Chapter 15: Even when lacking love, men must have dignity
"Move out?" Teacher Lu didn't expect that his son wanted to move out.
"Yes, move out." Sheng Jiahao said, "Your students come and go. When they come, should I accompany you to entertain them, or should I stay in the room?"
This time, He Jingxian's incident made Sheng Jiahao more determined to move out. It is easy for young people to have conflicts when living with their elders, and their living habits are quite different. Sheng Jiahao doesn't want another He Jingxian to appear, and he doesn't want others to misunderstand him, especially by the person he likes.
"They came to my house as guests, not to go on a blind date with me," said Sheng Jiahao.
"Move out." said Sheng's father.
Sheng's father knew his wife was a good teacher. She always wanted to be nice to her students, especially the outstanding students from poor families. Teacher Lu would often invite those students to her home and cook them a delicious meal. Sheng's father hadn't stopped his wife's actions before, and he didn't plan to stop her now. His wife was doing a good thing.
The children are all grown up, and Sheng Jiahao lives at home. He always meets those people, which is really not good. We can't let Sheng Jiahao go out every time.
When Teacher Lu heard these words, she understood.
"He Jingxian... you don't need to bother with her." Teacher Lu was furious at the thought. He Jingxian had attacked her son because she hadn't agreed to his request. Teacher Lu was not just a little disappointed in He Jingxian; she was extremely disappointed. There was nothing wrong with people fighting for themselves, but to attack the son of a teacher who had done her a favor was simply unkind.
Sheng Jiahao looked at his mother. Seeing this, Teacher Lu asked, "Anything else?"
"What if I like your other students?" Sheng Jiahao asked.
"Who is it?" Teacher Lu was surprised. She thought about her students. "Jiang Moli?"
"You think of her first?" Sheng Jiahao said.
"There have only been a few people visiting our house lately, and you've met even fewer," Teacher Lu said. "Moli isn't stupid. She values her career. If you were to stay with her, I'm afraid... even if you could get married soon, you wouldn't necessarily be able to have children soon."
Teacher Lu is a woman, but she knows how much men want children. Some men hope that women will have children immediately after marriage, and the same is true for the parents of those men.
It's not that Teacher Lu doesn't like Jiang Moli, but she doesn't want her youngest son to have conflicts with Jiang Moli. Teacher Lu can understand Jiang Moli, but can Sheng Jiahao understand her?
"Jasmine is talented and hardworking, and her career is just getting started," Teacher Lu said. "She hasn't graduated yet, but she'll be soon. The provincial Xiaobaihua team is interested in transferring her there. Once she graduates, the transfer order will be issued soon."
Teacher Lu didn't tell anyone about this, not even Jiang Moli. The people from the Provincial Xiaobaihua School chose Jiang Moli on their own, not because Teacher Lu specifically recommended her. Jiang Moli had started learning Yue Opera in her early years, and recently she had participated in "Five Daughters Paying Homage to Their Parents," which allowed even more people to see her.
"This is a good thing." Sheng Jiahao said, "A very good thing."
Teacher Lu looked at his youngest son and said nothing more. Some things still needed to be figured out by his son. He had to be upfront to prevent him from having other ideas later. Women didn't have to sacrifice for men or marriage; women could have their own careers, too.
In Teacher Lu's opinion, Jiang Moli's future is bright, and she shouldn't give up her career for a man. Men are prone to change, but career will not deceive a woman. Career is a woman's harvest and achievement.
Jiang Yuqin couldn't attend work properly because her adopted son was always crying. She had to bring him with her to work, or if she could, she would ask someone to look after him. The factory had someone assigned to look after employees' children, but if the child was crying too much, the parents would still have to take care of the child.
In the evening, Wang Chunfen went back with Jiang Yuqin, who was still holding the child.
"Where is your husband? Didn't he come to pick you and the child up?" Wang Chunfen asked.
"He has to work, and sometimes he has to work until late." Jiang Yuqin said.
"You...it's not easy for you to let your parents take care of the child. Your parents divorced a long time ago, and you don't have a good relationship with your stepmother." Wang Chunfen sighed, "How about you send the child to your mother-in-law and let her help take care of the child?"
"No," Jiang Yuqin said, "My mother-in-law only cares for her grandchildren, so there's no way she could take care of this child. If I don't take care of this child, Ding Chao will have to take care of it. Ding Chao's salary is higher than mine, and I'm a woman, so I'm better at taking care of children, or..."
"Why do women have to take care of children? It's the modern age now, men should take care of children too." Wang Chunfen saw that Jiang Yuqin looked much more haggard.
The child cried at night, and Jiang Yuqin had to take care of the child. During the day, Jiang Yuqin had to cook and take care of the child. This life was not as good as when Jiang Yuqin was at her mother's house. Of course, Jiang Yuqin probably felt that she was no longer living under the control of her stepmother, and this was happiness.
"Ding Chao has it tough, he has no other options," Jiang Yuqin said. "If possible, he'd like to take care of the kids, but it's not just work that's difficult. He and I are husband and wife, and we should be supporting each other."
"Your mother-in-law doesn't have a job, so it's not impossible for you to send the child over for a few days and let them take care of him." Wang Chunfen said, "At most, you can just give her some money."
"Where can I get so much money to give them?" Jiang Yuqin said, "Ding Chao and I haven't even had our wedding banquet yet."
Jiang Yuqin thought that she had to save some money and save more money. Once they saved enough money, they could hold a wedding banquet.
"I can't count on my family. They won't pay for my wedding banquet. They will just say that I married Ding Chao without their consent." Jiang Yuqin said.
"The man should pay for the wedding banquet." Wang Chunfen disagreed with Jiang Yuqin's words. He should pay for the wedding banquet, not the woman. If the woman paid, the man's family would only look down on her even more.
"You just said that it's a different era now. Getting married isn't just a one-person thing, and a wedding banquet certainly isn't one either," Jiang Yuqin said. "My stepmother is obsessed with the money. She wants to give it to her precious son, not me. My father only cares about his youngest daughter, not me, the eldest."
Jiang Yuqin felt sad when she thought about it. "There was an empty room at home, but they didn't even bother letting Ding Chao and me move in. They watched helplessly as we rented a house outside, and the rent was quite high every month."
A few days ago, Jiang Yuqin saw the landlord come to her house to collect the rent, which was quite a lot for one month. The landlord even said that because they were acquaintances, he didn't ask for more, but rather asked for less. Jiang Yuqin thought the landlord was just saying that casually, trying to make people think they were taking advantage. In fact, it was clearly the landlord who was taking advantage. If the rent was really too low, the landlord would definitely not accept it. There was no way he would give them money.
When she didn't have a housekeeper, Jiang Yuqin only cared about buying nice clothes and cosmetics, and she only cared about enjoying herself. She didn't need to worry about the family's food expenses, nor did she need to think about whether those daily necessities cost money. After Jiang Yuqin married Ding Chao, on the surface, Ding Chao paid for the family, but in order to appear better, Jiang Yuqin also bought milk powder and clothes for the children, and bought things like toilet paper for the family.
Ding Chao had already said he wasn't well off, and Jiang Yuqin didn't want to embarrass Ding Chao, so she didn't ask for more money. When the money Ding Chao had given her ran out, Jiang Yuqin started spending her own money.
"Weren't you thinking about moving out before?" Wang Chunfen said, "Now, my son, you're thinking about going back. You can't go back. Your husband isn't a son-in-law, so would he like to be called a son-in-law? Doesn't he have any dignity?"
"Alas, so there's nothing we can do but pay some rent." Jiang Yuqin thought about the problem Wang Chunfen mentioned. She was worried that Ding Chao would be unhappy, so she didn't dare to ask Ding Chao to move in with her. "Besides, my stepmother would never let us move back in. She wishes I would stay out forever and never go back."
Jiang Yuqin had just finished speaking when the child in her arms started crying again. She hurried to comfort the child. Seeing this, Wang Chunfen could only shake her head. It would be fine if it was a biological child, but an adopted son...
Many people knew that the child was not Jiang Yuqin's biological child, and they would definitely tell the child about it later. It was impossible for those gossipers not to tell the truth, and it was impossible for them to help Jiang Yuqin and her husband conceal the truth.
Wang Chunfen thought that Jiang Yuqin was just too lacking in love. Jiang Yuqin's biological mother abandoned her and eloped with someone when she was very young, and Jiang's father married another woman. Jiang Yuqin did not receive so much family love, and now she can only make up for it in other places.
When Jiang Moli and others were performing another performance of "Five Daughters Paying Homage to Their Birthday", the leader came backstage and said that the mayor's wife invited them over tomorrow and they would have a meal there.
When Zhou Yiran heard what her leader said, she eagerly grabbed Jiang Moli's hand, her eyes shining, "Can I go too? Can I go too?"
"Of course you can. You're also participating in the performance, not like you haven't." Jiang Moli said affirmatively. The leader said that as long as you are a member of their performance team, you can go, even if you only play a small maid. You can't be barred from going just because your role is small. That would be unfair.
"Everyone can go." Seeing everyone's excitement, the leader worried some people couldn't go, but the mayor's wife said everyone in the team should go. It was difficult for the leader to make the decision on their own and tell some people not to go. Everyone said they could go, and arrangements would be made naturally, without their need to worry.
When Jiang Moli returned home, she excitedly told her parents about this matter, "Dad, Mom, the mayor's wife invited us to visit."
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