Shan Qihuan nodded, confirming Shen Yuhan’s guess: “That’s right, she’s coming back from the place where she went to become a nun.”
“Is she passing by and going home for a visit, or is she planning to return to secular life?” Shen Yuhan had no idea about this mysterious mother-in-law who had never appeared before, he had never seen any photos of her and rarely heard anything related to her from Shan Qihuan.
Shan Qihuan rarely mentioned these things to Shen Yuhan, also because his impression of this mother of his was still from when he was very young, he only remembered her frequent quarrels with Shan Tianfeng, and her decisive departure from home, even her appearance was a little blurry.
The eldest brother and the second sister also take time out of the year to go to the temple to offer incense, however, he wouldn’t go at all, this woman gave him almost no attention after giving birth to him, he was a child who grew up with a nanny, all her attention was on Shan Tianfeng, the time when they gave birth to him was when they were at their worst, and all Shan Qihuan remembered was the indifferent look she gave him.
Similarly, he also remembered that the thing she often said to the nanny the most was: “It’s so annoying! Take him away, I don’t want to see him now!”
In fact, Shan Qihuan shouldn’t have been affected by the news that this woman was coming back, but all she brought to him were bad memories, however, with Shen Yuhan, he could express his thoughts easily, so he mentioned them in passing.
He said: “Eldest brother only said that she returned to Jiang City to live for a period of time, whether it is specifically to return to secular life or something else, it is not clear.”
Shen Yuhan handed him a pair of chopsticks: “Then if she wants to come back, then she can come back, Husband, you have nothing to worry about, it won’t affect your life.”
Shan Qihuan nodded: “This is also true.” Everything he had now was done by himself, and it had nothing to do with her.
At this time, Shen Yuhan thought of another thing: “If she comes back, do you and I have to pay her a visit?” Since the other party has already escaped into Buddhism1遁入空門 (dùn rù kōng mén): to take refuge in religious life (especially to become a Buddhist monk); take the monastic vow; become a monk/nun; to escape from the world and enter Buddhism., it is not an exaggeration to use the word ‘visit’, and now she should be called by her Dharma name2法號 (fǎ hào): (Buddhism) Buddhist monastic title; name in religion (of Buddhist or Daoist within monastery); A Dharma name is a new name acquired during both lay and monastic Buddhist initiation rituals in Mahayana Buddhism and monastic ordination in Theravada Buddhism (where it is more proper to call it Dhamma or Sangha name). The name is traditionally given by a Buddhist monastic, and is given to newly ordained monks, nuns, and laity. Dharma names are considered aspirational, not descriptive..
“I don’t know, let’s see what her intentions are when she comes back.” Shan Qihuan didn’t want to speculate about his biological mother with a malicious attitude, but he couldn’t help but think so because of the bad experience in the past as if he had formed a conditioned reflex.
“Husband, what kind of person is my mother-in-law?” Shen Yuhan was still a little curious, in fact, Shan Qihuan didn’t look much like Shan Tianfeng, but his other brothers had inherited Shan Tianfeng’s looks.
Shan Qihuan was amused by his wife’s constant use of the term mother-in-law, and couldn’t help but feel troubled: “Your mother-in-law, objectively speaking, doesn’t leave a good impression on me, however, outsiders still think highly of her, her natal family was a wealthy local in Jiang City at the time, while my father was just a young man from a poor family, a playboy who knew how to coax people, it is said that she chose to marry my father herself, but her family didn’t actually like him, yet my mother insisted on marrying him, nearly cause her to cut off the relationship with my grandparents, but after all, she was the pearl in the palm3掌上明珠 (zhǎng shàng míng zhū): lit. a pearl in the palm (idiom); fig. beloved person (esp. daughter); apple of one’s eye; Originally used to describe someone whom one loves dearly. Later, it was often used to refer specifically to the daughter that the parents love especially. of the Gu family back then, so in the end, they agreed to her request.”
Shen Yuhan was quite impressed with her persistence in true love: “Then why did it become like this later? The status of the two families seems to have been reversed, what about my mother-in-law’s natal family? Are they no longer in contact?” He hadn’t heard Shan Qihuan mention his mother-in-law’s natal family even after he had been here for half a year, according to reason, one’s mother’s family is very important.
Shan Qihuan satisfied Shen Yuhan’s curiosity: “My grandparents passed away before I was born, and my mother also became a nun, as a result, Qixin and I have a relatively weak relationship with the Gu family, currently, my eldest brother may still have contact with some closer relatives, but it’s infrequent, perhaps limited to exchanging gifts on New Year’s day and other festivals. The reason the two families’ status became reversed, was mainly because most of the money from my grandparents was given to my mother, They hoped that Shan Tianfeng could take good care of her, so they naturally provided a lot of support in business, giving him a great deal of help, in other words, the Shan family owes its current fortune to the Gu family.”
Shen Yuhan said: “Although it’s not good for us to talk about people behind their backs, now that my father-in-law ignores the honor of the Gu family and spreads his branches outside, shouldn’t your grandparents have fallen out with him a long time ago?”
Shan Qihuan shook his head and said: “It is said that my grandparents couldn’t stand him until the day they died, but Mother will not leave him, they couldn’t do anything either.”
“Then, isn’t his behavior in violation of the current legal provisions of monogamy?” Shen Yuhan is not ignorant of the law now, when he was in Liangshui Village, his mobile phone signal was not good, so he and Brother Lin would often sit in the living room and watch legal channels, and he also gained a preliminary understanding of modern marriage laws.
Shan Qihuan said: “In this kind of matter, if the public does not report it, the authorities will not investigate, it can only be condemned on moral grounds, and the state cannot intervene.”
So that’s how it is, after watching the legal channel, Shen Yuhan also found it strange, that in a monogamous society, Shan Tianfeng can marry several wives, it turns out that if the public does not report it, the authorities will not investigate, which means he has found a loophole in the law, moreover, this also falls under the category of personal behavior of citizens and has not escalated to the level of harming society.
“That’s really hard for you guys.” Shen Yuhan sympathized with his husband.
“It’s not bad.” Shan Qihuan joked to himself, “After all, I am the son of the first wife and I have a very proper background.”
Shen Yuhan nodded: “That’s right.”
After chatting with his wife for a while, some of the resentments that Shan Qihuan had accumulated for many years were relieved.
Since the two people reconciled, it can be said that their relationship has become smoother4蜜裏調油 (mì lǐ diào yóu): T/N: May or may not be a typo for the idiom 蜜裏調油 (mì lǐ tiáo yóu), like honey mixed with oil; be deeply attached to each other; a metaphor for being very close and harmonious., however, both of them have their own things to be busy with, they are not very clingy either, after all, after understanding each other’s inner thoughts better, their relationship is no longer so tight, at least when something happens again, the relationship between the two of them still have the ability to resist the external forces.
–
The archaeological team over there is still cleaning up the last batch of cultural relics in the tomb, they decided to let Shen Yuhan take time to go to the museum over there after all the cleanup is done so that Shen Yuhan could continue to take care of his hands.
Without realizing it, it was the day when Shen Yuhan’s mother-in-law, whom he had never met before, returned to Jiang City.
Since ancient times, the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law has been the biggest problem.
In the Qi Kingdom, as the daughter-in-law, they not only have to listen to their husband but also to their mother-in-law, they must not do anything that their mother-in-law doesn’t allow, their own lord husband also has to listen to the mother-in-law, if they speak up for their wive, they will be regarded as unfilial, if the mother-in-law doesn’t like her daughter-in-law, she can divorce them on behalf of her son, furthermore, the son has to obey, otherwise it will also be regarded as unfilial.
Shen Yuhan learned a little bit about his mother-in-law who had become a nun and returned to Jiang City from Shan Qihuan.
Her name is Gu Biqing, and she is four years younger than Shan Tianfeng.
–
On this day, Shan Qiyuan still called them all, and everyone gathered at his house for dinner in the evening, Gu Biqing would stay at his house for a while, but the specific duration was not mentioned.
Meeting his mother-in-law for the first time, Shen Yuhan was still a little nervous, he first went to the company downstairs to wait for Shan Qihuan to get off work, and the two of them went to Shan Qiyuan’s home together.
On the way, Shen Yuhan was quiet and didn’t say a word, and Shan Qihuan realized that something was not right with him today.
Shan Qihuan asked him: “Why don’t you say anything?”
Shen Yuhan took a deep breath and said: “The ugly daughter-in-law is afraid to meet the mother-in-law.”
Shan Qihuan pulled him to his side: “What’s there to be afraid of, I don’t care anymore, what do you care about her?”
Shen Yuhan felt better as he leaned against Shan Qihuan: “Okay.”
But he is still an ancient person after all, he was taught since childhood that he should serve his parents-in-law well in the future, moreover, before getting married, he was taught by the momo in the palace how to serve the Empress Dowager well.
In fact, before he set off, he had also read a lot of modern daughter-in-law and mother-in-law relationships, and he thought that modern people would have changed somewhat, but he read a lot of content that complained about their own mother-in-law, how strange she was, and so on, even the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law in the news is not good, some men even abused their wive together with the mother-in-law, which is really terrifying.
This eternal problem still has no solution.
In a state of anxiety5忐忑不安 (tǎn tè bù ān): nervous; uneasy; restless; apprehensive; uneasy; fidgety., Shen Yuhan arrived at the large villa where Shan Qiyuan lived, this was not the first time he had come here.
There were more people in Shan Qiyuan’s family, there are more than ten or twenty people including drivers and nannies, the living space was also large, with a lawn outside, and there was a bit of distance to drive to the main house, they came here for dinner during the Chinese New Year, and Shen Yuhan was still amazed by the various beautiful gardening.
The feeling of coming here this time is different, he is no longer in the mood to appreciate all this.
Shan Qihuan rarely comes to Shan Qiyuan’s house, firstly, his eldest brother is also busy, and secondly, his sister-in-law is actually not very enthusiastic, she has the same attitude towards everyone, quite cold, so whenever the brothers want to have dinner together, they would meet outside.
There are a lot of people today, and Shan Qixin, who is usually the last one to arrive, is already there, he always likes to play with his nephew, but today he is a lot depressed, he probably has the same mentality as Shen Yuhan, one is meeting his mother-in-law, and the other is meeting his biological mother, in comparison, it seemed that meeting mother was more important, Shen Yuhan felt relieved when he thought about it.
The second sister and the second brother-in-law’s family are also here, she should come here often, as the children are quite familiar with each other.
Shan Qihuan chatted with them, while Shan Qixin quietly moved next to Shen Yuhan, among the four brothers and sisters, he was the youngest and had never seen his mother, now more than twenty years had passed, and she suddenly said that she wanted to come back, moreover, the whole family had to get together, Shan Qixin had been very distressed in the past few days.
Shan Qixin whispered: “Third Sister-in-law, I’m nervous.”
Shen Yuhan replied to him: “I’m also nervous.”
Suddenly finding common ground, Shan Qixin said: “Why are you nervous?”
Shen Yuhan said: “How can a new daughter-in-law not be nervous when meeting their mother-in-law?”
Shan Qixin came to comfort him instead, and he immediately forgot about his nervousness: “She has little to do with you, I think you are usually quite calm when things happen.”
Shen Yuhan said: “You don’t understand, you will know after you get married.”
Shan Qixin’s attention was successfully diverted, but his mindset was not good: “That’s true, I’ve never been married, even if I get married, I shouldn’t have to face this.”
This really pokes where it hurts, Shen Yuhan didn’t want to talk to Shan Qixin anymore, in modern terms, his brother-in-law’s emotional intelligence was a bit low.
The next part will be up soon.
