The Temptation of Neighbors - Chapter 13

On Sunday morning, three beautiful women went out to clean their skin and wash their faces.

I slept for three hours, then grabbed my laptop and went to my dad’s place.

I hadn’t seen my daughter in ages, and I missed her. My daughter, Zhang Hanyu, is six and a half years old and in first grade. She’s supposed to be seven years old, but she’s incredibly bright. She’s been in kindergarten with her mom since she was one, and she’s memorized everything she learned. She doesn’t want to be stuck with her mom in kindergarten anymore, so she’s pestered her mom to go to first grade.

My wife had no choice but to use connections at Chengguan No. 1 Primary School to get her daughter into first grade before she was even old enough.

I heard my dad report to Fan Qili over the phone that my daughter is doing well in school, getting 100% on every assignment and even being the class study committee member.

My daughter, Zhang Hanyu, used to be inseparable from her mom, but now, less than a month into the new semester, she’s become incredibly close to her grandfather.

My dad works at a cement factory. Although he’s not yet retirement age, the state-owned cement plant wasn’t doing well, so the government sold it to a wealthy Zhejiang businessman two years ago.

After the cement factory became a private enterprise, my father stopped working and retired early, taking our daughter to and from school every day. My mother is a typical housewife. She doesn’t have any special skills, but she cooks delicious meals and stir-fries.

My daughter looks like me, but her personality is like her mother’s.

Her favorite hobby is drawing. With just a few strokes, she can create a vivid animal or small object. My father said that she has been drawing in her room every free moment lately. At her age, she even said she wants to publish a comic book.

When I arrived at my hometown, my daughter was drawing in her room, my father was watching TV in the living room, and my mother was busy in the kitchen. I placed the fruit I brought on the coffee table in front of my dad. He ignored me, continuing to watch his TV show, “Meteor Shower.” She said to me with a sullen face,

“Hanyu’s in her room.”

I carried another bag of beef and vegetables into the kitchen and said to my mom, “Mom, I’ll buy some beef. You can cook it for the three meals.”

“Okay, Hanyu’s in her room. Go check on her,” Mom said, her tone much more agreeable than Dad’s.

I knocked on the door and walked into my daughter’s room. Sure enough, she was drawing. Seeing me, my daughter’s face lit up with joy.

“Dad, you finally came to see me. Where’s Mom? Didn’t she come with you?”

“Oh, she went out to buy face masks. What are you drawing?”

“I’m drawing comics. I’ll publish them when I’m done,” my daughter said innocently.

“Wow, my daughter is amazing. She’ll definitely be a great artist when she grows up,” I praised her.

“Take a look,” my daughter pushed her drawing in front of mine.

It was a series of smooth, simple sketches of people and animals, accompanied by dialogues! For characters she couldn’t write, she used pinyin instead. Wow, what a father is like, what a daughter is like. I could see her rich imagination in her drawings and dialogue: There was a giant spaceship above a city, with houses built on its roof. The accompanying dialogue explained that it was an earthquake rescue ship. When an earthquake struck the city, the people below would live in the houses aboard, and after the quake passed, they would come down and rebuild their homes. My goodness, the ideas in her little head rivaled those of a grown-up like me who writes science fiction. I thought to myself, I need to find money quickly. In a few years, maybe my daughter will actually publish a comic book. If I can’t come up with the money, and her mother steals the show, I, as a father, will be embarrassed.

“Who did you learn all this from?” I leaned over and asked my daughter.

“A little from cartoons, and some of my own ideas,” she answered excitedly.

“Okay, you’re such a good girl. Keep drawing. I won’t bother you anymore.” I patted her shoulder and stood up.

“Dad, are you going home?” my daughter asked, her eyes darting.

“No, I’m going to my room to write, just like you.”

“Okay, Dad, keep going!”

“Go ahead, daughter!”

I left my daughter’s room and went to the bedroom Fan Qili and I used to share. I put my computer on the old desk and settled down to write again…

I don’t know how long it took before my daughter knocked on the door and said, “Dad, it’s time for dinner.”

“Okay.” I lifted my fingers from the keyboard, grabbed the mouse, saved the document, and left the room with my daughter.

The table was set with several large dishes: fish, meat, and eggs. Two large plates of meat, two full. What’s wrong? Didn’t I ask Mom to fry this beef for three meals? Has she developed amnesia?

Just then, someone knocked on the door and entered. It was my wife, Fan Qili, followed by two beautiful women—Qiao Jiayi and Yuan Yaojin—each carrying a bag.

Damn, these beauties have chased me here.

As soon as my daughter saw Fan Qili, she ran over and hugged her, saying, “Mom, I missed you.”

“Why are you here too?” I asked my wife.

“There’s no one at home to cook, so we’ve come here to eat for free.” Fan Qili took her daughter’s hand and approached the dining table.

“Auntie, sorry to bother you,” Yuan Yaojin said politely.

“What’s the trouble? It’s just a home-cooked meal. Come on, everyone, sit down,” Mom said with a smile.

Dad also came over and sat at the table. Fan Qili quickly said to him, “Dad, is Hanyu bothering you?”

“No, my granddaughter is very well-behaved. If you would just come home for dinner more often, she’d be even happier.”

“Okay, uncle, we’ll definitely come often,” Qiao Jiayi said with a smile.

Dad glanced at Qiao Jiayi, a little disgusted, but he still said with a smile, “Don’t bring things all the time. Young people should learn to be frugal.”

“Dad, don’t worry. They both have money at home. They can send us things every day,” Fan Qili said.

The whole family smiled softly, and the happy atmosphere was so warm and touching.

I suddenly had an idea: it would be great if all the people sitting here were my family, with old people above and young people below, and three lovely wives squeezed in between, wow, that would be perfect!

…

In the afternoon, Qiao Jiayi’s husband Wu Jiancheng booked a dinner at Bishui Villa, specially inviting the three sisters and their families.

Under Fan Qili’s unreasonable demands, I had no choice but to go to the party with her at 2:30. They agreed to come to the private room so early, and it was nothing more than playing mahjong first, and then having dinner after playing enough. I have seen this before.

Wu Jiancheng’s father owns a large real estate development company, and the family is indeed rich.

Qiao Jiayi drives an imported BMW A5.

Yuan Yaojin’s family is also well-off. Her husband Zhang Songping is the director of the Urban Development Office. He has worked in the Urban Development Office for many years and has made a lot of money. Although Yuan Yaojin’s car is a domestically produced Chery, it is not expensive, but our family still can’t afford it…