After leaving Zhou Yi’s house, Tong Lili laughed so hard that her stomach hurt.
“You should have seen Zhou Yi’s face then, I was dying of laughter! After being married for so long, do you think Zhou Yi regrets it?”
“Lili, you should talk less…”
Tong Lili glared, “Why should I talk less? I wasn’t the one who forced Zhou Yi to marry him. She secretly dated that Yuan fellow and turned her family upside down for him. If she had backbone, she shouldn’t have returned to the Zhou family. Let’s see if the man she chose can amount to anything!”
Her two friends were at a loss for words.
Among all those suitable matches they knew well, Zhou Yi didn’t choose any of them, instead dating in secret – they knew nothing about it.
If they had known, they definitely would have tried to talk her out of it!
Tong Lili had a point – Zhou Yi had caused such a rift with her family by marrying this kind of man, and now she’s back at her parents’ house for postpartum care. Where was her backbone?
“What can we do? She’s already had the child. I think the Zhou family seems resigned to it. Zhou Yi’s father is influential, and so are her uncle and brother. As long as the Zhou family is willing, Zhou Yi’s husband can still climb up.”
Tong Lili snorted, “You think the Zhou family would give up so easily? I don’t believe it. Who knows what kind of joke Zhou Yi will make of herself next? Just wait and see!”
The Zhou family was so strange.
When Tong Lili’s family wanted to form marriage ties with the Zhou family, Guan Hue’e said they would respect the children’s opinions, meaning letting Zhou Cheng choose.
Zhou Cheng chose the vixen Xia Xiaolan.
Though Xia Xiaolan was a vixen, Tong Lili had to admit she was a capable one.
As for Yuan Han whom Zhou Yi chose… Tong Lili wanted to burst out laughing. This was also Zhou Yi’s own choice – her judgment was terrible. Tong Lili didn’t want to take pleasure in others’ misfortune, but she really couldn’t help it.
Tong Lili had brought people to see Zhou Yi once. Before marriage, they compared family backgrounds; after marriage, they compared husbands. Tong Lili’s future husband could make Yuan Han cry out in defeat, which upset Zhou Yi.
Without the Zhou family pushing Yuan Han, Zhou Yi herself wanted to push him to be more ambitious, urging him to go on business trips.
Zhou Wenband thought Xia Xiaolan’s idea was brilliant – indeed, peers understand each other best. After Yuan Han went away, Jiang Hong was the first to feel relieved and started pushing Zhou Yi to study English with audio tapes.
Zhou Yi wasn’t very motivated, using fatigue as an excuse.
Whenever Zhou Wenband came home, he would casually chat with Jiang Hong:
So-and-so’s daughter got promoted this year.
Another’s daughter earned her professional title.
And someone else’s daughter returned from studying abroad and immediately got a high-paying, comfortable job.
Zhou Yi’s face darkened as she listened, and Zhou Wenband said to her:
“You chose your husband yourself. No one knows how successful he’ll become. What you can decide isn’t how successful Yuan Han will be, but how far you will go. I know you don’t like your mother always mentioning Xiaolan, but tell me yourself, why does everyone value what she says? Even before her mother remarried Mayor Tang, your grandparents liked her… Zhou Yi, there’s no such thing as love without reason. Think about it.”
Why did they like Xia Xiaolan?
When Zhou Cheng first brought Xia Xiaolan home, she wasn’t yet Mayor Tang’s stepdaughter.
She hadn’t even moved to Beijing yet.
Her most impressive credential was being the province’s top college entrance exam scorer.
“Because she’s good at studying?”
Zhou Yi complained with a bitter face. Studying required talent – not everyone could be the province’s top scorer. Her father’s requirements were too demanding!
Zhou Wenband suppressed his frustration and broke it down for Zhou Yi:
“No, it’s because she’s capable and excellent on her own merits. Just looking at her as a person, the Zhou family couldn’t find any fault! When someone is capable, their words naturally carry weight. If you were as capable as her, forget about wanting to be with Yuan Han back then – even if you wanted to be with a 60-year-old comrade, your mother and I might not have been so opposed. Because we would have known you were a smart child, and wouldn’t worry about you being taken advantage of. Whatever decision you made, even if we didn’t agree, we would have had to respect it!”
“Dad, you’re too practical…” Zhou Yi muttered.
But Zhou Wenband told her to think about it herself.
That night, the usually carefree Zhou Yi had a rare bout of insomnia.
Zhou Wenband had always been strict with her, never this patient in explaining things.
Then Zhou Yi started applying these words to how she and Zhou Cheng found their partners and realized it all made sense.
The Zhou family had to be polite to Xia Xiaolan because Zhou Cheng was capable.
They weren’t polite to Yuan Han because she wasn’t capable enough!
Zhou Yi felt wronged.
They hadn’t required her to have a career before. If they had been strict with her earlier, she wouldn’t have just been passing the time.
The day after Zhou Wenband’s talk with Zhou Yi, Jiang Hong noticed Zhou Yi had started listening to English tapes on her own.
Jiang Hong pointed to her head and whispered, “Has something gone wrong with her?”
The furrows in Zhou Wenband’s brow seemed to smooth a little:
“Let Tong Lili and the others visit more often. I think Zhou Yi has received quite a shock.”
Zhou Wenband was guiding Zhou Yi – if her husband temporarily couldn’t compare to her old friends, then she should strive to do better than her friends.
Zhou Yi might be carefree, but she wasn’t without pride. Zhou Wenband was trying to stimulate her sense of pride.
If Tong Lili and the others’ words stung and Zhou Yi just thick-skinned it out without reaction, that would truly be… beyond salvation.
After Tong Lili’s second visit, Zhou Yi not only started listening to English tapes but also took the initiative to call Xia Xiaolan.
Her face burned as soon as she started talking. Xia Xiaolan seemed very busy but still spared a few minutes to tell Zhou Yi which books to read and how to improve fastest:
“The situation in America is different from home. You’ll understand when you get here. I can’t promise anything else, but I guarantee your overseas experience will be unforgettable!”
Zhou Yi didn’t catch Xia Xiaolan’s deeper meaning, but she was already captivated by the prospect.
Xia Xiaolan told her America had huge shopping malls everywhere, with countless things to eat, drink, and play with. Zhou Yi found herself inexplicably yearning for it.
After hanging up, Zhou Yi’s heart was racing.
No matter how much Tong Lili showed off, she hadn’t gone abroad!
Zhou Yi lay in bed grinning foolishly – even the gibberish English didn’t sound so annoying anymore.
…
“Xia! If you don’t leave now, you’ll be late!”
With a sandwich in her mouth, Daisy called out as Xia Xiaolan hung up the phone, knowing she was running late.
“Can’t help it, it was a call from home – time difference!”
Zhou Yi had called her on her initiative.
Others knew she was busy with her law firm internship and would call around 9:30-10:00 PM New York time, but Zhou Yi had called in the morning. Though Xia Xiaolan was rushing to work, she still patiently talked for a few minutes.
They say pregnancy makes you stupid for three years – it was impossible to expect Zhou Yi to suddenly consider such details.
From Zhou Yi’s tone, it seemed she finally wasn’t just being pushed to go abroad by Zhou Wenband and Jiang Hong – she was somewhat interested.
Of course, Xia Xiaolan had to tell her America was wonderful in every way – get her to come first, then talk about the rest.
As for how even a top student like Xia Xiaolan had to work like a dog at the law firm – would she mention these hard truths?
When the poor student arrived, she would understand Xia Xiaolan hadn’t lied – the overseas experience would be “unforgettable” for Zhou Yi!
Xia Xiaolan straightened her clothes – today they would announce the bidding results for the Wilson Hotel Washington project, and she hoped GMP would win the bid.