Chapter 968
A little kindness is appreciated, but too much kindness breeds resentment
At the entrance of the villa, Yin Mingyue, along with her two children, was respectfully waiting for her parents-in-law to arrive.
Even Ma Xiulan, Lu Yang's mother-in-law, was present.
However, compared to her daughter and two grandchildren, she didn't show much expectation on her face, and even her smile seemed forced and strained.
As for the reason...
Of course, it's also related to the different treatment she received when she came back before.
meet?
There isn't one at all.
villa?
They can't move in.
She can only live in one apartment now, which her daughter and son-in-law bought and renovated. It was probably a small three-bedroom apartment that was previously used for rent.
The location seems good.
She lives alone, which is more than enough for her.
Compared to this luxurious and extravagant century-old manor, the difference is not just a little bit; it's like comparing heaven and earth, the gap between royalty and ordinary people.
The thought of this made her furious.
Why?
When her in-laws' mother and father-in-law come to visit, does she, as the mother-in-law, have to move out?
What's more, he's not even related by blood to his father-in-law; he's just some random man with no blood relation to him. Even his so-called mother-in-law was a fickle woman who abandoned her child and ran away from home.
"Pah! What kind of thing is this, that it dares to ask me to greet it here?!"
She spat inwardly.
Only when she saw her son-in-law, Lu Yang, get out of the car and walk closer did she manage to force a happy smile back onto her face.
"Oh dear! My dear in-laws, you must have had a long and tiring journey."
"Hurry, hurry, hurry, come inside."
She moved even faster than Yin Mingyue, who was holding two children's hands.
In a few steps, he passed Lu Yang, his son-in-law.
They went straight to Ye Qiuyu and Meng Wenxian, the middle-aged couple, who had just gotten off the bus.
It was as if she had completely forgotten all the unpleasant things that had happened between her and Ye Qiuyu in this villa.
Putting everything out of my mind!
That's right, she was doing it for her son-in-law Lu Yang. Even though he knew perfectly well that she was faking it, at least she was willing to put on a show and reconcile with Ye Qiuyu and Meng Wenxian, her in-laws, at least on the surface.
Later, even if Ye Qiuyu and Meng Wenxian, the couple, dislike her, humiliate her, or belittle her, she will accept it without arguing or resisting.
Look!
I've already sacrificed so much.
To avoid putting you two in a difficult position.
Now, you and your husband should be able to forgive me, right?
What a tragic drama!
In her plan, she should be making a perfect comeback soon!
However, she underestimated the magnanimity of Ye Qiuyu and Meng Wenxian, the couple.
Actually, it was long before we arrived.
The couple had also heard some stories about their unreliable mother-in-law.
For example, showing favoritism towards the eldest daughter who is not yet married.
For example, he took the pocket money given to him by his son and daughter-in-law, and the millions he had saved over the years, and gave it all to his unmarried eldest daughter to support her in starting a business.
For example, this mother-in-law had a strange fetish: she wanted to send her eldest daughter to her son's bed, plotting for the two women to share one husband. She repeatedly argued with her daughter-in-law and bullied her. Ultimately, due to her daughter-in-law's obstruction, she failed to bring her son and her eldest daughter together. In a fit of anger, she left home and had not contacted her son and daughter-in-law for several years. She only recently returned to Shenzhen.
They were fully aware of all of this.
But when they met again today, the two of them were very friendly and did not hold a grudge at all against the difficult treatment Ye Qiuyu, the mother-in-law who had come from afar to take care of her daughter-in-law, when Lu Fan was born.
"Mother-in-law, have you been waiting long? My husband and I are sorry we are late."
“Sister, you are older than my husband and me, please go first…”
This isn't right!
Shouldn't you two be strutting around and criticizing me?
You won!
I've already lost, I'm a loser. You all have such a good opportunity, why don't you take a chance to kick me while I'm down?
And you, Ye Qiuyu, I clashed with you quite a bit back then. Because my daughter was the mistress of this house and I moved in before you, I made you lose face time and time again.
In the end, they even made you leave in anger.
Now that you have such a good opportunity, aren't you going to retaliate?
Ma Xiulan's face was etched with the word "dull".
I'm a little lost.
She let Ye Qiuyu, her mother-in-law, pull her towards the villa.
Meng Tiantian went straight to her two little nephews, picked them up and kissed each of them twice.
Finally, with her eyes red, she threw herself into her sister-in-law's arms.
"Waaaaah, sister-in-law, I missed you so much! You have no idea how much my brother bullied me the whole way here."
Yin Mingyue was both amused and exasperated. She could only pat Meng Tiantian's back and comfort her, "Alright, alright, we're home. If you have any grievances later, you can tell me privately. There are too many people around now, so don't let outsiders see. Be good, don't cry."
Upon hearing this, Meng Tiantian immediately stopped crying, raised her head, and said pitifully, "Okay, okay, I'll listen to you, sister-in-law. I want to sleep with you tonight, okay?"
Yin Mingyue said with heartache, "Alright, alright, whatever you say, whatever you say."
The plan was successful.
Meng Tiantian immediately made a peace sign with her hand, "Great! I knew my sister-in-law loved me the most. Humph, unlike my brother, he only knows how to bully me."
As he spoke, he glanced provocatively at Lu Yang, who was walking with Meng Wenxian.
Lu Yang sensed the gaze, turned around and glared at her, opening his mouth as if to say: I'll deal with you later.
It appears that no sound was made.
But Meng Tiantian understood.
She immediately started shaking Yin Mingyue's arm incessantly, pleading, "Sister-in-law, look! My brother is threatening me! He actually threatened me! I'm so scared..."
Yin Mingyue was both amused and exasperated.
But all she could do was try to appease her sister-in-law, who was so prone to causing trouble. She took a deep breath.
Suppressing a smile, she said, "Alright, Sweetie, don't worry, your sister-in-law knows and won't let your brother bully you. Come on, let's go back to the house first."
That's it.
That's fine, at least let's get this difficult sister-in-law back to her room first.
As for who bullied whom between the siblings, she couldn't control that; she'd let them resolve it themselves.
We went inside.
Meng Wenxian and Lu Yang went up to the study on the second floor together.
Meng Wenxian said to Lu Yang, "As you can see, my daughter has become a bit spoiled by me. She will be coming to Pengcheng to study at university, which is close to your place. As her older brother, you'll have to put in a lot of effort to take care of her."
Lu Yang smiled upon hearing this, "Of course, Uncle Meng, don't worry, I will take good care of her."
Meng Wenxian nodded.
He didn't say anything more. They were siblings, blood was thicker than water. Apart from the debt of raising them, his stepfather was the real outsider.
Seeing that he wasn't in a good mood, Lu Yang stopped talking about it and turned to ask his stepfather about his future plans.
“Uncle Meng, you’re retired now, why don’t you move to Shenzhen with my mom? I happen to have a nice townhouse off the Shenzhen University campus, it’s just sitting empty anyway. If you two move in, and Tian Tian doesn’t like living in the Shenzhen University dorms after she registers, she can just commute, which would be very convenient.”
Upon hearing this, Meng Wenxian stopped in his tracks.
To be honest, he was indeed somewhat tempted.
It's not that I want to covet this stepson's villa.
It was purely out of concern for my daughter. I thought that if she could live at home, it would be far better than boarding school, and I wouldn't have to worry about her being bullied by her classmates.
"Well, how about I discuss it with your mother again?"
He didn't rule out any possibility of definitive conclusions.
Lu Yang nodded, "Of course we need to discuss it, but I believe that as long as you agree, Uncle Meng, Mom should be fine. She has always listened to you, Uncle Meng, all these years."
Upon hearing this, Meng Wenxian also wore a satisfied smile.
With a wife like this, what more could a husband ask for?
To have married such a woman in this lifetime, aside from not having a child of his own blood, despite her son's success and the fact that she could have lived a life of luxury that everyone envied if she wanted, she remained unchanged. She was content to stay in that small fourth-tier city, quietly teaching and nurturing students, and taking care of this old man's daily needs without complaint. Meng Wenxian felt that his life had been worthwhile.
"Okay, then I'll agree on your mother's behalf. But Xiao Lu, how about I buy that villa instead? That way I can live there with peace of mind."
Meng Wenxian no longer refused Lu Yang's offer and, on Ye Qiuyu's behalf, finalized the matter of moving to Pengcheng.
However, regarding the ownership of the villa...
He insisted on buying the villa.
I don't want to stay for free!
Having served as the principal of a college for 10 years, it seems he must have accumulated a considerable amount of money.
Upon hearing this, Lu Yang pondered for a moment and then nodded. "Alright, since it's Uncle Meng's request, I agree. After tonight, I'll have someone go and complete the transfer procedures tomorrow."
Seeing that Lu Yang was straightforward and did not insist on giving him the villa, or bring out his mother and wife to force him to live in the villa for free, Meng Wenxian was pleased.
This would put him in a difficult position.
He was a university president, yet after retiring, he moved into a house bought by his stepson. What kind of nonsense is this?
When I'm happy.
He laughed heartily, patted Lu Yang on the shoulder and said, "You really do understand me. Alright, I'll accept your offer. But it's settled then, you have to price it according to the market price, whatever it is, don't try to get me a lower price."
Lu Yang nodded, "Don't worry, I will definitely do as you ask, Uncle Meng."
The old man is quite principled.
They don't want villas or big houses that are given away for free; they insist on paying money and insist on paying the market price.
Fine, if they don't want the money, then we'll try to find as much compensation as possible elsewhere, hoping to help this couple live a few more years and enjoy a few more years of peace and happiness.
The two talked all the way into the study.
After sitting down.
Meng Wenxian got down to business, "Xiao Lu, I didn't really have any other intentions for coming here. Your mother and I are getting old, and now we just want to accompany your sister to school and live a good life as a family of three."
But sometimes, people inevitably incur many favors. Over the years, your uncle has been serving as the president of a university in our hometown, a small third-tier city. The fact that I was able to hold this position peacefully until retirement was thanks in no small part to the help of several people. They knew your mother and I were coming to Shenzhen to visit you, so they asked me to pass on a message to you.”
Lu Yang nodded silently without saying a word.
We're waiting for his next move.
Seeing that Lu Yang could remain calm, Meng Wenxian nodded approvingly.
He continued, "You know the situation in our hometown. It's a small, third-tier inland city, surrounded by mountains. Its poor transportation means few outsiders invest there. Over the years, thanks to your investment in the Little Genius electronics factory, a number of supporting factories for the electronics industry have flourished. That's why our city's GDP has consistently ranked among the top five in the province. This is your achievement, and the people of our hometown should thank you, but..."
Lu Yang learned the rest later.
Whenever "but" is used, everything that comes before it is meaningless; everything else is just a prelude to what comes after that "but".
Meng Wenxian sighed and said, "Small cities have their own ways of surviving. Economic development is slow, land revenue doesn't work, and every penny of tax revenue has to be carefully spent. You can't be careless. Your group's Little Genius company was originally registered in our hometown, with its headquarters, factory, and even research lab there. It brought many job opportunities to our inland third-tier city and tax revenue comparable to that of large local state-owned enterprises, but..."
Another "but".
"Your asset restructuring came too suddenly, without notifying our local government. Now, you've directly transferred Xiaotiancai Company to your newly registered company, Century Electronics, located in Pengcheng. You've also moved the entire product research lab, and a large portion of the administrative staff have been transferred to Pengcheng. Only a few factory production lines are still operating and continuing production, but we haven't expanded recruitment for over a quarter of this year..."
At this point, he gave Lu Yang a deep look.
Lu Yang understood.
He took a deep breath and sighed softly, "I think I roughly understand. Someone thinks I'm being dishonest."
When I founded Xiaotiancai, I could have directly established myself in Shenzhen, a city with a more advantageous geographical location. However, considering that my hometown lacked an electronics factory to drive local economic development, I resolutely decided to build the factory in my hometown.
Over the years, not to mention the supporting factories that have driven local economic development around it, the employment and tax revenue that Xiaotiancai itself has created for the local area are enough to prove its contribution.
Now that its historical mission is complete, and Xiaotiancai has stagnated for several years, if I don't restructure its assets while it still has value, must I wait until it falls into bankruptcy liquidation?
Of course, bankruptcy liquidation is not an option.
However, if Xiaotiancai (小天才) does not reorganize and continues to be rooted in that inland third-tier city with inconvenient transportation, its research and development progress will not be able to improve, it will not be able to attract talents, and it will instead lose talents year by year. In the end, it can only become an ordinary local small enterprise at best.
Missed the opportune moment for development. (End of Chapter)