Rebirth Counterattack with Space
Chapter 179 - 171: Heart Cold

Chapter 179: Chapter 171: Heart Cold

"Your eldest brother-in-law’s family really has some nerve. How could your mother-in-law be so muddled? What did your father-in-law say? Sister, you and your husband should think it through yourselves. Your family has two boys, and they’ll both need to get married someday. If they end up having sons... there will never be enough house to go around."

Xia Yuan frowned in indignation, "And your husband’s attitude—if you don’t want Gu Feng and Gu Meng to resent you later, even if your husband agrees, you can’t give in. Sigh, why didn’t you come to me earlier when you were short of money?"

"Didn’t I come to you afterward? I was never really counting on borrowing money from the Gu Family. I’ve seen right through them over the years, but they are still Gu Tianming’s parents, his brothers and sisters. It wouldn’t be appropriate for me to say anything unpleasant."

Xia Na could still muster a laugh, and turned to comfort Xia Yuan, "Don’t get angry over this, it’s not worth harming your health. Building a house is a big deal, we couldn’t have kept it a secret from them, and not asking his own family for a loan first would’ve been disrespectful to Gu Tianming, right?"

Seeing Xia Na still able to laugh about it, Xia Yuan couldn’t help but roll her eyes, "Sister, how can you still laugh?"

"What should I do, cry instead? Besides, Gu Tianming didn’t just see through them this time, he also totally lost heart. You know, when we heard his brother and sister-in-law so confidently demanding their way, and the elders supporting them, we got so angry we just left. Halfway down the road, we remembered something we forgot to take, so we turned back. Heh, and that’s when we accidentally overheard his parents and brother and sister-in-law talking."

Xia Na sneered twice at the memory, buying a finished two-story building for three thousand yuan—she wouldn’t even dare dream of such a deal. His own parents might be muddle-headed, but they certainly weren’t. Never mind how difficult it is to secure a plot of land, three thousand yuan wouldn’t be enough to build two stories. Who would be happy being treated as fools like this? Would they dare to make such an offer to someone else?

"Turns out that from the five thousand yuan his eldest brother and sister-in-law said they could lend, the three thousand for the house came from his parents. The only two thousand actually from his brother and sister-in-law were supposed to be a loan to us."

"How could this be? What on earth were your husband’s parents thinking to be so blatantly unfair between their sons?" Xia Yuan was shocked.

"I don’t know what they were thinking, but his sister-in-law’s elder brother seems to be climbing the ranks and gaining titles. It’s possible he could lift up his eldest brother in the future, so those two are strutting around like they own the place now."

Xia Na gave a self-mocking smile.

"My husband and I are just insignificant clerks with no prospects. Working in the factory for the rest of our lives, this is as good as it gets. On top of that, we’re short of money and in debt all over. Not to mention the elders, even Gu Tianming’s younger brothers and sisters look down on us."

Xia Yuan sighed, at a loss for what to say to comfort her sister. She knew about the couple’s utmost effort to contribute to their in-laws—both encountering a biased in-law family, but the biggest difference between Gu Tianming and the eldest Gu was that one had a brain and knew to protect his wife and children, while the other was just not smart enough and essentially dug his own grave.

"What’s there to sigh about?" Xia Na laughed again, "I’m not upset anymore. If it wasn’t for this incident, we would never have realized that they each had a good nest egg. But why then did his eldest brother and sister-in-law act so poor all those years during the toughest times?"

"Both Dad and Mom kept saying how my elder brother was the only one earning a wage in their household and the burden was heavy. They complained all day to Gu Tianming about eating chaff and swallowing vegetables without filling their stomachs, and we—the honest couple—truly believed them. Every month, we scrimped on ourselves and our kids to give them money, Food Coupons, rice, and flour, investing well over half of our combined salaries into it. In the end, we were treated like fools."

"When people are biased, there’s nothing you can do. How much have Gu Tianming and I sacrificed for their family? But does anyone remember? In the end, we were still the least favored by the elderly due to our poverty. His brother and sister-in-law never had to contribute anything; the old folks would coddle them and give them handouts—that’s the disparity."

"So, did you ever expose their lies?" Xia Yuan took a deep breath, suppressing her anger; this matter infuriated her as an outsider, let alone her sister and brother-in-law.

"Expose for what? Are we not going to interact with them in the future? What good would come out of having a quarrel?"

With a mocking laugh, Xia Na said, "At that time, Gu Tianming and I didn’t make a fuss, nor did we rush to take our things; we simply turned around and went back quietly. But I did feel an anger inside, not believing that without their money, we wouldn’t be able to build our house, right?"

"Then, what’s the deal with that twenty-square-meter place?" Xia Yuan asked curiously.

"I haven’t finished yet. The next day, Gu Tianming pretended as if he knew nothing and went back to get some stuff. My in-laws played good cop, bad cop, implying that I was leading him astray and ruining the brotherly bond. Saying things like ’brothers join forces to fight tigers’ and ’like father, like son in battle’... They advised him with many words."

"Finally, Gu Tianming couldn’t bear it any longer and confronted them with what he had overheard the day before, asking why they were so biased. Seeing that they couldn’t hide it anymore, they ended up scolding him, saying that they had always known he was destined to be a beggar. They were unwilling to use their money to fill the hole of our poverty."

"In the end, when it seemed that buying a new house was off the table, my in-laws changed their tune again, insisting that Gu Tianming had to give up our current twenty-square-meter home for his younger brother’s ’May Day’ wedding."

"After returning, Gu Tianming actually cried alone. Without money, you are disrespected everywhere, even by your own parents. That’s why he finally saw through it and his heart grew cold," Xia Na’s voice gradually became tinged with helplessness, indignation, and fighting spirit. "They say fortunes change every ten years. Just because others look down on us, doesn’t mean we should look down on ourselves, right? So we both are discussing who should ’take unpaid leave’ as it’s more appropriate—we still owe a buttload of debt and have two kids to raise. If we both continue to linger in the factory, what will we have to help our kids get married when they grow up?"

"Sis, Aiguo always says ’no merchant, no wealth.’ These days, doing business ourselves, we truly understand this principle. Xiaoyun even said that our ’Hua Yan’ will sell better than potato chips and make more money. If you and brother-in-law really make up your minds, things will surely be better than they are now," Xia Yuan consoled, her heart aching as she hugged Xia Na, determined to support her sister and brother-in-law no matter what.

"Yeah, I see that too, to make a statement we have to dive into business," Xia Na acknowledged the changes in her younger sister and brother-in-law’s household in recent days and knew that Xia Yuan’s words couldn’t be truer.