Marriage in the 1980s 7
"Let's do it just once, otherwise, it will be too late to serve tea." Tao Yuan clung to Cheng Sheng's shoulders, breathing hard and speaking incoherently due to the shaking.
"Okay." Cheng Sheng agreed while panting, but even though he agreed, it was difficult for him to control himself in this kind of thing, so he stopped after doing it the second time.
Tao Yuan supported his sore body and got up. Although he wanted to continue sleeping, he had to serve tea on the first day of his marriage.
Cheng Sheng's parents and grandfather knew that the two of them must have been exhausted yesterday, and there was no need to say anything today, so after drinking tea and giving them red envelopes, and saying a few words of encouragement, they let the two of them drink a few mouthfuls of porridge, and then sent them back to their rooms to continue sleeping.
The Cheng family was a family of scholars, and Cheng Sheng's mother was a true lady of noble birth, gentle and easygoing. Cheng Sheng's father, meanwhile, only played dirty with those in the Zhao family. He truly loved his wife and children, and treated Old Man Cheng with the same respect he would his own father. Tao Yuan had been married off with much difficulty, and they all knew Cheng Sheng truly loved her. So, for the sake of their marital harmony, he naturally treated her like his own child.
Tao Yuan and Cheng Sheng were newlyweds, and naturally, they were as sweet as honey, spending all day and night together. Cheng Sheng had even given up on business matters, repeatedly extending his vacations, and every day he just wanted to be with Tao Yuan, not wanting to do anything else.
It was only after Tao Yuan repeatedly persuaded him to focus on his business that he finally went to work on his business every day and tried to come home on time. Even his parents found it amazing that someone who used to be away from him for a month or two due to business matters now not only came home every day, but was even more punctual than those working in the office.
However, the couple is in a good relationship, and they are happy to see it, because as parents, they are together because they truly love each other, so they can understand their desire to stick together all the time. They think this is good, it feels like a family, and it would be even better if they had a child sooner.
So, more than two months later, Tao Yuan was diagnosed with pregnancy, and the whole family was overjoyed. They immediately sent someone to inform Mr. Xiao, and planned to wait for four or five months before announcing the good news.
The Cheng family was overjoyed because Tao Yuan was pregnant, but the Zhao family was in chaos because the man who eloped with Ke Yi came to their house with the child. Now everyone in the Zhao family knew that Ke Yi had a child outside, and this matter had spread outside.
In the afternoon, when the family was sitting together drinking tea and eating snacks, Cheng Sheng's father Zhao Xiuning went out for a while. When he came back, he told everyone about this matter very excitedly.
"The Zhao family must be in a mess right now. My mother must be upset living in that house. The weather is getting colder and it may snow in a few days. Cheng Sheng, come with me to the Zhao family tomorrow and take your grandmother to stay at the hot spring villa for a while, so that they won't make a fuss and disturb your grandmother's rest." Zhao Xuning couldn't suppress the excitement on his face.
"I understand." Cheng Sheng replied.
"I heard from Sun Ling that at the wedding that day, Ke Yi spoke in tears and it was very touching. He said something about how he mistakenly thought he had a terminal illness and didn't want to make his family and loved ones sad, so he found a place to wait for death alone. How could he wait to die alone and have a child?" Cheng Wei said puzzledly.
"Isn't that easy to explain?" Zhao Xiuning said with a smile on his face. "The story about him mistakenly thinking he had a terminal illness and was left alone to die was definitely made up to deceive the Zhao family. The real story is that he eloped. Life must have been difficult out there, so he regretted it and came back to get back together."
Zhao Xiuning patted his thigh rhythmically and said, "I will definitely congratulate that old man when I see him tomorrow. He is such a good cheap grandfather!"
"When you go to pick up mom tomorrow, just say less. You've made him angry enough times over the years. It will be bad for your reputation if it gets out. Others will think that he is your father after all, and it's unfilial of you to make him angry like this." Cheng Wei advised.
"What kind of father is he to me? Does he deserve it?" Zhao Xuning said disdainfully. "I've even given him my life. I don't owe him anything, and he can never expect to gain my respect again. When I see him tomorrow, I'm going to piss him off. I'll be happy only if I piss him off to death."
Zhao Xiuning really hated Old Man Zhao to the core, because Old Man Zhao had done so many things that wronged them, mother and son.
When Zhao Xiuning was only four or five years old, Mr. Zhao went out on business and brought home a girl who was only sixteen or seventeen years old as a concubine. In those days, it was quite normal for wealthy families to have several concubines, so Mrs. Zhao didn't take it too seriously.
Unexpectedly, this concubine was quite resourceful, making Old Master Zhao completely devoted to her and infatuated with her. If it were just ordinary favoritism, Old Master Zhao wouldn't have cared much, but gradually, Old Master Zhao began to favor his concubine over his wife. If Old Master Zhao hadn't been strong and resourceful, she would have been bullied by the concubine long ago. After this concubine gave birth to a son, Old Master Zhao even more strongly favored them.
Later, when civil war broke out, Mr. Zhao abandoned Mrs. Zhao and her son and fled with his concubine and her son. Mrs. Zhao, a woman, risked her life to negotiate with the warlords, not only saving the lives of Mrs. Zhao and her son, but also saving the entire Zhao family. Even the warlords admired her courage and determination.
A few years later, the war ended and Mr. Zhao returned to the Zhao family with his concubine and her son, and continued to live their lives as if nothing had happened.
One day, a servant of the Zhao family took seven or eight-year-old Zhao Jianan out to play on the street when he was kidnapped by bandits. The bandits sent someone to deliver a letter to Mr. Zhao, demanding money within a specified time or they would kill him. The bandits demanded an exorbitant amount, a sum that Mr. Zhao could not afford in a short time.
The concubine cried bitterly and asked Mr. Zhao to redeem his son as soon as possible. Mr. Zhao was so worried that his hair turned white. Suddenly, he came up with an idea. He knocked his eldest son Zhao Xiuning unconscious and sent him to the bandits to exchange him. He said that this was his eldest son and would inherit the family business in the future, so he would definitely find a way to redeem him. He only asked for more time to let him collect the money so that he could take his younger son back first.
After Mr. Zhao took his youngest son back home, he had no intention of raising money to rescue Zhao Xiuning. When Mrs. Zhao found out, she fainted. After she woke up, she sent someone to get information. Then she dug out the gun she had hidden at the bottom of the box, thinking that if her son didn't come back, she, Mr. Zhao, and the concubine would die together, and no one would live.
Zhao Xiuning was a clever kid from a young age. His mother spent a fortune hiring a martial arts master to teach him, so he knew some self-defense skills. When he first woke up on a mountain where bandits were, he pretended to be terrified, waiting for an opportunity to escape. He managed to escape while the bandits were drunk, but when he reached halfway up the mountain, he was caught in a trap and injured his leg. Fortunately, the anti-bandit army arrived and rescued him, but even after all these years, he still limped when he walked.
Old Master Zhao had done so many things that had disappointed them, mother and son, that Zhao Xiuning's hatred for him had been building up since childhood. Before he met Cheng Wei, his biggest wish was to anger Old Master Zhao to death. After marrying Cheng Wei, his biggest wish became to grow old with her.
Old Madam Zhao hated Old Man Zhao very much, but she refused to divorce him because if she divorced him, the huge family fortune would go to the second wife. Since she married into the Zhao family, she had been filial to her parents-in-law and had children, without any fault. When Old Man Zhao ran away with his concubine and her son, it was she who supported the family business. Otherwise, the Zhao family's mansion and shop would have been seized long ago. Moreover, she knew that Zhang Shufen had always wanted to sit in the position of the main wife for many years, and she just didn't want her to get her wish. She wanted her to be a concubine for the rest of her life.
After dinner, Tao Yuan and Cheng Sheng returned to their yard to rest.
"Did you do it?" Tao Yuan looked at Cheng Sheng and asked. He felt that after Ke Yi came back, he would definitely ask his family to deal with and arrange for the man and their child. Otherwise, their existence would be a landmine that could explode at any time. So he reminded Cheng Sheng early on that what Ke Yi said might be a lie.
"It wasn't me, it was Dad who sent someone to do it." Cheng Sheng helped Tao Yuan sit down on the bed and said, "Although he doesn't care about the Zhao family's affairs on the surface, and rarely enters that house a few times a year, every time he wants to see my grandma, he sends someone to pick her up to live with her. But in fact, my dad specially sent people to keep an eye on that family, and he knows everything they do every day. Firstly, it's because my grandma still lives in that house, and secondly, he has been waiting for the opportunity to completely destroy their family for so many years. So when Ke Yi suddenly came back to marry Zhao Haoyu, he must have sent someone to investigate."
Tao Yuan nodded after hearing this. He could understand Cheng Sheng's father's feelings. If it were him, he would also feel the same hatred and would find ways to retaliate by any means necessary.
Originally, because the weather was getting colder, Cheng Wei asked Cheng Sheng to take Tao Yuan to a hot spring resort to stay for a while. Although it is not suitable to soak in hot springs in the early stages of pregnancy, there is floor heating there, the environment is good and warm enough, and they can come back after the coldest ten days of the year are over.
Because of Ke Yi's incident, Zhao Xiuning wanted to go to the Zhao family to piss off Old Man Zhao, and also take his mother out to live with him for a while, so the whole family decided to go to the hot spring villa and stay there for half a month before coming back.
Zhao Xiuning was so excited that he didn't sleep well all night. He got up early the next day and urged the kitchen to prepare breakfast quickly. After the family had breakfast, Mr. Cheng set off for the hot spring villa first. Tao Yuan, Cheng Sheng, and Cheng Wei, as the younger generation, followed Zhao Xiuning to pick up Mrs. Zhao.
In the Zhao family, Mrs. Zhao had always lived in the main courtyard, while the second branch of the family had always lived in the west courtyard. Zhang Shufen had originally wanted to live in the east courtyard and had even caused a big scene over it, but Mrs. Zhao refused to let them move in, saying that the east courtyard was for Zhao Xiuning, the eldest son, and even if Zhao Xiuning didn't want to live there, it wasn't their turn to move in.
The deeds to many important Zhao family shops were in the hands of Old Lady Zhao. Many of the elderly people who were indispensable to the Zhao family business also sided with Old Lady Zhao, because if it weren't for Old Lady Zhao, they might have died at the hands of the warlords. Furthermore, Old Lady Zhao brought a considerable dowry with her, and now it was indistinguishable from the Zhao family business. Therefore, Old Lady Zhao didn't want a divorce, and Old Man Zhao didn't dare force a divorce. The family fortune was so difficult to divide, and now both of them were trying to wear each other out.
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