Starting as an infant, with parents who are blond-haired delinquents?

Zhang Chaoqiang is practicing calligraphy with great concentration. He is trying to use a brush to create a painting by combining different characters from a poem, arranging them, rotating them, and enlarging or shrinking them.

This idea came to Zhang Chaoqiang's mind while he was watching a short video about aspect ratios. His mother, Shen Qiangwei, even suggested he use it.

"The funeral of roses buries our memories," "Love is not something you can buy," "Shen Qiangwei's love for Zhang Huolong."

These few words are used to draw a family portrait of her, her father Zhang Huolong, and herself.

Zhang Chaoqiang, who refused on the spot, never expected that he would actually do it today.

He wants to use this idea in a short time to try and win an award in the painting competition, even just the top three, since practicing painting skills takes a lot of time.

"Are these dumplings enough?" Tan Yue asked again when Zhang Chaoqiang didn't reply.

"You mean, Grandpa Chen prepared more than thirty kinds of dumplings?"

"Yes, but I feel it's not enough. Just like bags, Grandpa Chen gives me dozens of handbags almost every month, and I never wear the same one twice."

"No wonder you've never carried that little bear crossbody bag I gave you."

After finishing his painting, Zhang Chaoqiang felt satisfied. He wiped the ink away with a flick of his brush, his face showing no emotion, as calm as a lake.

"Who said that? I've been carrying it with me the whole time."

Tan Yue quickly opened the black leather handbag, inside which was a pink soft handbag shaped like a brand new little white bear.

After glancing at it, Tan Yue zipped up the zipper.

"Oh."

Zhang Chaoqiang's gaze remained fixed on the already moved satchel. He nodded slightly, and after a long while, he tidied up the items on the table and carefully handed the large sheet of Xuan paper, which was about the size of A3, to Tan Yue.

"Is it only for me?" Tan Yue asked excitedly.

Upon closer inspection, two awkward characters were clearly visible: Tan Yue.

From a distance, one can vaguely discern that it is a portrait that bears a striking resemblance to Tan Yue herself.

The thoughtful Zhang Chaoqiang even used colored ink.

"Of course it's not just for you, Grandpa Chen has one too."

Zhang Chaoqiang then took out another painting, a portrait composed of three distorted large characters: "Chen Xiucai".

Comparing the two, Tan Yue felt that her painting was more exquisite than Grandpa Chen's.

Chapter 41 The Uncomfortable Loss of the Refined Old Chen (Happy New Year)

After school, the two were picked up by Lao Chen and prepared to go back to Zhang Chaoqiang's home.

Today, Old Chen specially combed his hair into a slicked-back style, since it's a holiday after all.

Wearing a deep red vest and shirt, with perfectly pressed trousers and a radiant appearance, he looked every bit the social elite.

It's as if today's Chen isn't just the butler, nor the driver, but the elite Chen.

But when he got to Zhang Chaoqiang's house, he became Chef Chen...

"Eating is done by a group of people, but cooking is done by one person..."

He was still swinging the spatula until it was smoking, muttering to himself, and every now and then he'd peek into the living room, muttering, "I want to see if Zhang Chaoqiang's mother can clean up this chicken..."

Inside the living room, a large rooster was crowing incessantly in a stainless steel basin. Shen Qiangwei, with a crooked mouth and pursed lips, pressed the rooster's wings tightly down through her gloves.

He whispered, "This is unbelievable! He's gone mad! The boss has lost his mind! He's not giving out dumplings, shopping cards, or cash for the Winter Solstice, but a giant rooster instead?"

"They've already cut his trachea, why is he still struggling!"

Shen Qiangwei was covered in blood after being slapped by the rooster's wing, with chicken feathers flying everywhere. Zhang Chaoqiang, who couldn't stand it, quickly activated the energy of his spiritual ring, which stretched like a thin thread.

Cut off the rooster's throat and trachea, which were not completely severed, and use both hands to help control the rooster's wings.

They hung the rooster upside down to bleed it.

"Zhang Chaoqiang is amazing!" Tan Yue praised sincerely.

"Zhang Chaoqiang is really amazing!" Old Chen, the chef in the kitchen, said sarcastically.

With Zhang Chaoqiang's help, they boiled water and plucked chicken feathers in one go. Before she knew it, Shen Qiangwei had gone to the side to scroll through her phone.

"Mom, come help!"

"I'm coming."

A rustling sound, the door opened—Dad, Zhang Huolong, was back.

Zhang Huolong's cheeks have looked a bit puffy lately, I don't know if it's from fatigue or something else.

"Hey, Lao Chen, hey, Tan Yue, wife, mua, super strong, mua."

After going through the usual routine of getting home, Zhang Huolong collapsed onto the sofa, utterly exhausted.

"Honey, you were really perfunctory today..."

Shen Qiangwei pouted and acted coquettishly, then, with a hand full of chicken feathers and the smell of chicken blood, she directly lifted Zhang Huolong's chin and sat him in his lap.

"mua..."

Yeah!

Zhang Chaoqiang quickly covered Tan Yue's eyes, even though she was curious and wanted to pull them open.

Zhang Huolong, who had just received a passionate kiss, seemed to be feeling better, but being someone who wasn't good at lying, his expression couldn't hide his true feelings.

Seeing him sprawled on the sofa, not saying a word, everyone, especially Shen Qiangwei, began to worry.

"Honey, I bought you a pair of black Chelsea sneakers online today. Do you like them?"

Faced with the photos on Shen Qiangwei's phone, Zhang Huolong visibly gave a perfunctory nod: "I like it."

what?

Something must have happened!

Although the two are usually affectionate, they have different opinions on aesthetics and dressing.

Neither side will compromise with the other.

As for trendy dark punk styles, and reformers like Shen Qiangwei, Zhang Huolong, being a traditionalist, would never yield to them.

Shen Qiangwei bought Zhang Huolong a black Chelsea car, but she hesitated for two whole days without telling him. Unexpectedly, he approved her decision today.

This is not normal, this is not reasonable.

"Honey, what's wrong with you?"

Shen Qiangwei slapped Zhang Huolong across the face, making him faint. Hearing the noise, Old Chen shouted, "Super strong!"

There was no need for him to worry at all. Zhang Chaoqiang's hand covering Tan Yue's eyes didn't move at all, and no matter how Tan Yue tried to pry it open, it was all in vain.

"To tell or not to tell, to tell or not to tell..."

Despite the relentless barrage of attacks, they still couldn't pry open Zhang Huolong's mouth, who was distracted and listless.

"Could it be because..."

Shen Qiangwei realized something.

"Yesterday, renowned Argentine player Messi refused to play in the Central Nations football exhibition match..."

My husband's idol is the chicken!

She quickly changed the channel to the sports news that was being broadcast on TV.

"It doesn't seem like it..."

Shen Qiangwei tried everything but couldn't get Zhang Huolong to talk. Finally, Zhang Chaoqiang made his move.

Zhang Huolong's eyes were unfocused and his gaze was scattered. Taking advantage of the moment when Zhang Chaoqiang called out to him, their eyes met, and the emotional reaction of the person making eye contact intensified and continued to rise.

"Wow..."

The emotions of grievance and disappointment were instantly triggered. After coughing, Zhang Huolong burst into tears like a waterfall. Shen Qiangwei quickly handed him a tissue.

"What's wrong? Did you suffer some mistreatment at the factory?"

Shen Qiangwei supported him, giving him a tight hug, then patting his back and gently comforting him, while also offering words of advice.

Under the combined pressure from both sides, Zhang Huolong finally broke down in sobs.

"The factory has received several long-term orders these days, one of which needs to be shipped out as soon as possible. The staff we hired last month is still not enough, so we hired new employees a couple of days ago."

Unexpectedly, one of the new employees on our production line is my junior high school classmate.

The moment he saw me, he started trying to establish a kinship, saying that we were classmates before and he should take care of me in the future. I thought, even though I only studied in junior high for one year, we were still classmates, so I should definitely take care of him.

"But I didn't expect him to take advantage of the situation. Starting the next day, he refused to work. Whenever someone asked him to do something, he would arrogantly say, 'My classmate is the team leader. Whether I work or not is none of your business.'"

"Of course I had to lay it all out on him. You're here to work; you can't just sit around doing nothing. I never expected him to..."

"What?!" came the abrupt question.

Before anyone knew it, Old Chen had come out of the kitchen, moved a stool to sit on the chicken-killing basin, scalded the rooster with boiling water, and then plucked its feathers and removed its internal organs.

It's as if he really came here to do something.

Zhang Huolong sobbed, continuing to speak intermittently:

“He said I don’t deserve to be in this position. He also said that I’m just a good-for-nothing who didn’t graduate from junior high school. Why should I be in charge of him? Why should I be in charge of a college student? Why should I be a team leader or a small manager?”

He said that everything I have today is due to good luck, and that I, with my level of education, this ignorant and incompetent young man, how dare I ride on his head…”

As he spoke, Zhang Huolong's eyes reddened again. Shen Qiangwei quickly wiped away his tears, hugged his head, and gently comforted him.

"Waaah... I'm not good at reasoning. I only know that I am where I am today not because of good luck, but entirely because of my own hard work and my wife's strong support."

His resume was blank except for a bachelor's degree certificate. He hadn't worked for three or four years after graduation, had no experience, and hadn't won any awards during his studies.

But, but I really toiled for almost seven or eight years before I finally became a team leader. He said I was lucky, and with just one sentence, "I was lucky," he negated all my hard work!

Silence fell over the crowd, and a heavy atmosphere hung in the air.

"Fuck it!"

Unexpectedly, the first person to curse was Old Chen.