An honest official finds it hard to settle family disputes, indeed, family matters are often the hardest to deal with.
Zheng Xiao Qing and Li Yue packed up a few side dishes and bought rice at the hospital, then sat together watching Li Rui eat, one bite at a time.
Unfortunately, although Li Rui ate very politely and appeared perfectly fine, he still wouldn’t speak.
Zheng Xiao Qing knew well that she bore much of the responsibility for how Li Rui had turned out. Perhaps because she wasn’t around much, she hadn’t managed to form a close bond with either of her sons. Back then, she often consoled herself by thinking she was training them to be independent, but now, seeing her son like this, she deeply regretted not spending more time with him.
“Rui Rui’s fingers are fine now. Tomorrow I’ll take him to… Shanghai,” Zheng Xiao Qing said. She had originally planned to say “Beijing,” but changed her mind when she remembered how her parents disapproved of Li Yue.
She knew her parents thought Li Yue came from a poor background. But what use was a good family background? Her first husband, the man her parents had urged her to marry because they were well matched, had been cheating on her while she was pregnant! She knew that many people would choose to turn a blind eye in such situations. After all, no matter what kind of woman he was with outside, it couldn’t shake her position at home. But she refused to accept that. So she made a scene, divorced him five months after giving birth, took the child, and gave him her own surname, Zheng. A total victory.
But what did that “total victory” even mean? In the end, she was still a woman betrayed by her husband.
Li Yue was different. Yes, he had many flaws, but he was a man she had chosen and who truly loved her in return. And Li Yue was still a top student from a prestigious university. He could talk with her on many levels. Even if he couldn’t be someone who led the charge, he was without a doubt her best support.
They had been married for eight years, spending almost every day together. If Li Yue had been a hot-tempered man, they would’ve argued constantly. But he wasn’t. He was used to letting her take the lead, and their personalities just happened to complement each other.
“I’ll go talk to my parents in a bit and ask them to come see Rui Rui,” Li Yue said. His parents were already dissatisfied, especially now that their grandson had been hospitalized for five days, and they still hadn’t come to visit.
“Alright.” Zheng Xiao Qing agreed. Even though she was furious, Li Yue was still her husband. As for his family, she could just ignore them from now on, and they’d better not expect another cent from her!
That afternoon, Li Yue went to find his parents. He thought that given the current situation, taking his son home or letting his parents come visit their grandson would be a perfectly normal thing to do. What he didn’t expect, however, was to walk into a room where he was met with awkward expressions from his brother and sister-in-law, and outright fury from his parents.
“Li Yue! I want you to divorce Zheng Xiao Qing!” his father, Li Yuan, shouted the moment he saw his son.
At first, when they heard about their grandson, they had felt a little guilty. But after being confronted by Zheng Xiao Qing several times, they had long since thrown that guilt to the wind!
“Dad, what did you say?” Li Yue thought he had misheard. Divorce? Why on earth would he divorce her?
“What’s so good about this woman? Not only is she a tigress, but she’s also a used-up shoe. She’s had kids with someone else, what are you so infatuated with her for?” Li Yuan really couldn’t stand Zheng Xiao Qing. His son had been so outstanding from a young age, and even got into one of the best universities in the country with a top-ten rank in the province. He hadn’t even graduated yet, and yet, how many people wanted to matchmake him?
In the end, he married a woman who was six years older than him, had been married before and already had kids. Not only that, but he also had to serve this woman! Their family used to be so proud, but now they had become a laughingstock!
“Dad! What are you talking about?” Li Yue’s face turned pale. No matter what, Zheng Xiao Qing was still his wife!
“Your dad’s right!” Zhao Hong Juan began to wipe away her tears. “When you got married, she even looked down on our house and wouldn’t kneel and bow to us. How many people laughed at us? They all said that you went to university for nothing, while those who graduated only from elementary school still managed to marry virgins! Even though we now live in the city, we came from the countryside. The wife we bought with money should be someone who’s devoted to pleasing the in-laws and taking care of her husband and son. But now, it’s the complete opposite. The situation with your son is no different from being a son-in-law!”
“Mom, Xiao Qing didn’t mean any harm. Has she ever mistreated you over the years?” Li Yue spoke gently, but in truth, his parents had already said similar things many times. Back then, he too felt that perhaps his education was a waste, but now, with his son in the hospital and Zheng Xiao Qing just having told him about his parents’ savings, listening to his parents now felt like daggers in his ears.
“Mistreated us? How could she not? She’s been here for so long, and has she ever done a single household chore? Doesn’t clean up the house or take care of her husband and son, just runs off all the time. She’s almost forty, yet dresses like a show-off. She clearly doesn’t follow the rules of a good wife!” Zhao Hong Juan began crying. Every time she spoke to Zheng Xiao Qing, the woman’s tone and expression made her feel utterly despised.
“Mom! If it weren’t for Xiao Qing, would we be living in this nice house, with so much money?” Li Yue’s face turned green and white, his frustration boiling over. No one knew Zheng Xiao Qing better than he did, having worked alongside her as her assistant for so many years!
“Zheng Xiao Qing must have said bad things about us, right? Why can’t we have money? We’ve been helping her with her business! Just look at you, a university graduate. You could start your own company. Why do you have to live your life based on her moods?” Zhao Hong Juan’s words hit hard. How many university graduates were there these days, especially from such a good school? Zhao Hong Juan had always thought her son was the best, so how could he marry such a woman?
If it weren’t for the events leading up to this, Li Yue might have been moved by his parents’ words. If Li Rui had just been slightly mistreated, he might have, under his parents’ influence, ended up blaming Zheng Xiao Qing. But now, the situation was different!
“I’m not going to divorce! Mom and Dad, I came here to tell you that we’re taking Rui Rui to Shanghai for treatment.”
“What sickness can that child have? He’s obviously faking it! Just like his mother, neither of them are any good! San’er, when you were born, the blind man said you were exceptional, destined for greatness, but what about now? You’re going to work for a woman your whole life?” Li Yuan’s hands trembled as he looked at his son.
Li Yue’s older brother was named Li Jin Lin, and his second brother was Li Jin Hai. They had all consulted a blind man to name their son. The blind man had said he would be very successful, and so they named him Li Yue. Li Yue had never let them down, except for marrying Zheng Xiao Qing.
“That’s just superstition!” Li Yue had heard this many times, and maybe it was his parents constantly repeating it that made him so determined to study hard. But now, he only found it laughable. “Can a six-year-old child fake being sick? Is his broken finger fake?” It wasn’t a serious injury, but he was just a child!
He knew that he too was responsible. If he had been more careful when he returned that day, he probably would have noticed something wrong with his son. But now…
He had heard his parents’ explanation, and despite his brothers constantly criticizing Li Yuan, when his eldest brother’s son, Li Jia Jie, had argued with Li Yuan, his father hadn’t been lenient. He truly believed Li Rui’s incident was just an accident, but now…
“That kid is always so quiet, what’s so good about him? Divorce Zheng Xiao Qing, find a good woman, can’t you have more children?” Li Yuan became furious when he mentioned Li Rui. He’d punished the child many times before, so why was it that only Li Rui had an issue? Back then, Li Rui had been silent, how would anyone know his finger was injured? Could it be that the kid hurt his own finger outside and is now blaming it on him?
“I just can’t have more kids! After having Li Rui, I had a vasectomy!” Li Yue couldn’t take it anymore. He threw down the words and stormed out, intending not to come back for a while!
Watching Li Yue leave and slam the door with a loud “bang,” Li Yuan was so furious that he gasped for breath. He kept saying that Zheng Xiao Qing was bad. Women get IUDs or sterilized, but where do you see men doing that?
“Such a sin!” Zhao Hong Juan began crying loudly. Their eldest and second sons rushed to comfort her, and the house quickly became chaotic.
After Li Yue returned, he didn’t say a word to Zheng Xiao Qing. But even without speaking, Zheng Xiao Qing could guess what happened. There were some things she didn’t need to say, it was better for Li Yue to figure it out himself. She didn’t expect him to completely disregard his parents, but she hoped that Li Yue could stand by her side.
The next day, Li Rui was taken by his parents to Shanghai. Li Yue took very good care of him, whenever he had free time, he would come home to spend time with him and even cook. Li Rui began to wonder if this man was really his father…
In his past life, his father repeatedly started businesses, failing and trying again, until his uncle couldn’t stand it and advised his mother to divorce. At that time, his mother had seemed to say that his father had been good when they first married, he’d helped around the house and even cooked. Back then, Li Rui thought his mother was just talking nonsense, because in his memory, his father never did those “woman’s jobs.” But now, his father was so different from the man he had remembered, the one who, in the end, had half-white hair and a gloomy expression, becoming arrogant due to extreme self-doubt.
What Li Rui didn’t know was that, in his past life, this was also the time when Li Yue was still a good man. Even if he hadn’t minded that his wife was better than him at first, over time, with the encouragement of those around him, he gradually changed…
Zheng Xiao Qing had taken Li Rui to many hospitals, but there was no effect. In the end, without wanting to put her son in a psychiatric hospital, the conclusion was that the family just needed to spend more time with him. Faced with this result, she gave up her plans of making a fortune from the booming Pudong development.
Finally, on August 20, as she was still wondering whether or not to let her son go to primary school, Li Rui finally spoke: “Zhu Yun Xuan…”