BTYFOV Chapter 45

Chapter 45: Unworthy as a Father

No point in talking if we don't agree.

─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

Qin Feng's father did not want Qin Feng's cousin and his wife to come looking for him to argue in the near future. Because Qin Feng is someone who deals with big matters, not a village chief, let alone the neighborhood committee aunties in the city. He has no time to care about these messy things.

So he said, “Since your wife doesn't agree, you should listen to her.”

Qin Feng's mother nodded and agreed: “Your daughters don't look like they're particularly filial. What if tomorrow you can't move, so let your daughter come over to take care of you. She said she is too busy with her family, and your son and daughter-in-law don't care about you. What will you do?'

Uncle Zhou couldn't help but think of Old man Zhao.

Old Zhao's son was unfilial. His son seems to be fine now, but if he insists on helping his daughters open a shop to support their in-laws, it will be hard to say what he will do in the future.

Gu Wuyi also doesn't want his father to worry about every household matter during his rare days off. “Grandpa Zhou, it's okay to help Aunt open a store.”

The three men looked at him at the same time.

Grandpa Zhou wanted him to go on, while Old Qin and Madam Zhou blinked and frowned.

Gu Wuyi pretended not to see, “Now helping three aunts ​​open a shop. Later, when they make money, they want to separate and ask you to help them open two more stores, what should you do?”

The old couple secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Uncle Zhou couldn't help but say, “I haven't thought that far ahead.”

Gu Wuyi understood that everyone can foresee ten steps ahead, but there aren't so many family conflicts and neighborhood disputes.

Qin Feng is not stingy to praise: “Good boy, your old man I did not think of this.”

Indeed, he's the CEO of a listed company who started from scratch as described in books.

Gu Wuyi pretended to be embarrassed, “I didn't think of it before. It was only when you guys talked about opening a branch that I thought of it.”

Uncle Zhou was puzzled, did we discuss this before?

Qin Feng half-jokingly said, “After you left that day, we were quite worried that cousin's wife and cousin would go out to open a store. After all, their kids are almost in middle school now, so you don’t need to pick them up. When you're busy, they can also eat at school."

Uncle Zhou asked, "Then it would just be me in the shop?"

"Auntie too," Qin Feng replied. "As for the village land, let Cousin and his family farm it."

Uncle Zhou had never considered renting out his land. "Without land, am I still a farmer?"

Qin Feng was at a loss for words.

Old Qin and Madam Zhou did not know how to answer.

For a while, the room was terribly quiet.

Gu Wuyi blurted out, "Isn’t land supposed to be non-transferable?"

Qin Feng said, “Uncle, I'm talking about renting.”

"Then I still won’t have land," Uncle Zhou couldn't help but say.

Qin Feng had a headache.

His mom couldn't help but say, "Do you think owning land makes you a farmer? Aside from the busy farming seasons, how many days do you even go back?"

Uncle Zhou was stumped.

Qin Feng said, “Not to mention that you've bought a house in the city.”

The underlying meaning was—what’s the point of still clinging to this?

Uncle Zhou did not dwell on it.

But after decades of having his own land, he still couldn't bring himself to rent it out.

Qin Feng couldn't understand. Seeing his uncle hesitate, he simply lowered his head and continued eating.

After dinner, Qin Feng watched the children wash the pots and clean the dishes.

When the kitchen and the hall were cleaned up, Qin Feng took them home.

He had no intention of meddling in his uncle's affairs anymore.

When he got home, Qin Feng thought it was stuffy in the house, so he moved the small dining table outside under the big tree and started playing mahjong with the kids.

At first, the adults and children cooling off under the tree thought Qin Feng was supervising the kids as they did their homework. Some adults, afraid of disturbing them, were even planning to leave and play elsewhere.

When Qin Feng spread out the mahjong tiles, the adults and children were so shocked they could hardly believe their eyes.

As Gu Wuyi, Gu Qingkuang, and Fu Qingyun sat down, Miaomiao went to his big brother's side to cheer, and Fu Lingyun stood behind Qin Feng. The people under the tree instinctively rubbed their eyes, wondering if they were hallucinating.

But as the sound of shuffling tiles rang out, they could no longer deceive themselves.

One of Qin Feng’s colleagues, an engineer from the R&D department, came over and asked incredulously, “You’re teaching them to play mahjong?”

“No need to teach—they already know how.”

His colleague almost bit his tongue, is this the point? The point is that children play mahjong ah!

Qin Feng, of course, knew that playing mahjong with children in this era was seen as shocking. But he believed it was just another form of entertainment, no different from kids playing with paper planes or watching TV.

His colleague didn’t agree. “Do you know how young they are?”

Qin Feng was puzzled.

His coworker thought he was young and didn't understand, so he didn't try to beat around the bush anymore, “Kids this young are not yet set in their ways, so it's easy for them to get addicted.”

Qin Feng chuckled. “Oh, so that’s what you’re worried about.”

A neighborhood aunt chimed in, “Isn’t this serious enough?”

Qin Feng countered, “And adults don’t get addicted?”

One sentence left both of them speechless.

Qin Feng said, "They’re still so young. If they dare to get addicted to mahjong, I can fix them with a feather duster. But if they get addicted at my age, would I still be able to control them?"

Everyone knew the answer—there’d be no controlling them then.

But… but the oldest one, Gu Wuyi, was only twelve ah!

Qin Feng turned to Miaomiao, “Go get the stuff.”

The child instinctively asked, "You didn’t bring it?"

"Forgot!" Qin Feng answered matter-of-factly.

The child was speechless.

He raised his fan to cover his shiny little head and went into the house to grab a pack of melon seeds.

He handed fifty seeds to each older brother, then split the rest evenly with his fourth brother. They each sat behind Gu Wuyi and Qin Feng, cracking seeds as they watched.

The neighborhood aunt asked, “Are you playing with melon seeds?”

Qin Feng nodded.

His colleague still looked at him with an expression that defied description.

Qin Feng was a bit annoyed by the look. What's wrong with kids playing mahjong? Who says kids can't play?

Then he remembered—he was from decades in the future, more experienced and open-minded. He should be tolerant of these old-fashioned ways of thinking. A slight smile unconsciously crept onto his face.

Seeing this, his colleague was deeply disappointed—so stubborn and unrepentant, unworthy of being a father.

With a fierce glare at Qin Feng, his colleague turned on his heel and stormed off in anger.

The neighborhood aunt was taken aback by his anger, “What’s—what’s he so angry about?”

“Who knows.” Qin Feng shook his head unconcernedly and motioned for his sons to continue.

The neighborhood aunt tentatively asked, “Engineer Qin, are you sure this is really okay?”

Qin Feng: “Do you know the history of mahjong?”

The neighborhood aunt shook her head.

“It's not too much to say it's a national treasure.” Qin Feng thought for a moment, “I've also heard that playing mahjong can prevent Alzheimer's. Do you know why?”

The neighborhood aunt had no idea—this was the closest she had ever been to a mahjong set in her entire life.

Gu Wuyi tentatively offered, “Because you have to use your hands and your brain?”

In fact, Qin Feng is not sure, just heard others say so, because others do not know, and did not hesitate to nod slightly.

The neighborhood aunt still hesitated. “But Wuyi and the others are so young…”

Qin Feng: “I think children can play, but adults should not. Adults gamble with money—that’s what makes it gambling.”

The neighborhood aunt was convinced by him, but still felt that there was something wrong.

But Qin Feng no longer cared.

There was no point in arguing about generational differences until he was parched.

Little did he know, his colleague felt the same way.

Although the staff residence, though filled with buildings of varying heights and sizes, was well-organized.

Ordinary workers and junior supervisors lived in the apartment buildings at the back, while engineers, mid-level managers, and top executives resided in single-family homes. However, some houses were newer, some older, some larger, some smaller.

The colleague whom Qin Feng had angered was the last batch of college students before the ten-year revolution. Now in his early forties, he was considered old in the manufacturing and assembly workshops but in his prime in the R&D department. He was highly valued by the leadership and senior engineers. As for the young Qin Feng, he wasn’t just valued—he was practically held in the palm of their hands.

That being said, because of his importance, this engineer had secured good housing. A few new houses had been built two years ago, and he was allocated one—right next to the deputy factory director.

When he arrived at his doorstep, he noticed that the door next door was open and immediately stepped inside.

See the deputy factory director in the living room with a fan, he blurted out, “Director Jiao, you need to go see Engineer Qin right now! He’s completely, completely unreasonable!”

Deputy Director Jiao, who had been dozing off, was startled awake. Instinctively, he asked, “Which Engineer Qin?”

“Who else do we have?”

Deputy Director Jiao fully woke up. “Qin Feng? What happened?”

“He--” the engineer didn't bother to mention him, ”You'll know if you go and take a look.”

Deputy Director Jiao suspected that it wasn't a big deal—at least Qin Feng wasn’t injured.

Qin Feng is the treasure of the Northern Railway Factory. As long as he was fine, nothing else could be that big of a deal. “I won't go if you don't say so. I don't want to get heatstroke in this hot weather.”

The engineer was left speechless. How—how could he be like this?

Deputy Director Jiao looked at him, “Say it or not?  If not, get out and don’t disturb my rest. I didn’t sleep until two in the morning, and the neighborhood kids woke me up at five or six.”

Left with no choice, the engineer finally revealed, “He’s teaching a bunch of kids how to play mahjong!”

Deputy Director Jiao opened his eyes wide, “You—say it again!”

The engineer's eyes lit up with joy, and he immediately said, “Engineer Qin is teaching Wuyi and the others to play mahjong! The youngest one, Qingyun, is only ten! And his youngest son, Miaomiao, is still hooking his head and watching from the sidelines. That kid is only six years old!”

Deputy Director Jiao got up.

The engineer was satisfied.

—Now this was how a factory leader should react.

Director Jiao looked down at himself, noticing he was only wearing a tank top. He put his hands on his hips, turned in a circle to find a short-sleeved shirt, and pulled it on. “I really didn’t expect such young kids to be playing mahjong.”

“Exactly! And tell me, does Engineer Qin act anything like a proper father?”

Jiao paused while buttoning his shirt, then simply gave up on buttoning altogether—it’s not like I’m meeting a foreign dignitary. “Why not?”

The engineer freeze for a moment, noticed that Director Jiao didn’t seem angry at all. “You—you’re not mad?”

“Playing mahjong isn’t the same as beating someone up. What’s there to—” Director Jiao suddenly realized that he seemed to be very angry, ”Did Qin Feng not let you play? I’ll go have a word with him.” Saying this, he strode toward the door.

The engineer was stunned again before quickly catching up. “No, it’s not me! It’s him! He’s letting a bunch of kids play!”

“It’s not like they’re setting fires.”

“But how can kids play mahjong?”

Director Jiao suddenly halted. “Who says kids can’t play?”

He was stumped by this statement.

No one had ever said they couldn’t!

“But they are children.”

Director Jiao: “So what, games are divided into ‘for adults’ and ‘for kids’? I’ve always wanted to play, but hardly anyone knows how, and I don’t even have a mahjong set. Wonder where Qin Feng got his…”

His voice faded into the distance as he walked off, leaving the engineer increasingly bewildered.

Squinting up at the blinding sun, the engineer couldn’t help but ask himself—has the world changed, or have I?

Director Jiao noticed there were no footsteps behind him. Turning back, he saw the engineer still standing under the scorching sun, looking dazed. Jiao frowned—now what ah?

What's wrong with him again? I didn't realize he had so many problems before.

"Are you coming or not?" Director Jiao asked loudly.

The engineer returned to his senses, waved his hand helplessly, and went home to find comfort from his wife.

To his dismay, his wife didn't share his outrage. "What’s the big deal? With Qin Feng watching over them, it’s fine."

The engineer didn't expect her to agree, and couldn't help but raise his voice, “What does he know? A young man in his twenties with a couple of kids calling him dad. He really thinks that makes him a father?"

His wife nearly grabbed a feather duster to teach him a lesson. "Oh, you’re so great? Your son failed the college entrance exam last year and might not pass this year either. Meanwhile, Qin Feng’s five kids all get perfect scores, each with their own awards. The eldest is only twelve and can already sell popsicles to support himself!"

The engineer deflated instantly.

His wife stood up. "Besides building trains, what can you do? A grown man, and you don’t even know how to play mahjong."

The engineer was speechless. "You—you—unreasonable!"

His wife shot back, "You’re the one being unreasonable!" But she also worried he might get too worked up and pass out. "Listen, comrade, Reform and Opening-Up has happened. There are foreigners walking around downtown now. Maybe it’s time you updated that outdated brain of yours!"

With that, she strode toward the door.

"Where are you going?"

"To watch Qin Feng play mahjong."

“You just want to watch Qin Feng?"

"So what if I do? He’s younger than you, fresher-looking, and he's better looking than you, so he's a sight for sore eyes.”

The engineer stops, hesitates for a second, closes the door and follows her, not even bothering to lock it—it's time-consuming.

“You're not gonna bother Engineer Qin?” His wife stops.

The engineer huffed, "I’m annoyed that he’s teaching the kids all wrong. If he weren’t, I wouldn’t have a problem with him."

"Oh, like he even cares whether you like him or not. He’s got more admirers than he can handle."

The engineer nodded. "Yeah, it's people your age who like him, and then some.”

His wife didn't bother to waste time with him. No point talking when we don’t even speak the same language.

But by the time the two of them arrived, they were already too late.

Seeing a bunch of kids playing mahjong was even more shocking than Qin Feng finding a girlfriend.

In the mere three minutes since the engineer had stormed off, people had already gathered around Qin Feng.

After just one round, a full crowd had formed around him and his kids.

Some of the early arrivals had even dragged over small stools from Qin Feng’s house to sit beside Gu Xiao’er and the others, acting as their self-proclaimed strategists.

Unfortunately, these people are all half-baked, blind commanders, resulting in Qin Feng, once again, playing one versus three.

With no breeze to cool things down and loss after loss piling up, Gu Xiao’er frowned in frustration. "Dad, get up!"

Qin Feng was unsure, “What's wrong?”

“I don't want to play with you. Let Miaomiao!”

Someone immediately said, What does Miaomiao even know? I’ll play for Qin Feng instead."

Gu Xiao’er didn’t hesitate to nod. "Anyone is fine—just not my dad!"

Qin Feng chuckled. "Gu Xiao’er, you’re acting like a sore loser right now."

"So what if I am?" Gu Xiao’er lifted his chin defiantly.

Qin Feng shrugged. "Alright. The popsicles should be frozen by now. Lingyun, come here."

Fu Lingyun went to the house with him to wrap the popsicles  in wrapping paper.

Then, the two of them pushed the freezer out to sell popsicles.

With so many people gathered, the atmosphere was lively. Even Xue Qing and her group showed up.

When Wu Zheng saw the ice chest, he couldn't help but tease Qin Feng: “You're really good at business.”

Qin Feng: “Want one?”

Wu Zheng instinctively looked around for his two daughters.

Seeing them completely absorbed in jumping rope with a few other little girls, seemingly unbothered by the heat and unlikely to come over anytime soon, he nodded. "Give me two."

Qin Feng laughed, “Why are you acting like a thief?” He handed him one, then gave the other to Xue Feng. 

Xue Qing: “Children are greedy for cold treats. If you take your eyes off them for a second, they’ll sneak a sip of cold water."

"It’s fine," Qin Feng said casually. He used to avoid drinking the well’s cold water, too, but one time, after working in the fields, he had been so exhausted and parched that he couldn’t resist taking a sip. To his surprise, it tasted better than any bottled water he had ever had—even as refreshing as mountain spring water.

It puzzled him at first, but later, he figured that since this area, though close to the city, didn’t have many heavily polluting industries, the water quality was still quite good—nowhere near the contamination levels that large industrial zones would later bring.

Since then, Qin Feng had stopped being fussy about it and didn’t make a big deal of it with the kids either.

Wu Zheng slightly shook his head: “Little girls still need to pay attention.”

Xue Qi agrees: “Drinking cold water frequently is not good for the body. Especially after the age of thirteen or fourteen. Do you understand?”

Qin Feng did not understand for a moment, but after careful consideration, he nodded his head.

“Do you really understand?” Xue Qing couldn't help but ask.

Qin Feng laughed: “Isn't it just the days of the month for you women?”

Wu Zheng couldn't help but give him a once-over.

Qin Feng did not want to explain too much, simply said: “Female workers have that subsidy in their wages”

Wu Zheng remembered that he had asked Xue Qing before what that health fee was on her paycheck and why he didn’t get one.

Qin Feng urged, "Hurry up and eat. Your kids are looking this way."

Wu Zheng was so scared that he jerked his head back.

He then went around to the other side to watch the kids playing mahjong.

Qin Feng turned to Fu Lingyun, who was leaning on the ice chest next to him. "Want one? Dad will get you one.”

Fu Lingyun wasn’t actually a little kid. Though he wanted something cold, he could resist the temptation. He also didn’t want to risk getting an upset stomach and causing trouble for Qin Feng.

Qin Feng lowered his voice. "Then keep watch. I’ll chill a watermelon in the well water, and we’ll eat it once the crowd clears."

Fu Lingyun nodded obediently.

Seeing how well-behaved he was, Qin Feng couldn’t resist patting his little head.

After all, these people are not like the ones in the village who have nothing to do in their spare time, so many of them went back to their own homes after watching for an hour or two.

By the time six o'clock rolls around, there wasn’t many people left.

Qin Feng moved the table back inside the house and took them to the village for dinner.

After returning, he sliced up the chilled watermelon, and they all enjoyed it before taking their baths. But no one went to sleep right away. Firstly, they are on vacation, and secondly, they can't sleep after seven o'clock, the sky wasn’t even fully dark

Qin Feng made sure that they were not watching TV, so he took the paperwork downstairs.

The living room was spacious, with doors and windows for ventilation. He turned on the ceiling fan, making it a comfortable spot for reading.

Since he was in the house, the kids who usually sneaked in to watch TV didn’t dare to come over.

When Qin Feng got tired from work and didn’t feel like reading anymore, he could just shut everything off without worrying about the neighborhood kids.

A little over a month passed like this. The peak summer heat faded, and by then, just a small desk fan in the study was enough. Qin Feng moved his nighttime workspace there and no longer let the kids play outside.

With the new school year approaching, it was time to start focusing again—getting back into study mode and finishing up homework in preparation for school.

With the cooler weather clearing his mind, Qin Feng suddenly remembered he hadn’t bought a bicycle for Gu Wuyi yet.

So, on the weekend, he and his father went to the city and bought two women's bicycles.

One bike was for Gu Wuyi to ride to school and the other for the younger kids to practice on.

Gu Wuyi didn't know how to ride a bicycle, so Qin Feng took him to the ground. The area was flat and empty, with no people or cars, so as long as he didn’t ride into a ditch, he’d be fine.

There is no need to worry too much, Gu Wuyi is not a real child, but a week he dared to ride on the road.

Qin Feng thought of the fact that he is only twelve years old, didn’t let him go alone just yet. Instead, he followed behind on his own bicycle when Gu Wuyi practiced.

Since he would be biking to school, the two of them rode from the entrance of the house to No. 2 high school.

A week later, Gu Wuyi could stop and balance with one foot on the ground without fully dismounting. That reassured Qin Feng—at least this way, even if he encountered another bicycle on the road, he wouldn’t fall over.

By then, school was about to start.

While organizing Gu Wuyi’s supplies, Qin Feng noticed that his backpack was old. He asked the R&D department supervisor for half a day off.

After breakfast, he took Gu Wuyi to the city to buy a new backpack.

Just as they reached the front gate, the gatekeeper called out to him, “Engineer Qin, there’s a letter for you. Looks like it’s from overseas.”

PREV                    TOC                    NEXT