Chapter 22: Reporting the Stepmom!

“What’s up?” Lin Hao asked suspiciously.

“You, write me an IOU.”

“I’m your own brother, and you actually want me to write you an IOU?” Lin Hao looked at his foolish older sister in disbelief. When did she become so hard to deceive?

“Even brothers settle accounts clearly. You borrowed the dowry money Mom gave me. I want to use the dowry money to start a small business,” Lin Qingyue said calmly. “No IOU, no loan.”

“Sister, you’ve changed.” Lin Hao reluctantly wrote an IOU and pressed his fingerprint.

Lin Qingyue glanced at the number on it and asked, “Didn’t you say you were borrowing a hundred, why did it become a thousand?”

A thousand yuan, in this era, could buy a house.

“What do you need so much money for? What kind of girlfriend needs a thousand yuan at once? Our wedding with your brother-in-law didn’t even cost a thousand yuan.” Lin Qingyue nagged, even more certain that Lin Hao was being scammed by a gold digger.

“The IOU is already written, borrowing only a hundred yuan would be too much of a loss.” Lin Hao said indifferently, reaching out for the money. “The IOU is done, hurry up and give me the money.”

“I don’t have a thousand yuan on me right now, I have to go to the bank to withdraw it.”

“Sister, are you playing me?” Lin Hao immediately became unhappy.

“Or, I’ll get it, and you can come back later to get it?” Lin Qingyue put away the IOU.

“Sister, why don’t you go get it now? I need it urgently.”

“No, the three kids will be home from school soon, and lunch isn’t ready yet.” Lin Qingyue glared at him fiercely.

Lin Hao pressed on, with the intention of staying until Lin Qingyue gave him the money.

“I’ll go back to my parents’ home in a couple of days, and I’ll give you the money then.” Lin Qingyue said calmly. “You can come with me then.”

“Sister, you can’t trick me, I’ve already signed the IOU.” Lin Hao grinned, revealing two rows of white teeth, as if he could already see himself being admired by women.

Lin Qing 月 nodded: “En, I won’t trick you.”

Seeing that he had achieved his goal, Lin Hao didn’t linger. As he was about to leave, he met the three little ones coming home from school.

Lu Yicheng stared strangely at Lin Hao and asked Lin Qingyue beside him, “Who is this person?”

“Don’t be impolite, I’m your little uncle.” Lin Hao boasted shamelessly.

Lu Yicheng frowned, disliking Lin Hao, and turned to go into the house. Si Xi also followed Lu Yicheng into the house with his short legs.

Lu Yiming stood still, softly called out “Little Uncle,” and quickly returned to his room.

“These three kids are too shy, not at all like our Lin family kids.” Lin Hao smacked his lips. “Sister, you married in and became a stepmother to three such big kids, I really admire you.”

“What nonsense are you talking about?” Lin Qingyue frowned, pretending to be angry. The children were all grown up, if Lin Hao’s nonsense stimulated them, she wouldn’t be able to coax them.

Lin Hao wisely said goodbye and left.

Lin Qingyue went into the kitchen to cook. Lu Siyi had a lot of things to do in the army and wouldn’t be back until evening, so she had to take care of lunch herself.

She served a plate of charcoal-black eggplant and another plate of something whose ingredients were unrecognizable.

The three children looked at each other. Was this stuff really edible?

“Eat quickly,” Lin Qingyue urged. “It’s only two hours since school let out, eat quickly and take a nap.”

“Are you sure this is edible?” Lu Yicheng said with a look of disgust.

“Of course, it just doesn’t look good, but it actually tastes okay.” Afraid the children wouldn’t believe her, she took a bite first.

The three children were helpless. Eating Lin Qingyue’s cooking every day was like opening a mystery box.

“Eh? Did you see the IOU on the table?” Lin Qingyue asked. She had been in a hurry to cook for the children and had folded the IOU and placed it on the table.

“Are you looking for this?” Lu Yicheng opened a piece of paper, which was already covered with pig heads he had drawn.

Lin Qingyue quickly took it. Lin Hao’s handwriting was surrounded by a circle of pig heads, making various funny faces.

Suddenly feeling extremely tired, she almost couldn’t catch her breath. She asked, “Little ancestor, is this your drawing paper? If you want to draw, you can use a notebook.”

“Are you going to give the family money to your brother?” Lu Yicheng’s eyebrows rose, very angry. “Our family is so poor, you still want to give the family money to others, you’re such a spendthrift!”

“Do you think you’re Grandpa?” Lu Yicheng said dissatisfiedly. When he was at Grandpa’s house, he often saw Grandpa giving money to his second aunt.

Lin Qingyue was amused. “Kid, you’re doing this on purpose.”

Lu Yicheng proudly raised his little face, left the table, intending to starve rather than eat what she made, and to fight Lin Qingyue to the end.

Si Xi looked at his brother and mother in a dazed manner, not knowing why these two were arguing again.

“Yicheng, don’t make a fuss, come and eat quickly, Mom worked hard to make this.” Lu Yiming persuaded.

“No! I’d rather starve to death than eat her food.” Lu Yicheng’s stubborn temper came up, and ten oxen couldn’t pull him back.

Lin Qingyue didn’t bother to explain to him: “If you don’t eat, then don’t. Yiming, Si Xi, let’s eat.”

Lu Yicheng went back to his room in a huff and slammed the door shut.

After dinner, Lu Yicheng was still silent in his room. Lin Qingyue grabbed a handful of sugared nuts for Lu Yiming: “He’ll be hungry when he goes to school later, give him these sugared nuts to hold him over. When he comes back tonight, his dad will cook for him.”

Lin Qingyue was a little angry. Lu Yicheng misunderstood her without knowing the truth, it seemed that the image of her as a vicious stepmother had taken root in this kid’s mind.

After cleaning up the dishes, Lin Qingyue went to visit Grandma Yu. Grandma Yu had said last time that she would teach her needlework, and while she could do simple mending, she still needed to learn.

Lu Siyi returned home, the front door was ajar. He searched everywhere but couldn’t find Lin Qingyue. Thinking she hadn’t gone far, he went to the kitchen to prepare a meal.

As soon as Lu Yicheng got home from school, he immediately hugged Lu Siyi’s leg and solemnly said, “Dad, I saw Mom lending the family money to her brother, you should control her, our family is so poor!”

“En.” Lu Siyi’s reaction was indifferent.

“Dad, what’s your attitude? That’s our family’s money!” Lu Yicheng was anxious.

Lu Siyi stopped what he was doing, a little helpless. Why did everyone think their family was poor?

His cold gaze fell on Lu Yicheng, scaring Lu Yicheng to shrink his neck and cautiously ask, “Dad, did I say something wrong?”

“She’s your mother, she’s the mistress of our home, the money is in her hands, she can do whatever she wants with it.”

“…” Lu Yicheng blinked, why was it different from what he imagined?

“Also, she’s your mother, if you ever tattle on your mother to me again, I’ll make you do ten sets of military punches.” Lu Siyi’s face turned cold, and he said seriously.

“Dad, I understand.” Lu Yicheng immediately became obedient.

Lu Yiming took Si Xi to do their homework. He had persuaded Lu Yicheng for an afternoon, and even gave him the sugared nuts, but Lu Yicheng misunderstood that Lin Qingyue was bribing him.

Tsk tsk, he deserved it. Lu Yiming thought to himself.