CHAPTER 485: CHAPTER 485: WHO WILL TAKE HER IN

Third Son Du’s family wore a look of schadenfreude. "Eldest Brother, that’s not right," blurted out Third, "the homestead of our ancestral house was left by our elders. You’ve already taken over Second Brother’s house, you can’t have everything. Now that Mother has returned, we surely can’t neglect her, right? Our family has just built a house and we’re overwhelmed with debt."

The eldest’s family gritted their teeth as they listened. Were they being praised? Indeed, the Eldest Brother was still living in the house that Second Brother had built years ago. That house is old now and he doesn’t have the money to build a new one. However, Third’s family has finished building their house, a brand-new building. The relationship between the two families wasn’t good to begin with. Despite being brothers, for some reason, they acted like sworn enemies.

Anyway, Third’s family had made up their mind; that wretched old woman better not think about stepping into their house.

"Du Jinbao, you dare?" The Eldest Brother’s wife charged forward, biting and hitting Du Eldest Brother. Du Eldest Brother, who was afraid of his wife, could only let her have her way, while Third’s family watched and laughed at the spectacle. The children felt embarrassed, but their parents didn’t seem to notice.

"I’m warning you, you damn old hag," said the Eldest Brother’s wife after she had hit enough, hands on her hips.

"Go back where you came from, don’t claim to be our relative. We don’t acknowledge relatives like you," she sneered, casting a glance at the similarly raggedly dressed Qin Xiangnuan and Qin Xiangyang, oh, with a big yellow-toothed sneer.

"That’s Du Ping’s two kids, isn’t it? Now that Mom’s gone, you want to mooch off your uncle’s family, huh? I’m telling you, no way."

She cursed and jumped around, with her speech becoming increasingly filthy. Qin Xiangnuan couldn’t bear to listen, let alone repeat those words – a streak of profanities that were too disgusting to hear, a true example of a shrew cursing in the street, jumping and shouting, with her belly fat jiggling, like an actress in the village theater.

Granny Lu was so angry she trembled all over.

What more was there to hope for, what more to expect? Didn’t she know her own sons?

Twenty years ago, they could abandon her regardless of life or death. Now, twenty years later, who would want an old, useless woman like her?

They say raising sons is to ensure care in old age, but now she understood that raising sons was useless. Not one of her sons, including the one who had died early, wanted to take care of her. She had raised them amidst hardship, skimping on food and clothes, even selling her daughter to a family like Qin Guohua’s where she died young. What sins had she committed?

Granny Lu’s heart was truly broken. Coming back this time, she’d seen everything; everyone was living well without her, even better. Only Dongsheng, the poor child, was left without parents.

Fine then, Granny Lu finally spoke, her voice as if gnashing her teeth. She accepted her fate with the Du Family.

"I don’t want your care, I’ll take Dongsheng with me. From now on, he will take care of me."

Dongsheng, though naive, was no fool and followed up on Granny Lu’s words, "I will take care of Granny in her old age. I’m still young, I can work."

Before he could finish speaking, he heard someone’s sneering laughter. Both Eldest Brother’s and Third Son’s families were sneering; they mocked him for being a cripple and wanting to do any actual work, and now even his house had been taken by Eldest Brother’s family. As a disabled person, he would not even be able to get a wife in the future.

Eldest Brother’s eyes moved shiftily, as he thought that this simply wouldn’t do. If this kid left, who would do the work for their family? His face fell, and his plump, overfed chin trembled.

"You still owe us thousands of dollars, kid. You think you can just leave without paying it back? It won’t be that easy."

Granny Lu was shaking with anger.

"Great Aunt, about the family’s land, I won’t mention it anymore, but the village hasn’t redistricted the land yet. Our family still has land for four people, all of which you, Uncle, and Third Uncle are farming."

Third Son Du’s face stiffened, acting as if it weren’t his business. It wasn’t just his family farming; Eldest Brother’s family farmed six acres, while their family only farmed three, and besides, the majority was with Eldest Brother’s family anyway.

"If we don’t farm that land, how can you, a cripple, do anything?" Eldest Brother’s wife spat, saliva flying everywhere; you could even see the droplets shooting out in the air.

Dongsheng was so furious he almost bit through his lip. He finally understood that his great aunt intended to make him into a lifelong servant for their family. Probably even when he died, a single roll of straw matting would be enough for him. Meanwhile, Eldest Brother’s wife continued her verbal tirade, so loud that even the neighbors in the surrounding area came to watch. They were no strangers to the Du Family’s affairs and none came to intervene, instead watching the spectacle with amusement. It was clear how unpopular the Du Family was in Sha Family Village; not a single person came to break up the fight. They watched in amusement as the family members stamped their feet and shouted, each of them sneering at the scene. Eldest Brother’s wife seemed entirely unaware of how disgraceful she was being, her spit spraying wildly without any sense of needing a drink of water for her dry mouth.

Granny Lu had been holding back all along. This time she saw through the true colors of Eldest Brother and Third Son’s families and decided she would never think about them again. She resolved to cut off her feelings as if she had never given birth to these sons, and just live with her grandson instead.

"Eldest Brother, Third, you mean you won’t take care of me, right?"

Granny Lu straightened her back, each word sounding as if it were bitten off.

The question of whether to take care of her was reduced to a single query,

"Take care of you?" Eldest Brother’s wife laughed so hard her belly ached, "Die, old hag. If you really care about your sons so much, roll as far away as you can. You’re not ignorant of our family’s situation – Third’s family is in a much better position than ours."

"Eldest Sister-in-law, that’s where you’re wrong," Third Son’s wife objected, her face stretching long as a horse’s, "You’ve said it yourself; we’re Third Son’s family," she emphasized the words ’Third Son,’ "If your family, Eldest Brother’s, won’t take care of her, why should our Third Son’s? That’s just unreasonable," she thought to herself, cursing Eldest Brother’s wife for treating them as if they were made of mud. With so many mouths to feed, their family wasn’t a shelter that could afford to take care of everyone.

"It’s not as if Jinbao is the only child born; isn’t Tongbao also born from that old woman’s belly?" Eldest Brother’s wife sneered, determined not to be excepted from responsibility.

"Who made you Eldest Brother," Third Son’s wife retorted without backing down, "The old family house is being lived in by your family, Eldest Brother’s. Does that mean you won’t take care of our old mother?"

"Mother isn’t just our family’s responsibility. Didn’t she help with your kids, serve you during your confinement?" Eldest Brother’s wife spat in response, her and Third Son’s wife’s eyes nearly bursting into flames, both of them barely stopping short of pulling each other’s hair out.