The moment Liu Yufen saw Li Wanqing, she could no longer contain the anger boiling inside her.
“It’s all because of you, you jinx!”
Liu Yufen grabbed the shoulder pole beside her and was about to swing it at Li Wanqing.
Fortunately, the people around them stopped her. Otherwise, with so many people around and Li Wanqing holding her child, she wouldn’t have had much room to dodge. She might really have gotten hurt.
“Why are you stopping me? Ever since this jinx entered our family, have we ever had a single peaceful day?”
“My perfectly healthy son served in the army for ten years. After marrying her, he’s now practically dead!”
Li Wanqing raised an eyebrow slightly.
Only then did Zhang Jianguo explain the situation to her.
It turned out that the army had called the commune. Cheng Baichuan had been seriously injured, and the hospital had issued a critical condition notice. The Cheng family had been told to arrange for someone to go to the military district hospital immediately.
Whether they would even make it in time to see him one last time was uncertain. Most likely, they were being called there to attend his funeral.
Li Wanqing felt a complicated mixture of emotions.
On one hand, she didn’t have much affection for Cheng Baichuan. On the other, she respected him for being willing to sacrifice himself for his country and its people.
“Uncle Cheng, things have already come to this. When are you planning to leave? I can issue you an official letter of introduction,” Zhang Jianguo asked.
Before Cheng Anju could say anything, Liu Yufen shouted,
“Go there for what? It costs a fortune to travel that far!”
“Even if we go, we probably won’t get to see him anyway. We might as well save the money.”
Everyone was stunned by Liu Yufen’s words.
That was her own son, after all. How could she say something so cold and heartless?
Zhang Jianguo looked toward Cheng Anju, but the man merely smoked his hand-rolled cigarette, his brows tightly furrowed, without saying a single word.
Zhang Jianguo was utterly disappointed.
People often said that the eldest grandson and youngest son were the most cherished in a family, but that wasn’t the case with the Cheng family.
Even when Cheng Baichuan was young, his family had always favored the others. Even Cheng Baifeng, their second daughter, had received more attention than their youngest son.
Zhang Jianguo had never imagined that now that Cheng Baichuan was on the verge of death, the Cheng family would care about nothing more than a little travel money.
Li Wanqing sighed softly.
It seemed that Cheng Baichuan hadn’t been treated much better by the Cheng family than the original owner had.
Nestled in her mother’s arms, Cheng Nuo blinked her round eyes in confusion.
She didn’t understand why everyone was saying that her father was going to die.
But Daddy clearly wasn’t dead.
He was still alive, and he had even saved Nono like a great hero.
Because of the attitude of the Cheng elders, Zhang Jianguo didn’t even ask Li Wanqing what she intended to do.
If even his own parents couldn’t be relied upon, how could anyone expect anything from a wife who had only been married to him for less than ten days?
Liu Yufen’s eyes suddenly shifted.
If her third son wasn’t going to make it, then Li Wanqing and her daughter were no longer of any use to the Cheng family.
“Captain, since the third son is gone, our Cheng family doesn’t want this third daughter-in-law anymore.”
Zhang Jianguo looked at her in shock.
“Auntie… what did you say?”
For a moment, Zhang Jianguo wondered if he was still young enough to have perfectly good hearing.
Was Liu Auntie really saying something that heartless?
Liu Yufen lifted her chin and looked at Li Wanqing arrogantly.
“This daughter-in-law forced her way into our family in the first place. Now she’s practically cursed our third son to death. Are we supposed to keep her around so she can curse someone else?”
“Besides, now that our third son is gone, there’s no such thing as a military marriage anymore. Our Cheng family doesn’t want this daughter-in-law. That can’t possibly count as breaking up a military marriage, right?”
Zhang Jianguo was already speechless at the Cheng family.
“What about Cheng Nuo? She’s your granddaughter.”
Li Wanqing’s heart tightened, and her arms instinctively closed more firmly around her daughter.
Leaving the Cheng family was exactly what she wanted.
But she absolutely had to take Nono with her.
Liu Yufen looked at Cheng Nuo with disgust.
“She’s just a little girl. Our Cheng family doesn’t want her.”
“But…”
Li Wanqing had only just breathed a sigh of relief when her heart immediately tightened again.
“That jinx wants to take her away? Fine. But she has to return the money that was previously given to her.”
…
Li Wanqing finally understood.
This was Liu Yufen’s real objective.
Zhang Jianguo frowned.
“Auntie Liu, you’re going too far.”
“That money was rightfully theirs. If you don’t want your granddaughter, then let Educated Youth Li take her.”
“No!”
Liu Yufen planted her hands on her hips and shouted,
“If she doesn’t give the money back, I’m not letting them leave!”
“Her child’s father is already dead. Who knows? Maybe this child is unlucky too.”
This was an outright threat!
Li Wanqing was furious. She was just about to fight back when her daughter’s inner voice suddenly changed her mind.
“In that case, I’m not leaving either. I’ll take my daughter and move back into the Cheng family home.”
Li Wanqing looked firmly at Liu Yufen.
“After all, I’m a jinx whose husband is dead. I have nowhere else to go.”
Liu Yufen’s face visibly stiffened with panic.
“Get out! Get out! Take that money-losing little brat and get out!”
Money was important, but what if that wretched woman really refused to leave and clung to their family?
Absolutely not.
She still wanted to see her precious eldest grandson make something of himself.
Li Wanqing pressed her lips together, suppressing the smile threatening to appear.
“Captain, I’m willing to take my daughter to find her father, but I have one condition,” Li Wanqing said calmly.
Zhang Jianguo was surprised, but his tone remained kind.
“What condition do you want?”
He had already made up his mind. As long as her condition wasn’t too unreasonable, he would agree to it.
Li Wanqing raised her eyes and swept her gaze across the Cheng family.
“I want to represent Cheng Baichuan and sever all ties with the Cheng family.”
“From this day forward, Cheng Baichuan and the two of us will have absolutely nothing to do with the Cheng family. Whether we live or die, whether we are healthy or sick, none of us will interfere with the others.”
Li Wanqing’s words could be considered extremely unfilial in this era.
Yet no one said anything.
After all, the Cheng family had been heartless first.
“No!”
Cheng Anju’s face darkened as he spoke righteously.
“The third son is a member of our Cheng family. Even in death, he remains a Cheng family ghost!”
Liu Yufen tugged at his sleeve and whispered,
“Old man, he’s already dead. So what if we cut ties with him?”
“Besides, he’s not even our biological son!”
She had opposed it from the beginning when the old man brought him home.
If it weren’t for the money, she wouldn’t have wanted to raise someone else’s child for free.
Back when the family was struggling through the famine of the 1960s, children were such a burden that she had even wished she could sell him in exchange for food.
Cheng Anju glared at her.
“Not even if he’s dead!”
What a short-sighted woman!
Anyone could tell that Cheng Baichuan wasn’t an ordinary person.
Although they had heard nothing from him for more than twenty years, who knew if he might suddenly appear one day?
He wasn’t asking for any benefits from Cheng Baichuan.
But at the very least, he couldn’t afford to have that man hold a grudge against him.
Li Wanqing frowned slightly.
She really couldn’t understand why Old Man Cheng was being so stubborn.
If he truly cared that much about blood ties and family affection, how could he be so heartless that he wasn’t even willing to go see his own son one last time?
“I’ve already stated my condition. If you refuse, then I’ll take Nono and move back into the Cheng family home.”
“After all, my husband is dead. If I stay here, who knows? Once all of you are… I might actually have a pretty good life here.”
Li Wanqing didn’t finish the sentence.
But a strange chill ran down the backs of Liu Yufen and the others.
“Dad, agree to it!”
“Old man, you have to agree!”
Cheng Zhenxing and Liu Yufen shouted at Cheng Anju at the same time.
Neither of them wanted to end up like the third son, supposedly cursed to death by this woman!