Chapter Nine: Brothers Join Forces to Pursue the Former Sister-in-Law

Evening.

The setting sun cast its afterglow over the half-peeling, gray-white walls of the clinic.

Song Shijing was busy writing medical records but kept glancing toward the wide-open door, his eyes almost straining from staring.

An elderly woman waiting for treatment beside him couldn’t stand it any longer and sneered, “Doctor Song, what are you looking at? Don’t tell me you’re still hoping that dark-skinned wife of yours will bring you your meal. I heard she left early and abandoned you! You’d better focus on your patients instead of meddling in all those pointless love affairs.”

“What nonsense are you talking about? Why would I wait for her to bring me food?” Song Shijing replied irritably, tearing off the prescription in his hand and handing it to her with a stern expression. “My hand hurts, Nurse Su isn’t on duty, so I can’t give injections. Take the medicine today and come back early tomorrow for the shot.”

The woman rolled her eyes at him. “If you don’t want to give me the shot, I wouldn’t want to get it from you two anyway, you’re filthy.” With that, she tossed down a coin without caring about Song Shijing’s displeased look, spat, and left.

Song Shijing was quite angry. He took several sips from his enamel cup before calming down.

Suddenly, footsteps came from the entrance.

Song Shijing quickly lifted his head, his face full of anticipation as he looked toward the door. But when he saw Su Yanyan carrying a lunchbox, an inexplicable melancholy welled up inside him.

He was startled by this sudden emotion.

He didn’t even hear Su Yanyan calling him.

Coming back to his senses, he looked at her but thought instead of the dream where she pointed at him and cursed him bitterly, blaming him for Meng Shuyue’s death.

Song Shijing shook his head to reassure himself—it was just a dream.

Su Yanyan opened the metal lunchbox to reveal a box of fragrant egg fried rice.

“Why did you come to bring me food when you’re not working? Your back isn’t healed yet; don’t come here,” he said distractedly, picking up his chopsticks to pick at the rice. Su Yanyan’s cooking didn’t suit his taste, and he found it hard to swallow.

“Brother, I want to divorce Zhou Dajun!”

“What? Cough, cough...” Song Shijing choked on the rice in his mouth, shocked by her words and coughing violently.

He felt an inexplicable panic, a vague fear that Su Yanyan might hold him accountable.

If she divorced again, Meng Shuyue would surely be utterly furious.

After all, she hadn’t spoken to him for two days.

Not seeing her sullen face all day, he felt that something was just wrong everywhere.

Su Yanyan saw his expression and felt her heart sink, but she still tearfully pulled out a newspaper and handed it to him. “Brother, our story’s all over the paper. My reputation is ruined now.”

Pointing at a line in the paper, she sobbed, “Look, Sister Shuyue somehow gave an interview to a reporter, saying I was promiscuous and caught a gynecological disease, using the excuse of treatment to seduce you. She’s also a medical student—how could she slander me like this? Boohoo…”

Song Shijing’s eyes widened in disbelief. He rubbed his eyes several times before clearly seeing the black-and-white photo on the paper—it was the embarrassing scene of him protecting Su Yanyan.

He thought his uncle was only trying to scare him and would never let the story get published.

But unexpectedly, the newspaper reported their affair and placed it on the front page in the most prominent spot.

His head felt like it was about to burst from anger, and he crumpled the paper in his hands.

Seeing this, Su Yanyan cried even louder, fanning the flames. “It must be Sister Shuyue who can’t stand me, bribing that reporter to expose this. That day, I saw her secretly whispering to the cameraman. But even if she hates me and wants to ruin my reputation, she shouldn’t drag you into it. Remember, brother, you still have to work in the city hospital.”

With these words, she pinned the blame for the scandal squarely on Meng Shuyue, darkening Song Shijing’s expression further. He shifted his resentment for his uncle Shen Jinxiao onto Meng Shuyue.

Though annoyed by her crying, Song Shijing also felt some pity for her.

After all, when they were children, Su Yanyan saved him from drowning. Because of that, he begged his parents to adopt her as their daughter, which led to her being arranged to marry Zhou Dajun, such a scoundrel.

He felt guilty toward Su Yanyan and could not bear to see her suffer even a little. He pulled her, trembling with sobs, into his arms and patted her back, vowing, “Don’t worry, I’ll make Meng Shuyue apologize to you. Otherwise, she won’t set foot in the Song family again!”

Su Yanyan nestled in his embrace, a faint smile tugging at her lips, her eyes gleaming with an unmistakable coldness.

Thanks to the photos Meng Shuyue had taken with the reporter, she now had the leverage to marry into the Song family and become the eldest daughter-in-law—it was a certainty.

＊

“Bang!”

The teacup shattered.

Inside the Song family residence, Song Shixuan and Song Shiyu stood rigidly, heads bowed, unwilling to look up.

“What a disgraceful son, none of you can be trusted, embarrassing the family in front of the whole country!”

“Getting involved with that vixen!”

Song Father waved the newspaper furiously, as if he could just shake off the humiliating image of his most favored eldest son from the page.

His chest heaved violently, while Song Mother nervously smoothed his chest.

She was furious too. Ever since the family adopted Su Yanyan, she had disliked the girl, feeling that she constantly flirted shamelessly in front of her three sons, leaving them all infatuated and secretly jealous of one another because of her.

She had always thought Su Yanyan was calculating and scheming.

If not for the fact that she saved her eldest son’s life, she would have gladly beaten her and driven her away long ago.

So she had deliberately arranged for a distant relative of the family driver, Zhou Dajun, to marry Su Yanyan off to the countryside, hoping to get rid of her.

But Su Yanyan was not one to behave quietly; even after marriage, she still had her eyes on their son.

Although she despised Meng Shuyue as a country bumpkin, she disliked Su Yanyan even more.

Fortunately, on this matter, both Song Father and Song Mother were united in their dislike of Su Yanyan, having long vowed never to allow their adopted daughter to become a daughter-in-law of the Song family.

Yet, the two eldest sons were displeased when they heard their father disparage their beloved “little sister” and dared to argue back.

“Dad, how can you call Yanyan a vixen? She saved big brother’s life and has always been good to us. How can you be so ungrateful? Big brother can avenge grandpa’s debt to the Meng family, so why can’t he marry Yanyan to repay her kindness?”

“Exactly! Sister Yanyan is fair and delicate, like a fairy. If you hadn’t married her off to the countryside, I’d want to marry her myself. You’re just old-fashioned and backward!”

Song Mother banged her chest in frustration. “What? You wanted to marry that shameless vixen? Good heavens, how did I give birth to three fools, all played around by one woman?”

Now it was Song Father’s turn to comfort his wife. Running his hand over her chest, he turned his cold gaze to his two sons and issued a final order.

“I just went to the Traditional Chinese Medicine clinic to ask about the in-laws. The Meng girl is coming back tonight. You two are to go to the train station to pick her up and make sure to cheer her up. Whether it’s the second or the third son, one of you must marry the Meng girl. Understand?”

“If you can’t do it, don’t even think about getting your monthly allowance of two hundred yuan!”