Chapter Eighty-One What is most important in being human?

  When they heard Grandma shouting like this, Zhao Hongyu and her family were all a bit surprised.

  "Mom, don't be angry." Hao Zhonghua hastily stepped forward two steps and explained, "Something suddenly came up at the office that needed to be taken care of, so I'm a bit late."

  "Is scientific research more important than taking care of your old grandmother?" The grandma asked sternly, her face set in a scolding expression.

  Seeing grandma's tone slow down, Hao Zhonghua took the opportunity to move forward two steps and wanted to support grandma, "I..."

  "Put out your hands!" Grandma suddenly shouted again.

  The majestic and extraordinary man Hao Zhonghua, under his mother's scolding, trembled all over, looking at Zhao Hongyu's family beside him, feeling a bit embarrassed.

  "Aunt..." Zhao Hongyu saw the situation turn out like this and walked towards her grandmother.

  "Mind your own business, Hongyu. Today's matter, I, the old lady, must get angry." The grandmother stretched out her hand to stop Zhao Hongyu.

  Yueyang saw his grandmother and Hao Zhonghua at a standoff, and finally couldn't help but speak up to mediate, "Mom, you have high blood pressure, just calm down..."

  "You're the same!" Usually gentle and kind, Grandma was like she had eaten fiery medicine today. "From young to old, have you ever taken care of Ah Ren? Wasn't it all me who raised him?! Household chores, have you ever worried about them? Wasn't it all me who took care of them! Work work work, that's all you know!"

  Scolded by her grandmother, Yueyang, who was normally well-behaved, took two steps back and remained silent.

  "Put out your hands!" Grandma shouted at Hǎo Zhōnghuá for the third time.

  Seeing his mother's anger causing her whole body to tremble, Hao Zhonghua was afraid she would have a high blood pressure attack, and could only awkwardly lower his head, stretching out his palm.

  Grandma looked around and saw a folding fan on the tea table, so she picked it up.

  The two sides of the folding fan are made of high-quality red wood, which is both hard and smooth.

  "Since ancient times, filial piety has been the first of all virtues. You, have you gone abroad too many times, come into contact with foreigners too many times, and forgotten all these ancestral rules?!" Grandma held onto Hua Zhonghua's palm, and slapped a folding fan down onto his palm with a "pa" sound.

  The piercing pain made Hao Zhonghua unable to bear it and wanted to give up, but in front of his mother, he didn't dare to do so.

  A red mark immediately appeared in his palm.

  "When I fainted from high blood pressure, where were you? When I was discharged from the hospital, where were you? Now that I'm finally able to go home, where are you again? If it weren't for Zhao Hongyu and her family, I would have died long ago!"

  Slap! Another loud slap landed on Hao Zhonghua's palm.

  Yueyang felt heartache for her husband and didn't dare stop her, so she softly advised, "Mom, don't say that."

  "What my old lady said is all true! The Hongyu family has a life-saving grace for me, and also a nurturing grace. What about you? One is my son, one is my daughter-in-law, but where were you when my old lady was in the most danger? This is your attitude towards the benefactor! My old lady! Although she can't read, she still understands the two words 'faithfulness'!"

  Crack! Another loud slap landed on Hao Zhonghua's palm, producing a crisp sound.

  Hao Zhonghua's palms quickly turned bright red, and this world-renowned great scientist did not dare to resist in front of his mother at all, his face also turned bright red, sweating profusely.

  "If we agreed on 11 o'clock, then it's 11 o'clock. If you can't arrive on time, that's a breach of faith! The Hongyu family is my benefactor, and you let them wait at home in vain, disappointing their kindness, this is abandoning righteousness!"

  Slap slap slap! The fan fell like raindrops, one after another, hitting Hao Zhonghua's palm. Every sentence came with a punishment.

  "Unfilial and disloyal! Betraying trust and abandoning righteousness! What do I need a son like you for!" The grandmother got angrier and angrier, despite being out of breath herself, the force in her hands didn't weaken at all, instead it got heavier and heavier.

  Hao Zhonghua stood in front of his elderly mother with his head bowed, frowning and enduring the pain, unable to lift his head.

  When he was young, no matter how naughty or lazy he was in his studies, his grandmother would always use this method to discipline him without mercy. But since Hao Zhonghua grew up and became successful, it has been over 20 years since he last experienced such punishment.

  Now, in front of outsiders, he once again experiences his mother's anger, feeling not only the scorching pain on his palm, but also shame, guilt and gratitude!

  "I previously taught you filial piety, brotherly love, loyalty, trustworthiness, etiquette, righteousness and shame! You've forgotten all of them!"

  Crack! Crack! Crack! Another loud sound of wooden ruler and palm collision. But even so, Hao Zhonghua gritted his teeth, trembling to endure Grandma's anger, without withdrawing the pair of hands that, with the help of a microscope and tweezers, could separate cell membranes with fingers, considered by the world as the most agile and precious hands in the field of biology.

  "Don't think that just because you've won a few awards and the mayor is praising you, you're impressive! There are gods watching from above! If you treat your benefactors like this, how can you be a good person?" Grandma panted heavily, finally unable to stand, and sat down on the sofa.

  "Mom, I was wrong." Hao Zhonghua moved forward a bit, grasped his grandmother's trembling palm and said sincerely.

  "I was wrong too." Yueyang stepped forward two steps and said with his head lowered.

  "It's not too late to change your ways! Don't just learn those Western things and forget about your ancestors!" Grandma said loudly.

  "Auntie, don't get so angry, you just got out of the hospital, take care of your body." Zhao Hongyu stepped forward to persuade her at the right moment.

  "Grandma, don't be angry." Zhao Yanzi also went over and comforted Grandma.

  Hao Ren also walked forward, gently stroking his grandmother's back, helping her catch her breath.

  Hao Zhonghua and Yue Yang stood on one side, silent, while the two scientists who had been eloquent in the grand auditorium a few days ago now had tears welling up in their eyes.

  "Honesty! Honesty! One must uphold honesty in being a person! Don't think that just because you're doing great deeds and accumulating great merit, you can abandon the most basic principles of being human!" Grandma raised her head and said another sentence.

  "Mom, we were wrong." Hao Zhonghua and Yueyang said in unison.

  "You know you're wrong and yet you still won't help me carry things!" Grandma glared at them.

  Hao Zhonghua and Yueyang quickly got to work, moving Grandma's things from the living room out to the car. Hao Ren also went over to help, and saw that his father's entire palm was bright red like a persimmon, and was involuntarily shaking slightly, knowing that Grandma was really angry this time.

  "Today's matter, I'm really sorry." Grandma took a few deep breaths and changed back to her kind face, saying to Zhao Hongyu and Zhao Guang.

  "It doesn't matter." Zhao Guang said with a smile.

  When scolding her son in public, Hao Ren's grandmother had done enough to show her attitude. She had scolded and apologized as needed, so Zhao Hongyu's family would no longer have any dissatisfaction with Hao Ren's parents for being late.

  "Mom, everything is packed, let's go eat now." Hao Zhonghua walked back into the house and said.

  After a few minutes of adjustment, his complexion improved and he didn't look as embarrassed as before.

  "Uh-huh." Grandma stood up and walked out the door.

  After these days of recuperation at Zhao Hongyu's home, her body was even more robust than before, and her complexion was much rosier.

  Although she is old, her mind is not muddled. These days, Zhao Hongyu has been putting a lot of precious and expensive ingredients in the nourishing chicken soup she cooks for her, and she has a rough idea of how much.

  Zhao Hongyu made a subtle hint, expressing her fondness for Ah Ren, and she also remembered it in her heart.

  Seeing Zhao Yanzi and Hao Ren often together, Ah Ren not being good with words, Little Ah Zi being clever and obedient, in Grandma's eyes, the two of them were a perfect match.

  Now she has established Zhao Hongyu's family as the benefactor, and then brought out the dignity of being an old mother as the head of the family, and what follows will be easy.

  As long as there is mutual affection between the two people, she would be happy to wait a few more years. What's the big deal about being a bit younger? In her time, there were even child brides!

  Hao Ren didn't know that Grandma's anger had such a deep reason, and accompanied the healthy-bodied grandma to the door, then sent her onto Dad's Ford car.

  Zhao Guang drove his black Chevrolet out, and the two cars followed each other to the Starlight Hotel.

  "Is it just a simple meal today or are we going to get things clear?" asked Zhao Hongyu, sitting in the passenger seat, to Zhao Guang who was driving.

  "Aunt just now was borrowing strength to strike, proving to us that in this house, she has the final say. Since it's like that, let's get everything out in the open today." Zhao Guang said calmly.

  Zhao Yanzi, who was sitting in the back, heard her parents discussing this and bit her lip tightly, but she didn't interrupt them.

  I'd rather not marry that silly old man... She gazed at the clouds outside, lost in thought.