Of course, her temperament is also very good. She is not the sort of person who makes unreasonable scenes.
“They thought my family background was good and wanted me to be subservient, to be considerate towards Senior Lin. Once, his mother was hospitalised, and it happened to be in the hospital where I was doing my internship.”
“Because of my relationship with Senior Lin, I knew Auntie was hospitalised, so I naturally went to visit her.”
“Senior Lin’s mother wanted me to look after her so that Senior Lin could go to work without needing to care for her. She said she felt sorry for her son getting tired, and since I was interning at that hospital anyway, looking after her in passing would not interfere with my work.”
“At that time, Senior Lin had not yet confessed to me. I had no idea he had feelings for me and thought he only saw me as a junior.”
“Her request stunned me. I had not expected her to make such a demand. I was an intern, but I was also working. I had far too many tasks to do. How could I look after her in passing?”
“I naturally refused. Then she said I did not know how to be considerate towards Senior Lin and was not respectful enough towards elders. She added that although my family background was so good, my upbringing was not particularly impressive.”
Zeng Xiaoya said, “Only then did I realise she had misunderstood my relationship with Senior Lin. I told her I was merely his junior, not his girlfriend. Even if I were his girlfriend, it would be impossible for me to look after her.”
“She is Senior Lin’s mother. When she was ill and hospitalised, it was only right and proper for Senior Lin, as her son, to care for her. Yet he could not outsource his filial piety.”
“And outsource it to me, a mere junior. After I explained, his mother laughed awkwardly and said it was a misunderstanding. At the time, I did not think much of it and assumed she had genuinely misunderstood.”
“Later, after becoming aware of Senior Lin’s feelings for me, I realised that his parents had long known about his affection and had already regarded me as their future daughter-in-law.”
“They wanted to manipulate me when I had just entered society, when I was still naive and knew nothing, so that I would bow my head and not rely on my family background to overshadow their son.”
Zeng Xiaoya said, “That happened several years ago. Senior Lin was not present. I do not know whether his mother later told him about it, but I know he and I are not suitable.”
“I truly do not love him. His parents were very warm towards me, but that was because they valued my family background. If I really liked Senior Lin and got together with him, they would find every possible way to control me, to suppress me, to prevent my family background from overshadowing their precious son.”
Even though Father Lin and Mother Lin remained very warm towards her later on, Zeng Xiaoya knew it was all superficial.
Fortunately, she had never fallen in love with Senior Lin.
“I never looked down on Senior Lin’s origins. I simply felt that he, and his original family, were not suitable for me. His mother had even said behind my back that if I became their daughter-in-law, I probably could not do the farm work at home and would be laughed at in the village for being useless.”
Zeng Xiaoya found it amusing when she thought about Mother Lin’s little schemes behind her back and the things she had said.
Mother Lin believed that the wife her son married was meant to be a labourer for their family.
Her thinking was that of the old-fashioned mother-in-law.
That is why one should never step into a family with incompatible values. When views do not align, conflicts arise easily. Even the best feelings can disappear amid constant quarrels over trivial family matters.
“Now that I have returned to work in Guancheng, it has not been very long. Whenever Senior Lin’s mother comes to the city for check-ups, she sometimes registers under my name. I simply handle it professionally.”
“Auntie is now even more enthusiastic towards me than before. She hides her little thoughts and appears reasonable and understanding.”
“But I will not forget what happened several years ago. No matter how well she behaves, she cannot fool me.”
“Sometimes Senior Lin brings his parents to my Zeng family home. I am generally not free, so my second uncle and second aunt entertain them.”
