Return to 88: Starting from Marrying My Sister-in-law

Looking into her sister's calm yet distant eyes, Yin Mingzhu felt a sudden increase in the suffocating feeling in her chest.

It's disappointment, incomprehension, and even more so, the helplessness of being pushed away by the closest person.

"Good! Good!"

She squeezed out two words through clenched teeth, then abruptly took a step back, the wind from her turn causing the cradle to sway slightly.

She slammed her hand on the doorknob, almost as if she was about to slam the door shut and leave.

"Sis, where are you going?"

Before Yin Mingzhu could slam the door and leave, Yin Mingyue called out to her from behind.

"Where am I going?"

"Since you see me like this, where else can I go?"

Yin Mingzhu said angrily.

She didn't turn around; her hands gripped the doorknob, her back to her sister.

Yin Mingyue took a breath through her nose and slowly said, "Sister, are you unhappy that I speak so harshly? But haven't you ever thought about why I speak so harshly?"

It takes two hands to clap.

The reason why this happened should not be her sole responsibility.

Yin Mingzhu's knuckles began to turn white as she gripped the doorknob tightly.

She thought about her mother's unusual behavior recently—the phone calls and meetings with her where she was being subtly instructed to find ways to improve her relationship with her brother-in-law, ideally to reconcile... Not only that, she had even said some things that were too embarrassing to say aloud...

For a moment, her voice trembled as she said, "You...you knew everything?"

Yin Mingyue shook her head. "What difference does it make whether we know or not? Mother always wants what's best for us sisters, but we are human beings, living, breathing people. We can't just do whatever she tells us to do, can we?"

Yin Mingzhu fell silent.

Although my younger sister wasn't very well-educated, she also found this statement to be quite reasonable.

but……

"The key is what you think, sister, and whether you've listened to what Mom said."

Yin Mingyue watched her sister's back, her gaze shifting downwards to the hands that were gripping the doorknob, their knuckles already turning white.

His pupils suddenly contracted.

She then took another deep breath through her nose and said calmly, "I don't like to make wild guesses. If my words are unpleasant, please forgive me, sister."

Some things don't need to be said too explicitly. If they are, it will not only hurt others, but also yourself.

She just wanted her sister to know what was going on.

Don't treat her younger sister like she's stupid.

They thought she was easy to fool.

With her back to her sister, Yin Mingzhu let out a self-deprecating laugh: "Heh, so you knew all along. I thought you were still the same naive and innocent girl you used to be, without any guile, as pure as a blank sheet of paper. Since you know, fine, I'll just tell you the truth."

She released the doorknob with both hands, turned around, and looked at Yin Mingyue with a serious expression, saying, "My lifelong ambition is to fly higher. It was before, and it is now. I will never break my wings because of anyone, not even that person..."

"never mind."

She suddenly wiped her eyes and said, "Just consider me a money-grubber. I admit I'm jealous that you're doing better than me now, but I might not necessarily be worse off than you in the future. And you're my younger sister; our blood ties are unbreakable. He's my brother-in-law. No matter how much he looks down on me, he's still my brother-in-law. I'm just making good use of our relationship right now. I started a company, I resigned from CCTV, and now I'm moving into this courtyard house. My purpose is very clear: I..."

"never mind."

I can't continue.

Hot tears welled up in her eyes and rolled down her cheeks one by one.

There wasn't time to wipe it off.

She stubbornly turned her face away and said, "If you don't believe me, then I'll leave."

Being able to admit that she loves money, is greedy, and mercenary, and that her purpose in moving into this courtyard house was solely to secure the project, is the limit of how much she can downplay herself.

If the younger sister still doesn't believe it, she will suspect that her motives are impure.

Then there's no point in saying anything.

No matter how much you say, it only proves that she's shameless, offering her face to be slapped.

Yin Mingyue sniffed and felt a slight soreness in her nose.

My eyes gradually became moist.

She turned her head to the side and said, "Sister, stop talking. I believe you. Please stay."

Whether you believe it or not is not important.

The important thing is to help my sister with her career, which will also benefit her.

When women focus their energy on their careers, they often neglect other things around them. This is especially true for someone like my sister, who is ambitious and wants to do everything perfectly. She doesn't ask for much; she just hopes that if my sister becomes successful, she can forget the past and stop thinking about going back to where she started.

Yin Mingzhu was unaware that her younger sister was thinking even further ahead than she was.

She wiped away her tears, widened her eyes, and asked, "You really believe me?"

Before Yin Mingyue could answer.

She retorted stubbornly, "If what you just said was just to maintain the little remaining relationship between us sisters, and to avoid upsetting Mom, I advise you to take it back."

I regretted it as soon as I said it.

Yin Mingyue looked calmly at her sister, who had already given up and was about to slam the door and leave.

The other party's words were insincere.

She just smiled calmly, and then reminded her sister, "What I just said to Brother Lu Yang was that you feel sorry for me, and you're worried that I'll stay up late taking care of the baby and not have a proper postpartum recovery, so you want to help me share the burden. That's why you've been sleeping with me these past few nights. And I've already sent Brother Lu Yang to the study. If you leave now, he might think you're breaking your promise, and that all those loving words you said were just lies to me. Sister, are you still going?"

Yesterday, from the moment my sister came in, I casually mentioned that my brother Lu Yang was going to CCTV to talk to the station leaders about advertising placement for this episode.

It's a large-scale project, far exceeding the advertising costs of previous product launches.

Her older sister kept subtly probing for details, asking her this and that, and then mentioning her plan to resign and start an advertising planning company, with so-and-so as a shareholder and a very powerful background. With all this, Yin Mingyue, not being a complete naive girl, and having been a wealthy wife for so many years, could naturally see what her older sister was up to.

What is her purpose in trying to please me like this? From disliking children the most in the past, she now stays up all night to soothe and take care of my child, holding the baby who has just finished drinking milk and circling around the room, helping her little nephew, her own son Fanfan, to digest.

Instead of being angry, Yin Mingzhu laughed: "You actually guessed that? It seems you're not willing to be a full-time housewife for the rest of your life. How about it? Want to come out and work with your sister? I can give you 10% of the company shares, you don't need to invest a single penny."

However, resources will definitely be heavily allocated to their advertising company in the future.

These are things that don't need to be said aloud.

If Yin Mingyue were to agree to this, she could get 10% of the shares of an advertising company for free, which would be tantamount to agreeing to exchange her background... Lu Yang's company's resources for it.

She doesn't even need to ask herself. As long as the name and shares are there, Lu Yang's numerous subsidiaries and branches, as well as those investment project managers who only hold shares and don't manage anything, would be better off handing over advertising and planning to this Beijing advertising company, which the boss lady owns shares in and is backed by CCTV, rather than letting the profits go to outsiders. This would leave a good impression on the boss lady...

What if the boss's wife is in a good mood one day and whispers something in her ear, right?
So it's obvious that this is Yin Mingzhu's open scheme. It all depends on whether her younger sister, Yin Mingyue, accepts it and is willing to accept the newly established advertising company's shares, which are being given away for free.

Yin Mingzhu has great ambitions.

Moreover, her ambition was not merely to secure the planning and filming of the two advertisements that Lu Yang Company had placed on CCTV, but to take over the advertising business of every product of all of Lu Yang's subsidiaries and branches.

Therefore, relying solely on one's status as the sister-in-law is not enough.

We must increase our investment.

She wasn't that guy's woman, and he wouldn't do everything she wanted.

Unless we bring my sister over too, and use her influence to soften that guy's heart, he might transfer all the product advertising and marketing business of the group's subsidiaries to us for the sake of family.

With such a large-scale business, I might be able to turn this advertising company into a publicly listed company someday.

After scraping together every penny, she only managed to scrape together less than 50 yuan in registered capital. She hadn't even chosen an office address yet, and didn't even know which way the door faced. And she dared to dream of... a listed company...

However, if Yin Mingyue agrees, and her words have an effect, perhaps... it really could lead her to this point.

such a pity!
“I appreciate your kindness, sister, but I don’t have that idea yet. Let’s wait until the child is older. If you want to do something when the child is older, we sisters can discuss it then.”

Although there was no direct rejection.

But it's almost the same as a direct rejection. Who knows what will happen in a few years?
Yin Mingzhu said regretfully, "Alright, when you've thought it through, just let me know anytime. I'll always keep this 10% share for you."

Seeing that he was temporarily unable to persuade his sister to join his cause.

Yin Mingzhu did not force the issue.

Knowing that haste makes waste, the most urgent task was to secure the two CCTV advertising shooting plans from Century Group.

Once she secures these two advertising deals, her new company won't have to worry about finding work anytime soon.

We’ll talk about the rest later.

Just then, Lu Yang's son, Fanfan, suddenly woke up in the cradle and started crying.

Yin Mingyue quickly got out of bed and rocked the cradle, but seeing that the baby was still crying even with the rocking, she quickly took the baby out of the cradle and said, "Sister, it's good that you think that way. Fanfan doesn't seem to be hungry. I tried to feed him, but he wouldn't eat. He might have wet himself or pooped. We need to change his diaper. Could you call Aunt Wu in for me? And bring in a basin of water so I can wash my son's bottom."

Yin Mingzhu was at a loss. She took over from the decisive Yin Mingyue, ripped off her son's diaper and threw it at him, and said with a forced smile, "How about we stop calling her Aunt Wu? I'll do it. I'll learn to do it too."

If you want to be prominent in public, you have to suffer in private. There is no free lunch in this world, and nothing falls from the sky.

My sister is definitely my own sister.

However, I have many reservations and concerns about her, and I absolutely guarantee the authenticity of her products; you can tell from her eyes.

Meanwhile, that scoundrel who should be enjoying himself in his study right now harbors even deeper prejudice against her than against his sister. He never gives her a kind look whenever they meet, as if he wishes she would never set foot in his house again.

So she needs to change.

And her baby nephew, still crying in his swaddling clothes, was the beginning of her transformation.

"Sure, if you want to help, that's great! My Fanfan has never had his bottom washed by his aunt before. Why don't you come this time?"

"But...did he wipe all the poop off his butt?"

"No, come here... It's okay, baby poop doesn't smell bad, right, right, wipe it with paper first, then wash it with water... It got on your hands... Oops, how could you be so careless? You should wash your hands quickly..."

"Okay...okay..."

"Fanfan, why don't you thank your auntie? Your auntie washed your bottom and didn't even mind the poop you made. You have to be good to your auntie from now on, okay?"

"What does a little kid like him know?"

"Who said that? My son is sensible early. Look, look, he smiled. He clearly smiled."

Because of a pile of poop.

The two sisters started talking about everything again.

……

Lu Yang had already fallen asleep in the study.

After all, I worked hard all night last night.

That’s not all.

I didn't get much rest yesterday. Apart from spending the morning talking to Sister Tan from CCTV about work, I stayed at the Great Wall Hotel all afternoon and didn't go out.

I'm really going to sleep now.

I suddenly received a call from my secretary.

Lu Yang, still grumpy from waking up, said, "Didn't I tell you? Don't bother me for a while. I'm on maternity leave now. If there's anything, handle the small things yourself, but report the big things to Sister Wei. She's the group president, so go to her if you need anything."

Xu Siqi said on the phone, sounding aggrieved, "But this was something Secretary Wei assigned to me. She asked me to ask you about it. Our group's Century Tower is about to be topped out. It's been two and a half years, and we've invested over a billion yuan. Now that it's finally topped out, there will definitely be a lot of media coming. Maybe even city and provincial leaders will attend our topping-out ceremony. The president is worried that some leaders will specifically ask to see you, so she wants you to come back. Boss, you're not a girl, so how about we just forget about maternity leave and not take it?"

"No."

Before she could finish speaking, Lu Yang resolutely refused, "I promised my wife that I would stay with her until the end of her postpartum period. The topping-out ceremony is just a little bit of hardship. It's not like our group has officially moved in yet. It's not as important as you think. This kind of small matter is nothing. Let your General Manager Wei handle it. No big leader will specifically ask to see me."

The key issue is that no one else is there, so calling out names won't help. (End of Chapter)