the lid without hesitation.

Jiang Qilong poured a glass for Jiang Tianhao who had calmed down. He held the glass and spoke.

"Haohao, today is your parents' fault. We forgot such an important day. Daddy apologizes to you."

After saying that, he finished the wine in the glass in one gulp.

Jiang Tianhao felt that the tears he had just wiped away were about to flow again. At this time, Jiang Qilong spoke with a dull tone.
"As a father, I not only didn't leave you anything, but I also dragged you down. I'm really incompetent."

Before Jiang Tianhao could respond, Jiang Qilong's voice continued to come, but this time his tone was much more excited.

"You have become an adult today, but it is far from the time for you to shoulder the responsibility of this family. You should not bear the responsibility for the mistakes I made. Come, let's have a drink."

After wiping the corners of his eyes, Jiang Tianhao raised his glass with a smile and clinked glasses with Jiang Qilong.

It has been a while since Jiang Quanling's memorial service, and Wang Shengnan has also come out of her grief. Life seems to have returned to normal.

At night, Wang Shengnan was on the bed, massaging Lin Dawei's waist and patting him gently, with a smile on her face.
"You've suffered so much. Your waist has been suffering a lot during this period."

"Just think about me less."

Lin Dawei turned over with difficulty and lay flat on the bed, half closing his eyes.

"I'm getting old, ah"

"Okay, stop sighing, it's getting late, let's go to bed."

Wang Shengnan interrupted Lin Dawei's sigh in an unromantic manner and turned off the lights.

In the darkness, Lin Dawei moved his mouth a few times, but said nothing. He covered himself with the quilt and fell asleep.

"bell--"

The shrill ring of a cell phone rang, breaking the quiet darkness.

Wang Shengnan's body trembled violently. She was now particularly afraid of hearing the phone ringing while sleeping. When she opened her eyes, sweat had already appeared on the tip of her nose.

When he got the phone, he saw that it was Wang Dingnan's call. He was immediately furious and sat up on the bed and answered the phone.

"Hey, what are you doing so late at night?"

"Sister Tang Yuanming doesn't want me anymore"

Wang Dingnan's whimpering voice was heard, and Wang Shengnan felt a headache and frowned. Are these two people arguing again?
"What did they quarrel about this time?"

"Come here, mom and dad will be here soon"

Hearing that even her parents were called away late at night, Wang Shengnan felt that she would soon lose control of her temper.

After taking a few breaths, Wang Shengnan reluctantly spoke

"understood"

After hanging up the phone, Wang Shengnan fell back and lay back on the bed. Lin Dawei, who had been woken up a long time ago, spoke in a daze:

"Do you want me to go with you?"

"No, don't bother with your waist. I guess they just had a fight over something trivial. I'll go take a look and be back in a bit."

Sitting up reluctantly, Wang Shengnan turned on the bedside lamp, changed her clothes, and walked out the door full of resentment.

Driving along the way, Wang Shengnan had a cold face, thinking about how to punish Wang Dingnan. It was okay to torment herself in the middle of the night, but why torment her parents who were so old? She was so spoiled because of her special status, right?

She had cursed Wang Dingnan a thousand times in her heart, but when she arrived at Wang Dingnan's house and saw the scars on her face, Wang Shengnan was shocked and suppressed her anger.

"Tang Yuanming took action?"

Sitting next to Wang Dingnan, Wang Shengnan had a gloomy face.

Before Wang Dingnan could open his mouth, Tang Jiaojiao, who was watching TV with her doll in her arms, spoke up.

"My mother fell down herself"

Wang Shengnan looked at Tang Jiaojiao and was about to ask her what was going on when there was a knock on the door. Wang Shengnan got up to open the door and brought her parents in.

Sure enough, when the two saw the purple scars on Wang Dingnan's face, their faces changed drastically. Wang's mother reached out to touch the scars on her little daughter's face, but immediately withdrew her hand when she thought it would hurt her.

Sitting next to her, he spoke eagerly

"Dingnan? Did Yuanming attack you?"

Seeing Wang Dingnan shaking his head, the Queen Mother and the King Father looked at each other, their expressions improved a little, but they still frowned.
"So how did this happen?"

Father Wang looked very dissatisfied. He looked around the house and didn't see Tang Yuanming. He picked up Tang Jiaojiao from the sofa and put her on his lap.

"Jiaojiao, where is your father?"

"She left because of anger from my mom. The scar on her face was caused by her falling when she was chasing after my dad."

Watching TV, Tang Jiaojiao's tone was very normal, as if she was talking about something that had nothing to do with her.

The Queen Mother withdrew her gaze from Tang Jiaojiao and frowned, anxiously asking her little daughter:

"Why is that? Wasn't everything fine before?"

But Wang Dingnan just kept sobbing and refused to speak. Finally, it was Tang Jiaojiao who spoke.
"My parents divorced a few days ago. Today my father came to take his things away. I don't know why." Hearing the word divorce, Wang Shengnan, who was standing aside, narrowed her eyes and couldn't help but look down at Wang Dingnan who was just crying.

As if sensing something, Wang Dingnan shrank into the arms of the Queen Mother. The Queen Mother sighed and hugged her. The King's father also looked away and fell silent.

Wang Shengnan saw her parents' reactions and immediately understood something. She gritted her teeth and spoke

"So, you all know about Dingnan's divorce, but I'm the only one who doesn't know, right?"

The Queen Mother held Wang Dingnan in silence, so Wang Shengnan turned her gaze to the Queen Father.

Feeling Wang Shengnan's intense gaze, Wang's father pursed his lips and gave a brief explanation.

"Your sister lost some money due to a failed investment. Tang Yuanming said a few words to her and she filed for a divorce in anger. As a result, Tang Yuanming took your sister to the Civil Affairs Bureau the next day. Your sister was also angry at the time and divorced directly. We only found out about it later. She didn't let us tell you, saying that you would definitely not be on her side."

She glanced at Wang's father, Wang's mother and Wang Dingnan. The two elders lowered their heads, obviously knowing that what they did was wrong. Wang Dingnan even buried his face in Wang's mother's arms. Seeing them like this, Wang Shengnan took a few deep breaths and forced herself to calm down.

"Then why is Wang Dingnan crying now? Do you regret it? Then what's the point of calling me here? Can I force Tang Yuanming to make peace?"

"Okay, Shengnan, we know we were wrong. Please help me think of a solution. You know Dingnan's temper."

Wang's mother said something soft, and Wang Shengnan resisted the urge to slam the door and leave. She sat next to Wang Dingnan and asked

"How much money did you lose from the failed investment? How ...

Wang Dingnan didn't dare to speak, tears silently flowed down his face. Wang's mother wanted to help her speak, but was stopped by Wang Shengnan's eyes. She stared at Wang Dingnan.

"I want her to speak up herself. She has the guts to invest but not the guts to admit failure, right?"

"Shengnan."

"Shut up too"

Wang's father opened his mouth but was suppressed by Wang Shengnan's words, which made Wang's father look unhappy.

Seeing that no one could help him, Wang Dingnan's lips trembled, but he still didn't dare to look at Wang Shengnan.

“It’s all gone.”

After opening his mouth, Wang Dingnan seemed to have forgotten his fear and spoke out everything.
"I invested all the money in my family, and also some money from my parents."

The voice became quieter and quieter, because Wang Shengnan had already stood up, her body trembling, her eyes blazing with fire, and she gritted her teeth and asked word by word:
"You invested all your parents' money? Okay, you are pretty good. I can't take care of this matter. You should find someone else."

After saying that, Wang Shengnan picked up her bag and was about to leave when her father called her back.
"Stand!"

Father Wang put Tang Jiaojiao down, his face not looking very good, and looked at Wang Shengnan

"You are a sister, and you just leave like this when something happens?"

"Then tell me how to solve it."

Wang Shengnan was already blinded by anger and yelled at his father.

Seeing that Wang's father was just looking at her in astonishment, Wang Shengnan lifted the bangs that had just fallen and covered her eyes in excitement and put them behind her ears, panting.

"I don't know how to face Tang Yuanming after what Wang Dingnan did. Don't you feel ashamed? How can I ask Tang Yuanming to forgive Dingnan? She worked hard all her life to earn the money, but how did she repay her? It's all gone. If it were me, I would file for a divorce too."

"The money is gone! It's not like we can't afford to support your sister. We can just support her. What do you mean by this? Why are you still speaking for outsiders?"

Wang's father's tone was a little weak, and he barely looked at Wang Shengnan without moving his eyes away.

Wang Shengnan sneered and looked at his father sarcastically.

"Humph, you are such a face-conscious person. If you really wanted to keep Dingnan by your side for the rest of your life, could you not withstand the teasing of your friends? If you have forgotten, I will help you recall that you couldn't give birth to a boy in your life. Well, you are such a smart person. If you couldn't give birth to a boy, you raised a girl as a boy. Not long after Dingnan was born, you sent me to learn martial arts. You are such a good father."

Every word Wang Shengnan said was heart-wrenching. Wang's father trembled, and his momentum disappeared instantly. He lowered his head and sat back on the sofa silently. Wang's mother wiped her tears, not knowing whether it was because of her younger daughter's matter, or because of the suffering her older daughter had suffered from learning martial arts.

You know, the eldest daughter is a piece of flesh that fell from my body. Every time she came home, the purple scars on her body never disappeared, just like the scars on the youngest daughter's face now. I have privately talked to the old man many times to ask him to let my eldest daughter come back, but the old man is just a face-saving person. He has been like this all his life. Even the names of his two daughters have to be compared with those of the son. He thinks he is very powerful, but I don't know how many people are laughing at him behind his back.

Finally, the Queen Mother could no longer hold back her emotions and spoke to the King's father.

"Old Wang, Old Wang, how much is your face worth? You sent your eldest daughter to practice martial arts, and now you throw your youngest daughter to your eldest daughter after something happened. Do you really treat Shengnan as a man? Would it cost you your life to lose face for your own child? The earth is already buried above your head, so you just have to live with your face. I wonder how many years you can live."

After venting her emotions, Wang's mother hugged Wang Dingnan and started crying. Wang's father sat on the sofa next to her with his head down. It has always been a knot in his heart that he has never had a boy. When Wang's mother was pregnant, because her belly was big and she was very noisy, the neighbors said it must be a boy. This made him happy and proud for a long time. But in the end it turned out to be a girl, which made him unhappy all of a sudden. He hugged his eldest daughter and thought about it all night, and finally named her Shengnan. Everyone knows what he is thinking.

Because of the birth of her eldest daughter, the Queen Mother fell ill and failed to conceive. She thought that this was the end of her life, but things suddenly took a turn for the better.
Thinking far away, the father withdrew his thoughts and looked at the mother who was crying with her little daughter, and spoke in a hoarse voice.

"Okay, stop crying. I will ask someone tomorrow if the money can be recovered. As for Tang Yuanming..."

Father Wang looked at Wang Shengnan, and his tone was stiff but with a hint of request.
"Shengnan, you and Tang Yuanming are both teachers, and your relationship is closer than ours, so please help. You know Dingnan's situation, so just think of it as helping me."

"understood"

Wang Shengnan interrupted what Wang's father wanted to say. Seeing her father like this, she was not very happy. She walked back to the living room, crossed her arms, and saw Tang Jiaojiao eating snacks all the time. She didn't stop even when they were arguing just now, so she asked

"Jiaojiao? Didn't you have dinner tonight?"

"Well, I didn't eat. My mother cried all night."

Tang Jiaojiao was not affected by the quarrel of her elders at all, and looked at Wang Shengnan with longing in her eyes.

Several elders fell silent immediately. Wang's father and mother felt a little unhappy when they saw Wang Dingnan still crying.

Wang Shengnan opened her mouth, but held it back, rolled up her sleeves, turned and walked towards the kitchen.

Soon, Wang Shengnan brought a few bowls of noodles to the table and spoke to the people in the living room.

"Tang Jiaojiao, come and eat, Mom and Dad, you should come and eat too."

The atmosphere became more harmonious as they ate. Wang Shengnan spoke to Wang Dingnan, who was still smoking from time to time.

"My father and I are busy because of you. You should not be idle. If you can contact Tang Yuanming, contact him and apologize to him. Otherwise, if I say too much outside and you don't say anything, it will be useless."

"right"

The king's father also spoke, his expression serious
"This is your fault anyway. You have to admit it. Forget about your parents. You don't have many years left to live anyway. The money will be given to you when the time comes. But you have to admit your mistake to Tang Yuanming."

The Queen Mother would advise Wang Dingnan from time to time, saying that no matter how much she doted on her child, she was the one at fault, and that even if she doted on her child, she could not be unreasonable.

Wang Dingnan was eating noodles with tears in his eyes falling into the bowl. He neither nodded nor shook his head in response to his parents and sister's advice. He just stared at the noodles and eggs in the bowl and kept crying.

I will resume updating once a day tomorrow. I am still too tired to update twice a day. I didn't have a good rest during the holiday.

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(End of this chapter)