Liu Xiuqin's face turned deathly pale, her lips trembling: "You...you're talking nonsense..."
"I'm talking nonsense?" Liu Hongmei grabbed an old woman who was watching the commotion from the side: "Aunt Zhang, you be the judge! Does this house belong to Brother Du?"
Aunt Zhang pursed her lips: "Absolutely! Old Du was an eighth-grade worker in our factory when he was alive!"
Liu Hongmei then pointed at Li Guodong: "This old dog used to be a gatekeeper, but now he's living in someone else's house!"
Li Guodong trembled with rage: "You, you..."
"What do you mean, 'you'!" Liu Hongmei spat as she spoke. "Either give me the property certificate, or I'm going to report you to the authorities right now!"
Liu Xiuqin suddenly knelt down with a thud, sobbing uncontrollably: "Chunhua, please, have mercy..."
"Don't give me that!" Liu Hongmei kicked her away. "What are you pretending to be pitiful for? Weren't you acting so good just now? Weren't you going to stand up for me?"
She turned to the crowd and shouted, "Everyone, be the judge! This old woman helped her stepfather bully her own son, and now she's getting her comeuppance and knows how to cry?"
People pointed and whispered:
"Serves you right!"
"retribution!"
"Even the Du family elder brother would be so angry he'd come back to life from the underworld!"
Seeing that the situation was not going well, Li Guodong gritted his teeth and asked, "Then all this furniture has to be given to us!"
Liu Hongmei rolled her eyes: "Fine, you can move any broken table or rickety bench you want!"
Liu Xiuqin suddenly lunged forward like a madwoman, tearing at him: "You bitch! I'll fight you to the death!"
Liu Hongmei slapped him across the face: "Get out of here! If you make any more trouble, I'll report you to the authorities right now!"
The slap stunned Liu Xiuqin, who collapsed to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably.
Li Guodong looked at the mess on the floor, then at his son sleeping like a log on the kang (a heated brick bed), and finally stomped his foot angrily: "Fine! Here, take the property certificate!"
Upon hearing that she had to hand over the property certificate, Liu Xiuqin collapsed to the ground and burst into tears, crying, "Without the house, how will my daughter and I live!"
Li Guodong quickly squatted down and patted her back in a mock comforting manner: "Xiuqin, don't cry, we still have savings, don't we?"
He lowered his voice and said in a deliberately affectionate tone, "Don't worry, once this is over, I'll buy you a new house right away. I, Li Guodong, keep my word and will definitely give you a new home!"
Liu Xiuqin looked up with tearful eyes and asked pitifully, "Really?"
"Of course!" Li Guodong patted his chest and assured him, "With so many years of marriage between us, would I lie to you?"
He said that, but in his heart he was sneering.
This stupid woman, does she really think he'll still care about her?
Once this is over, I'll immediately run away with the money!
Wouldn't it be better to marry a woman who owns a house?
This mother and son caused his son to marry into a widow's family; it's infuriating to watch!
A sinister glint flashed in Li Guodong's eyes, but his face was plastered with a fake smile.
Liu Xiuqin believed it to be true, and with some sobs, she took out the key from her pocket and walked to the cabinet in the inner room.
With trembling hands, she opened the drawer and took out a yellowed property ownership certificate.
"For..." she sobbed, her shoulders trembling, "This is the last thing my man left me..."
Liu Hongmei snatched the property certificate, examined it carefully, and nodded in satisfaction: "You guys know what's good for you!"
She turned her head and gestured towards Li Fuqiang, who was sleeping like a log on the kang (a heated brick bed): "Tomorrow at noon, get him cleaned up and bring him to my house for the wedding ceremony!"
Li Guodong suppressed his anger and forced a smile, saying, "Yes, yes, I'll definitely deliver it on time."
Liu Hongmei then walked out with her head held high, not forgetting to say to the neighbors who had gathered around, "Everyone, come to the wedding banquet tomorrow!"
The crowd of onlookers gradually dispersed, murmuring amongst themselves as they went:
"Tsk tsk, the Li family has really suffered a huge loss this time!"
"Serves him right! He's bullied Du Jianshan for so many years..."
"Exactly! He even betrayed his own son, karma is coming on!"
After everyone left, the courtyard was deathly silent, with only Li Guodong's heavy breathing and Liu Xiuqin's suppressed sobs.
"It's all over! Everything's gone!" Liu Xiuqin collapsed to the ground. "The house is gone! How are we going to live now?!"
"Live? Live my ass!" Li Guodong kicked away a broken stool at his feet, his eyes bloodshot, like a mad dog driven to the brink of despair: "It's all that little bastard Du Jianshan's fault! It must be him!"
The more he thought about it, the more suspicious it seemed. His bloodshot eyes were fixed on the tightly closed door of Du Jianshan's room.
"Yes! It's him! He's definitely not completely drunk! He's the one who ruined Fuqiang!" Liu Xiuqin seemed to have grasped at the last straw, jumped up, and echoed in a shrill voice.
The two men, like floodwaters finding an outlet, stumbled and rushed to Du Jianshan's door. Li Guodong kicked the door hard!
"Clang!"
The dilapidated wooden door groaned under its own weight.
"Du Jianshan! You heartless beast! Get out here right now!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
