NOVEL SIMPLE “Ruoqing, the Young General’s residence is so imposing. I have never seen this kind of phonograph in Country Y.”
“Mingzhu, I called you here to accompany me. Why are you always staring at the phonograph?”
Mingzhu smiled, “Seriously, why did you have time to call me here? Where’s the Young General?”
Su Ruoqing sighed, “He’s been busy recently. Maybe he has something important to deal with, for he has been in the army for several days. Even if he came back, he just companied me for a little while. Sometimes, he even had no time to eat with me.”
“You are sad because he is too busy to eat with you, right? Did you really fall in love with him?” Mingzhu looked expectantly at Su Ruoqing with her eyes wide open.
Su Ruoqing blushed with embarrassment. “You are exaggerating! I might like him a little bit, and I don’t think that’s love.”
“You finally admit you like him.”
“Nonsense. Don’t make fun of me anymore!”
They joked and chatted freely with each other. Time passed quickly, and it was about to get dark.
“Ruoqing, I’m leaving first. I’ve been idle recently, and if you get bored, I’ll come over and accompany you.”
“Mingzhu, please wait for me here. I’ll get someone to send you back.”
After coming to the housekeeper, Su Ruoqing was still embarrassed to ask a favor of him, and the housekeeper could tell that she was in a dilemma.
“Madam, please feel free to ask me for help. Young General has already instructed us to treat you in the way we treat him. Everyone and everything in this house are at the disposal of you.”
After hearing his words, Su Ruoqing gradually relaxed.
“Don’t be so polite. You’ve been here for so many years, and I should be respectful to you.”
The housekeeper answered, “There is no need to be so prim.” But he truly appreciated her friendliness.
“Since that’s the case, I won’t hesitate to let you help me. Please find a car to take my friend back. Also, can I give the phonograph in the hall to her?” Although the housekeeper had said so, Su Ruoqing still felt awkward to make this request. But she couldn’t forget Mingzhu’s fondness for the phonograph.
“Of course, Madam, don’t worry.” The phonograph in the hall was specially brought back by Leng Yuhe from abroad. The housekeeper knew it was valuable, but the Young General had ordered in advance that he should treat Su Ruoqing like him. So he thought it was okay to give her this precious gift.
Soon after Mingzhu came home, the servants of the Leng family sent the phonograph to her house.
“I just looked at the phonograph a few more times. I didn’t expect that Ruoqing asked someone to send it over.”
“Our lady said that Miss Ming liked it, so she decided to let us send it to you. We’ll go back first if there’s nothing else.” After saying that, the servants walked out of the Ming family.
Mingzhu’s father carefully examined the phonograph for a long time. Then he said, “This is not an ordinary thing. It seems to have been produced abroad. Even if you have enough money, you can’t buy it in the domestic market.”
Mingzhu was surprised. “I didn’t expect it to be so valuable. If I had known this, I wouldn’t have said that I liked it. I am a little embarrassed to let Ruoqing give it to me.”
“Did Su Ruoqing give you this gift because you said it was delicate?”
“Yes, I did say that.”
Her father squinted his eyes and thought for a while. He then patted her on the shoulder and said, “My girl, Su Ruoqing has a high status in the Leng family. Since you two are friends, you should continue to get along well in the future. Your friendship with her may be of great use to our family.”
Mingzhu was a little unhappy. “Father, I don’t intend to get any benefits from her. Besides, since Ruoqing is a good girl, why did you let my brother break the engagement with her?”
“What nonsense are you talking about?” Her father was angry. “It’s the Leng family that’s worth a lot, not Su Ruoqing. At that time, Su Ruoqing was penniless without the backing of her family. If your brother married her, it wouldn’t do any good to our family. Although the Su family isn’t so powerful, the benefits of its factory are great. Besides, your brother likes Su Zhiyou, too.”
Mingzhu couldn’t convince her father, so she just stared angrily at Mingzhe and ran back to her room.
Her father turned to look at Mingzhe and said, “I remember that girl liked you before. Although she has a different identity now, it’s possible that she still has feelings for you. You have grown up, so you should be more cautious in some things.”
The next day, Su Zhiyou went to the Ming family to find Mingzhe.
“Brother Mingzhe, this phonograph is really beautiful. Why haven’t I seen it before? Did you buy it recently?” When Su Zhiyou saw the phonograph given to Mingzhu by Su Ruoqing, she liked it very much.
“Ruoqing gave this to Mingzhu as a gift yesterday.”
“What?”
Mingzhe didn’t see Su Zhiyou’s gloomy expression and continued, “This is a foreign stuff and it’s hard to buy it in the domestic market. Ordinary people can’t have the chance to get it at all. Mingzhu expressed her fondness for this phonograph, and Ruoqing directly sent the servants to send it over.”
Looking at the smile on Mingzhe’s face, Su Zhiyou was enraged, but she had to pretend to be cute.
“Why do you call her Ruoqing now? Since she becomes the wife of the Young General, her social status has been elevated. I really can’t compare with her now.”
As she said it, she pretended to leave. Mingzhe quickly pulled her back and wrapped her in his arms.
“How could it be? Youyou, can’t you feel my feelings for you?”
Su Zhiyou said, “I don’t believe it, unless… Unless you give me this phonograph. Otherwise, I won’t believe or forgive you.”
Mingzhe was in a dilemma. After all, this phonograph was Mingzhu’s personal belonging. However, since Su Zhiyou begged him in a coquettish manner, he finally made the decision.
“Don’t be angry. It’s just a phonograph and I will give it to you. For me, you are more important than it.” After saying that, he kissed Su Zhiyou on her face.
“Honey, you love me so much.” Su Zhiyou was happy when she got this precious thing, so she treated him with a better attitude.
After Mingzhe sent her home, he was distressed. He secretly gave Mingzhu’s thing to Su Zhiyou, and he knew that Mingzhu didn’t like her. He was afraid that Mingzhu would make a scene.
Sure enough, as soon as he entered the house, he heard Mingzhu yelling at him angrily.
“Mingzhe, you are so obsessed with Su Zhiyou, right? The phonograph is mine. Why did you give it to her?”
Mingzhe was embarrassed and he said, “Mingzhu, please don’t shout at me. Youyou is your sister-in-law. No matter this phonograph is yours or hers, it belongs to our family.”
“Nonsense! I don’t recognize her as a family member. She only knows how to flirt with men! I am different from her.”
The two of them had a terrible quarrel. Mingzhu ran out of the house crying, but Mingzhe was upset and didn’t chase her.
At the Su family.
After bringing the phonograph back home, Su Zhiyou couldn’t wait to use it. While listening to the beautiful music, she was happy at first. But after a while, her heart was filled with jealousy.
Su Ruoqing could give such a valuable thing to her friend without any hesitation, which meant that Leng Yuhe loved her very much. But she hadn’t become his official wife yet. How could she put on airs now?
While she was thinking about it, her parents heard the music and came over.
“Youyou, where did you get the phonograph? It looks very valuable.”
“Mingzhe sent it to me. No, to be precise, it’s from Su Ruoqing.”
Her parents were confused and then asked, “What does this have to do with Su Ruoqing? Who gave it to you?”
Su Zhiyou snorted and told the whole story to them.
“She has gotten a lot of benefits from the Leng family. She gave this precious thing to her friend so easily. I don’t know if Leng Yuhe knows about it.” Her mother sneered, as if she doubted whether Su Ruoqing lived a good life or not.
“Mother, think it over. If Leng Yuhe didn’t agree, would she dare to give such a valuable thing to Mingzhu? It’s not so easy to take anything away from the Leng family.”
Su Zhiyou’s words made the three of them fall into silence. No one had expected that after Su Ruoqing married into the Leng family, she would lead such a good life that they didn’t dare to think about. This made them annoyed.
“If I had known that it was so good to marry Leng Yuhe, I shouldn’t have given that bitch the chance to marry him. Otherwise, wouldn’t these things be mine now?”
The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. She even began to blame her parents, “Are you my biological parents or hers? Why did you let her go into a rich family and leave me here?”
Faced with the accusation, her father was angry but didn’t say anything. Her mother tried to comfort her, “Youyou, don’t be angry or anxious. Even though Su Ruoqing has a higher social status now, she still has to give our family some benefits, such as her investment in the factory last time.”
She grabbed Su Zhiyou’s hand and patted her. “What’s more, they’re only engaged now. You’re much better than Su Ruoqing in terms of origin and appearance. If you want to marry into the Leng family one day, we will try our best to make it come true.”
After listening to her mother’s words, Su Ruoqing felt much better, and she felt that what she said was very reasonable.
However, her father disagreed with them. He said, “You can’t marry into the Leng family. I won’t agree.”
In fact, the reason why he let Su Ruoqing marry into the Leng family was not because Leng Yuhe was notorious. Only he himself knew the real reason.
Su Zhiyou’s mother only thought he was worried about their daughter, so she comforted him in a soft voice, “Master, we just made an assumption. If we can keep asking for benefits from Su Ruoqing, Youyou won’t have to go to the Leng family, right?”
“That’s right. We raised her up, and she has to be filial to us. Otherwise, how can she be qualified to be the Young General’s wife?”
The two of them decided to go to the Leng family again, and what they wanted to do was self-evident.
After her parents left, Su Zhiyou was left alone in her room. She didn’t take an interest in what benefits they wanted to get. She knew that those things didn’t belong to her, and she would use them up one day.
But if these things belonged to her from the beginning, then she could always enjoy using them without any worries.
Recalling Leng Yuhe’s meticulous care for Su Ruoqing, Su Zhiyou blushed. Only a handsome and capable man like him was worthy of her. How she wished she was the one loved by him!