“Slap.” Old Madam Li slapped the portion of money belonging to Lin Yongnian down in front of him.

Lin Yongnian looked at the money, curling his fingers inward.

He couldn’t quite put the feeling into words.

Even at this moment, his mind was still a bit dazed—he still couldn’t believe he was really divorced.

“Now that the accounts between me and your father are settled, it’s time to settle the accounts between you and me,” Old Madam Li said coldly, staring at Lin Jianshe.

Lin Jianshe stammered, “I-I don’t have any accounts to settle with you.”

“I handed over my job, one I’ve worked for over twenty years with a salary of eighty yuan, to you. At market price, if this job were to be sold, it would be worth over a thousand yuan. Of course, this account has to be properly settled.”

Their garment factory was doing quite well, unlike many others that were losing money.

The factory’s welfare and benefits were average.

The jobs at their garment factory were still highly sought after outside; if someone sold a position there, people would scramble to get it—those who hesitated lost out.

Lin Jianshe said, “…Mom, you don’t mean you want to ask me for money after transferring the job to me, do you?”

“Of course,” Old Madam Li nodded.

Liu Qin laughed angrily, “I’ve never seen anyone transfer a job to their own child and then ask the child for money. Lin Jianshe, are you really your mother’s biological son?”

Old Madam Li said, “If I could, I’d really wish he wasn’t born from me.”

Such an ungrateful child, blinded by love, a slave to his wife—she didn’t want to have him at all.

Lin Jianshe’s face flushed red. His mother’s words were so hurtful, as if he was some unfilial and rebellious son, and she didn’t even want him to be her child.

Liu Qin only wanted to mock the old lady, but she didn’t expect the old woman to say such things.

Wasn’t she afraid that Lin Jianshe would be unfilial to her in the future and refuse to support her?

Old Madam Li said, “This job is worth over a thousand yuan outside. I’ll give you a discount—eight hundred yuan. You write me an IOU, and pay me twenty yuan a month.”

Lin Yongnian looked at her as if he didn’t know her, shaking his head in disappointment, “Li Shuping transferred her job to her son, and you still want money? You even want your son to write you an IOU? Do you even deserve to be a mother?”

Old Madam Li sneered, “If I don’t deserve to be a mother, then who does? You’re the best, the perfect one, the heavenly match! Happy now?”

“…” Lin Yongnian felt mocked.

“Are you going to give me the money or not?” Old Madam Li knocked on the table, asking Lin Jianshe.

Liu Qin shook her head at Lin Jianshe, signaling him not to agree.

After all, the job had already been transferred to him.

Now that he was an official employee of the garment factory, if he didn’t pay, the old lady had no way to force him.

Lin Jianshe was heartbroken.

He never thought the day would come when his own mother would force him to repay money and write an IOU.

“I won’t give you a cent. Let’s see what you can do!” Lin Yongnian said angrily.

Even if he didn’t pay, what trouble could she really cause?

“If you don’t, I’ll go make a scene at the garment factory,” Old Madam Li threatened. “Say that Lin Jianshe got a job from his own mother but is unfilial. That he made his mother kneel to his wife, and brother-in-law and apologize.”

“All the sisters who have worked with me for decades at the factory will see if he can still keep his job there!”

She was kind and generous, and had a good relationship with all her colleagues.

The garment factory was mostly women.

If they found out she was treated so badly by her own son, they’d surely curse Lin Jianshe to death.

Just a little sabotage and he wouldn’t be able to stay.

Lin Jianshe gritted his teeth, “You didn’t kneel and apologize either!”

“That’s because I didn’t want to, not because you didn’t let me.” If she had wanted to, he might have actually seen her kneeling.

Lin Yongnian angrily slapped the table, “Li Shuping, how can you be so cruel as a mother? You’re trying to ruin your second son, and he’s your own flesh and blood!”

Lin Jianshe’s eyes turned red with anger, feeling extremely wronged.

His own mother wanted to ruin him just for money.

Li Shuping rolled her eyes.

What she called cruel was when a mother’s legs were broken, not sent to the hospital, left in a nursing home unattended and uncared for, abused, and starved to death.

That was cruelty.

Seeing her silence, an enraged Lin Yongnian threw all the money in front of him onto Old Madam Li, “Money, money, money, all you see is money! Here, take it all. I’ll pay the rest off within half a year.”

Old Madam Li glared at him coldly and shouted, “Xiao Yu, get paper and pen. Have your father write the IOU.”

“…” Lin Yongnian felt like he was punching cotton.

Angrily, he stomped his foot.

“Oh.” Lin Xiaoyu turned and went to get paper and pen.

Old Madam Li bent down and picked up the money one by one—it was all money she deserved.

Liu Qin looked at the money, feeling sorry for it.

That money should have been theirs.

Old Madam Li dictated the IOU while Lin Xiaoyu wrote.

After finishing, Lin Yongnian signed his name and pressed his thumbprint.

Old Madam Li looked at the IOU, satisfied, and put it into her pocket.

“Have you eaten?” she asked Xiaoyu.

Xiaoyu nodded, “Yes, I cooked at noon. I saved some for you and Dad. I’ll go serve it.”

“Wait.” Lin Yongnian looked at Old Madam Li and said, “You’re no longer part of the Lin family. You can’t eat our family’s food.”

The old lady felt a brief moment of sadness—only a moment, and it quickly disappeared.

In her past life, she had felt as if a thousand arrows pierced her heart; this little sadness no longer hurt her.

“Xiao Yu, pack your things at home, and your mom’s too. I’m going to the housing bureau to ask about the house.”

Lin Xiaoyu glanced at her father and replied, “Oh.”

Old Madam Li took her money and documents and went out again.

“Xiao Yu, if you don’t want to go with your mother, you can still stay at home,” Lin Yongnian said, looking at his daughter.

Lin Xiaoyu twisted her fingers nervously and stammered, “I-I’ll stay with Mom. Otherwise, she’d be too lonely.”

Lin Yongnian snorted coldly, “She brought this on herself.”

He was really hurt by Li Shuping.

Unless she begged him on her knees, he would never agree to remarry or let her back into the Lin family home.

“Don’t go with your mother. You won’t have a good life with her. We’ll just leave her to fend for herself. Let’s see how she manages after leaving this family!”

Lin Xiaoyu scratched her face, but she felt that even if she didn’t go with her mother, she wouldn’t have a good life staying at home.

Her father never cared about her.

At home, the housework was done either by her mother or by herself.

If her mother left, she’d have to do it all alone.

That morning, her mother and father got divorced; she was the only one who cleaned the kitchen, cooked lunch, and so on.

Her second brother only said, “Don’t put chili in the dish; your second sister-in-law doesn’t eat it.”

Second sister-in-law didn’t say a word.

After eating, the couple put the bowls and chopsticks back in their room, and she was the one who washed the dishes.

Seeing how second sister-in-law was, she didn’t seem hardworking either.

Probably like the eldest sister-in-law, she would dump the laundry on her to wash.

Lin Xiaoyu definitely didn’t want to stay at home and be their servant.