"Big brother, I am your own sister, are you just going to watch as my husband and I drift apart?" Ye Fang screamed exhaustively.
"Your relationship with Zhao Haiyang was a mistake from the very beginning." Ye Qiu remained unaffected and said calmly: "In his heart, other than status and money, there is no place for you. You know it yourself—if it weren't for me, he would have divorced you long ago."
How could Ye Fang not understand? Their marriage happened because she got pregnant before marriage, leveraging her pregnancy to force the marriage. What choice did she have, to marry a farmer from the village like her classmates did?
Zhao Haiyang really did not love her, but he was educated, came from a good family, and was good-looking; compared to the people in the village, he was of a completely different world. Who didn't envy her back then?
Ye Fang did not think there were issues between her and her husband at all, but believed that if her big brother was willing to help her, she could become the object of everyone's envy like before.
"Big brother, are you really going to watch your own sister become utterly desperate?" Ye Fang drooped her head in dejection, her eyes red.
"You can choose to divorce." Ye Qiu said indifferently: "Today's Zhao Haiyang has no capabilities, no looks, and does not care about the family. You can completely choose to live by yourself, which would definitely be more comfortable than trying to please that family every day."
"Divorce..." Ye Fang murmured, as if loss for spirit.
Liu Ping, who was acting mute beside, was also shocked. She had only heard of people persuading others to make up, and had never heard of persuading divorce! Her sister-in-law was really useless; if not for the relationship through her big brother, could Zhao Haiyang have reached his current position? The sister-in-law also didn't know how to make use of this, being bullied to death by that family.
If they really got a divorce, it wouldn't be a bad approach. Although the big brother didn't treat his sister-in-law too well, he would probably not let her fall into destitution; it would surely be more comfortable than her daily compromising and appeasing.
The idea of divorce had never crossed Ye Fang's mind. In her heart, she had always firmly believed that she was inferior to her husband Zhao Haiyang, but now that she thought about it, her big brother was not wrong.
It was true Zhao Haiyang was educated, but he was arrogant, incompetent, and his once handsome features had been ravaged by time into a middle-aged man with a beer belly. Just a few days ago, she even discovered that he seemed to have another woman on the side.
How did she ever think such a worthless man was good?
Ye Fang fell into deep thought; if she divorced like her big brother said, then she wouldn't have to live with that venomous mother-in-law, nor would she need to act according to that family's mood anymore. Later on, she would beg her big brother for a job...
Zhao Haiyang was indeed committing adultery; as long as she brought out evidence, the child would be ruled in her custody, and her son, who had been alienated by her husband and mother-in-law's instigation, would gradually side with her after living with her away from that family. The more she thought about it, the more Ye Fang felt that divorce was all benefit and no harm.
Ye Fang's eyes grew brighter, eagerly looking at her big brother. She knew he still cared for his own sister, and perhaps Zhao Haiyang had not been promoted since her big brother had long seen through that family. Once she divorced, her big brother would surely give her a better position than Zhao Haiyang ever had.
Clearly, she momentarily forgot that Ye Xiu was also her big brother's own younger brother, who had also not advanced beyond the position of head of security for so many years.
Ye Fang was filled with joy by Ye Qiu's advice on divorce, and solemnly thanked her big brother, then left carrying her bag, eager to find evidence of Zhao Haiyang's infidelity.
After Ye Fang left, only Liu Ping was left, smiling awkwardly.
While her sister-in-law got divorced and still had her older brother Ye Qiu to rely on, Liu Ping dared not even mention divorce. Despite her financial difficulties and her husband's neglect of the family, if she were to divorce Ye Xiu, Ye Qiu wouldn't help her, and she would indeed have to return to the countryside to farm.
"Do you have anything else to say?" Ye Qiu glanced at her, his expression impatient.
Although Ye Fang and her husband didn't assist him when he was down on his luck in their past life, they were not the main culprits as they were unaware. However, it was different for his second brother and his family; the car accident that left him in a vegetative state was orchestrated by this family of three.
Helping them? Impossible!
What mattered most to them was their precious son, right? Over the years, they've nearly spoiled him rotten. He's only been out of university for two years. It seems it's time to speed up the plans he had arranged for them; he definitely did not want to have to consider their prestige and offer them jobs in the company just to disgust others after Zhao Rui graduated.
"Big brother, look, Xiao Yu is soon going to be a junior. How about letting him come back to the company for an internship this summer to familiarize himself with the business, so he can later help Manman manage the company?" Liu Ping suggested with a sycophantic smile.
"Xiao Yu is a legitimate college student, and all his friends are heirs to major companies. He has both skills and insight. Having him in the company will definitely bring a large volume of business. I'm sure of it." Liu Ping's speech became more fluent as she spoke, as if she had already seen the day when her son would command power and everyone would hang on his words. As long as her son was capable, by that time Ye Manman would be merely a figurehead, and then the company would be theirs.
Ye Qiu listened with an unreadable expression on his face, but inwardly he scoffed. Who was she trying to fool?
With the mediocre school Ye Yu attended, calling him a college student? He merely entered through money. Those so-called friends of his were just trying to use him to connect with Ye Qiu. If one day he publicly gave up on this nephew, those so-called friends wouldn't hesitate to trample him down.
Liu Ping, as a mother, was fooled by her son's sweet talk into believing he could do anything and even thought about seizing what belonged to her daughter. She'd need to see if she had the fate for that!
"Let's talk about work matters after he graduates!" Ye Qiu said disinterestedly, wanting to end the conversation: "If there's nothing else, you should go back."
"But…" Liu Ping ultimately lacked the confidence to make more demands from Ye Qiu. If she attempted and failed, it could backfire, and her husband and son would blame her even more, causing her to lose even more status in the family, not to mention trying to support her own family.
Thinking about her mother and brother, who had been calling her more and more frequently lately, Liu Ping felt even more troubled.
Her son wanted money, her husband needed his daily tobacco and alcohol, and to maintain appearances, she couldn't buy the cheap stuff. Her mother also complained about family hardships, her sister-in-law had just had a second child and needed money for the fine, but her small salary was not enough.
In the end, Liu Ping didn't dare to speak up to Ye Qiu, contemplating selling the Gold Items Granny Ye had left behind, just to get by for a while.
Those items were meant for her eldest grandson, which her husband and son were aware of; she was only meant to safekeep them temporarily. She didn't dare let anyone know that they were gone, only thinking of redeeming them once she had money in a few months.
But she never could have imagined that she would never get the opportunity to retrieve those items again.