Chapter 124: Chapter 117: Girl, Do You Not Like Me Anymore?
"Auntie... sob sob... hit me! Just beat me to death!"
Shan Minglang, who had been facing away from her, suddenly turned around, his handsome face full of tears...
He kneeled and moved in front of Su Xiaomeng, grabbing her hand and hitting his own face with it, "Auntie, please stop crying, I’m sorry..."
Shan Mingxu, who was also kneeling over there, secretly wiped a tear away.
Neither of them expected things to get to this point...
It was just a small impulse, an action they thought they could control, that almost cost a life and was about to break up a small family.
Su Xiaomeng pulled back her hand and fiercely wiped away her tears.
"Enough."
Zhou Mengqin’s heart was in turmoil from all the crying, and she said coldly, "What does all this crying and fussing look like?"
"Mom—"
Yin Shixiu was about to speak when suddenly two people came in from outside, and the servants couldn’t stop them.
Su’s father had a stern face, more serious than ever before, and he stepped forward to pull Su Xiaomeng back from Yin Shixiu’s arms, "What nonsense!"
Su’s mother had calm eyes, looking at the whole Yin Family...
"So this is how the mighty Yin Family treats their daughter-in-law."
Yin Shaohui and Zhou Mengqin were taken aback for a moment by this unfamiliar couple...
"You are—"
Su’s mother didn’t even let the elders of Yin Family finish asking, and with a sharp gaze directed at Yin Shixiu, she said, "I will have my lawyer handle the divorce proceedings with you."
No extra words, she spoke decisively and then pulled Xiaomeng out.
"Girl!"
"... Don’t you like me anymore?"
"Girl!"
Su Xiaomeng’s steps stopped, her heart seemed hooked by something, and with that urgent and flustered, familiar, and intimate call, a seam was torn open.
Yin Shixiu was truly afraid...
Truly afraid that he wouldn’t be able to call out to her with this one yell.
"... Don’t you like me anymore?"
He asked, not caring that the room was full of elders.
Su Xiaomeng bit her lip, her eyes reddening, "I don’t deserve you, even if it’s only for this brief time until the child is born."
Yin Shixiu wanted to speak again, but Su’s mother was already glaring at him with a look.
Before leaving, she scanned every person present...
The dignified Yin Family, with names like Yin Shaohui and Zhou Mengqin thrown outside, that would represent noble prestige, that would be a benchmark of aristocracy.
Among their descendants, who wasn’t exceptional?
But facing the stern gaze of a common teacher, yet... they all faltered.
The people of the Su Family left, without hesitation, without pausing.
In such a large living room, it was clearly just one person missing, yet all of a sudden it felt empty.
Except for Shan Minglang’s wailing and Shan Mingxu’s quiet sobbing, the atmosphere sunk into silence.
But the silence didn’t last long, Zhou Mengqin was the first to speak, looking at Yin Shixiu, "Are they Su Xiaomeng’s parents?"
Yin Shixiu didn’t respond. It wasn’t clear if he was silently agreeing or stubbornly refusing to answer his mother’s query.
Zhou Mengqin, not receiving a response from her son for a while, felt uncomfortable in her heart.
Yin Shaohui took a light breath, "The Yin Family has a long and profound history since its rise, always adhering to the tradition of family harmony bringing prosperity. If the couple is harmonious, the family will thrive, and talents will flourish."
The old man stood up with the aid of his cane, approached Yin Shixiu, and then turned to look at everyone present, "Since my grandfather became the Family Head, divorce has been forbidden as a family rule. Therefore, the younger generation must be extremely cautious when getting married."
The cane hit the floor repeatedly.
It was said for Yin Shixiu to hear but also for the other descendants.
"Times are changing. We don’t care how others do things outside. Even if one day the national divorce rate reaches ninety percent, my Yin Family’s descendants are not allowed to be among that number!"
Everyone swallowed hard.
Yin Shaohui looked at Yin Shixiu, "The child has grown up, and I, this old fellow, perhaps cannot manage anymore. So even if it’s your lifelong matter! Even if it concerns the future inheritance of the great Yin Family! You can decide for yourself..."
"Can’t you see the bloody example of your third brother right in front of you?!"
"But Su Xiaomeng is not that kind of woman."
Yin Shixiu looked up, his eyes indifferent, masking the turmoil in his heart.
"She is only nineteen, what demands have you put on her? A Ph.D.? Her life should be her own to decide, on what grounds are you making such demands?"
"Without demands, should we really let you get divorced?!"
Yin Shaohui raised his cane and struck it hard on Yin Shixiu’s back.
Yin Shixiu closed his eyes.
Everyone gasped.
"Fourth! Even with the situation at this point, you still won’t admit your fault?! Kneel down!"
"Dad... let’s talk things over nicely, this isn’t something that can’t be solved!"
Yin Shihua quickly intervened when he saw his younger brother get hit, trying to persuade.
"You should first manage your own two sons!"
Yin Shaohui glared at Yin Shihua!
Yin Shihua pressed his lips together...
Yin Shixiu remained silent, kneeling down...
"You didn’t even tell us that Su Xiaomeng’s parents would come?"
Zhou Mengqin asked again.
"Maybe it was good that Xiaomeng’s mother heard it too..."
Yin Shixiu spoke indifferently.
Even though he did not want Su Xiaomeng’s mother to hear it.
"Now that things have come to this point, what do you plan to do?"
Yin Shaohui asked.
"If it weren’t for you always looking down on Xiaomeng, always saying things to upset her, making unreasonable demands, she wouldn’t have asked for a divorce."
"Did I force her to leave? To this day, I still don’t understand how my demands were excessive."
Yin Shaohui furrowed his brows, "Did your mother and I make those demands just hoping you’d get a divorce?"
"When I married her, I never intended for her to change anything."
"But marriage isn’t just between two people, it’s between two families! We accepted you randomly finding a girl to marry, couldn’t she accept our demands?"
"A marriage where the gate doesn’t match, do you think it can last? You and her aren’t in the same world, don’t you know?!"
"Do you know what that girl said to me? She said climbing up is hard, but for you to fall down is not! Ha... in the future, when a child is born, is this how she will teach them?"
Yin Shaohui hadn’t mentioned these things in front of Zhou Mengqin before, but now he couldn’t hold back and said it.
Zhou Mengqin’s expression immediately turned serious, her gentle exterior unable to hide her inner shock and anger!
"What did that girl say?!"
Zhou Mengqin stood up, "Shaohui, what did that girl say to you, say it again."
Yin Shaohui took a deep breath.
Zhou Mengqin just found it laughable, she closed her eyes and uttered just one word!
"Divorce!"
"Mom, you can’t say that lightly! Fourth brother finally..."
Yin Shihua was a bit anxious.
If Shixiu gets divorced, with so many eyes on this big family, it will be difficult to inherit the position of Family Head in the future!
"Divorce! I’ve said it before, a girl like this can’t enter the Yin Family’s door."
Zhou Mengqin glanced at Yin Shixiu, "I didn’t not give that girl a chance, nor did I not give you a chance, but ever since I came into contact with her, all I saw was this girl’s blind arrogance, self-conceit, and lack of ambition."
"Even if the injury was Mingxu and Minglang’s fault, the attitude she showed today made me even more disappointed!"
"At such a young age, her temper is higher than the sky. Although she is young, she is considered an elder to Mingxu and Minglang, but she quibbles with younger people... where is the grace?"
"Fine, even if I tolerate her big temper, I just made such a demand, but she wants to divorce you for this? Shixiu, does that girl really have feelings for you?"
"You all keep claiming to me that you love each other, but this is the extent of it?"
"Shixiu, is your judgment this poor?"
"After meeting her parents today, it seems I suddenly understand why she turned out this way..."
Zhou Mengqin spoke in a warm tone.
But among so many words...
The only thing that could pierce Yin Shixiu’s heart was that sentence — "Does that girl really have feelings for you?"
Does she have feelings...
"Isn’t she the one asking for a divorce? Then let her divorce. But it should be after the child is born."
Zhou Mengqin said coldly.
Yin Shaohui looked at Zhou Mengqin, his brows slightly furrowed, "We don’t have to rush to a conclusion on this matter."
Zhou Mengqin knew what Yin Shaohui was worried about.
"Grandfather could add ’no divorce’ to the family rules back then, but today you are the Family Head, you are the rule of this family. If you say divorce is possible, then it is."
Zhou Mengqin’s words made sense.
But...
Yin Shaohui closed his eyes briefly, "The ancestral teaching says, unless absolutely necessary, it should not be changed."
Zhou Mengqin furrowed her brows.
"If this marriage ends, the position of Family Head won’t be yours in the future."
This statement from Yin Shaohui was meant to intimidate Yin Shixiu.
Zhou Mengqin’s expression froze.
Yin Shaohui looked back at Zhou Mengqin, "The old master put this tradition into the family rules, not for me to one day break it."
Zhou Mengqin pursed her lips, her face as unpleasant as it had ever been.
The outcome she least wanted to see was this.
"Dad, is this necessary?"
Yin Shihua stood up again, "Shixiu got married without the family’s knowledge, even if he divorces, it can’t be counted."
"I will not divorce."
Yin Shixiu said calmly.
Zhou Mengqin looked at him.
"I will not divorce Su Xiaomeng."
He raised his eyes, speaking each word clearly, "But I also do not want the position of Family Head."
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone looked at each other.
"You look down on Su Xiaomeng because you think that if I inherit the position of Family Head in the future, Meng cannot bear the responsibility of being the mistress of the family. Now you don’t have to struggle with it."
"She is just an ordinary girl, I have no high demands for her."
Zhou Mengqin squinted, "Do you know what you are giving up? You are not just giving up the position of Family Head, but all the expectations your father and I had for you!"
"I am your son, you hit me, I take it; disobeying you means I’m unfilial, marrying secretly was my fault."
Yin Shixiu spoke indifferently, "But I know if I had told you beforehand, Xiaomeng and I would never have gotten married."
"But unfortunately, it was I who first pursued that girl, I say I forced her, which is also true, that girl didn’t think much and stayed with me..."
"I never thought about divorcing her, not just because of the family’s rules."