Xiuli asked her younger brother to tidy up downstairs while she took Xiuzhu upstairs to check if she was hurt.

“Ouch, Sis, be gentle! It really hurts,” Xiuzhu frowned, her lips slightly downturned.

Carefully, Xiuli dipped a cotton swab into the ointment and gently applied it to the bruise on Xiuzhu’s wrist. “It’ll be fine soon, be good.”

She hadn’t expected Sanya to use such force. The bruise on Xiuzhu’s wrist was dark, and with her fair skin, it looked quite alarming.

Xiuli’s movements became even more cautious, fearing she might accidentally hurt her sister.

Once the ointment was applied, a cooling sensation spread across Xiuzhu’s wrist. Slowly, her furrowed brows relaxed.

Now that she had a moment to breathe, she curiously asked, “Sis, what’s the deal with this second aunt of yours?”

“She’s supposed to be biological sisters with Aunt Lin, right? How can their personalities be so different?”

It was hard to blame Xiuzhu for questioning whether they were really blood-related. The contrast in their personalities was just too extreme.

Aunt Lin was gentle and kind-hearted.

But Bai Huifen, who had just caused trouble, was sharp-tongued and shrewish, acting like an unreasonable scoundrel. Xiuzhu couldn’t understand how two sisters from the same family could turn out so differently.

Xiuli sighed helplessly. “Yes, they’re real sisters. Otherwise, my mother wouldn’t keep putting up with her over and over again.”

Aunt Lin, whose full name was Bai Huifang, was the third child in the Bai family, with an older brother and an older sister—Bai Huifen.

Despite being just two years apart in age, the sisters never had a close relationship.

Bai Huifen had been domineering and selfish since childhood, always demanding the best food and toys for herself. If she didn’t get her way, she would throw a tantrum.

The Bai family was an ordinary household in Beijing, but they didn’t practice favoritism between sons and daughters. They treated all their children equally.

The elderly parents, the son, and the youngest daughter were all mild-mannered. Only the eldest daughter, Bai Huifen, was spoiled and willful.

There wasn’t much choice but to indulge her—otherwise, the household would be in constant turmoil.

When she reached marriageable age, she refused every suitor her family introduced.

Instead, she insisted on marrying Zhao Heping, a notorious loafer in the neighborhood.

Zhao Heping’s family was dirt poor, with only a widowed mother. He was unreliable, constantly drifting between odd jobs. His mother, too, was a difficult woman.

The Bai family strongly opposed the match and kept Bai Huifen locked at home, refusing to let her leave no matter how much she made a fuss.

But Bai Huifen, spoiled and headstrong, was eventually coaxed by Zhao Heping, and the two eloped.

Two months later, she returned home claiming she was pregnant, which infuriated Bai Mother so much that she collapsed on the spot.

Even so, Bai Mother made it clear: if she insisted on marrying Zhao Heping, she wouldn’t receive a single cent in dowry.

And if she couldn’t make the marriage work, she was not to return home looking for help.

In those days, a man who seduced a girl into eloping was never considered trustworthy.

Yet Bai Huifen packed her things and ran straight to Zhao’s house without looking back.

Their home was in disrepair, with a leaking roof. After marriage, she found it unbearable.

Encouraged by Zhao Heping and his mother, she returned to her parents’ house every day, pregnant, demanding a dowry.

Bai Father and Bai Mother, both heartbroken and disappointed, eventually gave in and handed her a sum of money. That bought some peace for a while.

But later, when she saw that her younger sister—who had grown up with fewer luxuries—had married a well-off soldier, she started causing trouble again.

She accused her parents of favoritism, saying they had given her too little dowry.

At that time, Lin Zhijun, newly married, couldn’t bear to see his in-laws being bullied to the point of hospitalization.

So, he gave Zhao Heping a severe beating.

Frightened, Zhao Heping finally stopped stirring up trouble.

Later, after Bai Father and Bai Mother were discharged from the hospital, they moved to the Northeast with their son. Before leaving, they finally gave their eldest daughter the rest of her dowry.

They had withheld it before because they knew Zhao Heping was unreliable. They had hoped that one day she would come to her senses and still have some money to rely on. But now, they had completely given up on her.

They just wanted to live a few more peaceful years—out of sight, out of mind.

After Bai Father and Bai Mother left, the Zhao family, fearing Lin Zhijun, no longer dared to trouble Bai Huifang.

And Bai Huifang had long been completely disappointed in her sister. The two families didn’t have any contact for over a decade.

Zhao Heping remained as lazy as ever, and when he drank too much, he would even resort to violence.

Later, he somehow managed to get a job as a full-time worker in a textile factory’s workshop. But instead of working himself, he sent his wife to do it while he stayed home, drinking and playing cards.

The workshop job paid 40 yuan a month, barely enough to support a family of seven. Yet Zhao Heping still insisted on smoking and drinking, making life unbearably tight.

A few years ago, Bai Huifen found out that her younger sister had become a government official’s wife. The jealousy nearly consumed her.

Her husband coaxed her into going to the Lin family to borrow money, instructing her not to make a scene like before. This time, she had to act pitiful and bring the children along.

Aunt Lin didn’t have much sisterly affection for Bai Huifen.

But since their parents had passed away and their elder brother lived far away, Bai Huifen was, ironically, the only blood relative she had left nearby.

Seeing that her sister seemed to have changed, Aunt Lin couldn’t help but soften. She lent her money and ration coupons a few times.

However, as the requests became more frequent, she eventually realized that Bai Huifen hadn’t changed at all—she had just learned to disguise her true nature better.

Even so, out of a lingering sense of familial duty, she didn’t tell her husband. She simply stopped lending money.

If she absolutely couldn’t refuse, she would give a few yuan at most—for the sake of the children.

“Sigh, that’s how it all happened,” Xiuli lay on the bed, sighing as she recounted everything to Xiuzhu.

At just 18, Xiuzhu had grown up in a simple household and had never encountered such messy family affairs.

After hearing the story, she was so furious that she pounded her small fist against her stuffed bear.

She was utterly disgusted by Bai Huifen’s foolish obsession with love and the entire Zhao family.

Fuming, she muttered, “They have no shame at all. She fought so hard to marry him back then, and now she’s doing everything she can to squeeze her own family dry.”

“Exactly. That’s why marriage should always have the approval of the family. Parents will never intentionally harm you,” Xiuli said with a sigh.

Hearing this, Xiuzhu turned to her cousin and teased, “Your childhood sweetheart—Uncle and Aunt were satisfied with him back then, weren’t they?”

“Of course! They were very satisfied. You should also marry someone your parents approve of,” Xiuli replied, her face glowing with happiness as she spoke of her fiancé.

At the mention of weddings, Xiuzhu suddenly remembered—she had brought gifts for everyone!

She sat up abruptly and smacked her forehead, but her skin was so delicate that it immediately turned red.

Xiuli, lying beside her, was startled by her sudden movement and sat up as well. “What’s wrong, little troublemaker?”

Xiuzhu jumped out of bed, opened her suitcase, which was tied with a butterfly ribbon, and excitedly took out the gifts.

She proudly showed them to Xiuli. “Look! These are gifts my mom and I picked out for everyone—including Brother-in-law!”

Her eyes sparkled with mischief, like a child who had just played a prank on an adult—an expression both endearing and exasperating.

Seeing her cheeky look, Xiuli couldn’t resist. She reached out and gently pinched her cousin’s face. The smooth, soft skin felt so nice that she unconsciously increased the pressure.

When she let go, she saw a bright red mark on Xiuzhu’s fair cheek and guiltily looked away.

Changing the subject, she said, “Wow, that’s a lot! What did you bring? Auntie really put in a lot of effort.”