Chapter 123: Adoption

Chapter 123: Chapter 123: Adoption

"Brother, if you need anything, just say the word. If I can do it, I won’t refuse," Zhang Dazhuang said readily after a moment of surprise. ’Even though he and his eldest brother weren’t close, he was still family. How could he possibly turn him down if he really needed help?’

"I’m here to ask a favor today, so I’ll be blunt. Don’t hold it against me that I didn’t help any of you out in the past. To be honest, none of those rumors about me were true. If I was really that successful, I wouldn’t have come back all alone and in such a sorry state. I would’ve at least brought a wife and kids with me, right?" Zhang Damei began with a dry laugh.

Zhang Dazhuang was speechless.

He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. ’He could clearly remember his eldest brother singing a very different tune back then. When he first came back, hadn’t he boasted and bragged nonstop to their mother and all the brothers? It was no lie that he’d had their mother completely hoodwinked, practically floating on air. And yet here he was, saying all this now. This was taking ’keeping up appearances’ to a whole new level. If he had known this was his brother’s real situation, why on earth had he bothered avoiding him all these years?’

"Brother, are you worried that when you’re old and less mobile, you’ll have no one to look after you? Don’t worry. You have so many nephews, if each one lends a hand, they can take care of you. Take Qiangzi, for instance. Do you think he’d just stand by and let his own uncle be neglected?"

Listening from the side, Wen Xiu felt a sense of resignation. A woman’s intuition put her on alert. She was wary of her unreliable brother-in-law suddenly bringing up such a topic.

"Hehe, I’ll probably be counting on Qiangzi from now on. To be honest, while I said I’m here to discuss this with you, I’ve actually already spoken to Qiangzi about it. You see, my branch of the family has no one to carry on the name, so in the future..."

As Zhang Damei spoke, Zhang Wei Qiang nodded in agreement. Wen Xiu’s mind went blank, and she shot to her feet. "No! I refuse. We’re counting on him for our future too. How could we possibly let him be adopted out?"

"Sister-in-law, I’m not—"

"I said no, and I mean it! This isn’t up for discussion," Wen Xiu said with exceptional firmness. ’It wasn’t just because her unreliable brother-in-law had nothing to his name. Even if he had all the wealth in the world, there was no way she would let her eldest son be adopted out.’

"Calm down. Maybe that’s not what he meant," Zhang Dazhuang said, pulling on Wen Xiu’s sleeve.

"Right, right! I don’t want to adopt Qiangzi. What I’m proposing is to adopt Qiangzi’s second son as my grandson. And when I say adopt, it’s really just in name only. He won’t have to live with me; I’m used to living alone and like my freedom."

Seeing he had caused a misunderstanding, Zhang Damei rushed to clarify everything at once, giving his sister-in-law an ingratiating smile.

"...So you two have already agreed? When did you become so close? How is it that we knew nothing about this? And Qiangzi, this is a serious matter. Have you discussed it with your wife?"

Embarrassed by the misunderstanding, Wen Xiu’s suspicion immediately returned as she looked between Zhang Damei and Zhang Wei Qiang.

"Mom, Dad, the truth is, I’ve been close with Uncle since I was a kid. You only know that I used to win all those fights because Mr. Mu taught me a few moves, but you never knew that it was actually Uncle who built my foundation from the very beginning."

Zhang Wei Qiang smiled as he began to reveal secrets he had kept hidden from everyone. "You remember how I wasn’t very strong when I was a kid, right?"

"You were just like your second and third brothers when you were little. We never saw you as being particularly strong, and you were as skinny as a bamboo pole. Then suddenly, you changed. We just assumed you’d had a growth spurt and your body filled out on its own. You mean it wasn’t natural?"

Wen Xiu looked quizzically from Zhang Damei to Zhang Wei Qiang. ’Could there be a story here she didn’t know?’

Like Wen Xiu, Zhang Dazhuang and the others stared at the pair, confused and curious. Only Lin Qin was smiling.

"Mom, Dad, what makes you think I was born strong?" Zhang Wei Qiang couldn’t help but laugh at Wen Xiu’s words. "It’s all thanks to Uncle. I’ve been secretly training in Kung Fu with him since I was a child."

"Training consumes a lot of energy, so Uncle would sneak off to the mountains to hunt from time to time, just to get me extra nourishment. That’s why I got healthier and my strength increased so much later. Uncle did all of this in secret and told me not to tell you, that’s the only reason you didn’t know."

He grinned. "You all probably thought my Kung Fu skills were all because of Mr. Mu, right? That’s not the whole story. Without Uncle, how could I have picked up the techniques Mr. Mu taught me so easily?"

"So that’s how it was?" Zhang Dazhuang and Wen Xiu were both stunned.

They recalled how their second son and Third often subtly blamed them, claiming their favoritism was practically genetic. The proof, they’d say, was in how their eldest son was born so capable while the two of them were just average. The couple suddenly didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

"That’s right, that’s exactly how it was," Zhang Wei Qiang confirmed with a firm nod.

"Mom, Dad, I know about this too," Lin Qin spoke up. "Qiangzi discussed it with me a long time ago, and I also agree to let Zhang Kai be adopted by Uncle as his heir."

"Since you’ve all agreed, we have nothing more to say," Wen Xiu and Zhang Dazhuang said after exchanging a look and nodding.

"Then it’s settled. You can all be witnesses. We’ll pick an auspicious day and go formally amend the family registry," Zhang Damei said with a satisfied nod. He then stood up, dusted off his pants, and ushered everyone out.

After everyone had dispersed, Fang Juxian tugged on Zhang Weihong’s hand and said sourly, "See? They claim they didn’t know, but who’s to say they weren’t in on it from the start? They’re all sons, so why be so biased? And why pull a fast one on us like this at such a crucial time?"

"Shut your mouth! If it weren’t for you and that extra hundred-something yuan today, we wouldn’t have been so thoroughly humiliated," Zhang Weihong snapped, his usual gentle tone with Fang Juxian gone. He wrenched his hand free and strode away.

"Are you really angry with me?" Fang Juxian hurried after him and grabbed his arm again, her voice thick with grievance and her eyes welling with tears. "Everything I did was for the children, for our family!"

"Hmph." Zhang Weihong snorted, but this time he didn’t shake her hand off. That was enough to make Fang Juxian’s face light up. Adopting a meek and subservient air, she whispered suggestively, "Don’t be mad. I’ll make it up to you tonight."

"Hmph. We’ll see how I ’deal’ with you later." A thrill went through Zhang Weihong, and he tightened his grip on her hand. Fang Juxian finally broke into a wide smile and breathed a sigh of relief. ’The crisis was averted. Her mother was right—you can’t be too reserved or shy with a man. As long as you please him behind closed doors, you can get whatever you want.’

...

As the night deepened, Wen Xiu gently knocked on the door to Zhang Wei Qiang and Lin Qin’s room. She entered and, in front of her son, pressed a bundle into her daughter-in-law’s hands containing a pair of exquisitely carved gold bracelets wrapped in red silk, along with three hundred yuan.

"Mom, what is this?"

Lin Qin was shocked as she accepted the bracelets and money. In all these years, she had never once seen her mother-in-law wear or even show any jewelry. ’Besides, weren’t both the Zhang family and her mother-in-law’s family, the Wen Family, supposed to be poor peasants? How could poor peasants possibly own something so obviously above their station?’

"Years ago, your father secretly traded grain, grain coupons, and some mountain goods for these bracelets."