When Huang Jie heard her younger brother-in-law's words, she was about to lose her temper.
What did he mean? Her own daughter was always the one being taken care of at home, and now he wanted her to look after someone else at school?
If it were her own siblings, that would be one thing, but this was a relative with no blood relation.
Asking her daughter to take care of her younger brother-in-law's adopted daughter.
If their family needed to curry favor with her younger brother-in-law's family, that would be understandable, but now it was clearly her younger brother-in-law's family who needed to cling to them to get by.
She had just said that her younger brother-in-law had made some progress after three years out in the world, learning what it meant to have a sense of propriety.
Now it seemed that a leopard really couldn't change its spots; her younger brother-in-law hadn't changed at all, he was still the kind of person who lacked common sense.
Not only was Huang Jie, the biological mother, unhappy about this, but the other family members were also unwilling.
The Eldest Uncle's expression suddenly turned serious, and the Eldest Aunt put her hand on Huang Jie to calm her.
The Eldest Aunt said, "Ah Li is young and at the age where she should be carefree, how could she take care of someone else?"
Since her sister-in-law had spoken up first, Huang Jie didn't hold back either, "Sister-in-law is right. If Third Brother is worried about his adopted daughter, it's best to keep her by his side and look after her himself."
Hong Yan, who had been quietly playing the role of a bystander, suddenly spoke up, "Both sisters-in-law are right. Your third brother has always spoken without thinking things through. You've known him for so long, you understand his character. He doesn't have any ill intentions."
"He just mentioned wanting the girl I gave birth to transfer to Ah Li's school. He hadn't discussed this with me beforehand. Let me be the first to say, I don't agree with this. That girl has a lowly fate, poor grades, and doesn't study well. If we let her be in the same class as our good girl Ah Li, she might be a bad influence."
Just listening to her words, there was a sour and sarcastic tone to them, as if she was telling the reluctant Eldest Aunt and Huang Jie that her own daughter wasn't worthy of studying with their precious young ladies.
When Hong Yan spoke of her daughter's "lowly fate," her tone was so bitter that it sounded more like she was cursing an enemy rather than speaking about her daughter.
Both the Eldest Aunt and Huang Jie, being mothers of daughters themselves, frowned at this. Even if they wanted to be sarcastic towards others, they would never use the method of belittling their own daughters.
The two of them furrowed their brows, wondering what kind of biological mother would speak about her own daughter like this.
Youngest Uncle Shi defended his stepdaughter, saying, "Ying is a good child, don't set your expectations too high for her."
"Regarding putting Ying in Ah Li's class, I didn't discuss it with you beforehand. That was my mistake, and it won't happen again. You're her mother, and if you think it's not suitable, then we'll find an ordinary high school for Ying."
Seeing Youngest Uncle Shi humble himself before Hong Yan, everyone in the room wore expressions as if they had just eaten something unpleasant.
Watching others display affection could make one feel the pink bubbles of love emanating from them, but watching these two show affection was different – it could make one vomit up yesterday's dinner.
The reason Youngest Uncle Shi suddenly brought up changing schools for his stepdaughter was that he could now work at the company. With him as the head of the household, it was natural that they would move to Blue City.
After moving, the first thing to consider was the children's education, which was quite reasonable.
Huang Jie was soft-hearted and felt that her brother-in-law's adopted daughter was a bit pitiful. As long as it didn't trouble her own daughter, she was willing to lend a helping hand.
So she said, "I know quite a few middle school principals, both private and public. I can help introduce you."
Youngest Uncle Shi knew that any school his second sister-in-law was aware of must be good, otherwise she wouldn't have mentioned it.
So he gratefully said, "Thank you, Second Sister-in-law. Whether it's public or private doesn't matter, as long as the school has a good learning environment and responsible teachers..."
Before Youngest Uncle Shi could finish speaking, Hong Yan interrupted him, "For such a small matter as this child's schooling, there's no need to trouble Second Sister-in-law. My daughter is useless, and it would be a waste to use connections to get her into a good school. Thank you for your concern, Second Sister-in-law, but there's no need to trouble you with this."
Huang Jie had offered help out of kindness, but since the biological mother didn't appreciate it, she wouldn't insist on helping.
Youngest Uncle Shi wanted to say something more, but after receiving a glare from Hong Yan, he swallowed his words.
Seeing this, Shi Li smiled and said, "Although I don't have a blood relationship with that sister, we're still family. We should stand together and help each other. Uncle and Mrs. Hong, you can trust me with your daughter. If you trust me, I'll do my best not to let you down."
"It's not just about me taking care of my sister; there are many ways we can help each other. Having a relative in the same class means you don't have to worry about me being bullied at school. When she encounters difficulties, I'll help her, and when I face challenges, she'll help me too."
After Shi Li finished this heartfelt speech, everyone in the villa, except for the youngest uncle and his wife, wore intriguing expressions.
Her cousins raised their eyebrows at Shi Li, with looks that seemed to say, "What are you up to?"
Heaven knows, Shi Li truly didn't have any ulterior motives. She was such a kind-hearted person who simply wanted to do something to help others.
Hong Yan quickly waved her hand, "Aunt knows that Ah Li is kind, but you don't know how selfish and vain Song Ying is. Being around her will corrupt you."
Shi Li waved her hand even more vigorously, "It's alright, we're family. I won't look down on my sister. You said I'm a good person, so if she spends time with me, she'll be influenced to become a good person too."
Her female cousin couldn't help but laugh. Wasn't her little sister essentially saying that Song Ying wasn't good because she had spent too much time with her biological mother, Hong Yan, and had been influenced by her?
As Hong Yan was about to refuse Shi Li again, Youngest Uncle Shi had already made the decision, "Since Ah Li is willing, we'll trouble you with this then."
Shi Li looked into Hong Yan's eyes with a slight smile, "It's no trouble. We're family, saying such things makes it seem too formal."
The "we're family" principle had resurfaced. Hong Yan scornfully curled her lip. When her husband wanted to return to work at the company, the whole family had been reluctant, with only the Old Lady speaking up to help.
Now this dead girl suddenly remembered they were family.
From these simple exchanges, everyone present could sense that Hong Yan didn't value her own biological daughter very much.
Following the principle of annoying Hong Yan, the Eldest Aunt proactively brought up, "You're staying at the old house tonight. What about your daughter? Should we send the driver to bring her from the hotel? It's not safe for a girl to stay alone in a hotel."
Youngest Uncle Shi's smile became a bit uncomfortable, "We haven't settled in properly here yet, so we didn't dare bring her along. The girl is staying at home to watch the house."
The Eldest Aunt let out a meaningful "Oh," then said, "You two are really brave, daring to leave the child alone at home."
"She's a grown girl now, she should be able to take care of herself."
The Eldest Aunt asked again, "So when do you plan to bring the child over?"
Once again, Hong Yan spoke before Youngest Uncle Shi could, "There's no rush. Once we're settled here, we'll bring her over. She's a young woman now, she certainly has the ability to take care of herself."
