That expression looked as though she had just seen something incredibly rare.
“How surprising.”
Lin Xi let out a cold laugh and looked at Li Yufen.
“Are you saying you don’t need an IOU when you borrow money from other people?”
Her question hit the nail on the head. In front of outsiders, Li Yufen could only give an awkward smile, unable to answer.
Lin Jianguo couldn’t save face anymore, and this time he couldn’t suppress his anger.
“Lin Xi!”
“Dad.”
Lin Xi immediately hid behind the subdistrict workers, shrinking her neck.
“Are you going to hit me again?”
“When did I ever hit you?!”
Caught completely off guard by Lin Xi’s instant acting, Lin Jianguo was practically speechless.
He stood there, his chest heaving violently with anger.
Lin Xi muttered quietly, “Well, that’s because I was quick enough to dodge.”
“And besides, it’s just an IOU. Since you said you would pay me back, why are you feeling guilty?”
“Or are you saying that you never intended to give me the things my mother left behind in the first place?”
Before coming to the Lin family, the subdistrict workers had already been well aware of the old couple’s schemes. Seeing Lin Jianguo yelling at her and nearly resorting to violence, they began to intervene.
“Old Lin, Comrade Bai died for the country, and the property originally belonged to the Bai family. Isn’t it inappropriate for you to give all of it to Lin Ran?”
Having someone marry into the wife’s family had been Lin Jianguo’s lifelong sore spot. Hearing it brought up again made him lose face, and his expression immediately darkened.
At that point, Li Yufen could only step in to smooth things over.
“Comrades, it isn’t a gift. We agreed that it was a loan, so of course we’ll pay her back.”
“Old Lin is only angry because they’re sisters. He feels that signing an IOU between sisters looks bad. It’s not like we’re dividing the family property.”
Lin Xi spoke quietly from the side.
“Dividing the family property is fine too.”
“If Aunt Fen and Dad feel that signing an IOU is embarrassing, then we can sign a severance agreement at the same time. I don’t mind.”
Lin Jianguo’s eyes lit up when he heard that.
He secretly glanced at Li Yufen.
After twenty years of sleeping beside each other, the husband and wife immediately arrived at the same idea without needing to say it aloud.
Cutting ties was actually a good idea.
Lin Xi had no idea exactly how much money Bai Keling had left behind. They could say it was five thousand yuan, or ten thousand yuan. There was no way for her to verify it.
Once they severed ties, the Bai family’s property would rightfully belong to them.
Lin Jianguo cleared his throat and softened his tone.
“Enough. Stop making a fuss!”
He waved his hand and ordered Li Yufen, “Hurry up and have her sign the IOU. Don’t waste these two comrades’ time.”
Hearing this, Li Yufen took a fountain pen out of the drawer.
She removed the cap, and just as she was about to write, Lin Xi stopped her.
“Wait, Aunt Fen. Before we sign, we need to clarify exactly what my mother left behind, don’t we?”
The amount on the IOU was still blank.
Li Yufen couldn’t make that decision herself, so she turned to Lin Jianguo.
This girl wasn’t stupid after all.
Lin Jianguo snorted.
“How much could there possibly be? Didn’t you see the dowry we prepared for Xiaoran in the living room? Two sets of bedding and two appliances. That’s all. Nothing else.”
The moment he said “nothing else,” not only did Lin Xi refuse to believe him, even the subdistrict workers didn’t believe him.
One of them couldn’t stand it anymore.
“The Bai family used to donate fifty thousand yuan at a time during the war. And now you’re saying all that’s left is this little bit?”
“What else could there be?”
Having already made a fool of himself, Lin Jianguo simply decided to throw caution to the wind.
“The Bai family had fallen into decline long ago. When my ex-wife died, she left only ten thousand yuan in total. We’ve also spent a lot raising the child over the years.”
“There are actual records in the bank. If you don’t believe me, we can go to the bank and check.”
“No need.”
Before the two workers could say anything, Lin Xi picked up the pen and decisively wrote “5,000 yuan” in the blank amount field of the IOU.
“Thank you for your help, Aunties. My dad says it’s five thousand, so let’s make it five thousand.”
After all, this was a private family matter. The two workers exchanged glances and didn’t say anything more.
Li Yufen signed the IOU.
“There. Happy now?”
Lin Xi took it and looked it over. The handwriting was neat and legible.
“Lin Ran has to sign too.”
Lin Jianguo’s patience had completely run out. The veins at his temples bulged.
“Lin Xi, don’t push it!”
“Comrade Lin.”
Seeing Lin Xi flinch after being yelled at, the two workers couldn’t stand by anymore.
“She’s your daughter just like Lin Ran. Besides, Lin Ran is the one borrowing the money in the first place. There’s no need to make things so difficult for the girl.”
Lin Ran had already been listening from upstairs for quite a while.
When Li Yufen went upstairs and called her down to sign, she finally came downstairs reluctantly.
In the lower-right corner of the IOU, beneath the words “Borrower,” the names of mother and daughter were written side by side.
Lin Xi happily put away the IOU and saw the two subdistrict workers out.
“Thank you, Aunties. It’s getting late today. Another day, I’ll treat you both to dinner at Hongyun Restaurant.”
“It was just a small favor. There’s no need to spend money. Besides, didn’t you already give us those biscuits?”
If it weren’t for those two boxes of biscuits, they wouldn’t have been willing to get involved and serve as witnesses in something that could offend someone.
But after coming to the Lin family and seeing the situation for themselves…
They had misunderstood Lin Xi all these years!
This child was nothing like the horrible girl Li Yufen had described.
She was clearly obedient and considerate.
The Lin couple, on the other hand, were the ones full of schemes.
Now, when they looked at Lin Xi, their eyes were filled with sympathy.
There wasn’t even an elder in this family who would stand up for her. They couldn’t imagine how this young girl had endured being bullied all alone for the past twenty years.
“All right, you don’t need to see us out. Go back and talk to your dad nicely. Don’t provoke him into hitting you.”
Faced with the auntie’s earnest advice, Lin Xi smiled.
The smile looked unmistakably bitter.
“Don’t worry, Auntie. I’ll make sure to avoid him.”
“That’s right.”
The woman holding Lin Xi’s hand felt a pang in her heart. She patted the back of Lin Xi’s hand.
“It’s harder for a girl to make her way in society. Things will be better once you marry into a good family.”
The era was different, and Lin Xi understood what the auntie meant by that final sentence.
She smiled and nodded.
She watched the two women walk away before pushing open the door and returning inside.
The moment she entered the living room, Lin Jianguo called out angrily.
“Stop right there!”
Having guessed that Lin Jianguo was about to blow up, Lin Xi stopped where she was.
“Do you need something?”
There was no trace of the obedient, tearful act from earlier in her condescending gaze now.
Lin Jianguo sneered.
“I never knew I’d raised such a two-faced daughter.”
“Thanks for the compliment.”
Lin Xi didn’t take it to heart and continued toward the stairs.
“I told you to stop.”
Lin Jianguo called her back again.
His face was dark, his cheeks puffing with anger.
“You turned such a small matter into something the entire neighborhood knows about.”
“Since you just said yourself that you wanted to sever ties, I’ll grant your wish!”
After saying that, Lin Jianguo gave Li Yufen a meaningful look.
Li Yufen understood immediately and picked up the paper and pen she had prepared in advance from the coffee table.
“Come here.”
Lin Jianguo said, “Since neither of us can stand the sight of the other, let’s sign the severance agreement too—”