Chapter 673: Chapter 673: Understanding and Reasonable

“If it doesn’t work, offer a large sum of money. After all, our daughter’s safety is the most important thing.”

“As long as our daughter is safe and her whereabouts are found, any amount of money spent is worth it. Why didn’t you do this at the time?”

Old Madam’s question left Joshua Clarke and Christy Xenos at a loss for words.

Christy Xenos stifled her emotions for a long time and began to cry again: “Old Madam, you don’t know how difficult our life was back then. Our family of four lived in a two-bedroom apartment without a living room.”

“Joshua and I lived in one room, while Cindy and her sister shared the other small bedroom. Other than these two bedrooms, there were only the bathroom, a tiny kitchen, and a corridor just wide enough for one person to walk through.”

“We had no extra money to look for Cindy back then. Besides, to be honest, Cindy has always been strong-willed and never listened to us. Such incidents happened more than once or twice, so although we were anxious, we knew that she would be careful not to get into trouble.”

Old Madam sneered: “Your words are contradictory. You just said you were worried about Cindy but now say that she has done such things many times and there’s nothing to worry about. So, are you worried or not?”

Christy Xenos hesitated for a moment and pretended not to hear the Old Madam’s sarcasm, continuing: “However, our family’s situation has improved greatly, thanks to her sister’s hard work and capability. She opened an upscale restaurant in Nork City, which improved our lives, and now we are preparing to open a second restaurant in Belfard. So, our whole family came to Belfard, and it was just the time to reunite with Cindy.”

As Christy Xenos spoke, there was a hint of smugness in her voice.

She thought her words were clever, showing the Elders in Zhekova Family that they were not poor relatives coming to sponge off the wealthier family, and they shouldn’t be underestimated.

Old Madam indifferently said: “Since Cindy has married into the Zhekova Family, she belongs to our family now.”

“Our family has a high social status and strict rules,” Old Madam spoke slowly, “every daughter-in-law who marries into the Zhekova Family must abide by our rules. Only things that our family allows can be done. Things that our family doesn’t permit can’t be done.”

“As for her natal family…” Old Madam deliberately revealed a mocking expression.

“It depends on whether or not the natal family is worthy of us. Our family’s younger generation usually marries into prominent families, some from the Big Eight families, and others with high social status.”

“We don’t force our young ones to marry someone they don’t want. Since our family’s son likes Cindy, we, as elders, won’t break them up.”

“However, this is already our bottom line; we can only accept Cindy and no one else from her natal family, you, who are indeed not worth our attention.”

“Let me put it this way, in our eyes, you don’t even compare to other families who have married into our family. So, I’m sorry, but it would be better if our two families didn’t interact in the future.”

“Your visit today was quite impolite in my opinion. Of course, if you blame Cindy for this, I won’t say anything. I appreciate that you still remember our families are related, but please forget about it in the future.”

“If your family can’t bring any benefits or even save face to the Zhekova Family, then the best you can do is not disgrace the Zhekova Family.”

Old Madam smiled coldly: “How can you not disgrace the Zhekova Family? Naturally, it’s by not claiming to be related to our family in public. Otherwise, if you upset us, it’s Cindy who will suffer the consequences in our family.”

Old Madam grinned coldly: “I’ll say something you might not like to hear, but it’s the truth. The fact that Cindy could marry into our family shows that we are being broad-minded and exceptional. You can go out and ask around; even the weaker and wealthy families wouldn’t be willing to marry a woman with no background.”

“Those female celebrities, whether they’re clean or not, at least have fame and a family background, but they still can’t enter a wealthy household. Not to mention an ordinary person like Cindy; it’s already our family’s generousness that she can marry in.”

“She can’t bring any benefits to our family and can’t give face to our family. The only thing she has done is not make our family lose face. But now that we have an additional family involved, it’s not so certain. If you make the Zhekova Family lose face, we can’t call you in-laws. Cindy will have a tough time in our family.”

Old Madam raised an eyebrow: “I see you always mention Cindy and how much you love and cherish her. Then, I guess you don’t want Cindy to have a hard time with her in-laws and be mistreated because of you, do you?”

Christy Xenos was left speechless by Old Madam’s words.

Earlier, Christy Xenos had also thought that Cindy wouldn’t say anything good about their family to the Zhekova Family.

She didn’t know what Cindy had said to the Zhekova Family after marrying into the family.

Christy Xenos didn’t know how many bad things Cindy had said about them, so she had wanted to express her position and show herself as a mother who loved and cherished her daughter. In her words, Cindy became a selfish and careless person who didn’t care about her family at all.

Of course, she didn’t expect the Elders in the Zhekova Family to believe her words completely, but as long as they had doubts and didn’t fully trust Cindy’s words, that would be enough.

After all, both she and Cindy would stick to their word, and Cindy couldn’t produce any evidence to prove the truth, could she?

If the Elders were not gullible, they would naturally know not to be biased and would need evidence to determine the truth.

As for the evidence, it had been lost many years ago; where could she find it?

Christy Xenos didn’t want the Elders to believe her entirely but wanted them not to trust Cindy completely, which would be enough.

But who knew that Old Madam would use this point to shut her up directly?

Christy Xenos repeatedly explained how much she loved and cherished Cindy, but how Cindy was wrong and didn’t do well.

Since Christy Xenos was so sincere toward Cindy, naturally, she wouldn’t want to see Cindy mistreated by the Zhekova Family because of their actions.

Wendy Clarke lowered her eyes as her face grew cold.

As expected, the Elders in the Zhekova Family should not be underestimated even though they were getting old. They managed to shut Christy Xenos up in just a few sentences.

Wendy thought for a moment and secretly poked Christy Xenos.

Receiving the predetermined signal, Christy Xenos immediately changed her expression and said: “Old Madam, since you acknowledge that we are in-laws, whether we interact with each other in the future or not, let’s not discuss it for now.”