Kapitel 163: The Family Business (5)

Lin Kang assumed his mother-in-law was talking about the amount of money so he quickly said to up the ante, "Mother, if you feel that is not enough, I can have my men go to the nearest bank to withdraw more money..."

"Lin Kang, you said you've changed..." Mrs. Xiu did not sound as forceful as before, if anything there was a hint of resignation in her voice but it still managed to cut through Lin Kang's words thanks to the weight behind it, "But have you really?"

Mrs. Xiu sighed and continued, "No, I don't want your money or your expensive gifts. I don't know what is the deal between you and Xiu Ling but if you think you can use money to buy my blessing..." Mrs. Xiu stressed on her words. "Then you're sorely mistaken.

"I have no need for your money, nor do I want them. I know that I am poor but that doesn't mean I will bend over backwards for your dirty money. No matter how much you pay, you're not going to get me to sell my own daughter!"

"Mother, I do not mean it that way..." Lin Kang tried to explain but Mrs. Xiu cut him off, "Perhaps you do not see it that way but does it really matter? You still have in your head the idea that everything can be solved by throwing money around. Money cannot buy principle.

"I don't know the type of upbringing that you've had so I cannot blame you but if you plan to rely on this method to get my blessing, by gifting me lavish gifts and enormous amount of cash, then I'd rather my daughter divorce you and end up with a poor yet hardworking man.

"Lin Kang, I'm tired, but before I go, I don't mind giving you one last piece of advice. If you have the time to prepare all these, why not use that effort to treat Xiu Ling and Lin Xi better?

"If you want my blessing, then love my daughter as much as I love her and I'll be glad to wish you two a world of happiness."

Mrs. Xiu took a step back and slowly moved the door close.

Lin Kang reached out to stop her but Mrs. Xiu said something that made him stop himself. "Lin Kang, you have already taken Xiu Ling and Lin Xi away from me. What more do you want? Please leave me be."

The statement was said with such dejection and gloom that it froze Lin Kang in mid-movement. When he came to, the door before him had been closed shut.

Lin Kang stood there, chewing over what Mrs. Xiu had told him. He had a serious expression on his face. He stood there for quite some time and while some of his men were ready to leave, none of them dared to step forth to disturb him.

Lin Kang did not know whether his mother-in-law could hear him or not but he said to the closed door, "Mother, I'm sorry but I promise to do my best to follow your advice."

Then, the man turned around with a deep conviction on his face. As he stepped away from his wife's childhood home, he had a growing determination to fix this.

"Let us go." Lin Kang crawled into his car and his men quickly cleared up everything and jumped into their respective vehicle. The cavalcade of cars left in the wake of a rolling dust. Everything seemed to revert back to normal and after some time, knowing the mysterious man and his troops did not appear like they were going to return any time soon, the villagers slowly dispersed and went back to their everyday life.

Back in her home, Mrs. Xiu sat next to the window that was close to the front door as she looked at the parade of cars that slowly moved down the horizon. She had an unreadable expression on her face before shaking her head while exhaling a long, hard sigh.

...

After she came back from the Three Months Club's meeting with Xiu Ling, Joann had had the revelation provided by her best friend stuck on her mind.

Xu Jing, being the observant husband that he was, noticed this about her seeing as how often Joann found herself being distracted while in the middle of something else. Xu Jing broached the question with her since he was worried but Joann just brushed him off saying it was something to do with work.

Joann was pretty sure her husband did not buy her lie but he did not say anything about it or even bring the issue up anymore. That was one of the ways Xu Jing was tolerant of her feelings and Joann felt thankful for it.

However, that lie one day turned into a semi-truth when Joann received a call from her co-star, Lee Mu asking her out for a double date. According to the man, it was so that they could meet up and thank them in person. Joann had been immensely helpful to get them out of the industry stigma. One of the things Joann did was to threaten to quit the sequel to Bringing the Nation's Husband Home if the director dared to proceed with his plan of having another actor come in to replace Lee Mu.

After the revelation of his sexual orientation, there was an online movement asking for the replacement of the movie's main character. According to the petition, it was wrong for a homosexual actor to play a straight character. The reason was bullshit pure and simple and Joann said so when it was brought up during the film crew meeting, an emergency meeting that was held to decide whether they go on to replace Lee Mu or not.

Even though the director had high approvals of Lee Mu's skill as an actor, he had been under great pressure from the public as well as some of the sponsors to remove Lee Mu.