I'm back in 1990

Chapter 404: Something Unexpected

On November 10th, the grandmother, accompanied by her daughter, son-in-law, son, and daughter-in-law, arrived in Chang'an after a long journey.

Upon exiting the airport, the group saw a person holding a sign with the names Zeng Jiahua and Zeng Lijuan written on it.

The group stared at the person holding the sign. Who was this person? They didn't recognize him.

Zeng Jiahua muttered to himself, "I don't think I saw my second sister and brother-in-law."

Old Huang took the initiative to go up and greet the person holding the sign.

"Hello, are you here to pick someone up?"

Seeing that someone was asking him something, the person holding the sign asked, "Are you Zeng Jiahua?"

Old Huang pointed at Zeng Jiahua: "Oh! This is Zeng Jiahua, I am Zeng Lijuan's husband."

The man quickly put down the sign in his hand, and with a big smile, extended his hand to shake hands with Old Huang.

"Hello, hello! I'm the driver sent by Director Zou. My surname is Chang, you can just call me Lao Chang."

Old Huang politely shook hands with Master Chang, saying, "Thank you for your help, Master Chang!"

"No trouble at all, these are your luggage, right? Let me help you with them."

"No, no, there's not much!"

After exchanging pleasantries, the group followed Master Chang, who had come to greet them, into a bread truck.

Zeng Lijuan looked unhappy, but her grandmother looked expectant, eager to see her second daughter immediately.

After getting on the bus, Zeng Lijuan couldn't help but mutter a few words in Suzhou dialect.

"Knowing that Mom was coming, they didn't even bother to come and pick her up themselves, they just sent a driver instead. That's just outrageous."

Zeng Jiahua had the same idea as Zeng Lijuan, but he didn't say it aloud.

Actually, Zeng Lijuan's point is valid. Logically speaking, since the elderly mother traveled a long distance to attend her daughter's wedding, shouldn't Zeng Liping, as the daughter, also come to the airport to greet her?

But Zeng Liping and her husband treated them like ordinary relatives and friends, not even showing their faces. It would have been better not to send a driver to pick them up. Zeng Jiahua and the others could have taken a taxi to the city center themselves. There are plenty of taxis at the airport, which would have been very convenient.

The grandmother was quite understanding of her second daughter: "Liping and Weifeng must have something to do to be unable to come. Zou Jin is getting married, and they, as parents, must have a lot to do."

Zeng Lijuan couldn't argue with her elderly mother, so she could only snort to express her dissatisfaction.

The car drove through the streets and alleys of the ancient city and finally arrived at the entrance of a guesthouse. While helping the group with their luggage, Master Chang said, "We're here! Your rooms have all been arranged. Director Zou and Director Zeng will come to visit you later."

After entering the room, Zeng Lijuan was even more furious.

In Zeng Lijuan's eyes, this guesthouse could only be described as shabby. After all, she had stayed in her youngest son's mansion, so she found this shabby guesthouse extremely unacceptable.

She had originally thought that her younger sister should at least be accommodated in a hotel.

To her surprise, it turned out to be a run-down guesthouse. Looking at the wooden-framed bed, a few tables and chairs, and two thermos flasks in the room, Zeng Lijuan angrily said to Lao Huang, "What kind of shabby place is this?"

Old Huang frowned. Putting everything else aside, the hygiene was just...unpleasant. The pillows were soaked in grease, and the sheets and blankets looked like they hadn't been washed in a long time. The only thing that was satisfactory was that the room had heating.

Conditions in the Northwest inland region in the 1990s certainly couldn't compare to those in coastal cities, but that doesn't mean Chang'an didn't have some high-end hotels! What's the point of arranging it in such a place?

After a while, Zeng Jiahua also came to Zeng Lijuan and Lao Huang's room.

"Big sister, what do you mean by this, second sister?" Zeng Jiahua was also somewhat dissatisfied.

Zeng Lijuan's temper flared up immediately after Zeng Jiahua's nudge.

She never liked her younger sister in the first place. Not to mention the terrible things she did back then, she only went back to see her elderly mother every few years after getting married, and even then, it was just a fleeting visit, lasting only a day or two before leaving.

Now, considering her elderly mother's wishes and her daughter's wedding, Zeng Lijuan thought she should come and offer her congratulations, hoping to ease the tension and put aside past grievances so they could visit each other more often in the future.

Now it seems I thought too highly of her. She was treated like a beggar and placed in such a shabby place. I didn't even mention taking my elderly mother home to live with me. I just put her all here.

However, Zeng Lijuan still asked first, "Where's Mom?"

Zeng Jiahua replied, "Jiazhen is with her."

Zeng Jiahua suggested, "Why don't we find a hotel ourselves? There's nowhere to stay here."

Zeng Lijuan said with a dark face, "Come on, let's go to my mother's place and let her see what her second daughter has done."

The siblings and Lao Huang went to their elderly mother's room together.

Upon seeing her elderly mother, Zeng Lijuan immediately began to complain: "Mom, look what your second daughter has done! Arranging for us to stay in such a shabby guesthouse."

The grandmother was still speaking up for her second daughter: "Perhaps Liping and the others aren't well-off. Can't you, as the eldest sister, be more understanding?"

Zeng Lijuan was immediately annoyed. Poor conditions? Didn't she hear what the driver, Mr. Chang, who brought her here said? One was a section chief and the other a director. Surely their conditions couldn't be so bad that they couldn't even afford a few hotel rooms?

Suppressing her anger, Zeng Lijuan said to her elderly mother, "Mom, the conditions here are really too bad. Since your second daughter's family isn't well-off, why don't we save her some money? We can cancel our reservation and pay for a hotel ourselves, right?"

Grandma disagreed: "Let's just make do for now. It'll only be two or three days anyway. Otherwise, Liping will think we don't like her."

Zeng Jiahua also chimed in, "Mom, the environment here is really terrible. Staying in a hotel won't cost much. Let's listen to our eldest sister and go to a hotel."

As the son-in-law, Lao Huang couldn't easily express his opinion, so he just sat aside and watched.

Just as the mother and her two children were locked in a tug-of-war, Zeng Liping arrived.

"Mom!"

When the old woman saw her second daughter arrive, her eyes lit up immediately.

"Liping!"

Old Huang glanced at his sister-in-law. She was dressed like a cadre and looked very capable. For some reason, Old Huang felt that there was an inexplicable sense of distance about his sister-in-law, making it difficult for him to get close to her.

Seeing her elderly mother about to stand up, Zeng Liping quickly stopped her, saying, "Mom, don't stand up."

"Hey, hey!" The old lady sat back down when she heard this.

Only then did Zeng Liping give a brief greeting to Zeng Lijuan, Zeng Jiahua, and the others.

"Eldest sister, brother-in-law, younger brother, Jiazhen!"

The others responded to her.

Zeng Liping had overheard what the group had just said.

Zeng Liping said, "This guesthouse is the best among the guesthouses in the area. I only managed to get these rooms by pulling some strings."

Zeng Lijuan curled her lip. This guesthouse didn't have many guests, and many rooms were empty. They actually said that you had to use connections? Was that a joke?

To avoid embarrassing her second daughter, the grandmother reluctantly agreed, saying, "It's alright, it's alright!"

Grandma knew in her heart whether it was good or not, but she thought it was better not to fuss over such a small matter. She had come all this way just to see her daughter and granddaughters! It's always better for the family to be harmonious!

Seeing that Zeng Lijuan had come alone, the old lady asked, "Where's Weifeng?"

Zeng Liping explained, "He had some friends from out of town who came to attend Zou Jin's wedding, and he went to the train station to pick them up."

Zeng Lijuan and Zeng Jiahua were immediately displeased. Their mother-in-law, sister, and brother didn't personally pick them up, but they did personally pick up their friends. It seemed that the other party didn't take their family seriously.

In front of their elderly mother, the siblings held back their anger. If things went wrong, their mother would be the one who would suffer the most. For her sake, they would let it go today and leave as soon as the wedding was over.

I had originally planned to take this opportunity to visit the ancient city's historical sites, but now I've lost all interest and just want to go back as soon as possible.

At this moment, Zeng Liping sat down next to her elderly mother as if no one else was around, took her hand, and began to ask her about her well-being.

Zeng Lijuan and her brother Zeng Jiahua then felt somewhat relieved.

Unexpectedly, after just a few words, another problem arose!