ECG -Chapter 104 I Hope One Day You Won’t Come Begging Me

Before this, he had absolutely never imagined that Xia Yumeng would be his daughter. But thinking back on her usual clothes, mannerisms, and the way she spoke, he became relieved. Sure enough, the family environment had a huge influence on a child.

If Bai Zhitao and Xia Yumeng were compared, although Bai Zhitao was equally graceful and generous, that was mostly her performance on stage. In private, she had a scholarly, refined, and delicate air about her, which had a lot to do with the fact that both of her parents were teachers.

Xia Yumeng, on the other hand, was not only graceful and composed, but also carried a sense of steadiness and confidence. Even in her lively and cheerful personality, there was always a sense of restraint. It was difficult to see her being petty or narrow-minded; she thought things through very carefully in every situation.

Lin Hao secretly felt lucky. Fortunately, he had confirmed his relationship with Xia Yumeng before knowing her identity. Otherwise, people would definitely have thought he was someone trying to climb the social ladder by attaching himself to a wealthy family.

He understood Zhou Dongbing’s concern. The ancients talked about being well-matched in status because marriages back then involved too many political factors. Marriage was merely a tool, and what mattered was what benefits the alliance could bring to the two families.

In modern marriages, being well-matched mainly comes from two aspects:

The first is money and social status.

If there is a huge gap in wealth and status between the two families, the poorer side will naturally feel inferior and unable to hold their head up in front of the other family.

The second is whether there is spiritual communication and whether their values are compatible.

Most of these things come from childhood upbringing. The influence of one’s original family on a child is enormous. What kind of parents there are often determines what kind of child they raise.

People often say: “People of the same kind gather together.” A huge difference in values will gradually reveal itself over time, and naturally create conflicts.

That night, Lin Hao lay on the middle hospital bed, listening to Wu Xiaozhou’s carefree snoring, while he kept thinking about this issue.

The difference between his family and Xia Yumeng’s family was enormous, but this difference could be made up through later efforts. After all, he was no longer the old Lin Hao. He knew very clearly that in this world, he was destined to amaze everyone one day.

So he understood what “being well-matched in status” meant, but he simply didn’t care about it!

The night Wu Xiaozhou was hospitalized, both of his parents came over. His mother first shed tears out of worry for her son, then immediately started scolding him.

His father, Wu Yongheng, held back his anger and said he would deal with him after he was discharged. His mother became furious and pinched him, saying, “You old fool, have you gone crazy? Your son is already in the hospital, and you still want to hit him?”

Wu Xiaozhou said that he had only been beaten because a bunch of thugs mistook him for someone else, but no matter how he explained it, it didn’t help.

Three days later, Wu Xiaozhou was discharged.

That day, Xia Yumeng brought Jiang Rong and Bai Zhitao over as well. Wu Xiaozhou insisted on taking them all to his house. Lin Hao knew exactly what he was thinking—if there were girls around, his father would feel embarrassed about hitting him.

Things really happened just as he expected. When his parents saw Xia Yumeng and Bai Zhitao, they kept praising how pretty they were. Lin Hao then hinted to his mother that Bai Zhitao was Wu Xiaozhou’s girlfriend, and his mother was even happier, smiling so much she couldn’t close her mouth.

As a result, Lin Hao enjoyed a delicious lunch at their house that day. Wu Xiaozhou’s mother’s braised pork was especially tasty.

However, that night, Wu Xiaozhou still ended up getting kicked twice by his father.

He was already used to it and didn’t take it seriously at all. Afterwards, he happily handed the fifty thousand yuan to his mother.

Although she felt sorry for her son, seeing such a large amount of money made his mother stop crying and smile instead. She said she would save it and use it for his future wedding.

Actually, Wu Xiaozhou had kept another little secret. Zhou Dongbing had given him ten thousand yuan as well, and the next day he dragged Lin Hao to the bank and deposited it into his own card.

After that, every Sunday, Lin Hao, Wu Xiaozhou, Bai Zhitao, and Xia Yumeng would arrange to go out and have fun together. At first, Jiang Rong joined them twice, but later she felt that she stood out too much and stopped coming.

From Monday to Saturday, Lin Hao stayed at home reading, while Wu Xiaozhou practiced martial arts at home.

Lin Hao and Xia Yumeng’s relationship progressed very quickly. Although it was still limited to holding hands and putting an arm around her slender waist, Lin Hao didn’t push things further. He felt that this was quite nice, and he enjoyed it a lot.

Through this, he also confirmed that there was nothing wrong with him. He definitely wasn’t some kind of “older woman complex” guy either—he was still very interested in youthful and beautiful girls.

Time passed quickly, and before they knew it, the Spring Festival had arrived.

The New Year goods at Lin Hao’s home were very plentiful. He had originally planned to buy a few cartons of good cigarettes and several bottles of fine liquor, but then his father took out whole cartons of Soft Zhonghua cigarettes and bottles of Moutai from the kang cabinet.

Lin Hao was surprised. These had actually been gifts from Zhou Dongbing to him and Wu Xiaozhou. He hadn’t expected there were still some left.

Originally, he wanted to talk with his father and see if they could move into a larger house, but after thinking about it carefully, he decided to hold back.

He still had 1.3 million yuan in his hands. With this amount of money, he could at least buy several nice houses of one or two hundred square meters in Chunhe. But for the time being, he couldn’t tell his father about this money. In the future, there might even be more.

It seemed he still had to find a way to let his father know as soon as possible that his son was very capable of earning money. Otherwise, having money but not daring to spend it was really frustrating.

On the morning before New Year’s Eve, Lin Hao and his father went to pay respects at their ancestral graves. They also ran into two of his father’s paternal cousins. They chatted casually in front of the graves for a while, but their relationship seemed rather distant.

In Lin Hao’s memories, his father and these two cousins had once been very close, but later, for some unknown reason, they became estranged. He had been too young back then and didn’t know the details.

His younger uncle, Lin Qingmin, finished burning the paper offerings and stood up.

“Big brother, where did your Haozi go to school?”

Lin Qingsheng replied in his deep, muffled voice, “Provincial Art Institute.”

“What is he studying?”

“Piano.”

Lin Qingmin curled his lips, his face full of disdain.

“Ah, who in our old Lin family has ever touched a piano? Big brother, what were you thinking? If you ask me, he might as well learn how to repair bicycles from you! Hahaha!”

Lin Qingyong also gave a dry chuckle twice, then stood up and brushed the snow off his knees.

“Qingmin’s words are rough, but he’s not wrong. What’s the point of learning that stuff? What can he do after graduating? Beg on the streets?”

Lin Qingsheng couldn’t be bothered to respond to them and stopped talking. After finishing the paper offerings, he poured a bottle of white liquor in front of the grave, then stood up.

Lin Hao respectfully kowtowed three times. Then he and his father prepared to leave down the mountain.

Suddenly, Lin Hao turned his head toward them.

“Two uncles, I hope that one day you won’t come begging me!”

“Hahaha!”

Lin Qingmin and Lin Qingyong burst into laughter, as if they had just heard the funniest joke in the world.

Lin Hao ignored them and followed behind his father, walking down the snow-covered path toward the foot of the mountain.

Looking at Lin Hao’s back, the smile on Lin Qingyong’s face instantly disappeared. He gritted his teeth and said:

“This little brat actually thinks he can make something of himself? Dream on!”

Lin Qingmin threw the cigarette butt in his hand onto the snow and curled his lips.

“Brother, you actually believe that? Bah!”

As he spoke, he spat onto the snow.

At four in the afternoon, father and son prepared six delicious dishes, opened a bottle of Moutai, and drank happily.

After dinner, Lin Hao started making New Year’s greetings calls. He first called his teacher Fan Gang. He had planned to call the principal, Li Bohan, after finishing this call, but when Fan Gang told him he was celebrating the New Year at Li Bohan’s house, he greeted them both together.

After that, he called his counselor Wu Shanliang. Although he hadn’t interacted much with this counselor, there were still certain things that had to be done. It was basic courtesy.

He was searching for Fourth Sister’s phone number when his phone rang. Looking down, he was surprised to see it was Yang Qianyi from Yanjing Meiying Music.

He quickly answered.

“President Yang, Happy New Year!”

“Lin Hao, Happy New Year!” Yang Qianyi’s voice sounded cheerful, and it was obvious she was in a very good mood.

“President Yang must have good news to tell me, right?” Lin Hao said with a smile.

“Eh?!” Yang Qianyi was a little surprised. “Then guess!”