Li Suhua couldn't stand it anymore. Had it not been for the sake of saving Zhao Yulan's face, she would have dragged Lin Wanyi away long ago.
She immediately placed a piece of beef into Lin Wanyi's bowl.
"Wanyi, come, eat. If some words are unpleasant to hear, just ignore them.
"Eat a little more."
Lin Wanyi smiled and put the beef into her mouth, which made Ma Jinhua feel even more displeased.
She slammed her chopsticks down on the table.
"Yulan, how is this sister-in-law of yours speaking? What was wrong with what I just said?
"Isn't it perfectly justified for men to eat first at home while the women serve them?"
Li Suhua glanced at Zhao Qingcai, who had been silent the whole time, and said to Ma Jinhua:
"Sister-in-law, older brother is still eating. Why aren't you standing up to serve him? Why did you sit down to eat together?
"Didn't you just say that women must serve when men eat?"
Ma Jinhua hadn't expected her to say this. Her face showed a flash of embarrassment, but she immediately replied,
"I am getting old and don't have the energy to serve anymore. Now it's the daughter-in-law's turn to serve.
"Li Suhua, I'm not afraid to be honest with you.
"Yulan already told me long ago that your Lin Wanyi is divorced and brings along a money-losing burden.
"I'm not a mean person, so I don't mind that this would be Lin Wanyi's second marriage, but..."
She turned her head to look at Wang Keke, who was beside Li Suhua and Lin Wanyi, and said,
"I will not accept a burden of a child, and my son will not raise another man's kid.
"He has his own son.
"Lin Wanyi, if you want to marry my son, we need to lay down some ground rules.
"This burden of yours must stay with your maiden family. You cannot spend my son's hard-earned money on her.
"After you marry into our family, you must focus entirely on serving my son and my grandson. I don't want you to have any more children, either.
"Furthermore, the money and house you currently own must be transferred to my son. After all, the man is the head of the household."
Lin Wanyi completely lost her appetite.
She took Wang Keke's hand.
"Keke, let's go home with Mommy."
Before Wang Keke could even stand up, Zhao Yulan hurriedly pressed her back down.
"Sit down, Wanyi. Today is your eldest aunt's birthday. Just give me some face."
Lin Wanyi did not sit down. She looked calmly at Zhao Yulan.
"Eldest Aunt, I wish you a happy birthday.
"Keke and I will be leaving now."
Zhao Yulan blocked her path again.
"Wanyi, listen to your eldest aunt. My sister-in-law is just a bit blunt with her words. She just wants you all to live a good life together, she has no other intentions.
"Sit down first, sit down."
Lin Wanyi still didn't sit. Li Suhua and Lin Jiajun both stood up.
Li Suhua glanced at Ma Jinhua.
"My daughter is only divorced, she hasn't broken the law.
"My granddaughter has done absolutely nothing wrong. What gives you the right to tear a mother and daughter apart?"
Seeing that they were all about to leave, and with Zhao Delin glaring at her several times, Ma Jinhua's attitude softened slightly.
Wearing a fake smile, she said,
"Suhua, don't be angry. I'm just a straightforward person.
"I just wanted to put the ugly words out front to avoid any disputes later.
"It's not that I don't like the child. She is cute. I was just afraid she might suffer grievances at our house. Aren't my intentions good?"
Li Suhua sneered coldly.
"They are my daughter and my granddaughter. They don't need you to worry about them.
"And let me tell you, my daughter never agreed to date your son. She hasn't even considered remarrying.
"I hope you won't bother her again."
After saying that, she took Wang Keke by the hand and walked away.
Zhao Delin, however, stood up to apologize to Lin Wanyi:
"I'm so sorry, my mom is just talking nonsense. It's not that I don't like Keke, and I never said you couldn't bring her with you.
"Wanyi, as long as we get married, I promise to treat Keke like my own flesh and blood.
"You have my word!"
Lin Wanyi couldn't hold back anymore. She told Zhao Delin with absolute seriousness,
"I have no intention of marrying you. In fact, I have no intention of even dating you.
"Please stop harassing me from now on."
With that, she took Keke by the hand and walked away.
Zhao Yulan trailed after her, still trying to explain,
"Wanyi, Wanyi, don't be so impulsive!
"You're a divorced woman with a child. You don't have that many options to begin with.
"My sister-in-law just has a sharp tongue but a soft heart. If you marry into their family, you'll definitely have a good life.
"Even if you don't think about yourself, you need to think about Jiajun.
"If you keep staying here like this, I'm afraid Jiajun's wedding might not happen either."
"Why wouldn't it happen?"
Lin Jiajun's face darkened even further.
"Aunt, can you stop obsessing over my family and my sister all day long?
"Why don't you go manage your own son and look after your own grandson?
"You clearly have too much time on your hands."
It would have been fine if he had kept his mouth shut, but those words stabbed right into Zhao Yulan's sore spot.
She wanted to manage her son and look after her grandson, too.
But her daughter-in-law never gave her the chance.
Ever since getting pregnant, her daughter-in-law had moved back to her maiden home.
She only came back to do her one month of postpartum confinement after giving birth, and the moment that month was over, she took the baby and went straight back to her parents' house.
Now the child was three years old, and they had barely been back since.
Their house wasn't even that far, but she simply refused to return.
As a result, her son was always staying over at his mother-in-law's place too.
Just thinking about it made her furious.
She had spent hundreds of thousands to marry this daughter-in-law into the family, yet now it felt more like her son had married into theirs.
Having lost her desire to speak, she turned around and went back into the house.
Meanwhile, Zhao Delin was still scolding Ma Jinhua.
"Mom, what are you doing? She hasn't even agreed to be with me yet, and you come right out of the gate being so mean. Why would she ever agree now?"
Ma Jinhua couldn't care less.
"What are you afraid of? She's a divorced woman dragging a burden around; nobody else wants her.
"You are her best option. I'm just laying down the ugly truth beforehand.
"With your aunt here, you have nothing to worry about."
But Zhao Yulan was already annoyed herself and wanted nothing more to do with it.
The meal ended with everyone in a bad mood.
Zhao Delin lost his appetite. He stood up, intending to go apologize to Lin Wanyi.
But he was stopped in the courtyard by Lin Jiajun.
"Sorry, you're not welcome in our home."
Zhao Delin offered Lin Jiajun a cigarette.
"I'm sorry, man. I'm just here to apologize to your sister. My mom doesn't know how to filter her words.
"But I absolutely didn't mean any of that. If your sister is really willing to be with me, I swear I'll treat Keke like my own biological daughter.
"Believe me, I love girls anyway.
"I can definitely be a good father."
"Who the hell needs you to be her good father?"
Before Lin Jiajun could even reply, Wang Hao's furious voice boomed from outside the courtyard.
He threw down his suitcase and the nutritional supplements he was carrying, storming right up to Zhao Delin.
"What do you think you're doing? Our Keke already has a father! Who asked you to be her dad?
"Have you no shame? Get the hell out of here!"
Zhao Delin didn't know Wang Hao. Being inexplicably cursed out by a stranger, he wasn't one to just take it lying down either.
He turned and yelled right back at Wang Hao,
"Are you out of your mind? Keke is Wanyi's daughter, which means she's going to be my daughter in the future. What does it have to do with you?"
"Let me tell you, it's first come, first served.
"Lin Wanyi is already spoken for. You still think you can go on a blind date with her? Get the hell out of here!"
