Married A Farmer’s Son And Was Shunned By Bro & Sil | Became $50m Ceo. Acted As Strangers And…

The Departure

“You are nothing to me anymore. Never step foot in this house again.”

I was shouted at by my father and supported by John, my soon-to-be husband. I left my family home in tears. It was right after I graduated from high school.

My name is Amy. I’m a 36-year-old farmer. This year marks 18 years since I left my family home. From now on, the time I spend living my own chosen life will be longer than the time I spent in my family home, and this thought makes me quite sentimental.

My family home was in a city. My father was a corporate worker and my mother was a stay-at-home mom. We were a family of four, including my brother and me, who was born a year ahead of me.

My parents were the kind of people who rank their children clearly. So my brother, being the heir, was always given priority. The quality of our meals and the grandeur of our birthday presents were always superior for my brother. He boasted about his superiority and always believed me.

There were times when I felt lonely and there were times when I cried out, “I want attention too.”

But my parents never changed, so I gave up completely.

Finding an Escape

The event that changed my life happened in the summer of my second year of high school. My brother was studying for a college entrance exam, aiming for a top-tier university. His mock exam results were not good at all, so he was always on edge, taking out his frustration on me at every opportunity.

My parents, as if handling a fragile object, treated my brother with utmost care and gave me household chores that didn’t allow me to have time to study. Because I was performing better academically than my brother, they tried to lower my grades to improve my brother’s mood. It didn’t make any sense.

At that time, I heard about a rural experience program from a teacher at the high school I was attending. Students could participate in a two-night, three-day rural experience program if they wished. Participants stay at a host farm, harvest vegetables, cook together, and experience country life.

I, who was troubled by my family environment, decided to participate bravely. But my father objected.

“Agriculture is something only fools who can’t get corporate jobs do for a living,” he said.

My mother scoffed at me, saying, “Are you crazy? Willingly experiencing manual labor, getting dirty and stinky in the mud?”

But I defied my parents’ opposition and used the pocket money I had saved up to sign up. This was the first time I had ever refused to do as my parents said.

A New Perspective

It turned out to be an excellent decision for me, who was starving for familial love. It was truly a wonderful experience. Working in the fresh rural air was invigorating, and I was able to experience the warmth of a family.

The eldest son of that family, John, was a year older than me and the same age as my brother. At first, I was a bit wary simply because he was an older guy, but John was completely different from my brother. He was kind but firm, got along well with his parents, and was kind to me as well.

John’s parents were truly gentle people. Even though it was only for three days, I cried a lot when I had to leave the farm. John’s mom cried along with me.

“You’re welcome back anytime,” she said.

I promised, “I will definitely come back.”

They said they didn’t look at their cell phones much, so I wrote them letters regularly. Before long, I started receiving more replies from John, and it became like an exchange diary, and we started dating. It was a pure long-distance relationship without even a kiss.

Choosing My Own Path

After my brother failed to get into his first-choice university and ended up in a third-rate private college, I became a college applicant. But my parents pressured me to get a job instead of going to college. The reason they said was that women didn’t need an education, but the real reason was probably that they didn’t want me to go to a better college than my brother.

Since the rural experience, I had a dream of becoming a farmer. I could become a farmer without going to college, but John was a college student and had moved to the city. So I thought I would go to college and aim for a new kind of farming.

Having a clear goal and purpose, I studied hard every day despite interference from my parents and brother. However, when I passed the university entrance examination, my father was furious.

“Are you a woman planning to go to a better university than your brother?” he said.

My mother also said, “We don’t have money to spend on you. Your brother needs money, so you should work and bring money home.”

I was desolate by my parents’ words and after a huge fight, I ended up cutting off all ties with them. John came to pick me up from home and his parents, now my in-laws, supported my college expenses and I ended up attending college.