Dad was a Level 5 Fitter at the Machinery Factory, a long-established state-owned enterprise; the benefits were excellent, not to mention Dad's personal connection with the Factory Director.
They gave a one-time compensation of ten months' solatium, and the funeral expenses were also covered at the highest standard—six months' salary—plus two thousand from the Brick Kiln Factory...
She didn't realize it until she calculated it, and it shocked her—Mom was holding at least three or four thousand yuan.
No wonder Eldest Brother had his eye on this money!
Li Xiangqin lifted her eyelids, looking at the shining eyes around her. When it came to money, they were like dogs seeing a bone.
"Damn it, you @*#&#& beasts （swear word ）... Your father died trying to support you unfilial sons by working two jobs a day.
You didn't show a bit of sadness when he died, and as soon as he was buried, you started worrying about his funeral expenses. You are worse than beasts! Aren't you afraid the Old Man's Coffin Lid will lift at night to settle accounts with you?"
Li Xiangqin slapped her thigh, her eyes bloodshot. Pointing at Eldest Brother, unable to suppress the anger in her heart, she raised her arm and slapped the nearest Eldest Brother twice across the face.
Slap, slap~
"I'll beat you to death, you selfish, sanctimonious thing! Did you study all that just to feed it to the dogs?
You wear a human skin in vain! If I fed a dog for three days, it would be grateful for three years, but you are worse than an animal! Take your wife and children and get out of here!"
Li Xiangqin unleashed a torrent of abuse that immediately silenced the room. She turned and pointed at Second Brother and Third Brother and their wives,
"And you ungrateful wretches! Knowing I gave birth to a bunch of rotten apples, I should have squeezed you all to death back then. Raising you was worse than raising a litter of pigs.
Pigs can be fattened up to be sold for meat, but raising you only exhausted me without bringing any benefit. Besides scheming to take things from me, which one of you ever contributed even a single thread? Damn it! （swear word ）..."
The group was stunned by Li Xiangqin's furious scolding.
Didn't Mom value her sons the most?
Was the Old Man's death such a Stimulate for Mom?
She showed no mercy to any of them, attacking everyone indiscriminately.
After scolding them, Li Xiangqin was still unsatisfied. She turned to look for the Rolling pin; she wanted to discipline these unfilial sons and grandsons on behalf of the Old Man, and also vent the anger from her tragic fate in her Previous life.
When the few of them saw Mom coming with the Rolling pin, they scrambled out in a rush, each trying to get away first.
Mom has gone crazy!
In the blink of an eye, the entire living room was empty, except for the three of them—mother and two daughters. Even little Lao Liu, who was looking at picture books, instinctively darted out.
Fifth Child, Zhang Jianli, blinked her eyes and quickly went to pour a glass of water.
"Mom, drink some water to moisten your throat."
It was so satisfying to see Mom lose her temper with Eldest Brother and the others for the first time.
Li Xiangqin glanced at Fifth Child, took the cup, and drank it down in one gulp.
Scolding everyone in turn had indeed left her throat dry.
It was a pity that the one before her was also worrying; she wasn't attending Senior High School properly and had been tricked by a Pretty Boy into going to Southern China to work.
They say a crying child gets the candy. Fifth Child was clever and sweet-tongued since she was little, good at pleasing people, and Mom had Spoiled her quite a bit. But who knew this Dead girl had a Love Brain? She didn't even finish Senior High School before running off to Southern China with a Pretty Boy.
Five years after disappearing, she returned with two children in tow, her eyes dull and lifeless, her spirit gone.
Upon inquiry, she learned that after the Pretty Boy tricked her into going South, his true nature was revealed soon after: he indulged in eating and drinking, whoring, and gambling. Fifth Child worked hard while pregnant to earn money to support him, until the Pretty Boy abandoned her, and only then did she reluctantly return to seek refuge with her Biological Mother.
At that time, she was both angry and hateful, but seeing the two babies crying for food, she used the last of the Coffin Lid money to find someone to buy her a Formal Employee position. The children were sent to the nursery, and finally, things settled down.
"Mom, calm down. Dad is gone. If you get sick from anger, I'll have nothing to rely on."
Zhang Jianli hugged her arm, pouting coquettishly. Then she glanced at Fourth Sister, blinking, surprised that Mom had actually let Fourth Child take Dad's job?
"If you could just stop worrying me, that would be better than anything."
Li Xiangqin glanced at her. Although Fifth Child knew how to compete for affection, she truly had a talent for academics. As long as she wasn't involved in romance, she probably could have gotten into university.
"Mom, rest assured, I promise not to make you angry." Fifth Child cleverly moved behind Mom, rubbing her back as she promised.
Li Xiangqin squinted and took a deep breath, not stopping her.
She had raised six children in her Lifetime—four sons and two daughters. She worked like a slave raising her children and grandchildren without ever complaining, yet ended up with a desolate fate.
As the saying goes, you can tell what a child will be like at three, and what an old person will be like at seven. Eldest Brother is almost thirty, and even little Lao Liu is fifteen; their personalities are likely already set.
Children and grandchildren have their own fortunes. This life, she wasn't planning to Change anyone, but they shouldn't expect her to work like a slave anymore either.
She is forty-nine this year and will officially be Retired next spring. Based on her age in her Previous life, she has less than twenty years left to live.
The previous decades, she and the Old Man worked like a slave to raise these few people; they had repaid their debt. In the years to come, she planned to live for herself.
As for what kind of Life her children and grandchildren lead, that depends on their own destiny.
She currently held a fire in her chest. Whenever she saw those ungrateful wretches, she involuntarily recalled the scene in her Previous life of being abandoned in the Nursing Home, starving and freezing.
Maternal love was not stirred in the slightest.
Having made up her mind, Li Xiangqin waved at Fourth Child and Fifth Child.
"Go do what you need to do. I'm going to lie down in the inner room for a while."
"Mom, I'll go prepare dinner."
"I'll go do my homework."
Fourth Child checked the time, rolled up her sleeves, and headed toward the Kitchen. Fifth Child picked up her schoolbag and returned to her room.
Watching her two daughters busy themselves, Li Xiangqin turned and entered her room, closing the door and reaching for a key hidden in the gap of the plank bed.
She opened the lowest Drawer of the five-drawer cabinet against the wall and took out two aluminum Lunchboxes. One was packed with her Old partner's recent compensation and solatium.
The other contained her own savings, holding various coupons and Cash. These were all accumulated through meticulous calculation and saving.
Li Xiangqin checked everything carefully. Besides the main Life coupons like Cloth Coupon, Grain Coupon, oil coupons, and coal coupons, there was one Industrial Coupon, which the Old Man had traded with a coworker, intended as Betrothal gifts for little Lao Liu's marriage.
In her Previous life, she kept it like a treasure, unwilling to use it. But as commodity supplies increased year by year, the Industrial Coupon soon became obsolete.
But now, it was still a highly sought-after item that money couldn't easily buy.
It was a pity that she and the Old Man had worked like slaves, practicing Meticulous calculation, and even sacrificed their lives, only to raise a group of ungrateful wretches who lacked any sense of gratitude.
Li Xiangqin pulled her thoughts back, gathered all the Cash together, and counted it...
The family savings amounted to two hundred and eighty-six yuan, plus the two thousand from the Brick Kiln Factory, and the sixteen months of Solatium and funeral expenses from the Machinery Factory, totaling one thousand four hundred and forty yuan.
She currently had three thousand seven hundred and twenty-six yuan in hand, which was all the family's assets.