Chapter 203

The Pei family's dirty laundry should not be aired in public. No matter how ugly the in-fighting, outsiders should not be allowed to laugh at them.

In the Pei family's living room, the Old Madam and Old Pei sat upright, while a pregnant An ZhiXia was also helped into a chair.

Facing the elders of both families, Wang Yue still felt somewhat afraid, standing to one side with her head lowered.

At this time, Pei JianGuo also hurried over, but things had already escalated to this point that they had to get to the bottom of this.

Old Pei sighed deeply, feeling extremely worried as he asked Wang Yue, "Eldest daughter-in-law, did I not make myself clear enough just now? What other trouble did you cause outside?"

Wang Yue secretly rolled her eyes. Although afraid in her heart, she still stubbornly said, "I'm just not convinced. Why is it that after dividing up the family, both our households moved out, and now even JianGuo has been chased out by you elders, yet the third son's wife gets to continue living here? Dad, I'm not purposely causing trouble, but this is simply unfair."

Wang Yue had always been smug about Pei JianGuo being the family's only son. She also often used this to suppress the second household. How could she have expected that as soon as An ZhiXia married into the family, she gave birth to twins, stealing her limelight. And now, she's going to have triplets in one go, making Wang Yue even more aggrieved.

But given her age, wanting to compete with An ZhiXia in childbearing was impossible. Still, she was unwilling to give up the family's assets and had barely managed to persuade Old Pei to let JianGuo stay here after deciding to divide up the family. Her goal was to maintain control over this house so that JianGuo could directly inherit it in the future.

But she didn't expect that An ZhiXia would become pregnant with triplets and need to give birth in Jin City. After returning, she continued living here.

Originally, Wang Yue could have endured it, but after Old Pei chased JianGuo out, she developed a sense of crisis.

Why did they both have to move out while a heavily pregnant An ZhiXia got to live here with her children? If this continued long term, given An ZhiXia's existing ties with the family, plus the increased exposure to Old Pei, wouldn't all the benefits go to the third household in the future? There was no way Wang Yue would be willing to accept that.

Old Pei never imagined that due to such a minor issue, Wang Yue would actually come to resent An ZhiXia and confront her despite her pregnancy.

"Uncle An happens to be here today. Let me lay all my cards on the table. Eldest daughter-in-law, I know what you're thinking. JianGuo is my eldest grandson and I certainly won't shortchange him. But as long as I'm still alive, this is my house and I get to decide who lives here and who doesn't. I know you may feel I'm showing favoritism, but don't forget, you've been living in this house with JianGuo and the twins for so many years. Have I ever shortchanged you all? Even if ZhiXia stays here until the kids grow up, that's only natural. After all, I helped raise both your families' children. It wouldn't be right if, when it comes to the third son, I suddenly want nothing to do with them. Think it over, isn't this reasonable?" Old Pei broke the matter down for her. If she still didn't get it after this, there was nothing more he could do.

He believed he had done nothing wrong. Even if there was some bias in the past, it was definitely in favor of the eldest household. Pei JianGuo had never suffered any loss. But just because Old Pei was grateful to Wang Yue, it didn't mean he should let her control the entire Pei family.

He owed a debt to his eldest son, Wang Yue's own husband. His second and third sons didn't owe her anything. There was no reason for him to constantly make concessions to her.

"No matter how much you try to gloss things over, you can't conceal your favoritism, Dad. If you weren't biased, why would you suddenly chase JianGuo away when he was living here perfectly fine? Isn't it because now that you have other grandsons, you don't cherish JianGuo as much anymore!" In the past, Old Pei doted on JianGuo the most. Yet now he was talking about what was reasonable and what wasn't to skirt the issue of his bias.

Obviously now that he had more grandsons, he didn't cherish the only one like before.

"If you insist on seeing things that way, there's nothing I can do. I'll say it again - as long as I'm still breathing, this is my house. I have the right to decide who gets to live here and who doesn't." Old Pei had never been the sort to succumb to threats. Fortunately, his temper had mellowed quite a bit with age now. If this had happened in the past, he would've flipped the table and called Pei Yong back long ago.

"No matter how you try to justify it, it all boils down to favoritism in the end. JianGuo was living here perfectly fine until you suddenly chased him out because you favored others. We're not going to keep worrying about your health anymore since we have our own place to live. If I wasn't concerned about leaving you here alone, why would I insist on having JianGuo stay?" Wang Yue retorted angrily before turning to call Pei JianGuo, "JianGuo, what are you standing there for? Don't you see we're being a nuisance here? Hurry up and leave to make room for certain people!"

Her insinuations instantly stunned Old Pei, making him feel lightheaded and about to collapse.

"Old Pei..."

"Grandpa..."

This took everyone by surprise. Pei JianGuo was also shocked as he quickly went over to support Old Pei.

Wang Yue also didn't expect that Old Pei couldn't take the provocation. Her heart instantly chilled.

If the old man really took a turn for the worse because of her, even the greatest gratitude wouldn't save her.

Old Pei was almost seventy. His health was already poor due to old age, and he had many old injuries. The past two years had been somewhat bearable only because of the health supplements An ZhiXia had given him.

Taking advantage of everyone's distraction, An ZhiXia quickly poured a glass of water with snow crystal fruit juice added into it. "I'm fine..." After drinking some, Old Pei felt a bit more spirited. He insisted, "Although the second household isn't here today, the first and third households are, with Uncle An here as witness. I know what this fuss is all about, so let me make this clear - as long as I'm alive, anyone who wants to can live here. But after I die, I'm giving the house back to the government. No one should have any ideas about it."

"How can that be?" Wang Yue had always coveted the house. Although she had her own house, it wasn't the same as this one. This was a house with front and back courtyards, old but very spacious with numerous rooms.

Given JianGuo's current situation, hoping for his own share of the house in the future seemed unlikely. If he could live here after getting married, his descendants wouldn't lack housing for generations.

"There's nothing unacceptable about it. Everyone has their own fate. I can't control your lives forever either. In the future, whoever is better off can have a better life, and if you end up sleeping on the streets, you can't blame me for it." Old Pei said.

Based on Old Pei's previous position, he would have been allocated housing too, but it definitely wouldn't have been as nice as this place.

It happened to be when the An family was going through tough times, so Old Pei's grandfather-in-law thought that rather than giving up the house to benefit some stranger, he might as well let Old Pei have it since their families were close. But by taking this house, Old Pei was considered a homeowner, so he forfeited the allocation quota, which went to someone else instead. So it was perfectly reasonable for him to claim this house as his own.

He actually hadn't considered surrendering it after death at first, since he had children and grandchildren who could inherit something from him. But since the house had damaged family relationships, he might as well not leave it to anyone, for peace of mind.

An ZhiXia had never entertained any thoughts about staking claims on someone else's belongings, let alone inheritance while the owner was still alive. Wouldn't that just sadden the elderly person?

"Dad can decide what to do with his own house." An ZhiXia stated her stand.

"I'll listen to Grandpa." Pei JianGuo also stated.

He hadn't actually coveted the house. It was his mother who had.

When he moved out, he was just stating the facts. Inevitably, he did complain some about An ZhiXia.

Yet he didn't expect things to escalate to this extent, directly involving the house.

It made him feel utterly awkward, as if he was the one eyeing something that didn't belong to him. His grandfather had three sons. Even if the family assets were divided up in the future, it would surely be split evenly between them. Yet his mother always believed that as the eldest grandson, he should inherit everything.

Old Pei was quite satisfied with Pei JianGuo's attitude. Fortunately the boy still knew his place and wasn't too greedy.

Financial status might fail someone, but a compromised conscience surely would!