Chapter Twenty-Nine: Utter Disappointment

When you have money, even the way you walk becomes a little straighter! The difference was obvious from the way all the relatives behaved when Shen Guodong and then Chen Gantian arrived.

“Aunt, Uncle, sorry for being late, I had something to take care of outside!” Chen Gantian sat down and immediately launched into boasting. “Mom, let me tell you, you asked me to help with my cousin’s son’s school admission, and I’ve sorted it all out. Didn’t cost a penny! Haha, I’ll just bring him along when the time comes!”

“Xiaotian is really something.”

“Absolutely.”

“If only my child were as capable as Xiaotian, I wouldn’t have to worry so much.”

Sitting off to the side, Shen Guodong paid little attention to the conversation. He silently pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, lit one with a match, and seemed completely detached from everything happening around him.

He hadn’t had much contact with Chen Gantian, but he knew the man’s character: always exaggerating, turning a hundred into a hundred and fifty with his words. It made all the difference. According to Liu Yueru, Chen Gantian had wanted to marry her back then, and even her parents had agreed, but Liu Yueru, with her higher education, firmly opposed such close kin marriages, and so the matter was dropped.

In the seventies and eighties, marriages between cousins were common, seen by many as strengthening family ties. Yet from a medical perspective, the risk of hereditary diseases increased significantly. The older generation often failed to understand this.

Because of this, Chen Gantian bore a deep resentment toward Shen Guodong, always taking jabs at him. Today he simply hadn’t noticed Shen Guodong yet, caught up in his own triumph.

After his boasts, Chen Gantian suddenly noticed Liu Yueru quietly eating. She looked up, surprised and delighted. “Cousin, you’re here too? I didn’t even notice you, my apologies!”

“It’s nothing,” Liu Yueru replied calmly, shaking her head.

The moment he saw Liu Yueru, Chen Gantian began searching for Shen Guodong. Sure enough, he spotted him in a corner, silently smoking, and envy surged in his eyes. How could a man like Shen Guodong win Liu Yueru’s heart when even he, so accomplished, hadn’t? Worse yet, after winning her, Shen Guodong didn’t cherish her, instead dragging her into a life of debt.

“So, brother-in-law, you’re here too. I heard from my mother that you’d fallen out with Aunt and Uncle, swearing never to set foot in this house again. What’s the matter, run out of money and come crawling back to borrow some?” Chen Gantian’s smile was all mockery.

The words were thoroughly unpleasant.

Shen Guodong’s gaze darkened instantly. Liu family’s second son and his wife Zhang Mulan exchanged looks of schadenfreude. If they had said such things, the elders and eldest brother would have scolded them, but coming from Chen Gantian, whose help they’d relied on for their children’s schooling, no one dared protest aloud. Even if they resented him, they had to swallow it.

Hearing this, Shen Guodong frowned, squinting at Chen Gantian in clear displeasure. “That’s our family’s business. It’s not your place to interfere.”

Chen Gantian’s face stiffened, and he glared at Shen Guodong in anger. In the past, Shen Guodong had always cowered under his rebukes, never daring to talk back. Now he dared to retort? Who did he think he was, daring to speak to him that way?

He must be courting trouble!

As his anger flared, Chen Gantian noticed the cigarette in Shen Guodong’s hand—a premium brand. No wonder! The fool must have borrowed more money from Aunt’s family, or else he wouldn’t be so brazen. What a joke.

“So, brother-in-law, looks like you’ve managed to borrow quite a bit recently, if you can even afford these cigarettes,” Chen Gantian said with a sly smile, eyeing Shen Guodong mockingly.

At these words, many people looked over in surprise. Sure enough, it was a premium brand. Instantly, everyone began to mock him in a cacophony of voices.

“He can’t even afford food, yet he’s smoking those?”

“Some people, honestly. Five yuan a pack—how much do you make a month?”

“Broke, but still pretending to be something he’s not. People like you really get on my nerves!”

“How do you find the nerve to go on living, borrowing just to get by?”

“Yueru, you need to divorce him. Without him, your life would only improve. With him, you’re only being dragged down. What could you possibly see in him?”

“Exactly! What do you get from being with someone like that? All he does is drag you down!”

The relatives all piled on, as if they wished they could tear Shen Guodong apart with their words.

Even Liu Chuanzhi and Liu Jianguo stared at him. Being poor wasn’t the issue—so long as one was hardworking, life would get better eventually. But this? Broke and still smoking expensive cigarettes? He must be living in a dream.

How could someone like that even exist? Liu Jianguo was utterly baffled.

“Shen Guodong, just now my sister said you’d changed, and I actually believed her. I must have been mad to do so!” Liu Jianguo said, angry at what he saw as wasted hope. Beside him, Liu Chuanzhi and Zhang Ailian glared at Shen Guodong in equal displeasure.

Shen Guodong said nothing, but Liu Yueru, anxious, rushed to defend him. “Mom, Dad, you’ve misunderstood Guodong. He really has changed. He hasn’t gambled in a long time and was even recognized as an exemplary worker at the factory—he saved the company from a huge loss and was given a reward of a thousand yuan!”

After all, he was the man she had chosen.

Liu Yueru couldn’t bear to see him looked down on by everyone.

“Yueru, did he tell you that? I just don’t understand why you trust this man so much. Haven’t you suffered enough because of him?” Liu Chuanzhi’s voice trembled with fury, his body shaking. The anger and disappointment overwhelmed him—every time he chose to believe in this man, his trust was only betrayed again.

How deep must one’s disappointment run?