After giving birth to her eldest son, she felt her position was secure. The old matriarch also ceded some authority to her, and she began to throw her weight around the Yang family.
The second son of the Yang family married a highly educated woman. It was a time when late marriage and late childbirth were being promoted, and they did not want to have children too early. She, however, repeatedly gossiped about them in front of her sisters-in-law with the tone of the head of the household.
Especially when they decided they only wanted one daughter and no more children, she would often curse them in front of her sisters-in-law, citing how she had sacrificed two of her own daughters for the sake of bearing sons for the Yang family.
Eventually, her sister-in-law could not take it anymore and secretly recorded her words, submitting them to the police station.
Both she and her mother-in-law were sentenced to several years in prison.
When they were released, her husband had gotten involved with a widow from the village, while the second son's couple had seized the opportunity of economic development and started a homestay business in the village, which had grown quite successful.
Originally, as the eldest daughter-in-law of the Yang family and a mother of a son, she held the highest status. However, after this whole ordeal, her husband was gone, her son had become a street punk, and she felt a surge of resentment.
She repeatedly harassed her younger brother-in-law and sister-in-law. The couple, unable to bear it any longer, had security guards block them, ready to beat them away if they tried to force their way in.
This was the point where their feud was completely cemented.
However, the second son of the Yang family was filial to his mother, bought her a house, and gave her a lot of money.
This caused Yu Xiulian to completely change her mindset. She felt that if she wanted to regain power, she still needed to have sons.
Her younger brother and sister-in-law did not have sons, so in the future, such a large enterprise could not possibly be inherited by a daughter. It would all belong to her sons.
Therefore, at the age of thirty-eight, she, an advanced maternal age, gave birth to her second son, and at forty-four, she risked another pregnancy to have her youngest son.
For this, she was even willing to coexist harmoniously with the widow her husband was involved with.
The second son of the Yang family and his wife had only one daughter.
Although this daughter was academically brilliant, was admitted to the best university in the country, studied abroad as an exchange student, and became a doctor in her early twenties, in Yu Xiulian's eyes, none of this compared to her sons.
Only sons could carry on the family line and perpetuate the lineage; daughters were nothing.
However, she also worried that her younger brother-in-law and sister-in-law might foolishly give their fortune to their daughter. So, she took her sons and went to the old matriarch, begging her to let their family work there.
The old matriarch, unable to bear it, then caused the death of her own son and daughter-in-law.
Yu Xiulian discovered that her niece did not like managing the homestay business. She was engrossed in research projects all day and had no intention of inheriting the family fortune.
Thus, a poisonous scheme formed in her mind.
She deliberately sent the old matriarch back to her hometown and then had word spread that the old matriarch was critically ill. This prompted the second son's couple of the Yang family to drive back to their hometown late at night. On the road, they hired people to stop them and murdered them, disguising it as a car accident.
Upon hearing the terrible news, the old matriarch fell ill and soon passed away.
Their daughter, Yang Lianyi, was also heartbroken for a long time due to the sudden death of her parents. Yu Xiulian seized the opportunity and suggested she go abroad for a trip to relax, promising to look after things for her.
Yang Lianyi was a typical example of high intelligence and low emotional quotient. She also had no interest in managing hotels, so she cluelessly signed over the agency rights.
If the apocalypse had not occurred, the subsequent development would have been Yu Xiulian seizing her property and also causing her death.
However, the apocalypse arrived.
That night, Yu Xiulian was still inspecting the cold storage late at night when the people outside suddenly turned into zombies. In her panic, she locked the door and was trapped in the cold storage for a day and a night, which awakened her fire elemental ability.
Thus, a boss who had risen through connections instantly transformed into the ruler here. Relying on her own abilities, she made everyone her slave, obeying her commands.