The couple had no intention of telling their daughter and son-in-law about this matter.

But Xia Xiaolan found out anyway.

When her mother invited her home for dinner and then suddenly canceled, she knew something wasn’t right.

Liu Fen was terrible at lying.

When Xia Xiaolan heard about this sudden appearance of Comrade Tang’s relatives, she felt this was just the beginning.

“Mom, I bet your troubles are just beginning.”

“…”

Liu Fen refused to accept this assessment.

Xia Xiaolan had only been married for a few days, and Grandmother Yu hadn’t even returned to America yet when she too learned of this matter.

Grandmother Yu shared Xia Xiaolan’s judgment.

When they hadn’t shown up, they could pretend these relatives didn’t exist, but once they actively restored contact, would they disappear so easily?

“Not to mention anything else, your husband cut ties with his brother and sister-in-law over old grudges more than ten years ago. His nieces and nephews were just children then. His brother and sister-in-law wronged him, but that has nothing to do with the next generation. If they want their uncle to help them, will you two assist or not?”

Liu Fen couldn’t argue with Grandmother Yu’s point.

That day back in the hometown, though Tang Hongen’s sister-in-law’s attitude was poor, the younger generation of the Tang family had warmly called them “Uncle” and “Aunt.”

It probably wouldn’t be so easy to cut ties again.

Liu Fen soon worked it out herself – marriage wasn’t just about a man and woman getting a certificate; it naturally involved the intersection of both families. Tang Hongen hadn’t said he wouldn’t deal with Liu Yong, and she hadn’t needed to interact with Tang Hongen’s relatives for two years of marriage. Now that Tang Hongen’s relatives had appeared, she had nothing to fear.

Remarrying anyone would mean facing these issues unless you married a complete orphan!

“I’m not afraid, I’ll handle it well!”

Grandmother Yu nodded, “What’s there to fear? As long as you two are of one mind, even the closest relatives are outsiders.”

Tang Hongen wasn’t the type of fool who would trouble his wife for the sake of nieces and nephews he had no feelings for – how stupid would that be?

Xia Xiaolan linked arms with Liu Fen, “Then should Zhou Cheng and I also attend Uncle Tang’s burial?”

Liu Fen shook her head, “Your Uncle Tang wants you two to enjoy yourselves, don’t worry about this matter. Zhou Cheng’s vacation isn’t very long anyway!”

No need to waste time on the Tang family relatives.

Zhou Cheng wanted to please his father-in-law, but his father-in-law didn’t need him to be a bootlicker – what could Zhou Cheng do?

If Tang Hongen had deep feelings for his hometown relatives, Zhou Cheng would play the bootlicker role… but since his father-in-law said there was no need to go, Zhou Cheng truly didn’t need to go. He was now immersed in newlywed bliss, discovering new joys every day now that they were officially married. Even newly married couples without a deep emotional foundation would be lovey-dovey for a while, let alone Xia Xiaolan and Zhou Cheng who had married after developing such deep feelings.

When people in love finally get their marriage certificate, with no financial pressure both families being open-minded, and no children yet to raise, how could there be any disagreements?

Every day felt like being immersed in honey, every breath of air carried a sweet taste!

Xia Xiaolan didn’t take the Tang family relatives too seriously either.

She just felt Old Tang was rather pitiful.

Yes, Old Tang now held a high position and didn’t need anyone’s sympathy in his career – few people even had the right to sympathize with him… but in life, he wasn’t an invincible Iron Man; he needed people to care about him too!

Xia Xiaolan brought Zhou Cheng back to her parent’s home for dinner two days in a row, wanting to spend more time with Tang Hongen.

This sudden deep concern left Tang Hongen at a loss for words.

Everyone was clever – Xiaolan must have learned about his hometown situation.

“Alright, go do whatever you need to do. Am I some fragile porcelain doll?”

Tang Hongen directly shooed them away.

When the day of his elder brother’s burial came, he still didn’t bring Xia Xiaolan and Zhou Cheng.

As before, he and Liu Fen returned to his hometown alone.

With all the ceremonial music and rituals, Tang Hongen’s elder brother was laid to rest.

Tang Hongen’s sister-in-law still ignored them but didn’t deliberately speak with sarcastic undertones either. Perhaps after these two or three days of cooling down, she had come to terms with reality—

Tang Hongen’s eldest nephew Tang Chunlei was eight years older than Ji Jiangyuan, now thirty years old. When Tang Hongen had fallen out with his brother and sister-in-law, Tang Chunlei was just a teenager. According to Tang Hongen’s previous arrangements, once he entered the city, the next generation of the Tang family would have had a higher starting point. Tang Chunlei had been quite clever then, and Tang Hongen had wanted his nephew to study more, following the same path as himself.

Tang Chunlei had encountered turbulent years.

College entrance exams had been suspended, and the only way to enter university was through recommendation.

When his parents cut ties with Tang Hongen and led the criticism against him, Tang Chunlei received a recommendation opportunity, followed by the routine of attending school and graduating to work… The urban household registration that Tang Hongen’s brother and sister-in-law couldn’t obtain, Tang Chunlei had achieved this leap.

Unfortunately, his luck hadn’t held out. After the turbulent period ended, his parents, having offended many people and fearing revenge, had slunk back to their hometown.

Tang Hongen wasn’t desperate for attention – having cut ties with his brother and sister-in-law, why would he still help his nephew?

Tang Chunlei had managed only mediocrely these years.

He remembered his uncle had been good to him and couldn’t understand his parents’ actions. Being the actual beneficiary, he had felt too embarrassed to approach Tang Hongen all these years. In his youth, he had thought he could make a name for himself without relying on his uncle, but after stumbling along mediocrely, he had faced reality – there was simply no opportunity, his parents had offended Uncle Tang Hongen too severely, and Tang Chunlei couldn’t repair the relationship even if he wanted to.

Before when his father was still alive, he had been stubborn and short-sighted. Even knowing he was wrong, he wouldn’t bow his head to apologize to Tang Hongen, thinking that as the elder brother, even if he had done things that wronged Tang Hongen, it should be Tang Hongen as the younger brother who should take a step back… The elder brother was like a father, after all, he had raised Tang Hongen!

Unfortunately, Tang Hongen didn’t accept this elder brother doctrine.

Tang Hongen was particularly principled and clear about gratitude and grievances.

Once ties were cut, they were cut. Expecting him, the wounded party, to humble himself to repair relationships?

Forget it.

He didn’t need this distorted family affection!

Better to spend that time on work – with work and ideals, he wouldn’t feel empty.

Now, with Tang Chunlei’s stubborn father deceased, he had convinced his mother to notify Uncle Tang Hongen to return for the funeral, naturally with some thoughts in mind.

After the coffin was buried, Tang Chunlei, with reddened eyes, called out to his uncle:

“Uncle, before father passed, he said he had wronged you, that he didn’t understand how serious the situation was then, he was just terrified. He wanted to apologize to you but didn’t have the face to do so. We didn’t expect you would still come to the funeral… There’s one more thing, Father said he couldn’t rest easy because he never found Little Sister.”

Tang Hongen had no reaction to the first half of the speech – given his elder brother’s personality, whether it was true or not was uncertain.

But the latter half made Tang Hongen pause.

He still felt deep regret about his lost little sister.

This left Tang Hongen in a heavy mood, and after leaving his hometown, he barely spoke a word the entire journey back.

Liu Fen looked at him with concern:

“Should we try searching again? Things are different now than before.”