CHAPTER 698: CHAPTER 693: AWAKENING

Li Yuchun, upon hearing this, immediately pulled Fang Xiu aside and tearfully advised in a low voice, "Right, right, besides, you’re still young, you’ll meet someone better in the future."

As a parent, there is nothing more worrisome than seeing your daughter end up like this. Yet, there’s nothing she could do to resolve the situation. With her mother-in-law so strongly opposed, even if she truly married her daughter off, she would end up being bullied.

Her daughter had already been through enough in her life. If she were to go there and be bullied to death, she would rather her daughter remain unmarried. She could just stay and take care of her elderly parents and brother for the rest of her life.

Hearing Li Yuchun and Fang Pingying’s persuasion, Fang Xiu’s emotions became slightly calmer. After crying for a while, she asked in a low voice, "Really? Will I be able to live a good life in the future?"

"Whether you will or not, you must cherish yourself and not keep saying you don’t want to live or that your life is worthless," Fang Pingying looked at her, pointed at Li Yuchun and Haohao who was sleeping in the room, "Even if you don’t think about yourself, you need to think about your parents and Haohao. Was it easy for your parents to raise you? If Haohao loses his mother, even if we can take care of him, can we be the same as his mother?"

Talking about Haohao made Fang Xiu feel like there was hope in life again. It didn’t feel so unbearable, and the sky seemed to stop falling. She immediately wiped away her tears with her hand and nodded to Fang Pingying, "Big sister, I understand now. I’ll listen to you. I won’t be foolish again."

"Good, as long as you understand that’s enough," Fang Pingying said with a smile, then nodded towards the room, "Haohao is asleep inside, go check on him and rest a bit yourself."

Once Fang Xiu left, the faint smile on Fang Pingying’s face disappeared, and her expression gradually turned serious.

Li Yuchun noticed something was off and softly asked Fang Pingying, "Pingying, are you worried about Xiu’er’s unstable emotions?"

"Xiu’er has indeed been emotionally unstable recently. Let’s not have her run the shop for the next few days. I will ask Hong Lan to take over for her. We’ll talk about her issues after I’ve spoken with Zhou Guangsheng," Fang Pingying thought of another problematic matter and said quietly to Li Yuchun, "But right now, the most pressing issue is that she injured Zhou Yunmei in front of everyone earlier. Zhou Yunmei was scared off by her, but once she goes home and thinks it through, she will probably make a fuss. I’m worried that Fang Xiu might really get arrested."

Li Yuchun was frightened upon hearing this, grabbing Fang Pingying’s hand frantically and said, "What should we do, what should we do? Xiu’er is already like this, if she gets arrested on top of it all, she’ll surely go mad."

With Fang Pingying’s mind in a whirl and unsure of what to do, she thought of the man in the house and that it might be appropriate for the man to take charge in such times. She patted Li Yuchun’s hand to comfort her, "Don’t worry for now. I’ll go find Zhiyong and his father to discuss what to do."

Just as Fang Pingying was about to leave, Luo Zhiyong coincidentally returned home with the two little ones. Upon seeing Li Yuchun, the children immediately widened their eyes and asked, "Grandma, has Haohao come back?"

Li Yuchun was not in the mood to play with the two little ones and reached out to pat the heads of Ruirui and Yaoyao, pointing to the room, "He’s back, he’s in the room with your auntie."

After the two kids entered the room, Fang Pingying informed Luo Zhiyong about the incident of Fang Xiu injuring Zhou Yunmei. After Luo Zhiyong inquired in detail about Zhou Yunmei’s injury and confirmed that she could walk back on her own and it wasn’t a serious matter, he was not too worried.

Zhiming does understand Yun Mei; he knows her character well enough to say that she wouldn’t casually threaten to report to the police, but once she’s back, with Xu He’s instigation, it’s quite possible she might indeed resort to extortion.

However, in Zhiyong’s view, if Yun Mei really did attempt to extort money, it wasn’t too big of a deal.

He said, "You guys don’t worry about this matter, I’ll handle it tomorrow. I won’t let her report to the police."

Pingying nodded, agreeing it was best for Zhiyong to handle this, as Yun Mei was somewhat intimidated by him.

It was Li Yuchun, however, who remained worried. Once Pingying was out of earshot, she whispered to Zhiyong behind Pingying’s back, "Zhiyong, if we really can’t handle it, let’s just give them some money."

Zhiyong didn’t say much, only responding with, "I’ll see what I can do."

Just as Pingying had expected, Yun Mei, initially scared to the point of wetting herself by Fang Xiu, hurried home. Nobody was home—neither Xu He nor Luo Zhiming—so she went over to Cuilan’s place.

Cuilan was startled to see her injuries and quickly started bandaging her up while asking what had happened.

Yun Mei told Cuilan everything, and perhaps because she hadn’t seen Fang Xiu with a knife this time, fear had left her. She started cursing loudly at home, wishing curses upon Fang Xiu and adamantly declaring she wouldn’t let this go. She insisted on getting a compensation for medical expenses from Fang Xiu, planning to demand it as soon as Zhiming and Xu He returned.

However, Cuilan found this quite odd. After hearing what happened, she didn’t say much, and not only did she refrain from helping curse Fang Xiu, she actually complained at Yun Mei, "Mom, what are you doing at my brother’s place all the time, upsetting him? You’ve already caused trouble there once, do you want it to happen again?"

"You were the ones who took the money and said you didn’t want the child, and now you’re changing your mind. It’s no wonder Fang Xiu lost her mind. Now she has nothing left but her son. If I were her, if you dared to take away our Zhuzhu, I wouldn’t just injure you—I’d kill you."

Cuilan’s words provoked Yun Mei into a rage. She slapped Cuilan and scolded, "Are you out of your mind? I am your mother. How could you not take my side and instead help Fang Xiu? What benefit have Fang Xiu and your brother given you?"

Actually, for Cuilan, even though she was indeed harsh and selfish, she wasn’t stupid. She knew who in her family could help her depending on the situation.

Now that she was in this state, she knew that sooner or later, she had to face the Zhang family. By then, she’d surely need Zhiyong’s support, which is why she now hoped that Yun Mei could reconcile with Zhiyong and Pingying.

Besides, these past years, after giving so much to the Zhang family and ending up in this situation, she had completely understood who was truly close and who was distant in this world.

In the end, no matter how well your husband treats you or how much he caters to you, it’s all superficial—he may change his mind at any moment, even if you’ve given him your all. He can kick you out just like that. On the contrary, your own family, no matter how much hurt you’ve inflicted upon them, the ones who might stay loyal to the end could be them.