Free Web NovelChapter 651: Chapter 651: I Don’t Acknowledge Such a Father-in-Law
Tong Fusheng and Mrs. Wang, along with Tong Zhijie, with familiarity, came to Tong Huaqiong’s old courtyard, which was the home of Pandie and Mr. Su.
The gate was tightly locked.
No one was there.
Village families often leave a spare key hidden under a rock or the base of a wall when they go out.
Tong Zhijie habitually went to search for the key under the stones.
He didn’t find it.
The three continued to search through stones, grass, and bricks...
Still, there was no sign of the key.
"If you can’t find it, use a stick to poke the lock," Tong Fusheng said to Tong Zhijie, "Zhijie, you’re familiar with it, you come and poke the keyhole."
They were blood relatives of Tong Pandi, so there was no issue with unlocking her door themselves.
Family doesn’t need to be so calculating.
Tong Zhijie picked up a stick and aimed to poke it into the lock.
"What are you doing? Stealing in broad daylight?" Gu Honglian happened to be passing by Tong Pandi’s house after going to the market and saw three people bending over to poke the door lock, so she called out.
Mrs. Wang and Tong Zhijie turned around.
Gu Honglian recognized it was her sister-in-law’s family sister-in-law and nephew.
Mrs. Wang also recognized Gu Honglian and said with a smile: "Isn’t this Honglian? We came to see Pandie."
Gu Honglian said, "Tong Pandi is at the pig farm, are you trying to steal from her house?"
Mrs. Wang waved her hand and said, "How can you say that? Opening our daughter’s door isn’t stealing."
Gu Honglian rolled her eyes and said: "This courtyard belongs to my sister-in-law, it’s just lent to Tong Pandi temporarily. If you break the lock, my sister-in-law will scold you."
Mrs. Wang awkwardly said, "Your sister-in-law is our Tong Family member."
Gu Honglian said, "Would you dare to say that in front of my sister-in-law?"
Mrs. Wang and Tong Fusheng exchanged a glance and frowned.
Tong Zhijie stopped his hand from unlocking under Gu Honglian’s disdainful gaze.
Gu Honglian snorted and walked away.
Tong Fusheng and Mrs. Wang dared not continue to let Tong Zhijie poke the lock. Since Tong Pandi was at the pig farm, they decided to go and confront her there.
Even though Tong Pandi no longer needed to feed the pigs herself, she still personally went to the pigsty every day to check on the pigs.
Today was the day for mass castration of piglets, so she especially needed to oversee postoperative care.
The private school hadn’t started classes yet, so Mr. Su, holding Hua Er and leading Duo Er, came to the pig farm.
These days, Mr. Su couldn’t bear to be apart from Tong Pandi for even a moment.
When Tong Pandi took a break, Mr. Su considerately handed her a towel and water.
The aunties working at the pig farm saw Mr. Su’s attentiveness to Tong Pandi and, with some envy, said to Liu Qingsong and the other clerks: "You all should learn from Mr. Su, and take care of your wives like he does after you’re married."
Tong Pandi’s face turned slightly red, and her eyes showed a hint of sweetness.
"Pandi."
"Pandie, your father and mother have come to see you."
"Sister, you got married without saying a word to the family."
The sound of the three people’s voices exploded in the pig farm, sounding like ghosts to Tong Pandi.
Tong Pandi asked coldly, "Why are you here? Get out, you’re not welcome here."
Tong Pandi didn’t want to pretend.
As a woman who had been divorced, she regarded face as nothing.
Before she married Mr. Su, she had already told him about cutting ties with her family, and Mr. Su naturally supported her.
Tong Fusheng’s face stiffened, he wanted to harshly scold Tong Pandi, but seeing Mr. Su standing nearby holding a child, he swallowed his words.
Mrs. Wang also held back her anger and said with a smile: "Pandie, are you still mad? Just because we didn’t agree with your divorce, you’ve harbored a grudge for three years. You are a piece of flesh from my body, how could I harm you? Back then, we didn’t agree with your divorce because we thought life would be too hard for a woman alone with two children! We couldn’t bear you suffering. When your father and I heard you remarried, we happily went to the temple to burn incense, and now we rushed to see you."
Not to mention Tong Pandi didn’t believe it, Mrs. Wang probably didn’t believe it herself either.
Tong Pandi said: "You also knew that life would be hard with two children after divorce? Why didn’t you take me back to our family, instead of quickly severing ties with me? Isn’t it just that you’re afraid of being implicated by me? Don’t worry, I didn’t implicate you then, and I won’t implicate you in the future."
Tong Fusheng’s fist clenched, holding back forcefully.
Tong Zhijie was not happy, angrily rebuking Tong Pandi: "How can you be so petty? Our parents raised you, and these years you haven’t cared about them at all, do you look like a daughter? You resent that they didn’t let you return home after the divorce, but have you thought about the impact your divorce had on our family? What village or town has a divorced woman? Yet it appeared in our family, and the whole village mocks us, it even affected my second sister’s and my marriage prospects."
Tong Pandi really is petty, does a family need to be so picky?
They are not holding her divorce against her now, but she is holding it against them for not supporting her.
Regarding Tong Zhijie’s complaint, Tong Pandi’s heart didn’t waver.
Tong Zhijie’s logic has always been incomprehensible.
"Is this something a younger brother should say to his sister? It’s said that failing to teach a child is the fault of the father, if you say your sister ignored your father and mother, it must mean your father and mother did something too much, it’s not my wife’s fault. You say my wife’s divorce impacts you and your second sister’s marriage, but hasn’t your second sister married? As for you not marrying, it must be because you are too useless, and no girl wants to marry you."
Mr. Su took the initiative to defend Tong Pandi, calling her his wife at every turn, attracting the attention of Tong Fusheng, Mrs. Wang, and Tong Zhijie.
Tong Fusheng and Tong Zhijie were not unfamiliar with Mr. Su. Back when Mr. Su was teaching in Yan Guan Town, Tong Fusheng wanted to send Tong Zhijie to study under him, but Mr. Su said Tong Zhijie’s aptitude was too poor and refused to take him.
Mrs. Wang had only heard of Mr. Su’s reputation, but it was her first time meeting him.
She thought to herself, she hadn’t expected Mr. Su to be so young, looking just a few years older than Tong Pandi, standing there as gracefully as a jade tree, without any of the old scholarly demeanor she imagined.
This son-in-law is good, his appearance and demeanor are better than Wu Musheng.
Perhaps having a natural fear of scholars, Tong Zhijie shivered all over in fright at Mr. Su’s stern words, retracting his neck and not daring to speak.
Since Mr. Su opened his mouth, Tong Fusheng stepped forward.
He felt Mrs. Wang was just a woman, and Tong Zhijie didn’t speak well, only he was qualified to have a conversation with his scholar son-in-law.
"Mr. Su... young son-in-law..." Tong Fusheng suddenly didn’t know how to address Mr. Su. He was just a child student, and although he didn’t know Mr. Su’s background, the head of Wanliu Academy had visited three times for him, so his identity wasn’t important anymore.
Tong Fusheng was still thinking up words when Mr. Su directly interrupted him coldly: "Who are you to call me your son-in-law?"
Tong Fusheng looked embarrassed, saying, "I’m Tong Pandi’s father."
Mr. Su frowned and said, "I dare not recognize the father that Tong Pandi doesn’t want as my father-in-law."
Tong Fusheng felt a mouthful of old blood come up.
He hadn’t expected Mr. Su, someone even the head of Wanliu Academy esteemed, to be so lacking in manners.
Listen, is this what a person should say?
It’s too much, far too much.
He’s clearly Tong Pandi’s father, yet Mr. Su wouldn’t acknowledge him as his father-in-law.
Isn’t he afraid that if his students and their parents know his attitude towards his father-in-law, they might question his character as a teacher?
