Chapter Fifty-Eight
Since returning from Hunhe, Zuo Xutong has been so busy that she hasn't had a chance to visit Xiao Ping. On Saturday, she bought some fruit and supplements and went to her sister's house.
As soon as she entered the house, she sensed the tense atmosphere. Hao Ling came out to open the door for her, but immediately retreated back into her bedroom. Xiao Ping and Hao Qingshan each occupied a sofa in the living room, both with long faces. Xiao Ping's eyes were red and swollen, clearly from crying.
Seeing Zuo Xutong enter, Hao Qingshan forced a fleeting smile, greeted her with "You're here," and then lowered his head again. Xiao Ping didn't even glance at her daughter, and yelled at her husband, "Hao Qingshan, if you don't explain to me clearly today where that 70,000 yuan went, we're going to the Civil Affairs Bureau for a divorce on Monday!"
Hao Qingshan's dry, white lips moved slightly, and the wrinkles on his face seemed to deepen.
Zuo Xutong arrived to find herself in this predicament, unsure of what to do. She stood awkwardly in the entryway, watching the two locked in a standoff in the living room. Fortunately, the house had an open-plan dining area, with the kitchen to the north and the living room to the south. So, she didn't go to the living room and quietly sat down at the dining table. This house didn't have her own territory; she couldn't hide in her room like Hao Ling had.
"You're not going to talk, are you?" Xiao Ping suddenly stood up, almost leaping to Hao Qingshan's side, startling him. She snatched the phone from his hand, unlocked the screen with his usual password, and began scrolling through his WeChat chat history.
It seems that no matter how old a woman is, she will have an emotional breakdown and lose her mind when she encounters her husband's infidelity.
Xiao Ping scrolled through the chat for a while but found no suspicious conversations. She muttered through gritted teeth, "Fine, you deleted them all, huh!" while opening her WeChat Wallet to check the transaction history.
Normally oblivious, she instantly transformed into Sherlock Holmes, desperately searching for any clues to her husband's infidelity, but unfortunately, there were no abnormalities in his WeChat bills. She dejectedly put down her phone, sat silently on the sofa, and after a while, suddenly remembered something. She picked up Hao Qingshan's phone, opened the "China Mobile" app, and began checking his call records. After much effort, she ultimately found nothing.
Finding no evidence of her husband's infidelity, Xiao Ping lowered her voice, but it was still choked with sobs, as if she had suffered a great injustice: "Seventy thousand yuan! I told you, you were out making money all the time for the past two years, how come you only brought back so little! Tell me, what did you do with this money?"
Hao Qingshan hung his head and remained silent. He had secretly saved this money for three years, and just before his wife fell and was hospitalized, he withdrew it all and gave it to his mother. He and his brother had agreed to each contribute 70,000 yuan to build a house in their rural hometown. His younger brother wasn't well-off either, and if he could afford it, why should he be a burden to the family?
Xiao Ping was remarried. When she first married into the family, the old lady treated her coldly, and the two had always been at odds because of this. If he told the truth, Xiao Ping would definitely not let it go. So he couldn't say anything and could only swallow his anger.
Zuo Xutong wanted to leave, but having come all this way, she was unwilling to just leave like that. She sat in the restaurant, watching as Xiao Ping stood up, hands on her hips, looking like she was about to cause a huge scene.
"Hao Qingshan, you're inhuman! I've been married to you for so many years, have you ever let me have a few good days? Last time I was in the hospital, you couldn't even afford the surgery fee, it was Tongtong who paid for it for me." Only then did Xiao Ping remember her eldest daughter, and she glanced towards the restaurant.
Zuo Xutong quickly stood up, walked to her side, and pulled her arm down because her fingertips were about to poke Uncle Hao's face.
Hao Qingshan felt deeply humiliated. He had enjoyed a few years of success in his youth, serving as the personnel director of a state-owned enterprise. He had a stable income, was respected, and wielded considerable power. However, his good fortune didn't last. The company underwent restructuring and subsequently went bankrupt. After being laid off, he realized that only a specialized skill could allow him to survive in society. Most of the skilled workers in his former workplace found new jobs smoothly, but administrative staff like himself faced constant rejection. For the next several decades, he lived a life of mediocrity, constantly disliked by his wife and daughter.
Hao Ling's personality is very similar to her mother's; both are shrewish, domineering, and unforgiving. The family is dominated by women, and Cheng Hao's life isn't much easier. He married such a strong-willed wife and was also given a mother-in-law who was just as domineering.
"Tongtong, you haven't had lunch yet, have you? How about I make you something to eat?" Hao Qingshan used Zuo Xutong as a shield, hoping to take the opportunity to escape the interrogation scene.
He had barely stood up and taken two steps when Xiao Ping rushed up and grabbed his collar: "You still have the nerve to eat? You're not going anywhere until you explain this clearly today!"
Hao Qingshan looked extremely embarrassed. He was genuinely angry that Xiao Ping had humiliated him like this in front of outsiders. He mustered up his courage and retorted, "What's wrong with me spending some money? I've worked so hard all these years, raised my child, she got married, and we bought a house. Why can't I spend some money myself?"
Xiao Ping was already furious, and his rebuttal only fueled her anger. She slammed her fist into his back and screamed hysterically, "Is that just a little money? That's 70,000!"
The punch came unexpectedly, and since Hao Qingshan was already unsteady, he lost his balance and landed hard on the coffee table, knocking over a glass. The glass rolled a few times along the table before falling to the ground and shattering.
At this moment, Hao Qingshan's patience finally reached its limit. Staring at the broken glass all over the ground, he gritted his teeth and decided to just throw caution to the wind: "I'm telling you, Xiao Ping, I gave that 70,000 yuan to my mother!"
Xiao Ping was stunned and stood there in disbelief. Her mother-in-law was over seventy years old. She was frugal and in good health. She also had a vegetable garden. Rural life didn't cost much money, and there was hardly anything to spend money on.
Was she seriously ill? Her heart leaped into her throat, and she asked in surprise, "What does your mother need so much money for?"
"My brother and I have discussed it and agreed that we will each contribute 70,000 yuan to rebuild the house in our hometown. That house is too old, and the walls are made of adobe bricks. It's not sturdy anymore. If a heavy rain washes it down, it will be a huge embarrassment!"
Zuo Xutong pondered Hao Qingshan's words, completely baffled. Shouldn't he be more worried about his mother's safety if the house collapsed? Why was his first thought not about the dead, but about the shame?
When Xiao Ping heard that her mother-in-law had no illnesses and that the money was for building a house, she exploded again: "When did you two agree on this? Did you tell me? How old is your mother? You're spending money to build a new house. How many years will she live in it after it's built? This is just a complete waste of money!"
"Xiao Ping, can't you be reasonable? You live in a big house, so isn't that a waste of money? How is it a waste of money for my mother to build a house? The money you've spent on this house could have built so many houses for my mother in the countryside!"
At this moment, Hao Ling finally came out of the bedroom and said in a nonchalant tone, "Mom, it's better for Dad to give the money to Grandma to build a house than for him to keep a mistress outside, so stop making a fuss!"
Hao Ling was clearly on Hao Qingshan's side, but her words sounded unpleasant no matter how you listened to them. So, Hao Qingshan not only didn't appreciate it, but also glared at her. Hao Ling pouted, feeling a little wronged. From childhood to adulthood, there had never been a shortage of arguments in her family. In fact, she had long been numb to it. If she hadn't been hungry, she wouldn't have gotten involved in this mess.
Seeing her daughter siding with her husband, Xiao Ping immediately turned her attention to Hao Ling, yelling, "Me making a scene? What have I done wrong? In this house, inside and out, everyone expects me to take the lead!"
As she spoke, tears welled up in her eyes again. "Hao Ling, you ungrateful wretch! If it weren't for me, would you be able to live in such a big house?"
"If it weren't for you, our family wouldn't have been able to pay 300,000 yuan in compensation," Hao Ling muttered softly.
In the past two years, housing prices in Longjin City have fallen sharply, especially in this urban area. If the house is small, they can lose less money. But Xiao Ping insisted on taking out a larger loan to buy a bigger house. She even brainwashed Hao Qingshan: "At our age, how many of us still live in a house smaller than 100 square meters? It's cramped and makes us a laughing stock!"
She believed that housing prices absolutely could not fall, and if people didn't rush in now to profit from the market, they would be the ones to be profited from later. As a result, this family became the last batch of victims because of her wrong decision.
It turns out that Xiao Ping bought the house for the sake of face, and Hao Qingshan built the house for the sake of face as well. Zuo Xutong doesn't understand why so many people live for face. Do others really care about you that much?
She silently retreated to the doorway, without saying goodbye to anyone, and quietly left.
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