The Sea Queen of 1985

Chapter 377: Chapter 377: The Barefoot Aren’t Afraid of the Shoe-Wearers

Han Dayong acted with righteous indignation, certain that he was in the right and that Ye Feng would have to give in.

”It’s only natural. We’re their parents. We gave them life, we raised them! Now that they’ve made it big, they want to disown us? There’s no such thing!”

Han Dayong was determined to leech off his two daughters, no matter what. They were his meal ticket for the rest of his life.

Especially after witnessing Shencheng’s prosperity, which was a world away from the impoverished backwater they came from.

It wasn’t right for his daughters to be living the high life here while they were back home barely scraping by.

Even if they wanted to go back home now, they couldn’t. Their house had been occupied by his former daughter-in-law Wang Hongyu’s family, and he’d already leased out their land and collected the money. He couldn’t get it back before the contract was up.

One way or another, their family of four had to stay in Shencheng.

They had nothing to fear, anyway. With two successful daughters, they were bound to get something out of them.

Ye Feng suppressed his disgust. ”Staying in Shencheng isn’t an option. Xiao Rui said she never wants to see you again. If you don’t want to go back to your hometown, I have a way for you to get rich. Are you interested?”

Han Dayong’s eyes narrowed with suspicion. ”You won’t even let us see Xiao Rui. What kind of path to riches could you possibly offer? You’re not trying to set us up, are you?”

Ye Feng sneered. ”Frankly, the main goal is to get you out of our sight so you stop harassing Xiao Rui and Xiao Jing. The path I’m suggesting is for you to go work abroad.”

”It’s easier to make money abroad than it is here, and you earn more, too. I can pay to send you to any country you want. The only condition is, you can’t come back.”

Han Dayong immediately waved his hands in dismissal. ”What would we do in a foreign country? No way! We don’t speak their languages. We’re not going, no matter how much money we could make!”

Han Xiaoyuan, on the other hand, was tempted. Just yesterday at dinner, he’d overheard people at the next table saying it was easier to make money abroad—and a lot more of it, too.

”Dad, let’s go to the United States! I heard even the moon is rounder over there, the air is sweet, and you can make a ton of money.”

Hearing this, Han Dayong slapped Han Xiaoyuan right across the face. ”You idiot! So what if the United States is great? We don’t speak the language! What are we supposed to do there?”

”We won’t know anyone or anything. If we run into trouble, who are we going to ask for help? You think everyone in a foreign country runs a charity? You think they’re all saints?”

It was only in their own country that he dared to play the victim and act shamelessly with the police, and still get away with it.

If they tried pulling that stunt abroad? They’d probably be thrown in jail!

In any case, he was determined to do the opposite of whatever Han Xiaorui and Ye Feng wanted. He would be as shameless as it took to stay in Shencheng.

Ye Feng was taken aback. He hadn’t expected Han Dayong to be so cunning as to refuse to go abroad.

Seeing her husband hit their son, Wang Cuilan rushed to intervene. ”Why are you hitting him? Xiao Yuan just wants a better life for us!”

Liu Yunyun was terrified. Just coming to Shencheng had been a huge eye-opener. ’If we went abroad,’ she thought, ’wouldn’t it be even more incredible?’

But with her father-in-law and husband now at odds, and her mother-in-law unable to stop them, she decided it was best to keep her mouth shut.

Han Xiaoyuan retorted, unconvinced, ”If we don’t do what Ye Feng says, we won’t get to see our sister, and we won’t be able to survive in Shencheng anyway.”

Han Dayong’s expression darkened as he stared at Ye Feng. ”I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying right here in Shencheng. I have photos of Xiao Rui and Xiao Jing. If they refuse to see me and support me, I’ll go to the TV stations, the newspapers, and the authorities to report them!”

”If I’m miserable, I’ll make sure they’re miserable too. Fine, they don’t have to see me. Just get me a big house, one big enough for my family of four. And I don’t need much a month—just a hundred yuan, as a show of respect for their parents.”

Ye Feng raised an eyebrow. To be honest, a house and a hundred yuan a month wasn’t much at all.

With his and Han Xiaorui’s current income, they could easily afford to give double, or even ten times, that amount.

What he and Han Xiaorui couldn’t stand was the Han family’s insatiable greed and complete lack of a moral compass.

If things went south, they might even harm Han Xiaorui, Han Xiaoqing, or the children.

That was the real reason they couldn’t tolerate the Han family.

”Stay here for now. I’ll go discuss this with Xiao Rui. But from this moment on, you are forbidden from going to the school to bother Xiao Jing.”

Hearing Ye Feng’s tone soften, Han Dayong’s smile grew even more smug. ”If you’d just done this from the start, we wouldn’t have had to waste our breath! We couldn’t make it back home, we just came to Shencheng to seek a better life.”

”You’re rich now. This bit of support for us is just a drop in the bucket for you, so why make things so ugly? A problem that can be solved with money isn’t really a problem. Right, Ye Feng?”

Ye Feng gave a noncommittal smile. ”That’s right. A problem that can be solved with money isn’t really a problem. All we want is to live our lives in peace. As long as you don’t cause any trouble, that’s all that matters.”

Han Dayong breathed a sigh of relief. For now, that was all he wanted too.

As for the future, that would depend on how well they lived here, and on whether Han Xiaoru and Han Xiaoqing were obedient.

”Alright! Go on, hurry back and discuss it with Xiao Rui. As their parents, we won’t hold a grudge against our own children. As long as they admit their mistakes and change their ways, we’ll forgive them.”

Wang Cuilan nodded eagerly. ”Ye Feng, Xiao Rui and Xiao Jing are my own flesh and blood. Of course I want what’s best for them. Isn’t it a good thing for our whole family to be reunited here in Shencheng?”

After seeing the bustling streets and towering skyscrapers of the big city, he never wanted to return to the rugged, mountainous countryside.

He used to think the house they’d built back home was nice, that their family was one of the wealthier ones in the village.

But now, he realized their hometown was just too poor. ’If I want to live a good life, I’m never going back!’

”Brother-in-law, I know we were wrong in the past,” Han Xiaoyuan chimed in. ”We’ve realized our mistakes. We’re family, after all. Blood is thicker than water! Just tell my sister not to be angry anymore. We promise we’ll be good to her and our second sister from now on.”

Wang Cuilan nodded along eagerly. ”That’s right! I carried Xiao Rui and Xiao Jing for ten months before they were born! How could I not love them? We were just so poor back then, we had no other choice.”

”Now that both sisters are successful and living well, we should be able to get along peacefully. Why does it have to be so tense and ugly? If we’d known Xiao Rui’s address, we wouldn’t have had to go to the school looking for Xiao Jing.”

Han Dayong looked at Ye Feng. ”I know the two sisters still hold a grudge against me for what I did, but they should stop and think. If I hadn’t let them get an education, would they be where they are today?”

”You can’t forget where you come from. I not only raised them, I paid for their schooling. Now that they’ve made something of themselves, they ought to show me some respect. It’s the natural order of things. I’m in the right, and no one can say otherwise!”

”Don’t push me! I’ve already abandoned my home and dragged my whole family here—I’m prepared to risk it all! We’re the barefoot ones, and you’re the ones wearing shoes. You care about your reputation, so I bet you don’t want to get into a real fight with us, do you!”