Chapter 214: Chapter 85: Bit the Tongue

Jie Jingchen’s words left the two of them speechless. To hear him talk, you’d think he was the only one who had to go to work. Did they not?

The mention of work sent a wave of anger through Mr. Xie. On his first day back, Jing Si had just walked off the job without even asking for leave. He’d wanted to subject Jing Si to disciplinary action, but he knew full well that his son hated working at the machinery factory. "Jie Jingchen, I am your father! What is this attitude?"

Jie Jingchen stopped in his tracks and turned to face his furious father. He reminded him, "Dad, we’re at home, not at the machinery factory."

"At home, I’m your father. At the factory, I’m the director. No matter where we are, you will—"

"Dad, we’ve already split the family," Jie Jingchen cut him off.

Mr. Xie flew into a rage. He might have been able to stomach the argument, but the mention of splitting the family sent his anger boiling over. He had not agreed to it, yet they had completely ignored his existence. As the head of the household, his authority had been challenged, and he had no way to vent his frustration. It was suffocating.

"Jie Jingchen, we split the household, we didn’t sever our father-son relationship!" Mr. Xie shot to his feet, radiating pure fury.

Jie Jingchen turned away coldly. He was worried that in the heat of the moment, he would say something too harsh to his father. In his father’s eyes, he was already an unfilial son for splitting the family.

"What is this attitude?" Mr. Xie bent over, preparing to take off his shoe and hurl it at this unfilial son.

"Dad, Dad, Dad." Jie Jinghun hurried to stop him, placing a hand on Mr. Xie’s shoulder and whispering, "Dad, Aunt Qiao is watching."

The anger vanished in an instant. Mr. Xie froze, then patted the dust off the top of his shoe and looked with a smile at his wife standing by the window. "My shoe got dirty. Just patting it clean."

"Hmph!" Mrs. Xie snorted, drew the curtains, and turned to lie back down on the bed.

His smile vanished, replaced by a glacial expression. He would wait for a day when his wife wasn’t home to properly deal with Jing Si and let him experience the full force of his old man’s wrath.

Using his position as factory director to deal with Jing Si would be taking the low road.

"What did Jing Si say to provoke you?" Mr. Xie asked.

"He didn’t say anything." Jie Jinghun’s eyes darted away.

"Hmph! You think I don’t know him? He’s rebellious to the core and stubborn as a mule—even wilder and harder to tame than Jing Wu." Mr. Xie snorted. Although he rarely disciplined his children, he understood their personalities.

Jie Jinghun fell silent.

"Did he try to convince you to demand a family split as well?" Mr. Xie’s expression was grim, his gaze sharp and imposing.

"No," Jie Jinghun said quickly. He didn’t dare cross that particular line with his father. He might have been bold enough to threaten to change his daughter’s surname in a fit of pique, but he would never dare to bring up splitting the family.

Xiao Duo was a granddaughter; if he insisted on changing her surname, his father would be furious but probably wouldn’t try to stop him too aggressively. But Xiao You was a grandson. If his second brother, Jing Er, dared to change Xiao You’s surname, their father would likely throw his whole family out on the street.

"Really?" Mr. Xie asked, skeptical.

Jie Jinghun raised a hand to rub the bridge of his nose. His voice was firm. "Dad, don’t worry. I won’t demand to split the family."

Satisfied, Mr. Xie patted Jie Jinghun’s shoulder with a sense of relief. "It’s cold out. Don’t stay outside too long, you might catch a cold."

Jing Er and his family just wanted to leech off the main household, eating and drinking for free while stashing away their own money. Jing Wu could barely support himself, so he had no clout to demand a split. Old Seventh, Jing Qi, was still young and a girl besides. And since Jing Si’s wife wanted to pay for Jing Qi’s leg treatment, he was content to let Jing Qi live with them.

Jing San had the ability to cause trouble over a family split; it was a relief he had no intention of doing so.

Xu Chunyan chuckled.

"Stop laughing. If you wake Xiao You and he starts crying, you can be the one to deal with him," Jie Jingwei warned.

"Jing Er, I can’t help it." Xu Chunyan covered her mouth, but muffled laughter still escaped through her fingers.

"Do you really have to gloat this much?" Jie Jingwei asked with a sigh of resignation.

Xu Chunyan tried to stifle her laughter, taking a deep breath. "Are you dense? The worse the relationship between Dad and Jing Si gets, the more it helps you. No matter how highly Dad thinks of Jing Si, he’ll never hand over the factory director position to someone who won’t listen to him."

Jie Jingwei rolled over, turning his back to Xu Chunyan. "It’s hard to say who will come out on top until the very end. Stop letting your imagination run wild. Let’s sleep."

Xu Chunyan didn’t like his pessimism. She rolled over as well, turning her back to him, and resumed her daydream of the glorious days ahead when Jie Jingwei would become the factory director.

When Jie Jingchen returned to their room, he didn’t dare turn on the light. He crept quietly to the bed and lay down.

"Jie Jingchen," Qin Mei said.

Jie Jingchen froze, then reached up and pulled the light cord. The room was instantly filled with light, and he turned his head to look at Qin Mei.

The sudden light was a bit blinding, and Qin Mei reflexively raised a hand to shield her eyes.

Seeing her reaction, Jie Jingchen reached to turn the light off again, but Qin Mei stopped him. "Jie Jingchen, I need to use the bathroom."

Jie Jingchen retracted his hand, sat up, and leaned against the headboard.

Qin Mei threw back the covers, climbed over Jie Jingchen, slipped on her slippers, and walked toward the bathroom.

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