Chapter 1: Parents with a preference for boys over girls

Summers in Jiangzhou City are scorchingly hot, earning it the nickname of a furnace.

Ye Fanxing, sweating profusely, had just reached her front door when she heard her younger brother, Ye Zichen, protesting, "I don't want to go to school!"

Mrs. Ye's voice was stern and resolute, "You must go to school! You are the only son in our family. Who should we, your father and I, rely on for support in our old age if you don't?"

"Isn't my sister's academic performance good enough? Why don't you allow her to pursue further studies?" Ye Zichen was aiming to become a professional video gamer, having lost interest in academics a year ago.

Originally, he was thinking of quitting studies right after finishing his senior year of high school and doing what he loves. However, as soon as he raised this idea, it met with strong opposition from his parents.

"Your sister, despite her intellectual abilities, is a girl who is expected to marry into another family eventually, no matter how well educated she is."

"So what? Do you still want to force me into doing something I dislike?" Ye Zichen rolled his eyes at his mother, "Do you and dad even earn enough to afford tuition fees for both of us?"

Neither of his parents held steady jobs. His mother was working in a hotpot restaurant, while his father worked at construction sites, staying idle for half a year due to lack of work.

The limited savings they had were barely enough to support one person's college education.

It was this reality that convinced Ye Zichen that his parents would eventually give in to his wishes to quit school.

Mrs. Ye said, "Your father and I only want what's best for you. Do you think there's any future in playing video games all day? Even though the vocational school is not a prestigious university, as long as you are willing to learn a skill, it's not hard to find a stable job afterward."

"And what about my sister?"

Ye Zichen looked at his mother, "So if I enroll in school, my sister should drop out?"

"Your sister, hmm? What's the use of a girl being highly educated? Your father and I have arranged a marriage for her. The family is pretty wealthy, even owns two houses!"

Ye Zichen asked, "You're planning to marry her off? Does my sister know about this?"

"We haven't told her yet. But she will agree!"

Ye Fanxing stood outside the door, unable to believe what she had just heard.

Was her mother indeed planning to marry her off?

She was still in college.

She was only a year older than Ye Zichen.

Her actual age was only twenty, but her parents had falsely reported her age to be two years older than that, to comply with the one-child policy and avoid a fine for having a second child prematurely. This was all done to create a significant age gap between her and Ye Zichen.

Who would have thought her parents were planning to marry her off because of this?

Two houses?

Had her future, in the eyes of her parents, become so insignificant compared to two properties?

In their view, having Ye Zichen get an education was the priority.

Marrying her off was what was good for her?

What a joke...

Ye Zichen had just managed to scrape through the minimum required score for admission to a vocational college.

While she... she had always topped the charts in her school.

Never had Ye Fanxing suspected her parents could be so biased. Only because she was a girl?

She pushed open the door and walked in.

Mrs. Ye looked at her, momentarily taken aback, then managed to put up a smile, "Xingxing, you're home! How's work going?"

"I have to return in the afternoon." Without a hint of the smile her mother wore, Ye Fanxing asked, "Mother, was everything you just said true?"

Mrs. Ye replied, "You heard it all?"

There wasn't a trace of guilt on her face.

After all, she believed she had made a good decision for Ye Fanxing.