What Qiu Chenxi did not know was that her thoughts almost reflected reality. The greatest difference, however, was that Wei De had found this woman well before getting married to Zhai Hua. He had even gotten married to that woman and had a son. The order had been reversed.
“You’re happy because you think Zhai Hua got into trouble? Chenxi, do you really intend to remarry Zhai Sheng? Don’t harp on how fiercely the siblings fought when Zhai Hua married Wei De. Zhai Hua is still Zhai Sheng’s elder sister, after all. You also said that the entire Zhai family returned. Can’t you tell that they’re a tight-knit family and place great importance on Zhai Hua?” If Chenxi had such a mindset and thought that Zhai Hua deserved the trouble she was going through, it would be impossible for Chenxi to reconcile with Zhai Sheng.
Qiu Chenxi was upset. “Mom, what’s up with you lately? Why are you always siding with outsiders? I’m your daughter. Besides, I’m no fool. I’m only telling you my deepest inner thoughts in front of you. Do you really think I don’t know how to behave in front of the Zhai family?”
Qi Minlan sighed in exhaustion. “Chenxi, you’ll understand when you get to my age. While you were not around, I thought about it a lot. It’s not entirely your dad’s fault that our relationship has deteriorated to such a state. I’m at fault too. When I was younger, I often laughed at your dad for being a freeloader. If not for me, he would never have gotten to where he is today. Because of this, I never had much respect for your paternal grandparents while they were still alive, much less treated them like my own parents. Since I never treated them sincerely, it was only natural that they were never biased toward me either. Chenxi, you have to remember that everyone’s heart is made of flesh, after all. Only sincerity will be able to move someone’s heart. You’re always so scheming. The Zhai family isn’t foolish either. On the contrary, they are very clever. Your acting skills may be top-notch, but once the Zhai family sees just a little of what you really think, it’ll be impossible between Zhai Sheng and you.”
“Yes, you can act, and you may be good at it. But the problem is that you’ll be with Zhai Sheng for the rest of your life. Will you be able to keep up that pretense for the rest of your life? Don’t think that you should be more important than Zhai Hua because you’re Zhai Sheng’s wife and you’re the one who married him. If his wife is really more important than his elder sister, then why did you get divorced from Zhai Sheng? It’s obvious that his wife is an outsider to him.”
Her daughter had never shared a good or close relationship with Zhai Sheng, while Zhai Hua had grown up alongside Zhai Sheng! One was an immediate family, while the other was someone who popped up along the way and had even betrayed him. Even a fool would be able to differentiate between who was more important, much less the brilliant Zhai family.
There was no way her daughter would be able to hide her scheming ideas from the Zhai family.
“I know that you want to remain strong and you won’t admit defeat even now. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be insisting on reconciling with Zhai Sheng instead of settling for an average man and leading an average life. Zhai Sheng is a chief. Besides Zhai Sheng, there won’t be another man who will let you become a chief’s wife. Mom was once young too. I understand your ambition. But I want to teach you today that you can’t treat yourself as the only intelligent person in this world. You’re scheming against other people and even complaining about them not taking your bait. That makes no sense at all. I have to say it even if you don’t want to hear it. If you really want to get remarried to Zhai Sheng, there’s only one thing you need to do. That is to fall in love with Zhai Sheng and devote your life to Zhai Sheng and his family. Treat Zhai Sheng like you really care for him. To put it bluntly, if you treat every single person in the Zhai family like you treat me, there might be hope for you and Zhai Sheng.”
Qi Minlan had already lived to such an age and no longer cared about fighting over men. There was nothing else she would be bothered by.
The only worry she had was her daughter finding a good partner before she passed on. The Zhai family was indeed a good target, but their standards were high.
Because of her daughter’s reckless behavior over the years, as well as her barren state, Qi Minlan knew that the Zhai family would never be able to simply accept her daughter. After all, they were not saints, and neither were they operating a charity.
It was almost certain that her daughter’s dream would never come true.
In such a huge home, Qi Minlan was the only person apart from the caretaker. Thus, Qi Minlan had lots of time alone to reflect on her life. It was rare that Qi Minlan had finally come to her senses.
It was exactly because of this that Qi Minlan had become even more miserable. She had come to her senses, but her daughter had not. She was already in her seventies and did not have many more years left. Not being able to see her grandchild was a regret, but her greatest regret was that her daughter had not found someone who would take care of her for the rest of her life.
If Qiu Chenxi was willing to listen to her, Qi Minlan wanted very much to persuade Qi Minlan to give up on Zhai Sheng. Her daughter probably did not really love Zhai Sheng either. Otherwise, she would not have gotten into affairs or relationships with so many men after her divorce, eventually paying for her lifestyle with her health.
The only thing that attracted her daughter was Zhai Sheng’s status as a chief.
Being the chief’s wife gave her daughter pride but not necessarily happiness. Instead of climbing this peak that was the Zhai family so blindly, why did she not find a man who was more suitable for her?
But Qi Minlan was clear that given her daughter’s situation, there would probably not be anyone who was willing to marry her daughter purely out of sincere love. That man would probably have his own hidden agendas too.
Even so, her daughter seemed to be in the dark about this situation and insisted on targeting Zhai Sheng.
Qiu Chenxi was already in her forties. How could she be as innocent as she had been in her twenties? Actually, she had already subtly felt whatever her mother had just said.
But she just could not take it lying down. She would feel aggrieved if she did not laugh at Zhai Hua now that she had run into some trouble. Daughters who married out were like spilled water. Zhai Hua was a daughter who had married out of the family. She was the one who had married into the Zhai family. After marrying Zhai Sheng, she was the Zhai family’s mistress.
As such, why did she not have the right to fight back at Zhai Hua at her lowest since Zhai Hua was an outsider who had not only done nothing to please her but had even tried to provoke her? Why should she try to help and comfort Zhai Hua? She was willing to treat Zhai Sheng well, but not Zhai Hua!
But in order to remarry Zhai Sheng, there were some things she would have to do even if she did not enjoy doing them. There was no choice since Zhai Sheng was biased toward the Zhai family instead of her.
Qiu Chenxi bit on her lip and made a decision. “Mom, don’t worry. I won’t let you worry about me again in the future. I’m certain of the path I’m going to take now. I’m sure that Zhai Hua’s in trouble because of that useless husband of hers. I’ll figure out the situation and see how to help Zhai Hua.”
