Chapter 219 Severing Ties
"Bullshit!" Granny Zheng trembled with rage, pointing at Lin's mother's nose and yelling, "I just grabbed some food to fill my stomach! Money? I didn't see a single penny!"
"Oh my god—! Listen to this, folks! Is this even human language?!" Lin's mother slapped her thigh, her voice instantly rising eight octaves, her tearful accusation echoing throughout the yard, "You've already ransacked the place for food, and you still dare to leave my life savings jar untouched?! Heavens above! Open your eyes!"
"This mother-in-law is so disrespectful! She didn't help me when I was young, and now that I'm old, she comes to steal money and even wants to sell my daughter for cash! I can't live like this anymore!" She beat her chest and cried so sincerely that tears and snot covered her face.
The crowd buzzed, their pointing and whispering gazes piercing Zheng Pozi like needles. Zheng Pozi's face was ashen, her heart bleeding with hatred: She knew it! That shrew Guo Cuicui was the most troublesome! With just a few words, she'd pinned the blame on her, and even incited that wretched girl Lin Baozhu to become paranoid!
"You...you're slandering me!" Old Mrs. Zheng shouted defiantly, her neck stiff. "I didn't steal anything! If you don't believe me, have someone search me! Search this old woman! Search my daughter! Search our tattered bundle! If they find a single penny, may I be struck by lightning!"
"Search?" Lin's mother stopped crying, her face still streaked with tears, but her eyes were like knives, a sarcastic sneer curling at the corner of her lips. "You shouted so loudly, you probably already transferred the stolen money away, didn't you? Do you think I'm blind? There were three of you when you came in! And now?!"
She pointed sharply to the courtyard gate, her voice suddenly becoming shrill, "Look! Where's the oxcart that was parked at the gate?! Where did the oxcart go?! In broad daylight, what else could it be but a guilty conscience?!"
Everyone looked in the direction she pointed—hey! The dilapidated oxcart that Granny Zheng and her daughter had just ridden in was indeed gone! Only two fresh ruts remained!
"Ha! The oxcart is really gone!"
"That's right! I was so busy watching the show that I didn't notice when they chased them away!"
"It must have been that old man driving the carriage! He hid the money and slipped away while everyone was in the chaos!"
"Now the evidence is irrefutable! They came here to steal money!"
The crowd erupted in uproar, with a tidal wave of comments and condemnations directed at Granny Zheng.
Old Mrs. Zheng felt a wave of dizziness wash over her, nearly fainting! She was utterly speechless, unable to explain herself no matter how hard she tried! Her son-in-law had driven the oxcart there; who knew when he'd driven it away?! It was like mud falling into your pants—even if it wasn't excrement, it would still look like excrement!
"I...I..." Granny Zheng's lips trembled, her face turning from pale to ashen, cold sweat pouring down her back. Lin Meimei also panicked, supporting her mother, her eyes filled with terror as she looked at the angry crowd.
When Lin Baozhu looked at her mother, a hint of approval flashed in her eyes—her mother had played the "fishing in troubled waters" and "calling a deer a horse" trick brilliantly!
She walked to the center of the crowd, her voice not loud, but carrying a clarity and coldness that pierced through the noise:
"Captain, uncles and aunts, everyone saw what happened today."
Her gaze swept over the ashen-faced old woman Zheng, her chilling aura emanating from her:
"Old Lady Zheng, along with her daughter and son-in-law, broke into my house while the adults were away, injured my young nephew, broke his arm, and ransacked the place! Although she hasn't been caught red-handed yet, her suspicious behavior and malicious motives are undeniable!"
She paused, then her voice suddenly rose, carrying a resolute tone:
“My father, Lin Gengsheng, is a filial son. Even though you treated him like dirt, he never complained and always gave you money to support him in his old age! But what about you?! How did you repay him?! You led your daughter to commit violence, came to his house to bully his wife and children, injured his grandchildren, and even stole the hard-earned money that our family had saved. You even viciously tried to sell his only daughter!”
Lin Baozhu's gaze shifted to Lin Gengsheng, who had remained silent but whose fists were clenched and whose eyes were red-rimmed:
"Father! Do you still want to acknowledge a mother like this?! She dared to break my son's arm today, and she'll dare to take our whole family's lives tomorrow! Such a 'relative' is a curse, not a blessing, for our Lin family!"
Lin Gengsheng's body jolted violently. He thought of Hu Zi's twisted arm, then looked at his angry wife and daughter, and then at his "biological mother" who had a mean face and was now only filled with panic but no remorse. The grievances, heartache, and the huge doubts about his origins that had just risen up over the past decades erupted like a volcano!
He took a sudden step forward, his voice hoarse yet unusually clear, as if he had used all his strength:
"From this day forward! I, Lin Gengsheng, sever all ties with you! We have no further connection whatsoever! We will never see each other again!"
He turned his head, his bloodshot eyes looking at the brigade leader: "Captain! I beg you to be my witness! And I ask all the villagers to be my witnesses! I, Lin Gengsheng, here today, sever all ties with Granny Zheng! She is no longer my mother, and everything in my Lin family has nothing to do with her anymore! If she is alive, my Lin family will not raise her! If she dies, my Lin family will not bury her! If I break this oath, may I be struck down by heaven and earth!"
"Good!" The brigade leader, who had long disapproved of Granny Zheng's actions, immediately responded loudly, "I, Lin Youtian, the brigade leader of Qingshan Production Brigade, hereby testify for Comrade Lin Gengsheng! From this moment on, he and Granny Zheng are severing their mother-son relationship! Whether Granny Zheng lives or dies, whether she is good or bad, will have no further connection with Lin Gengsheng's family! All the men and women present here are witnesses!"
"We are the witnesses!"
"Good riddance! Shouldn't we keep this kind of mother around for the New Year?"
The crowd erupted in cheers and applause.
Granny Zheng collapsed to the ground, as if her spine had been ripped out. Her face was ashen, her lips trembled, but she couldn't utter a single word. It's all over…it's all over…her reputation is ruined, her son is gone, what will she do now?
She never imagined that the villagers would help Lin Gengsheng's family so selflessly.
Lin Baozhu looked at the limp and helpless Granny Zheng and the panicked Lin Meimei with icy cold eyes.
Severing ties is just the beginning.
She would slowly reclaim the shame and harm they had inflicted on the Lin family, one by one. But for now, she would make them get out of the Lin family's gates, carrying their stench.
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