Chapter 469: Granduncle, Congratulations On Getting Rid Of This Troublesome Life!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Initially, Grandmother Qi figured that Grandmother Chang was an utterly outrageous elderly woman after listening to all those ridiculous stories about her. She wanted to admonish Grandmother Chang but there was no chance of meeting each other, and she could not visit the Chang family for this issue either. She was not a shrew after all.
After that, Grandmother Chang turned out to be Ruan Danchen’s biological grandmother. Grandmother Qi figured she would let bygones be bygones and tried to live together in harmony since they were, no matter what, in-laws. That way, Ruan Danchen would not feel awkward and uncomfortable staying with the Chang family.
No matter how Grandmother Chang disliked Ruan Danchen previously, Ruan Danchen had a different identity at present, and there was no way a grandmother would loathe her granddaughter.
Still, who would have expected Grandmother Chang to behave differently?
Grandmother Chang preferred to express her affection toward a totally unrelated lady than to love her biological granddaughter whom she owed so much after all these years. She tried to frame Ruan Danchen by inducing disgust in the Qi family and even attempted to use Ruan Danchen to bring harm to others without bringing Ruan Danchen’s happiness into consideration at all.
“I wanted to get along with you since you’re Danchen’s grandmother, but after seeing your attitude just now, forget about it! I heard that you believed in Buddha too, so how can someone who believed in Buddha have such an evil mind? What goes around comes around; karma will find you one day!”
Grandmother Qi gritted her teeth in exasperation and felt Ruan Danchen did not deserve this. “Since when did Danchen provoke you until you wanted to ruin her life? You wanted her future to be gloomy and wished that she wouldn’t have a husband and a son who’d love her for the rest of her life. As a family, you merely wanted to be calculative with her. When she’s no longer needed, you’ll send her to a deserted place, and then ask her to marry someone else only when she benefits you. Is there any grandmother on this earth who’d treat her biological granddaughter in this way? You’re a cruel and unscrupulous old woman!”
Grandmother Qi was in so much rage that she pointed at Grandmother Chang’s nose and reprimanded her with fiery eyes. “Let me tell you this: you don’t need to love Danchen and she certainly doesn’t need your respect, so don’t even think of using your identity as her grandmother to oppress her. Do you truly think you’re amazing? You’re merely a speck of dust underneath our fingernails. You’re the only one who’d think highly of herself and assume that she’s far superior than the rest. Stay away from Danchen from now on, and she doesn’t need to visit your house anymore. There’s no need to use your ‘grandmother’ status to command her; we won’t stand idly and let you humiliate Danchen!”
Grandmother Chang’s wicked mind confused Grandmother Qi. Ruan Danchen was the only offspring left by her daughter!
How could Grandmother Chang insist on humiliating her only granddaughter?
It was understandable if Grandmother Chang had zero intimacy with Ruan Danchen since they had not met each other for the past twenty-seven years, unlike the unrelated Chang Jingqiu whom she grew fond of after living together all these years.
Grandmother Chang could treat Ruan Danchen coldly, but to humiliate Ruan Danchen was utterly unacceptable!
Grandmother Chang was ashamed after hearing Grandmother Qi’s rebuke and her cheeks started to flush red with exasperation.
“I’m saying these for the sake of your family! Are you repaying my kindness with such harshness? It just doesn’t pay to be a nice guy after all.” Grandmother Chang refused to admit despite the guilty conscience.
“We don’t deserve such kindness from you. Let me get this clear today: Danchen is my granddaughter-in-law. Whatever you’ve mentioned about Danchen having a harmful force was nonsense to us! I’m alive and healthy right now! My husband, Lao Qi is well and strong too. Danchen and Chenglin had been together for so long, and our family is growing prosperous as the days go by. Danchen even conceived another baby at this moment, so where’s this harmful force that you mentioned? If she does possess such force, I won’t mind if she harms you.” Grandmother Qi smirked.
Grandmother Chang nearly fainted out of exasperation after listening to Grandmother Qi.
How could Grandmother Qi make such an evil curse?
“Okay, okay! I made a mistake by visiting you. My kind advice turned out to be an evil act from a wicked lady. Don’t blame me for not reminding you if your family suffers from bad luck in the future. It’s your fault for not listening to me!” Grandmother Chang nodded vigorously while her body trembled in wrath.
Grandmother Chang turned around and attempted to leave after finishing her sentence, but she was stopped by Grandmother Qi. “Stop!”
“What is it, are you regretting your decision?” Grandmother Chang turned around with slight complacency in her face.
Grandmother Qi gasped in amazement after noticing the smug on Grandmother Chang’s face. It was fairly obvious that Grandmother Chang was suffering from psychosis. Did she think she could make Grandmother Qi regret after blurting out those statements?
“I’m just reminding you to stop speaking nonsense in public. If I hear anyone spreading whatever nonsense you mentioned today in public, bear in mind that we have a bad temper as well,” chastised Grandmother Qi coldly.
“Ha! It’s my mouth. Do you think you can control me when I’m merely speaking the truth?” Grandmother Chang pouted and wore a hideous smile as though she found an idea to disgust the Qi family.
Grandmother Qi shook her head in response; the elderly woman before her was definitely out of her mind and in desperate need of psychological treatment. Was it such a joyful event to damage her granddaughter’s reputation?
Grandmother Chang assumed that the silence in Grandmother Qi was an indication of fear and smugly let out a “humph”. She then lifted her head, all proud and almighty, as she walked toward the door.
Grandmother Chang only realized that Qi Chenglin and Ruan Danchen were present when she reached the living room.
Ruan Danchen’s expression was calm and flat as though she was entirely unbothered by Grandmother Chang’s words.
However, Grandmother Chang assumed that Ruan Danchen was just putting up a show.
On the other hand, Qi Chenglin’s expression was as cold as ice. Grandmother Chang was unfamiliar with Qi Chenglin, or else she would realize that this sort of expression would indicate that something big was about to happen and she should fear it.
“Did you hear what I said just now?” Grandmother Chang asked. The smug on her wrinkled face made her look ferocious like cracks on parched earth.
Qi Chenglin’s expression remained flat as he replied with a deep and calm voice, “Thank you for your consideration for our family.”
Grandmother Chang seemed to have neglected the ridicule in Qi Chenglin’s response. Instead, a hideous smile broke across her wrinkled face that made her appear especially terrifying.
“Since you’ve heard it, best if you can give this some thought. Don’t act rashly due to a moment of anger,” Grandmother Chang said enigmatically.
Qi Chenglin made no attempt to respond further. Grandmother Chang let out a loud “humph” before ultimately leaving the house.
Qi Chenglin and Ruan Danchen walked to the living room and saw Grandmother Qi on the sofa, gulping down two teacups full of tea to calm her rage, all while patting her chest gently as she gasped for air.
The angry Grandmother Qi noticed the duo and asked, “Did you hear what she said?”
Qi Chenglin nodded in response and saw Grandmother Qi pointing toward the door that Grandmother Chang just exited from.
“Why do such people even exist in this world? What could Danchen have possibly done to her and induced such hatred in her toward Danchen?”
“Don’t be angry, she’s not worth it,” replied Ruan Danchen after sitting next to Grandmother Qi.
Grandmother Qi glanced at Qi Chenglin. “I thought I asked you to keep this a secret from Danchen? This isn’t a usual annoyance, and anyone who hears it will feel uncomfortable. Danchen is pregnant now, she can’t afford to have emotional fluctuations for this sort of matter. Who do you think she wants to hurt more after listening to her?”
“I was with Chenglin at that time. Besides, this matter concerns me since it’s related to Grandmother Chang. I can’t possibly be ignorant about this issue.”
Ruan Danchen grabbed Grandmother Chang’s arm and continued, “To be honest, she doesn’t bother me at all and I’m not trying to comfort you. It’s fortunate that I’ve seen her true color before realizing that she’s my biological grandmother. I’m already used to her constant nonsense too, so I won’t feel shocked or sad no matter how she humiliates me. Who does she think she is for my child to get hurt because of her alone?”
Grandmother Qi relaxed in an instant after knowing that Ruan Danchen truly did not take this matter to heart instead of merely comforting her.
Grandmother Qi tapped Ruan Danchen’s shoulder gently and felt sorry for her after recalling Grandmother Chang’s terrible attitude.
“Nonetheless, the Qi family is stained with the likes of Grandmother Chang because of me. If anything like this happens again in the future…”
“It won’t happen again,” Qi Chenglin promised calmly.
Ruan Danchen shifted her gaze to Qi Chenglin, who looked entirely solemn with lips pursed tightly, and nodded in response. What was he going to do? Ruan Danchen made no attempt to ask.
There was no way Ruan Danchen would allow the entire Qi family to suffer because of her alone, thus she did not plan on stopping Qi Chenglin at all. Moreover, she trusted Qi Chenglin to have a sense of propriety and would not drag Chang Zhiyuan along with it too.
Ruan Danchen coaxed Grandmother Qi until her mood lightened before they returned to the company again.
Little did Ruan Danchen know that Qi Chenglin left Qilin immediately after he sent her back to the design department and called Chang Zhiyuan along the way.
After that, Chang Zhiyuan welcomed Qi Chenglin in his office and they had some discussion for over two hours before Qi Chenglin left his office.
Chang Zhiyuan shook his head and let out a heavy sigh. Then, his expression became firm and steady as though he had made a decision.
…
…
Liu Xiangwen was on her way out of the company after visiting Chang Zhixing, all while expressing her dissatisfaction toward him like he was a babe in arms. She had been planning for Chang Zhixing, and yet he chose not to fight with Chang Zhiyuan. Everything was for his own good yet he scolded her just now.
Liu Xiangwen’s expression darkened at the very thought. Her gaze then fixed on a tall and straight figure in front of her.
Liu Xiangwen hurried forward until the man before he exited the building and turned around the corner before she saw the side of his face.
Qi Chenglin!
Liu Xiangwen was frozen on the spot and started her own conspiracy theory.
Qi Chenglin must have come to cooperate with Chang Zhiyuan, and the discussion might involve other matters as well. It was obvious that Qi Chenglin had decided to give his full support to Chang Zhiyuan!
Liu Xiangwen hurried off with a sense of crisis planted deep within her.
A few moments later after Liu Xiangwen left the company, Chang Zhiyuan exited his office and called Mo Yuxin to head straight to Grandmother Chang’s house together.
Mo Yuxin had already arrived and was sitting at one corner of the sofa when Chang Zhiyuan entered the house. On the other hand, Liu Xiangwen sat together with Grandmother Chang and was comforting her softly regarding some issues.
Meanwhile, Chang Jingqiu was sitting in a wheelchair on the other side of Grandmother Chang.
The trio ignored Mo Yuxin, and Grandmother Chang would glare at her from time to time.
Chang Zhiyuan frowned and walked toward them with a darkened expression.
Grandmother Chang glanced impatiently at Chang Zhiyuan. “Why did you come here when you should be at the company at this hour?”
“Mom, did you go to the Qi family manor today claiming that Danchen had a harmful force toward her loved ones?” asked Chang Zhiyuan. His voice was calm like the sea seemingly at peace before the raging storm.
Mo Yuxin’s eyes widened in disbelief as she stared at Grandmother Chang.
What did this elderly woman attempt to do?
What sort of nonsense was a harmful force toward loved ones, and Grandmother Chang even went to the Qi family manor for this nonsense?
“You came back on purpose for this matter and for what? Teach me a lesson? Do you think it’s reasonable for you to ignore the company’s affairs for such a miniature issue?” The annoyed Grandmother Chang glanced coldly at Chang Zhiyuan.
This cleared Liu Xiangwen’s initial confusion. Qi Chenglin actually went to Changhe personally to file a complaint against Grandmother Chang just now.
Liu Xiangwen smirked at the very thought. Did Qi Chenglin truly think he was a capable man?
The furious Chang Zhiyuan smirked. “You think you’re acting reasonably by visiting the Qi family manor to speak such nonsense? What do you think you’re actually doing? I don’t understand you anymore. Do you want them to divorce after listening to you? Then Danchen will be exiled, is that right?”
“I’m merely giving the Qi family a piece of kind advice. Besides, according to Ba-Zi[1], she indeed lives a hard life and brings bad luck to those around her. Since she’s the daughter of the Chang family right now, we can’t possibly let the rumor about her bad Ba-Zi spread publicly, right? What should we do if the Qi family truly faces trouble? We can’t possibly bring harm to others too, and Jingqiu might get involved if others get to know about this.”
Chang Zhiyuan’s eyes were flushed red out of exasperation. “Danchen is your biological granddaughter in any case, and she has never done anything wrong to you. The only problem is that she was never raised under your care for the past twenty-seven years, but this isn’t her fault too, so why do you even insist on humiliating her? Why do you dislike her, and how deep is your resentment toward her? Why can’t you just accept the fact that she lives a good life right now? Tell me! Answer me! Persuade me too, please!”
“Based on Ba-Zi, she lives a hard life and brings bad luck to those around her? Those are groundless superstitions and yet you mentioned them like they were absolutely real. You’re afraid that Jingqiu might get involved, but why don’t you consider your biological granddaughter’s happiness too? You don’t actually have much resentment toward her. It’s hatred that causes you to bring harm to her. You… you…” Chang Zhiyuan hissed through gritted teeth. In the end, words failed to squeeze through his tightly gnashed teeth which were on the brink of shattering under such rage.
“You can stop any form of communication with her if you dislike her so much. What sort of resentment can make you bring harm to her to such an extent?”
Chang Zhiyuan experienced fear after giving this some thought.
Fortunately, the Qi family was reasonable and remained unconcerned regarding superstitions and supernatural events. If this issue happened in other families, they would rather believe it to be the truth than to ignore it. Even though it might sound utterly ridiculous, they would still cast Ruan Danchen out just in case anything bad happened to them.
If the rumor about Ruan Danchen’s difficult life and brought bad luck to others based on Ba-Zi spread to the public, how could she stand firmly in society in the future? Who would be willing to get close to her?
Ruan Danchen would be doomed for her whole life!
Grandmother Chang was trying to bring Ruan Danchen down the drain!
Grandmother Chang even wanted to send Ruan Danchen to a small town in the south and would marry Ruan Danchen to any rival family whom she disliked.
Ruan Danchen was not recognized as Grandmother Chang’s biological granddaughter; she was merely a weapon whom she could take advantage of at will!
Grandmother Chang’s statements sounded ridiculous, but Chang Zhiyuan was fully aware that she meant every single word.
If Ruan Danchen was exiled from the Qi family, Grandmother Chang would definitely proceed as planned at once!
Grandmother Chang’s expression darkened with exasperation. She was rebuked by Grandmother Qi back in the Qi family manor and was scolded by Chang Zhiyuan again at home.
Grandmother Chang felt that her status in the family was threatened at this moment.
“Big brother, I know you like and care for Danchen, but to return home and scold Mom isn’t all too reasonable,” Liu Xiangwen peeked at Grandmother Chang and after noticing the satisfaction on her face. Liu Xiangwen then continued, “I visited Zhixing in Changhe just now and saw Qi Chenglin on my way. I guess he went there personally to complain to you? You threw your work aside and rushed back home to scold mom after listening to him alone, you—”
Liu Xiangwen shook her head. “I’m aware that you’re trying to get along with Qi Chenglin, but you can’t side with him every time!”
Grandmother Chang understood what Liu Xiangwen meant and glared at Chang Zhiyuan annoyingly. “I’m curious too. Since when did your friendship with Qi Chenglin had gotten so close? It was just a miniature issue and yet he visited you personally for complaint. Since you two are so close together, what were you up to when you disagreed on our plan to let Qi Chenglin assist in looking after Changhe? Since he asked you to return home and argue with me after complaining about such a small issue to you, why couldn’t he give more business opportunities to Changhe? The decision of your disagreement came drastically at that time, so I assume that you’re siding with the Qi family right now!”
“Qi Chenglin came to me today for private issues, and what’s wrong with me having a good friendship with him privately? We don’t mix business with pleasure, just like how Qi Chenglin won’t request me to suffer losses so that Qilin can have all the benefits. What am I up to? I’m behaving scrupulously in separating business from private issues.” Chang Zhiyuan squinted and asked, “Are you doubting me?”
“Of course we can’t suffer losses. Our involvement in business is to ensure that we gain benefits, and there’s no such thing as acting considerate on others. Besides, can our family even compare with the Qi family? It doesn’t matter if the Qi family suffers some losses since they’re wealthy. It won’t have much effect on their overall income if they give us one or two business opportunities, because for them, it’s basically a small bunch of sand slipping through their fingers into our hands. We’re different, we can’t afford to suffer any loss. Besides, shouldn’t he help us since we’re families by marriage now? You always mentioned that I treated Ruan Danchen harshly, but never once did she consider us as her family,” Grandmother Chang pouted and complained as if she was wronged.
“Their wealth is none of our business, and we don’t need one or two business opportunities from the Qi family too. Are you imagining that you can upgrade the Chang family as one of The Great Nine Families?” asked Chang Zhiyuan, tired of continuing the argument with her.
Chang Zhiyuan’s statement was meant to ridicule Grandmother Chang, but Grandmother Chang seemed to have the same thought in her mind as well as she started appearing excited, and it grated on Chang Zhiyuan’s nerves even more.
“It isn’t impossible either. Since we’re families by marriage, we should let the Qi family lend us a helping hand in this matter.” Grandmother Chang grew thrilled at the mere thought.
The vexed Chang Zhiyuan mocked, “The Great Eight Families have many relatives. Disregarding the other Great Eight Families’ marriages, the Qi family had planned many marriages with different families such as Grandmother Qi’s family, the Xia family, the Guan family, and each of them is far superior than us. Do you see the Qi family upgrading their families’ status? If the Great Eight Families help every in-laws’ families in their status upgrading, they will be The Great Many Families right now. They didn’t achieve the title of The Great Eight Families overnight, it was thousands of years of accumulations that led them to such a title. If any family can simply reach such height, then the Great Eight Families are no more and don’t deserve respect and envy from others anymore.”
“Mom, stop dreaming about such fantasy and live your life honestly and earnestly. You have everything right now, and more money won’t make any difference in your life too,” replied the mentally exhausted Chang Zhiyuan.
How could he say that there would not be any difference? At least others would respect the Chang family more.
Exactly like Grandmother Qi. She could not summon up the courage to retaliate after getting scolded by Grandmother Qi.
“Why are you even giving me all sorts of excuses? Why can’t you help the company since you’re close to Qi Chenglin? You’ve clearly stated your disagreement twice, are you even caring for the company with all your heart?” Grandmother Chang scolded.
“Mom, what do you mean?” asked Chang Zhiyuan with a frown.
Grandmother Chang pursed her lips tightly and raised her eyebrows slightly before replying coldly, “I know you had registered another private company in public. Even though it’s scale isn’t as big as Changhe, it has grown quite well after you’ve managed it for all these years.”
Chang Zhiyuan figured out what Grandmother Chang meant and scorned while Grandmother Chang continued. “It’s quite possible that you may be transferring some business projects in Changhe to your own company gradually after all these years. I was merely turning a blind eye before this since you’re my son after all, I couldn’t possibly argue with you on this matter. However, greed seemed to have consumed you. Are you thinking about letting your company swallow Changhe?”
Chang Zhiyuan felt extremely disappointed at the elderly woman in front of him. She was his mother, and yet she would speculate his intentions with the worst possible ways no matter how he contributed to this family.
That was enough! Enough!
The disappointed Chang Zhiyuan smirked. “First of all, I set up my private company for Jingwan. I’m fully aware that Changhe will end up in Nannan’s hand in the future, and based on my dear sister-in-law’s mind, there’ll be no place for Jingwan once they take over Changhe. Take a look at recent events; it’s like you have persecutory delusions and every time you’ll find fault in me and even persuade my family to turn against me. I won’t have the ability to protect Jingwan when I grow older.”
“I’m fully aware that you love Jingqiu and Nannan the most. Even the company is prepared for your grandson and has nothing to do with Jingwan at all. I’m getting tired after taking endless blames and your constant calculative minds. I want to take my wife and daughter away to live a peaceful and harmonious life instead of arguing with you. My wife and I set up my company together for years, and every business project is Yuxin’s nephew’s hard work. The money used to set up my company and business projects are totally unrelated to Changhe and the Chang family. To be honest, we took advantage of the Mo family to achieve such success for my company. Before Yuxin’s nephew worked in the Mo family’s company, he worked in mine as an intern to gain experience, so some of the business projects are given by the Mo family out of respect.”
Chang Zhiyuan sneered and continued, “I didn’t touch anything that belongs to the Chang family out of worry that you may assume that I was taking advantage of you, but who knew you had that thought in mind.” Chang Zhiyuan felt dejected when he thought about it.
They were a family, and yet he had to be on guard at all times.
“Since you raised this issue out of worry that I was transferring all the benefits from Changhe to my company, I’ll return to Changhe and submit my resignation this evening. Zhixing will officially take over my position tomorrow and I’ll focus on my company’s management instead.” Chang Zhiyuan then glanced at Liu Xiangwen. “We won’t fight with you in the future. I’ll keep my shares in Changhe and leave the rest to you. From now onward, there’s no need for you to worry about me anymore or make the assumption that I’m trying to seize full control of Changhe by getting close to Qi Chenglin.”
Liu Xiangwen was shocked when she realized that Chang Zhiyuan knew about this too.
“Sister-in-law, I won’t care about Changhe from now on since it isn’t my business anymore. Jingwan won’t enter Changhe in the future too. I used my savings to set up my company for Jingwan so she won’t fight with you, and you don’t need to go against her. Don’t even think about putting a spoke on my daughter’s wheel for Changhe’s profit shares too.” Chang Zhiyuan inhaled deeply as he recalled the conversation he had with Qi Chenglin in the office before coming back home.
“To sum it up, don’t come looking for me for any issues in the future. I won’t care no matter what happens. I won’t gain any advantage if you’re successful, and I won’t help if you face any difficulty. My family will manage my small company and live our lives in peace. If my company faces any trouble, I won’t ask for your help either and certainly won’t ask you to fund me,” Chang Zhiyuan announced coldly.
This statement answered Liu Xiangwen’s question in mind.
Grandmother Chang’s gaze was doubtful. “Are you really willing to give up on Changhe?”
Grandmother Chang mentioned it like he was seizing full control of Changhe by hook or by crook, and Chang Zhiyuan merely scorned in response.
Chang Zhiyuan was mentally exhausted at this moment. He did not expect all his hard work and contributions in the past were considered as a means to seize control of Changhe.
“There’s nothing to be unwilling about, I’m tired too. Mom, if you really trust Zhixing’s ability, let him try. I’ll be truly happy if he can bring the Chang family one step further. We’ll leave if there’s nothing else,” Chang Zhiyuan answered calmly.
Mo Yuxin stood up and walked beside Chang Zhiyuan, planning to leave all this mess together.
Mo Yuxin gave up serving this annoying family a long time ago.
“By the way, Danchen is none of your business too. I’m devoting my full attention from this family issue to the only daughter left by my sister. I’ll hand out Changhe and won’t form a union with Qi Chenglin to threaten you, so don’t even think about humiliating her in the future. From now on, Danchen has absolutely no relation with this family anymore.”
Chang Zhiyuan was fixing his gaze on both Chang Jingqiu and Liu Xiangwen as he spoke.
There was a slight shock registering on their faces despite their desperate attempt to hide it, as expected.
Chang Zhiyuan smirked and spoke to Grandmother Chang coldly, “Danchen is the only connection between this family and Qi Chenglin, and I’ve managed to take some advantage from it. Both of us won’t care about this family from now on, so there’s no need to use the title of the Qi family’s in-laws to blow your own trumpet and damage Danchen’s reputation. Don’t even think about using this relationship to enjoy the benefits Danchen brings while humiliating Danchen at the same time. Don’t blame me for standing up to you when that happens.”
“The others won’t believe you completely when I speak for Danchen as a member of the Chang family. Besides, I’m more reputed than you in public and my words carry more weight than yours.” Chang Zhiyuan squinted; he mentioned this out of worry that these imbeciles might not take his words to heart.
Fortunately, there was anger, reluctance and fear on their faces, which relaxed Chang Zhiyuan. He then walked out of the house with Mo Yuxin.
“Do you blame me?” asked Chang Zhiyuan.
Mo Yuxin shook her head and answered with a relaxed expression, “It feels better to stop caring about them. Besides, even though our company is incomparable with Changhe, we’ll still have enough to sustain our lives. Our quality of life won’t be affected at all.”
Mo Yuxin let out a sigh of relief. “Does that mean I don’t need to come over in the future?”
With a smile, Chang Zhiyuan nodded his head.
…
…
Chang Zhiyuan submitted his resignation letter on the same evening, which brought a huge impact on the industry. Mo Yuxin, Chang Zhiyuan and his assistant, and even Changhe’s human resources department received endless phone calls from reporters for the confirmation of this news.
This news remained unknown to Ruan Danchen, and she had only realized it after reading some unofficial news while surfing the internet at night.
The news mentioned that Chang Zhiyuan submitted his resignation letter in the evening, but Changhe’s staff had no clue regarding this issue and Changhe’s upper management was unreachable too.
This news was posted individually instead of posted by official Weibo management.
However, many reporters posted the same news. This worried Ruan Danchen but Chang Zhiyuan’s phone was unreachable too.
Ruan Danchen wanted to visit Chang Zhiyuan to verify the truth personally but was stopped by Qi Chenglin.
“There’ll be many reporters surrounding his house right now. We’ll be adding more trouble if we visit them at this hour,” Qi Chenglin explained.
Ruan Danchen thus gave up. However, she was worried that she was the cause of Chang Zhiyuan’s resignation.
Grandmother Chang visited the Qi family manor in the morning and Chang Zhiyuan resigned in the same evening? What a coincidence!
It was inappropriate to question Qi Chenglin either since this news was yet to be confirmed.
Ruan Danchen had no choice but to swallow her worry, which caused her to have insomnia. In the end, Qi Chenglin stopped her from rolling around in bed and pulled her into his embrace while speaking with an exhausted voice, “Stop moving around. I have a meeting tomorrow morning. Do you want me to doze off in the meeting?”
Ruan Danchen laid still and tried her best to fall asleep. Then, Qi Chenglin continued. “Trust me, we’ll know if the news is true tomorrow morning.”
Thus, Ruan Danchen was refreshing the news web page repeatedly in the company the next morning.
Suddenly, Ruan Danchen recalled that Gao Xiaoyang was in charge of this sort of news, so she must have first-hand information. Since she could not reach Chang Zhiyuan, at least she could give Gao Xiaoyang a phone call.
At least it was more efficient to ask Gao Xiaoyang than to refresh the web page repeatedly.
Gao Xiaoyang indeed had information regarding this issue, and Ruan Danchen could even hear the hectic commotion from the other end of the phone. “Your phone call is just in time. I just came out of Changhe and the reporters are getting crazy over here. Chang Zhiyuan’s resignation was submitted yesterday and effective immediately, and he passed over his position to Chang Zhixing in front of the company this morning. Chang Zhixing is the director of Changhe now. This is big news, and I’m rushing back to post this news at once.”
“By the way, why did you ask about Chang Zhiyuan?” Gao Xiaoyang asked curiously.
“He’s my uncle,” Ruan Danchen answered truthfully.
“What’s going on? What happened? My instincts told me that Chang Zhiyuan’s resignation was related to you,” Gao Xiaoyang asked as she sensed that something was amiss.
“I don’t know, I wouldn’t come to you if I knew about it. As for Chang Zhiyuan being my uncle, that’s complicated. I’ll tell you next time,” Ruan Danchen replied.
Gao Xiaoyang was on her way back in a hurry to type out the draft and post it as soon as possible, so she hung up the call without asking further.
The official news was announced after a while.
During the interview, Chang Zhiyuan announced his official resignation in Changhe and the intention of focusing his full attention on managing his private company. He also mentioned that his company would have no business conflict with Changhe due to the horizontal competition clause.
After that, it was the official question-and-answer session. Chang Zhiyuan hoped Changhe would be successful despite the fact that he was not involved in it anymore. Furthermore, he denied that it was discord with his family members that led to his resignation.
Chang Zhiyuan merely mentioned that Changhe needed a few changes and he needed his well-deserved rest too. He also wanted to train the youngsters at home after he had devoted his full attention to his private company and would retire for good once the youngsters were experienced enough to take care of the company.
Ruan Danchen received Chang Zhiyuan’s phone call in the afternoon. His voice was calm without any sorrow after getting exiled from Changhe, and he even invited them for dinner.
Thus, Qi Chenglin and Ruan Danchen brought the kid while Chang Zhiyuan and Mo Yuxin brought Chang Jingwan to attend the dinner later at night.
Since they had met with the kid previously, Chang Jingwan would find Qi Youxuan at school frequently and slipped some food to him. Slowly but surely, they became closer together.
The kid seemed to be able to get along well with just anybody. He could play together with Ruan Zeer, and could even enjoy the moment with Chang Jingwan too. Chang Jingwan basically treated the kid like her little brother.
They had decided to have dinner in Shengyue, and since Chang Zhiyuan had nothing to worry about after the resignation, he was the first to reach Shengyue with Mo Yuxin. Chang Jingwan had to attend school and her classes ended much later than Qi Youxuan, who was a first-grader in elementary school. Thus, Chang Jingwan would depart from her school straight to Shengyue.
Chang Zhiyuan had explained the whole situation to Chang Jingwan last night. Chang Jingwan was fully aware of the private company’s existence, so she was not surprised at all and remained calm regarding the fact that Chang Zhiyuan resigned from Changhe. She had accepted this situation calmly, which was unexpected for Chang Zhiyuan.
Chang Zhiyuan was chatting happily with Mo Yuxin when Ruan Danchen and her family arrived. They were talking and laughing without any signs of gloomy mood, and they did not seem to be acting on purpose for Ruan Danchen too.
“What sort of expression is that, like I received unjust treatment after getting exiled. Take a seat, this dinner’s on me.” Chang Zhiyuan laughed.
The kid walked toward Chang Zhiyuan while twisting his buttocks, acting exactly like a piglet.
“Granduncle, congratulations on getting rid of this troublesome life!” The chubby kid made his right hand into a half-fist while using his chubby left hand to hold the right fist in front of the chest, assuming a fist and palm salute[2], which made Chang Zhiyuan laugh in return.
After noticing the kid’s constant playing and joking around, Chang Zhiyuan stroked his head gently. “There’s no need to comfort your granduncle, I’m fine, really. In fact, I feel relaxed right now.”
Mo Yuxin turned toward Qi Chenglin and Ruan Danchen sitting opposite her and said, “You saw how they treated us at the Chang family’s house at that time. Grandmother Chang was indeed biased and focused everything only for Chang Jingqiu and Chang Zhixing. She wouldn’t feel satisfied no matter how good Zhiyuan was or how much he contributed. We’re tired right now. After your uncle realized that Grandmother Chang went to the Qi family manor and spoke such ridiculous words, he went straight to Grandmother Chang. However, she claimed that your uncle didn’t treat Changhe with all his heart, and that he wanted to transfer all the benefits from Changhe to our private company when he disagreed to request for Chenglin’s assistance. The scale of our private company isn’t huge, and its existence is for Jingwan’s good. Based on Grandmother Chang’s attitude, Jingwan will be left with nothing once Zhiyuan retires, and Liu Xiangwen may even bully her too. We might as well give up fighting with them.”
“Both of us are tired. We were getting impatient when they were constantly creating trouble for us, so that was why we used this opportunity to quit Changhe and your uncle wouldn’t continue this thankless task. We can use this time to take care of our private company too. It’s better than to receive doubts despite giving arduous efforts and treating Changhe with all his heart. In the end, Changhe will fall into Grandmother Chang’s grandson’s hands and won’t have anything to do with us anymore, so why do we need to continue being a fool for our pain?”
____________________________________________________________________________
Notes:
[1] The Four Pillars of Destiny, as known as “Ba-Zi”, which means “eight characters” or “eight words” in Chinese, is a Chinese astrological concept that a person’s destiny or fate can be divined by the two sexagenary cycle characters assigned to their birth year, month, day, and hour. Days, hours, months, and years are all assigned one of the ten Celestial Stems and one of the twelve Earthly Branches in the sexagenary cycle. A person’s fortune is determined by looking up the branch and stem characters for each of these four parts of their birth time.
[2] Fist and palm salute is one of the typical Chinese etiquettes with a history of more than 3000 years. Since West Zhou Dynasty (BC 1046-BC 771), people had already used this etiquette when meeting peers (it is said that most Chinese traditional etiquettes originated from Zhou Li, created by the Duke of Zhou in early West Dynasty). In Modern China, fist and palm salute has already been one of the common etiquettes frequently used on traditional occasions. Chinese people show their respect for others through distance, which is different from western people usually showing through physical closeness.
Chapter 469: Granduncle, Congratulations On Getting Rid Of This Troublesome Life!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Initially, Grandmother Qi figured that Grandmother Chang was an utterly outrageous elderly woman after listening to all those ridiculous stories about her. She wanted to admonish Grandmother Chang but there was no chance of meeting each other, and she could not visit the Chang family for this issue either. She was not a shrew after all.
After that, Grandmother Chang turned out to be Ruan Danchen’s biological grandmother. Grandmother Qi figured she would let bygones be bygones and tried to live together in harmony since they were, no matter what, in-laws. That way, Ruan Danchen would not feel awkward and uncomfortable staying with the Chang family.
No matter how Grandmother Chang disliked Ruan Danchen previously, Ruan Danchen had a different identity at present, and there was no way a grandmother would loathe her granddaughter.
Still, who would have expected Grandmother Chang to behave differently?
Grandmother Chang preferred to express her affection toward a totally unrelated lady than to love her biological granddaughter whom she owed so much after all these years. She tried to frame Ruan Danchen by inducing disgust in the Qi family and even attempted to use Ruan Danchen to bring harm to others without bringing Ruan Danchen’s happiness into consideration at all.
“I wanted to get along with you since you’re Danchen’s grandmother, but after seeing your attitude just now, forget about it! I heard that you believed in Buddha too, so how can someone who believed in Buddha have such an evil mind? What goes around comes around; karma will find you one day!”
Grandmother Qi gritted her teeth in exasperation and felt Ruan Danchen did not deserve this. “Since when did Danchen provoke you until you wanted to ruin her life? You wanted her future to be gloomy and wished that she wouldn’t have a husband and a son who’d love her for the rest of her life. As a family, you merely wanted to be calculative with her. When she’s no longer needed, you’ll send her to a deserted place, and then ask her to marry someone else only when she benefits you. Is there any grandmother on this earth who’d treat her biological granddaughter in this way? You’re a cruel and unscrupulous old woman!”
Grandmother Qi was in so much rage that she pointed at Grandmother Chang’s nose and reprimanded her with fiery eyes. “Let me tell you this: you don’t need to love Danchen and she certainly doesn’t need your respect, so don’t even think of using your identity as her grandmother to oppress her. Do you truly think you’re amazing? You’re merely a speck of dust underneath our fingernails. You’re the only one who’d think highly of herself and assume that she’s far superior than the rest. Stay away from Danchen from now on, and she doesn’t need to visit your house anymore. There’s no need to use your ‘grandmother’ status to command her; we won’t stand idly and let you humiliate Danchen!”
Grandmother Chang’s wicked mind confused Grandmother Qi. Ruan Danchen was the only offspring left by her daughter!
How could Grandmother Chang insist on humiliating her only granddaughter?
It was understandable if Grandmother Chang had zero intimacy with Ruan Danchen since they had not met each other for the past twenty-seven years, unlike the unrelated Chang Jingqiu whom she grew fond of after living together all these years.
Grandmother Chang could treat Ruan Danchen coldly, but to humiliate Ruan Danchen was utterly unacceptable!
Grandmother Chang was ashamed after hearing Grandmother Qi’s rebuke and her cheeks started to flush red with exasperation.
“I’m saying these for the sake of your family! Are you repaying my kindness with such harshness? It just doesn’t pay to be a nice guy after all.” Grandmother Chang refused to admit despite the guilty conscience.
“We don’t deserve such kindness from you. Let me get this clear today: Danchen is my granddaughter-in-law. Whatever you’ve mentioned about Danchen having a harmful force was nonsense to us! I’m alive and healthy right now! My husband, Lao Qi is well and strong too. Danchen and Chenglin had been together for so long, and our family is growing prosperous as the days go by. Danchen even conceived another baby at this moment, so where’s this harmful force that you mentioned? If she does possess such force, I won’t mind if she harms you.” Grandmother Qi smirked.
Grandmother Chang nearly fainted out of exasperation after listening to Grandmother Qi.
How could Grandmother Qi make such an evil curse?
“Okay, okay! I made a mistake by visiting you. My kind advice turned out to be an evil act from a wicked lady. Don’t blame me for not reminding you if your family suffers from bad luck in the future. It’s your fault for not listening to me!” Grandmother Chang nodded vigorously while her body trembled in wrath.
Grandmother Chang turned around and attempted to leave after finishing her sentence, but she was stopped by Grandmother Qi. “Stop!”
“What is it, are you regretting your decision?” Grandmother Chang turned around with slight complacency in her face.
Grandmother Qi gasped in amazement after noticing the smug on Grandmother Chang’s face. It was fairly obvious that Grandmother Chang was suffering from psychosis. Did she think she could make Grandmother Qi regret after blurting out those statements?
“I’m just reminding you to stop speaking nonsense in public. If I hear anyone spreading whatever nonsense you mentioned today in public, bear in mind that we have a bad temper as well,” chastised Grandmother Qi coldly.
“Ha! It’s my mouth. Do you think you can control me when I’m merely speaking the truth?” Grandmother Chang pouted and wore a hideous smile as though she found an idea to disgust the Qi family.
Grandmother Qi shook her head in response; the elderly woman before her was definitely out of her mind and in desperate need of psychological treatment. Was it such a joyful event to damage her granddaughter’s reputation?
Grandmother Chang assumed that the silence in Grandmother Qi was an indication of fear and smugly let out a “humph”. She then lifted her head, all proud and almighty, as she walked toward the door.
Grandmother Chang only realized that Qi Chenglin and Ruan Danchen were present when she reached the living room.
Ruan Danchen’s expression was calm and flat as though she was entirely unbothered by Grandmother Chang’s words.
However, Grandmother Chang assumed that Ruan Danchen was just putting up a show.
On the other hand, Qi Chenglin’s expression was as cold as ice. Grandmother Chang was unfamiliar with Qi Chenglin, or else she would realize that this sort of expression would indicate that something big was about to happen and she should fear it.
“Did you hear what I said just now?” Grandmother Chang asked. The smug on her wrinkled face made her look ferocious like cracks on parched earth.
Qi Chenglin’s expression remained flat as he replied with a deep and calm voice, “Thank you for your consideration for our family.”
Grandmother Chang seemed to have neglected the ridicule in Qi Chenglin’s response. Instead, a hideous smile broke across her wrinkled face that made her appear especially terrifying.
“Since you’ve heard it, best if you can give this some thought. Don’t act rashly due to a moment of anger,” Grandmother Chang said enigmatically.
Qi Chenglin made no attempt to respond further. Grandmother Chang let out a loud “humph” before ultimately leaving the house.
Qi Chenglin and Ruan Danchen walked to the living room and saw Grandmother Qi on the sofa, gulping down two teacups full of tea to calm her rage, all while patting her chest gently as she gasped for air.
The angry Grandmother Qi noticed the duo and asked, “Did you hear what she said?”
Qi Chenglin nodded in response and saw Grandmother Qi pointing toward the door that Grandmother Chang just exited from.
“Why do such people even exist in this world? What could Danchen have possibly done to her and induced such hatred in her toward Danchen?”
“Don’t be angry, she’s not worth it,” replied Ruan Danchen after sitting next to Grandmother Qi.
Grandmother Qi glanced at Qi Chenglin. “I thought I asked you to keep this a secret from Danchen? This isn’t a usual annoyance, and anyone who hears it will feel uncomfortable. Danchen is pregnant now, she can’t afford to have emotional fluctuations for this sort of matter. Who do you think she wants to hurt more after listening to her?”
“I was with Chenglin at that time. Besides, this matter concerns me since it’s related to Grandmother Chang. I can’t possibly be ignorant about this issue.”
Ruan Danchen grabbed Grandmother Chang’s arm and continued, “To be honest, she doesn’t bother me at all and I’m not trying to comfort you. It’s fortunate that I’ve seen her true color before realizing that she’s my biological grandmother. I’m already used to her constant nonsense too, so I won’t feel shocked or sad no matter how she humiliates me. Who does she think she is for my child to get hurt because of her alone?”
Grandmother Qi relaxed in an instant after knowing that Ruan Danchen truly did not take this matter to heart instead of merely comforting her.
Grandmother Qi tapped Ruan Danchen’s shoulder gently and felt sorry for her after recalling Grandmother Chang’s terrible attitude.
“Nonetheless, the Qi family is stained with the likes of Grandmother Chang because of me. If anything like this happens again in the future…”
“It won’t happen again,” Qi Chenglin promised calmly.
Ruan Danchen shifted her gaze to Qi Chenglin, who looked entirely solemn with lips pursed tightly, and nodded in response. What was he going to do? Ruan Danchen made no attempt to ask.
There was no way Ruan Danchen would allow the entire Qi family to suffer because of her alone, thus she did not plan on stopping Qi Chenglin at all. Moreover, she trusted Qi Chenglin to have a sense of propriety and would not drag Chang Zhiyuan along with it too.
Ruan Danchen coaxed Grandmother Qi until her mood lightened before they returned to the company again.
Little did Ruan Danchen know that Qi Chenglin left Qilin immediately after he sent her back to the design department and called Chang Zhiyuan along the way.
After that, Chang Zhiyuan welcomed Qi Chenglin in his office and they had some discussion for over two hours before Qi Chenglin left his office.
Chang Zhiyuan shook his head and let out a heavy sigh. Then, his expression became firm and steady as though he had made a decision.
…
…
Liu Xiangwen was on her way out of the company after visiting Chang Zhixing, all while expressing her dissatisfaction toward him like he was a babe in arms. She had been planning for Chang Zhixing, and yet he chose not to fight with Chang Zhiyuan. Everything was for his own good yet he scolded her just now.
Liu Xiangwen’s expression darkened at the very thought. Her gaze then fixed on a tall and straight figure in front of her.
Liu Xiangwen hurried forward until the man before he exited the building and turned around the corner before she saw the side of his face.
Qi Chenglin!
Liu Xiangwen was frozen on the spot and started her own conspiracy theory.
Qi Chenglin must have come to cooperate with Chang Zhiyuan, and the discussion might involve other matters as well. It was obvious that Qi Chenglin had decided to give his full support to Chang Zhiyuan!
Liu Xiangwen hurried off with a sense of crisis planted deep within her.
A few moments later after Liu Xiangwen left the company, Chang Zhiyuan exited his office and called Mo Yuxin to head straight to Grandmother Chang’s house together.
Mo Yuxin had already arrived and was sitting at one corner of the sofa when Chang Zhiyuan entered the house. On the other hand, Liu Xiangwen sat together with Grandmother Chang and was comforting her softly regarding some issues.
Meanwhile, Chang Jingqiu was sitting in a wheelchair on the other side of Grandmother Chang.
The trio ignored Mo Yuxin, and Grandmother Chang would glare at her from time to time.
Chang Zhiyuan frowned and walked toward them with a darkened expression.
Grandmother Chang glanced impatiently at Chang Zhiyuan. “Why did you come here when you should be at the company at this hour?”
“Mom, did you go to the Qi family manor today claiming that Danchen had a harmful force toward her loved ones?” asked Chang Zhiyuan. His voice was calm like the sea seemingly at peace before the raging storm.
Mo Yuxin’s eyes widened in disbelief as she stared at Grandmother Chang.
What did this elderly woman attempt to do?
What sort of nonsense was a harmful force toward loved ones, and Grandmother Chang even went to the Qi family manor for this nonsense?
“You came back on purpose for this matter and for what? Teach me a lesson? Do you think it’s reasonable for you to ignore the company’s affairs for such a miniature issue?” The annoyed Grandmother Chang glanced coldly at Chang Zhiyuan.
This cleared Liu Xiangwen’s initial confusion. Qi Chenglin actually went to Changhe personally to file a complaint against Grandmother Chang just now.
Liu Xiangwen smirked at the very thought. Did Qi Chenglin truly think he was a capable man?
The furious Chang Zhiyuan smirked. “You think you’re acting reasonably by visiting the Qi family manor to speak such nonsense? What do you think you’re actually doing? I don’t understand you anymore. Do you want them to divorce after listening to you? Then Danchen will be exiled, is that right?”
“I’m merely giving the Qi family a piece of kind advice. Besides, according to Ba-Zi[1], she indeed lives a hard life and brings bad luck to those around her. Since she’s the daughter of the Chang family right now, we can’t possibly let the rumor about her bad Ba-Zi spread publicly, right? What should we do if the Qi family truly faces trouble? We can’t possibly bring harm to others too, and Jingqiu might get involved if others get to know about this.”
Chang Zhiyuan’s eyes were flushed red out of exasperation. “Danchen is your biological granddaughter in any case, and she has never done anything wrong to you. The only problem is that she was never raised under your care for the past twenty-seven years, but this isn’t her fault too, so why do you even insist on humiliating her? Why do you dislike her, and how deep is your resentment toward her? Why can’t you just accept the fact that she lives a good life right now? Tell me! Answer me! Persuade me too, please!”
“Based on Ba-Zi, she lives a hard life and brings bad luck to those around her? Those are groundless superstitions and yet you mentioned them like they were absolutely real. You’re afraid that Jingqiu might get involved, but why don’t you consider your biological granddaughter’s happiness too? You don’t actually have much resentment toward her. It’s hatred that causes you to bring harm to her. You… you…” Chang Zhiyuan hissed through gritted teeth. In the end, words failed to squeeze through his tightly gnashed teeth which were on the brink of shattering under such rage.
“You can stop any form of communication with her if you dislike her so much. What sort of resentment can make you bring harm to her to such an extent?”
Chang Zhiyuan experienced fear after giving this some thought.
Fortunately, the Qi family was reasonable and remained unconcerned regarding superstitions and supernatural events. If this issue happened in other families, they would rather believe it to be the truth than to ignore it. Even though it might sound utterly ridiculous, they would still cast Ruan Danchen out just in case anything bad happened to them.
If the rumor about Ruan Danchen’s difficult life and brought bad luck to others based on Ba-Zi spread to the public, how could she stand firmly in society in the future? Who would be willing to get close to her?
Ruan Danchen would be doomed for her whole life!
Grandmother Chang was trying to bring Ruan Danchen down the drain!
Grandmother Chang even wanted to send Ruan Danchen to a small town in the south and would marry Ruan Danchen to any rival family whom she disliked.
Ruan Danchen was not recognized as Grandmother Chang’s biological granddaughter; she was merely a weapon whom she could take advantage of at will!
Grandmother Chang’s statements sounded ridiculous, but Chang Zhiyuan was fully aware that she meant every single word.
If Ruan Danchen was exiled from the Qi family, Grandmother Chang would definitely proceed as planned at once!
Grandmother Chang’s expression darkened with exasperation. She was rebuked by Grandmother Qi back in the Qi family manor and was scolded by Chang Zhiyuan again at home.
Grandmother Chang felt that her status in the family was threatened at this moment.
“Big brother, I know you like and care for Danchen, but to return home and scold Mom isn’t all too reasonable,” Liu Xiangwen peeked at Grandmother Chang and after noticing the satisfaction on her face. Liu Xiangwen then continued, “I visited Zhixing in Changhe just now and saw Qi Chenglin on my way. I guess he went there personally to complain to you? You threw your work aside and rushed back home to scold mom after listening to him alone, you—”
Liu Xiangwen shook her head. “I’m aware that you’re trying to get along with Qi Chenglin, but you can’t side with him every time!”
Grandmother Chang understood what Liu Xiangwen meant and glared at Chang Zhiyuan annoyingly. “I’m curious too. Since when did your friendship with Qi Chenglin had gotten so close? It was just a miniature issue and yet he visited you personally for complaint. Since you two are so close together, what were you up to when you disagreed on our plan to let Qi Chenglin assist in looking after Changhe? Since he asked you to return home and argue with me after complaining about such a small issue to you, why couldn’t he give more business opportunities to Changhe? The decision of your disagreement came drastically at that time, so I assume that you’re siding with the Qi family right now!”
“Qi Chenglin came to me today for private issues, and what’s wrong with me having a good friendship with him privately? We don’t mix business with pleasure, just like how Qi Chenglin won’t request me to suffer losses so that Qilin can have all the benefits. What am I up to? I’m behaving scrupulously in separating business from private issues.” Chang Zhiyuan squinted and asked, “Are you doubting me?”
“Of course we can’t suffer losses. Our involvement in business is to ensure that we gain benefits, and there’s no such thing as acting considerate on others. Besides, can our family even compare with the Qi family? It doesn’t matter if the Qi family suffers some losses since they’re wealthy. It won’t have much effect on their overall income if they give us one or two business opportunities, because for them, it’s basically a small bunch of sand slipping through their fingers into our hands. We’re different, we can’t afford to suffer any loss. Besides, shouldn’t he help us since we’re families by marriage now? You always mentioned that I treated Ruan Danchen harshly, but never once did she consider us as her family,” Grandmother Chang pouted and complained as if she was wronged.
“Their wealth is none of our business, and we don’t need one or two business opportunities from the Qi family too. Are you imagining that you can upgrade the Chang family as one of The Great Nine Families?” asked Chang Zhiyuan, tired of continuing the argument with her.
Chang Zhiyuan’s statement was meant to ridicule Grandmother Chang, but Grandmother Chang seemed to have the same thought in her mind as well as she started appearing excited, and it grated on Chang Zhiyuan’s nerves even more.
“It isn’t impossible either. Since we’re families by marriage, we should let the Qi family lend us a helping hand in this matter.” Grandmother Chang grew thrilled at the mere thought.
The vexed Chang Zhiyuan mocked, “The Great Eight Families have many relatives. Disregarding the other Great Eight Families’ marriages, the Qi family had planned many marriages with different families such as Grandmother Qi’s family, the Xia family, the Guan family, and each of them is far superior than us. Do you see the Qi family upgrading their families’ status? If the Great Eight Families help every in-laws’ families in their status upgrading, they will be The Great Many Families right now. They didn’t achieve the title of The Great Eight Families overnight, it was thousands of years of accumulations that led them to such a title. If any family can simply reach such height, then the Great Eight Families are no more and don’t deserve respect and envy from others anymore.”
“Mom, stop dreaming about such fantasy and live your life honestly and earnestly. You have everything right now, and more money won’t make any difference in your life too,” replied the mentally exhausted Chang Zhiyuan.
How could he say that there would not be any difference? At least others would respect the Chang family more.
Exactly like Grandmother Qi. She could not summon up the courage to retaliate after getting scolded by Grandmother Qi.
“Why are you even giving me all sorts of excuses? Why can’t you help the company since you’re close to Qi Chenglin? You’ve clearly stated your disagreement twice, are you even caring for the company with all your heart?” Grandmother Chang scolded.
“Mom, what do you mean?” asked Chang Zhiyuan with a frown.
Grandmother Chang pursed her lips tightly and raised her eyebrows slightly before replying coldly, “I know you had registered another private company in public. Even though it’s scale isn’t as big as Changhe, it has grown quite well after you’ve managed it for all these years.”
Chang Zhiyuan figured out what Grandmother Chang meant and scorned while Grandmother Chang continued. “It’s quite possible that you may be transferring some business projects in Changhe to your own company gradually after all these years. I was merely turning a blind eye before this since you’re my son after all, I couldn’t possibly argue with you on this matter. However, greed seemed to have consumed you. Are you thinking about letting your company swallow Changhe?”
Chang Zhiyuan felt extremely disappointed at the elderly woman in front of him. She was his mother, and yet she would speculate his intentions with the worst possible ways no matter how he contributed to this family.
That was enough! Enough!
The disappointed Chang Zhiyuan smirked. “First of all, I set up my private company for Jingwan. I’m fully aware that Changhe will end up in Nannan’s hand in the future, and based on my dear sister-in-law’s mind, there’ll be no place for Jingwan once they take over Changhe. Take a look at recent events; it’s like you have persecutory delusions and every time you’ll find fault in me and even persuade my family to turn against me. I won’t have the ability to protect Jingwan when I grow older.”
“I’m fully aware that you love Jingqiu and Nannan the most. Even the company is prepared for your grandson and has nothing to do with Jingwan at all. I’m getting tired after taking endless blames and your constant calculative minds. I want to take my wife and daughter away to live a peaceful and harmonious life instead of arguing with you. My wife and I set up my company together for years, and every business project is Yuxin’s nephew’s hard work. The money used to set up my company and business projects are totally unrelated to Changhe and the Chang family. To be honest, we took advantage of the Mo family to achieve such success for my company. Before Yuxin’s nephew worked in the Mo family’s company, he worked in mine as an intern to gain experience, so some of the business projects are given by the Mo family out of respect.”
Chang Zhiyuan sneered and continued, “I didn’t touch anything that belongs to the Chang family out of worry that you may assume that I was taking advantage of you, but who knew you had that thought in mind.” Chang Zhiyuan felt dejected when he thought about it.
They were a family, and yet he had to be on guard at all times.
“Since you raised this issue out of worry that I was transferring all the benefits from Changhe to my company, I’ll return to Changhe and submit my resignation this evening. Zhixing will officially take over my position tomorrow and I’ll focus on my company’s management instead.” Chang Zhiyuan then glanced at Liu Xiangwen. “We won’t fight with you in the future. I’ll keep my shares in Changhe and leave the rest to you. From now onward, there’s no need for you to worry about me anymore or make the assumption that I’m trying to seize full control of Changhe by getting close to Qi Chenglin.”
Liu Xiangwen was shocked when she realized that Chang Zhiyuan knew about this too.
“Sister-in-law, I won’t care about Changhe from now on since it isn’t my business anymore. Jingwan won’t enter Changhe in the future too. I used my savings to set up my company for Jingwan so she won’t fight with you, and you don’t need to go against her. Don’t even think about putting a spoke on my daughter’s wheel for Changhe’s profit shares too.” Chang Zhiyuan inhaled deeply as he recalled the conversation he had with Qi Chenglin in the office before coming back home.
“To sum it up, don’t come looking for me for any issues in the future. I won’t care no matter what happens. I won’t gain any advantage if you’re successful, and I won’t help if you face any difficulty. My family will manage my small company and live our lives in peace. If my company faces any trouble, I won’t ask for your help either and certainly won’t ask you to fund me,” Chang Zhiyuan announced coldly.
This statement answered Liu Xiangwen’s question in mind.
Grandmother Chang’s gaze was doubtful. “Are you really willing to give up on Changhe?”
Grandmother Chang mentioned it like he was seizing full control of Changhe by hook or by crook, and Chang Zhiyuan merely scorned in response.
Chang Zhiyuan was mentally exhausted at this moment. He did not expect all his hard work and contributions in the past were considered as a means to seize control of Changhe.
“There’s nothing to be unwilling about, I’m tired too. Mom, if you really trust Zhixing’s ability, let him try. I’ll be truly happy if he can bring the Chang family one step further. We’ll leave if there’s nothing else,” Chang Zhiyuan answered calmly.
Mo Yuxin stood up and walked beside Chang Zhiyuan, planning to leave all this mess together.
Mo Yuxin gave up serving this annoying family a long time ago.
“By the way, Danchen is none of your business too. I’m devoting my full attention from this family issue to the only daughter left by my sister. I’ll hand out Changhe and won’t form a union with Qi Chenglin to threaten you, so don’t even think about humiliating her in the future. From now on, Danchen has absolutely no relation with this family anymore.”
Chang Zhiyuan was fixing his gaze on both Chang Jingqiu and Liu Xiangwen as he spoke.
There was a slight shock registering on their faces despite their desperate attempt to hide it, as expected.
Chang Zhiyuan smirked and spoke to Grandmother Chang coldly, “Danchen is the only connection between this family and Qi Chenglin, and I’ve managed to take some advantage from it. Both of us won’t care about this family from now on, so there’s no need to use the title of the Qi family’s in-laws to blow your own trumpet and damage Danchen’s reputation. Don’t even think about using this relationship to enjoy the benefits Danchen brings while humiliating Danchen at the same time. Don’t blame me for standing up to you when that happens.”
“The others won’t believe you completely when I speak for Danchen as a member of the Chang family. Besides, I’m more reputed than you in public and my words carry more weight than yours.” Chang Zhiyuan squinted; he mentioned this out of worry that these imbeciles might not take his words to heart.
Fortunately, there was anger, reluctance and fear on their faces, which relaxed Chang Zhiyuan. He then walked out of the house with Mo Yuxin.
“Do you blame me?” asked Chang Zhiyuan.
Mo Yuxin shook her head and answered with a relaxed expression, “It feels better to stop caring about them. Besides, even though our company is incomparable with Changhe, we’ll still have enough to sustain our lives. Our quality of life won’t be affected at all.”
Mo Yuxin let out a sigh of relief. “Does that mean I don’t need to come over in the future?”
With a smile, Chang Zhiyuan nodded his head.
…
…
Chang Zhiyuan submitted his resignation letter on the same evening, which brought a huge impact on the industry. Mo Yuxin, Chang Zhiyuan and his assistant, and even Changhe’s human resources department received endless phone calls from reporters for the confirmation of this news.
This news remained unknown to Ruan Danchen, and she had only realized it after reading some unofficial news while surfing the internet at night.
The news mentioned that Chang Zhiyuan submitted his resignation letter in the evening, but Changhe’s staff had no clue regarding this issue and Changhe’s upper management was unreachable too.
This news was posted individually instead of posted by official Weibo management.
However, many reporters posted the same news. This worried Ruan Danchen but Chang Zhiyuan’s phone was unreachable too.
Ruan Danchen wanted to visit Chang Zhiyuan to verify the truth personally but was stopped by Qi Chenglin.
“There’ll be many reporters surrounding his house right now. We’ll be adding more trouble if we visit them at this hour,” Qi Chenglin explained.
Ruan Danchen thus gave up. However, she was worried that she was the cause of Chang Zhiyuan’s resignation.
Grandmother Chang visited the Qi family manor in the morning and Chang Zhiyuan resigned in the same evening? What a coincidence!
It was inappropriate to question Qi Chenglin either since this news was yet to be confirmed.
Ruan Danchen had no choice but to swallow her worry, which caused her to have insomnia. In the end, Qi Chenglin stopped her from rolling around in bed and pulled her into his embrace while speaking with an exhausted voice, “Stop moving around. I have a meeting tomorrow morning. Do you want me to doze off in the meeting?”
Ruan Danchen laid still and tried her best to fall asleep. Then, Qi Chenglin continued. “Trust me, we’ll know if the news is true tomorrow morning.”
Thus, Ruan Danchen was refreshing the news web page repeatedly in the company the next morning.
Suddenly, Ruan Danchen recalled that Gao Xiaoyang was in charge of this sort of news, so she must have first-hand information. Since she could not reach Chang Zhiyuan, at least she could give Gao Xiaoyang a phone call.
At least it was more efficient to ask Gao Xiaoyang than to refresh the web page repeatedly.
Gao Xiaoyang indeed had information regarding this issue, and Ruan Danchen could even hear the hectic commotion from the other end of the phone. “Your phone call is just in time. I just came out of Changhe and the reporters are getting crazy over here. Chang Zhiyuan’s resignation was submitted yesterday and effective immediately, and he passed over his position to Chang Zhixing in front of the company this morning. Chang Zhixing is the director of Changhe now. This is big news, and I’m rushing back to post this news at once.”
“By the way, why did you ask about Chang Zhiyuan?” Gao Xiaoyang asked curiously.
“He’s my uncle,” Ruan Danchen answered truthfully.
“What’s going on? What happened? My instincts told me that Chang Zhiyuan’s resignation was related to you,” Gao Xiaoyang asked as she sensed that something was amiss.
“I don’t know, I wouldn’t come to you if I knew about it. As for Chang Zhiyuan being my uncle, that’s complicated. I’ll tell you next time,” Ruan Danchen replied.
Gao Xiaoyang was on her way back in a hurry to type out the draft and post it as soon as possible, so she hung up the call without asking further.
The official news was announced after a while.
During the interview, Chang Zhiyuan announced his official resignation in Changhe and the intention of focusing his full attention on managing his private company. He also mentioned that his company would have no business conflict with Changhe due to the horizontal competition clause.
After that, it was the official question-and-answer session. Chang Zhiyuan hoped Changhe would be successful despite the fact that he was not involved in it anymore. Furthermore, he denied that it was discord with his family members that led to his resignation.
Chang Zhiyuan merely mentioned that Changhe needed a few changes and he needed his well-deserved rest too. He also wanted to train the youngsters at home after he had devoted his full attention to his private company and would retire for good once the youngsters were experienced enough to take care of the company.
Ruan Danchen received Chang Zhiyuan’s phone call in the afternoon. His voice was calm without any sorrow after getting exiled from Changhe, and he even invited them for dinner.
Thus, Qi Chenglin and Ruan Danchen brought the kid while Chang Zhiyuan and Mo Yuxin brought Chang Jingwan to attend the dinner later at night.
Since they had met with the kid previously, Chang Jingwan would find Qi Youxuan at school frequently and slipped some food to him. Slowly but surely, they became closer together.
The kid seemed to be able to get along well with just anybody. He could play together with Ruan Zeer, and could even enjoy the moment with Chang Jingwan too. Chang Jingwan basically treated the kid like her little brother.
They had decided to have dinner in Shengyue, and since Chang Zhiyuan had nothing to worry about after the resignation, he was the first to reach Shengyue with Mo Yuxin. Chang Jingwan had to attend school and her classes ended much later than Qi Youxuan, who was a first-grader in elementary school. Thus, Chang Jingwan would depart from her school straight to Shengyue.
Chang Zhiyuan had explained the whole situation to Chang Jingwan last night. Chang Jingwan was fully aware of the private company’s existence, so she was not surprised at all and remained calm regarding the fact that Chang Zhiyuan resigned from Changhe. She had accepted this situation calmly, which was unexpected for Chang Zhiyuan.
Chang Zhiyuan was chatting happily with Mo Yuxin when Ruan Danchen and her family arrived. They were talking and laughing without any signs of gloomy mood, and they did not seem to be acting on purpose for Ruan Danchen too.
“What sort of expression is that, like I received unjust treatment after getting exiled. Take a seat, this dinner’s on me.” Chang Zhiyuan laughed.
The kid walked toward Chang Zhiyuan while twisting his buttocks, acting exactly like a piglet.
“Granduncle, congratulations on getting rid of this troublesome life!” The chubby kid made his right hand into a half-fist while using his chubby left hand to hold the right fist in front of the chest, assuming a fist and palm salute[2], which made Chang Zhiyuan laugh in return.
After noticing the kid’s constant playing and joking around, Chang Zhiyuan stroked his head gently. “There’s no need to comfort your granduncle, I’m fine, really. In fact, I feel relaxed right now.”
Mo Yuxin turned toward Qi Chenglin and Ruan Danchen sitting opposite her and said, “You saw how they treated us at the Chang family’s house at that time. Grandmother Chang was indeed biased and focused everything only for Chang Jingqiu and Chang Zhixing. She wouldn’t feel satisfied no matter how good Zhiyuan was or how much he contributed. We’re tired right now. After your uncle realized that Grandmother Chang went to the Qi family manor and spoke such ridiculous words, he went straight to Grandmother Chang. However, she claimed that your uncle didn’t treat Changhe with all his heart, and that he wanted to transfer all the benefits from Changhe to our private company when he disagreed to request for Chenglin’s assistance. The scale of our private company isn’t huge, and its existence is for Jingwan’s good. Based on Grandmother Chang’s attitude, Jingwan will be left with nothing once Zhiyuan retires, and Liu Xiangwen may even bully her too. We might as well give up fighting with them.”
“Both of us are tired. We were getting impatient when they were constantly creating trouble for us, so that was why we used this opportunity to quit Changhe and your uncle wouldn’t continue this thankless task. We can use this time to take care of our private company too. It’s better than to receive doubts despite giving arduous efforts and treating Changhe with all his heart. In the end, Changhe will fall into Grandmother Chang’s grandson’s hands and won’t have anything to do with us anymore, so why do we need to continue being a fool for our pain?”
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Notes:
[1] The Four Pillars of Destiny, as known as “Ba-Zi”, which means “eight characters” or “eight words” in Chinese, is a Chinese astrological concept that a person’s destiny or fate can be divined by the two sexagenary cycle characters assigned to their birth year, month, day, and hour. Days, hours, months, and years are all assigned one of the ten Celestial Stems and one of the twelve Earthly Branches in the sexagenary cycle. A person’s fortune is determined by looking up the branch and stem characters for each of these four parts of their birth time.
[2] Fist and palm salute is one of the typical Chinese etiquettes with a history of more than 3000 years. Since West Zhou Dynasty (BC 1046-BC 771), people had already used this etiquette when meeting peers (it is said that most Chinese traditional etiquettes originated from Zhou Li, created by the Duke of Zhou in early West Dynasty). In Modern China, fist and palm salute has already been one of the common etiquettes frequently used on traditional occasions. Chinese people show their respect for others through distance, which is different from western people usually showing through physical closeness.
