Chapter 30: Record of Moving to the City in the 90s. 30

Yu Zexiu’s father didn’t have the surname Yu. He took his biological mother Ms. Zhou’s surname instead, so his name was Zhou Jing.

It was said that when Old Master Yu divorced Ms. Zhou back then, Zhou Jing, Yu Zexiu’s father, was fiercely against it. Unfortunately, Yu Zexiu’s Step-grandmother was a crafty one. She ran off while pregnant, then after giving birth to her eldest daughter, she came back to Beijing carrying the child and secretly sought out Old Master Yu. Old feelings rekindled, and she gave birth to a younger daughter too.

It was the same pattern as before. Once she got pregnant, she ran. After giving birth, she came back again.

At first, Ms. Zhou hadn’t even thought about divorcing, but in the end, that woman actually showed up at her door carrying her two daughters and made a scene.

If there was ever a bolt from the blue, this was it. She had only thought her husband had made a mistake, but who could have known he had fathered two children in a row?

There was no way this marriage could continue.

To Ms. Zhou, that woman was like a foul stone in a cesspit. Ms. Zhou was afraid of dirtying her own precious, top-grade jade, and she truly had been hurt by her husband, so she divorced him.

At the time, Zhou Jing was already in the military and facing a promotion. Because of this, he caused a huge uproar at home. Once his parents divorced, he refused to acknowledge his father anymore, left the army, followed his mother to Shanghai, and without even telling his father, changed his name completely, surname and all.

At that time, Zhou Jing was already dating his current wife, Ms. Meng.

Naturally, he didn’t hide any of this from his girlfriend, but Ms. Meng had never been interested in the Yu family. The one she cared about was Zhou Jing himself.

So what if he no longer acknowledged his father or the Yu family?

In what way was the Meng family any worse?

Zhou Jing was now a real estate developer, and he had started out backed by his father-in-law.

The Meng family was also a large clan. Above Ms. Meng were five older brothers. Three were in politics, two were in the military, and only she and her youngest older brother went into business.

There had never been any divorce between the old couple in the Meng family. Their whole family was unusually harmonious, and naturally, things had gone far more smoothly for them than for the Yu family.

Old Master Yu had actually regretted it long ago, but many things could no longer be undone.

Who knew his original wife better than he did?

Was Ms. Zhou the kind of person who would swallow back what she’d already spat out?

Not a chance.

When he divorced and remarried, part of it was because he simply couldn’t keep his old wife no matter what and refused to back down out of sheer pride.

Old Master Yu held his head high when he divorced. He still held his head high when Zhou Jing and Ms. Meng got married, and when his second son Zhou Jing gained the backing of the Meng family. He didn’t even attend the wedding.

But when Yu Zexiu was born, by sheer coincidence, Old Master Meng advanced another step, and the stars on his shoulders¹ outnumbered Old Master Yu’s.

Old Master Yu was dumbfounded…

In the end, no one knew what Old Master Yu said to Ms. Zhou, but somehow Yu Zexiu ended up taking Old Master Yu’s surname after all.

But his given name was chosen according to the generation naming² of the Meng family’s younger generation, with the middle character “Ze.”

After Yu Zexiu was born, Zhou Jing and Ms. Meng moved back from Shanghai to Beijing and into the Military Compound, while the two aunts born to Yu Zexiu’s Step-grandmother moved out of the compound before they had even come of age.

So what if the mistress successfully took her place?

When your very existence comes into conflict with the family’s interests, you don’t get anything good out of it.

A family of three, with three different surnames. Su Huandan thought to herself, what kind of family had she actually married into?

On New Year’s Eve, aside from the nanny who cooked, the other two nannies were given time off.

The cooking nanny was a woman in her forties. She had been born unable to have children. She had married twice, but both families she married into treated her coldly and exploited her, so both marriages ended in divorce.

Ms. Meng had brought her in. She lived in the little Western-style house and handled all three daily meals. Not only did her cooking suit Ms. Zhou’s tastes perfectly, she also kept Ms. Zhou company, and by now she was practically half a daughter to Ms. Zhou.

Yu Zexiu said that the family intended to provide for this nanny, Auntie Mei, in her old age and see her through to the end of her life. That was something the two of them would take responsibility for.

Su Huandan didn’t mind that at all. When people truly connect heart to heart, then naturally, those who should be looked after will be looked after.

Auntie Mei stayed by Ms. Zhou’s side every day, which was the only reason Yu Zexiu’s family of three could go about their own business. In a way, Auntie Mei had been fulfilling filial duty in place of Yu Zexiu’s family, so of course they should take care of her future.

For the New Year’s Eve dinner, both Ms. Meng and Zhou Jing made a dish, Yu Zexiu also made candied sweet potatoes, and Su Huandan contributed a token dish of pickled mustard fish.

Ms. Zhou was overjoyed.

Every year, the happiest time for her was the New Year. Her other sons never came back here, and only her second son’s family did, so of course Ms. Zhou was happy.

At least she still had a son who cared about his mother, a daughter-in-law who didn’t dislike her, and a grandson who always kept her in his thoughts. That was a good life.

On the afternoon of the first day of the Lunar New Year, Zhou Jing and Ms. Meng hurried off to Yue Province to pay New Year respects to his father-in-law.

They would come back on the afternoon of the third day.

After the fifth day, they would have to head back to Beijing to take care of company business.

This time, it wasn’t just Yu Zexiu’s family and Su Huandan who were leaving.

Ms. Zhou was also moving to Beijing to live there.

She had lived in Shanghai all these years because, in her earlier years, she hadn’t wanted to live in the same city as Old Master Yu. It disgusted her.

Now she was going back because she truly was no longer young. Her close children and grandchildren were all in Beijing, so it was time to return. She couldn’t let them stay in Beijing busy with their own work while still having to worry about an old woman like her.

As for the little Western-style house, one of the nannies who handled cleaning was dismissed, while the one who was good with flowers and plants was kept on to look after the place.

Auntie Mei was also going along to Beijing.

Over by Houhai, across from the marital home Zhou Jing had bought for his son was Zhou Jing’s own Siheyuan. In the past he only stayed there occasionally, but now that he had brought his mother back, he would definitely be returning there every few days.

The moment Ms. Zhou returned, Old Master Yu found out. Then he paced around the house nonstop like a mill donkey turning a grindstone³.

Seeing how restless Old Master Yu was, Step-grandmother sneered. “What, she’s practically eighty already, and you still want to go see her? Who knows how old and shriveled she’s gotten. Even if she was a beauty when she was young, could she still be a beauty now that she’s old?”

As she spoke, Step-grandmother raised a hand and stroked the gold bracelet on her wrist. Having money really was wonderful. Just look at how prosperous and well-fed she appeared now.

And really, she wasn’t even that old, about the same age as Jiang Chunhua. The two daughters she’d borne were only a few years older than Yu Zexiu.

Old Master Yu stopped in his tracks and turned to look at the woman he had married later in life.

They had been together for over thirty years. Even in her youth, she hadn’t been much of a beauty, only young. But how could a young girl ever be the same as the wife who had stood by him through the years?

But once he’d actually had children with her and brought her into the family, he finally saw what she really was.

His ex-wife had been like a cold plum blossom that still bloomed in the dead of winter, carrying its quiet fragrance. The woman in front of him now had no depth at all, shallow, petty, and scheming, only ever thinking about how to stuff more into her own pockets.

How could they possibly be the same?

After the divorce, Old Master Yu felt that not a single day went by without him missing his former wife.

A woman was a woman, yes, but aside from age, the difference in what they were like inside was enormous.

Now that he was old, every time he closed his eyes, all he could see was the graceful smile his former wife had worn in her youth.

As for the one in front of him now?

Heh. If divorce didn’t look even worse at his age, did he think he’d be willing to keep her around?

Her character was bad, and the children she bore were no good either. Both daughters were all show and no substance, not cut out for business at all, yet they were jealous that Zhou Jing and his wife had money and insisted on going into business themselves. They lost everything so badly that even his life savings had been drained away with them.

And if they thought they could come to him to fill their holes again later?

Not a chance!

Translator’s Notes