Chapter 104 - 102: The Ge Family Uncles
The dinner dishes were cleared and replaced with tea. While everyone was chatting, a discordant voice shot straight at Li Xiu. "Li Xiu, at one banquet after another, do you have to treat your parents so badly that they can’t even be part of the main event!"
Li Xiu, who was playing with his daughter’s hand, paused slightly. Without raising his head, he said, "Youngest Uncle, my parents sit at the main table every single time. Where is this talk of them being treated badly coming from?"
His third maternal uncle seethed, "Aren’t you just feigning ignorance, you brat? Is this how a son should act? Isn’t this a classic case of marrying a wife and forgetting your mother?"
Li Xiu’s eyes grew cold, his voice devoid of any warmth. "Youngest Uncle, you’d better get your facts straight before you come here crying injustice. I married my wife myself; it has nothing to do with my parents. Don’t go making casual comments about her. Who I married has nothing to do with anyone else."
His youngest maternal uncle was so stumped he couldn’t utter a word. He could only turn to look at Ge Er Ya and Second Brother Li. But what could the two of them possibly say? There wasn’t a hint of falsehood in Li Xiu’s words. Everyone present from the Li and Zhou families knew the full story. What else was there to say?
"Alright, Youngest Uncle. Since you’ve been drinking, have some more tea to sober up. It’s a long way home later, and the roads are bad," Li Xiu said flatly, not even sparing him a glance.
He carefully handed the child to Grandma Li and said gently, "Grandma, the cigarette smoke in this room is too strong. The child is still young and can’t handle it. Please take Nuonuo to the east wing."
Grandma Li looked up, glanced around, and said nothing. She simply smiled, nodded, and carried the child out, following her eldest grandson’s wishes.
Back in the main hall, the roomful of men resumed smoking their cigarettes and drinking their tea. No one paid any mind to the third maternal uncle, who sat off to the side, his face beet red. Even his own brothers—Li Xiu’s eldest and second maternal uncles—ignored him. ’It’s one thing to be stupid, but you have to understand that some people and some matters are not to be trifled with. Their eldest nephew has never been a pushover. Piss him off, and he’ll be ruthless enough to not give a damn that you’re his elder.’
As for the uncles from the Zhou family, they remained aloof, as if it had nothing to do with them. He was their niece’s husband, a relative several times removed.
Everyone concealed their inner thoughts, and those who lived far away began to leave one by one. As the Zhou family was leaving, their eldest brother gave Li Xiu a worried look. ’His three maternal uncles are still here,’ he thought. ’They’re probably going to have it out. Will he be alright?’ But in front of the Li family members seeing them to the door, he couldn’t say any of this aloud.
Li Xiu understood his brother-in-law’s meaning, and a warmth spread through his chest. He smiled, shook his head, and said, "Big Brother, it’s fine. Don’t worry. When Third Sister gets married in a little while, I’ll tell you the details then."
After hearing Li Xiu’s words, the three Zhou brothers finally left with their families, feeling relieved.
Uncle Li and Third Uncle Li watched their smiling nephew see his in-laws off, then glanced at the oblivious Second Brother Li standing nearby. They both shook their heads and sighed. ’We’d better go back in,’ they thought. ’There’s still a big problem waiting inside!’
Third Uncle Li had a feeling that something was about to happen. He called over Li Bao and his son-in-law, Ge Yulian, and carefully instructed them, "You two need to watch Li Xiu closely. Whatever you do, don’t let him get physical. Otherwise, even if he’s in the right, he’ll end up in the wrong."
The two nodded, but inwardly, they dismissed the warning. ’With Big Brother,’ they thought, ’even if he did hit someone, he’d still be the one who was wronged. Our father (and father-in-law) really doesn’t understand him. Is he the type of person to take a loss lying down?!’
Regardless of their inner complaints, they obediently sat down on either side of Li Xiu. It wasn’t just his three maternal uncles who had come today; two of his male cousins were here as well. ’If things really go south,’ they thought, ’it might be awkward for Li Xiu to be too ruthless. But there are a lot of them. We can’t let our big brother be bullied on his own turf, right?’
Li Xiu looked at his younger brother and brother-in-law seated to his left and right, a faint smile playing on his lips. ’These two really think I’m that helpless, huh? They’re afraid I’ll be taken advantage of!’
The expressions on Li Hua, Li Man, and Li Yi’s faces, however, changed drastically. The Li family elders who were present knew exactly what they were thinking but said nothing. ’Truly a lost cause.’
Only the Li family men and the three Ge brothers with two of their sons remained in the room. Eldest Li cut straight to the point. "Brothers," he said, addressing the Ge family, "since this has been brought up today, let’s clear the air. You are my nephew’s own maternal uncles. There’s a saying that the maternal uncle holds great authority. So let’s get this matter straightened out, lest my nephew be wronged."
Hearing Eldest Li’s words, the faces of the Ge family members flushed red. It wasn’t as if they were unaware of what their own sister (the cousins’ aunt) had done. In fact, who in the surrounding villages didn’t know? Third Brother Ge had only grumbled because he’d seen how warmly the Li family treated Li Xiu and his in-laws, and he’d felt a sense of imbalance. But now Eldest Li had escalated the issue to a matter of principle. It looked like they were about to be thoroughly humiliated.
Although Third Uncle Li was honest and simple, he wasn’t naive. He spoke up directly, "You three should know full well how my second sister-in-law treats my nephew. I doubt even a stepmother would act that way! My nephew is the eldest son and grandson, yet she kicked him out of the family with absolutely nothing. He was only twenty-two that year—no house, no wife, no home. Now that he’s risked everything to build a life for himself, she still can’t stand him and wants his own uncles to put him in his place? I just want to ask you all: who gave you, the Ge family, the right to torment the heir of our Li family!"
Seeing things were taking a bad turn, the eldest maternal uncle grew anxious. Everyone knew Third Uncle Li was an honest man; for him to speak like this meant the matter wouldn’t be settled easily. He quickly tried to explain, "Now, now, brother, it’s not like that. My third brother is drunk, don’t lower yourself to his level. I’ll give him a good talking-to when we get back."
"Eldest Uncle, you know what kind of person my mother is. And you know all about how the family assets were divided. So today, whether my youngest uncle is drunk or not, we’ve come to this point. So allow me, your nephew, to lay everything out clearly. My father is sitting right here. I’m not going to play any games!"
The five men of the Ge family—the three brothers and two sons—stared at the expressionless Li Xiu, stunned by the sheer force of his presence. ’Truthfully,’ they wondered, ’what is our sister (their aunt) even trying to accomplish? He’s clearly a capable and successful son. Why does she despise him so much?’
"For years, because my father’s health was poor, I, as the eldest son, had to support my younger siblings. That was fine—there’s a saying, after all: ’an eldest brother is like a father.’ I poured all my energy into protecting them as they grew up. But when I reached the age to get married and start my own family, my mother... everything she did, one thing after another, was all to ensure I’d get a smaller share of the family money, or none at all. Fine. She is the woman who gave birth to me. I accepted it. If I had no money, I would find a way. You uncles should know exactly how that family division went down."
He glanced at the Ge family members, whose heads were bowed. Li Xiu continued, "I got my own house. I married my own wife. After all, even the sweets for my wedding were prepared overnight by my grandma, my eldest aunt, and my third aunt. So when I said today that my wife has nothing to do with my parents, I wasn’t wrong. No one can argue with that. When I was getting married, my mother didn’t lift a finger. My father didn’t ask me a single thing. Not one of my younger brothers and sisters came to me and asked, ’Do you need help?’"