Chapter 758 No, we can't go.
At noon, Shen Chengcheng dressed himself up smartly and rode his electric scooter to take the old lady out for steamed dumplings.
"Mom, this old electric scooter needs replacing. What do you think about getting a car instead?" Shen Chengcheng suddenly asked while riding his scooter.
The old lady's hearing wasn't very good, and with the wind blowing against her, she only vaguely heard a few words: "The whole donkey cart?"
"Not a donkey cart, a sedan!" Shen Chengcheng raised his voice and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Buy me a sedan!"
"Doesn't your older brother have one?"
"I would never drive that beat-up Volkswagen. Besides, it's my brother's car for commuting, so it's not my turn to drive it."
The old lady understood her youngest son's implied meaning and immediately snorted, saying, "You just took a few dozen yuan from your sister. That was for your business. Don't you dare use it to buy a car."
"You wrote an IOU, so who knows, your sister might ask you for it someday."
Chen Chengcheng was furious when she brought this up. Her younger brother had to sign an IOU to get some money from her, and she wouldn't give it to him without one.
Anyway, he wrote an IOU in order to get the money, but he definitely won't pay it back.
"If you can really make something of yourself this time, you can buy whatever car you want with the money, and I won't interfere. But don't mess around, you hear me?"
Shen Chengcheng definitely didn't hear it, because he was still thinking about something else.
When they arrived at the steamed dumpling shop, it was lunchtime and business was booming. The owner, who was a friend of Shen Chengcheng, immediately arranged a seat for him and gave him a complimentary plate of cold dishes.
Shen Chengcheng ordered steamed dumplings and mutton soup: "Mom, the mutton soup here is really good. When it's cold, you have to eat mutton."
It was a rare treat to eat out with her youngest son, and the old lady was in a good mood. She looked around the restaurant and muttered, "With business so good, they must be making a lot of money every day."
"If you ask me, it would be great for you and Zheng Hong to run a small shop like this. It's enough for our town."
Upon hearing this, Shen Chengcheng scoffed, "Who would want this shabby little shop?"
"You're really ambitious. You're almost forty and haven't saved anything. You've relied entirely on Zheng Hong."
"Mom, look at you saying that again, always criticizing me. I was just unlucky, wasn't I?"
The old lady shook her head helplessly: "If you had half the ability of your older brother, I wouldn't say anything to you."
"Heh." Shen Chengcheng sneered, "What's so capable about a tax bureau cadre in a small town? My older brother only earns a few cents a month!"
"He's a proper cadre!" The old lady wouldn't tolerate her second son speaking ill of her eldest son like that: "Regardless of how much your eldest brother earns, who in town doesn't give him face?"
"Yes, yes, yes..."
Shen Chengcheng nodded quickly, not wanting to upset the old lady.
She's right. In this small, run-down place, the older brother's status is more than enough; he certainly has face wherever he goes.
The old lady stopped when the steamed dumplings arrived. She picked up her chopsticks and said, "Let's eat first. I feel so chaotic all the time since Xiaomin left. It's rare to have some peace and quiet with you."
"That's true. I can tell that my sister-in-law is also having a lot on her hands. She has three sons, plus my older brother and you. It all falls on her shoulders."
Following the old lady's words, Shen Chengcheng took the opportunity to bring up another matter that had been on his mind: "Mom, where do you think Xiaomin could have run off to?"
The old lady shook her head: "They said she went to Longcheng, but your sister didn't pick her up. I guess this is some kind of smokescreen, she didn't go to Longcheng at all."
“It’s also possible that she went and missed my sister,” Shen Chengcheng said. “Longcheng is so big, there are people everywhere, it’s normal that she didn’t see her.”
"There's no other way. She even called your sister-in-law yesterday and said she found a job."
The old lady's anger rose at the mention of Xiaomin: "She didn't even want the good marriage that was found for her. If she gets married, half of Boss Zhou's property will be hers, and she can also help her younger brothers in the future."
"Now not only is the marriage off, but the person has also left without a word. How can they be so selfish!"
“Unlike your two older sisters, when your eldest and second eldest sisters went out to work, the money they earned was used to subsidize your and your eldest brother’s tuition and living expenses, which is how you two were able to finish college.”
Shen Chengcheng coaxed, "How can that be the same? My eldest and second eldest sisters are your children, how can Xiaomin compare?"
The old lady liked to hear this. Although her two daughters, Jingjing and Yingying, rarely came back, they had never stopped giving her living expenses over the years. They transferred money to her on time every month, and she also received red envelopes on holidays and her birthday.
For the old lady, she didn't need her daughter to stay by her side. Having two sons was enough, and more importantly, she had four grandsons. This was the happiest time of her old age for her.
"Mom, how about... I go to Longcheng?"
Taking advantage of the old lady's good mood, Shen Chengcheng finally revealed what had been on her mind.
The old lady, chewing on a steamed dumpling, glared at him upon hearing this: "Going to Longcheng? What are you going to Longcheng for?"
“I’ll go and find Xiaomin for you.” Shen Chengcheng said earnestly, “You said that the house is in a mess after Xiaomin left. My older brother and sister-in-law both have formal jobs and can’t leave, and you’re too old for that. So if you want her to come back, I’ll have to go and find her.”
"Then, you don't actually expect her to come back on her own, do you?"
The old lady put down her chopsticks, looked at her youngest son, and sneered, "Don't think I'm senile. Did you go to Longcheng to find Xiaomin? I think you went to find your sister, didn't you?"
"Tsk, what are you saying?" Shen Chengcheng said, feigning anger. "Of course I'm here to find Xiaomin, but do you think it's appropriate for me to go to Longcheng and not see my sister?"
"Besides, she's definitely more familiar with Longcheng than I am. If I'm looking for someone in Longcheng, I'll definitely need my sister's help. How am I supposed to find someone on my own?"
“No,” the old lady immediately objected. “You can’t go to Longcheng.”
"Why, Mom? Don't you want Xiaomin to come back?"
"Of course I want her back, but I don't want you to leave even more." The old lady picked up her chopsticks and continued eating. "Anyway, you can't go."
After saying that, she didn't say another word, and she didn't respond to anything Shen Chengcheng said.
The reason she was so resistant to her youngest son going to Longcheng was because she was afraid. The two sons of the Wu family in the east of the town had gone to Jinghai and found jobs there, and they would come back once a year for the Spring Festival.
What kind of place is Nalong City? It's a big city, and everyone wants to go to a big city.
She was afraid that if her youngest son really left, he wouldn't want to come back.
That won't do; her son has to stay with her.
Shen Chengcheng failed to achieve his goal, and in a fit of anger after the meal, he rode off on his electric scooter without paying the bill. In the end, the old lady paid the bill, and then he took the bus home by himself.
(End of this chapter)
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