Chapter 24 New Year's Eve
Ms. Jian had no intention of changing the subject, but Zhao Yunli reminded her. When she saw him leave, she walked up to Zhao Jinian and grabbed her son's hair.
Zhao Jinian kept saying it hurt and asked her to let him go.
Ms. Jane said, "I advise you to change your hairstyle. It's okay if your dad doesn't like it, but it's very important if his father doesn't like it."
"Is Grandpa's opinion so important? Everyone acts according to his will."
"If you could be as rich as Grandpa, his opinion wouldn't matter. Or if you could be as accomplished as Shunian, with an irreplaceable position, so that even Grandpa would listen to him and make concessions for him."
Sister Fen just happened to bring a pair of scissors over, and Ms. Jian took it and cut Zhao Jinian's new hairstyle with a snap.
Zhao Jinian left home and went to a barber to change his hairstyle.
Zhao Xinzhi attached great importance to his two grandsons, Zhao Shunian and Zhao Jinian, who were not much different in age. He was determined to raise them well. However, Zhao Jinian was born unruly and loved freedom, which gradually disappointed him. He put all his attention on Zhao Shunian.
Compared to Zhao Yunbin who only had Zhao Shunian, Zhao Yunli had two sons and two daughters, with Zhao Jinian being the eldest. After Zhao Jinian was abandoned by Zhao Xinzhi, he wanted his second daughter to take his place, but Zhao Xinzhi was not interested.
Zhao Yunli felt that his father favored sons over daughters and wanted to raise a grandson. So when his third son grew up and Zhao Shunian was studying in a middle school in the UK and did not come back often, he expressed his hope to his father to raise his third son.
But things went against his wishes. Zhao Xinzhi only had Zhao Shunian as his grandson. He asked Zhao Yun to fulfill his father's responsibilities and not push the child to him to raise.
Zhao Yunli became increasingly disappointed with Zhao Jinian. His father had given him a chance, but Zhao Jinian failed to live up to his expectations.
With the irreversible experience of his eldest son as a precedent, Zhao Yunli strictly controlled the spending of his three remaining children, and Zhao Xiyan often felt that she did not have enough money.
He attributed Zhao Jinian's failure to the fact that Ms. Jian was not cruel enough. She loved Zhao Jinian the most. As a mother, Ms. Li had a hard heart.
Whatever Zhao Xinzhi wanted and expected of Zhao Shunian, Ms. Li would hold him to even higher standards. If he failed to meet his standards, he would face brutal punishment and harsh reprimands. She never showed any mercy to him. Zhao Yunbin had a kind heart for his son, but he listened closely to Ms. Li and could not interfere with her son's education at all.
Zhao Yunli felt that his eldest brother was cunning in another sense. He used to listen to his father and mother, listened to his wife after getting married, and later listened to his son's arrangements. He was very good at judging the situation and knew who to listen to that would benefit him. In the end, he became a loyal person and the winner in the property dispute.
………
On New Year's Eve, all the Zhao family members gathered in the East Building.
Ms. Li checks in the main kitchen whether the prepared ingredients are fresh and of good quality.
Ms. Li came from a prominent family and was capable of both housework and socializing. It was Zhao Yunbin's aunt who personally introduced the two of them.
She was a picky person, and there were very few people who could make her give in and show mercy. Every time she came, everyone in the kitchen was nervous and uneasy.
She looked at Chef Zhang in the kitchen and asked, "How is the Jipin abalone being processed?"
"It's simmering on the stove now." Master Zhang led Ms. Li to look at the stewed two-headed lucky abalone.
This is aged dried abalone, which takes several days of soaking to awaken its unique flavor. The process is complex and requires several steps. After the abalone is soaked, it is cooked with other meats such as chicken and pork, which takes two days.
If you soak it today and want to finish soaking it in the evening and serve it as a dish, this is impossible.
The lid of the casserole on the stove was opened, and only the abalone soaked in soup was left in the pot. The rest of the meat had been fished out and was being cooked in soup on another stove.
When the soup in the casserole is reduced, add the soup from another stove. The meat ingredients add flavor and replenish the soup.
After carefully checking that the abalone was fine, Ms. Li nodded slightly and went to check the next important ingredient.
Master Zhang breathed a sigh of relief, but the others became nervous, fearing that they would be the next.
The scene in the small kitchen is different. Brothers Zhao Yunbin and Zhao Yunli are chopping meat and preparing to cook the famous Huaiyang dish, Braised Lion's Head, under the guidance of the chef.
Braised Lion's Head is a must-have dish for the Zhao family's New Year's Eve dinner. Their ancestral home is in the Huaiyang area, and this dish symbolizes that they should not forget their roots.
In those days, wandering in a foreign land was often forced. Zhao Xinzhi's great-grandfather participated in a political reform, but when it failed and he faced a reckoning, he packed up his belongings and took his family abroad to seek refuge. Life abroad was difficult, with setbacks at every turn. He experienced both downfall and glory, but even in his death, he was unable to return to his homeland.
The Zhao brothers personally made the lion heads to show their filial piety and to convey to Zhao Xinzhi that they had reconciled. The older people get, the more they appreciate this kind of superficial effort that seems genuine.
On the day Zhao Shunian came back, the drama performed in front of everyone showed that the relationship between grandfather and grandson had eased. Now it was the turn of the brothers to express their stance.
As to whether it is a true reconciliation or a false one, the answer depends on one's opinion.
In the library on the fourth floor, Yu Yin accompanied Zhao Shunian and Zhao Xinzhi to entertain two guests.
The two guests were Zhao Xinzhi's younger brother and sister-in-law, Zhao Xinxian and Ms. Ping, who were in the shipping business.
Yu Yin and Zhao Shunian called them Third Uncle and Third Uncle's Wife.
They came here to celebrate the New Year with Zhao Xinzhi's family, and their children would also come around the third day of the New Year. However, Zhao Xinxian wanted to spend a few more days with his eldest brother Zhao Xinzhi.
Zhao Xinxian opened a brocade box, on which was a coin, with the words "Qixiang Chongbao" engraved on the upper side.
He pushed the brocade box in front of Zhao Xinzhi and said, "Brother, this is a New Year's gift for you."
Zhao Shunian just glanced at Yu Yin, and Yu Yin understood what he meant and quietly went to get cotton gloves and a magnifying glass.
When Yu Yin first married into the Zhao family, she had no idea about the undercurrents. She only learned the reason for her marriage to Zhao Shunian from Liang Lisheng and his wife. No one else told her. In front of the Zhao family, she usually acted like a stump.
Later, Zhao Shunian told her that no one liked a motionless tree stump, and if she continued like this, it would be her fault that she was marginalized, and she couldn't blame anyone else.
Yu Yin was not a stupid person and understood things immediately. She observed carefully and slowly, figuring out the undercurrents of the Zhao family, and she did not treat them as a wooden stake.
Zhao Xinzhi's eyes were attracted by the Qixiang treasure in the brocade box. When he wanted someone to get gloves and a magnifying glass, Yu Yin had already prepared the things for him.
Zhao Xinzhi felt that his granddaughter-in-law was a master at observing people's expressions. He put on gloves, carefully picked up the coin, felt its weight, and then used a magnifying glass to appreciate its details.
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