Outside, the old lady Han was trembling with anger, “Come back here and hand over the money!”
Lin Lan’s cold voice echoed from inside the room, “Mother, let me tell you, I have used the money for Xiao Wang in order to get him treated. 260 Yuan was not even enough and I actually still owe several hundred.”
The old lady Han leaned on her son and said angrily, “Old Three, look; you see how it is, don’t you?! When you’re not at home, she acts like no laws apply to her. She does this every day and we can’t even live properly. Just now I heard that she rammed your second sister-in-law with a shovel to the point where she has a bloody hole on her head and she even pushed an elder like me. Old Three, if it weren’t for God’s grace that sent you home early, your mother would have been beaten to death by your shrew of a wife!”
Han Qingsong’s eyes swept across the east wing before he looked at the children. Several children gazed at him curiously, but no one dared to meet his eyes as they all avoided him in fear.
There were even a few timid kids hiding behind the older ones.
Han Qingsong directed his attention to the eldest sister-in-law and after calling her, she looked towards him as he nodded his head. She then sprang into action to distract old lady Han, “Mother, is your waist okay?”
He also tried to help the old lady into the house to rest.
But the old lady refused as she grabbed his big hands forcefully, “Old Three, hurry up and annul her back to the Lin family; our old Han family can’t afford to take care of her. The Han family has lost its reputation by now and I can see that you don’t take her seriously. She is such a shameless woman and she probably thinks that she has done a marvellous job at spending the money in secret, she…”
The old lady remembered that there were 260 Yuan, which was 40 Yuan more than what he usually provided them with. The pain in her heart grew as her mood dampened even more.
She didn’t believe that Lin Lan had spent it entirely, but in front of Old Three, she couldn’t just tie his wife up and search her belongings; she had to think about her son’s image as well.
The old lady said inexplicably, “I don’t want to talk about it anymore, just hurry up and drive her out of this house! She even drank pesticides two days ago; what a waste it was to save her!”
Han Qingsong frowned, “Mother?”
Seeing that her son had yet to back her up on her claims, old lady Han immediately began to cry again, “Old Three, our family can’t survive; we’re going to starve to death. The younger ones are in such a pitiful state as there’s no food on the table. It was already so hard to pull off such a big promise to go to the county’s school to study, but now we don’t even have the funds or the grains to sustain that— how pitiful! “
Sister-in-law Han hurried to persuade her, “Mother, third uncle is back, don’t cry. Let’s just go into the room and talk slowly.”
At this time, old man Han and eldest brother Han came back from work.
They were very happy to see Han Qingsong back home and even exchanged a few words. The old man Han asked him to go into the room to rest before inquiring with the eldest sister-in-law if the meal was ready.
At this time, the sun had set. They were going to eat when the sun was still in the sky, because when it got dark, they would have to light up oil lamps in order to see.
The Han’s eldest sister-in-law replied quickly, saying that it was almost done as she brought her daughter into the house to prepare.