The Xu family turned bright red after hearing Han Ruochen’s accusations. Xu Yuanshu wanted to say something, but she had no words. She looked down at her fancy clothes and then turned to look at Han Yong. The man was wearing a washed-down shirt with loose pants that made him look even poorer than he usually did. Seeing this, Xu Yuanshu did not think that there was anything wrong with what she had done; if anything, she felt that it was Han Yong’s fault. He knew that they were coming to his house; why did he not wear something good?

Why did he have to pick something so... ugly?

Han Yong, on the other hand, felt his heart warm up when he heard his sister’s concern for him. Ever since he came back, he was only accused of not taking care of his wife and son. No one cared about him. Even his mother was siding with Xu Yuanshu.

"What do you know? He is a man; this is the kind of suffering every man goes through to support his family." Meng Yunhan did not want to accept that there was anything wrong with what Xu Yuanshu had done; after all, she was the one who arranged this marriage. If she admitted that Xu Yuanshu had not treated her son well, then she would also be admitting that she had made a mistake.

Han Ruochen sneered when she heard her mother’s words. She curled her lips in disdain and said, "True. Every man has to go through some sufferings to raise his wife and son."

"Then–"

"But I never heard about a man suffering to raise the entire family of his wife. Strictly speaking, my brother’s salary should have been distributed equally between our family and his. But other than the money that he gave you as filial piety, I have never seen a penny." Han Ruochen walked over and sat down on the couch. She glanced at the Xu family and questioned, "Tell me, with what rights are you coming to our house and demanding an explanation? If anything, it should be us. My brother has married your sister, and despite bringing her home, it is as if he married into your family."

"Every penny that he earns is spent on your family; we don’t even receive the New Year’s gifts. His company is filled with your Xu family members; if we did not know any better, we would have thought that the company was funded by your Xu family. All these years, when he was earning well, you all did not think of coming to our humble abode and pay your respects. But the second he started slacking off, you came to demand an explanation from us? What kind of explanation do you want?"

Han Ruochen did not hold back; she had been wanting to say these words for a long time and finally found an outlet. The Xu family thought that they could bully her and her family, but they were wrong! She would never allow them to run rampant in her house ever again.

"Ruochen, say a little less." Han Yichen did not stop Han Ruochen earlier because what she said was what he wanted to say, but he could not rip the face off the Xu family so directly, so he allowed his daughter to act up. But he also knew that if he did not stop Han Ruochen now, it would look like his daughter was acting too lawless.

Hearing her father’s light reprimand, Han Ruochen snorted but did not say anything further.

"In law—"

"Though what my daughter said does sound a bit ugly, she is right." Han Yichen glanced at his son, who was so thin that he looked like he hadn’t eaten for days. As a father, how could this sight not hurt his heart? Han Yong was his first child, and he loved him more than he loved the rest of his children. The fact that the Xu family had bullied his son like this, Han Yichen was indeed quite angry. "My son has never returned home after he married your daughter; he has never fulfilled his duties as the eldest son and has always taken care of your family. It is as if you married him as your live-in son-in-law rather than marrying off your daughter." 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Father Xu spluttered. It was not that he did not want to fight back, but what was he supposed to say? All these years, he had used all kinds of tricks to restrain Han Yong. he told his daughter that if Han Yong started to get closer to his Han family, then they would have less and less money to spend. What was more, Han Zhicheng was not Han Yong’s son. The Han family are all good-looking; as Zhicheng grows up, they will start seeing the difference between him and Han Yong. That would be too troublesome.

Even if his sister-in-law was inclined to help their family because she wanted to restrain Han Yong, even she wouldn’t stay quiet if she found out that the grandson she loved so much belonged to someone else.

"In-law, you are being too harsh. It’s just that the two kids are young and still don’t understand the importance of familial ties; I promise that I will teach my daughter a good lesson once we return home." Father Xu could only grit his teeth and take a step back; he could not let this son-in-law of his escape his grasp. The business had been declared bankrupt, and his relatives were all making a fuss about losing their jobs. He first needed to stabilise Han Yong, and then he would deal with the Han family.

He then turned to look at Han Yong and questioned, "Will that be enough?"

Han Yong did not say anything, causing Father Xu to be filled with embarrassment. He turned to look at his sister-in-law, who understood his meaning and slammed her hand onto the table. "They have lowered themselves so much. What else do you want?"