Uneasy daily life

Middle-aged man: Agree? More like a threat! Does that mean if there's no result this time, it won't just be the kids visiting, but the whole family coming? Or is it that because your own child didn't win and is upset, it's our turn to cause trouble? Hmm!

We have never been aware of or supported any of Bai Ying's actions, and we have severed all ties with her.

Yukinoshita Yono:?

Why is he so stubborn? We're about to deliver some big news! What was originally intended to annoy and disrupt the kid will now be used to counter the obstinate ideas of traditional parents!

Yukinoshita Haruno smiled and took out her notebook, turning to a page and showing it to the world.

[Bai Ying and I have already shared intimate moments, a deep and abiding love.]

Middle-aged couple: "?"

Yukinoshita then added, using a translation app, "[I will not give up.]"

Oh no! My unlucky son has gotten himself into big trouble!

……

Yukinoshita Haruno returned to the 'palace intrigue scene' to report: "Is there something wrong with these two? They don't seem very friendly."

"What do we do next?" Yukino Yukinoshita was unusually flustered, biting her lip slightly. "We should have come with Haku-kun. He should have already prepared a plan on how to persuade his parents, right? Did we accidentally disrupt the plan? I thought Haku-kun's parents would be very open-minded..."

"They're really quite open-minded. If they can't accept it, they'll cut ties." Yukino Yukino clicked her tongue. "They don't seem to have any complaints. They're very polite and friendly, but they absolutely refuse to agree to our relationship with that bastard. They keep insisting on severing our family ties with him."

"Let's calm down first." Mai Sakurajima tapped her shoe with slight frustration. "The earliest the hater will arrive is tomorrow. In the meantime, we need to figure out something to do..."

Feng Bin and Hana's eyes widened: "What? We have to please them?!"

“It’s not about flattering, it’s about persuading,” Mai Sakurajima corrected. “First, calm them down and express our attitude. If we can communicate, we can talk about how our relationship with the haters came about… If neither side takes the initiative to communicate, or even confronts the other, the problem will only get worse.”

Yukino Yukinoshita concluded, "Anyway, we have to be shameless and build a good relationship—tsk, I also want to take this opportunity to dig up some of the jerk's childhood stories... Hmm? Right, we can also ask the jerk more questions, try to remind them of their past with their families, and soften their attitude."

"Are you sure?" Feng Bin and Hua asked in surprise, "Don't they get angrier and angrier when they think about things related to that bastard?"

Yukinoshita Haruno reached out and grabbed Toyohama Kazuka's cheek, rubbing it: "You're so insightful, so outspoken..."

"Go away! I can't be bothered with them anyway!" Feng Bin and Hua were particularly annoyed. "I knew I wouldn't get along with these elders. I should have known better than to come."

"Since we're already here, let's figure out a way to face this and make sure we can solve the problem."

Yukino Yukinoshita summarized the results of the discussion.

the other side……

"What should we do? It seems like there's no way."

"Didn't Erbai say before? When it comes to what the son does, who can you blame the parents for?"

"Then we have no choice but to face it—four of that kid's girlfriends, including a pair of sisters. How are we supposed to deal with that?"

"The essence of palace intrigue lies in not taking sides. No matter if the other party is sarcastic or directly nitpicking, we must maintain an attitude of treating everyone equally, without taking sides, not supporting, not denying, and not expressing any opinions! When Erbai comes back, that will be his business!"

"rational!"

After some discussion, the middle-aged couple managed to come up with a solution.

It's impossible to kick them out; we have to keep them all overnight.

With this kind of swarming attitude, if you chase them away today, tomorrow other parents will come to you to learn some martial arts, and the day after tomorrow you'll be in court to learn some criminal law... You have to keep them calm!

Despite the language barrier, both sides decided to try to get along amicably to avoid escalating the conflict.

So how can we get along amicably?

A middle-aged man went downstairs to the convenience store and bought a bunch of potato chips, cookies, snacks, cola, Sprite, and drinks, trying to entertain a few young women and keep them in a good mood; a middle-aged woman decisively increased her grocery budget, enriching today's menu, and went to select ingredients a few hours early to prepare for a big feast.

The parents' group worked so hard, and the visiting group was not to be outdone. While the two went out to buy things, Mai Sakurajima and Haruno Yukinoshita decisively carried out a thorough cleaning, using their Stand powers to quickly and completely clean the entire house. They also found some large bills that looked like lost items in an old, dusty box in a corner.

Mai Sakurajima returned the banknotes and box to their rightful owner: "I found these while cleaning. They must have been lost accidentally while tidying up."

The middle-aged man smiled as he took the item, then turned and handed it to his wife: "Yes, yes, this is something my wife carelessly lost."

"What you say is true, Foolish man. I've been looking for a long time and couldn't find it. It turns out it was hidden in a place like this." The middle-aged woman accepted it with a smile.

Sakurajima Mai looked around—hmm, the affection level should be going smoothly, right?

"He's so good at finding things and cleaning the room..." The middle-aged man glanced at the newly renovated home. "Looks like that kid's girlfriend isn't suited for playing hide-and-seek with his secret stash of money."

The middle-aged woman was a little worried: "They've gone to such lengths, Erbai might be in mortal danger."

This worry became even more serious after Yukino Yukinoshita took the initiative to help in the kitchen.

The young woman's knife skills, her familiarity with various seasonings, and her experience in using all kinds of kitchen utensils clearly demonstrate that she is a seasoned veteran in the kitchen. So the question is, why is such a young woman, who is said to have just graduated from high school, so good at cooking?

Surely someone her age wouldn't live alone? Clearly, she's learning cooking skills for someone else!

Why is it said that deep affection is hard to betray? Because betraying it might turn into a blood feud.

The middle-aged woman felt that the omen of her son's death was growing brighter.

While they were busy in the kitchen, the middle-aged man was also busy. The other girls were all quite friendly and kind, but this girl named Feng Bin and Hua had a bad attitude from the beginning. She was obviously very straightforward and the type who was particularly prone to exploding.

Build good relationships! It's crucial to build good relationships!

The middle-aged man handed the snacks to the other person, thought for a moment, and then took out his phone: "Do you play games?"

Kazuka Toyohama pulled out her phone and replied: "I don't play games much during training, except for cooperative mobile games."

Mobile games? Collaborations? As a voice actor or illustrator... wait, starting work at such a young age?

Forget it, let's just speak politely and calmly first!

Let's play together!

It's time to show our adult strength!

……

"Young people are the ones who react quickly."

At the dinner table, the middle-aged man used the difference in age to salvage his dignity.

"Erbai is quite something." The middle-aged woman glanced at the group of people gathered around the table and couldn't help but say, "Being a scumbag and specifically targeting good girls to ruin, doesn't he even consider what will happen to him if he pushes them too far..."

"Erbai?"

The middle-aged couple were startled by the slightly broken Mandarin accent and subconsciously looked at Yukino Yukinoshita—could it be that she had been pretending not to understand Mandarin all along?!

Yukinoshita showed her phone: [What did I just read? There was a white character in the message, is it related to the white shadow?]

The middle-aged woman breathed a sigh of relief and quickly translated and replied.

[Erbai is Bai Ying's nickname; that's what I call him.]

Why is he called Erbai?

The reasons are varied. First, he's quite silly; second, I occasionally call my husband "Big White," but he doesn't accept the nickname "Little White," so he calls him "Second White"; third, it's because Li Shimin was the second son in his family.

"?"

Yukino and the others were half enlightened, and half full of questions.

The middle-aged man coughed and began to recount his past.

"This story begins when Bai Ying was a child..."

Chapter 113 Mutual sabotage

As a first-time father, Bai Ying often thought about how to educate his child, especially after his own child was born. Relatives all said that the child was intelligent and promising, spoke early and walked fast. While other children were still rolling around at the starting line, he had already started crawling. Occasionally, he would utter some amazing words, highlighting that a genius must be extraordinary.

In other words, my son has the potential to be remembered in history!

As a history enthusiast, this is the highest level of expectation.

The kindergarten years weren't too demanding, but my son is already a primary school student...

Bai Ying's father sat on the sofa and glanced at the little boy who was frowning and deep in thought by the coffee table. Sure enough, age is the best cosmetic. Children of this age are all full of energy, with fair and rosy cheeks, and they all look quite cute. He hoped that his son would inherit some of his good looks when he grew up.

"Doing your homework?" The father sat down next to his son without saying a word, glancing at the grid paper in front of him. There was a line of printed text at the beginning of the paper, "I admire you so much... You've already started learning to write compositions?"

The son shook his head and said, "The teacher asked us to write a paragraph after this sentence. There is no word limit, but it must be logically sound. We will also have to read it aloud at the parent-teacher conference later."

That's true, after all, he's only a first-grade elementary school student, and he might not even recognize all the commonly used characters. But my son recognizes almost all the commonly used characters, and he learns them incredibly fast.

Reciting at parent-teacher meetings? Reporting on children's learning progress to parents?

Wouldn't that be a great opportunity to show off!

After a moment's thought, the father asked, "Don't you know who you admire?"

"I want to write about admiring myself because everyone says I'm really amazing, I speak fast, and I learned to read early..."

“You should choose something else. When others praise you, it’s flattery; when you praise yourself, it’s arrogance,” the father quickly said. “Why not choose a historical figure? Didn’t you always watch ‘Romance of the Three Kingdoms’ and ‘The Tang Dynasty’ on TV?”

The son blinked: "Dad, do you like history?"

"Of course! Without history, how could we have the present? Kings, generals, heroes—history is full of them. Later, you'll see Li Bai and Du Fu from history, learn about the various stories of dynastic changes in history classes..." The father talked eloquently about his interests, "Those we truly admire are all written in history!"

The son replied matter-of-factly, "I don't understand."

The father quickly steered the conversation back on track: "Ahem... Well, didn't you watch a TV series before? You can pick one character you think is very impressive and write a paragraph about them, like Zhuge Liang, Li Shimin, Liu Bei, or something like that."

The son pondered for a moment and said, "Then I'll write about Li Shimin. He was an emperor, so he must have been incredibly powerful!"

"Indeed, he was a very capable emperor." The father's interest soared, and he couldn't help but point out the flaws in the country's history. "Qin Shi Huang's achievement was in unifying the country, but his downfall was in his harshness and tyranny. Han Gaozu's achievement was in perfecting the unification, but his downfall was in his lack of heroic spirit. Tang Taizong Li Shimin had heroic spirit in his youth and a plan for a prosperous era in his middle age. As an emperor, he was indeed very capable..."

"Isn't the emperor someone everyone has to listen to?"

"Hmm... more or less."

"And what about the emperor before Li Shimin?"

"The emperor before Li Shimin was Li Yuan, Li Shimin's father," the father casually recounted. "Li Yuan had a knack for seizing opportunities, but that was about it. The Tang Dynasty's territory was basically conquered by Li Shimin, and the group of meritorious officials were mostly under Li Shimin's command. In the end, Li Yuan was just Li Shimin's father and emperor. His abilities and achievements couldn't compare to Li Shimin's, so of course, the most capable Li Shimin had to become emperor."

The father summarized it as simply as possible: "It's not about who becomes emperor who's powerful, but about who's the most powerful who gets to be emperor."

The son looked enlightened, and the father looked pleased that his son was teachable.

In the past, I could only discuss history with fellow enthusiasts online, as my wife wasn't interested in it. Now, being able to talk about these things with my son is truly satisfying.

……

"I greatly admire Li Shimin because he became my father's father!"

"The emperor is everyone's father because everyone has to obey him. Li Shimin's father was the emperor, but Li Shimin's father wasn't as powerful as him, so Li Shimin became the emperor, becoming his father's father! Li Shimin was especially powerful because he was incredibly capable; he could not only disobey his father, but also make his father obey him!"

"So, I understand! To become a great person, you can't listen to your dad! Because a truly great person thinks about being a dad to everyone, especially your own dad, to prove that he is an excellent son!"

"It's not about who's great just because they become a father, but about who's the greatest! Only those who are truly great can become fathers! Only those who achieve this can become heroes whose names are etched in history!"

"Mediocre children are all nameless, while heroes deserve to be called fathers. Let us etch our fleeting lives into history, and leave the judgment of heroes for posterity!"

The son recited loudly and clearly on the stage: "I admire Li Shimin very much. I want to become like him and be everyone's father!"

The audience was noisy, and the little ones understood half of what he was saying—that Li Shimin was indeed very capable to make his father listen to him!

The parents and teachers were laughing hysterically.

"What was this kid thinking? Acting like everyone's dad... cough cough!"

"Don't be fooled by his rambling and illogical explanation; if you think about it carefully, it actually makes a lot of sense, doesn't it? Hahaha..."

“Look at other people’s children, they read a few historical stories and they already want to be other people’s fathers—don’t follow their example.”

"Whose child is that? They can even recite poetry, haha."

The father sat in the crowd, solemn and silent, his hands hidden under the desk sometimes forming claws, sometimes clenching into fists, his mood quite unsettled.

The son became famous overnight, earning the nickname "Li Shimin" from Class 3 of elementary school! Even the still-naive elementary school students in the class initially thought his name was Li Shimin, especially since he never denied it...

After returning home, the father's hand, which was gripping the belt, was itching to strike, but he felt he wasn't in the right. So he tried to communicate with his son, hoping to correct the other's somewhat skewed views.

“Great people don’t listen to their fathers! That’s how history is written—the stories of heroes never mention their fathers, so they never listen to their fathers. If they did listen to their fathers, then the heroes who would be remembered in history would be their fathers, not them.”

"They are them, and you are you..."

"Everyone says I'm a genius, and my dad has said so too, so I can disobey him."

"Wait a minute! I feel like you've led me astray! What I mean is, heroes are great because they have wisdom and courage, not because of their fathers..."

"Didn't Zhuge Liang have a father too?"

"Of course."

"Did Zhuge Liang listen to his father or to himself?"

"He must have listened to him... Ugh! Zhuge Liang's father died when he was eight years old!"