Lin Jianshe walked to the gate of Courtyard No. 23 and ran into Li Shuping, who had just returned from the hospital.

“Mom?”

Li Shuping paused, gave him a cold look up and down.

“What are you doing here?”

Lin Jianshe frowned. “I heard your stall got smashed, and you ended up in the hospital. I came to check on you.”

He was her son, after all. He had come to see her upon hearing she was in trouble, but this was how she greeted him? How cold.

Still, judging by the bump on her forehead and her dirty clothes that looked like they’d been scraped on the ground, her injuries didn’t seem too serious.

But Li Shuping doubted his intentions.

She suspected he had just come to mock her.

“You’ve seen it now. I’m alive, not dead. You can leave,” she said and turned to walk into the courtyard.

“Mom, come on. You don’t have to act tough,” Lin Jianshe felt she was just stubbornly clinging to pride.

“After what happened, you should know how hard it is to survive out there. You’re a divorced woman with a daughter, no man in the house—of course people are going to bully you.”

“I think you should just swallow your pride and say a few kind words to my dad. If he softens up, he’ll probably agree to remarry and let you and Xiaoyu come back.”

Lin Jianshe felt like the ultimate good son. After all, she had ruined his wedding and embarrassed him by running a street stall. And still, he came to her when she was in trouble, urging her to come back. How generous he was!

But Li Shuping didn’t get it—why did everyone think that just because her stall was smashed, her business was over and she should crawl back to the Lin family like a servant?

“I got bullied by those punks today not because I’m a divorced woman without a man in the house,” she said, “but because I gave birth to an ungrateful son like you.”

Those punks had been brought by that little scumbag Liu Yong—whom she wouldn’t even know if Lin Jianshe hadn’t decided to marry Liu Qin. That was the root of her trouble.

“…”

Lin Jianshe was speechless.

“Come on, Mom, don’t go too far. What does this have to do with me? I didn’t send those people to smash your stall.”

“It has everything to do with you. You’ll understand later,” she said, walking into the courtyard without looking back.

“I…” Lin Jianshe was fuming. He punched the air and left in frustration.

He had come out of kindness, but she blamed him for the thugs who wrecked her stall? Some gratitude.

Inside the house, Li Shuping set her things on the table and called out, “Xiaoyu!”

“Mom, you’re back.” Lin Xiaoyu ran in with a spatula in hand and checked her mother from head to toe. Seeing only a bump on her forehead, she sighed in relief.

“Mom, I heard your stall got smashed and you got beaten up—I was so scared!”

“What did the doctor say? Are you hurt anywhere else?”

Li Shuping waved her hand and sat down at the table. “It’s nothing serious. I didn’t just stand there and let them beat me. Those punks got it worse than I did. But, to outsiders, we’ll say I was seriously injured—concussion, hurt my leg, tailbone, and back.”

Lin Xiaoyu’s eyes lit up. “So you’re going to make those punks pay for your injuries?”

Li Shuping smiled. “Smart girl.”

Meanwhile, Lin Jianshe returned home, fuming. As soon as he walked in, Zhang Jiao asked, “Why are you back so soon? What happened? Is your mom okay?”

“She’s just fine!” Lin Jianshe flopped onto a bench.

“What, she pissed you off?” Lin Yongnian frowned.

Lin Jianshe turned. “Dad, don’t you think Mom’s got something wrong in the head? She said her stall got smashed because she gave birth to a thankless brat like me. What’s that got to do with me?”

Lin Yongnian was just as baffled. “She’s been messed up for a long time—crazy, I say! I told you not to bother with her. See? It’s obviously her own fault, but she blames it on you.”

“My mom, seriously…” Lin Guodong didn’t even know what to say.

“Did she say anything about coming back?” Zhang Jiao asked.

Lin Jianshe shook his head. “I told her to come back, say a few nice things to Dad. Maybe he’d take her back. She didn’t even respond.”

Lin Yongnian’s expression darkened, snapping at Lin Jianshe. “Who told you to ask her to come back? Who wants her back?”

They’d given her chance after chance, but if she wouldn’t take them—fine. Let her stay away forever.

Lin Jianshe wrinkled his nose in frustration. Maybe he really shouldn’t have said anything.

His mother was someone who couldn’t tell good from bad.

At that moment, Liu Yong was out wandering and didn’t come home until it was almost dark.

“Mom, is dinner ready?” Liu Yong walked into the house and picked up his dad’s mug, gulping down half the tea.

“Almost,” his mother Yang Meifeng called from the kitchen.

Liu Jianping wasn’t home—he was using the public toilet.

Liu Yong rubbed his empty belly and was about to lie down on the bamboo recliner to wait for dinner when two men suddenly rushed in from behind and pinned him to the table.

Startled, Liu Yong struggled and shouted, “Who are you?! What are you doing?! Let me go!”

Click.

Cold handcuffs locked around his wrists, and Liu Yong froze.

Yang Meifeng heard the noise and ran out of the kitchen, only to see two men in olive-green police uniforms holding her son.

She nearly fainted.

“Why are you arresting my son? Let him go!”

“Your son Liu Yong is suspected of extortion, robbery, intentional destruction of property, and assault. We are lawfully arresting him,” said Gu Zhiyuan coldly from the doorway, hands behind his back.

Yang Meifeng panicked. “You’ve got the wrong person! He’s just a kid—he would never break the law. Let him go!”

Ever since Liu Yong dropped out of school and failed to find a job, hanging out with bad company all day, Yang Meifeng had feared this day might come—and now it had.

Gu Zhiyuan replied, “Whether he broke the law or not, we’ll investigate. Take him away.”

“No, you can’t take him!” Yang Meifeng spread her arms to block the doorway.

“Ma’am, we’re performing official duties. If you continue to obstruct us, we will arrest you for interfering with law enforcement,” Gu Zhiyuan said coldly.

A chill ran up Yang Meifeng’s spine.

Her scalp tingled, and she was gripped by fear.

“You can’t do this! He’s just a kid!”

Nineteen years old.

The officers dragged Liu Yong out the door, pushing past Yang Meifeng, who chased after them.

“Xiao Yong! Xiao Yong…”

Neighbors came out to see what the fuss was about. When they saw Liu Yong being arrested, they all looked like it was long overdue.

Liu Yong had been stealing since he was a kid. No household in the courtyard had been spared. Every time he was caught, his parents insisted he was innocent and defended him.

Well, now look—arrested by the police.

Liu Yong, shocked into silence, finally came to his senses just as he was being shoved into the police car. Crying, he shouted:

“Mom! Save me—it was Li Shuping! Li Shuping set me up!”