Wang Shuang was still too young, with insufficient experience!
Little did he know that in this world, besides those afflicted with social bull syndrome like Madam Wang, there existed individuals who combined social bull syndrome with drama queen and troublemaker traits into one; such an oddity was Madam Peng.
After Peng Guoqing arrived in Rong City, Madam Peng had flown there several times to see her son; President Peng had not shown his face once, nor had the Peng elders seen their grandson in ages.
She had thought they could see him over the winter holiday; upon hearing that Peng Guoqing had been kept in Rong City by Teacher Liang, Granny Peng’s mind went blank: “… the teacher is keeping Guoqing there for the holiday?”
“Not for the holiday, for extra lessons.”
Madam Peng sat cosily on the sofa with her mother-in-law, “You do not know how much Teacher Liang adores Guoqing; that is hardly surprising, who could resist our Guoqing’s cleverness; he has not let down the teacher’s high regard, and his scores have improved so much!”
Madam Peng lavished praise on Teacher Liang, then on Rong City Provincial Key School of course, but the most effusive accolades went to Xie Qian.
Teacher Liang had charged for tutoring, yet Xie Qian had not taken a penny, tutoring Peng Guoqing for free; Xie Qian truly was a fine young man.
In Madam Peng’s telling, her son Peng Guoqing was the cleverest of the clever; it was merely that he had not met the right teachers before, and the school environment’s vibe had clashed with his, hence his years as a spoiled young rake.
Boys, well, it did not matter if they matured late, only if they never matured.
See, Peng Guoqing had encountered a master teacher and a good school; his rock-bottom scores had shot up like bamboo after rain.
And with the influence of fine company, after updating his circle of friends, Peng Guoqing was truly becoming more and more motivated.
Madam Peng would say a line, and Granny Peng would nod in agreement; Madam Peng was like a stand-up comedian, and Granny Peng the most professional straight man!
Who in the capital did not know; the Peng mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were famed for their close bond.
How close?
Close enough that Granny Peng had more than once declared publicly that she could do without her son, but not without her daughter-in-law!
Others said such things as politeness; Granny Peng meant it from the heart; she was not boasting, for nowhere in the capital could one find a more considerate daughter-in-law than hers.
In the living room, Madam Peng’s voice trilled like a cheerful lark.
Granny Peng listened contentedly, but President Peng, seated at the other end, could bear it no longer.
“He scored just 474 marks, yet in your mouth it sounds like 674.”
If he had truly scored 674, it would warrant some praise; but short by 200 marks?
President Peng spoke, then glanced at his watch again; for such a trifling matter, his wife had summoned the whole family; he had several meetings that afternoon, this was making a mountain out of a molehill!
President Peng’s dismissive attitude earned him glares from his wife and mother; Granny Peng was truly furious: “Is that how a father should be? Guoqing has improved his scores, yet you offer no encouragement, only these cutting remarks; good thing Guoqing did not hear, how heartbroken that child would be!”
That Peng Guoqing lad had skin thicker than a city wall; heartbroken?
President Peng tried to defend himself, but Madam Peng sat on the sofa and began weeping silently.
Two streams of tears slid down Madam Peng’s fair cheeks, breaking Granny Peng’s heart.
Madam Peng choked, “It is all my fault, my fault for not bearing the Peng family a clever child; the son I bore has a dull brain and can only score 474; he has tried so hard, yet still falls 200 short; what can I do…”
“…”
President Peng went entirely rigid.
Compared to his chattering lark of a wife, this Lin Daiyu version left him utterly at a loss.
Granny Peng shielded her daughter-in-law and berated her son, scolding him until he said not a word; even Grandpa Peng, who had been reading the newspaper, grew angry: “When you were little, you often brought home papers full of ducks’ eggs; did we ever call you dim? If you mock Guoqing for four hundred-odd marks, would your mother and I not have tossed the little you away!”
With Grandpa Peng speaking, President Peng stood at once.
“Dad, I was wrong.”
“You were wrong; what use saying it to me; say it to your wife!”
The imperious President Peng outside was now bowed and apologising to his wife; Madam Peng covered her face and wept piteously; before his parents, President Peng knew not how to comfort her.
Give her another card?
Madam Peng already had a bank card to spend freely.
In other families, husbands used the main card and wives the supplementary; in the Peng household, Madam Peng wielded the main card, while President Peng ordinarily used the supplementary.
On this, Madam Peng had her own theory: the main card holder could monitor supplementary spending; she needed to know if President Peng was lavishing money on foxes outside!
No new card, then; perhaps jewellery.
A friend had mentioned a small jewellery auction recently; would buying a piece fetching seven figures at auction offset the matter?
President Peng was still mulling when Madam Peng peeked at him through her fingers; the tears on her face were real, the smile no less so.
President Peng laughed in exasperation.
Before he could expose her, Madam Peng turned and flung herself into her mother-in-law’s arms.
Granny Peng patted her back gently, as if soothing a child.
“Mum, Guoqing is not coming home for the new year; may I go see him?”
“Of course you may.”
“Then shall we mother and son spend the new year alone in Rong City? It would be too lonely; besides, I cannot bear to leave you…”
Granny Peng could not bear to part with her daughter-in-law either, and missed her grandson more.
What to do then?
Granny Peng decided that she, as grandmother, would make do for her eldest grandson.
This Spring Festival, the whole family would go to Rong City for the holiday!
“Mum!”
President Peng’s temples throbbed.
His parents had more than one son; the other children were not in the capital ordinarily, and every Spring Festival brought the whole broods back to visit the elders; now Granny Peng said they were going to Rong City for the new year; did that not mean the entire Peng clan had to follow suit?
Peng Guoqing was but one of the younger generation.
President Peng had only ever heard of juniors yielding to elders, not elders, let alone the whole extended family, yielding to a junior!
President Peng shot his father a pleading look with his eyes; Grandpa Peng picked up the newspaper again: “Your mother is getting on; if she wants to travel, I shall certainly accompany her; while these old bones can still move, off we go.”
Madam Peng triumphed; when she lowered her hands, even the tears had dried, and she was once more the merry lark, chattering with Granny Peng about preparations for the new year in Rong City.
President Peng was fit to burst!
In this family, he was not the son; though surnamed Peng, he was treated like a son-in-law.
Fine, go they would.
President Peng ground his teeth; if Peng Guoqing’s transformation had not been so marked, he would have broken the boy’s legs.
With her goal achieved, Madam Peng had no wish to see her eyesore of a husband and proactively shooed him back to the company: “Do you not have meetings this afternoon? Do not delay; the family is in my hands.”
Granny Peng beamed with affection: what a virtuous daughter-in-law!
