novelraw Chapter 974 - 976: Open-Minded Zhao Gang
Chapter 974 - 976: Open-Minded Zhao Gang
Chapter 974: Chapter 976: Open-Minded Zhao Gang Zhan Jing remained silent at the dinner table despite Cao Na’s silence, and naturally did not greet Gong Ruini.
Zhan Jing would never show dissatisfaction with someone by elevating another’s status to express her own stance.
Even though Zhan Jing did not explicitly show her attitude, Zhao Xuran would occasionally pick dishes for Gong Ruini, and often Zhao Guangran would follow suit.
But today, Zhao Guangran was quietly focused on serving himself, not only neglecting to serve Cao Na but also ignoring her expressions.
As for talking, there really wasn’t a single word spoken.
Gong Ruini was stunned. Even if everyone knew the two were fighting and that their issues might be serious, to display it so blatantly in front of everyone—wasn’t it a bit too much?
Cao Na was someone who valued face highly, and Zhao Guangran’s blatant disregard made Gong Ruini worry that Cao Na might impulsively propose a breakup.
Gong Ruini signaled Zhao Xuran to persuade Zhao Guangran, at least to comfort his girlfriend so that he wouldn’t end up regretting it.
"Eat your own food and don’t worry about them." Would Cao Na really propose a breakup over this? Zhao Xuran just thought his good girl was overthinking.
"If they really break up, it might actually be a good thing for Guangran." With just these few people at home, and two needing to switch circles, Zhao Xuran felt exhausted.
With a shortage of hands already, if someone was willing to return, Zhao Xuran would only be too happy to welcome them.
Seeing the expression on Gong Ruwen’s face, Gong Ruini understood—it seemed everyone was silently counting down.
Sigh, what to do? Gong Ruini felt immense pressure, with her little brother on one side and her good friend on the other.
Overall, this meal was exhausting for everyone; nobody talked, and the atmosphere was that tense.
Even the children, who usually fought over food, remained silent, which said a lot about how bad the atmosphere was.
Cao Na swallowed her last bite, "Auntie, Uncle, I’m done eating, I’ll head back first."
With that, she stood up and left, while Zhao Guangran—who would have normally stood up immediately—pretended not to see and continued eating.
Gong Ruini noticed that Cao Na’s pace was considerably slower, indicating she was waiting for someone, without needing to ask.
"Go after her." Gong Ruini nudged Zhao Guangran.
Zhao Guangran shook his head, "No, let her go back on her own."
"Otherwise, she’d really think I’m easy to bully." Zhao Guangran said this, but everyone could see the reluctance in his eyes.
"Enough, go on, the way you two are stubbornly stuck isn’t helping." Zhan Jing spoke up.
"Have a good talk with Nana. You can’t keep going on like this awkwardly."
Zhao Guangran mumbled an "oh," quickly finished his meal, and said, "I’ll go see her off."
Before Zhao Guangran left the dining room, he heard Wan Yihui quietly, yet excitedly, say, "Finally, I can talk. I was really suffocating."
Gong Ruzhi nodded in agreement, "Exactly, not talking felt so strange."
Gong Ruini rolled her eyes at Gong Ruzhi. If it weren’t for this kid making some gestures, would Wan Yihui have said that?
For those who didn’t know, it might seem like a way to put Zhao Guangran in check, showing how unwelcome he was.
Gong Ruzhi chuckled, thinking he wouldn’t listen to his sister this time. If he kept getting bullied like this, what would happen without confronting the situation?
"I think Sister Nana should learn a lesson." Zhan Banxia swallowed the food in his mouth.
"Second brother treats her well because he likes her, but that doesn’t mean she can be so capricious." Zhan Banxia knew Cao Na always compared herself to Sister Ni.
Though Sister Ni was unaware, Ban Xia truly didn’t think Cao Na was better than Sister Ni. It wasn’t just that Sister Ni had looked after their brothers growing up, but more importantly, Sister Ni would never make such a mistake.
Zhuge Zisu didn’t speak but kept nodding on the side, clearly showing agreement.
"If this matter is just brushed off, it will let her take advantage bit by bit. We can overlook things for second brother’s sake, but what if it becomes frequent?"
"If she gets used to ordering us around, expecting that with just a notice from second brother everything will go her way without challenge, how will she then view second brother if we disagree?"
Gong Ruini was surprised by Zhan Banxia. This kid was supposedly devoting himself entirely to studying Chinese medicine and pharmacy, seemingly indifferent to external affairs, especially interpersonal relationships.
Unexpectedly, it wasn’t that he didn’t understand or want to act, but simply that these things weren’t difficult for him, so he’d rather just quietly observe the chaos.
Ban Xia’s words equally surprised Zhan Jing and the others, who stared at him dumbfoundedly.
"Ah, don’t look at me; I’m not stupid," Zhan Banxia calmly said. "That’s why falling in love is exhausting."
"Indeed." Zhuge Zisu agreed with the idea of his twin brother, "Time could be better spent researching formulas."
"Shall we continue?" Zhan Banxia put down his chopsticks, excused himself, and returned to their lab with his brother to resume research on formulas.
Previously there had been all sorts of worries about whether the kids would be sensible, but at this moment Zhan Jing was genuinely not concerned about those things.
"Will they spend all their time just researching these things?" Previously, with both kids totally focused on their studies, Zhan Jing felt content.
Now hearing her son say that dating is useless and a time-waster, what to do?
Zhan Jing earnestly hoped the kids could start their own families and continue the lineage of both the Zhan and Zhuge Families, but if they’re disinterested in love, then what?
Zhan Jing was genuinely troubled, "Everyone says that sensible kids make it easier for their parents, but look at your brothers."
"It’s Xuran who is sensible, otherwise you kids would drive me crazy." Thankfully, with Xuran, no matter what he does, Xuran has never let her down or made her worry.
Zhao Gang was quite surprised, though he wasn’t too concerned, "Actually, back then we also worried about Xuran, fearing he’d end up alone."
Darn it, really driving her nuts. Zhan Jing really didn’t want to talk to a man.
"What I mean is if even Xuran can find a girlfriend, Guangran and the others will have no problem." Zhao Gang shivered, realizing his earlier words were not well-chosen, and hurriedly added clarification.
Zhao Xuran was displeased. What did that mean? If it was just said privately, that’d be one thing, but how could he say that in front of his girlfriend?
"Dad, am I really that bad?"
"Do you think, in your eyes, I’m incapable of finding a girlfriend?" Humph, that’s because I have a goal, and it’s the absolutely perfect girlfriend for me.
Sigh, now he has upset his son, Zhao Gang pursed his lips. Really, they all can’t be messed with. Sigh, "Ah, what I mean is, every generation has its own blessings."
"If the two brothers don’t have kids, then we can adopt. It’s not like there aren’t any close brothers." Zhao Gang thought this statement shouldn’t be wrong.
Agh, Gong Ruini was stunned. She hadn’t even considered when to marry Zhao Xuran, but the future father-in-law actually said such a thing. Is this his way of scaring her to death?
Adopt? Is he treating her like a pig? Gong Ruini’s expression immediately darkened.
Zhao Gang was dumbfounded. He really didn’t understand how, today, even if he kept quiet it wasn’t enough, and whenever he spoke, it was either this mistake or that mistake.
Zhao Gang sincerely didn’t know where he went wrong, aside from apologizing miserably, he was at a loss.