As the door closed softly, Li Chuchu finally let out a sigh of relief, feeling as if she had survived a disaster.
Just now, Shen Yanshan's gaze had been so terrifying that she almost thought something was about to happen between them. Fortunately, he stopped before things got out of control.
Thinking of the scene just now, Li Chuchu gently stroked her chest to calm herself and swallowed hard.
She had promised herself to curry favor with the villain, but how did she end up getting too close?
This was really bad.
She called out to the system twice, but strangely enough, no matter how many times she called, the system didn't appear. Li Chuchu simply stopped calling and covered her head with the quilt to go to sleep.
...
Li Jianmin returned home looking exhausted. Lately, everything had been going wrong for him. His work was full of setbacks.
The lights at home were off.
The food was cold.
Li Chuan rubbed his eyes and stumbled out of his room sleepily. "Dad, where's Mom? I'm hungry."
Hungry, always hungry.
Li Jianmin tried hard to hold back his temper. "Where's your mom? Isn't she at home?"
"She seems to have gone to Grandma's house."
Li Chuan stopped halfway through his sentence and suddenly covered his mouth. Right, Mom had told him not to tell Dad before she left.
Li Jianmin's eyes darkened a bit, but he didn't say anything.
After a while,
Wu Li came back from outside with a bag of noodles in her hand.
Seeing Li Jianmin, she said attentively, "Are you hungry? I'll go cook some noodles."
Li Jianmin didn't say a word. Li Chuan stood beside them and complained, "Mom, why did you come back so late? We're almost starving to death!"
Wu Li knew Li Jianmin must be angry, so she quickly replied, "Right away, right away. I got held up by something outside today. Dinner will be ready soon."
She hastened to start making dinner.
Wu Li busied herself in the kitchen for a while and then quickly served the cooked noodles.
"Come on, come and eat. You must be starving."
Li Jianmin sat down at the dinner table. He stirred the noodles in his bowl with his chopsticks, his face looking even more unpleasant.
Li Chuan looked at the noodles in the large porcelain bowl. It was just plain noodles without any toppings, only a small plate of pickled mustard. He complained non - stop, "Mom, is this what we're having? There isn't even a fried egg."
This stupid kid! He really knew how to bring up the wrong thing at the wrong time.
He just had to mention it in front of his dad.
Wu Li kicked him under the table. "The family spends so much money on your studies every day. Are you still being so picky about your food?"
Suddenly,
"Smack!"
Li Jianmin slapped his chopsticks hard on the table.
Both Wu Li and Li Chuan were startled by the noise. Li Chuan lowered his head and just shoveled the noodles into his mouth, thinking it was his pickiness that had made his dad angry.
Wu Li quietly glanced at Li Jianmin's expression and tried to calm Li Chuan down. "Oh, what are you doing? Why are you scaring the kid as soon as you get home?"
"Do you think I'm talking about the kid?"
"What did you do today? I give you a hundred yuan a month. Is this what you cook every day? A bowl of noodles without even a topping. You have no money? Then where did the money go?"
Wu Li pursed her lips tightly. She didn't expect Li Jianmin to start checking her accounts.
He had never done this before.
The accounts couldn't stand up to scrutiny.
She argued, "There are so many expenses in the family. Which one doesn't cost money? I've already saved as much as I can. And if you hadn't given that seven - thousand - yuan to Li Chuchu, would our family be living so frugally?"
Li Jianmin was like a person whose sore spot had been stepped on. He immediately flew into a rage.
"That's the money I earned! Have I not provided you with a place to live or enough food to eat? And yet you still take things from our home and give them away. Let me ask you, did you go to your natal family this afternoon?"
Li Jianmin had long known that Wu Li secretly took things back to her home. He had never said anything before. But now that the family was in such a tight financial situation, she still did it. Did she really think he was a fool?
Wu Li opened her eyes wide in disbelief. "Li Jianmin, what's wrong with me giving them a few things? You promised to support me back then!"
"Was it to support you or your whole family? Isn't it enough to support your son? Do I also have to support your brother and your mother? You should have just said so back then! Go and see if any man would want a woman like you!"
Wu Li opened her mouth but couldn't say a word.
These words were like a bucket of cold water poured on her. She never thought that Li Jianmin, who had always doted on her, would show such a hideous face after his mask was broken.
Li Chuan buried his head like a quail and didn't dare to say a word.
"Li Jianmin, for all these years, I've slaved away at home and done everything you told me to do. You could do whatever you wanted. I didn't even say a word when you gave seven - thousand - yuan to Li Chuchu. Is it a heinous crime for me to help my brother?"
Wu Li couldn't help but accuse him.
Li Jianmin gave a cold snort. "I don't care what you do. From now on, you'll only get forty yuan a month. If you give the money to your brother, our family won't have anything to eat for a month. You can figure it out for yourself."
With that, he slammed the door.
Wu Li watched his cold back and fell into deep despair.
Li Chuan looked at the commotion and whispered, "Mom, Dad won't really stop giving us money, will he?"
Wu Li was so upset by Li Jianmin's words that she snapped back, "I don't know. Don't ask me."
Li Chuan lowered his head silently.
...
Wu Li thought about it all night and decided that Li Jianmin must just be scaring her.
And considering it was her first offense, he couldn't be so heartless.
Li Jianmin liked her gentle and obedient appearance. She just needed to say a few nice words, and this matter would be over.
"Knock, knock, knock."
There was a knock on the door.
Wu Li thought it was Li Jianmin coming back. She quickly tidied herself up and got up to open the door.
But when she opened the door,
"Where's my son? Why isn't my son at home?"
Wu Li's face visibly turned ugly.
"Mom... Why are you guys here?"
Li's mother glared at her and scolded without restraint, "Do I need to tell you in advance when I come to my own son's house? You're really a stupid woman."
"Where's my son? I want to see my son!"
Li's mother shouted loudly in the house, which gave Wu Li a headache.
"Mom, Li Jianmin has gone to work. He won't be back until six o'clock this afternoon. Please come in and sit down."
Only then did Li's mother stop shouting.
She pulled Li's father's arm and walked into the house.
The two of them sat down on the sofa. Li's mother glared at Wu Li and told her to go make tea.
Just as Wu Li came out of the kitchen, she saw Li's father cough hard a few times, then spat out a mouthful of phlegm on the floor.
He suddenly remembered that this was his son's house, not in the countryside. He looked around nervously and then secretly scraped it away with the sole of his shoe.
It made the floor a mess.
This disgusted Wu Li.
She quickly served the tea. "Mom, how long are you guys planning to stay here? I'll make the arrangements."
Li's mother saw through her intention at a glance and gave a cold snort. "Humph, I'll live here from now on. I'll let my son take care of me in my old age! Where's Li Chuchu? Why haven't I seen her?"
When Wu Li heard Li's mother mention this, she took the opportunity to bad - mouth Li Chuchu. "That girl demanded to split the family a few days ago and took seven - thousand - yuan from home. Lately, the money between Jianmin and me has been really tight."
Li's mother wasn't fooled at all. "Bah! Why did she want to split the family? Isn't it because of you, her step - mother, squeezing her out? Hurry up and call her back! Split the family? What's there to split? You guys are really outrageous!"
She simply looked down on Wu Li. Wu Li couldn't even compare to Sheng Lan.
In her heart, she only recognized Sheng Lan as her daughter - in - law and Li Chuchu as her granddaughter.
As for the other "bastards", they could go wherever they wanted!