Back to 1984: Earning Money, Raising Kids, and Keeping the Household Busy

Chapter 322 Xu Fangfang is back
When Wang Fengying came over to wash her son's clothes, she found the house quiet. Xu Fangfang, who usually stayed in her room reading and correcting homework, was not there.

He immediately became angry and started cursing. He went into the room and searched through Xu Fangfang's dressing table, but found nothing. His face grew increasingly ugly. Finally, he opened Xu Fangfang's wardrobe and made a mess of it.

When Xu Jie came home from get off work, he was somewhat surprised to find his mother still there, but Xu Fangfang was not home. "Mom, why are you here at this hour? Where is she?"

Wang Fengying slammed her hand on the table, her eyes bloodshot, breathing heavily with uncontrollable rage. "I came here this morning and haven't seen that woman. It's been a whole day, and you're back now, but she still hasn't returned! And tell me, where are all her gold and money? How come they're all gone?"

Xu Jie's expression changed, and he rushed into the bedroom, only to find it in complete disarray. He stomped his foot in anger, "Mom! Are you crazy? Didn't we agree to get a divorce after a while? How are you going to explain this mess you've made of her things?"

Wang Fengying didn't take it seriously. "What's the big deal? Just say the house was burgled. Anyway, it's all her stuff, so we don't need to help her clean up. You should check quickly; all her money and gold are gone! Did she transfer her assets?"

They still need to ask Xu Fangfang for the bride price they paid back!
Xu Jie sensed something was wrong, but Wang Fengying kept urging him on, which made him anxious. He actually went to search, but found nothing.

Instinctively, he wanted to confront Xu Fangfang, but a glance at the messy room made him freeze. "No! You've left her things like this, and you're saying your house was burgled? She'll just say it was stolen. That won't work! We have to put her things back in their original state!"

Wang Fengying then realized what was happening and panicked, "But I don't know where she put her things before!"

The more Xu Jie talked, the more guilty Wang Fengying became. Xu Jie's face turned completely black, and he angrily scolded Wang Fengying, "Mom! Can't you use your brain before you act? Don't you understand the principle that you'll suffer a big loss if you try to gain a small advantage? Why did you do this? What if she had a backup plan? You've cut off our way of getting our money back!"

"So what do we do now?" Wang Fengying felt aggrieved by her son's scolding and knew she was in the wrong, but she was at a loss for what to do.

Xu Jie took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. "First, pack your things. Then just say you helped her tidy up the room, and don't say anything else."

It seems this is the only option at the moment.

Because he had something to hide, Xu Jie was uneasy for the next few days, so he simply asked Wang Fengying to come to his house during the day to keep watch.

Xu Fangfang still hadn't returned by New Year's Eve, and the mother and son couldn't sit still any longer.

"Do you think she threw another tantrum and went back to her parents' house?" Wang Fengying guessed.

Xu Jie shook his head. "My parents-in-law are very concerned about their image. They wouldn't leave a married daughter at home for so long during the New Year. It's unlikely she'll go back."

Wang Fengying slammed her hand on the table angrily, "Why did you marry such a thing? She can't help you at all, and she's a barren hen. She's not home for days on end, and she's probably run off with some random guy! If you ask me, you should get a divorce as soon as possible. Anyway, the house has already been transferred to your father's name, so it has nothing to do with you now. Even if you get a divorce, she can forget about getting a single penny!"

By the way, where's the money in your card? You need to withdraw that money too. Mom will keep it for you in case she tries to take your assets in the future! You have to get back all the dowry you gave her, understand?

Xu Jie closed his eyes in frustration, feeling that something was wrong, but he just couldn't figure out what it was.

Because Xu Fangfang was not there, Xu Jie went straight back to his parents' home for the Spring Festival and did not contact Xu Fangfang at all. He even hoped that Xu Fangfang would just run away with a man or die outside, which would save him a lot of trouble.

Unfortunately, reality is far from ideal, and Xu Fangfang returned the day before school started.

As soon as she entered the house, she and Wang Fengying locked eyes. Wang Fengying was taken aback for a moment, then preemptively said, "Well, so you've finally come back after spending so many days out with other men! Everyone, be the judge! My shameless daughter-in-law has been away from home for almost half a month, fooling around with other men. I can't live like this anymore!"

She was determined to pin a blame on Xu Fangfang; this was something she and her son had planned beforehand.

Xu Fangfang rolled her eyes and walked straight to the bedroom. The next second, she rushed out angrily, grabbed Wang Fengying's hand, and demanded, "You went through my things? What did you take? Hand it over!"

The neighbors who came out to see what was going on were stunned when they heard this.

What's going on? The mother-in-law is accusing her daughter-in-law of cheating, while the daughter-in-law is accusing her mother-in-law of stealing? Is this going to escalate into a major conflict?

Wang Fengying was furious and shouted, "What utter nonsense! It's clearly your fault for not being home. I kindly tidied up your room for you, and you call that wrong? Everyone, come and judge for yourselves, what kind of shameless daughter-in-law is this!"

Xu Fangfang was so angry that her face turned red. She didn't want to argue with Wang Fengying, so she called the police in front of the neighbors.

Wang Fengying was startled and immediately called Xu Jie and her husband to come back.

Neighbors tried to dissuade him, saying, "It's not a big deal, there's no need to call the police!"

Xu Fangfang ignored it. The police arrived first, and Xu Fangfang explained the situation in detail. She even showed the police the photos of the room she had taken before leaving, raising her voice so that everyone could hear her.

“I have a bad relationship with my in-laws and haven’t communicated with them for a long time. For the past few months, I’ve been living in the master bedroom and my husband has been sleeping in the study. Before I left, I was worried that they would go through my things, so I took photos in advance and closed the bedroom door. These are the evidence I took before I left.”

In addition to showing the photos to the police for comparison, she also asked her neighbors to do the same.

The neighbors were stunned.

Wang Fengying's face turned pale. She never expected that Xu Fangfang had really kept a backup plan. Before she could think of a countermeasure, she heard Xu Fangfang continue, "My mother-in-law said that she cleaned my room because I was not at home. Everyone heard it. Since I married into their family, my mother-in-law has never done a single chore for me, let alone cleaned my room."

My room is completely different now; all my valuables are gone, so I had to call the police.

Everyone gasped in shock. The neighbors, who had just thought Xu Fangfang was making a mountain out of a molehill, now realized the seriousness of the matter and asked one after another, "What is it that is missing?"

Xu Fangfang covered her face and shed a few tears. "All the gold I had at my wedding is gone, and the 10,000 yuan in cash I kept in the wardrobe is also gone."

Wow! All this money must add up to tens of thousands.

Everyone felt sorry for Xu Fangfang and condemned Wang Fengying.

"Even if you don't like Teacher Xu, you can't do something like this! How could you steal someone else's things?"