"My mother-in-law is the type who bullies the weak and fears the strong. When she saw I was serious, she lost her nerve. She was afraid we'd actually get a divorce and Dahai would take his anger out on them and break ties completely, so she just hid and kept her mouth shut.
My sister-in-law is cunning, too. At first, she still tried to vent her frustration on me, but when she saw I blew my top, she started apologizing and crying. Usually, I'm pretty easy to talk to, but this time I dug my heels in and refused to compromise. My stance was simple: whatever size house they built for the eldest brother, they had to build for us. If they wouldn't build it, we'd split the family, and from then on, I wouldn't lift a finger for the old couple—or else we'd just get a divorce.
How could your brother-in-law possibly agree to a divorce? He immediately went along with my demand and marched off to see his parents. After all these years of marriage, it was the first time I'd ever seen him grow a backbone. My parents-in-law threw a huge fit, crying and wailing, and called all three brothers over to hash it out."
Lin Qin's curiosity was piqued. "And then? What was the outcome of the discussion?"
Lin Ying laughed triumphantly. "Naturally, they gave in to my demands! Dahai's eldest brother had already made out like a bandit, so what could he possibly say? If he tried to persuade Dahai to hand his money over to the third branch for an emergency instead, I would've divorced him on the spot, and…
Chapter 97