Many years ago, Han Yunqi's youngest uncle suffered a stomach hemorrhage due to excessive drinking during frequent social engagements and died, leaving behind his young wife and five-year-old son. His aunt never remarried and has raised her only son alone for many years. She has never missed a family gathering during the Chinese New Year.
As the saying goes, "The youngest son and the eldest grandson are the lifeblood of the old lady." The old lady was heartbroken when her youngest son died. She took good care of her youngest son's only offspring. The old couple's monthly pension was a considerable sum, and they used half of it to help their youngest son's family.
In Han's father's generation, Han Shiping was the third son, but in Han Yunqi's generation, he was the second son. His second uncle's son was the eldest cousin, followed by his eldest uncle's son, the fourth uncle's son, and the fifth son of his deceased youngest uncle.
The eldest grandson is the eldest cousin, and the fifth grandson is the orphan of the youngest son, so the two grandsons of the Han family love the most.
Han Yunqi still remembers that when he was a child, his grandparents would always give the two of them the best food first, and he and his two younger brothers had to wait until they finished eating before they could touch it.
Han Shiping's generation had already experienced the favoritism of the elderly couple. When Guo Mingli first married into the Han family, she was indignant about her in-laws' unfair treatment. However, after the couple went out to work, they gradually came to terms with it. They taught Han Yunqi from a young age that it was their business to give their grandparents' things to whomever they wanted. As a junior, he should take what he wanted, and if they didn't give it to him, he shouldn't ask for it or complain.
Han Yunqi only had the most basic respect for his grandparents.
There was absolutely no affection or longing in him.
He was quite estranged from his uncles and aunts; he even felt that his father's sworn brothers were closer to him than to these blood relatives.
Every time Han Shiping and Guo Mingli came back, their interactions with the elderly couple seemed overly polite, more like distant relatives visiting than close family members.
This might be partly due to Grandpa Han's own personality. Grandpa Han was a rare intellectual of that era, holding the title of senior national engineer. He had enjoyed a life of prestige and was used to being a leader. Even at home, he always maintained a dignified demeanor, and his approach to educating his sons and grandchildren was primarily serious and strict. His interactions with the younger generation resembled those of a superior and subordinate, lacking the affection between father and son, grandfather and grandchildren.
Han Yunqi had never thought there was anything wrong with the polite and distant relationship between his parents and grandparents. Everyone was very polite and never made any mistakes in etiquette, which was fine.
It wasn't until he grew up and learned more, and saw how other families got along so closely, that he realized his own family seemed to lack a certain warmth. Especially after being with Tang Xiaoxiao, the natural intimacy she showed when talking about her family made him feel both unfamiliar and longing.
A true family should be like the Tang family, where parents and children, brothers and sisters can joke and tease each other without any reservations, saying whatever they want without having to think through every word in their hearts to make sure they won't offend the other person before speaking.
In the kitchen, Guo Mingli and her four sisters-in-law were busy. Grandpa and Grandma Han sat on the bed, while Han Shiping and his three brothers sat around the bed on makeshift chairs, chatting like stars around the moon. Han Yunqi and his cousins were in the living room, each with a mobile phone, fiddling with it, occasionally looking up to say a few words. It was clearly a scene of three generations living together in harmony, but Han Yunqi felt empty inside.
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