Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

  Qiu Chenxi was a cadre herself and was in quite a good position. The Zhu family and Shi family had never thought of them as relatives. Thankfully, this relation to them had still brought about many benefits.

  Before today, Ma Ji had always felt as though he had married the right woman and that Qiu Chenxi was the right one for him. But today, Ma Ji realized that there would come a time when he would have to spit out all those benefits that he had once gotten because of Qiu Chenxi.

  The Zhu family’s and the Shi family’s attitudes were even more resolute that the rumors. They did not even bother to preserve some dignity for Qiu Chenxi. But that was understandable. They had already been in the capital for more than ten years and had been in-laws with the Shi family for more than a decade. Chief Zhu was even his younger brother-in-law. But even with such outstanding relatives, he had never once had the opportunity to have a meal with them.

  Chief Zhu might be his brother-in-law, but he had never dared to address Chief Zhu as his brother. Neither did Chief Zhu address him as an elder brother. Occasionally, the two of them would look at each other from afar. He would see Chief Zhu, but Chief Zhu hardly noticed his existence, much less show any affection toward him.

  Ma Ji sighed anxiously. “Now that our family’s moving away, you should go to Yuanyuan’s school and handle the transfer procedures for her. My mom has already looked for a high school for Yuanyuan.”

  The Ma family had always been prepared for the worst. Now that the documents had come from their superiors, it was almost certain that they would not be able to change the outcome. But nothing was impossible.

  Thus, upon learning of their son’s and daughter-in-law’s reassignment, the two elders of the Ma family immediately started doing their homework. They had already found out about the place and gotten a rough sense of the whole situation. Now that their son and daughter-in-law were being transferred out of the capital, it might be years before they returned. So it was only natural for Father and Mother Ma to tag along.

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  Wherever their son was, was where they would be.

  The most important thing was undoubtedly where they would stay. But other than that, Father and Mother Ma were also worried about which school would be suitable for their granddaughter. At the same time, Father and Mother Ma did not try to stop their son and daughter-in-law from seeing if they could turn the situation around.

  If they could stay in the capital, their lives might get harder, but at least, it would be a happy ending for everyone. If they had no choice but to leave the capital, at least, they would not be caught off guard and things would not be so chaotic.

  “Do we really have to leave?” Qiu Chenxi felt indignant. The capital was so good that she could not bear to leave.

  Ma Ji sneered. “I don’t want to leave either. But do you really think that we can choose not to leave? You know very well the situation of our Ma family. I don’t have that ability, so I’ll have no choice but to leave. If you’re that capable, I’ll support you.” But he did not want to embarrass himself alongside Qiu Chenxi anymore.

  Ma Ji could not understand how people could be so different. All the Ma family was lacking was some connections. That was why he had married Qiu Chenxi, who was a few years older than him. He had hoped to improve the Ma family’s connections through Qiu Chenxi’s relation to the Shi family and the Zhu family.

  Of course, before his marriage, Ma Ji already knew that Qiu Chenxi was not on the best of terms with the Shi family and the Zhu family. But Ma Ji had always thought that the conflict could not be too serious. They were relatives and a family, after all. As long as they all had genuine and sincere hearts, all these conflicts would eventually be resolved.

  When that time came, the Ma family would achieve meteoric success!

  But in the past decade, he had never had any contact with the Shi family or the Zhu family. These two families did not even acknowledge the Ma family as their relatives! The Ma family did not have such opportunities. That was why he had to take such things into consideration when getting married. Love was nothing but a superfluous thing. It could not beat tangible and practical benefits, after all.

  Qiu Chenxi had such good fortune. Her own uncle had become an important cadre in the central government, and her cousin had become a famous female general. If he had been the one with an uncle and cousin like them, he would probably have risen by at least three ranks!

  How capable was his wife that she had been able to sour the relationship with her relatives so badly that there was no hope of ever salvaging it? They were already married and even had a daughter in high school. Even if he knew what a failure Qiu Chenxi was as a person by wasting such good resources, there was nothing Ma Ji could do about it.

  He could not possibly separate from Qiu Chenxi just based on these reasons, right?

  “.……” After Ma Ji’s sarcastic remarks, Qiu Chenxi’s face turned blue. But she had no way of rebuking Ma Ji because what he had said was nothing but the truth. She did not want to leave, but her uncle had refused to see her. Shi Qing had finally gotten this opportunity to mock her, but Shi Qing had chosen not to do so and simply ignore her instead. That was already quite kind of her.

  Qiu Chenxi had already thought of the worst-case scenario before visiting Shi Qing. She was worried that Shi Qing would not only refuse to help her because of what had happened during their childhoods, but Shi Qing might even mock and jeer at her. That was a very possible scenario.

  Thankfully, Shi Qing did not appear, and neither did she do that. But Shi Qing was just as heartless as her uncle had been. She refused to even meet Qiu Chenxi, let alone help her.

  Now that things had progressed to this stage, there was nothing Qiu Chenxi could do. Taking Ma Ji’s advice, Qiu Chenxi could only rush down to handle the transfer procedures for her daughter, Ma Yuanyuan.

  Upon hearing that she was about to transfer schools and was even going to leave the capital with her parents for a remote city that she had never even heard of before, Ma Yuanyuan was stunned. “Why do we have to leave? Haven’t we been living comfortably here? What kind of place is that? I’ve never even heard of it before. I’m not leaving. I’m going to stay in the capital. Mom, neither should you and Dad go.”

  She would never leave such a good place like the capital for a place that she had never heard of before.

  “The order has already been given. Your dad and I don’t have a choice.” Qiu Chenxi rolled her eyes impatiently. How could Yuanyuan think that she was a willing party in this matter? She was more reluctant than anyone else. No one knew just how much she had given up just to come to the capital. Leaving meant that she was giving everything up and returning to the past in just one day!

  “Don’t dawdle. The order was given in quite a hurry this time. Your dad and I have to leave immediately. If you don’t leave with us now, you can choose to stay here in the capital alone. We’ll give you a monthly allowance and you’ll take care of yourself. Your other choice is to hurry up and not think about anything.”

  No matter how reluctant she was to leave, Qiu Chenxi was no longer resisting her fate that was already decided. All she could do was accept it.

  “Why? I won’t take a monthly allowance from you. Let grandma and grandpa stay here to take care of me. Won’t that solve the problem?” Ma Yuanyuan had never done any household chores since she was a child. Even now that she was staying in a dormitory since she was in high school, she never washed her own clothes. She always waited to bring them home for her housekeeper or grandma to wash them.