B5SB -Chapter 313 Making Certain Sacrifices

Father Lu walked home with his hands clasped behind his back, humming an off-key military song. When he saw Lu Huailin standing in the middle of the living room, he was pleasantly surprised.

“Good boy! You even brought Haohua to see me as soon as you got back.”

Hearing his father’s voice, Lu Huailin turned around and shook his head.

“Dad, Haohua and my wife didn’t come back.”

When Father Lu heard that Haohua hadn’t come, his nose practically twisted with anger. He glared at Lu Huailin.

“What’s the point of you coming back if my grandson and daughter-in-law didn’t?”

Lu Huailin shifted his gaze to his mother standing nearby and replied calmly, “Mom asked me to come back.”

Only then did Father Lu notice that Mother Lu’s eyes were red, clearly showing she had been crying.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

He walked over and sat on the sofa opposite her, quietly waiting for an explanation.

Mother Lu opened her mouth but didn’t dare say in front of Father Lu that she wanted Haohua brought back. Instead, she looked at Lu Huailin, hoping he would take the initiative.

But Lu Huailin had no intention of doing as she wished.

“Mom said we should send Haohua over so she could look after him,” he said directly.

He knew that only his father could restrain his mother. If he wanted to avoid constant conflicts with his wife, he had to extinguish his mother’s unrealistic ideas at the root.

Father Lu glanced at Mother Lu, his brows tightly knit.

“Send him over? You want to raise him into another eldest son—someone who can’t handle setbacks and talks about life and death at the slightest trouble?”

Mother Lu’s eyes reddened again.

“Isn’t the eldest son like this because of you?” she sobbed.

Not wanting to argue with her, Father Lu turned to Lu Huailin.

“Have you reported back to the army yet? No. I report at four this afternoon.”

Father Lu checked his watch. It was almost noon. It would take more than an hour to drive back.

He stood up.

“I’ll cook you a bowl of noodles. Eat, then hurry back.”

“I’ll help you, Dad.”

The father and son went into the kitchen one after the other.

Mother Lu stared at them resentfully.

If they weren’t so cold-hearted, how could she have ended up like this?

While boiling water, Father Lu said quietly, “Don’t worry. I’ll keep an eye on your mother. She won’t do anything excessive.”

“Dad… can Mom’s leg still be cured?”

Lu Huailin felt deeply distressed. After all, she was his biological mother.

Father Lu sighed.

“It can’t be cured.”

Lu Huailin froze, his hand holding the noodles stopping.

“Dad… Mom’s thinking is a bit extreme lately. Spend more time with her when you can.”

Father Lu shot him a glare.

“So in your eyes, I’m that heartless? I wouldn’t even care about my own wife?”

Lu Huailin fell silent.

“I asked her to go out with me for walks,” Father Lu snorted. “She refuses, saying people outside are laughing at her behind her back.”

Hearing how sensitive his mother had become, Lu Huailin felt even more guilty. If not for him, his father wouldn’t have sent his brother and mother to the northwest.

Father Lu saw through his thoughts and sneered.

“You’re a grown man, yet you hesitate and can’t let go.”

Lu Huailin opened his mouth but didn’t know what to say.

“Huailin, remember this,” Father Lu said. “A family only has so many resources. If they’re given to you, they can’t be given to your brother. If your brother has vision and understands that prosperity and decline are shared, he won’t resent you. He’ll work harder and won’t become your burden. But if he’s short-sighted, no matter how much compensation he gets, he’ll still resent you and think you stole what should’ve been his. The former can be reasoned with. The latter will never reflect on himself—he’ll only blame others for his incompetence.”

Looking at his father’s white hair and hearing these words, Lu Huailin’s eyes instantly reddened.

His heart trembled.

Only then did he realize that the tall, mighty father in his memories had grown old.

Thinking of his aging mother as well, his heart softened.

“Dad, it’s unfair to Mom. After all, my brother is her son too.”

“Isn’t he my son as well?”

“When he comes to his senses, I’ll arrange things for him. If he never does, that’s his fate.”

Father Lu stared at the boiling water, his emotions churning like the bubbles.

He sighed.

“Huailin, when you have more children in the future, you’ll understand—both palms and backs of the hands are flesh. No parent doesn’t care. But after generations of effort, we can’t hand everything over to someone who can’t carry the load. So even with biological children, sometimes you have to make sacrifices.”

Lu Huailin’s heart jolted.

Haohua had grown up in his arms.

He couldn’t bear to let anyone take what belonged to his son—even if it were another biological child.

At that moment, he decided he should make time to get a vasectomy, to completely eliminate any future siblings competing with Haohua for resources.

Even if both sides were flesh, some parts were thicker than others.

Seeing him dazed, Father Lu patted his shoulder.

“What are you spacing out for? Hurry up and put in the noodles.”

Lu Huailin quickly dropped the noodles into the pot.

Meanwhile, Gu Yihan was grateful to Auntie Zhang for showing her around the family compound. On the way back, she held Haohua’s hand with one hand and carried their purchases with the other, warmly inviting Auntie Zhang to sit at her place.

Auntie Zhang didn’t refuse. Since they were neighbors now, they would interact often anyway.

After arriving, Gu Yihan told her to sit wherever she liked, then brought out a cup of malted milk powder.

“Auntie, does anyone live on our right side?”

“Yes. It’s Chief of Staff Gao Guoqiang. His wife is Bai Yun. You can call her Aunt Bai.”

Gu Yihan hesitated.

“Wouldn’t calling her ‘Aunt’ be inappropriate?”

Auntie Zhang laughed.

“No. She’s at least twenty years older than you. ‘Aunt Bai’ is perfect.”

She took a sip and added with a smile,

“In this area, your husband is the youngest. You’ll probably have to call almost everyone ‘auntie.’”

Gu Yihan widened her eyes.

“All of them?”

Auntie Zhang nodded.

“Yes. Even my son is older than you. If you don’t call me auntie, the seniority would get more and more confusing.”

Gu Yihan looked at her in surprise.

“Really? You look so young. You don’t look like you have a son my age at all.”

Auntie Zhang was pleased by the compliment and laughed.

“My grandson is a year older than your Haohua.”