The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression Begins in Songhu

Chapter 615 Recognizing the Door (Two Chapters Combined)

Time: Day 9 of the rest period, the tenth day of the eighth lunar month, 5:02 AM.

Location: In front of the Deyuelou flagship store, in the newly marked parking space reserved for the owner.

With a "ha," Hu Biao breathed on the right taillight of a Mercedes-AMG G63, then carefully wiped away a small speck of mud with a towel.

That gentle and careful gesture was only slightly less effective than when he was facing Annie.

That's right! The young man who used to lie around in Majuqiao, doing nothing for three days and struggling in the mud, has finally bought a car, and it's a top-of-the-line Mercedes-Benz G-Class SUV.

Because I was in a hurry to pick up the car, I paid an extra 20,000 yuan.

After getting this G-Class through all the paperwork—including registration, insurance, etc.—it cost him a total of 266 million yuan.

It was an astronomical figure that he wouldn't have dared to imagine even if he had sold everything he could—his kidneys, corneas, heart, and even his life.

All I can say is that this loser has finally made something of himself.

In reality, with Hu Biao's current net worth, he could afford some more expensive luxury cars, such as Maybach and Rolls-Royce, and he would pay in full.

This strong confidence comes not only from the fact that Deyuelou now has one main store and nine branches; the total daily profit is at least 1 to 9 yuan.

Although a large portion of the profits comes from private kitchens and alcoholic beverages such as gecko medicinal wine.

But that doesn't affect Hu Biao at all; he can earn enough to buy a top-of-the-line Mercedes-Benz G-Class in just one month.

In addition, this confidence also comes from the spoils of the last time travel, which are unprecedentedly rich compared to previous travels.

Because the quantity and variety of spoils brought back were so great, Hu Biao was too lazy to calculate their value in detail.

They roughly divided the dough into dozens of portions, each with a number on it; then everyone drew lots, and whichever pile they drew belonged to.

If you suffer a loss, blame it on your bad luck and poor hand skills.

Hu Biao's luck was neither good nor bad; he caught a bunch of spoils of war with moderate value, but even so, that bunch of stuff was still worth more than 50 million, easily half a small fortune.

Therefore, Hu Biao could easily afford a better luxury car.

He didn't buy a better car simply because the G-Class was his dream car.

Of course! For Hu Biao, who was so eager to visit his future father-in-law's house that he got up so early in the morning, what kind of new car it was was completely unimportant.

The most important thing is the gift you prepare for your first visit to your father-in-law and mother-in-law; you can't be careless about it at all.

Sure enough! Just as they were about to set off, Hu Biao opened the trunk once again to check if he had left anything behind:

Eight packs of Huazi cigarettes, each costing 100 yuan.

Mr. Nanze, that unscrupulous tea merchant, managed to get a pound of pre-rain Longjing tea; although it wasn't from those mother trees, it still cost him nearly 20,000 yuan.

One jar of gecko medicinal wine, soaked for the longest time and with the best effect, weighs 20 jin (10 catties); one barrel of finely brewed Guangxi briefcase wine weighs 50 jin (25 catties).

Two jars of rice wine were made, each containing 20 jin (10 catties).

This time, Hu Biao made 15-jin (7.5 catties) sauerkraut and two large bags of homemade braised food. To keep the braised food fresh, Hu Biao even brought a small car refrigerator with him.

Besides the things we got our hands on in these modern dimensions.

There were also some spoils brought back from the worlds I traveled through, such as bracelets, jade, ornaments, porcelain, and calligraphy and paintings.

Good heavens! Hu Biao took all the good stuff he had, things he was confident he could offer.

As a result, the G-Class's originally spacious trunk is now completely full.

I did a final check and found nothing missing.

Hu Biao quickly made six roujiamo (Chinese hamburgers) in the kitchen, took two cups of soy milk from the refrigerator, and a bunch of fruit and braised food before driving towards Annie's residential area.

This was to pick up Annie and set off before the morning rush hour.

Those roujiamo (Chinese hamburger) and soy milk were just Annie's breakfast.

There wasn't much to say about the journey to Shanghai afterwards; the key point was that Hu Biao chose to set off so early in the morning, mainly because Annie was not in good spirits and driving was difficult.

After getting in the car and having breakfast, the girl yawned, reclined the passenger seat, and fell fast asleep.

After waking up, he kept munching on that big bag of fruit and braised food; he ate a lot, but his stomach didn't bulge at all.

In this way, Hu Biao wouldn't have to worry about Annie driving, the kind of heart-pounding experience where she practically wanted to stomp her feet into the gas tank and speed recklessly.

The journey from Beijing to Shanghai via the Beijing-Shanghai Expressway is over 1200 kilometers.

Hu Biao drove at the maximum speed limit the whole way, and finally, a little after 5 p.m., with Annie's directions, he drove into a high-end residential area in Shanghai...

*****
At 5:26 p.m., in a fairly large living room.

“This is my uncle, he works at XX now, his position is XXX~” Annie introduced him, pointing to a little old man sitting on the sofa.

At the same time, he gave Hu Biao a knowing look, as if to say, "Good luck, kid."

A second later, Hu Biao pulled two cigarettes from his pack and offered them to Hu Biao with unusual respect, saying as he did so:

"Hello, Uncle! Would you like a cigarette?"

After the other party took the cigarette from Hua Zi, he took out a lighter and lit it with a 'click'.

After taking a satisfying puff of his cigarette, the uncle patted Hu Biao on the shoulder and praised him approvingly, saying, "Little Hu, you don't need to be so polite. From now on, we're all family."

Before her uncle-in-law could finish speaking, Annie's voice rang out again: "This is our brother-in-law. He's from Oppa's family, and he's the head of XXX Group~"

I saw a smiling middle-aged man in front of me, and a large group of people waiting to be introduced behind him.

Hu Biao maintained his smiling face, offering a cigarette with both hands while saying, "Sir! Those who smoke, get to work~"

In a moment of tension, this guy not only mistook Annie's brother-in-law for a Japanese soldier, but also spoke with the accent of a fat translator from a movie.

Upon hearing this, everyone in the large living room burst into laughter, creating a rather joyful atmosphere.

Hu Biao was secretly having a terrible headache, and he cursed inwardly, "Why hasn't Mina, that scoundrel, arrived yet?"

So, how should one behave on their first visit to their future in-laws' house to win their favor?

Before setting off, Hu Biao did a lot of work.

In addition to the large number of gifts he brought in the trunk, he also privately consulted with married members of the time-traveler team, such as AT, Lao Ma, and Mr. Nanze, about their relevant experiences.

Based on the experiences shared by these people, I prepared to be someone who is sweet-talking, hardworking, observant, and proactive in getting things done when I went door-to-door.

What happened? The situation was completely different from what he had expected.

On the one hand, although Hu Biao had heard from Annie and Mina that the An family was well-off, he did not expect it to be this good.

Although my future father-in-law and mother-in-law don't live in the legendary big villa.

However, the residential area is quite high-end; it's the kind of place where if you drive a car worth hundreds of thousands, you'd be embarrassed to greet your neighbors.

Given its large size and duplex structure, the price of such a house is by no means cheap; it would cost tens of millions to acquire.

Moreover, their family owns two such suites in total.

Anne's parents now live in one of the apartments upstairs, while an identical large duplex downstairs is vacant, supposedly one of the dowry items prepared for Anne.

Under such circumstances, the future father-in-law's family naturally hired a professional housekeeper.

There was no need for him, the prospective son-in-law, to do anything on his first visit. In fact, even if Hu Biao wanted to do some work and show his abilities, he couldn't find any opportunity.

In other words, the experience of Lao Ma's team members was completely useless.

Another aspect, and also the one that gives Hu Biao the biggest headache.

In his plan, this visit to his future father-in-law's house was merely to get acquainted with the family, not to formally propose marriage; therefore, even if there were some other relatives present, their numbers would not be too many.

In reality? During the War of Resistance against Japan, the famous Tiger of Shanghai, Hu Biao, did not even blink an eye when facing the Japanese elite Class A divisions.

After parking in the spare parking space of Lao An's house in the community, I was a little hesitant to get out of the car.

No other reason than that! I just saw a message from Mina on my phone, and it turns out that dozens of relatives are waiting for him at Annie's house. This means the number of people he needs to please and appease has increased several times over, from just his father-in-law and mother-in-law.

This is also the main reason why, as mentioned above, Annie introduced each of them as relatives, and Hu Biao offered her a cigarette and lit it.

As for why Hu Biao kept hoping that Mina, his cheap sister-in-law, would come over as soon as possible during this process.

All I can say is that Hu Biao's initial idea for calling Mina today was...

The gifts he brought to his door were all nice things that even money couldn't easily buy, but they weren't very presentable and looked like agricultural products.

He couldn't very well explain the benefits himself, otherwise it would seem like he was just bragging.

If your sister-in-law, who is familiar with all of this, were to introduce it, none of these problems would exist.

But now, Hu Biao's role with Mina has completely changed. He hopes that Mina can share some of the firepower after she comes over.

I wish someone would ask Mina, "Your cousin Annie has a boyfriend, and it looks like she'll be getting engaged and married soon. When are you going to bring your boyfriend home?"

As a result, Mina was pressured to get married by all her relatives, and fewer people were watching her.

Otherwise, being stared at with such a smiling gaze from so many of Old An's relatives would have made him incredibly flustered...

While Hu Biao was quite exhausted from dealing with a large group of relatives from the An family, he was unaware that his future mother-in-law was looking at him with increasing fondness.

Actually, the main reason why so many relatives came to Lao An's house today is because of her.

You know what! Their precious youngest daughter is great in every way, except that she's in her mid-twenties and still refuses to have a boyfriend; this has led to relatives saying all sorts of strange things behind her back, and it's almost become a major worry for her.

A few months ago, I heard that Annie finally had a boyfriend.

And when he learned that although Xiao Hu's family was not well-off, he was quite ambitious and had built a considerable business in the capital from scratch, he was naturally overjoyed.

Even though they didn't meet in person, they kept a close eye on Deyuelou's situation through various means in private.

So Hu Biao was completely overthinking it. His future mother-in-law already knew all about his family's wealth and possessions; she wouldn't bring him along and treat those agricultural products as worthless trinkets.

As they learned more about Hu Biao's situation in private, they gradually became aware of it.

For a while afterward, the future mother-in-law would often post about Hu Biao and Deyuelou in the family group chat.

For example, how capable their future son-in-law, Xiao Hu, is.

The private dining room, with three tables each for lunch and dinner, is booked up for six months in advance; countless big bosses in the capital city want to have a meal there but can't.

When investment companies waved checks wanting to invest, Xiao Hu completely ignored them.

It was a good release of the frustration I had endured for so long.

Two days ago, Annie called back and said that Hu Biao was coming over today.

He even boasted in the group for a long time, making it seem like Hu Biao and Annie were getting married at the end of the year, and that Annie would be tortured to death within a month or two of the wedding.

She had one child a year, two children every three years, and soon she would be staying home to help take care of her grandchildren.

It seems like I won't be able to participate in things like playing mahjong, shopping, or getting beauty treatments anymore.

That's why the relatives of the An family became very interested in Hu Biao, which led to their spontaneous arrival today, filling the room with people.

When she first saw so many people coming, her future mother-in-law was quite nervous.

She knew that Hu Biao was only visiting to acknowledge the family's status, not to propose marriage, and that having so many relatives present was somewhat inappropriate.

However, it wouldn't be appropriate to simply send these relatives back home.

Fortunately, Xiao Hu wasn't angry at all, and he was quite polite to all the relatives. What do you call that? It means that this child is both capable and humble, so naturally, the more you look at him, the more you like him.

Unfortunately, while the future mother-in-law grew increasingly fond of Hu Biao, the future father-in-law had a slightly different opinion.

He was quite happy that his youngest daughter had finally found a home.

The problem is that when Annie introduces Hu Biao to each of his relatives with such care and concern, as if she's afraid the boy will be eaten alive, she herself has never experienced anything like it.

I feel like the bok choy I've been growing for so many years has been eaten by someone else's pig.

He felt extremely jealous and disliked Hu Biao even more.

This meant that Hu Biao was not only dealing with a group of relatives from the An family, but also enduring the ambiguous gaze of his father-in-law, which made him even more tormented.

Fortunately, the situation finally changed after about twenty minutes.

After the doorbell rang, Mina, who looked like an angel, skipped in and sweetly called out "Brother-in-law" to Hu Biao.

Unfortunately, before Hu Biao could even say to this angel, "Mina's here! Why didn't you bring your boyfriend back?"

This way, he could have his sister-in-law, who was relatively cheap, help him share some of the burden.

Behind Mina emerged an elderly man in his eighties or nineties, who appeared to be in excellent health and spirits. As her future father-in-law and mother-in-law stood up, he called out, "Dad."

Hu Biao knew perfectly well that this was Annie's grandfather, the head of the An family.

Seeing the old man's somewhat amused expression, Hu Biao had no choice but to muster his spirits and go to greet him...

Dinner was at his future father-in-law's house, not at a hotel. Hu Biao understood that a family dinner was much more intimate.

Hu Biao, instead of taking over the head chef position from the housekeeper Aunt Huo because of his good cooking skills, continued chatting with the relatives of the An family, waiting for the mealtime to arrive.

Hu Biao knew such basic etiquette.

However, as the family dinner progressed, the situation began to spiral out of control.

The wine we drank that evening was two kinds: gecko medicinal wine and Guangxi briefcase wine. When all the relatives sat down at the table, they were almost all clamoring to drink this kind of good wine, which they had heard so many times in the family group chat.

Seeing that he couldn't postpone it any longer, the future father-in-law agreed to everyone's request.

However, Hu Biao was worried that drinking too much would make them unable to withstand the effects of the medicine, so he suggested that each person drink about two ounces of medicinal wine, and the rest of them drink Guangxi briefcase wine, while the ladies could drink rice wine.

Even so, after drinking a cup of gecko medicinal wine, all the men present felt a comfortable warmth, and as their energy rose and lingered, they all knew that this was truly a good thing.

Hu Biao's attitude became increasingly enthusiastic.

Even his future father-in-law, sitting to the side, picked up a large shrimp and placed it in Hu Biao's bowl, calling out:

"Don't be shy, Xiao Hu! Come and have some shrimp. Aunt Huo's shrimp-making skills are quite good."

Overwhelmed with gratitude, Hu Biao was somewhat at a loss for words.

Unexpectedly, before Hu Biao could even peel the shrimp, Grandpa Annie had already picked up the jar of gecko medicinal wine and placed it at his feet.

He said to his future father-in-law, "This jar of wine is mine. If you drink this wine, you'll be able to pee more easily at night."

After a visible look of disappointment, the father-in-law didn't dare to lash out at the old man. Instead, he picked up a wine glass, filled it with Guangxi briefcase wine, and beckoned to Hu Biao:

"Little Hu, right! What's so great about shrimp? Come on, have some drinks, at least half a glass."

Upon hearing this, Hu Biao sneered inwardly: "Trying to get me drunk? Come on! I'm always the one who gets drunk when I drink with people anyway, so what's one more time?"

Hu Biao, prepared to be drunk so he could go to sleep, picked up his glass and downed it in one gulp.

Five minutes later, Hu Biao looked dazed.

He wasn't drunk; although he was a little confused, he was still sober. The biggest reason for his state was his future father-in-law, who had previously harbored some subtle hostility towards him.

Now his face was flushed, and an arm was draped over his shoulder.

He said very affectionately, "I'll be going to the capital soon. Could you give me another jar of that medicinal wine?"

“Since it’s for your uncle, and no one else can have it, why should we leave you out? Two jars are fine.” Hu Biao, who knew his place, quickly agreed.

Upon hearing this, the future father-in-law patted Hu Biao's shoulder forcefully and said:
"Why call me uncle? Call me brother."

Make sure you eat and drink well at home today. This is only the first round. Later, I'll take you to Star Shine Karaoke, and it's all on me.

"Well, my future father-in-law's alcohol tolerance seems a little low," Hu Biao thought to himself amidst the sudden awkward silence.

(End of this chapter)