15 families

◎The Entanglement of One's Family of Origin◎

So many heroines in redemption novels come from terrible families. Why can't they have a healthy, normal family in the world of fiction?

Xu Huaihuai, have you truly forgiven your family of origin? How did you reconcile with them?

Their faces looked so repulsive.

Xu Huaihuai sized up the large family, who clearly had ulterior motives.

"It means, pack your things right now and go back to where you came from. You have two minutes. Don't embarrass yourself in someone else's house."

"Why is this my son-in-law's house? Why should I leave?" Xu Jianshu shouted. He Qiongzhi also looked at her daughter, whom she hadn't seen for a long time and who was already thirty years old but still didn't know any better. "Huaihuai, you and Xiaozhou are husband and wife. Xiaozhou hasn't said anything. How can you kick your parents out? We came here to see if you are doing well. You have really broken your parents' hearts."

Ling Zhou poured tea and water for his father, smiling as he said, "Dad, Mom, don't be angry. You can stay here as long as you like."

"Listen to this, listen to this, Xiao Zhou is such a reliable and worry-free child." Xu Jianshu was more and more satisfied with his son-in-law. "It's a pity that we don't have a son like him in our family."

Xu Huaihuai stepped on the foot of the highly performative lunatic, but the lunatic was very tolerant, showing no sign of pain on his face.

"Ling Zhou and I are already divorced." Xu Huaihuai said expressionlessly. "Did you hear me clearly? Do you still have the nerve to stay at someone else's house?"

"Divorce is such a big deal! Why didn't you discuss it with your parents?"

He Qiongzhi and Xu Jianshu's expressions both changed.

"You're really outrageous!" Xu Jianshu wanted to slam his fist on the table, but his brother Xu Chengbin chimed in, "Big brother, if they really get divorced, then this house won't belong to our niece anymore?"

So Xu Jianshu slapped his brother Xu Chengbin, yelling, "Shut up!"

Xu Chengbin quickly retreated to his wife Liang Jiajia's side, only to be shoved aside by Liang Jiajia, who said, "Get out of the way, don't block the light for our son."

The biosphere's status was thus clarified.

"Sis, you and brother-in-law really got divorced?" Xu Jingya stopped patting and asked with great concern, "Brother-in-law, you two really got divorced?"

Ling Zhou looked at Xu Huaihuai's reaction, but Xu Huaihuai ignored him. She glanced at her cousin and said, "We're divorced. Now you can openly give Ling Zhou love letters."

This cousin is three years younger than the female lead. In the original novel, she had a crush on the male lead, Ling Zhou, and even secretly sent him love letters. However, Ling Zhou was as impenetrable as a fortress at that time, so Xu Jingya's one-sided crush naturally failed. On the surface, she got along very well with the female lead, so the female lead pretended not to know anything about it, and it was over in the end.

"What did you say?!" Xu Jingya jumped up, her face a picture of utter disbelief. "I never seduced my brother-in-law!"

"Why are you giving yourself away like this?" Xu Huaihuai patted Xu Jingya's shoulder. "Calm down, I'm not going to do anything to you."

The whole family was dumbfounded, completely unaware of this turn of events. Ling Zhou opened his mouth as if to explain something, but was interrupted. Xu Yangfan, who was playing a game, heard something and shouted, "Holy crap, Mom and Dad, did you hear that?! My older sister even seduced my brother-in-law!"

"Shut up, will you?!" Xu Jingya kicked Xu Yangfan's chair. Xu Yangfan had his feet on the table, and the kick sent him sprawling to the ground, howling in pain.

While helping her useless son up, Liang Jiajia cursed, "Xu Chengbin, are you dead?! Can't you see your son fell?! Don't you know to come and lend a hand? What are you standing there for?! And you, Xu Jingya, he's your brother, do you know that? Why did you hurt him?!"

“He’s talking about me!” Xu Jingya shouted.

"What's wrong with you! Can you lose a piece of your flesh?!"

"So what if I kick him? He'll lose a piece of flesh!"

The mother and daughter started fighting, and the scene was quite absurd.

He Qiongzhi and Xu Jianshu, who had been closely monitoring Xu Huaihuai's divorce, were now busy trying to break up the fight, saying, "Enough! Is this any way to behave?"

Amidst the chaos, Ling Zhou handed Xu Huaihuai a glass of water, smiling broadly, "Would you like some water?"

Xu Huaihuai took the glass of water but didn't drink it. She looked at the smile on Ling Zhou's face. He had been smiling like that ever since they met, but she didn't know what he was smiling about.

"What happened to your hand?" Ling Zhou glanced at the gauze on her right hand; he had noticed it as soon as they met.

"fine."

Ling Zhou coughed lightly, "That love letter..."

"It's over."

Ling Zhou stopped talking. He looked at the farce unfolding before him, maintaining a polite smile. "They're quite interesting."

A psychiatrist's appreciation of another psychiatrist?

"Fine, if you really find it interesting, then you can enjoy it," Xu Huaihuai said, unable to understand. She glanced at the rather frenzied group and said, "Hey, keep being crazy, this kind Mr. Ling is willing to take you in. I'm leaving now."

"Xu Huaihuai! How can you say such awful things!" Xu Jianshu chased after them. "You've really gone too far! Taking them in! What do you take our parents for? Beggars!"

Doesn't it look like it?

"you!"

Finally, after they had made enough of a scene, and still had some sense of shame, they slunk out of Ling Zhou's house.

Xu Jianshu and He Qiongzhi wanted to get into Xu Huaihuai's car, but Xu Huaihuai didn't let the driver open the door. "You two take a taxi. Just have the driver come with me. If you don't want to, you can sleep on the street."

"Hello, please help these people check in."

"Madam, we need to provide the ID card of the person checking in."

"OK."

After speaking with the hotel receptionist, Xu Huaihuai turned to the family carrying large bags and said, "Give me your ID cards."

"What do you mean? You're just telling us to stay in a hotel?" Xu Jianshu glared.

"Brother, I think this hotel is pretty good! It's five-star!" Xu Chengbin was more and more satisfied as he looked around. His niece had really made it big.

"Shut up!" Before Xu Jianshu could speak, Liang Jiajia grabbed Xu Chengbin and whispered, "Are you stupid? Even the best hotels treat us like outsiders! Do you think we can stay in a hotel forever?"

"Are you really going to sleep on the streets instead of staying in a hotel? I've already booked a hotel for you for a week and paid for it. Check in now, and after you've had your fun for a few days, go back to your own homes."

"I'm not staying here! Don't even think about giving me your ID card! We won't give it to you! Your hotel can't force us to stay!"

"Madam, this..." The receptionist seemed a little embarrassed.

Xu Jianshu had already started to shamelessly play the victim, saying, "Come and see, your own daughter won't let her parents come home, so she makes them stay in a hotel. She has no humanity..." He Qiongzhi also held her husband's arm and wept.

The commotion was quite significant, attracting many customers to watch.

Xu Huaihuai laughed in exasperation.

"I'm sorry for the trouble." After apologizing to the receptionist, she stared coldly at Xu Jianshu, who was in the middle of a dramatic performance. "Fine, you want to go home, right? Then let's talk at home."

Once home, Xu Huaihuai didn't bother with beating around the bush. "I have limited patience. Just tell me what you need me for."

"What are you saying? Can't a mother come and see her daughter?" He Qiongzhi looked around, quite satisfied with her daughter's large apartment.

"Now you can go back after you've finished watching."

He Qiongzhi was speechless. Xu Jianshu had just been shameless, and now he was pretending nothing had happened, plopping down on the sofa, crossing his legs, and announcing, "This time we plan to stay in the city and not go back."

“We know it’s not easy for you to work hard in the big city. We’re not the kind of people who would ask you for millions. Your company is doing quite well now, isn’t it? Look, we don’t need you to spend that money to buy a new place. We can just stay at your place. I think this place is quite big.” He Qiongzhi showed her motherly understanding.

“Yes, dear niece, look at your house, there must be at least five rooms, right?” Liang Jiajia said. “These rooms are just sitting empty anyway. We’re all family, so your parents can share one room, your uncle and I can share one, your brother Yangfan can share one, and your sister can share one with you. Let’s turn the extra room into a study for Yangfan. He’s going to university this year, and there are several people sharing a room in university dorms. How is Yangfan going to study?”

Neither Xu Jianshu nor He Qiongzhi spoke, tacitly agreeing with Liang Jiajia's meaning.

Xu Chengbin chimed in, "Yes, yes..."

Xu Jingya was looking at Xu Huaihuai's bag rack. She picked one up and slung it over her shoulder, looking very happy. "Sis, you have so many bags, can you give me one?"

Xu Yangfan, meanwhile, was engrossed in playing his game, seemingly unconcerned about the situation.

"Wait a minute." Xu Huaihuai looked at the family and pulled out several mirrors from the room. "Look in the mirror, all of you. What do you see?"

These people were looking at themselves in the mirror from left to right, but they couldn't understand what was going on.

"Can't you see? Your faces practically scream 'I want property.' What did you even do to get this house? You just want to move in, you can't just ask for it like that!"

"How could such a thing as you have been born? We've raised you all these years, and this is how you repay us! What's wrong with staying in your house for a bit?" Xu Jianshu smashed the mirror in his hand, sending shards flying everywhere.

The female lead has never mentioned the money she's transferred to their accounts over the years, which must have amounted to at least several million, more than enough to repay the so-called debt of raising them.

Xu Huaihuai felt that this family was really bloodsucking. "Did my second uncle's family also give birth to me and raise me?"

"How dare you say that? Our family has only given birth to such a useless daughter as you. You're almost thirty and haven't given birth to a son yet, and now you're divorced! You can't even keep your husband. Xiao Zhou is such a good child, and you can't stand him and want a divorce. If it weren't for your second uncle's family, our Xu family would be extinct! As a daughter of the Xu family, you must be responsible for your second uncle's family and for your younger brother Yang Fan."

This is what blood relatives are all about.

Xu Huaihuai sighed, "What's wrong with thirty? As long as you're healthy, everyone can live to thirty. If I were to have a son like you, or like my second uncle and cousin, I'd rather not have one at all. Besides, I was the one who initiated the divorce. If you really cherish the only son of your Xu family, then work harder. You're not old enough to retire yet, so take on a few more jobs and try to make my second uncle's family live a better life as soon as possible."

"Alright, I've said what I needed to say. You can go back now. Go back to where you came from. I can reimburse your travel expenses."

Xu Jianshu was furious, his face flushed and his neck bulging. His fatherly authority had been completely challenged, and this daughter was utterly lawless. "You bastard! You bastard!"

"Do you want me to call security to kick you out?" Xu Huaihuai asked firmly.