CHAPTER 44: CHAPTER 44: THE QIN FAMILY RELATIONSHIP NETWORK

Xiao Li said with a smile, "Mom, didn’t you secretly dress A-Xiao and Brother in girls’ clothes when they were small?"

Upon hearing this, Qin’s mother’s eyes lit up, "Of course, but I only did it once or twice when your dad wasn’t home. There was one time when I dressed A-Xiao in a dress and even secretly took a photo. I’ve kept that photo in the villa in B City.

This matter, for so many years, I haven’t mentioned it to anyone else, just to you..."

Xiao Li blinked, "I guessed you would do that, Mom. If I were in your shoes, I’d do the same...

Mom, when we return to B City, show me that photo, okay?"

The photo of the uncle when he was small, wearing a dress; just thinking about it is amusing...

Qin’s mother laughed, "I’ll show it to you when we go back..."

Amid laughter and conversation, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law finished packing the clothes.

After all the clothes were packed, Qin’s mother suddenly held Xiao Li’s hand, spoke to her very seriously, "Xiao Li, we are going back to B City in a few days. Before we go back, Mom has a few things to tell you.

As you know, our Qin family’s main lineage is in B City, and our branch is the primary one. The Qin family members you’ve met in S City are all from the secondary branch.

Your dad is currently the one in power in the Qin family. Among the numerous relatives in the Qin family when we return, our status is the highest.

However, there are a few people that you should be aware of...

The first person is old Qin’s stepmother, my nominal mother-in-law, your nominal grandmother...

This person is shortsighted, narrow-minded, and always biased; if she hadn’t been too dramatic, the primary power of the Qin family might not have ended up in your dad’s hands back then.

But recently, I heard she has health issues and probably won’t live much longer, although we’ll need to be back in B City to confirm that.

Your dad has two younger brothers; they are both in B City now, but neither holds a position in the Qin Group.

Before the old man died, he knew these two sons were hopeless, so he divided the family estate.

The Qin Group was given to your dad entirely, while those two only got two small companies.

In theory, they are A-Xiao’s uncles, and when you and A-Xiao got married, you should have introduced yourselves to the two families...

However, our family has severed connections with them, so we didn’t have you go to recognize them.

Despite the severed ties, occasionally, you may still run into them at social gatherings.

Your two aunts are each quite formidable...

When I married into the Qin family, these two aunts had already married in. They thought they had seniority over me and had their biological mother-in-law backing them, so they tried to suppress me. But I’m not someone easily bullied.

No matter how late I entered the family, I am the eldest sister-in-law here, and my backing, the Zhen family, is not something their families can compare with.

The two couldn’t get anything off me since their youth...

When they couldn’t get any advantage from me, they tried to use their seniority as a pretext to pressure the younger generation. A-Xiao and his brother were clever since childhood and didn’t often interact with them, so they never suffered...

When your elder sister-in-law first married in, they once gave her trouble at a banquet...

But your sister-in-law has a temperament that won’t be easily bullied by anyone. A daughter from the He family, not even your second and third aunts dared to go too far.

Now that you will be coming back with us. They will inevitably come to provoke you, your gentle nature and backing from the Xiao family, which isn’t influential in B City, mean they won’t go soft on you.

However, you don’t need to be afraid. I am telling you these things to help you understand the situation with the primary family, not to make you fearful.

You need to know that your real support isn’t with the Xiao family, but with A-Xiao and us.

With me here, no one will bully you, and even when I’m not around, if someone dares to bully you, you just fight back. Don’t worry about who it is, understand?"

In his youth, old Qin married two wives. The first was Xue Ting, the daughter from the Xue family, just a family alliance. Old Qin didn’t really like Xue Ting, and he had a mistress early on.

Xue Ting had poor health since childhood. After giving birth to Qin’s father, Qin Jianguo, her health worsened and she died when Qin Jianguo was seven.

After Xue Ting’s death, old Qin married his mistress into the home, along with two children: one a year younger than Qin Jianguo, and the other three years younger...

Qin Jianguo was precocious, but even then, it was impossible for him to understand the full meaning of this situation at seven.

Until the Xue family came with accusations, Qin Jianguo’s aunt told him that your father had already had someone outside early, and had two sons with another woman.

Young as he was, he didn’t understand initially, but as he grew older, he did.

Qin Jianguo’s stepmother, Lin Jing, was initially only old Qin’s secretary. Once she became Mrs. Qin, her demeanor became unbelievably unpleasant.

Because of old Qin’s disreputable behavior, the relationship between the Qin and Xue families completely collapsed.

Both the Qin and Xue families were large and notable clans in B City, acquainted within the same social circle.

Whenever women from the Xue family attended the same gatherings as those from the Qin family, they would certainly not give Lin Jing any face, and families close to the Xue family naturally didn’t favor Lin Jing either.

When Lin Jing got upset externally, she would vent her frustrations on Qin Jianguo back home, but after his first scolding, Qin Jianguo moved out of the old residence directly; fortunate was he to have the Xue family as a powerful maternal background.

As Qin Jianguo grew up, old Qin gradually realized that the eldest son was more proficient than the two younger sons, it might also be because Qin Jianguo moved outside, gaining favor due to distance, consequently turning all attention to Qin’s father.

Lin Jing and her two sons, how could they resign themselves to this? They caused quite a few troubles in the interim, but Qin Jianguo managed to resolve them all.

The one successful scheme of Lin Jing against Qin Jianguo was ruining his proposed marriage to the Jiang family, making her eldest son Qin Jiantai marry the daughter of the Jiang family instead.

Lin Jing didn’t realize that Qin Jianguo had never intended to marry into the Jiang family, so when Lin Jing interceded, he actually assisted.

With that assistance, Qin Jiantai married Jiang Li as he wished. However, just after Jiang Li married into the Qin family, the Jiang family encountered trouble. Lin Jing, who thought she had secured strong allies, found herself confronted with a burdensome ally, and was furious...

To bolster herself further, Lin Jing then set about arranging her youngest son’s marriage, yet others already knew that the Qin family’s current power rested with Qin Jianguo. Lin Jing’s sons, Qin Jiantai, and Qin Jianmin, lacked considerable prospects.

Therefore, none of the powerful families were interested in Qin Jianmin, and ultimately only the Fang family extended an olive branch to Lin Jing due to the Qin family’s prestige...

With only one option, she had no choice but to accept, what else could she do? Wait until later to marry into a family of even lower standing?