A hundred flavors of life

Chapter 1255 Zhao Meilan Leaves with Nothing! (Please Subscribe!)
As soon as Zhao Meilan and her sister-in-law pushed open the iron gate of their rented room, they saw Su Mingcheng sprawled on the peeling sofa, munching on instant noodles. Upon seeing them return, he immediately started yelling:
"Mom! I'm so hungry my stomach is practically sticking to my back!"

"Eat, eat, and eat!"

Zhao Meilan threw her bag onto the sofa:
"Your dad really wants a divorce!"

Su Mingcheng burst out laughing, spraying instant noodle crumbs all over the floor:
"Mom, are you kidding me? Dad was just saying that, he wouldn't actually divorce you. I'd believe it if you said the world would end tomorrow, but I wouldn't believe it even if you killed me!"

Zhao Meilan had a cold face;
"What do you know? Your dad is different now. He's definitely changed his mind!"

Her younger siblings chimed in:

"Yes, Mingcheng, although I only recently married your uncle, I know how your father used to treat your mother. He was completely obedient and subservient to her, just like serving the Empress Dowager!"

"But things are completely different now. Today, your mother and I went to his workplace, and he even had people beat us up. Look, our faces are all bruised!"

Seeing that his mother indeed had two red marks on her face, Su Mingcheng immediately turned around, rushed into the kitchen, and grabbed a cleaver.

"Mom, I'll go get revenge for you!"

Zhao Meilan grabbed Su Mingcheng:

"You're crazy! No matter how bad Su Daqiang is, he's still your father!"

Su Mingcheng: "I didn't say I was going to chop up my dad. I can't interfere with what you two do, but it's unacceptable for anyone else to hit you. Tell me who hit you, and I'll go fight them!"

Zhao Meilan snatched the kitchen knife:

"That guy's an idiot, don't mess around. If you hit him, it'll be illegal, and if he hits you, he can do whatever he wants!"

Upon hearing that the man was an idiot, Su Mingcheng became somewhat intimidated and readily agreed.

"Since he's an idiot, I won't stoop to his level. But what if anyone else dares to bully my mom?"

Zhao Meilan gently rubbed her son's head, and suddenly tears streamed down her face.
"From now on, it will be up to us, mother and daughter, to depend on each other!"

In front of others, the strong-willed Zhao Meilan would never show her weakness, but in front of her was her most beloved son, so the grievances she had accumulated over the past two days exploded at this moment.

Su Mingcheng couldn't bear to see his mother sad, and immediately panicked:

"Mom, don't cry!"

He pulled Zhao Meilan to sit down on the sofa:

"Mom, let me analyze this for you. I know Dad best. He definitely can't live without you. Saying things like divorce is just something he said in anger. He's been under your high-pressure management for years, and it's like a spring that will eventually hit rock bottom and bounce back!"

"Take that time he didn't tell you about his bonus, for example. If you find out, you'll make my dad kneel down and slap him in the face right in front of us!"

"And that time before the New Year, he said something you didn't like to hear, so you made him stand outside as punishment for half an hour in the dead of winter!"

"Even a clay figure has a temper; a rabbit will bite when cornered, let alone my dad, a grown man!"

"I reckon you've been bullying my dad too much lately, and he finally snapped. It's only human nature, nothing serious!"

Zhao Meilan was taken aback: "Are you serious? Your dad was just saying things like 'divorce' in anger?"

Su Mingcheng nodded:
"Of course, but even though it was said in anger, it can become the truth if you're pushed into a corner. You shouldn't be stubborn now. My dad is still angry. If you act the same way as before, you'll only make things worse. You have to wait until my dad calms down, then everything will be fine!"

Zhao Meilan nodded upon hearing this, and the anxiety on her face disappeared. She also felt that her son was right, and that this was probably how it was.

But her younger brother and sister-in-law got anxious:

"Sister, what about Dali? The police station said they only have a few days to process the case. If Su Daqiang doesn't withdraw the case within a few days, it will be sent to the prosecution, and then it will really be a criminal case. It will be too late to withdraw it then!"

Zhao Meilan also became anxious upon hearing this:

"Mingcheng, you have an idea. Help me think of what to do. If your dad doesn't give in, your uncle might really go to jail!"

Su Mingcheng laughed:
"That's easy. What I said earlier about waiting for my dad to calm down is a last resort. I have a better plan. But I'm hungry, and I want to eat something delicious!"

Before Zhao Meilan could speak, her younger brother and sister-in-law said:
"Buy it, Mingcheng, what do you want to eat? Your aunt will buy it for you. As long as you can get your uncle out, anything is fine with me!"

Su Mingcheng immediately laughed: "I want to eat pan-fried buns!"

Auntie readily agreed:
"Okay, I'll buy pan-fried buns then. Tell me your plan now!"

Su Mingcheng shrugged:

"That's easy. It'll take my dad several days to calm down, but if my mom takes the initiative to say some nice words and give him a way out, it'll speed things up!"

"When my dad calms down and realizes he can't live without my mom, then my uncle's problem will be solved!"

Zhao Meilan immediately became anxious upon hearing this:

"You want me to apologize to Su Daqiang? Why should I? I'm not going!"

Her younger siblings said urgently:

"Sis, if you don't go, Dali might really go to jail!"

On the other side, Hua Shier treated Xiao Zhang to a meal at a restaurant, and then packed two dishes to take home. When he entered the house, he saw Su Mingyu doing her homework.

"Dad, why are you so late? I've already steamed the rice and was waiting for you to come back so I could cook the dishes!"

Su Mingyu put away her homework and went to make an apron to cook.

Hua Shier was very satisfied with Su Mingyu's performance and immediately smiled:
"I went out to eat with some people and brought you two dishes, both freshly cooked: crystal shrimp and stir-fried lamb with scallions. Didn't you steam rice? Then eat it while it's hot. Put the rest in the refrigerator and reheat it tomorrow morning!"

Su Mingyu used to have trouble even eating chicken legs, but these past two days with her dad, her standard of living has improved so much that she immediately went to get some rice.

Hua Shier sat on a chair enjoying the cool air. Su Mingyu ate while blinking her big eyes at him, and suddenly asked:

"Dad, are you really going to divorce Mom?"

Hua Twelve rocked back and forth in his rocking chair, chuckling to himself.
"What else? Today, she and your aunt went to my workplace and made a scene, trying to put pressure on me through my superiors. I quit my job right then and there. I'm going to stand my ground to the very end!"

Su Mingyu was both surprised and worried:
"Dad, if you quit your job, what will happen to our family?"

Hua Twelve disagreed:
"Can a living person be killed by holding their pee? Let me tell you, your dad is too capable, it's just that your mom has been holding you back, unable to use your abilities. Once your mom and I divorce, I'll be free to soar like a fish in the sea and a bird in the sky, like a roc rising with the wind, soaring ninety thousand miles high."

Su Mingyu giggled, then suddenly said:

"Dad, I feel you're completely different from before. I support your decision to divorce Mom!"

Hua Shier was somewhat curious:
"Other people's children are afraid of their parents getting divorced, so why do you support our divorce?"

Su Mingyu poked at her rice bowl with her chopsticks:

"I've always hoped that you, Dad, could live like a man. If you stay with Mom, you'll be bullied by her for the rest of your life!"

Hua Shier nodded with a smile:

"My daughter is the best. Don't worry, Mingyu, Dad will find you an even prettier stepmother!"

Su Mingyu's smile froze instantly. She supported her parents' divorce, but she didn't say she wanted a stepmother. Zhao Meilan wasn't good to her, but she was still her biological mother. What if her stepmother treated her even worse?
When Hua Shier and Su Mingyu finished eating and started clearing the table, they got up and went inside:

"Go back to your room to study after you finish washing the dishes. Dad needs to use this table. Oh, and give me a few of your unused lined notebooks!"

As he spoke, he rummaged through the drawer and pulled out a fountain pen, then drew out the ink.

Su Mingyu first took out two blank notebooks, then went to wash the dishes. When she came back, she saw Hua Shier writing furiously on the living room table.

Curious, she walked over and peeked behind Hua Shier. She saw that the notebook already had a lot of writing on it, and the first line read:
"Tomb raiding is not like hosting a dinner party, writing an essay, painting, or embroidering. It cannot be done in such an elegant, leisurely, refined, gentle, courteous, frugal, and modest manner. Tomb raiding is a skill, a skill of destruction."

Hua Shier was writing at the beginning, and Su Mingyu was reading at the end. After reading the introduction, she read another chapter.

Upon seeing the line "Hu Guohua mustered his courage and set fire to the paper figure, burning it to ashes," Hua Twelve stopped writing, turned around, and smiled:
"How's your dad's writing?"

Su Mingyu asked in disbelief, "Dad, you're saying you wrote this? Or is it a story you saw somewhere else?"

Hua Twelve said with a smile:

"Of course I wrote it. Weren't you worried that Dad would quit his job and not be able to support the family? Dad has decided to write novels to make money. So, what do you think of this story?"

Just like his reasons for starting a business in the last world, he didn't lack money, but he needed a pretext to make money, so he decided to plagiarize again.

Su Mingyu gave a thumbs up: "Dad, you write so well. Can I read it first after you finish writing?"

"cannot!"

Hua Shier's eyes widened:
"What you need to do now is study hard and get into Tsinghua or Peking University, do you hear me!" Su Mingyu nodded emphatically: "Yes, Dad!"

The next morning, the father and daughter had just finished breakfast when someone knocked on the door.

Su Mingyu ran to open the door, and came in a moment later, looking somewhat worried:

"Dad, Mom, Aunt, and Su Mingcheng are back!"

Su Mingcheng's eyes widened:
"Su Mingyu, you brat, you didn't even call me your second brother!"

After finishing his meal, Hua Shier made himself a cup of tea. He was about to write a few more chapters before submitting his manuscript for publication when Zhao Meilan arrived. Somewhat annoyed, he put down his pen and went outside.
"Zhao Meilan, what are you doing here? I've already laid out my conditions. If you agree, I'll drop the case; otherwise, let Zhao Dali go to jail!"

Zhao Meilan couldn't stand this good-for-nothing's attitude towards her and was about to lose her temper again, but her sister-in-law stopped her and kept giving her meaningful glances, which made her remember what she was doing.

He immediately said, reluctantly:

"Su Daqiang, I admit I was a bit too harsh on you before. I apologize, and I'll treat you better from now on. I'll give you an extra fifty yuan in your monthly allowance. Are you satisfied now?"

Su Mingcheng secretly gave his mother a thumbs up.

He felt the conditions were acceptable: an extra fifty yuan a month for pocket money, something his father had never experienced before, and his mother had even apologized and offered a way out, so everything should be fine.

After Zhao Meilan finished speaking, she continued:
"Alright, let's go drop the case in a bit. Also, when Dali comes out, you, as his brother-in-law, should be generous. My brother is timid, he must have been scared in there. You should apologize to him and tell him that you'll contribute 20,000 yuan to his house purchase, so he won't go back and tell my mom all sorts of things, as if we, his sister and brother-in-law, have treated him badly!"

Zhao Meilan's younger brother and sister-in-law beamed with joy: "That's so embarrassing, sister!"

Zhao Meilan waved her hand and said generously, "We're all family, what's there to be embarrassed about!"

Su Mingyu's face darkened. She prayed in her heart, "Please don't let Dad agree. The family is already struggling. If he saves another 20,000 yuan for my uncle to buy a house, my life will be even harder."

Hua Shier laughed in anger. When he saw Zhao Meilan saying these words, she had an expression that said, "You got off easy." He went to get a basin of cold water and splashed it directly on the three of them.

They splashed Zhao Meilan, her younger brother and sister-in-law, and Su Mingcheng, soaking them to the bone.

Hua Shier tossed the basin aside and said with a smile:
"Were you three sleepwalking here? Are you awake yet? If you are, get out of here, I have things to do!"

Su Mingcheng wiped the water from his face and said with a bitter expression:

"Dad, that's enough already, or it'll be too late to take it back!"

Hua Twelve smiled and said:
"Have you ever seen foot bath water recycled? Your mother stinks even worse than foot bath water!"

Zhao Meilan got anxious:
"Su Daqiang, you bastard, you're the one who's just wasting my time! I'll fight you to the death!"

Hua Shier's words stunned Zhao Meilan:

"You want your brother to go to jail? Go ahead and cause trouble!"

Zhao Meilan's body stiffened:
"So you agreed to drop the case?"

Hua Shier laughed in anger: "What a pipe dream! It's still the same conditions: pay up, divorce, and you leave with nothing!"

Zhao Meilan was pulled away by her younger siblings, and Su Mingcheng wanted to stay and say a few words of advice:

"Dad, why don't you reconsider? You can't live without Mom!"

"roll!"

Hua Shier kicked the disobedient son out of the courtyard and then slammed the gate shut.

Turning around, she saw Su Mingyu giving Hua Shier a thumbs up, affirming his performance. She had been genuinely afraid that her father would agree.

After Zhao Meilan and the others left Tongdeli, Su Mingyu went to school with her schoolbag on her back.

Hua Shier gave her fifty yuan and told her to have a good lunch and buy whatever she wanted.

After Su Mingyu left, Hua Shier focused on 'creation' and wrote more than 30,000 words in an hour.

He was in the middle of a creative process, with ideas flowing freely, when the phone suddenly rang.

Hua Shier got up and went to answer the phone: "Hello, who is this?"

A young voice came from the other end of the phone: "Dad, it's me, Mingzhe!"

Hua Shier immediately guessed what was going on and chuckled:

"Was it your mom who called you?"

Su Mingzhe asked from the other end:

"Dad, what exactly happened? How could you divorce Mom? And why did you hit her?"

Hearing the accusatory tone, Hua Shier felt uncomfortable and wanted to confront him directly, but then thought that wouldn't work, as that would only reinforce the child's belief that he was in the wrong.

Zhao Meilan played the role of a loving mother too well in front of her two sons. Hua Shier decided to expose Zhao Meilan's true colors and let the children know what this woman really was.

Hua Shier gave a cold laugh:
"Su Mingzhe, do you know that we only have a little over a thousand yuan left in our savings account?"

"Do you know that you still haven't paid your tuition for next semester?"

"Do you know that your mother wouldn't give Mingyu twenty yuan to buy a workbook?"

"Do you even know that your mother has borrowed over 50,000 yuan from your uncle over the years, which has already emptied our family's coffers!"

His series of questions about whether he knew or not completely baffled Su Mingzhe.

In 1999, 50,000 yuan was no small sum, especially for a family with three children.

"My mom, she..."

Su Mingzhe couldn't continue; he didn't know what to say.

Hua Shier sneered, "As a father, I will not allow Zhao Meilan to use the money I'm saving to raise my children to fill their family's bottomless pit!"

"Mingzhe, don't worry about your studies. Dad will sell his blood to support your university education. Don't worry about my relationship with Zhao Meilan!"

He hung up the phone immediately, and Su Mingzhe on the other end cried. His father was too good; his fatherly love was as solid as a mountain. What should he do if he wanted to recite a poem?
In just a few words, Su Mingzhe completely sided with Hua Shier.

Zhao Meilan called Su Mingzhe a moment later:
"Mingzhe, how did it go? Did you convince your dad?"

Su Mingzhe asked cautiously, "Mom, did you really borrow more than 50,000 yuan from Uncle?"

Zhao Meilan said coldly, "This is an adult's matter, you should mind your own business!"

Su Mingzhe said helplessly, "Well, there's nothing I can do about it. Dad's pretty angry anyway!"

Having no other choice, Zhao Meilan finally gave in and agreed to Hua Shier's conditions under pressure from her younger siblings.

Of course, she couldn't pay the compensation herself, so the two women went to the families of the other four people who had stormed into the Su family with Zhao Dali and demanded money.

Those families were furious. "Our kids got arrested because they stood up for you, and now you want us to pay you back?"

Zhao Meilan and her siblings were also unreasonable. They threatened to sentence them to prison if they didn't pay compensation, or else they would all have to chip in together and go to jail together.

These families pooled their money together, and Zhao Meilan borrowed some more from her workplace, bringing the total to 150,000 yuan that Hua Shier had requested.

A day later, Hua Shier and Zhao Meilan went through divorce proceedings at the Civil Affairs Bureau, with the latter leaving with nothing!
Zhao Dali spent several days in the detention center before finally being released. His wife and Zhao Meilan hosted a welcome-back party for him.

When Zhao Dali got home, he learned that Zhao Meilan and Su Daqiang had divorced, and immediately cursed:

"That Su Daqiang is a real scoundrel! Don't worry, sister, I'll definitely get revenge for you!"

Zhao Meilan quickly stopped her, saying, "I don't need you to take my anger out on me. I don't have any more money to pay for it!"

With nowhere else to stay, Zhao Meilan and Su Mingcheng had no choice but to stay at Zhao Dali's house.

But Zhao Dali's family only has a 40-square-meter rental room, which is inconvenient for four people to live in.

At first it was alright, but after a week, Zhao Meilan's younger brother and sister-in-law started throwing things around and talking in a sarcastic tone. Later, they even kicked Zhao Meilan and Su Mingcheng out!

Zhao Dali kept apologizing to his sister, saying that he dared not offend his wife and could only ask his sister to suffer in silence.

What could Zhao Meilan say? She could only move to the unit's dormitory, but Su Mingcheng had nowhere to live.

　Thanks to 08a, Demon Tiger, Three Watches and Book10096 for their donations, and thanks to the brothers who voted for monthly tickets and recommendations. Thank you very much.

　　(End of this chapter)