“Alright. Good boy. Go to sleep.”

  Hearing how her mother-in-law taught her son, and how her father-in-law didn’t cut in, Li Yayan felt cold all over even though the room was heated.

  But Li Yayan had not brought up this matter to Wang Yang because she knew that Wang Yang was filial and might not even stand on her side or agree to let her bring their son away. Instead of upsetting Wang Yang again, Li Yayan had simply decided to bury this in her own mind.

  As the popular saying went, daughters-in-law suffered until they became mothers-in-law themselves.

  Li Yayan could only wait until she became the matriarch of the Wang family. Then, she would treat her parents-in-law exactly how they had treated her!

  Li Yayan could never talk about such things to the Wang family. And her own family would probably say that her parents-in-law were simply trying to help lighten her burden by taking care of her son. It would be better for her to head to the gym to maintain her figure or go for facials at beauty salons if she had any free time. There were throngs of women who would gladly take her place. Li Yayan had better know how fortunate she was.

  And neither was she willing to talk about such things to her close friends in Ping Cheng.

  \r \r \r

  Why?

  In their eyes, she had lucked out by marrying Wang Yang. Li Yayan had no intention of letting anyone know just how unhappy she was after marrying Wang Yang. Not about how she had never gained her father-in-law’s approval, how she had no say over her own son, or about how her parents-in-law were stirring up trouble behind her back.

  Now that she had met Qiao Nan, Li Yayan felt that she had finally met someone she could pour her heart out and vent her grievances to.

  After hearing Li Yayan’s rant, Qiao Nan poured no less than three glasses of water for Li Yayan, for fear that she would get thirsty from speaking so much. Seeing Li Yayan in this manner, Qiao Nan finally believed just slightly that Li Yayan was indeed looking for a friend. Or should she say a tree hole to pour out her grievances to?

  Qiao Nan nearly suggested for Li Yayan to find a psychiatrist. It wasn’t that Li Yayan was mentally unsound, but she needed someone to listen to her. Otherwise, she could simply believe in Jesus and confess to a priest.

  “Qiao Nan, there are times I miss my son so much that I can’t fall asleep. How could those old folks be so selfish and not even think about the child at all?”

  Qiao Nan handed Li Yayan another piece of tissue. Previously, it had been to wipe away her sweat. This time, it was naturally for her tears. “It’s hard to say. Perhaps, you should find a chance to speak to your husband. Since it’s for the good of your son, I’m sure that your husband won’t stubbornly stand by his parents’ side for the sake of being filial since it affects the future of your son.”

  She could tell that Li Yayan’s husband was not one who was whipped for his wife. It was exactly because of this that Li Yayan felt aggrieved. He treated her as an outsider because he was not on her side.

  “Communication? I do want to communicate with him, but he only listens to his parents. He never listens to me. I don’t understand why he doesn’t have an opinion of his own even now that he’s all grown up. We’re not even living with his parents. Why does he still have to listen to his parents all the time? Is he still a child?”

  If Wang Yang could be more decisive and bold in matters regarding her son, she would have brought her son over to the capital a long time ago. How nice it would be for their family to be living in the capital together.

  She didn’t understand what Wang Yang was afraid of. Wang Yang had gotten to where he was not because of the Wang family, much less because of his father. To put it bluntly, if her mother-in-law was not the daughter of the Zhu family, and Wang Yang the nephew of Zhu Chengqi, Wang Yang would never have gotten to where he was today.

  It was obviously thanks to the Zhu family that he had risen to his position, but Wang Yang was more willing to listen to his father. In fact, he wasn’t even close to his uncle, Zhu Chengqi, who had helped him out. At times, Li Yayan couldn’t help but wonder if Wang Yang was a fool. If Wang Yang acknowledged that fact and had gotten closer to Zhu Chengqi, they might not even be in such a situation with Qiao Nan today.

  “Have more water.” She had never expected Li Yayan to sob so uncontrollably and suddenly. With no other choice, Qiao Nan opened another pack of tissue for Li Yayan because the other had already been used up. “Rehydrate yourself.” Whether it was through her saliva or tears, Li Yayan had already lost too much water from her body.

  It was important for women to hydrate themselves.

  In that way, Qiao Nan had listened to Li Yayan’s monologue for almost an entire afternoon. Only when she had fifteen minutes left to class did Qiao Nan interrupt Li Yayan, “Li Yayan, I still have class this afternoon…” So, she couldn’t afford to continue listening to Li Yayan’s nonsense any longer.

  Li Yayan felt that her eyelids were a little swollen. “I’m so sorry for making you listen to my nonsense. Please hurry on for your class. I feel much better now that I’ve talked to you about that. Qiao Nan, if we get the chance in the future, can I invite you out for lunch again? I-I really need a friend who can listen to me. Qiao Nan, you should understand my feelings toward you, right? I’ve always felt that you feel very familiar, as though I’ve known you for a long time. Qiao Nan, are you sure we’ve never met?”

  Qiao Nan couldn’t be sure whether Li Yayan had truly not realized how similar they looked, or whether she was just pretending not to have noticed. Qiao Nan smiled and answered, “Sure, if we get the chance.”

  Li Yayan had invited her for lunch three to four times before finally succeeding. Qiao Nan couldn’t even be sure about when she would have time to have lunch with Li Yayan again. Since Li Yayan had such confidence, she wasn’t in a place to reject her either.

  “Thank you, Qiao Nan. You’d better hurry on to class. I won’t take up any more of your time. Bye!”

  “Goodbye.”

  Seeing Qiao Nan leave the restaurant, Li Yayan took out her cushion from her bag nervously. “I’m done for. I’ve made my eyes so swollen. I really went all out today!”

  Deep down in her heart, Li Yayan knew that she had been trying to gain Qiao Nan’s pity in the beginning. But as she continued, she had truly cried because she was feeling too miserable. That was why her eyelids had gotten so swollen.