"Ye Qiu, you need to understand that we are your family by blood, we’re the only ones in this world who truly care about you!" Han Hui shouted harshly.

"Yes, in terms of blood relations, you are indeed my closest family. But in the past twenty-some years, have you ever shown me any connection or care? Under the guise of ’training’ me, do you think five hundred yuan is enough for anything in college if I hadn’t worked hard myself? When I was a child, I only had two sets of clothes in my entire wardrobe, and shoes were only replaced when they were too tight. Do you know how others would laugh at me? And the ridiculous part is, when I got home and asked you to buy new ones, what I got was scolding or even punishment by being left hungry," Ye Qiu said, full of sarcasm.

"We did that all for your own good, to prevent you from learning to compare with others, to prevent you from picking up bad habits."

"Compare? I dressed worse than the most impoverished students at our school. Is that what you call ’comparison’? But what about Ye Qing? How many times did she wear the clothes in her wardrobe from childhood to now? Even her walk-in closet is bigger than my room. Aren’t you afraid she’ll compare? Aren’t you afraid she’ll go astray?"

"Your sister has always been obedient and sensible, we’ve always been very reassured about her."

"Yes, she’s obedient and sensible, she’s smart and clever. Since she’s so outstanding, why does she need what I worked hard to earn? Isn’t she always boasting about how well she treats me? Is coveting my assets treating me well? If she’s so capable, she should earn it herself!"

"Your sister is a girl, don’t you know the world is always harsher on girls? It’s naturally tougher for women to earn money than men."

"But aren’t there as many female entrepreneurs as male entrepreneurs in our country? You’ve always told me since I was a child that she’s more outstanding than me. I’ve succeeded, so why can’t someone more outstanding than me succeed? And as for being harsh? Over twenty years old, and I’ve never seen the world or this family treat her harshly. On the contrary, I think I’ve faced quite a bit of harshness in this family."

"Is that how you think of us? No matter what, we raised you safely and sent you to college."

"Aside from giving me food and a place to stay, what else have you given me? Have I done little work for this family since childhood? Washing dishes, mopping floors, hanging clothes, obeying Ye Qing’s instructions—now you’re hiring housekeepers, but they’re not as busy as I used to be. Have you ever calculated how much I’ve contributed to this family based on market rates?"

"You..." Han Hui was left speechless, tongue-tied because she was indeed deeply touched by this matter. Since Ye Qiu went to college, she realized just how much needed to be done at home, and hiring housekeepers wasn’t cheap either. But he is a member of this family; shouldn’t he do some of the work? Is charging them right for someone with higher education?

"Mom and Dad, I genuinely didn’t intend to argue with you about all these things when I came here today. I just hoped for a nice family meal and then discussed my and Xianxian’s marriage, but I didn’t expect the hostility the moment Xianxian and I walked in. You keep saying I’ve done this wrong or that wrong, but don’t you think you’ve done anything wrong?"

Ye Qiu took a deep breath and continued, "Since childhood, you’ve always thought favoring girls was the right thing to do. That I should give in was right. You are my parents, you gave me life, and you asked me to step aside without any concern. But that doesn’t mean Ye Qing can order me around or interfere in my affairs at will. Maybe you don’t think what she’s done to me is a big deal, but I’ve remembered all of it."

He glanced at Ye Qing, who looked both embarrassed and restless, with disdain in his eyes: "You can spoil her and favor her all you want, I don’t care about your property. You can even give it all to her, but if you expect me to support her, to buy her a house, that’s impossible."

Ye Peilin and Han Hui were furious but saw no way to refute his determined words.

What could they do? Could they admit they were wrong?

No, they couldn’t. They just misunderstood. Why didn’t Ye Qiu clarify from the start that he earned all the money himself?

"We only wanted you to break up because, as a man, we didn’t want you to regret living off a woman. Why didn’t you explain initially?" Han Hui’s tone softened as she fully realized now that this son was no longer under their control.

"Did you give me a chance to explain? The moment I walked in, who didn’t have a tense face? Who welcomed Xianxian? It’s only because Xianxian is magnanimous that anyone else would have found it unbearable to stay. Stop saying you’re doing it for my good. When have you truly acted in my best interest? With just a word from Ye Qing, you believed I was living off someone else, that I was going to be a live-in son-in-law. Did you trust me even a little?"

Han Hui turned her eyes away, awkwardly, unable to answer this question.

But Ye Qing couldn’t hold back any longer, sharply saying, "You only talk about our bad attitude, what about you? What about your good girlfriend? She wasn’t nice to me either. Who starts arguing with their sister-in-law the first time they visit?"

"She did that because she cares about me, because you said something you shouldn’t have first. What do the matters between Xianxian and me have to do with you? Why should you meddle?" Ye Qiu glanced at her, too annoyed to bother further.

If it weren’t for her prejudgment, if it weren’t for her sowing discord, how could Xianxian’s first visit have turned out like this? How could the family’s misunderstanding towards him have deepened?

In his past life, they used every reason to keep him at home, every reason to exploit him, making everyone think he was useless and had to rely on her.

But in reality? He was just a nanny for this family, just a laborer. What item in their home was not bought by him? Ye Qing was even afraid of losing her position when she visited home after getting married, repeatedly sabotaging his relationships. Ultimately, Ye Qing was selfish, and for her own sake, his sacrifices were deemed necessary.

In this life, she still hopes to flaunt having a brother who can do anything for her, to continue spreading rumors about his poor character and lack of future prospects, to control his love life and entire life just like before.

But this lifetime, he came back and disrupted her plans. He aimed to become the top scorer to expose her lies. He worked hard to prove that he wasn’t useless, just that no one believed in him. He became assertive, cherished Xianxian, and wanted her to realize that apart from blood relations, she was nothing and could never ask him for anything again.