Chapter 148

Chapter 148: Big Brother, Don’t Laugh at Second Brother

Fifth Uncle’s family had just managed to relax, but their hearts jumped up again at once.

Second Cousin subconsciously tightened his grip on his wife’s hand. Second Cousin-in-law was also a little nervous, but she quietly squeezed her husband’s hand back to comfort him.

[Just now Second Cousin-in-law was holding the child so it was blocked. Now that she has put the child down, looking closely, there seems to be a shadow on her chest area.]

A shadow?! The few adults all twitched, almost thinking their daughter-in-law might have some kind of terminal illness.

[Also, her chest… cough cough, so could this shadow be because her heart energy is not flowing smoothly, all stuck in her chest?]

Fourth Aunt’s family were also listening in with their ears pricked. When they heard this, the two women finally realized what it was that Du An Rao had found hard to talk about just now. Their faces turned a bit red.

Big Cousin, on the other hand, stiffened all over and did not dare move, his face blank as if saying, “I did not hear anything, I did not see anything, it really has nothing to do with me.”

[This is not good. From what I can see, it should only be a nodule right now, not too serious. But if she keeps feeling wronged and her energy does not flow well, over time it really could block the mammary glands, and the nodule might change and get worse. If it develops into breast cancer, it will be big trouble.]

“Second Cousin-in-law, have you run into any troubling problems lately that you cannot solve?”

“Is that so? Have you been feeling unhappy at home lately and been wronged? Or did A’Zhi do something to make you angry? Tell Mom. Mom will definitely stand up for you!”

Fifth Aunt was not just saying that. Her son and daughter-in-law had been childhood sweethearts, and their two families lived close by. They had basically watched each other’s children grow up.

Fifth Aunt had no daughters and had always treated her daughter-in-law like her own daughter. Compared to her, her son had to move back a step. If Second Cousin-in-law nodded even a little now and said Second Cousin had done something wrong to her, Fifth Aunt would grab a shoe right on the spot and beat him up.

“N-no, it has nothing to do with him, and it is not about home either.”

“It is not about home, then it is…?”

“It is about work.”

“Work?” Fifth Uncle and Fifth Aunt looked at each other in surprise.

Second Cousin-in-law had graduated from a famous school and was a senior jewelry designer at a well-known jewelry company. The staff in her technical division were simple, and her yearly pay was high. Usually there were no messy internal fights, so Fifth Uncle and the others rarely asked about her work. They never thought the problem would be there.

“What exactly happened? Is someone at the company bullying you?”

Second Cousin-in-law glanced at her husband and parents-in-law. The family had been busy and worried lately over her husband’s promotion, so she had not wanted to bring up her problems and make them worry too.

But now her husband’s matter was almost settled, and Du An Rao had brought it up, so she no longer hid it.

“The company recently got a new manager. She was my classmate in college.”

“A college classmate? Then…” They looked at each other and tested: “Did you have conflicts before?”

Second Cousin-in-law pressed her lips together and let out a long breath: “We were in the same major at school. Her mom was on the school’s board of directors and had some power, so back then she was very overbearing on campus and looked down on everyone else.”

After all, this was something from the past and also a pain she had carried in her heart for many years. Second Cousin-in-law hesitated for a long time, not sure where to start.

On the side, it was actually Du An Rao who felt anxious for her just from watching.

[Ay, to put it simply, this new manager in her department, that old classmate, was jealous of Second Cousin-in-law’s talent back in college. She set up a “thief crying thief” act, stole Second Cousin-in-law’s design drafts to enter a contest, and after the work won a prize and she got found out, she tried to turn it around and accuse Second Cousin-in-law of stealing her design instead.]

“What?” Fifth Aunt’s expression changed. “Why did you not tell us about this?”

“Cough cough cough…” Seeing that something was about to slip out, Fourth Aunt hurriedly coughed several times as a reminder.

Fifth Aunt woke up as if from a dream and quickly made up for it: “I mean, with her being like that, did you suffer from her back at school too? Why did you not tell us?”

“Back then… I did not think that much.”

[Of course it was because at that time Second Cousin-in-law’s family company had problems. She did not dare tell her parents and distract them. Plus, she had always been independent, and that “thief crying thief” department manager’s family also had some power. Second Cousin-in-law was afraid her own matter would drag down her family and Second Cousin’s family, so she chose to shoulder it alone, swallow the loss, and settle it with the other side in private.]

Fifth Aunt’s family felt terrible when they heard this. Their daughter-in-law was usually the most cheerful and straightforward, yet in private she had suffered such a big injustice.

What hurt even more was that none of them had noticed a thing. They really had failed!

It was clear that Du An Rao thought so too.

[Forget about other people, but Second Cousin, you are really unreliable. You and Big Cousin are a textbook case of “big brother, don’t laugh at second brother.” Your own wife was bullied and you did not even notice, and it happened twice in a row, by the same person!]

[Even if both times happened to be right when you were at key moments of entering and moving up at work and you were indeed a bit busy, that is still not a reason to ignore your wife. Do not tell me Sister-in-law hid it well. There is no wall in this world that does not leak wind. Once something happens, no matter how you hide it, there will always be clues left behind. To put it plainly, you just did not care enough.]

Second Cousin clenched his fists, lowered his eyes a little, and hid the guilt in them.

Although Du An Rao’s words were a bit blunt, they made perfect sense. He had no way to argue.

Thinking about it carefully, after his wife married him, she had worked hard to take care of everything at home so that he had no worries. Yet he did not even know when his wife had been wronged or hurt by others. As a husband, he was not just failing. He was terrible!

[You all just keep this up. If things really blow up like with Big Cousin, where Sister-in-law took the child and ran away from home, let us see where you will go cry then.]

Big Cousin, who had been scolded again in a roundabout way: “…”

He really had come here today to cross tribulations. Yet he truly had nothing to say back. He could only turn his head toward his wife, feeling wronged, to seek comfort.

Du Zi Xuan was amused by his pitiful look and comfortingly patted his head.

Compared with the old Du Hong Yun, she much preferred the one now who would show weakness to her and act spoiled from time to time, sometimes even competing with their son for her attention. Her husband now was as childish as their son.

It felt like a cloud that had once floated high in the sky, far out of reach, had one day come down into her palm on its own, giving her all his joys, anger, sorrows, and happiness, as well as the power to decide. At the same time, he gave her enough sense of safety that she no longer felt lost, unsure, or inferior.

And all of this was because of… that person.

Thinking this, Du Zi Xuan turned her head with a gentle smile and looked at Du An Rao.

And Second Cousin-in-law was also looking at Du An Rao. Even though she knew this matter was not her husband’s fault, when she felt sad, she still could not help feeling a bit wronged inside.