Qin Huairu continued her endless cursing until she was exhausted. Then, as if suddenly remembering something, she hurriedly ran into the inner room, climbed onto the kang (a heated brick bed) without even taking off her shoes, and went to find the place where Jia Zhangshi had hidden her money.

Madam Jia was in a hurry, and seeing this, she quickly followed her in.

Seeing Qin Huairu about to touch her things, she yanked her off the bed and yelled, "Qin Huairu, I'm not dead yet! And you're already eyeing my meager savings for my funeral?"

Qin Huairu angrily yelled at her, "I'm looking for the household registration book!"

Madam Jia was momentarily stunned, but quickly understood Qin Huairu's meaning. She stopped stopping her and instead urged, "Quickly, check if the household registration book is still there?"

Qin Huairu opened Jia Zhangshi's quilt, then lifted the blanket underneath, and took out a wooden box from underneath.

The skilled movements made Jia Zhangshi's eyelids twitch; Qin Huairu pulled open the lid and plopped down on the kang, muttering, "It's over, it's over, Huaihua stole the household registration book."

"..."

As soon as Huaihua stepped out the door, she took a small mirror out of her pocket.

This is a recent trend; it's a palm-sized mirror with red, blue, and green plastic trim, and the back is printed with various beautiful women's images.

Huaihua looked in the mirror and found it strange—she wasn't smiling, so why was there an uncontrollable upward curve to her lips in the mirror?

Huaihua looked at her face from side to side and muttered to herself, "Not enough."

After saying that, he slapped himself hard twice on the face!

That's ruthless; most people wouldn't be able to do that.

When Qin Huairu hurriedly chased after them to the street, she discovered that Huaihua hadn't come at all.

The neighborhood director, who already disliked her, coldly asked, "Qin Huairu, what are you doing here?"

Qin Huairu dared not offend him, so she smiled and said, "Director Fan, have you seen my locust flowers?"

Director Fan didn't even look up, too lazy to pay her any attention, leaving her standing there unattended.

Just as Qin Huairu was caught in a dilemma, Huaihua came in from outside.

But she didn't dare to cause any more trouble—because Huaihua didn't come alone; she was followed by police officers from the local police station.

As soon as the police came in, they said, "Everyone's here now. Director Fan, your neighborhood committee should mediate this matter first."

Director Fan was completely bewildered: "What's wrong?"

"Don't you know? Qin Huairu isn't here. This is her daughter. She went to the police station and made a scene, saying she wanted to separate from the family and live separately."

Director Fan's blood pressure almost spiked. Another family split? How many times has this happened in your family?!

Director Fan couldn't help but say to Qin Huairu, "Why don't you call Banggeng over too, and deal with them all together? That way, he won't come here and cause trouble!"

Qin Huairu's face turned pale and then red, completely devoid of color.

She especially hated the locust flowers, which made her grit her teeth in frustration.

This is truly a case of the student surpassing the teacher! The locust blossoms wept like pear blossoms in the rain, and there were bruises on her lips, scratches on her face, and dark circles under her eyes…

The effect is absolutely amazing!

Huaihua truly deserves to be called the child who most resembles her.

He learned her superb acting skills, especially her ability to feign pitifulness and sympathy, perfectly.

The moment Huaihua saw Qin Huairu, she "fearfully" took two small steps toward the police officer.

She kept her mouth tightly shut, trying hard not to cry, but tears still silently slid down her cheeks.

She slowly retreated to the base of the wall, sobbing as if she had suffered a tremendous injustice...

Everyone in the room felt a pang of sympathy, but Qin Huairu remained unmoved, which only reinforced Director Fan's preconceived notions.

"Tell me, what happened today? The child goes first!"

Director Fan didn't give Qin Huairu a chance to speak. Upon hearing this, Huaihua was secretly delighted and quickly said, "The factory isn't doing well, and they won't be able to pay wages this month. I don't want to work there anymore, so I've offered to be laid off."

Qin Huairu couldn't take it anymore and shouted in front of so many people, "You were taking my place at work, what right do you have to quit like that?"

As soon as she spoke, Huaihua seemed to tremble all over as if she were frightened.

Seeing this, Director Fan slammed his fist on the table in anger: "Qin Huairu, did I ask you to speak? You've come here to throw a tantrum! Let me tell you, you've come to the wrong place!"

Qin Huairu was so scolded that she didn't dare to breathe loudly.

Because her family's peddler was considered a high-risk individual and was being monitored by the neighborhood committee...

Director Fan said to Huaihua in a gentle and warm voice, "Don't be afraid, continue."

Ignoring Qin Huairu, who was rolling her eyes at her, Huaihua, seemingly timid but actually articulate, said, "There are four of us in my family, and we all live on my monthly salary of 40 yuan. My mother and brother keep exploiting me and asking me for money. I've had enough. I want to separate from the family!"

The other day, Bang Geng went to Qili Pavilion and ate for free. Not only did he not pay, but he also smashed their plates. Not only did the police know about this, but even Director Fan of the neighborhood knew about it.

Throwing plates at someone—that's insulting the cook!

Fortunately, the fat man had a good temper and was well-liked in the alley. He was always smiling and kind to everyone.

If it were Sha Zhu instead, do you believe he could chop up the stick with a kitchen knife?

Banggeng got into trouble and had to pay compensation and a fine, totaling about 20 yuan, which is more than half a month's salary for her sister!

Director Fan also heard that Banggeng was detained in the police station for three days, and neither his mother nor his grandmother even went to see him.

In the end, it was the youngest sister in front of us who paid the fine, and only then could we get the person out.

After listening to Huaihua's request, Director Fan thought to himself, "No wonder she wants to separate from the family. If I were in her shoes, I would also separate from the family."

Director Fan nodded: "I understand your thoughts."

Then he asked Qin Huairu, "What about you? What do you say?"

Qin Huairu gritted her teeth and said, "I disagree!"

"Why do you disagree?"

"Because I'm her mother! And she took my job!"

After Qin Huairu finished speaking, she said to the others, "You all be the judge, how can this be? She took my job, said she wouldn't do it anymore, and now she wants to split the family property with me. How are we supposed to live, Banggeng, her grandmother, and me?"

Qin Huairu's words do make some sense.

She's already letting Huaihua take over her job. If they separate, how will they make a living?

Just as everyone was whispering, Huaihua spoke up: "My brother is almost thirty years old. They say one should be established by thirty, so why can't he even support himself and this family?"

Ah... everyone then remembered that Qin Huairu's family was different from others; they had a former convict in their family!

Yeah, you're saying that Bang Geng is a grown man with hands and feet, yet he spends all his time idling around and doesn't do any proper work, relying on his sister to support him. What kind of logic is that?