I am chasing a rough man in the 80s
Chapter 671: Boys Should Take Care of Themselves Outside (With 350+ Tickets Updated Monthly)

Chapter 671: Chapter 671: Boys Should Take Care of Themselves Outside (With 350+ Tickets Updated Monthly)

The toasting was almost over when Suizi and Yu Jingting finally appeared.

"What have you two been up to?" Chen Lijun asked her daughter during a lull in the festivities.

"We went to give a gift." Suizi blinked innocently.

"With all this toasting going on, you guys are giving gifts?" Chen Lijun sensed there was more to the story, suspecting her daughter was keeping something from her.

"Why worry so much? Just focus on marrying my father, taking good care of this handsome old fella. Jingting and I will handle the rest."

"...If you could just drop the ’old’, I’d be quite happy," Fan Huang, who had been blatantly eavesdropping, commented.

To outsiders, this family banquet was perfect, from the hospitality to the cuisine. Nothing was left to critique.

However, only Suizi and her husband knew the effort they had made to maintain this calm façade.

After seeing off the guests, Chen Lijun’s mother found Suizi. Chen’s father had avoided the event, but the mother had been there the whole time, eager to find a moment to chat intimately with Suizi.

"Your uncles couldn’t make it today, but they’ll be here tomorrow. I really appreciate all you’ve done today." Chen’s mother held Suizi’s hand gently as she spoke.

Suizi didn’t particularly like or dislike her grandmother.

In fact, she preferred her third and fourth grandaunts, who had more distinctive personalities.

Chen’s mother was always gentle and reserved, like a noble lady straight out of a classic, carrying her age with grace and poise.

However, this elegance came with a hint of numbness and lack of resolve. When Chen’s father heartlessly abandoned Chen Lijun and her daughter, she didn’t even dare to rebuke him openly, only offering secret assistance.

Fearful of antagonizing Chen’s father, her aid to her daughter was less frequent than that to Chen Lijun’s younger brothers. She was more like an invisible woman in the Chen Family, appeasing everyone and thus failing to truly please anyone.

"Honestly, your grandfather... isn’t a bad man. He’s just a bit stubborn."

Suizi looked at her and remained silent for a few seconds. Her piercing gaze made Chen’s mother inexplicably nervous.

"Grandma, I firmly believe that stupidity is more dangerous than malice. A wicked person knows very well what they’re doing, but a stupid person may never realize their errors, and will never understand the harm they’re causing."

Chen’s mother frowned, at a loss for words for quite

a while before stuttering, "In your grandfather’s mind... He is just an old...."

"Even children need to be disciplined for their actions. We all need to understand what is acceptable and what is not. This is the meal we’ve prepared for grandpa, please take it to him."

Suizi passed her a bamboo basket. Chen’s mother accepted it, feeling its light weight. She didn’t think too much, assuming it was possibly a single serving meal.

Chen’s father had been ranting and cursing all day at home, so much so that even the myna bird hanging in the corridor had picked it up.

When Chen’s mother returned home with the food box, she heard the myna bird clearly mimicking the words-

"Yu Jingting, you are not human."

"This is what Suizi asked me to bring for you." Chen’s mother placed the basket on the table.

"How was the feast today? Everything... okay after eating?" Chen’s father asked.

His students had not updated him yet. He felt somewhat uneasy.

"It was great actually. It’s a shame you weren’t there. Everyone praised the food. They said Suizi and Jingting prepared it. Both of them are really incredible."

"So, no one had any reactions after eating?" Chen’s father found it strange. He had ordered students to add a potent laxative to the food. How could nothing have happened?

"Why do you keep asking these strange questions?" Chen’s mother was puzzled.

Chen’s father opened the bamboo basket and was so shocked his face turned pale.

Instead of a food box, there was a neat row of packets of a known diarrhoea medicine.

"It’s over, it’s all over."

Chen’s father’s lips trembled. He realized that his son-in-law’s family had discovered his not-so-subtle trick. He just wanted to vent his anger and did not expect to offend his son-in-law. What should he do next? Will the son-in-law retaliate against him?

The myna bird in the corridor kept mechanically repeating: "Yu Jingting, you are not human...."

"Why aren’t we heading towards grandfather’s house?" Chen Lijun found it strange that her son-in-law was driving the car back home.

She was ready to have it out with the old man for his ill attempt of spoiling the food with laxatives.

"My wife sent him quite a gift, so there’s no need to trouble you all. I figure the old man will remain quiet for a while, so we can leave him be," said Yu Jingting.

Assuming Chen’s father was now in receipt of that basket full of diarrhoea medicine, he would likely spend several nights in fear, worrying about Fan Huang seeking revenge.

The young couple decided to leave him in limbo for a few days. The feeling of tension from having a sword dangling over him, not knowing when it will drop, would be more torturous than straightforward retribution.

Hoping this would be enough to reign in the whims of the old man who never grew up.

They had to come down hard on such a stubborn old figure, lest his reckless behaviour caused trouble again in future.

"Dad, I’ve actually been curious..." Suizi didn’t want her mother to continue bringing up these annoying issues. Turning around from the front seat to face her parents, she appeared eager to gossip.

Chen Lijun knew what she was about to ask, blushed, and kicked the back of Suizi’s chair.

"Children should know better than to ask about such things! Is that something you should know about?"

"I’m an adult, not a child... and I’m genuinely interested, that’s all. Dad, how on earth could you have thought you were my granduncle? In exchange for satisfying my curiosity, I’ll give you a surprise when we get home. Deal?"

"I had a bit too much to drink today." Fan Huang closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, attempting to evade the question.

"So, should I start calling you my granduncle?"

Fan Huang immediately sat straight, dropping the act of being drunk.

"Stop making a fuss!"

"Oh, poor me! I barely knew my biological father when I was younger. Finally, when I do meet him, he insists on being my granduncle. Boohoo... He even scolds me."

"Dad, as you can see, my wife is losing it. If you don’t speak, she might really start calling you granduncle," Yu Jingting said.

"I can’t win with you two. The truth is, I was delirious with fever back then and couldn’t remember certain things," Fan Huang sighed. For years, he had thought all of it was just a dream, never imagining it could be true.

In reality, Chen Lijun had already broken up with his younger brother back then. Knowing his brother’s temperament, they must have done something. But in that fever-induced dream, it appeared to have been their first time together. That’s why, upon waking up, Fan Huang dismissed it as a dream induced by his daydreaming.

"If I had remembered, I would never let you mother and daughter wander outside for so many years. Suizi, I feel guilty for not being with you as you grew up."

"No need to mention past affairs. I don’t blame you... After all, you couldn’t run from my mother," Suizi sniffed. She pitied her father.

Despite being ill, he had fathered a child, concealed the knowledge for decades, and had almost become an ’uncle’ to his own daughter. What a tragic fate.

Men should learn to protect themselves.

"Are you insinuating I’m a female bandit who forcefully takes men?" Chen Lijun felt moved hearing Suizi’s sobbing first half, and almost wept too.

Upon hearing the second half, she choked back her tears.

"Despite being delirious with fever, my father-in-law still succeeded in creating a high-quality child. I admire him. And thank you, mother-in-law, for not giving my wife a name like ’Fever-Born’ or ’Bed-Born.’ " Yu Jingting joined the conversation, skillfully summing it up.

The takeaway being, his wife having a normal name is nothing short of a miracle.