AMRWFA -Chapter 247 Those Bizarre Blind Date Matches

Yu Xiangqiao nodded. “Exactly—her aunt just couldn’t stand seeing her do well. That aunt also has a son, two years older than her. He didn’t get into university, but my classmate did. You know how our school is—most people can’t even get in. The fact that she made it in shows just how outstanding she is. All those things you see online? That’s nothing. Real life is far scarier. And do you think this was the first time her aunt pulled something like this? Back when Sun Xinyan was still studying, her aunt kept saying, ‘What’s the point of a girl studying so much? She’ll just get married anyway,’ and kept pressuring her mother to make her drop out and work, so she could save money for her younger brother’s future wife.”

“At least her parents were decent—they didn’t make her quit school and let her continue studying,” Xu Nannan said.

Yu Xiangqiao shook her head. “That’s hard to say. They did let her study, yes—but later they almost traded her in a wife exchange.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“When she graduated from university, I helped her find a job. She was doing well, but then she suddenly got a call from home saying her mother was sick and told her to come back. And guess what?”

“What happened?”

“Her mother wasn’t sick at all. They called her back because her younger brother was getting married. But the girl he liked came from a poor family, and her older brother was mentally disabled—so her family made a condition…”

Thinking of what Yu Xiangqiao had just said about exchanging wives, Xu Nannan gasped. “Don’t tell me… they wanted your classmate to marry that disabled brother?”

“Mm. That was exactly the condition.”

“And they actually dared to say that out loud? Their son is mentally disabled!”

Yu Xiangqiao said, “So what if he is? He’s still the only heir of the Ma family. You know what that means—carrying on the family line is a must. Otherwise, the Ma family would have no descendants.”

Xu Nannan twitched at the corner of her mouth. Why did that sound almost ridiculous? Was her sister-in-law being sarcastic?

“When the Ma family, along with her own parents and younger brother, all knelt down and begged her, what could she do?” Yu Xiangqiao said. “In the end, with no other choice, Sun Xinyan hardened her heart and agreed.”

Xu Nannan was shocked. “She really agreed?”

“Yes. She did.”

“She must be crazy. Marrying a mentally disabled man? Didn’t you say she was brilliant—worked so hard to get into your school? Where did her brain go?”

Yu Xiangqiao sighed and poured her a cup of tea. “That’s what you call emotional blackmail. Not everything in life is black and white, or easy to explain. Those were her parents. That was her own brother. What else could she do?”

“But she couldn’t just sacrifice her whole life! If her brother needed a wife, couldn’t she just give them money?”

Yu Xiangqiao let out a cold snort. “The Ma family wouldn’t agree. They’re not stupid—they know their son is mentally disabled, and no one would willingly marry into their family. If they loosened that condition, who knows when they’d ever find a daughter-in-law? That’s why they insisted on an exchange marriage. No exchange, no deal. They specifically chose her because she’s a university graduate with a stable job—she could support their son in the future. Sure, their son is disabled, but if the daughter-in-law is educated, maybe the next generation will be a smart, healthy boy—and even improve the Ma family’s genes.”

Xu Nannan was speechless. “Her own younger brother let his sister be calculated like that? Is he stupid? Couldn’t he just choose someone else?”

“No. That girl was his true love—he refused to marry anyone but Sun Xiaomei.”

Xu Nannan: “…Then her brother isn’t that great after all. I thought he was a good guy.”

“That’s why I said—it’s complicated. Back when Sun Xinyan was almost forced to drop out, it was her brother who stood up for her, saying he’d rather work himself than let his sister quit school.”

“That actually sounds pretty decent.”

“Exactly. That’s why human nature is so hard to judge. He supported her education, but when it came to his own marriage, he begged her to marry a mentally disabled man,” Yu Xiangqiao said. “But she didn’t agree for nothing—she made a condition.”

“What condition? If she’s already agreeing to marry him, what difference would any condition make?”

Yu Xiangqiao said, “A married daughter is like spilled water. Her condition was that once she got married, she would belong to the Ma family, and everything related to the Sun family would no longer concern her. In other words, if her parents needed support in old age, she wouldn’t be responsible. After her brother got married, things like raising children, their education, building a new house—none of that would involve her anymore…Her parents initially refused, but her brother persuaded them, saying things like ‘blood ties can’t be severed,’ and suggested they just agree for now. Once he got married, they could deal with things later.”

Xu Nannan frowned. “Don’t tell me her brother was right?”

Yu Xiangqiao shook her head. “Sun Xinyan isn’t a fool—of course not. On the day she married that ‘fool’ from the Ma family, her father-in-law tried to consummate the marriage with her himself, using his son’s condition as an excuse.”

Xu Nannan felt her whole body go cold. This was already absurd enough—how could it get even worse?

“Of course she refused,” Yu Xiangqiao continued. “So her father-in-law called her mother-in-law over to hold her down, planning to force themselves on her…”

“What happened next?” Xu Nannan quickly asked.

“What happened? She called the police and had both her father-in-law and mother-in-law arrested. Her own parents even came to plead for them, but she sold off the Ma family’s property, claiming she was taking her ‘husband’ to the big city to live. In reality, she brought him there and admitted him to a psychiatric hospital,” Yu Xiangqiao said. “Taking care of one mentally disabled man is far easier than supporting her parents and brother. Besides, they only held a wedding banquet—they never registered the marriage, so it wasn’t legally binding…”

Xu Nannan was impressed. Her sister-in-law’s classmate had used this ‘exchange marriage’ to completely sever ties with her family.

No wonder she agreed at the time—she had already planned what would come next.

Yu Xiangqiao continued, “You don’t think that’s the end, do you? Do you really think her parents and brother kept their word and never contacted her again? Of course not—they came looking for her later. But…Sun Xinyan applied for a transfer abroad. She eventually got married overseas. Apart from paying the hospital fees for that man every year, she never came back.”

Xu Nannan let out a breath of relief. “Good. With a family like hers, she shouldn’t come back. The moment she does, there’ll be trouble.”

“Didn’t I often go out for tea gatherings before? That Mrs. Niu—do you remember her?”

Xu Nannan shook her head.

There were so many people in those social circles—how could she remember them all? Half the time she couldn’t even match names to faces.

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t remember. That’s not the point—the point is what she told me,” Yu Xiangqiao said. “She said one day she went to visit her husband’s company, and just happened to run into a young woman who had just returned from accompanying her best friend on a blind date. It was quite interesting—the friend was a civil servant, you know? The kind who passed the civil service exam and had been working for a year or two. She wasn’t that old either, right?”