Chapter 171: Chapter 164: Entering the Yin Family Tree—Did You Ask Me? (Part 2)
"He’s calming the child."
Yin Shaohui said.
"Oh... so Xiao Meng doesn’t need to come out either?"
"...Just adding the child to the family tree needs a few elders as witnesses."
Yin Shaohui felt a bit uneasy at this point...
Although Bai Fengmao kept saying he shouldn’t ask and apologized for the disturbance, he certainly asked a lot and disturbed quite a bit.
"So, we’re talking about adding the child to the family tree, but why isn’t the mother mentioned? Is it that only those with Yin blood can be on the Yin Family Tree? Hmm, did I see it wrong? Isn’t the name at the top the first one of Sister Zhou?"
Bai Fengmao squinted and pointed to the first column of the family tree’s main page, alongside Yin Shaohui’s name.
As these words came out, Zhou Mengqin’s body stiffened.
"Mr. Bai, this decision was made by my elder brother and sister-in-law, and they have their reasons."
Yin Shaohuai sensed something odd in the air and quickly spoke.
Zhou Mengqin smiled, "Mr. Bai, please sit down."
Bai Fengmao also smiled, who can’t smile!
"I just found it strange and asked casually. Our Bai Family doesn’t have so many rules; we don’t even have a family tree. But as an outsider, seeing it like this... it almost seems like the Yin Family Head and Mother only want grandchildren and not daughters-in-law! It’s always bad to let people misunderstand."
"Thud!"
Even Housekeeper Lin’s grinding hand froze for a moment upon hearing this.
Yin Shaohui and Zhou Mengqin exchanged glances, pondering whether to explain it to Mr. Bai?
If they explain, would it not seem like they’re hiding something?
If they don’t explain... Considering Mr. Bai’s reputation, what if someday, he accidentally spreads outside that the Yin Family only wants grandchildren, not daughters-in-law...
The face-conscious Yin Family couldn’t bear outsiders gossiping like this.
By this point, Zhou Mengqin felt somewhat resentful toward Yin Shaohui.
This was originally family business, how could they let an outsider be involved?
And Yin Shaohui himself was starting to regret it a bit too.
"Brother Bai, I thought the reason should be quite clear to you."
Zhou Mengqin thought for a moment, and said gently.
Bai Fengmao raised an eyebrow, "Oh?"
"Back then, when you saw Xiao Meng, indeed she was wronged, but I thought Shaohui and I made our thoughts very clear in front of you that day."
"Su Xiaomeng is too young, and both Shaohui and I had high expectations for Shixiu; their marriage was privately arranged. I really cannot accept her in a short time."
"You can’t accept... haha, but hasn’t Xiao Meng already married Yin Shixiu?"
"Who says getting married automatically qualifies her to be on the Yin Family Tree?"
Zhou Mengqin raised an eyebrow, seemingly challenging Bai Fengmao.
"The girl married Yin Shixiu and had two children for him. If she’s not on the Yin Family Tree... does that mean you plan to separate Yin Shixiu and Su Xiaomeng in the future?"
Zhou Mengqin withdrew her faint smile, "No one can predict the future; if Su Xiaomeng continues to behave this way, it’s not impossible."
She said this, and Bai Fengmao understood immediately.
It seems Zhou Mengqin had this plan all along.
Let his granddaughter have two children for her family, then find an opportunity to kick her out!
"What kind of behavior does Xiao Meng have? Can Sister Zhou explain it to me?"
"Someone who would ignore a sick child at home just to attend a social event! How can such a person enter our Yin Family?"
If Su Xiaomeng hadn’t explained it to him earlier, he would be puzzled. Fortunately, she had clarified the ins and outs of the matter.
"So Xiao Meng is that kind of person... I didn’t see that at all."
"At first, I accepted her thin family background and her parents being ordinary people. However, after engaging, the gap caused by our different family conditions is just too big, I am convinced she and Shixiu won’t last long."
"To be blunt, even if my son has to be climbed up to, it shouldn’t be by such a greenhorn girl."
Seeing these two had grown somewhat adversarial, Yin Shaohuai quickly said, "Brother, the ink is ready, please write."
Yin Shaohui responded, stood up, rolled up his sleeves, picked up a small brush, dipped it in ink, and was just about to write—
when Bai Fengmao suddenly reached over and snapped the family tree shut with a "snap"!
Everyone was stunned.
"Brother Bai..."
Bai Fengmao, with a stern face, spoke assertively but lowered his voice by eight tones, "Add to what family tree? Acting as if anyone cares! As for adding my grandchildren Shuangshuang and Huang Huang to your Yin Family Tree..."
His cold eyes swept over everyone, "Did you even ask me?"
With these words of Bai Fengmao, some of the Yin elders frowned.
They looked at each other in confusion.
Yin Shaohui didn’t expect Bai Fengmao would suddenly act like this.
The uneasiness he felt earlier had all come to fruition.
Seeing Bai Fengmao protectively going to this extent, Zhou Mengqin felt even worse.
"Brother Bai, it’s your business if you love and favor Su Xiaomeng, but just because you acknowledge Su Xiaomeng as your granddaughter doesn’t mean you can interfere with the Yin Family’s affairs, right?"
"Sister Zhou, we’ve all come from the old society step by step. I admire you for being a heroine among women, but it seems that as you’ve aged, you’ve become a mean old witch!"
"Brother Bai!"
Yin Shaohui, who was standing aside, couldn’t help it. Hearing his wife being spoken of in this way, he couldn’t tolerate it.
"Brother Shaohui, Sister Zhou, what I said just now wasn’t about a granddaughter, but a great-granddaughter!"
Yin Shaohui frowned slightly.
Over there, Zhou Mengqin seemed to react a bit quicker, but upon realizing the meaning behind Bai Fengmao’s words...
Her originally fair face now looked worryingly pale and extremely stiff.
"Brother Bai, what do you mean by that?"
Yin Shaoqun stood up and blinked, "Is Su Xiaomeng perhaps..."
Bai Fengmao snorted, "Su Xiaomeng is my own great-granddaughter, and the ill-tempered, unrefined woman Sister Zhou spoke of is my youngest daughter."
"Saying my daughter is unrefined? Saying my granddaughter lacks virtue? Do you think the children and grandchildren of the Yin Family are well-mannered? Are they virtuous?"
With that, Bai Fengmao took a USB drive out of his coat pocket and slammed it down onto the Yin Family Tree!
"Children and grandchildren with such ’virtues’ can also be on the family tree. It seems this Yin Family Tree is no different from those fake account books sold out there! It’s all for show, isn’t it? Who couldn’t do that? Perhaps tomorrow, my Bai Family will also concoct one! I wonder if it will make our family history seem more profound and our reputation more enduring!"
Bai Fengmao said this, his voice tinged with anger and increasingly full of vigor.
The younger generation sitting in the large living room outside the study frequently looked upstairs because of this commotion.
"Brother Bai, please calm down first, sit down, let’s sit and talk this over calmly."
Yin Shaohui couldn’t have imagined that Su Xiaomeng was indeed Bai Fengmao’s great-granddaughter and that the mother of Su Xiaomeng, whom they had met before, would actually be Bai Fengmao’s daughter...
The things they had just said...
Though they were honest thoughts, they had said them in front of Bai Fengmao, criticizing his granddaughter and daughter.
No one could tolerate that.
"Talk it over?!"
Bai Fengmao raised his hand, shaking off Yin Shaohui’s grip, glaring at him, "Yin Shaohui, you were once a general! How could an elder who was even a general bully a child like this?!"
Yin Shaohui was somewhat at a loss for words.
"Brother Bai, let me say something."
Zhou Mengqin took a deep breath; she wasn’t someone easily intimidated, and every word she spoke in front of Bai Fengmao was based on her own true experiences and observations.
Even though she had criticized his granddaughter and daughter right in front of him.
It wasn’t slander! Nor was it deliberately arranging words against someone!
"I don’t approve of Su Xiaomeng as a daughter-in-law, partly because of the family, but more importantly, because of her as a person."
Bai Fengmao squinted his eyes.
Zhou Mengqin, after all, was a person who had seen great storms. Although she was a woman, she was someone who had withstood turbulent times.
A true noblewoman, a genuine heroine.
He had always thought so.
"Having given birth, she wanted to return to school. No one opposed that, but what did she do? Going to study or drinking during the lactation period! Shaohui allowed her to further her studies abroad. How did she repay Shaohui’s kindness? By struggling madly to climb up, instead of Shixiu lowering himself!"
"Brother Bai, I don’t believe you’d allow such a daughter-in-law to enter your family!"
"I didn’t see Yin Shixiu lowering himself, I only saw my great-granddaughter striving desperately, just to stand in the same world as your high-and-mighty son!"
"Brother Bai, if you’re going to insist on this, then I have nothing to say."
"Nothing to say? You’re in the wrong, so of course you have nothing to say!"
Bai Fengmao coldly snorted.
Zhou Mengqin could no longer maintain her calm appearance and said lightly, "I still can’t understand one thing. When she got pregnant with Shixiu’s child, she was only nineteen."
"So?"
Bai Fengmao squinted again, his sharp gaze as piercing as a blade.
"A girl from a proper family would never let such a thing happen."
This mild statement immediately infuriated Bai Fengmao!
The veins on his forehead twitched.
"Enough, Mengqin, stop talking! Brother Bai, could you please sit down? Whatever the issue, let’s discuss it calmly and peacefully!"
Yin Shaohui didn’t expect things to escalate to this point. At this moment, he did not rush to Bai Fengmao but rather embraced his wife.
"What’s the point of talking now!"
Bai Fengmao blurted out a profanity, which shocked everyone present.
If Yin Shaohui swore, it would be understandable, being someone from the army would naturally have a bit of that military roughness.
But Bai Fengmao had been a scholar all his life, even when battling with others in politics, he never uttered a foul word.
"Brother Bai, hey!"
Yin Shaohui’s head ached, "You’re quite devious too, if Su Xiaomeng is your great-granddaughter, then she is, why did you keep it to yourself and listen for ages, then spring this on us, wasn’t it a trap for us to fall into?"
"She’s my own great-granddaughter! My daughter left home for twenty years! I waited for twenty years, and when she finally returned, she was labeled a shrew by you. My great-granddaughter, at nineteen, gave your son a pair of children! Yet you’re still so picky!"