Shen Yu and Meng Tao opened the door and came out, followed by Xiao Wangcai. They didn't sleep, but just stayed in the space for a while and took a spring bath to relieve their fatigue.

Meng Tao said to Director Shen, "Let them sleep. They won't starve. There are all kinds of dried meat snacks and fruits in the car. They've been eating a lot on the way, so they'll have something to fill their stomachs."

Director Shen smiled and said, "Okay, leave a few dishes for them. We'll eat first. After that, you two should take some time to rest. You have to catch a plane at 7pm."

Master Jiang did not attend the family banquet, but Director Shen packed six or seven pounds of pears, peaches and plums for him, and he was so happy that he took them home happily: he has grandchildren at home, and they really appreciate these fresh little fruits.

After serving food to Xiao Wangcai and letting him eat, the family of three had just sat down at the dining table when the phone rang in the living room. Shen Yu stood up to answer it, asked a few questions, then turned back to Director Shen and said, "The guard said my uncle is here."

"Which uncle?"

"Haishi's uncle, your little uncle."

Director Shen was stunned for a moment: "Why did you come here suddenly? You didn't even call first. Is there something wrong?"

"I don't know. Not only my uncle, but also several members of the Shen family came. It wasn't their first time here. The guard knew them and let them all in after they registered. Afterwards, he remembered to call to let me know. I guess they will be home soon."

Director Shen: “…”

When he heard that someone from the Shen family was coming, his face visibly darkened, and he said, "I'll go meet your uncle, you two don't wait, eat first, Taotao can't go hungry."

Director Shen went out, and Meng Tao didn't really start eating. After all, her uncle was here, and they were of such a high seniority. The food and wine were already prepared, so she should wait for them to arrive before eating together.

Shen Yu poured a bowl of chicken soup, stirred it with a spoon and gave it to Meng Tao to drink.

Meng Tao sipped her soup and asked curiously, "Are the 'Shen family' our relatives? Why did Director Shen react like that after hearing this? He seemed unhappy? He seemed to respect my uncle very much. My younger uncle is here, is my older uncle here?"

"My eldest uncle can't come. A few years ago... everyone thought he was missing, but he actually went to Wanwan Island. My youngest uncle has been keeping this secret. Last year, he had a serious illness and was afraid that he would not recover, so he quietly told the younger generations. My youngest uncle is our grandmother's youngest brother, only eleven years older than Shen Changda, and a calligrapher."

"Wow, calligrapher, this is amazing. The older you get, the more popular you become."

"How powerful is it? Do you mean in the future?"

"Yes, calligraphers, painters, antique appraisers of this era... will be very valuable in the future. Didn't you say that he almost died of illness? Let's see what medicine he needs to take. I bought so many pills from the Chinese medicine store before and stored them in the space. You can find them for him to take, or you can give him some pine needle dew from time to time when he is not paying attention. If he can live to be over a hundred years old, your uncle's family will be very rich."

"My uncle... is Director Shen's uncle."

"That's your uncle too."

“That’s right.”

"You haven't told me yet, are the Shen family members who came this time very close relatives?"

Shen Yu chatted with his wife slowly and put some chicken legs and wings in her bowl: "The story between our father and the Shen family is a long one. I will tell you sooner or later. After you finish the soup and eat the chicken legs and wings, I will tell you."

Meng Tao obediently drank the soup in a few gulps, gnawed on the chicken wings, and listened to Shen Yu telling the story of Director Shen.

Director Shen was born into the Shen family in Hai City, a large family. His ancestors had been high-ranking officials in the court and the family was prominent. By the generation of Director Shen’s grandfather, although no one was an official, the family was still wealthy and prestigious.

Director Shen's father, Shen Jintang, married sixteen-year-old Su Yulian at the age of twenty at the order of his parents. The Su family was also a famous family in Shanghai. Su Yulian was brought up in the old way as a lady, dignified, gentle, virtuous and gentle. A few months after the marriage, Shen Jintang got an opportunity to work in another place. At this time, Su Yulian was pregnant. Mr. and Mrs. Shen were very happy, but worried about the long journey and the discomfort of their eldest grandson, so they did not let Su Yulian follow Shen Jintang to the post, and let Shen Jintang go by himself.

Shen Jintang was also happy with his freedom. He soon fell in love with a lively and pretty female student outside. The female student had attended a foreign school and considered herself a new cultured woman. When she learned that Shen Jintang had a wife at home, she would rather die than be a concubine. She insisted that Shen Jintang divorce the woman at home before she would marry him.

But Su Yulian was still pregnant at that time, and Shen Jintang also knew that Mr. Shen and Mrs. Shen were eager to have a grandson, so he did not dare to bring it up and asked a cousin to help go home to test the waters. Mr. Shen scolded him, saying that no one cared what Shen Jintang did outside, but if he dared to think of divorcing his wife and abandoning his children, he would not have to return to the old house and could go wherever he wanted. From then on, the Shen family would not give him a penny.

Shen Jintang didn't dare to do anything serious. He knew his own worth. He only sought a position for the sake of appearance. The salary was not enough for him to reward his servants. If he wanted to continue to spend money like water like a rich young man, he had to rely on his family for support.

So without telling his family, he took wedding photos with the female student, held a wedding banquet in a hotel outside and invited colleagues and friends, and that was considered a marriage.

After that, they lived in the house outside for a long time, leaving Su Yulian alone in the old house to serve her parents-in-law, support and take care of her brother-in-law and sister-in-law, and raise the young Director Shen.

Director Shen was the eldest grandson of the eldest branch of the family. Mr. and Mrs. Shen loved him very much and named him "Shen Yaozu". They encouraged him to study hard and supported him in private schools, academies and study abroad since he was a child. Mrs. Shen passed away when Director Shen was 15 years old, and Mr. Shen followed him two years later.

Shen Jintang then moved back to the old house with his wife and five children and became the new head of the family.

Director Shen did not complete his studies, and returned to school after attending his grandfather's funeral. He was a progressive student who participated in patriotic movements many times. Once he was arrested by the reactionaries, but was rescued by the organization and allowed to hide temporarily. He went home to visit his mother Su Yulian, and found that Su Yulian was dying, but no doctor was called, and she was moved to a small house in the side yard. All of Su Yulian's previous servants were gone.

Director Shen went to find Shen Jintang to argue, but Shen Jintang instead scolded him for misbehaving outside and ruining the family's reputation, and wanted to punish him. During the argument between the father and son, Su Yulian was worried about her son, and in anxiety she fell off the bed, suffocated and died. She was only in her thirties at the time.

Director Shen hugged his mother in grief, but what chilled him to the core was that Shen Jintang's second wife Duan Meiying did not allow Su Yulian's funeral to be held in the Shen family. Shen Jintang also supported this on the grounds that Su Yulian had been divorced by him more than ten years ago and there was only one principal wife in the family, and that was his wife Duan Meiying.

Therefore, Su Yulian could not hold a funeral as Mrs. Shen. At most, she could be given the status of a concubine, accompanied by a thin coffin, and quietly carried out through the back door!

Shen Jintang's three younger siblings, who had all been taken care of by Su Yulian when they were young, were threatened by Shen Jintang and Duan Meiying and actually tacitly agreed to this approach.

Director Shen was shocked at first, and then angry. He wanted to find the elders of the clan, his cousins, and his brothers to seek justice, and he also wanted to find his uncle. However, before he could leave the house, he was caught by Shen Jintang and locked up. Fortunately, two childhood friends from the neighborhood knew that Director Shen had returned home and made an appointment to come and play with him. When they found out about this, they ran out to tell the adults. Many neighbors, relatives and friends came one after another. After everyone's persuasion, Shen Jintang had to release Director Shen and then report the news to the Su family.

When the Su family came, there was another quarrel. At that time, the Su family had just experienced several changes and had gradually declined. However, Su Yulian's eldest brother was a reporter and had many friends in the entertainment industry. He claimed that he would sue Shen Jintang and report the scandal of the Shen family to the public.

So the clan elders came forward and sincerely apologized to the Su family. They directly blocked Shen Jintang and Duan Meiying, and had respectable and capable people in the clan preside over Su Yulian's funeral. They immediately set up the mourning hall and buried her in accordance with the standards for the eldest lady of the Shen family and the mistress of the household. This appeased the Su family.

Director Shen was saddened by his mother's death and disheartened by his father's ruthlessness and disloyalty. During the entire funeral process, Director Shen remained silent until Su Yulian was buried. He kowtowed three times in front of his mother's grave, then returned to the Shen family's old house and announced in front of the elders that he had severed his father-son relationship with Shen Jintang.

Shen Jintang sneered and said, "Shen Yaozu is the name of the eldest grandson given by our ancestors. If you have the ability, you can also get rid of this name. If you don't want to be a descendant of my Shen family, don't even think about inheriting a single cent of my family business from now on!"

Director Shen nodded: "I know that your son is only three months younger than me. When grandfather was alive, you kept telling others that he was the eldest grandson of the Shen family. You are the head of the family now, and it is meaningless for me to be the eldest son. So, you can take the name if you want. I don't want the family property, I don't want anything. Are you satisfied? Please sign this severance letter. From now on, you are you, I am me, and we have no connection anymore!"

Shen Jintang actually signed it. Director Shen no longer felt anything. His grandparents and mother were gone, and this home was no longer his home. There was no need for him to miss it.

He changed his name to Shen Heping. Two years later, he met Xu Jia. They fell in love with each other so much that they got married. He thought they would live happily ever after until old age. However, God was too unfair to him: misfortune struck. Xu Jia gave birth to a son for him, but lost her life...

After Shen Yu finished telling the story, he took out a handkerchief and wiped the tears from his wife's cheeks: "So many golden beans, they are worth a lot of money."

Meng Tao pinched him and sighed, "Just looking at the surface, you would never have thought that Director Shen would have such a rough fate. It feels like the three of us are really a bit like that - birds of a feather flock together, and those with tragic experiences have come together as a family."

"What do you mean?"

"In our previous lives, weren't we three more miserable than each other? Director Shen is probably dead in a foreign country. I had a car accident, but you were even worse. You flew into the sky and fought a tornado."

Shen Yu chuckled: "The last life is over, in this life, we will be doubly happy."

"Yes, we must be happy forever!"

"Have some of this."

"My uncle and his family will be back soon, so we can eat together when they come."

"My uncle will treat you well. Don't worry about others. Just eat first."

“…”

Suddenly, the iron door made a clanging sound. I could tell from the sound that someone was pushing it with both hands at the same time. The iron door opened wide and hit the brick pillar, making such a loud noise.

Shen Yu frowned, and Meng Tao couldn't help but click his lips. How anxious was he, or was he just in a bad mood because of something unpleasant?

Director Shen's voice came from outside: "Who taught you to open the door like this? What if the door is broken? This is a public building. You have to pay compensation for damaging public property, don't you know?"

No one argued, and after a moment of silence, they soon heard several people entering the yard, running towards the house, followed by three or four delicate female voices, overlapping and intersecting, sweet and soft. Meng Tao was a little confused, but she had to admit that this Haishi accent was really nice:

"Big brother! Big brother, where are you?"

"Big brother, big brother, I'm Junjun, here I come!"

"Brother Yu, I'm here too. I'm Pingping!"

"Cousin Yu!"

"Cousin!"

Before the voice of "brother" had died down, six young people came into the living room one after another, four women and two men, aged between sixteen and twenty years old.

The four girls were all pretty, and the two boys were also good-looking, with regular features, though one of them had a tanned, slightly rough skin.

The six people were stunned when they saw Shen Yu and Meng Tao calmly sitting at the dining table eating, and they turned a deaf ear to their sincere calls, and had no intention of greeting them.

After all, he was a child who grew up in a big city. He had a natural sense of superiority, was confident, and was not willing to be looked down upon. After a short pause, the four girls immediately stepped forward and took turns to question him: "Big brother, we called out to you so many times, why didn't you answer?"

"Brother, I drove a long way to see you, how could you do this to us?"

"Cousin Yu, who is this woman?"

Meng Tao: “…”

Well, the problem has come to me so soon.

Glancing at Shen Yu, he said, "It turns out that besides Xian Fangfang, you have so many other good sisters hidden away."

Shen Yu glanced at the girls who gathered around him and said, "I don't have a sister. I don't know any of them. If I really had such a sister, I would have beaten her out with a big stick long ago. Where's Xiao Wangcai? You can't even open a door. What's the use of you?"

Xiao Wangcai squatted outside the door and barked a few times to defend himself: he was a brave and alert dog. When the iron gate was pushed open by several girls, he rushed over to drive away these rude things, but when he saw Director Shen following behind, he knew that this was Director Shen's guest and he couldn't do anything rash.

After hearing what Shen Yu said, the girls had different expressions. Some of them had red eyes due to grievance, while others became more dissatisfied and wanted to come closer to argue. At this time, Director Shen came in with three men.

(End of this chapter)