Chapter 286 You bear no responsibility whatsoever, it's all her fault?

"The Navy, the Navy..."

Zheng Xiulan called out twice, but couldn't stop Zhang Haijun. Frustrated, she slapped Zhang Lao Er hard, "Are you mute? Hurry up and tell your older brother! Do you really want him to call the police and have you arrested? Didn't you hear him say there are witnesses?!"

"Ouch, Mom, it hurts, it hurts, you hit me too hard."

Zhang Lao Er jumped to the side in pain. Zheng Xiu Lan stood on tiptoe to hit him. Holding the child in a cotton-padded jacket and trousers in one hand, she didn't notice that Zhang Lao Er had jumped onto the next step. He didn't know his footing and landed hard, as if he had stepped into thin air. He cried out "Ouch!" and stumbled forward.

"Oh, Mom!"

Zhang Lao Er exclaimed in surprise and reached out to support Zheng Xiulan, but Zheng Xiulan loosened her grip on the child in order to protect herself.

By the time they regained their balance and realized what had happened, the child had already landed on the steps.

A dull thud rang out, followed by the child's loud wailing after being hurt by the fall.

"Oh dear, my grandson..."

Zheng Xiulan glanced guiltily at Zhang Haijun, who hadn't gone far, then quickly bent down, picked up the child, and gently rocked him a few times. "Grandma didn't mean it, don't cry, shh..."

"mom!"

Hearing the child cry, Zhang Haijun turned around and witnessed this scene. He was furious, his face turning ashen. "You threw my son to the ground for the sake of your second child, to stop me from calling the police?! You've gone too far!"

"……I don't."

Zheng Xiulan hurriedly explained, patting the child lightly with one hand, "I was careless, I almost tripped and fell, and then..."

"You're still making excuses!"

Zhang Haijun glared at her angrily, "Do you think I'll still believe you?! Just wait to go to jail to see your second son! I've already reported him to the police for stealing money."

"Huh? Navy, don't be impulsive, Second Brother, you still won't admit it? Do you really want to go to jail? Hurry up and apologize to your older brother, quick!"

Zheng Xiulan could tell that her eldest son was really angry and was afraid that he would do something foolish, so she quickly called her second son.

Zhang Lao Er was also taken aback by Zhang Haijun's reaction, and after struggling with the decision, he gave up.

With her neck stiff, she said, "Brother, I took your money. It was...it was Fan Liangyu who insisted on buying that courtyard, saying she wouldn't stay with me if we rented. I...I was robbed, and it was her idea for me to ask you for the money back. I had the money in my hand and had just left the hotel when...someone hit me. I don't know if I dropped it when I fell, but by the time I realized it and went back to look for it, it was gone..."

He rattled off a string of words in one breath, then closed his eyes and called out to his elder brother, "...I really didn't mean it. I was thinking of buying the courtyard first to appease Fan Liangyu, and then I'll slowly pay you back the rent later..."

"Navy, your brother has confessed, so let's not call the police, okay?"

Zheng Xiulan breathed a sigh of relief, shaking her eldest grandson who was crying uncontrollably, while looking at Zhang Haijun with concern.

Zhang Haijun glanced at the son in her arms, his gaze falling on Zheng Xiulan's face, his eyes cold and indifferent.

"navy?"

Zhang Lao Er was in a state of panic. "Brother, I was wrong..."

"So, it was all Fan Liangyu's doing, and you bear no responsibility whatsoever? It's all her fault?" Zhang Haijun stared at Zhang Lao Er and asked coldly.

Zhang Lao Er felt something was off about those words, but if he admitted his mistake, his older brother would definitely beat him, right? Even his own mother would beat and scold him. Between Fan Liangyu's death and his own death, he chose the former.

Zhang Lao Er forced a dry smile and hummed in agreement.

Zheng Xiulan gritted her teeth in anger, "I told you she was a troublemaker! Have you lost your mind? She told you to steal your older brother's money and you did? I told you to divorce her a long time ago but you wouldn't. Now look what happened, two five-thousands of dollars, all gone!"

Zheng Xiulan gasped several times in pain, her heart clenching with pain, wishing she could slap her second son's face until it was smashed!

"Second brother, second brother, what can I say to you?!"

"More than that, right?"

Zhang Haijun glanced at Zhang Lao Er, who was looking guilty and evasive, and pointed out, "The property certificate you're holding is for the courtyard you two looked at, right? You must have scraped together enough money to buy it after getting the certificate. Since you stole my five thousand and lost it, where did you get another five thousand?!"

Zhang Lao Er's heart skipped a beat, and he secretly cried out in alarm, feeling a sense of panic that made him want to find a hole to crawl into.

Zheng Xiulan suddenly woke up and looked at Zhang Lao Er, "Where did you get the money?"

Zhang Lao Er gritted his teeth, unable to even force a smile, wanting only to run away.

After stammering for a while, he finally said, "I...I asked Fan Liangyu for an advance on my salary, and I scraped it together."

He didn't dare say that he had also received an advance payment from Zheng Xiulan and Old Man Zhang.

Zheng Xiulan asked him curiously, "Did Fan Liangyu also contribute money? How much did she contribute?"

Zhang Lao Er nodded, but didn't tell her the exact amount of money.

She said, "She really wants to live with me. Otherwise, she wouldn't have accompanied me to look at so many houses and carefully selected a nice and affordable courtyard. She even gave me an advance on her salary to buy it. Mom, don't always think badly of her. She does this because she cares about me. She just... doesn't like you as her mother-in-law."

Zheng Xiulan glared at him.

Zhang Lao Er forced a smile and said, "You see, many mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law don't get along. Isn't it better for them to live separately? We'll come to visit you on weekends, and we'll have a family reunion dinner together during holidays. Otherwise, we'll just live our own lives..."

"What's so good about it? It's not good at all!"

Zheng Xiulan interrupted him, saying irritably, "Your father and I aren't dead yet. What's the meaning of her urging you to move out? You're moving back home today. Tell her that if she wants to live with you, she should move back home and learn to do all the housework like Su Hongying did before. Don't even think about acting like a pampered young lady like before!"

"Mom, aren't you forcing her to divorce me? If she wanted to, she would have done it already..."

Zhang Lao Er tried to reason with Zheng Xiulan, but Zheng Xiulan spat at him, "If you don't want to, then leave now and I'll divorce you. Don't delay your search for a graduate degree! Just tell her exactly what I said! She's a daughter-in-law and she thinks she can ride roughshod over her mother-in-law. She's so spoiled!"

Zhang Lao Er lowered his head. How could he possibly relay these words?

Fan Liangyu is definitely going to explode; the only outcome will be divorce!

Zhang Lao Er's gaze towards his own mother had turned sour.

"Mom, you really can't stand to see us sons having an easy time. First you messed up my older brother and Su Hongying, and now it's my turn and Fan Liangyu's turn, right?"

Zhang Lao Er muttered a few words and decided to delay for one day at a time. Anyway, if he didn't go home, no matter how capable his mother was, she couldn't go to Fan Liangyu's workplace to make a scene, could she?

Unless she's shameless.

"Second brother, are you going to pay back my money yourself, or should I go to your workplace and have your boss deduct it from your salary?" Zhang Haijun had figured it out; nothing was more reliable than money, no matter what parents or siblings were.

Zhang Lao Er exclaimed, "Brother, I didn't spend your money either, it's gone."

"You want to renege on your debt?" Zhang Haijun narrowed his eyes.