Chapter 41: The More You Complain, the More Submissive You Are

Chapter 41: The More She Complains, the More Submissive She Is

Xu Moxing kept thinking back to the past, and his mother was acting that way again. He really hadn't expected her to become like this.

He thought for a moment, then called Xu Jianqing.

The phone rang and rang, nearly hanging up on its own, before Xu Jianqing picked up.

"Hey, bro, what's up?"

She didn't wait for Xu Moxing to answer and instead asked, "Mom contacted you?"

Xu Moxing was stunned: "How did you know?"

Xu Jianqing didn't reply, only asked, "What did she say?"

He recounted the phone conversation.

After he finished, there was a few seconds of silence on the other end before she spoke, her voice very flat.

"I told you, leave her alone."

Xu Moxing said nothing.

"She wants to drag you down with her. She has no intention of changing."

Xu Moxing opened his mouth, then closed it again.

"She's not staying married for our sake! If she were, she'd have divorced long ago. What use is her husband at home? He's just a burden dragging us down.

The problem is she can't stand on her own. She holds the financial reins in the family, but her spirit is weak. Financial independence means nothing without mental strength.

Asking her to divorce is like asking for her life. She has a million excuses not to. She doesn't want your help; she wants to cling to you together with her dear husband and suck your blood."

Xu Moxing held the phone, just listening.

"Think about your own situation right now."

Xu Jianqing was afraid her brother would be as clueless as before he lost his memory, suffering because of them, so she wanted him to face reality.

"Amnesia, just recovered from your leg injury, low salary. How can you help her? Besides, she doesn't even want your help."

Xu Moxing said nothing.

Xu Jianqing waited a few seconds.

"Do you want to stay stuck in that mire with her? Or are you planning to break up with Brother Su? Do you think your mom and dad could accept their 'precious son' being gay?"

That hit too hard.

Xu Moxing's throat tightened. "I don't want to, but I can't just leave her alone..."

"How would you go about it? Go on, tell me."

Xu Jianqing cut off her brother's indecisiveness.

Xu Moxing didn't know.

On the one hand, his mother had worked hard to raise them; on the other hand, she willingly let her husband exploit her, and even tried to drag them into becoming slaves to her husband and her own family.

"I don't care what you do. I've decided to leave her alone for now. Unless she's sick, I won't have much contact with her except during New Year.

When she's old, I'll support her and arrange her old age properly. Other than that... respect that everyone has their own path. Anyway, I'm tired. I won't waste any more emotional energy on her. I hope you take care of yourself first."

"Think about it."

Not wasting any more emotional energy—that was what she aimed for.

But whenever the family's messy affairs came up, even though she already knew what kind of people her parents were, Xu Jianqing still couldn't control her irritation and helplessness.

Her brother had just mentioned those things, and Xu Jianqing remembered them too—she couldn't forget even if she wanted to.

Xu Jianqing now felt that back when they defended Shen Qin in front of Xu Lan, Shen Qin always wore a sour expression, putting up with everything in silence—her hands were all messed up yet she still washed Xu Lan's clothes without a word.

Actually, she actually enjoyed the arguments between the kids and her husband, as it allowed her to showcase how great she was.

Maybe Shen Qin was thinking: Oh, I'm such a great mother, such a great wife—the greatest in this family!

Xu Lan turned out so rotten because Shen Qin enabled him!

The more she complained to others, to those she considered beneath her, the more compliant she was.

In the past two years, after Xu Jianqing became more difficult to push around, Shen Qin didn't dare say much in front of her and started to talk like a decent person.

Because Xu Jianqing had truly stopped spoiling her and her husband.

Around ten in the evening, when Su Lichen came home reeking of alcohol, the living room lights were off.

He saw Xu Moxing sitting motionless on the sofa, like a dark silhouette.

He switched on the light, walked up to him, and sat down beside him.

"What's wrong?"

Xu Moxing didn't move.

A moment later, he spoke, telling him about the phone call.

When he finished, he turned to look at Su Lichen.

"What do I do?"

Su Lichen was quiet for a few seconds.

"There's nothing you can do."

Xu Moxing was taken aback.

Su Lichen looked at him. "That's just the way your mom is. Stop trying to change her."

Xu Moxing didn't speak.

"You can't rescue anyone," Su Lichen said. "Especially those who don't want to be rescued."

Xu Moxing hung his head.

He knew those words were true, but his chest still felt tight.

The two of them sat in silence for a while.

Xu Moxing suddenly looked up and glanced at Su Lichen.

Su Lichen leaned back on the sofa, staring at the ceiling. His face was expressionless, but Xu Moxing felt something was wrong.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Su Lichen paused. "Nothing."

Those two words made Xu Moxing pause.

He had heard those words many times before. Every time he heard them, he would think—just don't ask.

But today he couldn't help it.

"Again with the 'nothing'."

Su Lichen turned to look at him.

Xu Moxing met his gaze.

"You clearly have something on your mind. Why won't you tell me?"

Su Lichen held back for a moment, then finally said, "What's the point of telling you? It won't solve anything. If I don't tell you, it'll get sorted out sooner or later anyway."

Xu Moxing felt a bit hurt.

Su Lichen saw the hurt expression on Xu Moxing's face, paused, but said nothing more.

They stopped talking. By the time Su Lichen came out of the shower, Xu Moxing was already lying down.

That night, they still slept in the same bed, but back to back, without the usual goodnight kiss and holding hands.

The next day, they both had to go to work. Xu Moxing left earlier than Su Lichen, and they didn't get a chance to talk before he went out.

At the office, with a change of scenery and a busy day, Xu Moxing worked until lunch, when he had lunch with Xiao Ke.

Once Xiao Ke got to know him, probably because she found him easygoing and not one to gossip, she told him everything, from family stuff to fights with her boyfriend.

"Mo Xing, let me tell you, my boyfriend is so annoying. He won't even post my picture on his Moments, and he doesn't want to show off our relationship. If he doesn't, fine, but when we go on a date, his Moments look like he went by himself. Does your partner do that?"

Xu Moxing almost said, "Posting like he's single on his Moments probably means he doesn't love you enough," but remembered what Su Lichen had warned him about before and held back.

Xu Moxing smiled. "My partner hardly ever posts on Moments. When we go out, he just posts a scenery photo. I only post pictures too. We don't post couple photos on our feeds, so we don't have that kind of trouble."

"Aw, I'm so jealous. My boyfriend doesn't show off our relationship, and I feel kinda insecure. When we go out, I'm the one paying most of the time. He only acts generous when other people are around. Other times, we split the bill, or I treat him."

"..."

Xu Moxing didn't know what to say. He and Su Lichen basically went Dutch on everything.

Because Xu Moxing was very careful with money—he had been too poor before—and precisely because he cared, he knew how hard it was to make money, so he never took advantage of Su Lichen.

They had a joint account for living expenses, and they both put money in it regularly.

Su Lichen, after all, was used to a comfortable life and sometimes had his own standards when buying things. Occasionally he'd secretly throw in extra, but Xu Moxing didn't mind.

He wasn't trying to split everything exactly 50-50, nor did he think Su Lichen spending more meant he looked down on him. He just didn't want to take advantage of Su Lichen. But if Su Lichen voluntarily spent more, he had no objection.

Xiao Ke kept talking about her boyfriend.

"He still has his ex's contact info. I asked him to delete it, and he started a fight with me."

"..."

Xu Moxing was a bit lost on how to respond.

Fortunately, Xiao Ke didn't need him to respond; she just kept venting about her boyfriend.

Seems like she'd also been fighting with her boyfriend recently. A few days ago, Xiao Ke had been saying how great her boyfriend was, that he remembered to bring her milk tea when he got back from a business trip.

Xu Moxing didn't like talking about anything between him and Su Lichen with other people. He felt love was very private. Even if they broke up, he wouldn't complain to friends about how bad his boyfriend was.

He never thought Su Lichen was bad; it was just that sometimes their values and ways of doing things were different.

So, actually, Xu Moxing found Xiao Ke a bit annoying, but he didn't say it.