Yang Sufen, Lin Zhengrong, and Lin Zhengguang didn’t enter the courtyard. They just stood at the gate shouting.
Their plan was to call Lin Qiqi out—if she refused, they would just tie her up and take her away.
Lin Qiqi wanted to go out and take a look, but Aunt Zhang held her back.
“This old woman brought two grown men with her. They definitely don’t have good intentions.”
“Qiqi, don’t go out.”
“Old Zhang, stop eating for now—go get ready.”
Outside, Lin Zhengrong and Lin Zhengxian were still shouting.
“Is our dear niece starving to death inside? Why hasn’t she come out yet?”
“Too hungry to walk? Want your uncle to come in and carry you out?”
The two of them played off each other as if Jiang Yunling and Lin Qiqi had been starving for five days.
More and more onlookers gathered.
“Is Xiao Jiang’s life really this hard now?”
“Of course. Don’t they still owe us money?”
“Oh, then it might be better for Qiqi to go with her father. At least she won’t worry about food and clothes.”
“I’m just afraid Xiao Jiang won’t agree. If Qiqi leaves, who will take care of her?”
“But you can’t delay the child just for yourself.”
A disabled mother and a healthy father—even a fool would know which to choose.
Yang Sufen and the Lin brothers were certain they would take Lin Qiqi away today.
But after waiting for quite a while, Lin Qiqi still didn’t come out.
The crowd slowly pushed into the courtyard, and just like that, Yang Sufen and the Lin brothers were shoved inside.
A few eager spectators followed in as well—and the moment they entered, they were all stunned.
A table full of fish and meat dishes—better than anything at a state-run restaurant. There was no sign of anyone starving.
The crowd immediately looked at Yang Sufen and her sons as if they were fools.
Lin Zhengrong and Lin Zhengguang were left speechless.
Staring at the food on the table, their mouths watered.
Useless!
Yang Sufen pinched each of her sons hard on the back, then looked at Lin Qiqi and Jiang Yunling.
“Jiang Yunling, my son is divorcing you tomorrow. Our Lin family feels sorry for Lin Qiqi. After all, she’s my granddaughter—we plan to take her back to the Lin family.”
“Qiqi, go pack your things and come with Grandma.”
Lin Qiqi picked up a piece of fish with all the bones removed and placed it in Jiang Yunling’s bowl. Without standing up, she glanced lazily at Yang Sufen.
“Who said I’m going with you?”
“Lin Qiqi, don’t be ungrateful!” Lin Zhengrong snapped back to his senses and chimed in. “If you stay with your crippled mother, you’ll star—”
He had meant to say “starve to death on the streets,” but looking at the feast on the table, he couldn’t finish. He hastily changed his words.
“Staying with our Lin family is ten thousand times better than staying with your crippled mother!”
“Oh?” Lin Qiqi smiled brightly. “With my mom, I get stewed fish and braised pork.”
“What can your Lin family offer?”
“Every time I went back before, I went hungry. When I couldn’t stand it anymore, you’d give me scraps no one else would eat.”
“I’m almost twenty, and I’ve never once eaten at the Lin family table—because I’m a girl and not worthy of sitting there.”
“Fine, since you say the Lin family is better than my mom, then tell me exactly how. Is it the moldy pancakes or the spoiled vegetable porridge?”
Yang Sufen was left speechless again and finally dropped all pretense.
“Zhengrong, Zhengguang—do it.”
“Our Lin family raised you all these years. If you think you can run, think again.”
“Even if we have to tie you up today, we’ll take you back.”
As she spoke, Lin Zhengrong and Lin Zhengguang moved forward to grab Lin Qiqi.
Uncle Zhang, who had been preparing all this time, finally stepped in. His brows shot up as he grabbed the cleaver from the stone table and shouted,
“Let’s see who dares?!”
Uncle Zhang’s face was indeed intimidating, and the Lin men were cowards through and through.
Lin Zhengrong and Lin Zhengguang immediately felt their legs go weak, let alone daring to step forward.
Suddenly, a sharp whistle sounded from outside.
Secretary Wang wasn’t doing inspections today. Instead, he had brought a neighborhood police officer and street officials to familiarize themselves with the area.
Once welfare housing distribution began, disputes would be inevitable—they needed to prepare in advance.
And they just happened to run into trouble.
The crowd parted at the sight of uniforms, and Secretary Wang quickly entered the courtyard with his group.
Seeing that force wouldn’t work, Yang Sufen threw herself onto the ground and began making a scene.
“Murder!”
“Someone’s trying to kill me, an old woman!”
She rolled around twice, but seeing everyone watching her like a circus act with no intention of helping, she sat up again and spat on the ground.
“Pah!”
She pointed at Uncle Zhang. “Why are you helping that crippled Jiang? Tell me—are you having an affair with her?!”
The accusation was vicious.
Aunt Zhang couldn’t bear it and was about to slap her when the whistle blew again.
A stern male voice rang out at the courtyard gate, “What’s going on here?!”
Secretary Wang glanced at the woman on the ground and frowned.
Putting on his official demeanor, he spoke with clear bias, “You three again, causing trouble?”
The neighborhood officer immediately understood how to handle it.
“You.” He pointed at Yang Sufen. “Stand up and speak properly, or come with me to the station.”
Remembering past consequences, Yang Sufen didn’t dare continue her tantrum. She quickly got up and looked at Secretary Wang with a flattering smile.
“Leader, we’re not here for the house this time—we’re not causing trouble.”
“The house belongs to the state, but the granddaughter belongs to our Lin family. We just came to take her home.”
“So she won’t have to suffer with this crippled mother.”
“But this man,” she pointed at Uncle Zhang, “suddenly tried to kill someone with a knife.”
The officer followed her finger and looked over.
“Comrade Zhang has been recognized for bravery multiple times. Could this be a misunderstanding?”
Ignoring the hateful glares from the three Lin family members, Lin Qiqi stepped forward.
“Officer, there’s no misunderstanding. Uncle Zhang was acting bravely.”
“Because these three people were trying to forcibly kidnap and detain me, he stepped in to help.”
“Everyone here can testify.”
“Kidnapping and detention?” That changed the nature of the situation entirely.
“Leaders, don’t listen to this girl’s nonsense!” Yang Sufen shouted.
Lin Zhengrong added, “Yes, she’s lying! We just felt sorry for her and wanted to take her home.”
Lin Zhengguang chimed in, “Her father is our elder brother. How could we harm her?”
“It’s just that her parents are divorcing—we couldn’t bear to see her stay with this crippled mother.”
Now even the onlookers couldn’t stand it.
“Stop flattering yourselves.”
“Qiqi already said she doesn’t want to go with you.”
“She said you never let her sit at the table growing up—only gave her spoiled leftovers.”
“And now you’re pretending to be good people. Who knows what you’re really planning.”
Aunt Zhang, still angry, seized the chance to reveal the most crucial point.
“And another thing—you said Lin Zhengxian is divorcing Xiao Jiang. He took 2,000 yuan of her life-saving money.”
“He should return the money before divorcing her.”
Hearing “2,000 yuan,” Lin Zhengrong and Lin Zhengguang both turned to Yang Sufen.
“Mom, my brother has 2,000 yuan?”
“Why didn’t you tell us?”