Flip the table and divide the family property! Take his wife and daughter into the mountains and eat

Zhao Shanhe showed no anger whatsoever.

He simply held a cigarette in his mouth, quietly watched Wei Baoguo for a few seconds, and then suddenly chuckled softly.

"What else did Li Cuihua say to you?"

Wei Baoguo didn't catch the chill in those words at all; instead, he thought Zhao Shanhe had given in.

He cleared his throat, lowered his hands from behind his back, and adopted a condescending, instructive demeanor.

"You've said a lot."

"Cuihua confided in me and said that you are just a stubborn and headstrong child, but you care about your mother the most."

"She also confided in me that the family's savings were all used to build this big brick house, and a large portion of it originally belonged to her. Back then, when we had a few arguments, she couldn't bring herself to stay in the old house because she felt embarrassed."

Wei Baoguo paused, his gaze sweeping over the bright, spacious side rooms once more, as if surveying his own territory.

"Now that we're getting things done, and with me, as the elder, mediating, you should back down now. After the banquet, you can't keep your own parents out, or people will gossip about you."

At this point, Wei Baoguo, as if arranging official business, pointed to the area outside the courtyard:

"There's something else, let's settle it together today. Shanlin's leg is crippled, he can't live alone in the old house. Cuihua feels sorry for the youngest, so I'm thinking that when we move here, we should hire an oxcart and bring Shanlin into the yard as well."

As he spoke, he looked Zhao Shanhe up and down with an air of importance, his tone as if he were bestowing a great favor upon Zhao Shanhe:

"Anyway, you have plenty of space here, it'll just gather dust if it's empty, and the house won't miss an extra pair of chopsticks. As the eldest brother, you're like a father to him. Now that you're doing well, you're helping out your disabled brother. Outsiders will give you a thumbs up."

"Besides, with me, a retired government employee, holding down the fort at home, who in Kaoshantun will dare to look down on you? Bring them over; no matter how you calculate it, you won't lose out."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Shanhe gradually understood what was going on, and he lost all interest in watching the monkey show.

He raised his hand, threw the nearly finished cigarette butt at his feet, and crushed it out little by little with the sole of his shoe.

When she looked up again, she looked at Wei Baoguo as if he were a complete idiot.

"A minor conflict?"

"Shall we have a little banter?"

Zhao Shanhe's lips curled into a mocking sneer: "It seems Li Cuihua was so busy thinking about your pension that she forgot to tell you the most important thing."

Wei Baoguo frowned, looking at Zhao Shanhe's face, which was devoid of any warmth, and a sudden, extremely ominous premonition arose in his heart: "What do you mean?"

"It means you were made a fool of by that old woman."

Zhao Shanhe's voice was cold and devoid of any warmth; each word struck like a chisel.

"I've completely severed ties with that old woman a long time ago. It's all in black and white, with my fingerprints on it. This yard, this house, has absolutely nothing to do with her."

Wei Baoguo's expression changed drastically, and he instinctively retorted, "That's impossible! How can a biological mother and son truly sever ties..."

"Then do you know how Zhao Shanlin got that limp?" Zhao Shanhe completely ignored him, looking down at him intently.

Forced back half a step by the chilling murderous aura, Wei Baoguo stammered, "Why...why are you lame?"

"I was the one who interrupted it."

Zhao Shanhe looked at him coldly, speaking slowly and deliberately.

"Because that bastard dared to come to my house and steal my wife's money, I smashed his bones on the spot. When I broke his leg, that old woman Li Cuihua was standing right next to me, not daring to utter a sound."

Wei Baoguo felt a chill run from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head, and his whole body shivered uncontrollably.

Looking at the expressionless young man in front of him, he felt as if he were looking at a living Yama, the King of Hell.

How ruthless must it be to smash your own brother's bones alive?

He stood there blankly, his withered lips trembling violently, his mind buzzing.

Looking at Wei Baoguo's old face, which was distorted by extreme shock and fear, Zhao Shanhe's mockery deepened.

He took a step forward unhurriedly and continued to ask:

"Besides Zhao Shanlin, who broke his leg, she should have mentioned someone else to you named Zhao Shanhai. What did she tell you?"

Wei Baoguo's legs went weak, and he subconsciously swallowed, stammering as if grasping at a last straw:

"Cui...Cuihua said that the second son, Shanhai, has made something of himself in the city. He works in a government agency and is a high-ranking official..."

"To become a high-ranking official?"

Zhao Shanhe laughed out loud as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world.

"She didn't lie to you about being in the city. But I don't know if he's an official or not. Given the despicable things he's done, I reckon he's probably in jail somewhere in the city right now."

"You...you're lying! You're cheating!"

Wei Baoguo's eyes widened suddenly, and he retorted in a shrill voice as if his lungs had been pierced, his withered lips trembling violently:

"Cuihua clearly said that Shanhai sends money home to her on time every month! And her house isn't some drafty, dilapidated mud hut at all! I went there once when I was looking at houses, and the house was not only bright, but it also had a large, newly made wooden cabinet, and there was even a Red Lantern brand radio on the table!"

At this point, Wei Baoguo seemed to regain some of his confidence, pointing at Zhao Shanhe and gritting his teeth:

"That radio was a rare find. If it hadn't been a gift from the son of a high-ranking official in the city, how could a country bumpkin like her have afforded it?"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Shanhe paused, his hand holding the cigarette twitching, and the sarcasm in his eyes was almost overflowing.

He truly hadn't expected that Li Cuihua, this old woman, would go to such lengths to win over this retired city man.

In order to make the act more convincing, she not only conspired with Zhao Shanlin, who had broken his leg, to pretend to sprain his ankle, but also even knew to spend money to spruce up the facade.

It's obvious that the new wooden cabinet and radio were either borrowed from various places in the village, or rented secondhand items by spending all her last savings for her funeral.

They managed to transform a woman who couldn't even afford food and had long been kicked out by her own son into a wealthy old lady with a high-ranking official son backing her up and plenty of money and leisure in her family.

These two, one coveting an urban residency permit and pension, the other coveting a large rural house and labor, are a perfect match, like a turtle eyeing a green bean.

Thinking of this, Zhao Shanhe couldn't help but laugh out loud.

He looked at Wei Baoguo, whose face was flushed red and who was still clinging to that ridiculous bit of confidence, and shook his head:

"You can find out exactly what kind of despicable person she is and what kind of rotten family she comes from by asking around in Kaoshantun.

"I originally thought that after all the terrible things she did, she would just have to die in that drafty, dilapidated mud house and suffer the retribution she deserved. I never expected that at the very end, she would be able to pull off such a grand show and completely fool an old man like you from the city."

Zhao Shanhe exhaled his last smoke ring and clicked his tongue with amusement: "In some ways, that old woman is actually quite a talent."

Lin Xiu, who had been standing at the door of the main room listening, was originally trembling with anger because of the old man's shameless claim that he wanted to move in. But when she heard Zhao Shanhe's sarcastic remark about "talented person," she was stunned for a moment, and then couldn't help but burst out laughing.

The crisp laughter was particularly loud in the quiet courtyard, carrying an undisguised air of spectator enjoyment.

The laughter, when it reached Wei Baoguo's ears, was even more humiliating than being slapped twice in public.

The couple's mocking gaze, as if they were looking at a clown, completely shattered Wei Baoguo's last line of defense.

He had been stubbornly clinging to the dignity of a government employee, but now, all those strange details that had been swirling in his mind came flooding out like a burst dam.

No wonder!

No wonder every time he came to look at potential partners, Li Cuihua would always be there to greet him eagerly at the village entrance, and when he left, she would rush him onto the oxcart, never letting him wander around the village or exchange a single word with any of the neighbors he passed by!

He initially thought it was just a conservative old woman from the countryside who was afraid of gossip.

Looking back now, it was clearly because he was afraid of being exposed and his secrets would be revealed by a single sentence from the villagers!

That Red Lantern brand radio, that newly made half-finished wooden cabinet, they're all fake!

He'd spent his entire life as a state employee in the city, thinking himself shrewd and calculating, willing to break ties with his own children in the city and even get a marriage certificate prematurely just to live in this big brick house and find a free nanny. In the end, he was treated like a fat pig and slaughtered by a rural old woman who couldn't read or write!

Wei Baoguo felt a surge of blood rushing to his chest, his blood pressure soaring to his head, and his vision blurring uncontrollably.

"Liars...a whole nest of rotten liars!"

He pointed in Zhao Shanhe's direction, his withered lips trembling violently, his old face turning from flushed red to purplish-red, and then quickly fading to a deathly pale ashes.

He let out a hoarse, labored breath, his legs went weak, and his body swayed violently, almost collapsing to the ground.