Fu Yuanshan was terrified by Song Yushuang's words. His knuckles turned white as he gripped the account book. Jiang Jianhua was still sobbing, "Mom, we really don't have any money! The silver bracelet is worth at most twenty yuan, how can it be worth more than a thousand?"

Song Yushuang sneered and pulled a yellowed piece of paper from her sleeve:

"This is the receipt for the old vase you secretly sold last year. The buyer was an antique shop in the south of the city. That vase was left to me by my father and is worth at least two thousand yuan. If you don't make up for the money you embezzled, I'll go to the police station right now to report that my house has been burgled."

Fu Yuanshan's face drained of color instantly. He grabbed the note and was about to tear it up, but Song Yushuang didn't care: "Tearing it up won't do any good. I already had Yucheng keep a record at the antique shop. The shopkeeper can still identify you!"

Jiang Jianhua then realized what was happening and rushed over to punch Fu Yuanshan: "You even dared to sell our ancestors' things! Are you even human? Where's the money? Where did it go?"

Fu Yuanshan was so flustered by her punches that he almost blurted out the purpose of the punch, but he stopped himself in time.

Yun Tangyin heard it clearly at the courtyard gate and raised an eyebrow at Fu Yucheng: "So there was this part too."

Fu Yucheng said in a low voice, "Mom had long suspected that he had sold the vase, but she hadn't found any evidence. She didn't expect that he had actually prepared a backup plan all along."

The farce in the courtyard continued. Song Yushuang slammed the account book on the stone table: "You have completely disgraced the Fu family! Today, either you make up for the money you embezzled, or I will report you to the army for selling property privately, and you can forget about ever returning to the cultural troupe."

Fu Yuanshan sat on the ground, and Jiang Jianhua suddenly stopped crying, got up and rushed into the house: "I'm going to search through the bottom of the drawer! I still have the gold ring my mother gave me!"

Yu Xia leaned closer to Yun Tangyin and chuckled in a low voice, "Now they can't deny it anymore. I saw that vase. It was in Mom's room last year, but then it suddenly disappeared. Jiang Jianhua said it was knocked over by the cat and fell. Turns out, this kid stole and sold it!"

Just then, Jiang Jianhua rushed out carrying a red cloth bag. He opened it and found a gleaming gold ring inside: "This is worth fifty yuan! Is that enough?"

Song Yushuang glanced at it: "We're still short by more than nine hundred."

Fu Yuanshan suddenly jumped up, his eyes red, and rushed out the door: "I'll go borrow it! I'll go borrow it right now!"

"Stop right there!" Song Yushuang shouted at him. "Who would lend you so much? Do you think everyone else is a fool?"

She turned to Yun Tangyin and called out, "Yinyin, bring the abacus from home. Let's calculate how much his monthly salary needs to be deducted to pay it off."

Yun Tangyin responded and walked into the courtyard with the abacus: "Second brother is currently unemployed, and second sister-in-law earns thirty yuan a month at the textile factory. If you pay back thirty yuan a month after deducting your own food rations, it will take several years to pay it back."

"A few years?" Jiang Jianhua shrieked, "Then we'll be starving for the next few years!"

"If I had known this would happen, I wouldn't have been greedy in the first place." Yun Tangyin fiddled with the abacus beads: "Either pay back the money, or go to the police station. You choose one."

Fu Yuanshan gritted his teeth and clenched his fists: "I'll pay you back!"

"It depends on your performance." Song Yushuang's reaction was indifferent: "From today onwards, both of your salaries will be kept by Yinyin, and your monthly meals will be covered by the family. As for the money, you can take back your salary rights when the debts are paid off."

Jiang Jianhua wanted to argue, but Fu Yuanshan grabbed him and said, "I agree! As long as you don't report it to the army, I'll do anything!"

What he fears most now is that if word gets back to the military that he sold his personal property, he'll be punished and his life will be over.

Yun Tangyin put away the abacus and smiled at Yu Xia: "Sister-in-law, could you please come to the factory with me tomorrow and tell the finance department to transfer my second brother and sister-in-law's wages to my account?"

“No problem!” Yu Xia smiled so much her eyes narrowed. “I’ll go talk to Sister Li in the finance department right now and ask her to make a note of it.”

Yu Xia and Jiang Jianhua were workers in the same textile factory. Seeing this, a sense of pride and smugness was brewing in her eyes.

Fu Yuanshan watched Yu Xia's light and agile figure, trembling with anger, but dared not lash out.

Now that he's out of leverage, even Jiang Jianhua is elbowing him: "It's all your fault! If you hadn't been selling your 'vase' (a derogatory term for someone who sells vases), would we be in such a bind?"

"Shut up!" Fu Yuanshan roared. "If you hadn't been constantly complaining about not having money, would I have taken such a risky gamble?"

The two were about to start arguing again when Song Yushuang shouted, "If you keep arguing, I'll send you both to the police station!"

Yun Tangyin spoke up at the right moment: "Mom, why don't we have them pawn the gold ring and silver bracelet first, pay off part of the debt, and pay the rest monthly?"

She turned to Fu Yuanshan, "If Second Brother were willing to find a factory job, we could pay it back together every month, and it would be faster."

This gave Fu Yuanshan a way out, and he stiffened his neck and snorted, which was taken as an agreement.

On the way back to the house, Fu Yucheng squeezed Yun Tangyin's hand: "I didn't expect Mom to have such a big hand."

"Mom didn't want to push things too far." Yun Tangyin leaned on his shoulder. "If we had produced the evidence of the vase earlier, they would have been kicked out long ago. Why would they be here now?"

Yun Tangyin paused for a moment: "But this is also good. Let them pay back slowly. This way, we can get the money back and also teach them a lesson."

Just as she reached the door, Jiang Jianhua chased after her, clutching a cloth bag in his hand: "Sister-in-law, these are the ring and bracelet. You can pawn them."

Her voice was weak, lacking its previous arrogance.

Yun Tangyin took the cloth bag: "I'll have my sister-in-law accompany me to the pawnshop tomorrow. The amount of money pawned will be recorded in the account and deducted from the debt."

Jiang Jianhua nodded, then turned and left reluctantly.

Fu Yuanshan stood at the courtyard gate, watching her retreating figure with a complicated expression.

Yun Tangyin handed the cloth bag to Fu Yucheng: "Keep it safe, this is their sincerity."

The next morning, Yun Tangyin and Yu Xia had just returned from the pawnshop when they saw Fu Yuanshan squatting at the courtyard gate smoking. When he saw them, he stood up and asked, "How much did you pawn?"

"The gold ring is fifty-eight, the silver bracelet is twenty-one, and the total is seventy-nine." Yun Tangyin showed him the pawn ticket: "Here is the receipt, keep it safe."

Fu Yuanshan took the pawn ticket, held it in his hand for a long time without saying a word, and then suddenly said, "I'm going to look for a job. I'll start work tomorrow."

Yun Tangyin was somewhat surprised, then smiled: "That's more like it."

Yu Xia joked from the side, "If you had done this earlier, there would have been no need to sell vases."

Fu Yuanshan glanced at Yu Xia, then turned and left.

Song Yushuang pulled Yun Tangyin into the house, dismissed Yu Xia, and looked at the quiet courtyard. She smiled at Yun Tangyin and said, "You really have a way with things."

Yun Tangyin handed her a cup of hot tea: "They won't learn their lesson until they see the coffin. Now that they're scared, they'll naturally behave themselves."

The setting sun shone through the window and fell on the account book on the table.

Yun Tangyin thought for a moment, then asked softly, "Mom, since you already had leverage over me, why did you still make me do this?"

Song Yushuang looked at Yun Tangyin, who had already realized everything, and suddenly laughed.

She placed her hand on the back of Yun Tangyin's hand, flicked the jade bracelet on her wrist, and smiled gently: "If I don't let you do it, how can I establish my authority and manage the accounts in this house?"

Upon hearing this, Yun Tangyin was taken aback at first, and then laughed.