Chapter 510
Su Xiaoxiao and Jiang Yexun sat with Grandpa Zhang and Granny Wang for a while longer, chatting, but didn’t stay for dinner. By the afternoon, they returned to their guesthouse.
Once back, they handed over the Whitening Pill and Moisture Pill to the service staff at the guesthouse and exchanged a few thousand yuan. Then they made a quick call to confirm Aunt Guo had arrived safely.
Jiang Yexun also made a call to a friend he had in Beijing, discussing a few matters before finally taking Su Xiaoxiao out to eat the lamb hot pot she had been craving.
Meanwhile, things at the Zhang family were on the verge of exploding.
“I told you, I’m not going to the border! Even though you are my father and grandfather, you have no right to decide what my future job will be!” Zhang Hanyu shouted angrily when he heard that not only was he being sent to the border, but that after the assignment, he was to be sent to Yun Province.
It didn’t take much to learn that Yun Province was a dangerous place, and as the only son of the Zhang family, Zhang Hanyu didn’t want to endure such hardship, especially when he hadn’t been able to benefit from the family’s power. He couldn’t understand why he was being sent to endure hardships others didn’t have to face.
Zhang Zhiyuan frowned, watching his son throw a tantrum in front of him. He slammed his teacup down onto the table, his anger evident.
“Is this how you speak to your elders?”
Zhang Hanyu trembled slightly, but still held his ground, raising his voice. “You’ve gone too far! I understand if you don’t want to use your connections to give me a better future—that’s your principle. But why do you have to use your connections to send me to the most difficult and dangerous places? Even if I had enlisted myself, it wouldn’t have been such a terrible assignment with borders and Yun Province. Do you think this is fair? This is nothing but abusing your privileges!”
“Hanyu! How can you speak to your grandfather and father like that?” Peng Huijing shouted, furious.
Zhang Xiyue immediately chimed in, “My brother isn’t wrong. If others sign up, they don’t face this kind of hardship, so why should my brother be sent to the toughest and most dangerous places?!”
“So now both of you have complaints?” Zhang Zhiyuan’s gaze turned cold as he fixed his eyes on his two children. His gaze lingered particularly on Peng Huijing, filled with distaste.
“Don’t start pretending now. Hanyu already said so much, and if you wanted to stop him, you could have done it earlier. Why wait until he finishes speaking to start scolding him?” Zhang Zhiyuan’s voice was stern, mocking even.
Peng Huijing’s eyes widened in shock, looking at him as if she had been hurt. She knew her husband had only ever had eyes for his late wife. He had never cared for her much, let alone formed any emotional connection with her. She had always been conscious of how she had become his wife and had never really held a deep affection for him either.
But no matter how angry she had been before, she had always been able to confront him in private, behind closed doors. This was the first time he had humiliated her so publicly.
Zhang Hanyu immediately stepped forward and placed himself between his mother and Zhang Zhiyuan, protecting her.
“What’s wrong with my mom? If the Peng family were stronger than the Zhang family, would you have ignored everything my mom has done for the family all these years?” he snapped.
“What has she contributed?” Zhang Zhiyuan’s voice was cold as he glared at his son, as if his own son was nothing more than a nuisance to him.
Zhang Zhiyuan couldn’t help but feel that having a bun was easier than raising this son. But he had to admit, Peng Huijing was something else. She didn’t raise the kids on her own, but she had managed to teach them to be so foolish, self-centered, and calculating.
“How can you say that, Dad? You barely come home, and Mom has been taking care of everything inside and outside the house!” Zhang Xiyue glared fiercely at her father, trying to argue.
Before Zhang Zhiyuan could respond, Granny Wang let out a mocking laugh. “There’s Aunt Lin to take care of things at home. She does the laundry, cooking, even buys groceries every day. You two drank formula milk when you were babies, did you forget that? Outside, the Zhang family doesn’t need her to take care of anything; as long as she does her job, that’s enough. What has she done under the Zhang family name? If we investigate properly, I’m afraid you’ll end up visiting her in jail.”
The atmosphere in the room had become thick with tension. Zhang Zhiyuan’s piercing gaze lingered on his children, his contempt clearly directed not only at their behavior but also at the way they had been raised.