Good Man Operation Guide

“It’s good that you fancy, it’s good that you fancy.”

At first, Grandma Ke smiled until all her wrinkles deepened, then she froze, and looked at her granddaughter with suspicion.

Wasn’t this child resisting a blind date just before?

How did she take a liking to him all of a sudden?

Ke Jialing lowered her head, Grandma Ke didn’t mind. She always knew that her granddaughter was shy and could be ashamed by doing just anything. Wasn’t this a blind date? Being shy was normal.

Doubt stayed in her mind for a second and was quickly replaced by the idea that her obedient granddaughter was finally willing to listen.

As to why she refused to the blind date but changed her attitude immediately after meeting Lin Shiheng, Grandma Ke quickly found the answer in her heart.

Wasn’t it because she found a good young man?

As a young girl of such an age, it was time for her to be in love. And now she’s found for her a young man like Lin Shiheng who had good looks, whose family circumstances were great with a temper just like a perfect young man. As such, no matter how high Jialing’s standards were, she would still take a liking to him.

Thinking to here, the last trace of suspicion was completely dismissed out of Grandma Ke’s mind.

She happily went back with her granddaughter and said towards her daughter-in-law who came over to ask, “Jialing is willing. You can go to the Lin’s in the afternoon to ask Shiheng what thinks.”

Mother Ke also didn’t expect that her daughter, who had always insisted on not blind dating, would become willing just from meeting him once, but she recalled Lin Shiheng’s appearance, which she had seen before, and had to admit that the child’s appearance was indeed really good, so it was no wonder that Jialing agreed.

***

In the afternoon, she listened to her mother-in-law and went to the Lin’s house. The result was as imagined.

The relationship between the two was thus naturally settled in front of the elders.

Of course, it wasn’t a feudal society anymore. So the so-called ‘settling” was just openly establishing the boyfriend-girlfriend relationship, and only after getting along with each other for a while, they would be officially engaged, and the marriage would only take place after Ke Jialing graduated from university.

Both of them had no opinion regarding this arrangement by their elders. When it was time for Ke Jialing to start school, Lin Shiheng drove her to school. Ke Jialing’s city just happened to be close to Shanghai, so from then on, when going back, they would go back together.

Grandma Ke was very satisfied with this boyfriend she found for her granddaughter. Having never really enjoyed chatting with the others in the village, on this hard to come by afternoon day, she brought out a small bench from the house to sit outside her family’s door and chatted with several old ladies who were about the same age as her.

“Still, it’s old sister, you, who have a good eye ah, who would have thought Shiheng, this child, could become so successful. You wouldn’t know, but when everyone saw his small car today, several families with daughters were moved, even my daughter-in-law inquired about it. And so to inquire, we’ve come all the way here to you.”

“Eh, don’t say it like that. The two children are just getting along for now. They’re both still young, it’s not like they’re engaged already.”

Grandma Ke waved her hands, but on her face was a big smile, obviously very proud of her wise decision.

This group of little old ladies was still sitting in the sunset and laughing when a short and thin old lady walked up weakly on crutches.

She was wearing oversized clothes, her hair a mess, and her whole face betrayed a sense of shabbiness.

The several little old ladies sitting together looked curiously over but soon realized it was a familiar face when the other person looked up.

Wasn’t this Old Lady Lin of the Old Lin family?

Old Lady Lin also noticed the gaze of these several pairs of eyes. She looked down at her broken shoe that showed half of her big toe then looked at the old ladies wearing patterned clothes while sitting comfortably on the bench chatting. She looked down in embarrassment and hurriedly walked away on her crutches.

She naturally recognized that these were the few old ladies in the village who were about the same age as her. It’s just that she used to rely on the fact that her family has a lot of sons, and that both daughters-in-law and sons had to look up to up her to live, and so disdained to chat with these people.

She never would have thought that after a year, she would end up in such a state where she was worse off than them.

But this doesn’t matter, as long as she gets home, she can buy new clothes and shoes again. At that time, she would still be the most imposing in the village.

Old Lady Lin has walked away, leaving only the old ladies who still stared at her back.

***

“Say, that was Old Lady Lin? Did she just come out of prison?”

“I’m sure she’s out of prison. She’s already so old, she couldn’t really sit in jail until she dies. Besides, I heard my grandson say that this year the national policy has relaxed. For example, those old people who have reached a certain age can get a chance to reduce their sentences.”

“Well, isn’t that just cheap for her? To openly lie and falsely implicate someone, but only have to spend a year in jail and then be released ah… Wasn’t the person she slandered the Lin’s child? She’s even his own grandmother!”

As they spoke and thought about it, to be honest, Old Lady Lin and Lin Shiheng hadn’t interacted at all before the false accusation of stealing chickens, to the point that they didn’t even greet each other when they met on the road. The village’s younger generation, who didn’t know what happened back then, didn’t even know that Old Lady Lin was Lin Shiheng’s biological grandmother, and even this group of little old ladies had almost forgotten.

One of the old ladies did a decent analysis.

“That’s right, the Old Lin family’s life has been getting worse and worse this past year. I heard that several of the sons fought several times, and finally directly split the family. One by one, they all started living in poverty. Shiheng is so promising now but in the end, they are still relatives. Would they have ideas about scheming against Shiheng?”

“Those sons of the Old Lin family all have useless characters and Old Lady Lin also isn’t easy to get along with. It was still okay when she wasn’t back, but now she’s back and hears that Shiheng had become rich, she might really want to do something.”

Grandma Ke started to frown as she continued to listen.

If it was the past, she would have just watched the excitement but now, Lin Shiheng had a great chance of becoming her grandson-in-law.

If this Old Lady Lin decides to act out, her granddaughter would also be implicated!

“This won’t do. You guys help me keep an eye out for the next two days, and if she wants to do something, tell me first. I’ll definitely send her packing.”

“En, you can rest assured.”

***

When Old Lady Lin came home, she was stunned for a long while after finding out the current situation.

She had only been away for a year and the several sons in the family had actually disobeyed and separated the family!

Without telling her even a word, the family possessions were already clearly divided.

Moreover, the larger house where she used to live was now occupied by her eldest son, and the remaining houses were clearly occupied, leaving only a shady house usually used for storing miscellaneous items.

This was the house Old Lady Lin specifically used for disobedient children. If any child was disobedient, she would throw the child into the room until the next disobedient child appeared.

This was what Old Lady Lin used to control her children and grandchildren and ensure her own authority, but now she had to live in it herself.

She was, of course, unwilling and so she sullenly asked her eldest son to vacate the larger house.

The eldest son, who had always flattered her and didn’t dare to disobey a single word, was at that moment unusually eloquent.

“Mom, didn’t you used to say that people who work more live in big houses, and people who work less won’t have food to eat? Now that you’re too weak to work, while I work a lot, of course, I have to live in a larger house.”

Old Lady Lin was so angry that she only saw black.

“What kind of words are you saying? I am your birth mother and I raised you. Treating me like this, aren’t you afraid of getting struck by lightning?”

“What’s there to be afraid of, we don’t practice those feudal superstitions anymore, Mom. Just go live in that small house. Didn’t I live there before when I was little?”

Old Lady Lin’s eyes widened. “I’m your mother! How can you have me live there? Have you forgotten what I taught you about filial piety?!”

The eldest son still had the same look on his face, but he spoke without any politeness. “Since Shiheng’s father started working, he turned in all his salary and didn’t keep a penny for himself. He was so filial to you. But Mom, as soon as he died, didn’t you chase Shiheng and his mother out. I don’t dare to be more filial to you. What if I had an accident as well, and you end up throwing my wife and children out to die? What then?”

“You, you!”

Old Lady Lin was too upset to say anything, but her eldest son didn’t have the slightest intention of worrying about her health, and directly closed the door after saying these words, not opening it regardless of how much she knocked.

Maybe if it was before his mother had been taken to prison, they would have been afraid of her, worried that she might go slander them throughout the village if they weren’t filial, but after Old Lady Lin had been taken to prison for slander, no one would believe what she says anymore.

What’s more, what he just said wasn’t just for living in this big house.

With such a ruthless mother, he was really worried that if he actually welcomed his mother back, if something happened to him, his wife and children would be directly thrown out.

His wife was not as strong as Mother Lin. If she was really desperate, she may end up taking the children and commit suicide.

Between the mother who had so many sons that if one died, would soon forget about them, and the wife and children who were devoted to nothing but remembering him… Of course, he would make the right choice.

Old Lady Lin knocked on the door for a long time. Right now, the weather was so cold and she had been so thoroughly weakened during the past year, she could hardly keep standing with the wind blowing at her.

There was nothing she could do, and she shivered her way to the dark and gloomy little house full of mildew.

Although Old Lady Lin had always sent disobedient children here, she has never lived here herself at all.

This was also the first time she has noticed how uncomfortably damp this house was while she continued to shiver.

This was only temporary.

She silently comforted herself in her heart.

Just stay here for a night and wait until tomorrow, then she will go find her other sons. Fortunately, she has many sons. If one was useless, there were still several more.

But the next day, Old Lady Lin had asked them all, but none of her sons were willing to take their mother in.

Their rhetoric was similar to that of the eldest son.

If they welcomed Old Lady Lin into the house now… If something happens to them, what should they do if their wife and children were directly driven out of the house? Even if nothing happens, what if there’s a disagreement and Old Lady Lin accuses them of stealing and wants to send them to jail?

Perhaps at first, the Old Lin family would want to rescue Old Lady Lin when she was caught, for fear that she would blame them for being late in rescuing her. But after such a long time, everyone realized how wonderful life was without Old Lady Lin.

They could hold onto their own money, they can eat whatever they want, the children in the family were finally able to avoid being oppressed so harshly. They can also send their children to school, and they can even leave to work in the city!

This was truly living!

[E/N: as compared to just surviving.]

Anyway, Mom has so many sons, even if they had to support her, why should they be the only one to support her?

Everyone thought like this, so in the end, no one was willing to support Old Lady Lin.

If she was an old lady who knew a little about the law, she would know to go to court and sue her sons for not taking care of her, but Old Lady Lin didn’t know the law. Even if she took a law class in prison, she would rather doze off than listen to a single word.

She only realized now, that she was no longer the young mother who could just throw someone out of the house by pulling on their ear after the child misbehaves.

She was already old, and any of her sons were still stronger than her. It was still good when they were willing to be filial, but when they weren’t, there was nothing she could do about it.

Old Lady Lin finally thought of the daughter-in-law who was thrown out.

She knew that Mother Lin had a soft temper, and not only a soft temper, but also a soft heart.

As long as she puts on a pitiful act and mentions her son who died young, Mother Lin would definitely be soft-hearted and would obediently support her.