The Art of Teasing - Chapter 58

Chapter 58

So many older male cousins—if they had grown up together with close bonds, that would naturally be ideal. But she had never met any of these cousins since childhood. Now they were all grown adults, mostly in their late twenties to early forties, and Wen Zhengyu suddenly didn't know how she ought to interact with them. If they tried to become too close too quickly, they still barely knew each other. Yet if she kept things distant and polite, they were after all her own flesh-and-blood relatives.

However, after Wen Zhengyu had exchanged greetings with her relatives, she discovered the problem was not something she needed to worry about.

As a rare specimen and a first-time visitor, everyone had an endless stream of questions for her. Her eldest aunt-in-law, now retired, warmly took her hand, asking her, "How is it that you're so thin?", inquiring about what she liked to eat, whether the family treated her well, and various other matters concerning her current life.

Wen Zhengyu answered everything in careful detail.

When the conversation touched upon Wen Shiyi, however—since he was, after all, her biological father, it would not be proper for her to speak of her conflicts with him. She offered only a single line: "It's passable."

To her face, everyone merely mentioned Wen Shiyi in this way and then let the subject drop. She noticed, however, that whenever his name came up, the atmosphere shifted slightly. To be precise, although her four maternal uncles said nothing and their expressions barely changed, the eyes are what most betray a person's emotions. And as for her cousins, after all young and not entirely steady in their composure, their feelings registered directly on their faces.

The matter of Wen Shiyi was something three generations of the Lian family remembered and held onto.

When people fall into conversation, time passes quickly. Soon it was time for lunch.

The Lian family numbered thirty-two people. Apart from her youngest aunt-in-law and two youngest male cousins, who were abroad, everyone else was here.

Like the Wen family, the Lians arranged seating according to seniority and age order. The slight difference was that the Lian family did not segregate men and women at separate tables—husbands and wives sat together. All of her cousins were married, and except for the youngest son of her third uncle's wife, who had no children yet, all of them had little ones.

The youngest child was already three years old, capable of holding a spoon and feeding himself. When the meal began, he had climbed onto a chair at the table of his older male cousins all on his own, to be looked after by the cousin beside him.

Wen Zhengyu, a twenty-seven-year-old single dog, seated among her perfectly paired-off cousins and their wives, found herself subjected to couple-bullying for the very first time.

Since it was her first time eating at the Lian residence, everyone did look after her a bit. But looking after was one thing—they did not treat her as an outsider, and naturally there was none of that excessive formality. She was an adult. In the Lian household, where even three-year-old children had to feed themselves, she naturally did not need anyone helping her to dishes or fussing over her arrangements. However, she had not realized how the family culture of the Lians had been established. At the dining table, from her maternal grandfather at the neighboring table, to her uncles, to these cousins of hers—all of them were guarding their wives as they ate. The concrete manifestation was this: each served his own wife soup and rice, each placed choice morsels into his own wife's bowl, each possessed exhaustive knowledge of what his wife liked to eat and what she disliked, and then had to monitor nutritional balance, from time to time murmuring a gentle reminder or two. Occasionally, these couple-bullies would remember her existence and casually extend some concern her way—but that concern was worse than no concern at all, only accentuating the pitiful state of this single dog.

Wen Zhengyu observed these pair after pair and silently shoveled rice and picked at dishes.

Aside from the couple-bullying aspect, Wen Zhengyu felt things were quite good. These cousins of hers had neither been cold toward her nor extended any special treatment. It was precisely that kind of even, balanced attitude one holds toward family, without holding any prejudice against her for being Wen Shiyi's daughter. Still, probably because they were not yet very familiar with each other, and with the added factor of natural reserve between men and women, when they spoke with her, it was noticeably less casual than when the brothers spoke among themselves, carrying an extra measure of carefulness. This carefulness manifested in their voices being just a bit softer when addressing her, and their tones considerably gentler.

After the meal, Old Master Lian and his wife went to rest.

The old lady, who was always a woman of few words, came over to her and said, "Huaijin's room is on the second floor. I have already had it tidied up for you. If you are tired, go rest in that room. Her things are all still kept there as they were. I saw you last time, and I estimated your measurements. I had a few outfits made for you—I do not know whether they will fit. Try them. If they do not fit, give me your measurements, and I will have them remade."

Wen Zhengyu suddenly felt a hotness welling around her eyes. She nodded, let out an "Mm," but her throat felt clogged, and she could not produce a single word.

The old lady gently patted her on the back, then went upstairs together with Old Master Lian.

The room instantly quieted.

Out of the corner of her eye, Wen Zhengyu caught her second uncle's eldest son stealthily kicking her third uncle's youngest son, Lian Xi, in the foot, and throwing him a meaningful glance. She raised her head to look over. That cousin flashed her an awkward smile, then discreetly tugged at his own wife's sleeve.

Her cousin's wife came to sit beside her, handed her a tissue, and offered by way of explanation, "Your brother is clumsy."

Wen Zhengyu understood. Were they afraid she would cry? She said quickly, "I'm fine."

Her uncles and aunts, having finished eating, gave a few words of instruction and each went off to rest.

The children all went off to play on their own.

Wen Zhengyu, her male cousins, their wives, and the two nephews who had already grown into young adults relocated to the living room.

Her third uncle's youngest son, Lian Xi, asked her whether she could tell who was who among the brothers and whether she could remember all their names.

Wen Zhengyu said, "I remember." Nine male cousins, only seven of them present here—not difficult to remember at all.

She had once heard her youngest uncle say that his eldest brother, second brother, and third brother were each only two years apart in age. The eldest was already sixty-two this year. Her maternal grandmother had married her maternal grandfather at nineteen, given birth to her eldest uncle at twenty-three, and at thirty-six had given birth to her youngest uncle and her mother.

Except for her youngest uncle, who had only married at twenty-eight after transitioning out of military service, the other three uncles had all married early—essentially each starting a family in their early twenties. Their eldest sons were also close in age to one another.

Lian Hui and Lian Zhao had been born in the same year, one at the beginning of the year and one at the end; both were forty this year. Lian Ye had been born the following year and was thirty-nine. Her eldest uncle's second son was three years younger than the eldest son Lian Hui, ranking fourth—thirty-six this year—and was called Lian Xin. The line continued in order: Lian Ming, Lian Zhang, Lian Xi.

Lian Xi, worried she might not be able to keep them straight, introduced everyone to her once more, detailing what line of work each cousin was in, where each lived. She exchanged contact information with them, taking down the details of both cousins and their wives. The three elder nephews, already adolescents, also came over and swapped numbers with her.

The morning had been spent in conversation with her uncles and aunts. The afternoon was devoted to talking with her male cousins.

Lian Xi, being the youngest among the brothers, had a livelier, more restless nature. He was the most energetic, the most talkative, chattering on and on without pause.

Lian Xin, by contrast, spoke the least and had an especially low presence. Yet Lian Xi was constantly tossing out lines like, "Right, Fourth Brother?" It was clear that Lian Xin's prestige and standing among his brothers were both quite high, and that Lian Ming and Lian Zhang both seemed to implicitly take him as their lead.

The eldest, Lian Hui, possessed a great deal of that steady, dependable quality befitting the eldest son of the eldest son. He sat together with the other two brothers closest to him in age, appearing very close with them.

The age gap between her and her eldest cousin and the others was somewhat wide, and they were not very familiar with each other yet.

Lian Hui told her that if she ever ran into difficulties in the future or was ever bullied by anyone, she should come to find them. It did not matter which of them she told, he said, and then added, "Going to Lian Xin is fine too. He does business, has wide and flexible connections; he handles a lot of our family's affairs."

Lian Xin raised his eyelids toward the eldest, Lian Hui, and said, "You still don't trust me?"

Lian Hui said, "You, little runt, have the most crafty schemes of anyone. If I were to trust anyone, I would not trust you."

Lian Xin clicked his tongue. "I am the most upright and honest of men," he said, then fired back at Lian Hui, "The way you talk, you'd think you were the only one who counts as the elder brother." He turned to Wen Zhengyu and added, "But my brother's words are not wrong. Coming to me for things is more reliable than going to them." It was, however, an acceptance of the responsibility.

Wen Zhengyu was a little speechless. Why did it seem to her, from the implication layered between their lines, that they somehow thought she was someone easily bullied?

She very much wished to go see her mother's room. But several of her male cousins were still sitting here speaking with her, and she felt embarrassed to abandon them and go off on her own to look at her mother's room. Besides, she was also afraid she might not be able to control her emotions, so she set the thought aside for the time being.

Her grandmother rose from her nap and came downstairs. "In the morning I heard every last one of you saying how busy you were," she said. "How is it that now you are all still sitting here?"

Wen Zhengyu noticed that each and every one of her male cousins instantly tensed up.

The reaction from her cousins' wives, by contrast, was more moderate. They teased, "Yu'er has come home and no one can bear to leave."

The old lady said, "What is there to be unable to bear? In the future, come home more often on weekends and that will be that." She asked Wen Zhengyu, "Are you tired? If you are tired, go rest for a while."

Wen Zhengyu hurriedly said, "Not tired. It is rare for so many of my cousins to all be here. I would like to talk with them a bit more."

The old lady gave a slight nod, then addressed them. "Those who have matters to attend to, go attend to them. If anyone has free time, stay and leave after dinner."

A room full of people, and not one of them dared to have matters to attend to or claimed they had to leave. They all obediently stayed until after dinner before departing.

Ye Ling knew that Wen Zhengyu was going to the Lian household for the weekend. She was somewhat worried about her facing exclusion or bullying there. As for those brothers of the Lian family—if one were to ask how formidable they were, taken individually, only Lian Xin was somewhat difficult to deal with. But the brothers were united in purpose, and when trouble arose, they liked to close ranks. If the Lian brothers held a grudge against Wen Zhengyu because of the Wen Shiyi affair, Wen Zhengyu would be in for a rough time.

She was just mulling over what pretext she might use to lure out the most loose-lipped of them, Lian Xi, to sound things out, when Lian Xin got to her first, saying he wanted to treat her to dinner.

This was a case of someone bringing a pillow just as one was feeling drowsy. Ye Ling gladly accepted the invitation.

She arrived at the restaurant and saw there was no one else—only the two brothers, Lian Xin and Lian Xi. Smiling, she asked, "You suddenly invite me out to dinner—is there something going on?" She pulled out a chair and sat.

Lian Xin poured her tea and said, "Yesterday, that younger sister of mine—that is, my fourth paternal aunt's child, Wen Zhengyu."

Ye Ling laughed and nodded. The form of address had shifted from "that child of the Wen family" to "that younger sister of mine." It seemed there had been an improvement in perception. She said, "I know. She went to your family's home yesterday. I happened to be at her side when your grandmother called her and I overheard." She asked, "Now that you have met her in person, how do you feel about her?"

Lian Xin's expression became, for a moment, somewhat difficult to put into words.

Ye Ling looked at him, puzzled.

Lian Xin said, "Better-looking than in photographs. She speaks in a warm, soft, measured way. It is just that her disposition is a bit too soft—she does not seem to have much in the way of guile."

Ye Ling let out an "Oh" and asked, "And then? You invited me to dinner to talk about this…"

Lian Xin lifted his teacup and took a sip. "The family elders have given instructions," he said. "We, as her elder brothers, are to keep an eye on her, to see if there are any ways in which we might be of help to her."

The shift in attitude, from before to after, was so drastic that Ye Ling, for a moment, could not quite wrap her mind around it. The previous attitude had been: "That child of the Wen family—for over twenty years she never once set foot in our Lian household. Now she thinks she can come asking for my fourth aunt's dowry? Isn't she thinking things over a little too optimistically?" And now this? They wanted to offer help?

Lian Xi, seeing that even Ye Ling was stunned, quickly explained, "Fourth Brother is afraid of her being bullied. A young girl, all delicate and soft, without a father or mother—so terribly pitiable. Yesterday, Grandmother barely mentioned my fourth aunt, and her eyes instantly reddened."

Ye Ling understood at once. She thought for a moment and said, "If we are talking about helping, there really are not many places where one can lend useful assistance."

Lian Xi said, "That cannot be. The Wen family is already in that state."

Ye Ling said, "She is rather stubborn. Within the Wen family, her closest relationships are with Wen Shishu and Wen Li. When things were so difficult for her that she pawned her grandmother's last remaining pair of bracelets, she never once went to either of them for help. When it came to opening the art studio, she asked Wen Li for assistance, but she gave Wen Li shares in the studio before she would let Wen Li help." She paused, then continued, "If you truly wish to help, then guide and advise her more. Her experience of the world is shallow, and she has only a fragmentary understanding of many things. One good point, though, is that when she does not understand something, she will not pretend to understand; she knows how to ask. Zhengyu's heart is quite meticulous. Though she may not have that many tricks up her sleeve, her value lies in being solid and dependable."

At that last line, Lian Xin smiled. He poured Ye Ling a glass of wine, raised it to toast her, and said, "Thank you." Then he added, "Still, I must trouble CEO Ye with this: if she ever runs into any difficulty, send word to me."

Ye Ling did not agree outright but only said, "It depends on the situation."

Over the meal, the two brothers inquired extensively about Wen Zhengyu's circumstances.

Ye Ling could see that for Lian Xi, it was driven more by curiosity, while Lian Xin wanted to gain a comprehensive understanding of what kind of person Wen Zhengyu was. Whatever could be said, she said. Given the kind of person Wen Zhengyu was, as long as Lian Xin still wanted to keep some face, he would most likely not contemplate making things difficult for her again. The truth was, even setting aside the layer of relationship as cousins, their combat strength did not exist on the same plane. Wen Zhengyu going to the Lian household was not, as they had previously imagined, aimed at laying claim to Lian Huaijin's dowry. Besides, Lian Huaijin's dowry ought to belong to Wen Zhengyu in the first place. There was absolutely no principle by which nephews should step forward and wag their fingers at the dowry their paternal aunt had left behind. As for the matter of Wen Zhengyu not setting foot in the Lian household for over twenty years, Ye Ling estimated that the Lian family had not, in all those years, ever gone looking for Wen Zhengyu, either.

The fact that the Lian brothers had come to inquire in this way also set Ye Ling's mind at ease. It showed that they had taken Wen Zhengyu to heart and were willing to regard her as one of their own. Otherwise, they would not have taken the trouble to ask around—they could simply have frozen her out and edged her completely out of the Lian family.

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