“My cousin has hands and feet, can’t he earn money himself? When our family was poor, Aunt, you didn’t help us at all. You even took away the last of our food rations, leaving the three of us siblings to go hungry.”

Shen Ying showed no respect for Zhao Lan whatsoever. He stared coldly at the old woman on the ground, his heart unable to find peace for a long time.

Seeing that this tactic was useless, Zhao Lan got up from the ground and began to recount her hardships. She said that when she was a girl in her parents' home, she had taken care of her younger sister a lot. Now that her sister's son had become successful, he was unwilling to give her even a thousand yuan to show his filial piety. He was truly heartless.

“Auntie, you love your son so much that you don’t let him go out to work and earn money. What good will it do if he uses the money to get married? Look at how hopeless he is. He’ll run off with another man one day.”

Jiang Yu initially thought the old woman was just trying to take advantage of him, but she never expected that she would even try to take the life-saving food. She was truly wicked.

Since Shen Ying also dislikes this aunt, there's no need for her to put on airs.

Zhao Lan, enraged by the woman's curses against her son, was about to strike her when she kicked a table leg.

"Oh my goodness~"

With the sound of bones breaking, the old woman clutched her foot and wailed. Shen Ying wanted to go over to check on her, but Jiang Yu stopped her.

You have to be careful with shameless people like that. If you get scammed, there's really no way to get justice.

At that point, it might not be something that can be solved with just a thousand dollars.

Wang Lai, who was waiting for his mother Zhao Lan at the village entrance, never showed up. As darkness fell, he inquired about the people of Shenjiazhuang and asked where Shen Ying's family lived before coming over.

Inside the house, Shen Ying and Jiang Yu were at a loss. The two children came back from outside and were startled to see a strange old woman lying on the ground.

Jiang Yu, while holding the child, spoke softly:

"Call the police."

In this day and age, without cell phones to record videos, it's difficult to clarify the situation once someone helps another person. With darkness approaching, missing the optimal treatment window would be a major problem.

"Don't call the police."

Upon hearing that the two were going to call the police, Zhao Lan stood up, gripping the table leg for support. A sharp pain shot through her feet, and her contorted face terrified Shen Niannian.

Over the years, Wang Lai's troubles have caused the police to come to his home to arrest him every now and then, which has given Zhao Lan a psychological trauma. She is afraid whenever she hears the police calling.

"Mother, Mother, are you there?"

Outside, Wang Lai happened to arrive and heard dogs barking in the yard, but he didn't dare to go in. It was he who instigated Zhao Lan to come to Shen Ying's house to ask for money.

In his view, a mere thousand yuan was no problem at all for his cousin. All the way there, his mind was filled with images of getting married, and he would occasionally let out a silly grin.

"Son, your mother is here."

Hearing Wang Lai's voice, Zhao Lan reacted as if grasping at a lifeline, responding repeatedly. Jiang Yu thought to herself, "One is already this troublesome; if another one comes, they'll tear their house down."

Before she could come up with a solution, he rushed into the room and stood in front of Zhao Lan, deliberately wiping away tears.

"Mom, what's wrong with you?"

"Auntie's foot hit the table leg."

Worried that Zhao Lan would distort the truth, Shen Ying told her to tell the whole story so she wouldn't be able to stage an accident.

Seeing the man's pointed face and monkey-like features, with his eyes darting around, Jiang Yu immediately guessed he was up to no good. She couldn't help but rub her forehead; what an unlucky first day of the Lunar New Year.

She called the police under the pretext of going out, and when the police arrived, Wang Lai was still berating Shen Ying:

"If my mother bumps her foot here, you have to take responsibility."

Shen Ying knew that his cousin had been a rascal since childhood, so he didn't want to waste words with him. He took a stool and went to the outer room to think about what to eat for dinner.

A short while later, the police, led by Cheng Lei, arrived at the address. Wang Lai heard the police sirens and stared in disbelief at Jiang Yu as she entered.

"It's you?"

At this moment, Zhao Lan didn't care about the pain in her feet. She stood in front of Jiang Yu with a limp, and Shen Ying quickly protected her behind him.

Although it was dealing with the unpleasant behavior of his male relatives, Jiang Yu was still somewhat moved by his actions.

Seeing her nephew protecting the woman, Zhao Lan angrily burst into a tirade:

"You shameless vixen, not only did you seduce my nephew, but you also had affairs with other men outside, and now you're pretending to be the mistress of this house. Your mother-in-law isn't dead yet, and I don't believe she'll ignore this if she finds out. She'll definitely make you divorce Shen Ying, and you can forget about having any reputation for miles around."

Zhao Lan rambled on and on, all of which was overheard by the arriving police. Zhao Lei pointed at Zhao Lan and reminded her:

“Auntie, if you keep swearing, we’ll take you away for questioning as well.”

Upon entering and seeing Wang Lai, he nonchalantly told the young policeman behind him to handcuff him, then turned to ask what was going on. When he saw Jiang Yu, he froze. Remembering the tragic experience she had described to him at the police station, he looked at her with some sympathy.

"Officer, I didn't expect it to be you again."

Jiang Yu greeted him politely, while Shen Ying, standing to the side, had a complicated expression. When did this woman get to know a policeman? She seemed quite familiar with him. He felt uneasy, but didn't know why.

"Comrade Jiang, to encounter something like this during the New Year is truly unfortunate. This must be your brother, and the children are your nephew and niece?"

Cheng Lei didn't know Jiang Yu was married; he still thought she lived with her brother. Shen Niannian overheard the unfamiliar old woman cursing her mother and muttered under her breath:

"You're shameless! You want my parents to get a divorce? Dream on!"

Suddenly hearing the police questioning them startled them, fearing they would end up handcuffed like the bad guy.

Upon hearing that Cheng Lei mistook him for Jiang Yu's brother, Shen Ying couldn't hold back any longer. His expression turned serious, and he exuded a chilling aura.

Cheng Lei pulled his coat tighter, wondering: Is the weather about to change again?

"No, this is my husband, and the two children are my kids."

"......"

Cheng Lei was surprised that Jiang Yu, who looked so young, was already married with two children. No wonder that man had given him such a sharp look; he was jealous!

"Good."

He nervously rubbed his hands together, trying to bolster his courage. It was strange; usually, people were afraid of him, so why was he acting this way now?

Having roughly understood the situation, Cheng Lei looked at Wang Lai's disappointing state and pointed at him with exasperation:

“Wang Lai, you’ve been getting into fights all the time, nothing serious. We thought you wouldn’t dare do things like murder or arson, but now you’re coming to your relatives’ house to rob them? And you even brought your old mother along.”

When Wang Lai realized he was about to get another seven-day cage tour, he quickly shook his head and denied it:

"Officer, you've misunderstood. This is my cousin, and my mother is his aunt. Why would he come to rob me? I just came to play a joke on them. Could you please help me remove this big silver bracelet? I'll leave right away."

He winked at Zhao Lan, and the old lady immediately understood.

"Yes, yes, yes, if you don't believe me, I'll call his mother over, and you'll know once you ask her."