Chapter 2 — A House, A Family

Someone nearby let out a weary sigh.

This sort of nonsense happens all the time. They are completely spoiled, ruined by excessive pampering.

Another voice chimed in.

The Lin family girl is no different. What is the point of a young woman holding onto a house all by herself? Hand it over to resolve an urgent crisis, and everyone will be happy.

My heart turned ice cold. What on earth did they mean by...

Everyone will be happy?

Taking what belonged to me just to satisfy the greed of others. Was that truly what they called everyone being happy? The atmosphere grew heavier and more oppressive with every passing second. Jia Giai remained seated inside the luxury bridal car, refusing to show her face or utter a single word from beginning to start. I could not tell whether she was weeping in silence or tacitly endorsing the disgraceful extortion orchestrated by her parents. All I knew was that the auspicious hour was slipping away minute by minute. Uncle Chu, the veteran master of ceremonies, hovered nearby, wringing his hands incessantly, wearing a smile far more agonizing to look at than tears. My father was still desperately trying to hold the situation together, attempting to negotiate with the bride’s family with strained patience.

Could we perhaps go inside to discuss this?

How about we proceed with the wedding rituals first, and leave the other matters to be negotiated later?

Yet Jia Giai’s mother refused to yield an inch.

Bring the property deed out here first.

Transfer the ownership right now.

Once the title is transferred, the bride will step out of the car, and we will change our forms of address. We will not take a single penny more.

Then Jia Giai will happily step down.

And if you refuse to transfer the property...

My daughter is carrying the bloodline of the Lin family.

You had better weigh the consequences yourselves.

It was a blatant, shameless act of coercion. They were using the unborn child as a hostage and the wedding day as a battlefield. I watched as my brother’s eye rims turned a raw, furious red. He stood beside the adorned wedding car, his fingers gripping the door handle so tightly that his knuckles turned completely bloodless and white. He stared at the blurred silhouette of his bride through the tinted glass, then turned his head to look at me. His face was a mask of agonizing, raw torment that he could no longer conceal. In that exact moment, a profound wave of pity for him washed over me. He had lived his entire life with absolute uprightness and sincerity, never once speaking harshly to anyone. He loved Jia Giai deeply and cherished the anticipation of this child. For the sake of this wedding, he had run himself ragged, losing more than five kilograms of weight from sheer exhaustion. Yet on the very day that should have been the happiest of his life, people were taking the very things he valued most and driving a blade straight through his heart. The surrounding murmurs grew louder. Several relatives began to swarm around me, offering their unsolicited advice. Second Aunt grabbed my arm, her voice dropping to a low, persuasive hiss.

Little Xi, today is your brother’s joyous day.

Just nod and agree.

Transfer the house to them for now.

Later on, you can have your brother buy you another property, alright?

First Aunt immediately chimed in to reinforce the pressure.

She is right, child.

Do not ruin the family’s happiness just because of your stubbornness.

So many people are waiting here.

If word of this gets out, it will be disgraceful for everyone.

Even my father turned his head to look at me. He did not say a word, but the look in his eyes... clearly held a trace of wavering hesitation. It was as though he were thinking:

Perhaps... it would be best to just agree for now.

My heart plummeted into an abyss. On what grounds? By what twisted logic should the innocent victim be forced to sacrifice everything to bear the consequences of someone else’s wrongdoing? Why should greedy predators pay no price while an innocent person is robbed of their rightful property? Yet I dared not speak. I was terrified. I was afraid that the moment I opened my mouth, I would instantly become the villain who ruined my brother’s wedding. I was even more terrified of the future condemnation that would inevitably follow.

She ruined her own brother’s marriage just over a house.

I could only stand frozen in place, my entire body trembling violently, utterly incapable of uttering a single syllable. Right at that critical juncture, my mother released her grip on my arm. With calm, measured steps, she walked forward. She passed steadily through the crowd and went straight to the bridal car. Every single eye in the courtyard followed her movement. She did not argue. She did not make a scene. She neither wept nor hurled curses. Her expression had barely shifted at all. She simply stood there quietly, waiting until every pair of eyes was fixed entirely upon her. Then, slowly, she raised her hand and tapped lightly against the car window. The tinted glass descended at a sluggish pace. Jia Giai sat inside, arrayed in a snow-white wedding gown, tear tracks still glistening at the corners of her eyes. She kept her head lowered, not daring to meet anyone’s gaze. My mother did not look at her immediately. Instead, she glanced past her at Jia Giai’s mother, then turned her gaze to Hao, who was leaning against the car door with a lazy, arrogant smirk. Finally, her eyes came to rest upon Jia Giai’s visibly rounded abdomen. She paused for a full second or two, and then she spoke. Her voice was not loud, but it possessed an uncanny clarity. Every single word struck the ears of everyone present like a heavy iron nail driven into wood.

Gia Giai...

The entire courtyard fell into an absolute, breathless silence. Standing at the edge of the crowd, my heart fluttered with a mixture of dread and apprehension. I had no idea what my mother intended to say. I was terrified that she too would buckle under the suffocating pressure and surrender, that she would turn to me with the same familiar refrain:

Just transfer the house first and we will figure out the rest later.

Yet... the words that my mother uttered next left me utterly stunned, and reduced every single person within earshot to petrified silence. She spoke only a single sentence. In that very instant, I watched the triumphant, smug expression on the face of Jia Giai’s mother freeze solid. She looked precisely like a fowl caught by the throat, her mouth gaping open, utterly incapable of producing another sound. I watched as Hao slowly dropped his crossed arms from his chest, his arrogant demeanor instantly draining away. I watched as Jia Giai inside the car jerked her head upward in shock, her eyes widening in sheer horror, all the color instantly vanishing from her face. The very next second, Jia Giai herself frantically pushed open the car door. Without even bothering to gather her voluminous wedding dress, she stumbled out in a clumsy panic, nearly tripping over the heavy fabric. She lunged forward and grabbed my mother’s hands, her voice trembling so violently it was barely coherent.

Mother...

I will listen to what the elder has to say.