Marrying into the Zhou Family Equals Financial Freedom?

This was another new car, a seven-figure sports car, a limited edition.

Nadia was quite jealous.

She married Royce and became the daughter-in-law of the Zhou family, but she was driving one of Royce's discarded cars.

She had her eyes on Lily's car back then.

She mentioned it to Royce a few times, and Royce finally agreed to buy it for her, but her mother-in-law objected.

Her mother-in-law said since she wasn't working anymore, she didn't need such a good car.

Yes, she had quit her job.

In the battle of wills with her mother-in-law, she lost because Royce sided with his mother.

She didn't want to resign so early; she wanted to resign after getting pregnant, but Royce and his mother were in sync.

"Mom is right.I can support you.Why don't you just enjoy being Mrs.Zhou?"

...

Being a rich wife in a wealthy family would naturally be good, but she couldn't feel at ease.

After marrying Royce, his income was taken by his mother for managing their finances.

In essence, it was to prevent the poor daughter-in-law from accessing their money.

As a daughter-in-law, she had no right to manage the finances; she had to ask her mother-in-law for money, even Royce had to ask his mother for money.

The last time Royce took her to a riverside restaurant with friends, they ran into Lily.

She felt wronged and went home, and Royce promised to take her shopping to buy a bag.

When they asked his mother for money, she said it was a waste and gave her an old bag she had been using for years, in a condescending manner.

Nadia almost had a heart attack.

She thought marrying into the Zhou family meant financial freedom, but it turned out she couldn't even buy a bag or a car.

In the future, she would have to beg for money to buy clothes.

What was even more unbearable was that after resigning, her mother-in-law made her drink herbal medicine every day, urged her to have children daily, and kept a close watch on her belly.

Had her mother-in-law accepted her? No, Nadia knew very well that her mother-in-law hadn't accepted her; she just needed her to have a child.

First, she and Lily married into the family in the same year, but Lily had no news about pregnancy yet.

Her mother-in-law wanted to secure the first grandchild from their branch of the family.

Second, and most importantly, her mother-in-law was still unhappy about her marrying in.

She was disappointed in Royce and wanted to quickly have a grandchild to raise herself.

Nadia felt like a breeding machine for her mother-in-law.

Did she not want children? Of course, she did.

She even wanted to have several sons to secure her position, but her belly just didn't show any signs.

Before Lily returned to China, she had three abortions for Royce and took many medications.

She wondered if those had affected her, as she hadn't conceived despite not using contraception after marriage.

Her mother-in-law forced her to drink herbal medicine for months with no result and then insisted she go to the hospital for a check-up.

Nadia feared the possible bad news and hadn't dared to go.

This morning, she went back to the family home to deliver something to her mother-in-law, who started nagging again, and Karina kept making snide comments.

Already feeling unwell lately, she felt her head was about to explode and drove to the hospital on impulse.

As she was about to get out of the car, she calmed down and lost her nerve, so she drove to Kingland.

She wanted Royce to go with her.

Rumors of her being a mistress were circulating at headquarters, so she didn't go inside and parked by the roadside.

Then Franklin showed up.

"Yo, you're delivering lunch too."

Nadia then found out that Lily had been going to Kingland for a week, delivering lunch to Edmond every day.

Maybe because this relationship and marriage felt stolen, she was particularly sensitive to the name 'Lily'.

When Royce got in the car, she mentioned it, and he didn't deny it.

She said she had nothing to do at home and wanted to deliver lunch too.

Royce disagreed, and they argued a bit.

He said it would be awkward for everyone if she went to the office.

Nadia was fuming.

Would she make everyone uncomfortable? What about Lily? Lily had been childhood sweethearts with her nephew for over twenty years, got engaged, broke off the engagement, and then married Uncle Edmond.

Wasn't it awkward for her to go to the office every day? Was Royce preventing her from going because of Lily or his new beautiful secretary? She seldom showed her true temper in front of Royce, always coaxing him.

But today, she was too frustrated and argued with him about Lily and later about the new secretary.

She wanted him to hire a male secretary instead, but he said she was overthinking and shouldn't meddle.

In her anger, she didn't notice the red light and crashed into Lily.

This woman seemed to be everywhere, haunting her.

Zoya, what is she up to? Lily married the man she wanted, and with her temperament, she should have dealt with Lily by now.

Is she planning something big?

The accident happened just one traffic light away from Kingland, where Lily was heading to deliver lunch to Uncle Edmond.

Feeling upset, Royce spoke harshly.

"The car isn't too badly damaged.You can go.I'll transfer you the money for the repairs later."

He didn't have the energy to deal with this now and wanted to settle it privately.

He didn't want Lily to know he was arguing with Nadia.

He didn't want Lily to think that his life had become a mess after she left.

Lily's car was new, a gift from Edmond when her new studio opened.

It was her first day driving it, and this was just bad luck.

She ignored Royce and called the police.

After hanging up, she prepared to call Edmond.

Edmond always insisted she call him first if anything happened.

He liked to make her promise things as part of their foreplay before he tortured her.

Recently, she had been tormented a lot, so these words stuck in her memory.

Now, with the accident, it was a big deal, and she should inform him.

Just as she made the call, Nadia suddenly grabbed Royce's arm, her face pale, saying her stomach hurt.

Lily: "..."

She hadn't gone crazy.

What was this woman doing?

Nadia's stomach really hurt.

She trembled as she spoke, "Royce, my stomach hurts a lot. Take me to the hospital..."

When Lily called, Edmond had just finished a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

"Are you hurt?"

"No."

Lily touched her forehead, which hurt a lot from hitting the steering wheel.

"I'm not hurt, just the car you gave me is damaged."

The more she thought about it, the angrier she got.

She wished she hadn't driven that car today.

Edmond: "As long as you're okay. I'm on my way back and will be there in fifteen minutes."

Lily had called just to inform him, to avoid him finding out later and getting upset, which would make her evening worse.

"No need to rush back. I'm fine. The traffic police should be here soon. I'll handle the insurance process."

Edmond's tone was firm, "Stay there and wait for me."

As the driver brought the car around, Edmond was about to get in when the event host, Yao Chengren, jogged over, sweating profusely with his beer belly bouncing.

"Mr. Zhou, are you leaving?"

Edmond: "Something came up."

Yao Chengren, head of Yao An Group, noticed Edmond's impatience but had another matter to discuss.

"Mr. Zhou."

He handed a cigarette to Edmond.

"You know 'Win' magazine, right? Half a month ago, the only son of the owner, Hu Yijun, overdosed and died. The news has been suppressed but hasn't broken out yet."

"Yesterday, one of my vice presidents got reliable information that Hu Yijun himself has many health problems and plans to sell the company and move abroad with his wife..."

"Get to the point."Edmond, eager to find Lily, had no time for gossip.

Seeing Edmond's impatience, Yao Chengren quickly summarized.

"I know you're not interested in the entertainment and fashion industry, but 'Win' is a lucrative asset. I'm planning to acquire it, but I don't trust anyone else. I'm hoping you can help."

Glancing around to ensure no one else could hear, Yao Chengren lowered his voice.

"Mr. Zhou, if you get involved, 'Win' would definitely agree to work with you..."

Edmond understood his meaning.

He wanted Edmond to facilitate the merger and acquisition, ideally securing the seller and representing them in the transaction.

This way, with a slight tilt in the balance towards Yao Chengren, he would emerge victorious among several potential buyers.

What a cunning plan.

Ignoring him, Edmond got into the car.

Sensing Edmond's anger but unsure of the reason, Yao Chengren was about to ask when Octavian closed the door and blocked his way.

"Mr. Yao, every merger and acquisition must follow certain rules. What you're asking Mr. Zhou to do is unethical and amounts to treachery. That's not how we do things."