The True Head of the Household

A certain Ying said: Out with a young stud and in with an old handsome one. What’s with my love fortune lately?

Han Lei has been very busy recently. No, it should be said that all members of the Han family were busy.

I heard that a disastrous event had happened in the Han family. The true head of the Han family, who was living in retirement in Australia, had left home and was missing.  

Why was it leaving home again? Why was it that those around me who had aged a bit always had the tendency to leave home?

Unless all of them had coordinated with each other?

This morning, all members of the Han family were gathered together at the Han residence to find a countermeasure for the situation.

At the moment, everyone was sitting at the sofa with a seldom seen grave expression instead of their usual smiling faces. The atmosphere was quite oppressive.

“I believe that all of you have received the final, confirmed news already.” Father-In-Law who usually doesn’t talk much said solemnly and gravely. “Yep, it’s not a joke this time nor is it a play. It truly did happen, your Grandpa has really gone missing!”

“First, you guys must understand the importance of this time’s disappearance!” Mother-In-Law added, “Heard of the 911 incident? Heard about the Indian Ocean Tsunami? Watched ‘The Day After Tomorrow’? Know the economic crisis? Yep! This incident has the exact aspects and importance of the aforementioned.”

Too exaggerated…

I endured the urge to sweat and continued to earnestly listen.

Just at this time, Father-In-Law suddenly took out a world map and spread it out on the coffee table. After indicating for us to encircle the coffee table, he frowned and gravely said, “According to what your Mother said, this time is somewhat different compared to last time where he was found in the wine cellar. This time there’s not even a trace of your Grandpa’s presence in all the nooks and corners of Australia. Thus, I have drafted the following battle plan: First, we want to clarify that this time’s wanted is an 80 years old Chinese man. His particular feature is his striking white hair and long beard. This person frequently travels to five other countries besides Australia which are Austria, France, Canada, Egypt, and Brazil.”

After Father-In-Law pointed to each of the five countries, he continued, “This time’s operation will be carried out by a five member team consisting of me, Han Si, Han Yu, Han Lei and Guan Yi. The itinerary is very simple. We will first rendezvous with your Grandma when we arrive in Australia and after we thoroughly understood the situation, we will draw lots to decide who will go to which country amongst the five. As for the rest of the members, they will keep guard at home as we cannot ignore the possibility of him secretly coming back here. So we need to maintain in contact. Are there any questions?”

The corners of my mouth twitched as I saw their firm and earnest appearances. Did they watch too many Hong Kong dramas or something? They must be joking around, right?

But the truth was that this was not a joke nor was it playing around. When Qin Hao told Han Lei that the five plane tickets to Australia have been booked, the five people who were assigned to carry out the task quickly said goodbye to us and left. They embarked on the road to that “wanted” Grandpa whom I have yet met.  

After they left, the entire atmosphere of the living room went back to normal. After Han Min yawned, her solemn expression from before quickly changed, scratched her head and said, “Mom, little sis and Xia Ying, I’ll go back to my room to catch up on some sleep first. If there’s any progress, inform me. This is just another boring game anyways.” After saying that, she floated back to her room without turning back.

Han Hui also followed suit and cheerfully went out with the excuse of studying with a classmate. That smile on her face was unspeakably bright.

Wait, a, minute! Who can find the time to explain the current situation to me? Weren’t they worried about their Grandpa?

Dumbstruck, I looked at Mother-In-Law with a questioning gaze. I noticed that she had changed her grave expression to one of looking forward to watching a play. She smiled at me and said, “Oh! Ying Daughter-In-Law who joined us this year must be baffled right now, right?”

After seeing me nodding heartily, she continued: “This is actually a game that my mischievous Father-In-Law likes to play every year. According to him, this kind of hide and seek is beneficial to cultivate feelings and unity among family members. For example, last year the entire family flew to Australia and found him in his secret wine cellar. Last, last year the entire family also flew to Australia and found him at his friend’s secret gambling base. Also, last last last year… Ai ya, he was always found within Australia in the end anyways. But this time, he went too far. He actually expanded the scope beyond Australia. Hehe, it seems like the men in our family will need to look hard! Oh hehehe!”

This was clearly a prank! It seems that the Grandpa I have yet to meet was a national grade of a buffoon!

En… Why was Mother-In-Law so happy that they were being pranked?

“Aren’t you guys worried about Grandpa’s safety?” I couldn’t help but asked a rather normal question.

“Absolutely not! You have to know that this Father-In-Law of mine is the type that when thrown deep inside the mountains, he would be one who would defeat the wild bears to dominate the mountain. So, don’t underestimate the men of the Han family! Okay, let’s not talk about this anymore. I’ll show you some of your Grandpa’s photos when he was young!” Mother-In-Law suddenly winked at me and excitedly said, “When your Grandpa was young, he was also a rare beautiful man…”

Uh, this I could understand. After all, like father like son.

Just like last time when Han Lei went on a business trip, I once again went to bed alone without an ounce of drowsiness.

Since when did Han Lei became so important to me? Now, I unexpectedly had difficulty falling asleep without his company. This was not a good sign, dangerous ah dangerous.

I turned over and my train of thoughts once again drifted to Han Lei’s Grandpa. I smiled and seemed to have a bit of a desire to meet this old man who liked to play pranks.