Upon hearing Li Tao's words, Ren Xiao immediately shouted.

Li Tao was engrossed in her own world when she was startled by the sudden shout.

"You brat, what are you yelling at me for?"

“Mom, the demolition compensation belongs to my uncle. It’s already very kind of him to give us a place to stay. We can’t do something shameless.”

'smack'

Li Tao slapped Ren Xiao across the face.

"Ren Xiao, how can you talk like that? What am I doing all this for? Isn't it all for you? Women these days are so materialistic. If you don't have a house, a car, or a dowry, they won't even bother with you. How are you going to get married?"

"Mom, we can work together to earn money, save up for a down payment, and then pay it off slowly together. Actually, our family savings are enough for a down payment."

"I can't pay anymore." Li Tao suddenly burst into tears. "I can't pay anymore."

"Mom, what do you mean by that?"

“Your dad is sick, very seriously ill, and probably won’t live much longer. We’ve used all our savings to save him.”

Ren Xiao is a university student. Although she lives in the local area, she usually lives on campus. For students of this age, it is normal to go home once every one or two months if they don't have any worries. If her father's accident happened recently, it is not unreasonable for him not to know.

"What do you mean? Mom, what happened to Dad?"

“Last week, your dad vomited blood and fell into a coma in the middle of the night. His coworkers took him to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with late-stage stomach cancer. Your dad said he didn’t want treatment, and the doctor also said there was no point in treating him because he came too late and it was not worth wasting money.”

“Actually, your dad has been sick for a long time, but he just didn’t say anything. As time went on, he got sick… but he was in pain. Even if he didn’t get treatment, I didn’t want to make your dad too sad.”

Those painkillers and some nutritional supplements can buy time and delay the inevitable.

In addition to the initial hospitalization costs and other expenses—

My already meager savings have long been depleted.

She wanted the money for two reasons: first, for her son's sake, and second, for her father's sake. Having more money was always better.

But now—

I initially thought it was just an unreasonable person causing trouble, but I never expected there to be such a thing behind it.

Li Ming was both annoyed and angry at Li Tao's compromise.

It's truly pitiful that Ren's father has encountered such a situation, but for her to say such things in front of so many people, how can he face people in this area if he doesn't speak up? Won't everyone gossip about him?

He felt that this behavior was tantamount to moral blackmail.

"Okay, you're in a bad situation. I'll give you the 50,000 yuan in demolition compensation. I don't want it anymore, okay? I'll transfer the money to you directly once it arrives."

After saying that, Li Ming left.

Those who remained have now come to their senses.

After all, we're family. Since something like this has happened to them, it would seem heartless to haggle over the money.

But if we had said it directly earlier, couldn't we have discussed it privately?

For a moment, everyone looked at Li Tao with ambiguous expressions.

-

To be continued.

Li Ming transferred the 50,000 yuan demolition compensation to Li Tao.

Before moving away, they informed everyone in the neighborhood about the situation.

He helped the Ren family; he did what he was supposed to do.

Looking at Li Ming's family moving away, Li Tao showed a deep sense of guilt.

Only after the crowd outside the courtyard awaiting demolition had completely dispersed did Ren Xiao ask, "Mom, did you do that on purpose? Was that your ultimate goal?"

Yes, how could someone who has been sent to the countryside for so many years really be without any guile?

Otherwise, how could she have obtained a spot to return to the city without taking the college entrance examination after the news of the educated youth returning to the city came down?

Are you blaming your mother? I really can't do anything about it.

Is Ren Xiao strange?

No matter how irritating he is, his mother did all this for his father's sake.

"Mom, is the soup ready? Let's go to the hospital to see Dad."

It's still strange to avoid talking about it.

Li Tao sighed, "It's all because of poverty."

-

The Li family's case is not an isolated incident, nor was Ms. Wang's case before it.

Most people, determined to rebuild their homes on the same site, resolved never to move, even if it meant death. They refused to sign the papers and continued living in the house without water or electricity.

But most people didn't think anything of it.

"When we first moved here, there was no water tap in the yard, and the power would often go out. We were doing just fine before, so why is it not working now? If I wait a little longer, is there any hope of getting a house?"

Holding onto this belief, everyone has persevered in living in the old house.

It is easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality.

Even if most families don't have air conditioning, each household still has a fan.

In the sweltering summer, during the last ten days of the hottest period of the year, it's impossible to sleep without electricity.

After the last batch of old houses were taken, Wang Ying sighed, "I felt drenched in sweat after just a short time there. I couldn't stand it at all. How can these people stay at home all day long?"

"I'm not worried about anything else, I'm just worried that these people are getting old and might get heatstroke."

"Don't jinx it," Lin Wei glared at the other person.

Then.

Coincidentally, the jinx came true that very day.

Two elderly women were taken to the hospital due to heatstroke.

Fortunately, it was broad daylight, and the patient was taken to the hospital in time and is otherwise unharmed.

After the family took them home, everything was fine.

But before they could even celebrate for a few days, someone died of heatstroke at home.

The people who lived there at first didn't know.

But it was so hot outside that the room felt like a sauna, it was impossible to stay inside.

In addition, everyone had agreed to go out to fetch water together, but the neighbor lady didn't come that morning.

The group went over to call for help, but after calling for a long time, the old woman still didn't come out.

When I opened the door, the person was still lying in bed.

But his body was ice cold, so he was obviously alright.

The originally sweltering weather turned into a chilling sensation for everyone who witnessed this scene.

-

“Officer, the person was already dead when we arrived this morning. We came together, but it has nothing to do with us.”

"Old Ding used to be in good health. He didn't say anything wrong before we parted yesterday. How could a perfectly healthy person suddenly die? Could he have been murdered?"

The mothers-in-law started talking at once, and their comments became increasingly outrageous.

"Did you see someone come to kill someone?" the police officer asked.

No, not at all.

Everyone shook their heads.

The police officer then asked, "Did you see any suspicious people in the vicinity?"

No, not at all.

"If there's nothing wrong, don't talk nonsense. The forensic team will have the results soon."

After testing, it was determined that the deceased, Granny Ding, died of heatstroke.

To put it bluntly, her condition was not relieved or treated after suffering from heatstroke. In addition, she was old and had a low body resistance. She thought she would be fine after a good night's sleep, but little did she know that she would never get up again.

But the older women around them didn't believe it. "No, did you check it carefully? What if you made a mistake?"