Father-in-law, push a little harder and strive for a fifth child! (Seeking full-text subscriptions)

Mother Feng was somewhat dazed, genuinely startled by her husband's sudden outburst.

She raised her head, looking blankly and foolishly at Father Feng, her mind completely short-circuiting for a moment, freezing up entirely!

Everyone else in the house was the same way!

They had never seen their father rebuke their mother in such a "ferocious" manner as he did today.

Let alone Cheng Xuemin!

Wasn't it common knowledge that the father-in-law was a famously henpecked husband within their circle, obeying the mother-in-law in everything, and had never once gone against her or turned hostile?

Yet today, what had gotten into him?

And furthermore!

What on earth was this united front that the mother-in-law had mentioned? Today, she had contacted Li Xiaolin from *Harvest* and Li Qingquan from *Beijing Literature*.

On top of that, she intended to hand over the medium-length novel *Parents' Love*, which they had anticipated and waited for over a month, to *People's Literature*. This completely contradicted the mother-in-law's usual style of doing things, didn't it?

"Old Feng, are you saying I'm being reckless and making a scene?"

After recovering from her dazed shock, Mother Feng's face turned extremely unsightly as she demanded an explanation from her husband. How could he humiliate her so severely in front of their children?

Reckless and making a scene?!

Was she, Gu Xueqing, acting recklessly? In the face of such a major issue of right and wrong, her own husband actually accused her of making a scene!

"If this isn't making a scene, what is?"

"What do you mean by contacting *Beijing Literature*, *Harvest*, and *People's Literature* all at once to form a united front and exert force together?"

"Do you even realize the nature of what you're doing?"

"Are you trying to start a literary showdown?"

"Are you planning a showdown with the Tianjin faction? Do you intend to fight them to the bitter end?"

Father Feng had also realized that he had indeed lost his composure just moments ago, but upon hearing what his wife said, he was genuinely terrified!

He rattled off several rhetorical questions in succession. Without even waiting for Mother Feng to explain or speak, Father Feng continued, "Teacher Gu, you're not helping Xuemin! You're roasting Xuemin over an open fire!"

"Elder Wu is still waiting for the attitude from above, so why are you and the others being so impatient and eager? What on earth are you trying to achieve by forming a united front?"

Father Feng was just a hair's breadth away from bluntly demanding if they were trying to "force the palace" and stage a coup.

"Right, right, right! Old Feng, you're entirely right! Old Feng, everything you say is right!" Hearing Father Feng's words, Mother Feng wore an expression of extreme gloom, letting out a bitter, mocking laugh as she nodded repeatedly.

Yet, her tone abruptly shifted as she directly pressed Father Feng, demanding, "But Feng Jingren, I just can't wrap my head around this! Exactly how have I roasted your son-in-law over an open fire?!"

"Feng Jingren, let me ask you! Exactly how have I, Gu Xueqing, pushed your son-in-law into a fire pit?"

Mother Feng erupted as well, scaring the younger Feng siblings—Feng Jiayou, Feng Jiahao, and Feng Jiamo—into trembling terror, not daring to draw a full breath.

"Mom..."

Hearing her mention him and seeing them on the verge of a massive quarrel because of him, no matter how shocked and alarmed Cheng Xuemin was, he had to step forward to take a stand and act as a peacemaker!

"Xuemin, you stay out of this!"

Mother Feng shoved Cheng Xuemin aside and aggressively pressed Father Feng once more: "Feng Jingren, you make it crystal clear to me today: exactly how have I roasted your son-in-law over an open fire?"

"Aren't you joining forces with Elder Li and the others to publish retaliatory manuscripts for Xuemin?"

"At such a sensitive time, if you contact them to publish aggressive manuscripts, what is that if not roasting Xuemin over an open fire?"

In the face of major principles of right and wrong, Father Feng refused to pamper his wife. She could not lose her sanity simply out of anger, joining forces with Li Qingquan, Zhang Guangnian, Li Xiaolin, and the others to publish manuscripts that strongly defended her son-in-law while attacking the opposing side.

This wasn't supporting and backing him; this was stirring up trouble and harming Xuemin. What was this if not roasting their son-in-law over an open fire?

"Right, right, right! Old Feng, you are so right! We are simply going to publish some aggressive manuscripts for your son-in-law!"

Hearing her husband's words, Mother Feng was genuinely so angry she laughed on the spot, nodding repeatedly and sarcastically chiming in with rights and lefts.

Immediately following that, she questioned Father Feng, saying, "Feng Jingren, let me ask you: that medium-length novel Xuemin gave to *Beijing Literature*, did you read it?"

"Does that medium-length novel have any aggressive edge to it?"

"Feng Jingren, let me ask you again: that manuscript Xuemin gave to Ba Jin and Li Xiaolin at *Harvest*, did you read it? Tell me yourself whether that manuscript has any aggressive edge!"

"Oh, right! And what about this medium-length novel? It was originally meant for our magazine *October*, but both Elder Liu and I felt that publishing it in *People's Literature* might carry an even greater impact!"

"So I trouble you, Feng Jingren, to take a good, hard look and see if your son-in-law's manuscript has any aggressive edge to it!"

"Open your eyes and look—*Parents' Love*! It's written about you, Feng Jingren!"

Mother Feng directly hurled the medium-length manuscript of *Parents' Love* straight at Father Feng's chest. After saying all this in one breath, she turned around, wiping away tears as she retreated into her bedroom!

Thud!

Immediately afterward, the bedroom door was slammed shut heavily, and soon the sound of the latch being thrown and the door bolted from the inside echoed out.

"This..."

Father Feng was left completely dumbfounded on the spot. So this didn't mean publishing aggressive manuscripts for his son-in-law and using a united front to blow up the momentum after all?

"Dad! Even though you did this for Xuemin's own good! But you didn't even wait for Mom to finish speaking before roaring at her like that—that was definitely your fault!"

"Mom never said anything about uniting with *Beijing Literature* and the others to publish aggressive manuscripts for Xuemin!"

Feng Jiayou never expected that her usually gentle and refined father could possess such a fiery, explosive side. Today had truly been an eye-opener.

"Then what on earth was your mom talking about when she said she was uniting with Elder Li and the others to form a united front?"

Father Feng's confidence began to waver. Could it be that he had genuinely wronged his wife?

"Mom told me all about it while she was cooking earlier!"

Feng Jiayou cast a sympathetic glance at her father. *Tonight, you'd better prepare yourself to kneel on a washboard.* Not even letting her mother finish speaking before roaring like a volcano.

Yes!

Her father truly had her husband's best interests at heart, wanting to avoid adding fuel to the fire while her husband was caught in the eye of the storm.

Yet her mother had no such intentions at all!

She then proceeded to relay to her father what her mother had told her in the kitchen just moments before:

"Didn't Xuemin just give Ba Jin at *Harvest* a manuscript about the reform and opening-up? *Beijing Literature* also has a medium-length novel of Xuemin's, and Mom has another one that Xuemin stayed up all night writing for *October*, plus this *Parents' Love* of Xuemin's, which is just right for *People's Literature*..."

"Get straight to the point! Your mom already said all of that just now!"

Father Feng was listening in a daze, completely unable to figure out what they were trying to do. What kind of united front was this supposed to be?

Why did it suddenly feel like everything was his fault?

"To put it in a simple sentence! The reason Mom called Sister Xiaolin at *Harvest* today was just to have them change Xuemin's pen name to 'Old Qiao'!"

"It's the same for *Beijing Literature*; change 'Old Xu' to 'Old Qiao', and publish that medium-length novel under the pen name 'Old Qiao'!"

"Not to mention *October* and *People's Literature*, where Mom will also use the pen name 'Old Qiao'!"

"The united front Mom talked about is unifying all of Xuemin's pen names under the single name 'Old Qiao' and exerting force together!"

"Didn't the Tianjin faction criticize Xuemin for not understanding what reform and opening-up means? Didn't they criticize Xuemin for fanning the flames? Didn't they criticize Xuemin for not knowing how to write articles at all?"

"Fine! Then let them see for themselves whether Xuemin knows how to write articles and whether he understands what reform and opening-up is!"

Reaching the height of her indignation, Feng Jiayou's emotions soared right along with it. The more she spoke, the higher her pitch, the more indignant and excited she became.

"Is that really what your mom told you?"

At her words, the corners of Father Feng's mouth twitched violently. It wasn't about joining forces to publish aggressive manuscripts, but rather unifying under Cheng Xuemin's single pen name, 'Old Qiao'.

This... this was... Father Feng felt a deep sense of panic in his heart, though he still stubbornly put up a front with one last remark: "Isn't this still a bit too high-profile?"

Of course Father Feng had read those manuscripts of Cheng Xuemin's, and they definitely had nothing to do with being aggressive.

Yet, to make such a high-profile move all at once—having Shanghai's *Harvest*, *Beijing Literature*, *People's Literature*, and *October* all publish manuscripts under the name 'Old Qiao' simultaneously—wasn't that pushing things way too high-profile?

"Dad! Can we afford not to be high-profile? Those people are practically trying to strike your son-in-law down!"

Was this considered high-profile?

If she hadn't felt that her husband had been writing relatively few manuscripts lately, Feng Jiayou would have loved to throw in a few more pieces, dragging Shanghai Literature and Yanhe Literature into it as well.

She wanted to bring together all four corners of the country, north, south, east, and west, to voice their support and back her husband all at once.

At this, Cheng Xuemin finally saw the light as well. So the united front the mother-in-law had mentioned meant unifying his various pen names and concentrating them all under 'Old Qiao'!

And let's be honest, if the two top-tier northern and southern literary giants, *People's Literature* and *Harvest*, echoed each other from afar like this, the momentum would undoubtedly skyrocket. Cheng Xuemin couldn't even estimate what kind of sensation it would cause.

However, coming back to reality, hadn't the manuscript for *Harvest* already been finalized for publication?

The sample copies and royalty slips had already been mailed to him quite early on, and *Harvest* was already in the midst of full-scale printing and binding, just waiting for the end of the month to hit the shelves and roll out everywhere.

Therefore, wasn't the mother-in-law's notice to *Harvest* a little too late?

"What are you doing?"

Seeing Feng Jiayou finish speaking and reach out to snatch back the manuscript that Mother Feng had thrown at him earlier, Father Feng grabbed it and asked.

"To let Xuemin take it to *People's Literature* tomorrow, of course!"

"I haven't read it yet!"

Father Feng immediately shielded the manuscript in his arms. Xuemin had thoroughly piqued his curiosity about this piece earlier, and now that it was finally handed over, how could he not hurry up and read it first?

"Dad, you'd better start thinking about how to coax Mom tonight instead!"

"Right, right, right! Dad, you should go quickly and apologize to Mom!" The eldest brother-in-law, Feng Jiahao, also nodded repeatedly and said, "We've never seen you lose your temper before; what got into you today?"

"Dad, prepare to kneel on the washboard tonight!" The leaky little cotton-padded jacket, Feng Jiamo, glared at Father Feng. Seeing her older sister put the manuscript away, she quickly blocked her and said, "Sis, let me see, let me see! *Parents' Love*? Did big old Cheng write this about Mom and Dad?"

"Well, is there me in it? Is there me? Let me see it first, let me see it!"

At this point, let alone Feng Jiamo, even the eldest and second sisters-in-law were filled with astonishment, eager to see what kind of image their sister-in-law's husband had painted of their parents-in-law.

Besides, if this was going to be published in *People's Literature*, wouldn't that mean making their parents-in-law's romance public to the world?

And what's more!

Were there any details in this manuscript about them as sons, daughters, and daughters-in-law? And how had Cheng Xuemin, this brother-in-law of theirs, portrayed them as brothers and sisters-in-law?

"Stop making a fuss! We'll talk about it later. What's there to see in this manuscript right now?! Read it after it's published!"

Feng Jiayou directly packed the manuscript away, refusing to let anyone look.

Father Feng walked out without uttering a single word. Tonight, he truly needed to ponder carefully on how to coax that wife of his!

Even though he still felt that uniting and unifying the pen names was a bit too flashy, given his son-in-law's current predicament, not being high-profile simply wouldn't cut it anymore.

"Coaxed her successfully?!"

After the unhappy parting at the dinner table, Cheng Xuemin caught up with Father Feng and had a brief chat with him.

The conversation naturally drifted to the medium-length novel *Parents' Love*, and Cheng Xuemin could only honestly give his father-in-law a brief summary of the general plot.

The father and son-in-law chatted quite late into the night. When Cheng Xuemin walked back, he happened to see Feng Jiayou stepping out of her mother's room and couldn't help asking a question.

"Tonight, my dad is going to have to put in some extra effort!" Feng Jiayou gave Cheng Xuemin a wry smile and said.

Right!

Tonight, the father-in-law certainly needed to put in some extra effort to strive for a fifth child—no problem at all!