bantayden Chapter 1144 - 1133: Favoring Daughters Over Sons
Chapter 1144 - 1133: Favoring Daughters Over Sons
"Living expenses?" Ye Qing screamed, her sharp voice even startled her own son. The child, only a few months old, burst into tears, but his biological parents showed no reaction. It was Han Hui who held back her temper to comfort him.
"Mom, you want Wentao and me to pay living expenses?" Ye Qing pursued relentlessly, "Are you disgusted with us? We’re family!"
While calming the child, Han Hui patiently explained, "Mom has no choice right now. We still owe your second uncle’s family 300,000 yuan. I haven’t yet reached the age to collect retirement pay, and our whole family depends on your dad’s meager salary. When can we pay off the debt?"
"Why can’t you just suck it up and ask Ye Qiu?" Ye Qing mumbled.
"It’s the debt you guys incurred!" Han Hui’s face darkened.
"We had no other way out; did we want to go bankrupt?" Ye Qing complained, "Besides, we’re all family. Second Uncle’s family is so well-off; surely, they wouldn’t force us to pay back, would they?"
"Are you saying you want to shirk the debt?" Han Hui looked at her daughter in disbelief, not understanding why she’d become this way, but still holding back her temper to explain, "This money doesn’t belong to just your second uncle. What about your second aunt and cousin? We can’t let this 300,000 yuan create a feud."
"I think it’s just Second Aunt being nosy. It’s only 300,000, and they’re not in urgent need of it, so why rush us to repay? I’ll talk to Second Uncle tomorrow." Ye Qing said nonchalantly.
"Just because they haven’t pushed us doesn’t mean we don’t have to repay. What are you going to tell your second uncle? Do you want your second uncle and second aunt to argue?" Han Hui was truly angry. She hadn’t expected her once-smart and sensible daughter to say such things.
"Why are you yelling at me?" Ye Qing got angry too, mainly because she hadn’t been treated this way before. She looked at Han Hui with disappointment, "Mom, you’ve changed. You didn’t treat me like this before. Have you become disgusted with me? Am I not your daughter anymore? You said daughters are born to be pampered. Is it because you’ve seen Ye Qiu become so successful that you regret treating me well?"
Han Hui looked at her daughter, shocked, never expecting such words to come from her mouth. However, what she said wasn’t wrong — she did regret it. She truly regretted spoiling her daughter into such a selfish person!
"Dad, judge this, have you also become fed up with me like Mom? Have you stopped caring for me?" Tears welled up in her eyes. Ye Peilin couldn’t bring himself to say the words on the tip of his tongue; after all, she was a daughter he had doted on for thirty years!
"Your mom doesn’t mean it that way. She just feels the household expenses are too high, and we can’t keep owing your second uncle’s family. Your mom is also tired lately, helping take care of your kids and managing the house chores. Could you not argue with her? Besides, both of your salaries together aren’t low; surely, you can afford to contribute some living expenses?" Ye Peilin advised softly but earnestly.
But Ye Qing was still dissatisfied and pouted, "With such meager salaries, I can’t even buy a bag; what can I do?"
"You have so many bags already. Look at how many you’ve bought and how often you use them. The money spent on those bags alone could pay off your second uncle’s debt." Han Hui said coldly.
"There are new styles every season; everyone else gets them, and I’m supposed to just watch? Is that excessive? Have you seen how many He Xixian has bought?" Ye Qing argued, jealousy written all over her face.
"She has the means, do you?" Han Hui angrily retorted.
"We’re all family. Why can she buy whatever she wants, and I have to pay living expenses?"
"Your brother earns money; what do you and your husband earn? The debt is yours, not your dad’s or mine. You eat and drink at home, but your brother and sister-in-law don’t!"
"So Mom, you do look down on Wentao and me. You used to defend me. Are you planning to kick us out if we don’t pay for living expenses?"
"Yes." Han Hui finally made up her mind, feeling that continuing to spoil her daughter would ruin her. She could only harden her heart and say this.
"Mom!" Ye Qing’s tears fell, and she turned to Ye Peilin, "Dad, do you think the same? Are you going to abandon me too?"
Ye Peilin looked at her, unable to bear it, and turned his head aside: "Your mom and I don’t mean that. You know your brother doesn’t get along well with the family. He can make money, that’s his business, but we need to pay off our own debt. My monthly salary just covers the household’s monthly expenses. Asking you for a bit of living expenses is just to pay the debt quicker, not to really make you move out."
"But when will Wentao and I save up 300,000 with our salaries? I won’t live frugally, or else who knows what others will say and laugh at me. Dad, please speak to my brother. 300,000 is a small amount for him." Ye Qing begged.
Ye Peilin’s face stiffened: "Your brother won’t give it, and I can’t bring myself to ask."
"You can’t bring yourself to ask, so you’re okay with me suffering? It’s your favoritism that led Ye Qiu to be so ruthless now. You made mistakes back then, so you should resolve them!" Ye Qing said matter-of-factly.
Ye Peilin looked at his daughter in disbelief; he couldn’t believe she was putting all the blame on him. Who had he been biased towards all those years? Who was it for? And now she turns it back on him?
It was as if Ye Peilin was seeing his daughter for the first time, mouth agape and unable to speak.
"Our mistakes?" Han Hui had insight into her daughter’s true nature somewhat earlier and reacted faster, "Yes, your dad and I indeed made a mistake back then. We shouldn’t have ignored your brother for your sake. But we made mistakes, didn’t you? Don’t you think your brother is aware of what you did? Why do you think he ignores you every time you approach him? Isn’t it because you bullied him from a young age?"
"Isn’t that something you tacitly approved of?" Ye Qing retorted discontentedly, "You were the ones who said he was only born because of me. As a boy, he should let me have my way. I didn’t know any better when I was young, but didn’t you understand either?"
"You..." Han Hui knew her daughter was at fault too but found herself speechless. True, if not for her and her husband’s bias since childhood, their son wouldn’t have distanced himself from them, and their daughter wouldn’t have turned out the way she did.
They were wrong, she and her husband. Their approach to parenting had been wrong. A girl doesn’t inherently know better, nor should a boy be neglected. Otherwise, their family wouldn’t have ended up like this.
The son doesn’t return home, and the daughter sees it as natural to live off them. She and her husband fought their whole lives, only to worry about living expenses in old age. She had taught students for half her life, only to fail to teach her own daughter well. It was truly ironic.