Chapter 11: Chapter 11: Argument on the Way Home
"Sweetie, have a grape."
"Have an orange, this one’s sweet."
The old man tried to stuff every tasty thing he could find into Yun Jiao’s mouth.
Yun Jiao accepted everything offered, opening her mouth for every bite until her cheeks were puffed out and round.
So cute.
Father Yun, however, was fidgeting awkwardly to the side, a stark contrast to her.
"Dad, have a grape."
After all, Yun Jiao hadn’t forgotten her honest father.
Father Yun waved his hand. "You eat it, Jiaojiao."
Yun Jiao stood on her tiptoes, raised the grape, and stuffed it right into his mouth.
"You eat, Dad."
Oranges and bananas, too...
Her strategy was simple: if her dad wouldn’t eat, she’d just force-feed him.
Father Yun let out a burp. ’Daughter, slow down!’
Wang Jianlin and his wife, however, quite admired Yun Jiao’s confident and natural demeanor.
Mostly, it was because the girl was just so beautiful. Wang Jianlin’s wife couldn’t help but look at her again and again.
’If only I had such a pretty daughter,’ she thought.
After the couple coaxed the old man to sleep, Yun Jiao and Father Yun prepared to leave.
Just then, Wang Jianlin’s secretary arrived with Yun Jiao’s two older brothers.
Although Yun Chendong and Yun Chenxi were both dark and wiry, they were already nearly six feet tall. Everyone in their family was quite tall.
And since they often worked out at sea on fishing boats, they were quite strong, with a lean layer of muscle on their arms.
Wang Jianlin nodded as he looked at the two exceptionally spirited young men.
"How did it go? Were there any problems?"
The two teenagers were young, after all, and didn’t know how to speak to a man like Wang Jianlin, who looked friendly but carried an air of authority. It was the secretary who answered.
"I went in and took a look. Their physical indicators are very healthy, and their scores on all the fitness tests were good. There should be no problem with them being selected."
Hearing the secretary’s words, the two brothers were overjoyed, grinning widely to reveal their neat, white teeth.
Father Yun was so excited he kept repeating himself. "Thank you, sir..."
Wang Jianlin smiled and said, "No, I should be the one thanking you."
In the end, Wang Jianlin and his wife loaded Yun Jiao up with lots of fruits and pastries to take home.
After leaving the Western-style house, Father Yun still hadn’t quite processed everything on the way back.
"That was a major official! We actually spoke with a major official and were even guests in his home."
The two brothers, Yun Chendong and Yun Chenxi, were also very happy.
The elder, Yun Chendong, picked his sister up and tossed her in the air. "This is all thanks to the good fortune our Jiaojiao brought us."
Father Yun nodded repeatedly, his expression full of pride. "Isn’t that the truth? Our Jiaojiao is so kind, she was even willing to share her meat bun."
Meat buns were such a precious treat these days. Children were always greedy for snacks, and most kids Yun Jiao’s age would never be willing to share their food.
Yun Jiao was a glutton, but she wasn’t possessive of her food. However, you couldn’t snatch it from her hands—that would make her furious. She had to be the one to willingly give it away.
They took a tractor back home, carrying large and small bags filled with things. The pastries and fruits, in particular, looked expensive.
The moment they boarded, the family became the center of attention for everyone else on the tractor.
"Well now, has Lin Hai’s family struck it rich? To think you’d be willing to buy so many expensive things!"
Someone couldn’t wait to ask as soon as they got on, and everyone else pricked up their ears, eager to hear the answer.
People back then, especially villagers, had no concept of not prying into others’ privacy.
They were all from the same village. If anything happened to a family, the news would spread to every single person in the village in less than a day.
Father Yun gave an honest smile. "You all know our family’s situation. How could we afford such expensive things? We still have to save up for a boat. No, this was just a bit of good luck. We helped an old man who was lost and confused, and his family gave us these things to thank us after they found him."
Hearing this, no one on the tractor doubted him.
After all, everyone was perfectly clear on Yun Linhai’s financial situation.
They just lamented that Yun Linhai’s family had such good luck. Why did good things like this never happen to them?
"Oh my, I haven’t even seen some of these fruits before. I wonder what they taste like. Hey, Lin Hai, you have so much, why not share a little with your big sister here for a taste?"
You could tell from her words that she was a shameless one. Cai Jinhua squeezed her way right over to Yun Jiao’s family.
Father Yun’s expression immediately soured.
’That Cai Jinhua really has some nerve,’ he thought. ’Don’t think I don’t know she’s been calling our Jiaojiao a ’losing investment’ behind our backs.’
"There are so many of us, it’s not even enough for our own family."
Cai Jinhua acted as if she couldn’t hear the polite refusal in Father Yun’s words. "How is it not enough? Isn’t there still a lot left? Besides, how much can your kids and this little slip of a girl eat?
It’s not my place to say, Lin Hai, but fine, you’re raising this Yun Jiao. But why do you give her better things than your own sons? If you ask me, a little girl like her shouldn’t be eating this stuff at all.
She’s just going to be married off anyway. They say a daughter who marries out is like water splashed out the door—she’ll belong to another family then. What’s the use of raising her so well? Besides, she’s not even your biological child."
Father Yun was absolutely livid at her words.
"Cai Jinhua, you shut your mouth! This is my child, my daughter! We’ll raise her however we damn well please. What’s it to you?"
Yun Chendong covered Yun Jiao’s ears and whispered, "Don’t listen, don’t listen. Jiaojiao is our treasure. Don’t listen to her."
Yun Chenxi had a shorter fuse and was just shy of pointing a finger in Cai Jinhua’s face and cursing her out.
"Aunty, it’s not my place to say, but aren’t you overstepping your bounds a little? Aren’t you afraid of being wicked, saying something like that in front of a child?"
With that, Cai Jinhua had managed to offend all three of the Yun Linhai men on the tractor.
"Hey... is that any way to speak to an elder?"
Yun Chenxi retorted, "What kind of elder are you? Our real elders have never said anything like that to Jiaojiao. You’ve sure got a long tongue. You don’t even value your own daughter, and you’re proud of it?"
The people around them looked on as if watching a good show. Although they also felt that Yun Linhai’s family treated Yun Jiao too well, Cai Jinhua’s words were indeed nasty.
Cai Jinhua couldn’t win an argument against three people, so she plopped down and started throwing a tantrum, wailing in a loud voice that Yun Linhai’s family was bullying her.
The RUMBLE of the tractor couldn’t even drown out her voice.
In a situation like this, men who didn’t know how to throw a tantrum were truly at a disadvantage.
"Dad, eat. Brothers, eat..."
Yun Jiao peeled an orange, gave each of the three a few segments, and then pulled them down to sit.
"Sit. Watch the show."
She then peeled another orange, handing it out segment by segment to the other people on the tractor.
Yun Jiao naturally had her own little scheme in choosing the oranges.
They got a snack. Even though it was just a small segment, it was sweet.
It’s hard to criticize someone who’s just given you a gift. The others all smiled kindly at Yun Jiao.
In the end, Yun Jiao ignored only Cai Jinhua. She sat with her father and brothers, nibbling on her own orange while watching Cai Jinhua throw her tantrum.
’I’m just not giving her any. I’ll make her so mad!’
It was awkward putting on a one-woman show like that, and Cai Jinhua soon ran out of steam.
She stopped, and Yun Jiao tilted her head, her big, bright eyes full of curiosity as she asked in a sincere tone.
"Aunty, why did you stop? We’re not at the village yet."
’I haven’t had enough fun watching yet. Humans rolling around on the ground are so amusing.’
"HAHAHA..."
An aunty who didn’t get along with Cai Jinhua started laughing first, and the others quickly joined in.
Usually, when villagers had these kinds of screaming matches, they would only get more and more vicious, always needing to fight until there was a clear winner and loser.
Who would have thought it could go like this? That little girl, Yun Jiao, was so interesting. She actually treated Cai Jinhua’s tantrum like a play.
"You little bitch..."
Cai Jinhua was so furious she was about to die, and the words just tumbled out of her mouth without thinking.
The expressions on the faces of Yun Linhai and his two sons changed instantly.
"Cai Jinhua, shut your mouth!"
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