Family Troubles

Lily Evans was laughing so hard that tears welled up in her eyes. Princess Mira had truly reached a new level of foolishness this time—such a simple trick, and she fell for it.

Eugene Jr. took out the thousand taels of silver and presented them to Lily Evans. "Princess Consort, here's the collateral. At least I left her half a bag of Sichuan peppercorns."

"No need, no need. You earned that silver fair and square—keep it and spend it on your wife." Lily Evans waved her hand generously, wiping away the tears of laughter at the corner of her eyes. "In our family, only Eugene Jr. has the wit and talent to pull off such a scheme."

Eugene Jr. chuckled, knowing Lily Evans was wealthy and didn’t need the thousand taels. She was clearly rewarding him, so he accepted it without hesitation and immediately handed it to Belle. "Dearest wife, I just earned this silver—I wouldn’t dare keep it for myself. I’m handing it all over to you!"

"Ooooh—wow—"

The three people nearby watched the loving couple and started making teasing noises. Belle’s face turned bright red as she glared at Eugene Jr. "Don’t give it to me—I’ve got plenty of silver. Save it for your parents instead."

Eugene Jr. was delighted by Belle’s generosity—she gave away a thousand taels to his parents just like that. He felt even more grateful and respectful toward her. "Thank you, dear wife! I’ll go tell my parents right away that this is their good daughter-in-law showing her filial piety. Heh heh, our Belle isn’t just good at giving us big, healthy sons—she can earn silver and honor her in-laws too. My parents will be over the moon."

Belle’s face grew even redder. The young couple exchanged a sweet smile—pure bliss.

Cynthia Wu and Lily Evans watched from the side, both feeling genuinely happy.

Eugene Jr. truly deserved his reputation as a businessman—high emotional intelligence, good at handling people, and able to keep relations between his wife and in-laws harmonious and smooth.

It was clearly my own hard-earned silver, but whenever it came to my parents, all the credit was dumped onto Belle. They insisted it was Belle who’d made the money, Belle who was so eager to honor her in-laws. Ugh—sometimes I wondered if my family had a secret talent for driving me mad!

Unlike some men, who—even when good things happen—can’t say the right words. With low emotional intelligence, they end up upsetting both their wives and parents, causing conflicts.

With a husband this emotionally intelligent, Belle’s family was bound to have harmony between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.

Cynthia Wu glanced at Mark Hunter. Mark was good at business and had a solid family background, but compared to Eugene Jr., he was a bit lacking in interpersonal skills. Luckily, Cynthia Wu didn’t have in-laws—she lived with her father and Mark, so there were no such conflicts.

Only Lily Evans let out a sigh—her own in-law situation was truly hard to describe.

Fortunately, her husband Alexander Hayes was supportive and simply moved her out to live separately, saving her from her in-laws’ drama.

Even though they’d moved out, everyone knew Lily Evans was the daughter-in-law of the Marquis Weiyuan Estate. Lately, Madam Lou seemed to have taken some strange medicine—every few days, she’d send someone to the Prince of Qin’s Manor to invite Lily Evans and Alexander Hayes back for a meal, speaking in a pitiful, humble tone about missing her son and daughter-in-law.

The first couple of times, Alexander Hayes turned her down. But if the Marquis and Madam Lou kept acting so humble and sincerely repentant, would Alexander Hayes be able to harden his heart and ignore them forever?

After all, they were his real parents—blood was thicker than water. For now, Alexander Hayes was still angry and had cut off contact, but as time went on, would he really be able to resist their persistence and stay firm?

Lily Evans had no fondness for those two old schemers who tried to harm Margaret Evans, but she couldn’t deny they were Alexander Hayes’s parents. No matter how badly they’d treated Lily and Margaret Evans, at least they’d never done anything to harm Alexander Hayes himself.

She could only hope that Alexander Hayes would remember how much they’d hurt her and not be swayed by their tears and apologies.