Li Jiao steadied herself, clutching the slab of pork fat protectively to her chest. “This is nutritional food I bought for Qin Lie. The doctor said his leg injury is severe—the bones are shattered. He needs to eat rich, fatty foods to recover. This is his life-saving nourishment. Do you really want to snatch it away?”
Li Jiao sneered, watching Wang Cuifen’s unwilling expression, and raised her voice. “If you want to take it back for Da Bao and Er Bao to eat, that’s fine. But this was bought with money Qin Lie earned by breaking his leg in the black mine. If you really want to eat it, why don’t you send your own man to the black mine to break a leg too? Once the debt is repaid, you can buy meat to eat every day!”
A burst of laughter erupted from the surrounding crowd.
Wang Cuifen’s face flushed a deep purplish-red. When had she ever suffered such a loss at the hands of Li Jiao, whom she had always seen as a pushover?
Instantly furious and humiliated, she planted her hands on her hips, ready to throw a tantrum. “You dare curse my man, Li Jiao? You useless, egg-laying—”
“Get lost.”
A low, hoarse voice suddenly cut through Wang Cuifen’s filthy words.
Qin Lie, who had been silent until now, took a step forward, shielding Li Jiao behind him.
He looked down at Wang Cuifen, his face calm and expressionless, but his eyes churned with a fierce, intimidating aura.
Wang Cuifen shuddered under his glare, swallowing back the curses that had been on the tip of her tongue.
She suddenly remembered that this usually quiet second son was a ruthless man who dared to work in the black mines. And with his poor background, he had nothing to lose—a barefoot man fears no shoes!
“Fine, fine! You two are something else. Now that you have money, you don’t recognize your own relatives!” Wang Cuifen didn’t dare to snatch the pork fat by force, but as she stared at that glistening, fatty slab, jealousy surged wildly within her.
Her eyes darted around, and she shot the couple a venomous glare before turning and running toward home.
“Just you wait! This is unbearable! I’m going to find Mom and let her judge this. With such wasteful spending, sooner or later you’ll drag the Qin family to ruin!”
Watching Wang Cuifen flee in defeat, a cold smile curled at the corner of Li Jiao’s lips.
Go ahead. She had been waiting for Wang Cuifen to stir up trouble!
“Let’s go home. I’ll make you some crispy pork cracklings mixed with rice.”
Qin Lie had originally wanted to prepare the meal himself, but Li Jiao ordered him to stay in bed. Just as they finished eating, Qin Dazhuang appeared at their door.
“Mom and Dad want to see both of you. Hurry up, don’t waste time.”
With those words, Qin Dazhuang turned and left without even glancing at them properly.
Li Jiao had intended to go alone, as Qin Lie wasn’t in a condition to move easily, but the man refused to let her go by herself.
So they made their way to the old house, Qin Limping along with difficulty.
The atmosphere in the main hall of the Qin family’s old house was stifling.
A dim kerosene lamp flickered on a chipped Eight Immortals table.
The bean-sized flame trembled precariously in the cold wind.
Qin Laotai sat cross-legged on the kang at the head of the room, holding a long-stemmed tobacco pipe, puffing away.
A calculating glint flashed in her eyes from time to time.
Wang Cuifen and Qin Dazhuang stood to the side, arms crossed.
From the moment Qin Lie and Li Jiao entered the room, the pair had been glaring fixedly at Li Jiao.
“Mom! You have to stand up for our family!”
Before Qin Lie could even steady himself, Wang Cuifen eagerly pointed at Li Jiao’s nose, spraying saliva as she ranted, “You didn’t see how arrogant this wasteful woman was! Not only did she hire a tractor to come back, but she also bought a cotton coat and pork fat—all expensive things. In just one day, she must have squandered at least several dozen yuan.”
The more Wang Cuifen spoke, the more it pained her, as if it were her own money being spent. “If she keeps spending like this, the five hundred yuan that Second Brother earned with his life will be gone in no time. When that happens, the two of them will be left with nothing—not only a burden but also dragging the whole family down to starve.”
Upon hearing this, Qin Laotai’s narrow, triangular eyes suddenly drooped, and she tapped her tobacco pipe three times against the edge of the kang.
“Second Son, your wife doesn’t know any better, but are you also confused? In our farming family, can money be spent like this?”
Qin Laotai spoke slowly, her voice icy cold, without a hint of concern for her son.
“Now that your leg is useless, you won’t be able to do heavy work or earn work points anymore. For the sake of the family, hand over whatever money you have left. I’ll keep it safe for you. From now on, you two can eat with the family. As long as there’s food for everyone, you won’t starve.”
This was nothing short of outright robbery!
And they wanted to turn them into beggars with no dignity, living at the mercy of others.
Qin Lie looked at the old woman he had called “Mom” for over twenty years, a cold glint flickering in his eyes.
He had known since childhood that he had come with his birth mother when she remarried. His biological father was a “bad element,” so he was one too.
But this Qin family hadn’t rejected him. To repay their kindness in raising him, he had worked the hardest, risked his life in the dark mines, and handed over every cent he earned to the family.
Now, with his leg broken, his birth mother hadn’t even asked if he was in pain—all she talked about was money.
Qin Lie’s hands, hanging at his sides, clenched tightly, his nails digging into his flesh, yet he felt no pain.
He opened his mouth, wanting to call her “Mom,” but the word simply wouldn’t come out.
Seeing Qin Lie remain silent, Wang Cuifen assumed he was unwilling and immediately shrieked, “What? Still not willing? You’re a cripple now, a bottomless pit! If you don’t hand over the money, do you expect to eat and drink for free?”
“Waaah—!” Just then, a piercing wail suddenly erupted, startling everyone in the room.
Li Jiao, who had been quiet until now, suddenly covered her face and burst into loud sobs.
“Mom, Sister-in-law, you’ve finally spoken what’s in my heart!”
Crying, Li Jiao pulled out a handful of crumpled receipts from her pocket.
Before Qin Lie was discharged from the hospital, she had gathered a few discarded bills and previous payment receipts, crumpled them together, and brought them back.
“We don’t have any money left at all,” Li Jiao wept, tears streaming down her face like pear blossoms in the rain. “Do you think Qin Lie’s leg was saved for free? He had major surgery, using imported penicillin—each shot cost several yuan. Add the cotton coat, the nutritional supplements… that five hundred yuan was spent long ago.”
“Not only is there no money left, but I still owe the hospital two hundred yuan in medical fees. Oh, right—I had a ten-gram gold ring, didn’t I? It’s already been pawned there, but it wasn’t enough. The doctor said if we don’t pay up by next week, they’ll come to our village to arrest someone to settle the debt!”
Li Jiao threw herself in front of Qin Laotai, tears and snot streaming down her face, stealthily wiping the accidentally dripping mucus on the old woman’s pant leg:
“Mom, you’re absolutely right. The money must be managed by you. Perfect timing—could you cover this two-hundred-yuan debt for us? We’re all one family. You can’t just stand by and watch us suffer!”
“What?!” Qin Laotai was so startled that her hand trembled, and her tobacco pipe clattered to the ground.
No money left, and still owing two hundred yuan in debt?
Two hundred yuan! Even selling off the entire Qin family wouldn’t cover that. How dare she?
Wang Cuifen, on the other hand, leaped back three meters like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, shrieking: “Debt? And you want us to pay it for you? No way! That’s your own debt. What does it have to do with us? Why should we pay?”