Irritated by Wei Qingyue and Mother Xiao’s rejection, Su Meiling slammed her teacup onto the table with a loud thud and said, "Sister-in-law, it’s clear you have no intention of helping me. I don’t know what I have done to deserve this hostility from you all these years."
Mother Xiao snorted and retorted, "Su Meiling, your shamelessness knows no bounds. We all know who has treated whom with hostility."
"Just because your husband confessed to me in our youth, you have hated me for decades. Su Meiling, you even have a grandson now—can’t you let go of the past?"
Su Meiling glared at her and replied through gritted teeth, "Zhao Xirui, it’s easy for you to say that because you have no idea what I have endured!"
Mother Xiao nodded, and said with a steady tone, "You are right. I don’t know about your relationship with your husband. But I have never had any ambiguity with Second Brother. Even before I married, I rejected him outrightly."
"From the moment I met my husband, he has been the only one in my heart. So, I can’t understand why you hate me. If it’s because of jealousy from our youth, don’t you think that’s unreasonable?"
Seeing Mother Xiao’s confusion only made Su Meiling angrier. Grabbing her bag, she stood abruptly.
"It’s your indifference that I hate! My husband has never forgotten you. Even after I bore him children and we have been married for so many years, the one he calls for in his dreams is you—not me!"
Mother Xiao and Wei Qingyue were stunned into silence the moment they heard this shocking information.
Letting out a bitter chuckle, Su Meiling continued, "It’s unbelievable, isn’t it? Two brothers in love with the same woman. Even I found it unbelievable and ridiculous."
After a long silence, Mother Xiao regained her composure and said, "Even so, that’s neither my fault nor my problem. This is an issue between you and your husband. You have no right to direct your anger toward me because your husband didn’t love you."
Taking a deep breath, Su Meiling said coldly, "Since you won’t help me, I won’t trouble you further. I will find another way to get that cream by myself."
After she finished her words, she stormed out without looking back.
Watching her leave, Wei Qingyue looked at Mother Xiao and asked, "Sister-in-law, are you really going to let her go like this?"
Mother Xiao shook her head and said, "It’s fine. She already hates me, with or without this incident."
Wei Qingyue sighed at her words. She had always thought the tension between her sisters-in-law stemmed from wealth and power. It turned out the root of the problem was emotional entanglement during their youth.
Glancing at her eldest sister-in-law, Wei Qingyue understood why the Second Brother still harbored feelings for her. However, she found his behavior disturbing.
He should have moved on. If this ever came to light, it could destroy the brothers’ relationship and ruin the family’s reputation. After all, no man would accept his brother coveting his wife.
Fu Wenli froze and turned back. She hesitated for a moment before asking, "Mother, isn’t that… inappropriate?"
Hearing this, Su Meiling glared at her and snapped, "What’s inappropriate about it? If I tell you to go, just go!"
Shortly after, the sound of the door slamming shut echoed through the house. Left standing in the kitchen, Fu Wenli let out a long sigh. The thought of asking her eldest aunt for those items made her feel deeply embarrassed.
At the banquet, her mother-in-law had openly belittled the Li family and looked down on them because of their background. Yet now, she wanted to ask for items made by the Li family’s third daughter-in-law. Wasn’t this the same as slapping their own faces?
Even if her mother-in-law felt no shame, she did. Fu Wenli loved her husband and never regretted marrying him, but living under the same roof as her mother-in-law was exhausting. She didn’t know how much longer she could endure it.
As she mulled over her predicament, a memory flashed in her mind—she recalled a store she had seen a few days ago in the black market. Thinking about the items sold there, a bold idea took shape in her mind.
If she couldn’t bring herself to ask her eldest aunt for help, perhaps she could find a similar whitening cream on the black market. The thought lightened her mood, easing some of her frustration.
Unbeknownst to everyone, a new wave of beauty trends was quietly beginning to take root in the capital.
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