Chapter 408

Although he was very unwilling to admit it, he was still forced to nod his head, "Um."

Zhou Nan was only slightly reassured, arrogantly revealing a smile with her chin raised.

"What are you still stunned for? Let's go, let's go home!"

An JingZhi's shout immediately reignited Zhou Nan's anger that had just been suppressed.

An ZhiXian saw that things were not going well, and quickly went to mediate, then turned back to warn An JingZhi, "Dad, don't forget what grandma said, if mom doesn't go back, starting tomorrow morning you will wash clothes and cook, and from now on when mom is not at home, you will do her things."

An JingZhi took a long deep breath to suppress his anger, "I was wrong okay, wife, let's go home, we are so old already, we shouldn't let the children laugh."

It really is sinful.

He was nearing retirement age, never admitted defeat in his life, but now that he was old he still had to suffer.

Only then was Zhou Nan satisfied to go back with him.

An ZhiXian stayed behind with a helpless smile, "Little sister, sister-in-law, I should go back first too."

"Third brother, don't rush to leave yet, I have something to tell you," ZhiXia stopped him.

An ZhiXian looked around and asked her, "Then shall we go to your house?" "Let's go," ZhiXia replied, then called back, "Sister-in-law four, then we'll go first."

"Okay, you live so close I won't keep you," Su Ying said.

ZhiXia and An ZhiXian went together to her living room. She poured him a cup of tea, then sat down across from him.

She took an envelope out of her bag behind her and handed it to him, "Third brother, this is the rent for your shop. I didn't give too much, just the market price, please don't refuse me again, you've already refused me twice, if you refuse again this time, I can only move out and return the shop back to you."

An ZhiXian looked at the envelope and did not take it. He only asked while lifting his head, "Do we have to be so estranged?"

He was the brother, she was the sister. At the time of separation, they had both known that grandma's property was given to ZhiXia, but the An family property was given to the brothers.

He had his own business, but could not go into business. The shop was useless just sitting there, it would be better to let his sister use it than leave it abandoned.

But ZhiXia's attitude towards him made him feel too polite.

He once especially hated the unreasonable and lacking self-awareness Gao Meiyun, but with ZhiXia, he hoped she could be more willful, so that they would appear closer.

"This is not estrangement," ZhiXia explained helplessly, “Third brother, I know what you're thinking. You're all very good brothers. I insist on giving you rent not because I'm estranged from you. If I really thought like that, I would not have accepted you giving me the key at the beginning, let alone go use the shop. I just don't want to become a selfish person. Human greed can slowly amplify. You guys indulging me so much, I'm also afraid of spoiling myself and becoming the kind of person I hate most."

Whether the words of explanation were true or false, they were enough for An ZhiXian to accept the reason.

"Fine, I'll accept the rent. After all, money is now what you lack the least, Boss An," An ZhiXian joked, "Speaking of which, it's also unexpected that our An family has been in business for several generations, yet after this change, none of us brothers seem to have inherited the talent for business, but rather you have quite the talent."

"I don't have any talent either, I'm just...lucky!"

In fact, it couldn’t even be considered lucky, it was quite unlucky, but she had seen and understood more than others, so she could grasp opportunities better.

"Sometimes, luck is also a kind of ability," in An ZhiXian’s opinion, there were also many people with ability but no luck, so in order to succeed you needed both.

An ZhiXian was now at the director level at the hospital, and his daily work kept him very busy, so he rarely had time to chat casually with family like this. "Third brother, are you dating anyone?" ZhiXia was just curious. After all, An ZhiXian was no longer young. In a few more years he would be forty.

The other three brothers including herself were already married with children, but only he remained single.

Every time she went to the An's house, she could hear Zhou Nan and grandma worrying aloud about him while speaking of him, the most obedient child who didn't need people to worry when he was little, yet became the most worrisome after growing up, whom they could not urge or persuade no matter how they tried. If they nagged him he would simply live in the hospital and not come home.

"Don't tell me you want to be like mom and grandma too?" An ZhiXian was clearly already traumatized by the urging to marry. As soon as he heard this, he became guarded.

"Rest assured, you're my brother. No matter what I can’t urge your marriage as your big sister. I just want to chat with my brother, is that okay? What do you really think, what’s your attitude towards this matter?" ZhiXia asked.

An ZhiXian smiled helplessly, reached back to tidy his hair behind his ears, then slumped back in his chair. "Actually there's not much to think about it. I just feel it’s quite meaningless. Compared to the married people around me, I still prefer living alone. I don't need to consider other people's feelings. I don't need to go home on time for gatherings. And I don't get nagged by my wife for being busy with work. As for mom and grandma worrying I'll be lonely when I'm old with no one to keep me company, I think that's not bad either. I’ve lived a casual carefree life, so it’s only natural to feel some sense of loss when I’m old. And it's not like I'm the wasteful type. I can save my wages now and go travel and sightsee when I’m old, places I wanted to go before but didn’t have the chance. Just thinking about it I feel expectant. Don't you think?"

In principle, the living conditions of his family were still better than those of other families, at least financially there was no need to worry.

But every family had their own problems, this was an unavoidable flaw in marriage.

An ZhiXian was impatient to deal with those things. Being single did not hinder others, and since the country had started family planning due to overpopulation, him not marrying or having children could also be seen as contributing to the country.

Moreover, people who could truly understand each other without keeping score were probably only ZhiXia and Pei Jing.

In all these years of living together, he had never heard of them having a falling out.

If it were not for that accident between her and Pei Jing, this would probably have been ZhiXia’s ideal life as well.

However, she was also very happy with her current life and had no regrets.

No matter what kind of lifestyle, as long as you were happy with it and didn’t waste your time on this earth, that was good.

The two siblings talked openly, thoroughly understanding each other's thoughts in a way they never had before, bringing them closer together.

It was late into the night before An ZhiXian left.

ZhiXia had wanted him to stay over originally, but he insisted on going back.

The next morning, Sister Zhang came over to ask ZhiXia, “ZhiXia, your parents aren’t fighting anymore right? That deadbeat girl from my family, learning a skill and wanting to show off. I scolded her yesterday when she came back. She really shouldn’t have given your mom that perm.”