Chapter 436

Su Ying came over and pulled Liu Ling to the side, "I've never really understood how you think. It seems like you are especially tolerant of Sister-in-law, would you be like this with me?"

She had known Liu Ling for more than just one or two days, yet she still felt that she didn't understand her.

Other than Sister-in-law, there was also Wen Qing. If they were talking about affection, the relationship between these siblings should be the closest. But if they were talking about tolerance, Liu Ling was absolutely the strongest toward Liuling.

"What nonsense are you saying? Have I not been good to you?" "It's not that you haven't been good to me, it just feels different compared to Sister-in-law."

"That's just you thinking too much. Sister-in-law still feels that I'm too close with you." Liu Ling said with a smile.

Some things would forever remain a secret in her heart.

With her current mindset, having experienced so much, other than life and death, there really wasn't anything too important.

She had personally witnessed the breakdowns of Wen Qing and Liuling, which was why she was always exceptionally different toward them.

Wen Qing and Chenye were very close. They often came to stay at her house when they were young, so she also watched them grow up. As for Liuling...

No matter what she thought in her heart, even if they couldn't be intimate, she should still maintain an attitude of not falling out completely.

Wen Qing soon came back from outside. The smell of food attracted the children to run around the front door. Liu Ling let Little Six bring out a large handful of roasted meat skewers to give to them. She then told him to close the door when he came back.

Wanqing was taking pictures with her camera. Liu Ling impatiently asked her, "Why are you taking pictures of the food instead of people?"

"I'm going to show them to Zhang Rou and Qin Yue when school starts. Mom, you don't know that the food at foreign restaurants is so lacking. And it's hard to get used to eating it. Luckily you bought me a house so I can cook. Sometimes the three of us go there together to eat and complain. I want to take as many pictures of delicious food as I can on this trip home to show my classmates abroad later. That way they can see how abundant the food is in our country."

Zhang Rou and Qin Yue were two of Wanqing’s good friends at school. Both of their grades were very good.

Although the study abroad spots at Jincheng University were cancelled, Liu Ling talked to those two separately afterwards and still helped arrange for them to go abroad according to the original requirements. When everyone else was isolating Wanqing, these two were still able to firmly stand by Wanqing's side. This was enough to prove that these two children had good character, and also got along well with Wanqing.

Cancelling the study abroad spots was to punish those arrogant children. Good people shouldn't be implicated.

However, these two only came from average families. Liu Ling heard that they were working abroad over the summer to pay their way, so they didn't choose to come back like Wanqing did.

This girl hadn't even wanted to come back originally. It was Liu Ling who had firmly demanded it.

An Zhiqing brought two bottles of wine when he came. The Liu family had also prepared several bottles of beer, and the children had soft drinks.

The livelier it was with more people, the more the laughter echoed in the yard as the children played together.

An ZhiXian arrived the latest because the hospital suddenly had an emergency patient, which delayed him until now. The others were already halfway through eating by the time he leisurely strolled over.

Liu Ling let Sister Zhang and Mrs. Zhou go back first. Other than giving each of them a portion of the roasted skewers, she also let them divide up the stripped lamb chops and bones to take back.

As for the rest of this mess, it wasn't too late to clean up tomorrow.

Plus the children were still excited. Who knew how late they would stay up tonight.

As it turned out, Liu Ling's worries were not excessive.

Other than Grandma who was too old to stay up late, everyone else didn't disperse until after 11pm. Especially the children, each more energetic than the last, still seeming reluctant to leave.

Wen Qing walked in front with her sister, while An Zhiqing and Liuling lagged far behind them.

"Liuling, I don't know what you're thinking, but I'll tell you what I'm thinking today." He had carefully considered it before deciding to speak. "Ever since we got married, we've been living apart. You wouldn't come with the army, and I couldn't leave the troops that I loved. Over these years, I haven't fulfilled my responsibilities as a husband and father, and made you suffer a lot. Also because of this, my parents have taken especially good care of our family. Perhaps I, An Zhiqing, have wronged you, but the other An family members haven't. On the contrary, they have been very considerate of both of us. Can you understand this point?"

"What exactly are you trying to say?" Liuling wasn't stupid. Of course she could tell there was more to what he was saying.

"I just want to tell you that too much goodwill can't withstand erosion. And no one is willing to see someone else's cold face."

An Zhiqing wasn't riding the bike very fast. When Liuling heard this, she could no longer sit still and directly jumped off the bike.

Luckily she landed steadily, but it still gave An Zhiqing a fright.

He got off the bike and turned it around to push back. "Don't you think you've changed too much over these years? You get upset over the smallest things. Everyone has to coax you and let you have your way, right? But why should others have to coax you and let you have your way?"

Liuling's eyes turned red. "Have I changed? Haven't you changed? An Zhiqing, when you say I've changed, have you ever reflected on yourself? Our life was perfectly fine, I don't even know what your family said to you to make you be so guarded against me all the time. I've given birth to two children for you. Wen Qing is almost old enough to get married. Do you think this is interesting?" "So in the end, it still comes down to you not getting your share of the family property to keep and manage as you like, so you're upset and indiscriminately take it out on everyone, right?" An Zhiqing asked her. "I've told you countless times, it's not that I'm guarding against you, but that those things are safest if they're not taken out. If they're taken out, where could you put them? I'm not home most of the time, and a petty thief could easily break into our house. What would you do if the things were stolen?"

"Is it safer to keep them outside then? An Zhiqing, I don't believe your two younger brothers are as guarded against their wives as you are, guarding against me and not letting me know anything. At least your fourth brother wouldn't be like this with Su Ying. He wouldn't keep everything from her."

"So you think you're the same as Su Ying? She's the descendant of the Su family. Although they fell on hard times for some years, Grandfather Su raised his granddaughter himself and groomed her as his successor. Her own family property isn't any less than your fourth brother's. Comparatively speaking, your fourth brother is also far inferior to her in managing family finances. And he has an impulsive personality. Su Ying is more stable than him and better suited to be the head of household.

"So you also think I'm inferior to Su Ying. Dad, Mom and Grandma all think this way, right?" Liuling was unwilling. She was the daughter-in-law of the eldest grandson in the family. How could she be willing to be pressed down by her younger sister-in-law everywhere?

"Liuling, I have never thought you were inferior to anyone. People are different and can't be compared everywhere. Su Ying is good at doing business since she learned it from a young age. What you're good at is teaching. It's like how I've thrived in the army all these years, while my little sister has been naturally better at making money since she was born. If you asked me to make money, I might not be as good as her. But if you made her join the army, she definitely wouldn't be able to take it. There's no basis for comparison at all. Why can't you understand this point?"

In all the years An Zhiqing had been married, he had never felt so powerless in his marital relations as now.

After Grandpa presided over dividing up the family property, he had felt Liuling's dissatisfaction. So he chose some suitable jewelry for her, and it wasn't like he didn't reveal anything to her at all.

What he had considered at the time was indeed safety, which was why he didn't plan on moving those things. But in Liuling's attitude toward her in-laws, he also felt she lacked discretion in certain areas.

Aside from those two hairpins, Wen Qing had said more than once that she gave the snacks she made for Wen Qing to her nephews in the maternal family, even when Wen Qing was unwilling.

So Wen Qing, who Liuling had raised, was not closer to her maternal cousins. Instead, she preferred being with Chenye. When she was little, she even preferred staying here at Liu Ling's place, which also made sense.

"You don't need to make excuses. I'm not so unaware as to not realize that I'm inferior to Su Ying in your eyes. My maternal family is also not as well off as hers to provide such a large dowry." Liuling didn't know what was going on with herself either. In any case, there was a stuck feeling in her heart that made her uncomfortable.

"I've already said everything I wanted to say. If you insist on thinking this way, there's nothing more I can do," An Zhiqing said to Liu Ling in his sternest tone yet. They were clearly headed for an argument, so he might as well lay it all out plainly: "To put it bluntly, you just can't stand seeing other people living better lives than you, living more freely than you. But if others are living well, that's due to their own abilities. Our family isn't doing so bad either, am I right? I give you all my salary, and never restrict how much you can spend. You have the chance to pursue your own talents, yet you stubbornly cling to meaningless things, which will only make life messier. Now that I've said this much, if you can think it through, we can have a good life together going forward, and the family won't hold it against you either. But if you really can't understand, then you don't need to attend these family gatherings in the future. No need to dampen everyone's mood."

After he finished, An Zhiqing climbed on his bike and looked back at her. "Let's go, it's late. Time to head home."

Liu Ling silently let tears fall as she looked away.

An Zhiqing was fuming now too. He shoved off forcefully on his bike and left.

Seeing this, Liu Ling cried loudly in anger, but after she finished crying, she still got up to leave. When she reached the intersection however, she turned a corner.

An Zhiqing emerged from the darkened corner of the intersection and secretly followed her all the way until she entered the Liu family home before heading back himself.

No matter how angry he was, there was no way he could abandon a woman alone on the street in the dead of night - if something happened, he'd only regret it later.

But Liu Ling's attitude really was infuriating. If he didn't teach her a lesson, she'd keep floating further and further from reality.

With so many people in this world, why did she have to compare herself to those better off than her? Why not compare herself to his two sisters-in-law?

Truly, too many good days had gone to her head!