Rebirth Counterattack with Space
Chapter 412 - 396 Gap

Chapter 412: Chapter 396 Gap

"Heh heh, just picking someone up from the airport once made you feel stifled? That’s why I say you never really understand until you’ve experienced it yourself. These past years, it’s like you’ve forgotten the pain once the wound has healed, and you’ve forgotten what kind of people your siblings are," Xia Na chuckled with a bit of schadenfreude.

"Aren’t you angry? How my parents treated you back then, how they treated our two children. They didn’t offer a helping hand when times were tough, but now that we’re wealthy, they’re still leeching off us. Don’t you honestly feel a bit suffocated?" Gu Tianming questioned, perplexed.

"Everyone has a heart, how could I not feel suffocated? But I’ve learned my lesson by now. What’s the point of hurrying back to that and getting myself hurt internally?"

Xia Na laughed dismissively, realizing more and more over the years the gap between having strength and lacking it.

When you’re powerless, you often have no choice but to swallow your grievances, forcing yourself to endure through gritted teeth for various reasons. But once you have strength, it’s a different story altogether. You don’t tolerate it; there are so many ways to stand up for yourself and let others endure the bitterness.

Gu Tianming: "... So, this is just karma, and you want me to experience this stifling feeling firsthand?"

"After all these years of letting bygones be bygones, achieving success, you’d think they would have warmed up to us, even a stone would have heated up by now, right? Sadly, the reality proves that a child who is not favored by their parents, no matter how accomplished or filial, will still remain the unfavored one."

Xia Na smiled openly, not avoiding the truth as she told Gu Tianming, "Strictly speaking, it’s because of you that I’ve suffered these years."

Gu Tianming felt awkward, "Can’t you be a bit less blunt? You make me feel utterly ashamed."

"You can’t handle this? Think about how many years I’ve put up with your family. Could you talk about it for three days and nights? Now my son is even married. Aren’t I allowed some whimsical venting every now and then, or are you expecting me to keep enduring?"

Xia Na looked at Gu Tianming with a sardonic smile, "You need to understand that the reason I’ve tolerated them all these years, not taking things too far, is mostly because you’ve always been very clear-headed. Of course, if you hadn’t been, do you think you’d be standing here talking to me like this?"

Xia Na gave a short laugh and playfully lifted Gu Tianming’s chin with her hand, "Three-legged toads are hard to find, but men with two legs are a dime a dozen. What do you think?"

"Wife, we shouldn’t joke like this," Gu Tianming said with a bitter smile.

"Who’s joking?"

Xia Na huffed, "But rest assured, I wouldn’t do anything too drastic anyway. I still have to set an example for my daughter-in-law. Besides, they are after all your parents, and who asked you to care about them so much? So even when I’m angry, I won’t completely neglect them. At most, I’ll just lower the standard of their support to a normal level in the future."

Xia Na smiled calmly, "Previously, knowing you felt guilty for not being a dutiful son in person, you wanted to compensate them. If they wanted to enjoy the pleasure of being surrounded by their children and grandchildren, then let them be. I didn’t mind spending a bit more money.

Hiring a few people, providing them with food, drink, and good clothing, how much could it cost? After all, we’ve long stopped worrying about that amount of money. We could miss an auction or buy fewer antiques or pieces of jewelry, and that would cover their expenses for several years.

Besides, the biggest asset—the villa, although they live there, is registered in Gu Feng’s name. So when the day comes, it won’t be split away by others."

"You’ve been wronged these years," Gu Tianming said, falling silent before letting out a sigh.

"As long as you always stand by me and the boys, I won’t feel wronged."

--

In the hotel, the suite.

Fourteen-year-old Sun Jianshu reached out to open the mini-fridge and saw the drinks inside, curling his lip, "There are even fewer drinks here than in my uncle’s car."

"Don’t just take anything, check if it’s an extra charge before you grab that one. Didn’t you hear your uncle say he’s only covering the room cost, nothing else?"

Gu Tianru scared him, "If you dare to use anything without mine and your dad’s permission, see if I don’t deduct it from your pocket money."

"So stingy." Sun Jianshu muttered as he closed the fridge door, unclear who he was referring to.

"What were you doing at the airport pulling at me and giving me those scary looks?" Gu Tianru didn’t bother with her son and turned to interrogate her husband, Sun Bin.

"If I don’t pull you back, should I just watch you make a fool of yourself? Do you even have a brain? Your oldest brother and sister-in-law, and your third brother and sister-in-law kept silent, yet you jumped out playing the filial daughter? Are you not satisfied until you’ve completely offended your second brother and sister-in-law?"

A flash of contempt crossed Sun Bin’s eyes. If it weren’t for this woman’s lack of brains, relying solely on her second brother over the years, their family would have prospered long ago. How could it be that they can’t even afford a villa now and have to live decently only by clinging to her parents?

"That’s my mom, who would help her if not me? My second brother is a good-for-nothing, afraid of his wife, and that woman thinks she’s all that just because she has some petty cash..."

Gu Tianru said resentfully. Every time she thought about how her own brother traded on "Huayan," but she still had to buy it at market price with real silver, it made her so angry.

Over the years, her second brother made a fortune, and his sister-in-law, even being from outside the family, got to enjoy the good life. Yet, as his own sister, her family could only live somewhat better by depending on her father and mother.

Her second brother, afraid of his wife, made it difficult for his siblings to "borrow" even a little money from him. They would at most get a few thousand or ten thousand; any more than that, and the second brother would claim that was all his spending money.

It was hard enough to get small amounts of money, let alone larger sums. If any of the siblings wanted to start a business and needed capital, they’d be flatly rejected by the sister-in-law, who wouldn’t spare their feelings. Even their parents’ requests fell on deaf ears, as she gave no face to anyone in their family. This was the underlying reason why the family had a lot of complaints about the sister-in-law behind her back.

Thinking about how she directly approached her sister-in-law to borrow half a million for business, only for her to suggest using her own house for collateral. She even said she wouldn’t charge interest and would return the house to Gu Tianru’s name once the money was repaid.

Hmph, that was clearly a sign of distrust. Her second brother didn’t even utter a word. Business is unpredictable; if she were to lose money, she truly believed her sister-in-law might not return the house to her.

The richer, the stingier.

Thinking this way, Gu Tianru said indignantly, "Anyway, no matter what, they’re tight-fisted, so what does it matter if we offend them?"