Chapter 73

Li Meili’s body was slim, and with a quick flick, she dodged out of the way.

She quickly shoved the money into the old party secretary’s hand and said, “Grandfather, this is the private savings my grandmother hid. She didn’t want to share with us and purposely hid it, but I found it!”

When Huang Hehua heard this, she lunged to tear at Li Meili.

The old party secretary quickly stepped in, shouting, “Li Dashi, are you going to step in or not?”

Li Dashi felt utterly embarrassed, shouting, “Wife, stop losing your mind here!”

“Oh no!” Huang Hehua collapsed to the ground, crying loudly. “This is my coffin money! You little brats are even after my coffin money?!”

The old party secretary, ignoring Huang Hehua sitting on the ground, handed the money to Li Jianbin.

Li Jianbin counted the money, his eyes wide in shock. “What the heck… One thousand yuan!”

When he thought back to how the Li family had just spent 800 yuan buying work for the second son, this was staggering.

Heavens! The Li family must be rolling in money! But from what had just been said, it seemed like all this money was gifted by the third daughter-in-law.

The old party secretary was so shocked by the amount of money that his mouth hung open in surprise. But being a man of experience, he quickly regained his composure.

“Huang Hehua, this is not the time for you to be throwing a tantrum! All the money must be handed over now! And how could you, an old woman, spend one thousand yuan?”

Huang Hehua’s lips moved, and she shot Li Meili a fierce glare.

Li Meili wasn’t afraid. She knew her grandmother still had more money hidden!

In her previous life, her grandmother had spent 1500 yuan just to buy a house for her third uncle!

But for now, finding this 1000 yuan was still a good thing!

The old party secretary coughed twice, glaring at Li Dashi. “Li Dashi, can you control your wife?”

Li Dashi felt embarrassed and quickly stood up, saying, “Just get up. You have no say in this right now.”

Huang Hehua stood up in a huff.

The old party secretary continued, “Li Dashi, how do you want to handle this money?”

“Hmm, like before. Divide it into four portions,” Li Dashi replied.

“No way!” Huang Hehua jumped up. “What about my daughter? It has to be divided into five portions!”

The others had varying expressions, and Li Jianbin spoke up, “Fine, but we’ll need to write a formal document, outlining how much your daughter will give you every year as respect. This includes medical expenses and other respects.”

When Huang Hehua heard that she would need to take money from her daughter as filial piety, it seemed unlikely. She fumed but didn’t speak further.

Li Dashi continued, “It’s still four portions, one for each family. As for the grain, all houses except the third house will receive equal portions. As for the elderly support, each house will contribute a fixed amount monthly. Since the second son’s work expenses were paid by your mother, your family will contribute that amount. We’ll figure out the rest after the new year.”

Li Jianguo glanced around. “Dad, does this mean our third house only needs to contribute that fixed amount every month?”

Huang Hehua quickly responded, “You’re you, and your wife is your wife.”

“Mom, isn’t this bullying?” Li Jianguo asked.

“Stop causing trouble, third son. We’ll talk about your issues later,” Huang Hehua retorted.

Li Dashi coughed twice. “Is there any other issue? If not, let’s sign the document.”

Li Jianbin thought there was nothing more to discuss. Originally, they were supposed to pay a monthly contribution of 20 yuan for their mother, but now that the family was divided, they only needed to pay 10 yuan. This was a great deal.

The main house had no objections either. Though they didn’t have much money, the current arrangement meant they could make do for a few years and would manage when times got tougher.

Seeing no more issues, Li Jianbin quickly wrote a document, and everyone signed it, finalizing the agreement.

Liu Xinghua rushed to the kitchen, well aware of the amount of grain in the house. She also knew that there were a few hundred kilograms locked in the cupboard by her mother-in-law!

“Wife, hurry and take out all the grain from the cupboard and share it with everyone!”

Huang Hehua glared at Liu Xinghua but reluctantly went to do it…

Li Xiangxi carried all the belongings meant for their house and moved them to his home.

Li Meili watched her mother hold the 280 yuan and looked at the scattered belongings on the floor. Tears fell from her eyes.

She hadn’t expected the family to really be divided. This was great! In this life, the main house would definitely get better and better!

Li Jianguo looked around, satisfied that everything was settled, and then pulled his mother into the room. In a mysterious tone, he said, “Third brother, don’t forget, you still owe me 300 yuan!”

Li Jianguo didn’t expect that coming back home would earn him nearly 300 yuan. Whether the family was divided or not didn’t matter to him; money was still the most practical thing.

“I know, I know. Once you’ve handled your matters, I’ll give you the 300 yuan right away!” Li Jianguo’s mother replied.

“That’s more like it!”

“Mother, you better remember that thing we talked about!” Li Jianguo added.

Huang Hehua sighed and helplessly said, “This matter is not easy to handle, third son.”

Li Jianguo glanced at the locked door and lowered his voice. “Mother, I’ll tell you something in private—Li Yuechan isn’t my daughter!”

“What?”

Huang Hehua was so shocked that she screamed.

“Shh, keep your voice down, Mother!”

“What did you say? Li Yuechan isn’t your daughter?”

“Come on, think about it! Back when we were in that condition, why would Su Lizhen choose me? I had nothing. She was like a goddess, and I was just some guy!”

Huang Hehua clicked her tongue. After thinking for a moment, she realized it was true. At that time, their family was known for being poor in the village.

If it weren’t for marrying the third son, how could they have had such a comfortable life now? “What about her father?”

“I heard he was blown up!”

Huang Hehua breathed a sigh of relief. “It’s better that way. Good riddance.”

Li Jianguo narrowed his eyes. “So that girl must disappear. Otherwise, Lizhen won’t have children with me!”

Huang Hehua’s eyes gleamed with a calculating light. “Since she’s not from the Li family, she shouldn’t be entitled to any of the Li family’s money! Your wife’s money is the Li family’s money. Don’t worry, I know how to handle this. I’ll make sure it’s done right.”

“Mother, you can’t let Lizhen find out. If she does, we’ll lose our eldest grandson!”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got it under control. The old Su family is still wealthy, even if they’re thin like a camel. They definitely still have money. We can’t let them keep it all. In the future, my grandson will inherit everything. I know exactly what I’m doing.”

Huang Hehua’s eyes flashed with a venomous gleam for a moment.

…

Su Lizhen was carrying a basket of vegetables, washing them at the public water pipe in the yard. Wang Yuehong also came over, holding her own basket of vegetables.

“Lizhen, I heard you’re back at the textile factory?”

Su Lizhen smiled brightly and replied, “Yes, the factory looked into it and saw we didn’t have any problems. They let me come back to work!”

“Oh, that’s great!”

At that moment, Yang Aifang also came out to wash vegetables and interjected, “Lizhen, I heard you’ve become the director of the Women’s Federation now, instead of working as a textile worker?”

“Yes, the factory felt that I was wronged a few years ago, so they’re compensating me.”

“Lizhen, you’ve really held on long enough to see the light!” everyone exclaimed.

They all couldn’t help but marvel at how, despite everything, she had come through. Who would have guessed there were such toxic people in the revolutionary committee?

“Yes, yes, we all heard. It was really scary. I don’t understand why some people are so bad.”

“Hey, why isn’t Guo Xingmei out washing vegetables today?”

“Oh, I saw her daughter, Zhaodi, washing earlier. You didn’t hear? The other day, those two were fighting again.”

“Really?”

“You couldn’t hear Guo Xingmei’s yelling? She was screaming her head off!”

“Old Wu usually seems so honest. How did he end up with a woman like that?”

“Who knows? Guo Xingmei has a sharp tongue and never speaks kindly. She deserves a lesson!”