Chapter 26: You Can Think of Me Like An Older Brother (3)
Chapter 26 - You Can Think of Me Like An Older Brother (3)
When Li WangJin returned home, his steps were more relaxed and cheerful than usual. Today, he almost felt that he had travelled back in time to when he was still young. That was a wonderful feeling like he had some nice wine. It was an enveloping and light-headed sensation.
As soon as he walked inside, he saw his wife sitting on the couch, leafing through a magazine with their other adopted daughter, Zhong Yi. Even though Zhong Yi had already been there for a few days, she spent most of her time inside her room and never had a strong sense of presence. Most of the time, Li WangJin had forgotten that he has another adopted daughter other than YaGe.
“Are you guys looking at a magazine?” He scanned over there and it seemed to be some sort of a fashion magazine.
Fang JunRong looked up, the corners of her mouth lifted, and she said to him, “Zhong Yi and I are picking out a few dresses that she likes. When the samples arrive, I’ll have her try it on and then custom fit it to her size.”
Li WangJin immediately thought of Jiang YaGe. “Is YaGe not home? Did you ask her if she wants any?” He said in a joking tone, “I know you like Zhong Yi better, but they are both our kids, you should be fair to both of them and not play any favoritism.”
He didn’t like Zhong Yi. Probably because Zhong Yi was the cause of Jiang YaGe being embarrassed the first day she was there. Plus, he felt that the closer his wife was to her, the more distant his wife was to him. That made him dislike her even more.
Fang JunRong said to herself; oh yeah, you are the last person who should be saying that.
The smile on her was still perfect. She said in a very suggestive tone, “It’s not appropriate for YaGe.”
“And why not?” Seeing that she was really going to give YaGe the shorter end of the stick, Li WangJin felt that he needed to step in and do something about it.
Fang JunRong said slowly, “I planned to introduce Zhong Yi at XinYun’s birthday banquet. That’s why we need her to dress up nicely.”
“Wouldn’t YaGe need that too?”
Fang JunRong chuckled as though she was laughing at how childish he was. The way she looked at him like she was looking at a fool made him feel very uneasy.
“Don’t you remember? That was the anniversary of her parents’ death. It has only been a year. YaGe should show some respect to her parents. I don’t think it will be appropriate for her to attend the banquet.
“We wouldn’t want her to be sad at the banquet. Which is why I have decided to have her stay elsewhere that day. I am just trying to be mindful of her feelings.” She took everything that Li WangJin had said before and flung them right back at his face.
Li WangJin’s face turned beet red, then from red to green. Except that Fang JunRong used everything that he had said before. If he rebutted it now, he’d be slapping his own face.
Instead, all he could do was to squeeze out an awkward smile and said, “Oh, yeah, you are right. I have also forgotten. You are so thoughtful.”
He even said to Zhong Yi, “Pick all the ones that you like. We can always just buy them all.”
Hearing his words, Zhong Yi looked up and smiled at him.“Thank you, Dad.” She looked back down and continued leafing through the magazine.
Li WangJin watched the two of them discussing which style of dresses were pretty and felt that it was very unfortunate for YaGe. Many guests would be here on XinYun’s birthday, and it would have been the perfect opportunity to introduce YaGe. Now he’d have to plan something else in the future.
His dampened mood improved when he thought about Wang SiXian again. Now that Wang SiXian was back in the country, she could meet up with YaGe more often and help comfort YaGe.
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Translator’s rambling: Traps being set. Ropes tightening. The divorce is impending. Can you tell? 😉