CHAPTER 467: CHAPTER 467: THE REBELLIOUS NATURE

"Really!" Xu Xiuxiu immediately smiled upon hearing this, "So Yuanying has started dating? Tell me, sister-in-law, where is that girl from, how old is she this year? What does she look like? Is her personality good?"

Xu Xiuxiu had watched Song Yuanming grow up and always treated him like her own younger brother without any of the awkwardness that might come between a sister-in-law and her husband’s younger sibling.

Mrs. Song had also started nagging recently, expressing her hope that Song Yuanming would marry and have children soon. Knowing that her sister-in-law had a good relationship with her brother-in-law, Mrs. Song wanted Xu Xiuxiu to gently probe Song Yuanming’s thoughts, ideally convincing him to find a suitable partner and marry while he was still young so that Mrs. Song and Father Song could truly rest easy. With all their children successful and their own family matters settled, the elderly couple looked forward to enjoying their twilight years and spoiling their grandchildren!

Considering this, Xu Xiuxiu could indeed understand the anxiousness of Father and Mrs. Song. After all, early marriage was common in those days, and although Song Yuanming was a college graduate, he had reached the age for marriage. If he delayed for another few years, it would become more challenging to find a partner. Now that the transport company was on the right track and his career somewhat successful, wasn’t it the time to settle the big issues of life? It was understandable for Mrs. Song and Father Song to be in a hurry.

It seemed that Song Yuanming was quite self-aware and needed no worrying over. She hadn’t even started to persuade him yet, and he had already thoughtfully brought a fiancée to the family—how considerate!

"That girl is my college classmate from a small county near Z city. She’s quite pleasant to look at and has a gentle and cute personality. It’s just that her family has many brothers and sisters, and as the eldest, she bears a heavier burden. She’s still supporting her younger siblings’ education each month. If things go well with us and we get married, I would need to appropriately support her family as well," Song Yuanming said after a moment of thought.

As for supporting his future wife’s siblings, he had no objections. Like his second brother and sister-in-law, respecting parents and caring for younger siblings after marriage was perfectly normal. Influenced by Xu Xiuxiu and Song Yuanhuan, Song Yuanming instinctively felt that these were things a man and child should do.

"Is that so? She even takes care of her siblings! That’s quite good. Caring for siblings shows that the girl has filial piety and a sense of responsibility. Getting married... feelings are actually secondary, but the other party mustn’t lack responsibility. Your sister-in-law can tell you frankly that those with a sense of family responsibility are often kind and filial. Although dealing with relatives might get complicated, marrying and starting a family is always like this. As long as the couple works through life together, other things are manageable," Xu Xiuxiu said with a smile, clearly satisfied with the girl Song Yuanming was talking about. After all, someone who treated their own brothers and sisters well and could shoulder family responsibilities was definitely a person of filial piety.

Moreover, Song Yuanming mentioned that the girl had a soft and obedient temperament. As a sister-in-law, dealing with a future sister-in-law who she had yet to meet, Xu Xiuxiu felt it was not bad based on her current impression.

"Mm, I understand," Song Yuanming also agreed with what Xu Xiuxiu said.

His second brother and sister-in-law didn’t get along initially either—they had some pretty fierce arguments. If not for a sense of responsibility holding them together, they might not have the stable life they have now. After all, he had a particularly bad impression of his sister-in-law at the beginning. Now thinking about it, he realized that he had also been problematic, never considering how hard it was for her. Look at it this way: his second brother was in the military and hardly ever came home, his sister-in-law, a lone woman back home in the countryside, felt under the weather and medicated herself every few days, yet still had to take care of children, do farm work, and manage household matters. Thinking about those days, he could see how tough they had been.

Moreover, when my second brother and second sister-in-law first got married, they didn’t have much of a deep connection. My second brother isn’t much of a talker and doesn’t know how to sweet-talk. So, whenever my sister-in-law felt wronged, naturally, she needed an outlet for her frustration. The two of them would end up quarreling constantly, not to mention how terribly the eldest sister-in-law used to treat people! Thinking of this, Song Yuanming couldn’t help but feel guilty. It’s really true that when you think highly of someone, you tend to see them in a positive light no matter what. Even their mistakes, you find excuses to rationalize them away.

"Yuanying, find some time to bring that girl home so your sister-in-law can take a look. I can help you out, and put in some good words for you in front of Mom and Dad," Xu Xiuxiu felt that love was blind and she had yet to meet the girl. She couldn’t just take Song Yuanming’s word for it and be totally convinced; she needed to meet her in person to be sure.

"Then I’ll have to trouble you, sister-in-law. I’ll talk to her in the next couple of days and we can arrange to have a meal together," Song Yuanming also felt it made sense. Even if his parents didn’t like Song Qian, with his sister-in-law’s support, his parents would most likely be very satisfied. After all, her words carried more weight with his parents than his own.

"Alright! You set the time and let your sister-in-law know. It doesn’t matter whether we eat at home or go out," Xu Xiuxiu agreed straightforwardly, giving Song Yuanming plenty of time to arrange the meeting.

The uncle and niece had roughly settled on a time like this, but the children at the dining table couldn’t help but start to ask questions cheekily.

"Wow, Uncle Yuanying, you finally found someone. That wasn’t easy!" The one who spoke teasingly was Shi Yu, who followed Song Chengguang’s lead in addressing Song Yuanming as uncle. Since he started attending school with Song Chengguang, Shi Yu seemed to have gotten used to being at Xu Xiuxiu’s home. From the first grade to the fourth grade of elementary school, Shi Yu and Song Chengguang were almost always together.

His parents were easygoing and happy-go-lucky, satisfied to just see their son during the holidays and school vacations. Seeing that he was in high spirits and living a better life than they were, they grew even more reassured. Additionally, seeing how independent Shi Yu was, Shi Yan Ting and Yuan Shixiang became even more relaxed about their parenting.

Since Song Yuanming started his transport company, he had been on the road with the freight fleet almost every other day. He frequently traveled to and from Imperial City and slowly got to know Shi Yu well. So, hearing Song Yuanming discuss such significant life matters at the dinner table, the unruly Shi Yu immediately wanted to show off his presence.

"You little rascal, what are you saying! Your uncle here is handsome and successful in his career. There’s no lack of girls who like me!" Song Yuanming laughed as he glared at Shi Yu, boasting, then deftly snatched the chicken leg from in front of Shi Yu and took a big bite.

He wasn’t bad-looking, and there were quite a few girls interested in him. In the past, not having experienced love, he had always used his sister-in-law as the template for finding a partner. But as he grew older, he gradually realized that women like his sister-in-law were one in a million. Only his second brother had the dumb luck to meet someone like her. He wouldn’t hold out for that; otherwise, who knew what kind of mess his life would become? After all, not every good-looking woman was as virtuous and generous as his sister-in-law.