novelraw Chapter 615 - 616 Request
Chapter 615 - 616 Request
Gong Qiang sneered, expressing that it’s the first time he’s seen such a stingy younger brother. Who knows, maybe Gong Tao even borrowed money to support his family of five.
This made Gong Qiang feel the need to stay somewhat distant from Gong Tao, lest he gets entangled and asked to help repay the debt, which was absolutely out of the question.
Gong Zheng didn’t think as much as Gong Qiang. He knew that even if Gong Tao really had no money, he wouldn’t ask them, but he did remember that the burden on the second brother’s family was not light.
Second brother will have a bright future, but for now, he’s broke, and there are three kids at home to raise. More importantly, Cai Ming is not married yet.
Gong Zheng knows his second sister-in-law well; she loves this brother the most, so how could she not care about his marriage, which should involve a significant expense.
Yesterday’s fiasco at the Cai family, Gong Zheng already knew about it. They don’t even have jobs to earn salaries yet, and the Cai family is already scheming. Wonder what excuse they’ll use to scam money once they start working.
How much savings could there be left? It’s already good if they don’t have to borrow money; looks like it’s wise to keep a little distance from the second brother’s family too.
Although Zhang Lan had a stroke, she still had her calculations. Upon hearing that Gong Tao was going out to work, she naturally assumed that this son didn’t have money, otherwise, he wouldn’t have Rui Ni and the others come back to take care of adults and children.
Zhang Lan looked down on Gong Tao in every possible way, looking down on a thirty-year-old son who didn’t even understand the need to work hard to earn money and support the family.
It’s not that Zhang Lan favored Gong Qiang, but even though Gong Qiang was down and out, and arguably the least accomplished among all the children, he at least had a few thousand yuan in savings.
If it weren’t for the extravagant wife before, the son would have had more money.
"Go, go on." Zhang Lan waved her hand, indicating for Gong Ruini and the others to leave.
Wow, she agreed just like that? Gong Ruini was genuinely surprised. Previously, it seemed like the old lady wanted them to stay, but now she was suddenly telling them to leave.
Fine, since someone wants them gone, then leave. Why stay here waiting for the New Year?
"Grandma, take good care of your health. Every month, my dad will mail the care fee he should pay to my third uncle." According to Cai Ming’s suggestion, he could pay the money upfront; there’s no need to remit, after all, remitting incurs a fee too.
Gong Ruini stopped him, thinking that paying a year’s worth of care fees upfront seemed a bit too generous.
Also, giving cash isn’t as good as remitting. As long as there is a remittance slip, everything is fine.
Wasn’t this matter already decided? Is there a need to bring it up again? Do they want them to voluntarily say they won’t pay? Gong Qiang really despised them for bringing up such a small sum of money repeatedly.
"I know. If there’s any change in the price, I’ll let you know." Gong Qiang said impatiently.
Gong Qiang was rather annoyed as well. Although he wasn’t contributing to the care fees, he had to pay for groceries, and this wasn’t a small expense.
==
Once Cai Ming walked out of the hospital, he let out a long sigh of relief, "We’re finally out."
"Yes." Gong Ruini felt that the air was especially fresh at that moment, "Let’s go eat some wontons to celebrate."
"No rush, let’s buy our train tickets first." Cai Ming wasn’t sure if tickets were easy to purchase now, but still thought it best to secure them first for peace of mind.
"I’ve already asked my friend to get five hard-sleeper tickets." Gong Zhuang suddenly remembered there was something he hadn’t told Gong Ruini and the others.
Ah, five? Really? Gong Ruini was stunned. Previously, Gong Zhuang had mentioned wanting Gong Jiaming and his siblings to go with them to Beijing, but she really thought he was just talking.
It should be noted that what kept the Gong Jiaming siblings going was counting down the days until Gong Ruini and the others returned to Beijing, after which they could completely relax.
Gong Ruini couldn’t help but look towards Gong Ruwen, really unsure how the Gong Jiaming siblings would feel at this moment, but they must be feeling terrible.
In fact, Gong Ruini wasn’t feeling great either. They were just making a pit stop in Beijing before heading to the Northeast to earn money.
But if the Gong Jiaming siblings followed, how could this be kept secret? What to do?
Gong Ruini was dumbfounded and could only keep looking towards Gong Ruwen and Cai Ming. Shouldn’t they be the ones to solve this?
Gong Ruwen was a hundred times unwilling. Being a tutor, guiding them in their studies, even through letters after they returned, would be fine with him.
But there was no way he would let Gong Jiaming know everything about them. Now, with the tickets already bought, wasn’t this a fait accompli?
Alright, if we think about it carefully, wasn’t this exactly how it went? Gong Zhuang had brought it up, but frankly, no one took him seriously at the time.
"Well, you see..." Though Cai Ming had bought tickets before, he wasn’t a novice, and he genuinely never thought it would be so easy to get hard-sleeper tickets. Could the connections be this strong?
Cai Ming had talked with Gong Zhuang before and knew he absolutely didn’t have such powerful connections.
Gong Zhuang chuckled, "There aren’t many people traveling in the summer."
Were they taking advantage of the fact that we never traveled by train during the summer? Whatever, since Gong Zhuang was unwilling to elaborate, they had to give him his privacy.
The pressing issue now is, "Do their siblings even want to go?"
This morning, Gong Ruini even heard Gong Jiaming talking about how he’d have fun once he returned to the countryside, his stories full of excitement and animation.
"I think Xiao Ming and the others won’t be happy." In front of the Gong Zhuang couple, they probably wouldn’t have any outbursts and would likely pretend to be very well-behaved. But the critical problem is that Gong Ruwen doesn’t want to have to suppress Gong Jiaming afterward.
It’s important to know that when this kid acts up, it’s really something else; rather than wasting time on him, it’s better to go make money.
There’s a problem, why does everyone look so unwilling? Gong Zhuang was genuinely puzzled.
Gong Zhuang knew he was somewhat pushing them with this, but previously, when they agreed to tutor the Gong Jiaming siblings, they did so without hesitation, so why the current reluctance?
"Don’t worry, I’ll talk to them and make sure they behave."
"Also, if they don’t listen, feel free to discipline them." Gong Zhuang firmly believed in the adage that a rod breeds a filial son.
"I only have one son and one daughter. I don’t expect them to achieve great things, but they’d better do well in their studies, and it would be even better if they could get into a good university."
"At the very least, going to a technical college or secondary school would be fine. They have to be more accomplished than me." Gong Zhuang obscurely expressed his difficulty.
Gong Zhuang’s dilemma was that his own in-laws did spoil the children in every possible way. Though it wasn’t unbridled spoiling, they didn’t stress their studies too much. As long as the children didn’t get into trouble, they wouldn’t be kept on too tight a leash.
His own third uncle was really strict, and in Gong Ruini’s opinion, compared to a grandpa and grandma like Gong Dajiang and Zhang Lan, Miao Cuihua’s parents were genuinely decent. They spoiled the children but were at least reasonable.
But human nature is just this greedy, isn’t it? Seems some things really have to be addressed.