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Back to the 80s: A Marriage of Convenience
If Zhao Jin were here, she would certainly be grateful that her actions were quick enough to marry into the Qi Family before Chen Cui could stir up trouble.
Otherwise, given the current situation, even if Grandfather Zhao and Grandma Zhao were to exert strong pressure, Zhao Guoqiang and Xu Mei would definitely oppose it.
The reason the couple has not outright rejected Zhao Jin marrying into the Qi Family is simply because Zhao Jin had already expressed her intentions to them before coming here. Even though they felt uncomfortable about it, Zhao Guoqiang and Xu Mei held back.
Zhao Jin's voluntary marriage to the Qi Family is entirely different from being forced to replace Zhao Ying'er. In the former case, Zhao Guoqiang and Xu Mei considered Zhao Jin's autonomy and primarily took into account her own wishes. However, in the latter case, it would fundamentally change things, leading to a resolute opposition from Zhao Guoqiang and Xu Mei.
Regardless, Chen Cui's claims that Zhao Ying'er would seek death or despair still made Xu Mei uncomfortable: "What does Aunt Si mean? Is it a grievance for your Ying'er to marry into the Qi Family, but it's not difficult for my Jin? One should act with conscience; isn't Aunt Si selfishly pushing her unwanted marriage onto my Jin?"
"What selfishness? We are all family; what do you mean by two families? Jin is older than Ying'er; she is the elder sister. What's wrong with her marrying in place of Ying'er? Can it take Jin's life?" The one rebutting Xu Mei was Grandma Zhao, who looked extremely impatient.
Just as she preferred her eldest son over her younger ones, she also favored Zhao Ying'er over Zhao Jin. Therefore, when it came to marrying into the Qi Family, Grandma Zhao firmly stood on Chen Cui's side.
Grandma Zhao thought very simply and quite justifiably: either no one marries, or if someone does, it must be Zhao Jin. In any case, Ying'er cannot suffer.
"Mother, Ying'er is your granddaughter; Jin is not an adopted child." Zhao Guoqiang had always known that his parents were quite biased. Being brothers, he wouldn't wish ill upon his fourth brother's family.
But if the fourth brother's family acted this way, trying to push his daughter into a fire pit...
Zhao Guoqiang's expression darkened as he turned to look at the previously silent Zhao Guofu: "Fourth Brother, whose idea is this? Did you know about it beforehand?"
Faced with Zhao Guoqiang's direct question, Zhao Guofu actually wanted to shake his head and deny everything. However, Chen Cui reacted faster than him and immediately seized the opportunity: "What does this mean, Big Brother? Are you implying that I am the only one stirring things up behind the scenes? Let me clarify in front of Big Brother's sister-in-law that this decision was made after serious and thorough discussions between us and our parents. We all agree that allowing your Jin to marry into the Qi Family is the best and most suitable option."
As Chen Cui finished speaking, Zhao Guoqiang shifted his gaze from Zhao Guofu to Grandfather Zhao and Grandma Zhao.
After waiting for a long time without hearing any objections from the three, Zhao Guoqiang knew that Chen Cui was speaking the truth. He forced a smile, but his heart felt completely cold.
This was his own father and mother, and this was his own younger brother! Great, just great!
"Fine, my family Jin will take care of this matter. But from now on, don’t think about calculating anything with my family Jin. Parents are elders, and as a son, I have no choice but to honor them. However, the fourth branch's family should not come to my house anymore." Zhao Guoqiang's words were equivalent to drawing a clear line with Zhao Guofu's family, and even Grandfather Zhao and Grandma Zhao could not escape this.
What does it mean to say "no choice but to honor them"? If he had a choice, would Zhao Guoqiang plan to ignore the two elders?
He felt that Zhao Guoqiang was an ungrateful wolf raised by them, and the expressions on Grandfather Zhao and Grandma Zhao's faces darkened.
Zhao Guoqiang, however, ignored the gloomy faces of Grandfather Zhao and Grandma Zhao and took Xu Mei away.
Zhao Guofu wanted to chase after them to ease the relationship between the brothers that had dropped to freezing point, but he was held back by Chen Cui. Thus, he missed the best opportunity to reconcile with his elder brother's family.
"Dad, Mom, who is Big Brother venting his anger on? We are all one family; does he really want to sever ties with us?" Chen Cui was someone who wasn't afraid of trouble. She knew very well that Zhao Guoqiang's earlier words would definitely leave a rift between Grandfather Zhao and Grandma Zhao. Yet she still wanted to stir up trouble, fearing that Zhao Guoqiang's family wouldn't have a bad enough relationship with the two elders.
Chen Cui's thoughts were not hard to understand. They were all sons; there were grandsons in the family. If they didn’t completely make Grandfather Zhao and Grandma Zhao dislike the eldest branch’s family, how could they possibly treat their family well? Their family didn’t only have Zhao Ying'er as a daughter; there was also a precious little one named Zhao Lei!
Chen Cui thought far ahead and began planning for her son's future. Naturally, she wished for today's incident to escalate as much as possible; the more conflicts there were, the better opportunities she would have.
Zhao Guoqiang and Xu Mei had already left and were unaware of Chen Cui's schemes. Even if they knew, they wouldn’t change their minds because of it.
The truth was that Grandfather Zhao and Grandma Zhao had gone too far today; they had hurt both of their hearts and cut off any last shred of hope they had for the two elders.
Well then, they were already grandparents; could they still expect to be sheltered under the wings of their elders? From now on, they would completely sever ties with that ancestral home and just focus on living their own lives behind closed doors.
Zhao Guoqiang and Xu Mei's decision was not to be taken lightly. Once they returned home, they called Zhao Zhenqi and his two sisters-in-law into the main room and recounted everything from start to finish.
Zhao Guoqiang was not one to embellish stories, and Xu Mei was not the type to stir up trouble for no reason; therefore, Zhao Zhenqi and his family trusted their words completely.
Thinking about how their grandparents and Fourth Uncle's family were scheming like this, both Zhao Zhenqi and Zhao Zhenan looked quite displeased.
Even if their grandparents were biased on a regular basis, they had tolerated it. After all, even ten fingers have different lengths; they themselves could not always treat everyone equally.
However, now that it involved their sister, that was unacceptable!
"I just knew Aunt Si came here with bad intentions today. After all this time, she was just waiting for us here. What a cunning plan, so malicious." It was clear that she had ill intentions, wanting to marry their sister off to Qi Family instead of Zhao Ying'er, yet she still had the audacity to bring up Wu Feng? Zhao Zhenan slammed his fist on the table, nearly breaking it.
"Take it easy; otherwise, we'll have to deal with a new table." Qian Minmin shot an annoyed glance at Zhao Zhenan and gently tapped his hand that was about to cause trouble. Her expression was also grim. "Aunt Si has been plotting for a while. Is she planning to marry Zhao Ying'er off to Wu Feng? So she deliberately flaunts this marriage proposal in front of us while maliciously giving our sister false hope?"
If that were the case, Chen Cui would be truly despicable. First, she elevated Zhao Jin only to let him fall hard later. Giving someone hope only to snatch it away is far crueler than never giving them any hope at all.
Clearly, it wasn't just Qian Minmin who thought this way; the others in the room shared the same sentiment. At this moment, they all harbored intense hatred towards Chen Cui.
Among everyone present, only Zhao Jin knew that Chen Cui initially had no ulterior motives. After all, in her previous life, she did marry Wu Feng, and there was no situation where she married Zhao Ying'er off to Qi Family.
However, given the current circumstances, no matter how it was explained, it would certainly be unclear. Perhaps Chen Cui did not have bad intentions at first, but now her thoughts were undeniably malicious.
She intended for herself to marry into Qi Family while Zhao Ying'er would marry Wu Feng. This was Chen Cui's current scheme and had received approval from Grandfather Zhao and Grandma Zhao.
To others, this scheme seemed extremely infuriating; however, in Zhao Jin's eyes, it was not as difficult to accept.
Qi Zheng and Wu Feng, who is the real treasure, does not count for now. When looking back at today's choices and decisions in the future, it is likely that Chen Cui and Grandfather Zhao will regret it deeply.
Thinking of this, Zhao Jin couldn't help but smile with joy, tugging at Xu Mei's sleeve, and called out to Zhao Guoqiang: "Dad, Mom, you guys eat first. Whatever it is can wait until we're full. After all, marrying Qi Zheng is my own choice; I wasn't forced into it by anyone, so there's no need to be angry. When I live sweetly with Qi Zheng in the future, won't they be so upset that they can't eat or sleep?"
The previously tense atmosphere was instantly eased by Zhao Jin's words, extinguishing the flames of anger.
"You girl, are you not ashamed? Thinking about sweetness before you're even married?" Finally, Xu Mei couldn't help but pull her sleeve away and shot a glare at Zhao Jin.
"Not ashamed! In our own home, what’s there to be ashamed of? I haven't even married into the Qi Family yet, so I'm not worried about losing face." Zhao Jin wasn't really thick-skinned; she just wanted to calm her family down since they were all worked up over her.
Zhao Jin's strategy was quite effective. With her lively spirit, not only did Xu Mei shift her focus, but the others also found themselves caught between laughter and frustration.
"Well, it's good that we're in our own home." Qian Minmin couldn't hold back any longer and replied to Zhao Jin with a smile, "Since we're family, we’ll let it slide; we all know you're spoiled. But once you marry into the Qi Family, you must tone it down a bit. If you embarrass yourself in the Qi Family, we won't take responsibility for you!"
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