"Dong Dong?" Fang Chi was surprised upon seeing Yu Dong's anger but at the same time he did understand how she was feeling, she was Shen Li and Ye Liu's wife and she has done everything that she could have for them. Even though he came to the Yu family only a couple of months ago, he had seen just how much Yu Dong adored her husbands, she cared for him in a way hardly any woman would care for her husbands. Even Aunt Wang who treated Uncle Fu so well would have had trouble if she had four husbands to take care of but somehow Yu Dong managed to care about the four of them without any hint of biasness yet—— he sighed, he stood up and hugged Yu Dong.
Though he wanted to help her, there wasn't much he could do for her. What could he even say, so he tried his best to calm her down because he knew that if he tried to reason with her when she was this upset it wasn't going to get through. Yu Dong who was hugged out of nowhere was stunned but she didn't push Fang Chi away, for two reasons—— firstly, he was pregnant, and if she pushed him away, there was a chance he would get hurt whether emotionally or physically and secondly ever since he got pregnant his scent has changed as well.
It was more homely and warm causing her anger to simmer down. She took in a breath and slowly her brows that were furrowed eased a lot.
" Have you calmed down?" asked Fang Chi as he looked at her, though the women of this world grew taller and stronger than the mers, Yu Dong was still young and yet to become an adult which was why she and Fang Chi who was a few years older than her was at the same height with a few inches difference.
Yu Dong nodded as she nuzzled her face in the crook of Fang Chi's neck and breathed in his homely scent that reminded her of her mother. It was weird but it was happy weird.
"Good, then you need to listen to me carefully, alright?" Fang Chi pulled away and cupped her face in his hands, as he stared right into her eyes. " You know what Dong Dong, no one wants to die, even I didn't want to through my life away." His eyes flickered slightly as he remembered the stupidity that he did a few months ago, he was still regretful of what he did in a moment of anger and hurt. In his hurt he couldn't see how beautiful his life was, even though he was poor and alone without a partner, his life was still better than those mers who were sold by their family.
But because the people who whispered behind his back and those ugly rumours forced him to take a step that he wouldn't have if only they left him alone.
" You are right, you have given them your best but don't you think that maybe for a while they thought that neither of them deserved what you have given them." Fang Chi's eyes dimmed as he carefully placed his hand on his abdomen and continued, "It's true that you don't mind them not giving you children but that doesn't mean that they don't mind it either. For a mer not being able to give birth to his wife's child is something that's not only shameful but it defies the laws of society as well. Maybe to you, they mean more than just mers who are supposed to stay at home, clean, cook and give birth to your child but will the others think so too? You can't protect them all the time and believe me, words hurt more than swords."
Yu Dong pursed her lips as she looked away from Fang Chi, her fingers digging into the skin of her palms. She wanted to say that she would have protected them but she knew that she couldn't have, the purpose of the existence of mers was giving birth, they weren't allowed to inherit properties nor were they allowed to study, and even the basic rights were taken away from them ——while living in a world like this how can she protect Shen Li and Ye Liu?
Even if she tied them next to her, she still wouldn't be able to protect them from the hurtful words that might reach them.
" You see, you can't just protect them all the time, you need to think of this matter from their point of view." Fang Chi took hold of her hand and pulled her close. "I believe that they too didn't want to take such a step but had to because they believed that they would become a burden to you."
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Yu Dong walked out of the room, her head buzzing. She couldn't believe that she couldn't understand such a simple thing as that —— yes she could treat them well, she could even give them whatever they want but she cannot stop the fingers that were pointing at the two of them and what was even more troublesome was the law that dictates that only the child born from the primary husbands can inherit the property of their mother.
No wonder Shen Li and Ye Liu thought that things will be fine if they died. Without them, she could have promoted Fang Chi and Chen Mi as her primary husbands and since the two can have kids it was given that she would have an heir in the future sooner or later.
To think that they tried to kill themselves because they thought that they were being a burden to her, it was stupid —— they were so stupid.
" Dong Dong? Have you calmed down?" Wu Junfen has seen her grand grow up in front of her and knew better than anyone when she was mad and upset. Because she knew that Yu Dong was not in the condition of thinking straight she didn't tell her about the real issue with her husbands but now that Wu Junfen could see that she has calmed down, this was the best time to talk about it with her. " Can we talk?"
