Chapter 408: Chapter 278: Test
Long Xiangjun, the middle-aged man who brought Zhou Mikang to see the elder, was Elder Long’s youngest son. A military man by training, he was now one of Elder Long’s personal secretaries. His task of escorting Zhou Jingping and Zhou Mikang back symbolized Elder Long’s extre emphasis on the importance of the Zhou family.
Perhaps because of his father’s admiration for the Zhou father and son, Long Xiangjun, when departing with the duo, changed his usual indifference and rarely showed a smile to the father and son.
Probably because he did not often smile, his smile was quite stiff. Perhaps realizing that his smile did not look very pleasant, he quickly suppressed it, reverting to a more somber expression.
Zhou Jingping turned his gaze to the outside of the car, struggling not to laugh out loud—the faces of this Young Master Long and his third son were strikingly similar, resembling twins. His third daughter-in-law once said that his third son’s smile looked like a sneer, eerily unsettling. He hadn’t agreed initially, but just now, when Long Xiangjun had smiled, he suddenly found himself in complete agreent with his daughter-in-law’s description.
“Brother Long, what exactly has happened these past few days?” As the vehicle left the courtyard, Zhou Mikang could no longer suppress his curiosity.
“Elder Wang has stepped down. The area he managed has now been transferred to my father’s control. The courtyard you visited today is used for so senior experts to reside and work.
We invited you here not to put you in a difficult position. You’ll gradually understand the details,” Long Xiangjun replied vaguely.
“Elder Wang retired?” Zhou Mikang was taken aback. He rembered his last eting with Elder Wang and felt sothing was amiss, but he couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was.
“Could you take us to et Elder Wang?” Zhou Jingping asked, seeking permission.
“Certainly,” Long Xiangjun agreed readily, “If I hadn’t considered that you might want to see him, I wouldn’t have answered Zhou Mikang’s question earlier.”
Zhou Jingping and Zhou Mikang suddenly understood; this was also a test. If they had not inquired about Elder Wang, Elder Long would likely have been disappointed. Who would appreciate cold and heartless people?
Throughout the ride, the three of them did not talk anymore. Zhou Mikang’s brows were tightly furrowed, feeling as though the answer was at the forefront of his mind, yet he couldn’t quite make sense of it.
“Ah!” Zhou Jingping sighed deeply, “Even now, don’t you understand? Elder Wang has always been protecting us.”
Zhou Mikang looked perplexedly at his father, “Dad, what did he tell you?”
“He didn’t say anything, but that trip he made, those words he said to you—don’t you understand their aning?”
“I guessed he hoped that you and I would nd our relationship, but…” Zhou Mikang abruptly stopped, “Do you understand now?” Zhou Jingping sighed again and patted his son’s shoulder, “We’ve both misjudged him.”
…
In a suburban villa in the capital.
Elder Wang and his three sons–Wang Yang, Wang Zhao, and Wang Hui were sitting in the study while the female mbers of the Wang family and the grandchildren were in the outer hall.
The decline of the Wang family was so abrupt that the younger family mbers were still dazed, feeling unable to distinguish whether they were dreaming or awake.
Wang Yang looked at his father with eyes full of pain, “Dad, why did you do this? Did you ever think about us?”
Wang Zhao imdiately echoed, “Yeah, Dad, if you had fought a little, the outco might have been different. Even if not for our sake, you should have considered Xiaoying, Xiao Hao, Little Jie and others, right?”
Wang Yang rubbed his face forcefully and sighed deeply, “Dad, all your years of hard work have dissolved into nothing. Are you really content with this?”
“Dad has his reasons for doing this, can’t you two stop finding fault?” Little Hui glared at his two brothers, his face full of displeasure, “Dad used his own abilities to achieve all this and even helped us get on the horse and sent us on our way, in the end, we weren’t strong enough, who can we bla?”
You just know how to complain about Dad, have you ever thought about why he does this? When Dad stepped down, the Wang family indeed no longer stood at the top.
However, we three won’t beco the losers among the defeated. Knowing that continuing the fight might hurt others and ourselves, why must we fight?
The path has been paved for us; whether we can walk a path that everyone is willing to run depends on our own abilities, we can’t always think about relying on Dad!”
Wang Yang frowned unwillingly, “You really are speaking without a care, your son’s job is arranged well, you have no complaints, how about Xiaoying and Xiao Hao, what about them?”
Wang Zhao also said, “Exactly, Third Brother, you can’t just look at your own side, a family depends on everyone’s effort, not just one person to support!”
“I didn’t say it should depend on one person alone, Xiaoying, Xiao Hao, and Little Hui have equal opportunities, if Xiaoying and Xiao Hao don’t grasp them well, who are they to bla?
According to Elder Brother and Second Brother’s logic, should Little Jie learn from his two brothers and take angering Grandpa as his duty, to satisfy you?”
“Nonsense!”
The eldest and the second simultaneously exclaid.
As the three brothers argued, Elder Wang always looked calmly out the window, watching the three get more and more unreasonable, he finally withdrew his gaze, “Enough is enough, respect is earned by oneself, not given by others!”
“Dad, what do you an by that? Are you insinuating sothing about us?”
“Yeah, Dad, you’ve always favored the youngest, even now, you’re still deceiving him!”
Seeing his two sons so self-righteous, a deep sense of defeat surged in Elder Wang’s heart.
The second son was born during the war era, for their safety, he had to send them to live with a fellow villager, and only later brought them back ho to raise.
The youngest son was born after liberation and was always with his parents. Perhaps due to the living environnt from a young age, the eldest son and the second son turned out to be extrely selfish. This greatly influenced their children’s characters as well.
After they graduated, he arranged jobs for several of his grandchildren, all starting from the grassroots level.
As a result, only Little Sun, Wang Jie, steadily worked his way up step by step through his own efforts and beca increasingly prominent.
The other two grandsons initially perford well, but after three months, inherited the slick habits, seemingly thinking that slacking off was a great bargain.
As for the daughters of the eldest and second sons, apart from loving to compare their clothing, spending, and whose husband is more capable, they had no other interests.
The most direct consequence is that Little Sun has now been promoted to be the head of a departnt, while the eldest grandson and the second grandson are still just ordinary staff mbers.
The gap among the girls is even bigger, the eldest granddaughter and the second granddaughter only graduated from junior high, while the youngest granddaughter has beco the youngest professor at B University.
Such differences ant that the eldest and second sons could not accept the reality after a sudden huge change. (. Mobile users please visit m.qidian to read.)
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