Chapter 308: Rural Absurd Past Events Chapter 308: Considering Face, Tormenting Oneself

·

·

·

Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

After dinner, Wang Zhangtian and Zhao Lifen left Wang Zhanggen's home; both walked with light steps, having not been in such a pleasant mood for a long time.

They had only one son, Wang Yaohua, and unfortunately Wang Yaohua was extremely unpromising—he did poorly in school, did poorly at work after going out, and at his age had never dated anyone.

For this son, it could be said they had worried until much of their hair fell out.

But Wang Yaohua simply refused to change his ways.

Now it was fine; they had gotten him into the company run by the brothers Wang Dashan and Wang Erhai, with family members to look after him, so he would at least restrain himself a little and not drift along so carelessly anymore.

Wang Zhangtian immediately called Wang Yaohua to tell him the good news:

"Son, I have some wonderful news for you—we found you a good job!"

Wang Yaohua had originally been playing a game, and his father's call interrupted him, making him look very impatient:

"My business is none of your concern; don't meddle!"

Wang Zhangtian hurriedly said:

"How are we meddling? For your sake, we thickened our skins and spoke to your Second Uncle, asking him to get you into the company run by his two sons. Those people bought a car after running their company for over half a year. If you work hard with them, you'll definitely make money!"

Wang Zhangtian had originally thought that, since he was helping out of kindness, his son would surely thank him.

But unexpectedly, upon hearing this, Wang Yaohua immediately became even more displeased:

"Isn't this just making a mess of things? I'm older than Wang Dashan and Wang Erhai, and you want me to go work for them? How embarrassing!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Zhangtian immediately lost his temper and rebuked:

"Don't you give me that 'don't want face' attitude! Your mother and I finally managed to secure this opportunity for you. You don't know how to be grateful—that's bad enough—but what kind of attitude is this? I'm telling you, Wang Yaohua, you will take this job whether you like it or not. If you dare to argue with me, then that house in the County Town—even if I give it to my three nephews in the end, I won't give it to you!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Yaohua was still very unhappy inside, but he softened.

The only valuable thing his parents had was that house in the County Town.

Besides, actually he had been unemployed recently; he hadn't gone to work in a factory at all. Working in a factory was so hard—how could he endure it? When he said before that he had gone to work in a factory, he was actually deceiving his parents.

Anyway, he was idle with nothing to do, so hanging around his cousin's place wasn't unacceptable.

So finally he said impatiently:

"Fine, fine, fine, I'll listen to your arrangements. Is that okay now? Are you happy?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Zhangtian's expression eased a little, but he continued to rebuke with his mouth:

"I warn you: when you get to your cousin's company, you must work hard for me. Don't take advantage of being their older cousin to be lazy and gluttonous! Otherwise, if they should fire you, they will still fire you!"

Wang Yaohua was very impatient:

"Anything else? If not, I'm hanging up!"

Wang Zhangtian hurriedly said:

"Do you have Dashan and Erhai's contact information?"

Wang Yaohua was irritated beyond endurance:

"I added them on WeChat ages ago. That's all, I'm hanging up."

Wang Zhangtian hurriedly said: "Don't hang up yet. Later, go tell them that after the National Day holiday, you'll go to their place to work!"

"Fine, I know. Stop being so wordy, okay!" Wang Yaohua hung up the phone very impatiently.

Then he hurriedly threw himself back into the game.

Facing the computer screen at home, he continued playing his League of Legends.

He did not take the initiative to greet Wang Dashan or Wang Erhai.

Immersed in the game, after playing for two or three hours, he finally remembered this matter.

At this time, he picked up his mobile phone and saw that over two hours earlier, Wang Dashan had already sent him a WeChat message.

"Cousin, good evening. Uncle says you want to come work at our company. May I ask if you can come to work after the National Day holiday?"

Seeing that Wang Yaohua still hadn't replied after more than half an hour, Wang Dashan sent another message:

"We plan to go down to Guangzhou on the 6th. Cousin, you can come down with our car."

Seeing this news, Wang Yaohua muttered to himself:

"Treating me like an ox or horse, huh? Not even mentioning salary."

Wang Yaohua was too embarrassed to bring up salary himself, after all, this was a job his parents had begged for him.

He only replied with one word:

"Okay."

After replying, he went back to playing games.

He muttered another sentence under his breath:

"Having a car is something, huh. Before long, I'll be able to buy a car too!"

Meanwhile, Wang Dashan was discussing with Wang Erhai:

"Should we tell him about the salary?"

Wang Erhai smiled wryly:

"How much salary should we offer him?"

This was indeed a problem.

If it was too high, they couldn't afford it.

If it was too low, he might be unhappy.

After all, they're family — many things can't be done freely, many words can't be spoken freely, there are too many considerations.

If hiring outsiders, whatever salary you want to offer, just say it directly; if they don't accept, then forget it.

You can't operate like that with family.

"Why not let him name his own figure?"

Wang Dashan said this.

Wang Erhai disagreed:

"Are you crazy? What if he opens his lion's big mouth and asks for a monthly salary of ten thousand — would you give it too?"

Wang Dashan said:

"He wouldn't have the nerve to be that thick-skinned, would he? I don't believe he'd have the gall to directly ask for ten thousand a month."

Wang Erhai smiled:

"Who knows? Although he's our cousin, we don't really know him — never played together growing up; he grew up in the city, we grew up in the rural area."

Wang Dashan thought for a moment, then still said:

"When the time comes, let him name a figure first; if his figure is too high, we'll lower it a bit; if it's not too high, we'll just give it to him."

Wang Erhai said coldly:

"I'm just afraid he'll take the money and not work — our company has only just started, we can't afford to support idle people yet."

Wang Dashan could only give a bitter smile at this:

"I know that too, but what can we do? Mom and Dad already agreed to it — are we really supposed to tear faces and stop being relatives over this little matter?"

Wang Erhai said at this point: "Why don't we ask Xiao Hua? See what he thinks — his mind is sharper."

Wang Dashan also felt they could consult Wang Xiaohua's opinion; Wang Xiaohua was indeed cleverer than them.

So they went and told Wang Xiaohua about this matter.

Wang Xiaohua's answer, however, completely exceeded their expectations.

"If you don't want to hire Wang Yaohua, just refuse directly."

Wang Xiaohua said this.

Wang Dashan was surprised: "How can we refuse directly? After all, he's still our relative!"

Wang Erhai said: "Big brother means we should consider relatives' face a bit, can't do things too absolutely."

Wang Xiaohua said:

"Refusing directly might affect the relationship between relatives, but if Wang Yaohua joins your company and things end on bad terms, that's not just simply affecting the relative relationship — it could turn you into enemies; weigh which is lighter and which is heavier and you'll know."

Hearing this, both Wang Dashan and Wang Erhai couldn't help nodding, feeling Wang Xiaohua made some sense.

Wang Xiaohua said further:

"I see that in your hearts you don't really want to accept Wang Yaohua; under these circumstances, the probability of you parting on bad terms can be said to be extremely high."

Wang Dashan also felt the probability of them clashing with Wang Yaohua was very high.

Wang Xiaohua continued:

"Don't be unable to let go of face; learn to refuse others' unreasonable demands, and don't have psychological burdens when refusing, nor need to rack your brains for excuses — refusing others is a basic right everyone has; you must prioritize your own interests, not prioritize face, that illusory thing — face can't be eaten as rice."

Hearing this, Wang Dashan felt Wang Xiaohua was absolutely right.

Yet he couldn't help sighing:

"But I've already agreed to him — just now I even sent Wang Yaohua a message asking when he's coming to work."

Wang Xiaohua immediately didn't know whether to cry or laugh:

"Since you've already made the decision, why come ask me?"

Wang Xiaohua really couldn't understand what logic his big brother was operating on.

Normal logic shouldn't be: for things you're uncertain about, consult others first, then make a decision?

But his big brother: for uncertain things, makes the decision first, then consults others — what's the point of consulting then?

Actually, Wang Dashan's behavior is extremely common in many people — perhaps even they themselves haven't realized it; what they're doing isn't really consulting opinions, but seeking validation under the guise of consulting.