"Yuzhen, she... she's still growing."
You won't die from missing a meal!
Su Jianguo suddenly raised his voice, startling his wife.
"Look at the way she acted just now! Her clothes were all over the floor, and water was splashed everywhere. Is this how you do work?"
Seeing Su Jianguo get angry, Wang Xiulan immediately shut up.
After a while.
The second son, Su Mingde, swaggered back carrying a black faux leather briefcase.
As soon as he entered the courtyard, he heard hurried footsteps behind him.
The third brother, Su Mingfu, ran in, his back soaked with sweat, clutching a cloth bag tightly in his arms.
"Second brother, you just got back too?"
Su Mingfu was panting heavily, but his eyes were frighteningly bright.
Su Mingde pushed up his glasses, revealing bruises on the tip of his nose from being whipped with a belt.
He glanced at the light on in the west wing and asked in a low voice.
"Did you manage to get the retake of the exam arranged?"
"It's done!"
Su Mingfu patted the cloth bag excitedly.
"The principal has made a special exception and I can join the class next Monday!"
A corner of a textbook peeked out from the cloth bag.
The door to the main room creaked open.
Wang Xiulan looked at her two sons and immediately said.
"You're back? I left some rice in the pot for you."
Before he could finish speaking, a loud crash suddenly came from the east wing.
Su Yuzhen's shrill cries and curses pierced through the thin wall panel.
"I hate you all! You should all die!"
Su Mingde subconsciously shrank his neck, a hint of panic flashing in his eyes behind his glasses.
He deliberately lingered in the office until dark before going home today, just to avoid running into his father again.
"Ignore her."
Wang Xiulan sighed and turned to walk towards the kitchen.
On the earthen stove in the kitchen, the cabbage stew with vermicelli in the iron pot had already solidified into a layer of white oil.
Wang Xiulan deftly added some firewood to the fire.
"Mom, don't make it too hot, something cool is fine too."
Su Mingfu squatted in front of the stove, his stomach growling with hunger.
"Mom, what's wrong with my little sister?"
Su Mingde suddenly asked.
He and his eldest brother came back at noon today, but his younger sister caught them red-handed. Su Mingde was also afraid that his younger sister would spread rumors.
"Your dad scolded you, and he's angry; he hasn't even eaten."
Su Mingde and Su Mingfu were clearly starving, and they ate all the leftovers.
Meanwhile, at Su Mingqiang's home.
Li Jinhua was pointing her finger at Su Mingqiang and cursing him, spitting as she did so.
It turns out that after failing to steal the bottle, Su Mingqiang went straight home.
Having taken leave from both sides, Su Mingqiang had no intention of resting for even a day. He also wanted to think of a way to get Su Jianguo to pay for his car.
Lost in thought, Su Mingqiang fell asleep.
When Li Jinhua came home from get off work, she saw Su Mingqiang fast asleep and assumed that things had gone well.
When they called out to ask, they hadn't received a single penny.
Li Jinhua immediately launched into a tirade of abuse.
Suddenly, the door was pounded on loudly.
"Jin Hua! Open the door!"
Li's mother's signature shrill voice pierced through the door.
Su Mingqiang's expression changed drastically; that voice was unmistakably his mother-in-law's.
Li Jinhua was in the middle of a heated argument when she was suddenly interrupted, which made her a little annoyed.
Why is my mother here?
She hurriedly tidied her disheveled sideburns and kicked the dumbfounded Su Mingqiang.
"What are you standing there for? Go open the door!"
The door opened.
Li's father had a grim face, which looked particularly eerie.
Behind him, Li's mother was slapping her thigh and wailing, while Li's eldest son, Li Fugui, was carrying a carrying pole, looking just like a door god.
"Father? Mother? What's going on?"
Before Li Jinhua could finish speaking, her father's slap came flying down.
"Smack!"
The slap sent Li Jinhua staggering a few steps, her hairpin flying a long way.
She covered her face in disbelief.
"Dad! You hit me?"
"I'm going to beat you up, you jinx!"
Li's father took a piece of paper out of his pocket and threw it on the ground.
"Look what you've done!"
Su Mingqiang bent down to pick it up, and when he looked at it in the light coming from the room, his face turned ashen.
The paper contained the IOU that Su Jianguo had forced Li's father to write.
"Waaaaah, my God! Three thousand yuan! That's practically killing us!"
Li's mother plopped down on the ground, slapping the cement floor and wailing.
"Your father has lost all his savings for his funeral!"
Li Fugui's carrying pole slammed against the courtyard wall with a "bang," shaking down a cloud of dust.
"Su Mingqiang! Your Su family has gone too far!"
The lights in the neighboring houses gradually came on, and some people opened their windows and peeked out.
Ignoring the burning pain on her face, Li Jinhua pulled and dragged her family members into the house.
"Come in! Don't let outsiders see us and make us a laughingstock!"
He led the group into the house.
Mr. Li slammed the IOU onto the chipped octagonal table.
"Jinhua, look what your good father-in-law has done!"
Li's father pressed his finger against the IOU, his knuckles turning white.
"Three thousand yuan! He's trying to kill our Li family and wipe out the lineage of our old Li family!"
Li Jinhua grabbed the IOU, her eyes wide with surprise.
She was so angry that her lips trembled twice, and suddenly she screamed "Ah!" and tore the IOU to shreds.
"You old, damned bastard!"
She jumped up hysterically, spitting all over Su Mingqiang's face.
"Su Mingqiang! Your father is trying to drive my family to their deaths!"
Su Mingqiang huddled on a small stool in the corner, like a frightened quail.
"I...I didn't know Dad would do this."
He stammered, his voice growing softer and softer.
Li's mother plopped down on the edge of Su Mingqiang's kang (a heated brick bed), slapped her thigh, and began to wail.
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
