Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Uncle Hua caught on, too. After the teens left, he headed back to the kitchen to whip up another dish, then served it personally as a token of gratitude.
He stood by the side of the table and made to bow, but Li Du held him up and said, “Uncle Hua, there’s no need for the formalities. Actually, I need your help with something. Here’s the thing: I’m planning to get married in a while but I haven’t found a wedding caterer yet.”
Uncle Hua understood what Li Du was trying to get at. He rubbed his hands together and said, “Boss Li, I don’t think I’m good enough for that.”
Li Du responded, “There’s absolutely no need for you to be modest. I’ve tried these dishes and they’re great. The dishes you would have to prepare will be for foreigners and I’m certain there’s no better candidate than you.”
Old Hua was relieved after hearing what Li Du said. “Alright, since the boss thinks I can do it, I’ll stop saying otherwise.”
Li Du added, “The wedding will take place in Australia, not America, so you’ll have to move over.”
Old Hua laughed heartily. “That’s great, actually. I will get to travel and see the world at the same time.”
He had initially come to Seattle with a certain view, but now it seemed like he was going to kill four birds with one stone. Li Du was in an even better mood now — he was making good use of his time.
After he left Seattle, he took Sophie and the little ones and flew home on his private jet.
The cleaning company had already tidied up the messy villa. Li Du’s parents did not usually stay in the house much since they spent more of their time at the old house, where they watched television or chatted over tea with the neighbors.
Since Li Du had brought his entire family back this time, the villa could finally be put to proper use. Li Du’s father contacted the cleaning company to start work ahead of time so that Li Du would be coming home to a nice and clean house.
As compared to previous years, the occupancy rate of the villa district had increased. In the afternoon, several elderly people would bring children with them to sunbathe outside.
Li Du’s parents would occasionally come to the villa, too. They were on very close terms with the elderly since the county was only so big, and the villa district was even smaller. As such, news traveled quickly.
The elderly in the villa district knew that Li Du was doing well in America. Though their own children could afford villas in the county, they could not compare to Li Du who was living in a manor in Los Angeles.
The older generation liked to make a sport out of comparing. Their children could not hold a candle to Li Du, but they would definitely win if they had to compare grandchildren because Li Du was not even married and therefore had no kids.
Li Du drove in a minivan that he rented into the garden of the villa. When he saw his parents in the garden, he got down, waved and shouted to them, “Mom, Dad, I’m home!”
His parents were overjoyed, but they did not greet him immediately. Instead, they turned proudly to their elderly companions and their children who were sunbathing. “You guys have fun, we’ll get going since our son is back.”
Some people could not stand how arrogant they looked, so they sneered, “Who is this? Is this your son or grandson? My grandson’s coming to visit me later, too.”
Li Du’s father refused to back down. He cleared his throat and replied, “Oh, your grandson’s coming by? That’s great, seeing how he only comes to visit once a year. My family’s celebrating the return of our son, and he’s brought along our daughter-in-law and grandchildren—”
A silver-haired granny asked in shock, “Hey, Old Li, you’ve got grandchildren? Since when? Isn’t your son still a bachelor?”
“His daughter-in-law is American. I’ve seen the movies, it’s a trend in America to have kids before getting married, so much so that it’s common to see celebrities announcing that they have kids before getting married. This is nothing strange.”
“That’s right, I heard the Americans are really liberal. Some women even have hordes of partners before settling down with a man for marriage. What do they call this over there? Buying over! To find someone to buy over!”
“Haha, Old Li, you have to take a good look at this. Did your son buy her over? I’ve seen a photo of your daughter-in-law and she does look pretty. However, you know what they say: the handsome and the beautiful suffer. I’m sure your daughter-in-law has never been short of suitors.”
Those words enraged Li Du’s parents — they were obviously being mocked.
Li Du’s mother glared coldly at the garrulous old lady who had last spoken, and retorted, “Don’t worry about my family affairs, Old Cao, because our Sophie leads a disciplined life. She did, after all, receive higher education and graduate from a prestigious foreign university. Not like some other lady I know who probably didn’t even go to high school, so she forged a diploma to fool her parents-in-law.”
Her husband chimed in, “Hear, hear. Didn’t someone’s granddaughter-in-law say she graduated from some prestigious university in Beijing? Didn’t she also try to use the manual for a toilet to operate the dishwasher? What a joke!”
The elderly that were surrounding them cracked up at this.
This was a joke in the Cao household that had ended up spreading. Her son was a builder who had made quite a bit of money thanks to the domestic real estate boom.
Her family was not very well educated. Now that they had a bit of money, she wanted to find her grandson a wife and her requirement for the wife was that she had to have received higher education. Her grandson, on the other hand, was an airhead who cared less about education and more about whether his wife was pretty.
He ended up taking a shine to a sales assistant who was really pretty, but not very cultivated. Therefore, the grandson had an idea — he would help her forge certifications.
The Cao family was not too bright either so they could not tell that the certifications were forged. One day, the family had a brand-new dishwasher assembled but none of them knew how to use it, so they pored over the manual.
This task naturally fell to the member of the family with the highest level of education — the granddaughter-in-law. She struggled a great deal with the manual but, try as she might, she could not make sense of things so she could only defer to the technicians from the appliance company.
The technician was unimpressed. He told her this was not a difficult thing to deal with and she should understand just by reading the manual — there was a clear explanation inside.
She refused to back down, so she handed the manual over to him. He took a glance at the menu and was shocked. This manual was for the toilet, so of course, it was of no help for the dishwasher!
This fiasco was a sore spot for Old Lady Cao that no one was allowed to bring up. When Li Du’s father mentioned the incident, she became furious. She shouted back in a shrill voice, “Old Li, you shameless bastard, are you even listening to the sh*t that’s coming out of your mouth? You old man, you’re like a broken tape recorder, how shameless—”
She had a little toy poodle, the breed that was notorious for responding in kind when their owners were angry. At the sight of its owner cursing, it also started barking at the top of its lungs.
Li Du’s mother was naturally angry too when she watched as her husband was attacked. She lashed out in retaliation, “We might be shameless but at least we know what shame is. However, what about your family? You can’t even spell shame! In the past, when I saw how your son and grandson turned out, I chalked it up to generational differences. Now that I take a good look, I realize the apple truly doesn’t fall far from the tree — it’s all in the family, huh? What, you all treat shamelessness as a family heirloom? You lot just keep passing it down from generation to generation—”
The other elderly residents were usually bored out of their minds, but their interest was now piqued with the fight that was unfolding. It was an entertaining situation, so nobody came to stop the fight from escalating. On the contrary, people were fanning the flames.
This was what Li Du saw the moment he stepped out of the car. Instead of welcoming him home, his parents had stayed at the little plaza in the garden to fight, something Li Du did not know whether to laugh or cry about. He hurried over to see what was happening.
He opened the door and the little ones tumbled out of the car, eager to stretch their limbs. They saw Li Du walking towards the plaza and hurried after him
