Chapter 231

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Protagonist:

Lin Xiyu

"I don't mind either way; whether it's a boy or a girl, they're my own flesh and blood......"

The next second, Wu Meng's expression indeed changed slightly, and she sighed helplessly: "But my father-in-law and mother-in-law don't think that way."

"Your in-laws want a grandson?"

A trace of worry rose in Lin Xiyu for her.

"Yes."

Wu Meng admitted frankly: "The two of them have their hearts set on a grandson; all the baby clothes they bought are in boys' styles."

Lin Xiyu couldn't understand: "It's all only children nowadays, how can they still favor sons over daughters so much?"

"I heard you say before that Guben's maternal grandfather wanted a grandson, insisting he follow his own surname; I took it as a joke......"

Wu Meng smiled bitterly: "Never expected that now, this kind of thing would actually happen to me. I'm really worried — if it's a girl, and my in-laws give me the cold shoulder, how will I get through the days......"

"What about Li Liang?"

Lin Xiyu's delicate brows furrowed slightly: "What does he think? Does he want a son or a daughter?"

"He doesn't say it out loud......"

Wu Meng's eyes revealed disappointment: "I can tell he wants a son too."

"The baby isn't born yet."

Lin Xiyu tried to comfort her: "Boy or girl, let's talk after it's born. If the in-laws don't like it and won't help raise it, worst case we go back to Shanghai, no need to wait on them, and we'll be free and at ease."

"That's what I think too......"

Wu Meng saw their thoughts aligned, chuckled, then laughed happily: "Xiyu, we really are good sisters. I knew coming to you was right; as long as I chat with you, no matter what worries, I can throw them to the back of my mind."

"Stay for dinner at my place......"

Lin Xiyu also smiled: "I'll make you the sparerib and yam soup you like best."

"Not eating."

Wu Meng smiled and declined: "I'll chat a bit more then I have to go. I need to get home before dark; if I'm late, I'll have to face my mother-in-law's mood again."

"You came back to your natal home alone?"

Lin Xiyu frowned: "What about Li Liang? Didn't he come back with you?"

"He's busy with training, no time."

Wu Meng said with some annoyance: "If I'd known he trains all day and never comes home, I wouldn't have come back from Shanghai. Still can't see each other now — what's the difference from living apart in two places?"

"Is army training that busy?"

Lin Xiyu's eyes showed surprise: "Don't you live together now? At least you should see each other morning and evening, right?"

"Don't mention it......."

Wu Meng complained irritably: "Looking at Liangzi's schedule, I finally know what 'up before the rooster, asleep after the dog' means. When he leaves in the morning I'm still asleep; when he returns at night I'm already sound asleep. We're nominally husband and wife, perfectly missing every chance to see each other."

Lin Xiyu held back a smile: "You can stay up a bit later, wait for him to come back."

"It's not that I don't want to wait; I can't fight the drowsiness since getting pregnant."

Wu Meng shrugged helplessly: "Before, in Shanghai, I often stayed up late too. At first the company had few people, overtime day and night, pulling all-nighters wasn't unheard of. Now it's no good — ever since I got pregnant, I always feel listless and tired. After eating I just want to nap; I can't not sleep."

"Pregnancy is quite hard......"

Lin Xiyu followed her words: "That's why they say a life without bearing children is incomplete. Without experiencing a mother's hardship, you can't understand the true meaning of 'maternal love,' can't truly comprehend just how great maternal love is."

"I can already understand it now."

Wu Meng gently stroked her slightly protruding belly, filled with emotion: "For this child, I've already given up so much — not just a job with an annual salary of several hundred thousand, but also an unfettered life."

"Before, alone, I couldn't feel how hard it is to get along with in-laws. Now it's different; the slightest trivial disagreement causes friction. I don't want to put Liangzi in a difficult spot in the middle. I've been enduring it all along, and don't know how much longer I can keep enduring like this......"

——

"Do you plan to keep living with your in-laws?"

Lin Xiyu asked tentatively: "Haven't you thought about buying your own place and moving out to live separately?"

"Liangzi's mom isn't willing......"

Wu Meng pursed her lips, showing some displeasure: "She says the housing allocated by the army is quite big, enough for four people, no need to waste that money......"

"Buying a house appreciates in value; it counts as an investment too."

Lin Xiyu couldn't understand: "Didn't you get Li Liang to persuade her? Rising house prices are an inevitable trend; if you don't buy now, you'll definitely regret it later."

"Persuaded her, no use."

Wu Meng smiled bitterly helplessly: "That generation is all like this — they hold onto money too tight, just like saving in the bank, not willing to spend a bit. Not just my mother-in-law, my mom's the same. In '99 I told her to buy a house; at the time she liked a development, even paid the deposit, then she changed her mind. Now the houses in that area have at least doubled."

"Wang Fan is hoarding land in the east again."

Lin Xiyu didn't treat Wu Meng as an outsider, and without the slightest hesitation told her the news she'd gotten: "From his tone, house prices on both sides of Shi Dong East Road will see a big surge. Buying now isn't too late. You and Li Liang discuss it. If your mother-in-law won't buy, you two buy it yourselves. Only with your own house can you be at ease; if conflicts with the in-laws flare up, you can move out anytime."

"Sigh."

Wu Meng's brows and eyes dimmed, and she sighed again: "I want to buy, just afraid Liangzi has concerns. He listens to his mom too much — whatever she says goes; he has no mind of his own at all."

"How can Li Liang be like that?"

Lin Xiyu was rarely surprised: "Usually he seems quite sharp; doesn't look like someone so blindly filial."

"Right, you used that word perfectly."

Wu Meng finally found an outlet to vent, and complained fiercely: "I've seen through him — he's just blindly filial. Whenever I have a conflict with his parents, right or wrong, he makes me back down."

"Saying his mom suffered a lot as a rural teacher all her life, finally got to come back to the city, just let her enjoy her later years in peace. We juniors, if we're capable we should do more work, don't keep nitpicking, making everyone unhappy."

——

"Is all the housework at your place done by you?"

The more Lin Xiyu listened, the more uneasy she felt, and a deep worry welled up for her best friend: "Can't his mother help share the load a bit?"

"Share my ass..."

Wu Meng felt stifled and couldn't help but curse: "All the housework at home is done by me. Even pregnant I can't rest. In his mother's eyes, I don't have a formal job and rely on her son for a living. A full-time housewife is equivalent to a full-time nanny, so I should just work like an ox and serve the old couple."

"How come you don't have a job?"

Lin Xiyu spoke up for her friend: "You earn several hundred thousand a year in Shanghai. They can't not know that, right?"

"Several hundred thousand down the drain."

Wu Meng's eyes dimmed: "Her mother has old-fashioned ideas. As long as it's not a state-owned enterprise with a formal position, it's the same as not having a formal job. The moment I say I can make money, she says the little money you earn is all sunk into buying a house in Shanghai — a bottomless pit. You owe the bank loans you can't pay off, and you'll drag Liangzi down to suffer with you."

"You didn't see the way she looked. Clearly she's the one blaming others, but she acts like she's the one who suffered some huge grievance. She hoodwinks Li Liang and his dad into siding with her, turning me into the family sinner..."

——

"Your mother-in-law's level is really high..."

Lin Xiyu realized: "No wonder you're not comfortable at his place. With a mother-in-law this good at acting, even if it's not your fault, she can make it your fault. Li Liang blindly sides with his mother again, so of course you're the one who suffers."

"Exactly..."

The more Wu Meng spoke, the more her heart ached. Her eye rims reddened involuntarily: "Living in that house is suffocating. I really can't take it anymore."

"You still need to communicate properly with Li Liang about this."

Lin Xiyu couldn't bear to see her sad and soothed her gently: "You two are husband and wife. There can't be barriers between you. Only if he understands you, is of one mind with you, and thinks of you more in everything, can you avoid being wronged."

"Telling me this is useless. He's the one who needs to understand."

Wu Meng's voice choked with sobs: "It's not like I haven't tried communicating with him. Say too much, and he thinks I'm being affected, nitpicking with his mother all day over a bit of housework."

"How about this then."

Lin Xiyu genuinely wanted the best for her: "Wait until Guben returns from Shanghai. I'll have him talk to Li Liang. They have a good relationship. Li Liang will listen to what Guben says..."

"Mm-hmm."

Gratitude flashed in Wu Meng's eyes. She nodded vigorously.

——

The two best friends' idea was good, but the situation developed beyond expectations.

Wu Meng didn't get to wait for Guben to return. Her in-laws stirred up trouble again. In just a few days, she once again appeared before Lin Xiyu on Wangfu Pool West Street, eyes red.

The cause this time was still Wu Meng's mother-in-law. She privately found a familiar doctor to give her daughter-in-law a B-ultrasound.

At five months, the fetus's gender could already be distinguished.

The doctor saw it was a girl and told the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. Her mother-in-law's face changed on the spot.

After that, she found her daughter-in-law displeasing in every way, openly and secretly squeezing her, saying her stomach wasn't up to snuff, couldn't produce a son.

Wu Meng felt terrible and talked back a few sentences. Her mother-in-law actually seized the chance to feign illness, lying in bed making sarcastic remarks, saying her daughter-in-law was unfilial, that marrying into the Li family was to curse her.

Li Liang caught between the two women, couldn't persuade either side, simply stayed at the company barracks, not returning home for several days straight.

With her son not coming back, the mother-in-law's mood soured further. She vented all her resentment on her daughter-in-law.

Wu Meng had taken enough and didn't want to endure anymore. Her mother-in-law said one sentence, she retorted one sentence. The more they spoke, the more they clashed. In the end, her mother-in-law roared at her to abort the child.

Saying since she couldn't produce a son, they wouldn't acknowledge this daughter-in-law. Let Li Liang divorce her and find another who's obedient and filial.

How could Wu Meng swallow this grievance? She also threw down harsh words: divorce then, completely cut ties with the in-laws.

She felt relieved saying it, but regretted it the moment she left home.

Crying alone, not daring to return to her natal home, she ran to Lin Xiyu's place to pour out her grievances.

——

"What? His mother told you to abort? That's too much bullying. Is there such a mother-in-law?"

"What's wrong with a girl? She's a woman herself, yet she favors sons over daughters this heavily?"

"This kind of person is just vile. The daughter-in-law is willing to give birth for her — that's already good enough — yet she still picks faults. She deserves to get sick. Best if she's angered to death."

Wu Meng recounted the whole story in fits and starts. This time not only was Lin Xiyu filled with righteous indignation, even Grandma Gu was alarmed, verbally condemning her mother-in-law and expressing strong disapproval.

"Wuu wuu wuu."

Hearing the two of them speak, Wu Meng cried even more grievously.

"Does your mother know?"

Lin Xiyu listened, heart aching, trying to comfort her.

"No..."

Wu Meng choked out: "I'm afraid if she gets too angry, she'll take a kitchen knife and go fight the mother-in-law to the death."

"With your mother's temper, that's indeed possible..."

Lin Xiyu knew Wu's mother's temper well and nodded in agreement.

"This kind of matter..."

Grandma Gu considered from an elder's perspective and had a different view: "Hiding it from her won't do, right? If you two really divorce, your natal family will find out sooner or later."

Hearing divorce, Wu Meng's mouth puckered, and she wanted to cry again.

"Mengmeng, tell me the truth..."

Lin Xiyu keenly caught her subtle expression change: "This marriage — do you actually want to divorce, or not?"

"......."

Wu Meng bit her lower lip and didn't make a sound.

"You still have feelings for Li Liang, right?"

Lin Xiyu thought for a moment, then asked: "Divorce is just out of anger, isn't it?"

"......."

Wu Meng lowered her brows and eyes, and still there was no movement for a good long while.

"Divorce has its way of handling, not divorcing has its countermeasures."

Lin Xiyu patiently continued: "This matter you must think through clearly. If you are disheartened toward Li Liang, truly want to divorce, this matter is not hard. His family cannot accommodate you, then a clean break, give birth to the child and raise it yourself, and have no further relationship with them."

"If you still have feelings for Li Liang, still want to give him a chance, then you must consider clearly: what exactly do you expect of him? What kind of concession do you hope he can make? How to get along with his family in the future? Where is the maximum limit you can endure?"

"What Xiyu says is right......"

Grandma Gu's life experience was rich, she saw more thoroughly: "You and your mother-in-law have fallen out stiffly, that is already an irretrievable fact. Between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law to make a scene to this extent, both sides have cracks in their hearts, very hard to repair. Even if for the sake of Li Liang's affection you force yourself to go back, the future situation will not be optimistic either."

"If you listen to one sentence of my advice, then seize this opportunity and lay it out clearly with Li Liang, speak your demands frankly. If he can do it, you forgive him, give him another chance. If he cannot do it, there is also no need to wrong yourself anymore. That family there is no need to go back to anymore."

"Liangzi, will he agree?"

Wu Meng hearing this, finally had a reaction. In her eyes flashing with tear-light, full were unease and bewilderment toward the future.

"You saying it like this, means you still have feelings for him......"

Lin Xiyu didn't need to ask again, could also hear the real implication hidden in this sentence.

"......"

Wu Meng again lowered her eyelids, did not admit, but also did not deny.

Her expression at this moment, in Lin Xiyu's view, was tacit admission.

"Since you still have feelings for him, still want to save this marriage, then do as Grandma said. Only this way can truly resolve the conflict between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law."

Lin Xiyu truly worthy of being a good sister, in her own way, gave her immense confidence: "If Li Liang cannot do it, also no fear. Divorce then divorce. You give birth to the child, I'll be her godmother, spoil her into a princess, let her grow up unrestrained, happy and carefree."

"Mm-hmm."

Wu Meng's eyes brightened, as if she had taken a reassurance pill. Her uneasy heart, at this moment, miraculously calmed down.