Chapter 4: A Slap to the Face

My old man was a fifth-grade machinist at the machinery plant, a long-established state-owned enterprise. The benefits were beyond reproach, not to mention his personal friendship with the factory director.

A one-time compensation of ten months' condolence money, plus funeral expenses paid at the highest standard—six months' wages—and another two thousand from the brick kiln factory...

You wouldn't know until you counted; once you did, it was shocking. The old lady had at least three or four thousand yuan in her hands.

No wonder the eldest had his eyes on this!

Li Xiangqin lifted her eyelids and looked at those glittering eyes; they were like dogs seeing a bone the moment money was mentioned.

"Motherf*cker... your father is dead, crushed to death, all because he worked two jobs to raise you unfilial brats.

You didn't show a shred of sadness when he died, but the moment he was buried, you started eyeing his funeral money. You’re worse than animals. Aren't you afraid the old man won't be able to keep his coffin lid down and will come looking for you in the middle of the night to settle the score?"

Li Xiangqin slapped her thigh, her eyes bloodshot. She pointed at the eldest, unable to suppress the fire in her heart, and raised her arm to land two slaps on the eldest, who was standing closest.

*Smack! Smack!*

"I'll beat you to death, you selfish, hypocritical thing! Did you read your books into a dog's stomach?

You're just wearing a human skin. If I fed a dog for three days, it would be grateful for three years; you're worse than a beast! Take your wife and kids and get out!"

Li Xiangqin’s outburst completely stunned the room. She turned and pointed at the second and third sons and their wives.

"And you lot, you heartless things. If I’d known I’d given birth to a bunch of crooked melons and split dates, I should have strangled you one by one at birth. Raising you is worse than raising a litter of pigs.

At least when you fatten up a pig, you can kill it to sell for money or eat the meat. Raising you lot, besides exhausting me to death, hasn't brought me a single benefit. Aside from trying every possible way to gouge things out of my hands, which one of you has ever given back even a needle or a thread? Motherf*cker..."

The group was completely numb after being berated by Li Xiangqin.

Didn't Mom value her sons the most?

Was the old man's death such a huge shock to her?

She wasn't leaving them any face at all, attacking them indiscriminately.

After the scolding, Li Xiangqin still wasn't satisfied. She turned to look for the rolling pin; she wanted to teach these unfilial descendants a lesson on behalf of the old man, and also vent the pent-up rage from her own miserable end in her previous life.

Seeing their mother coming with a rolling pin, the group scrambled to bolt out the door, tripping over each other.

Mom’s gone crazy!

In the blink of an eye, the entire living room was empty, save for the mother and her two daughters. Even little Sixth, who had been looking at a picture book, instinctively bolted out with the rest.

The fifth daughter, Zhang Jianli, blinked her eyes and hurriedly poured a glass of water.

"Mom, drink some water to soothe your throat."

It was the first time she’d seen Mom lose her temper at the eldest brother and the others; it was truly satisfying.

Li Xiangqin glanced at the fifth daughter, took the cup, and downed it in one gulp.

After scolding them one by one, her throat was indeed parched.

It was a pity that this one wasn't any less troublesome either; instead of studying properly, she’d been tricked by a pretty boy into going south to work.

They say the crying child gets the candy. The fifth daughter had been clever and sweet-tongued since she was little, knowing how to please people. She had spoiled her quite a bit, never imagining that this silly girl would be a "love-brain." Before she even finished high school, she’d run off to the south with some pretty boy to work.

Five years after she disappeared, she returned with two kids in tow, her eyes dull and devoid of light, her spirit completely extinguished.

Only after asking did she find out that after the pretty boy tricked her into going south, his true colors were revealed—he was a gambler, a drunkard, and a womanizer. The fifth daughter had worked while heavily pregnant to support him, and only after being abandoned by him did she unwillingly return to rely on her own mother.

She had been furious and hateful at the time, but looking at the two children waiting to be fed, she used her final "coffin money" to pull strings and buy her a permanent job quota, and sent the children to a nursery. It was finally settled.

"Mom, calm down. Dad is already gone. If you make yourself sick, I won't have anyone left to rely on."

Zhang Jianli hugged her arm, pouting and acting spoiled. Then she glanced at the fourth sister and blinked—she hadn't expected Mom to let the fourth sister take over Dad's job.

"If you could just save me some worry, that would be better than anything."

Li Xiangqin gave her a sidelong glance. Although the fifth daughter knew how to vie for favor, she did have a talent for studying. As long as she didn't get into a relationship, she could probably get into a university.

"Mom, don't worry, I promise not to make you angry." The fifth daughter cleverly moved behind her mother, kneading her shoulders while making promises.

Li Xiangqin narrowed her eyes and took a deep breath, not stopping her.

She had raised six children in her life—four boys and two girls. She had raised children and grandchildren, enduring hardships and exhaustion without ever complaining, only to end up with a desolate conclusion.

The old saying goes: "You can see what a child will be like at three, and what an old man will be like at seven." The eldest was pushing thirty, and even little Sixth was fifteen; their characters were likely already set in stone.

Children and grandchildren have their own fortunes. In this life, she didn't intend to change anyone, but they could forget about making her work like a horse or an ox ever again.

She was forty-nine this year and would officially retire next spring. Based on her age in her previous life, she had less than twenty years left to live.

For the first few decades, she and the old man had worked like beasts of burden to raise them; she had already done right by them. In the years to come, she intended to live for herself.

As for how her children and grandchildren turned out, that would depend on their own karma.

She was currently burning with a fire in her heart. Whenever she saw those ingrates, she couldn't help but recall the scenes of being abandoned in a nursing home, starving and freezing in her previous life.

Maternal love? She couldn't muster a drop.

With a plan in mind, Li Xiangqin waved her hand at the fourth and fifth daughters.

"Go do whatever you need to do. I'm going to the inner room to lie down for a while."

"Mom, I'll go prepare dinner."

"I'm going to do my homework."

The fourth daughter checked the time, rolled up her sleeves, and headed to the kitchen. The fifth daughter picked up her schoolbag and returned to her room.

Watching her two daughters busy with their own tasks, Li Xiangqin turned and entered her room. She closed the door and fished a key out from the gap in the wooden bed frame.

She opened the bottom drawer of the chest of drawers by the wall and took out two aluminum lunch boxes. One contained her husband's recent compensation and condolence money.

The other was her own savings, filled with various vouchers and cash. These were all things she had saved by scrimping and saving.

Li Xiangqin checked them carefully. Besides the main living vouchers—cloth, grain, oil, and coal—there was also an industrial coupon. The old man had traded it with a coworker, intended as a dowry for little Sixth's future marriage.

In her previous life, she had hoarded it like a treasure, unable to bear using it. But as the supply of goods increased year by year, industrial coupons soon became useless.

But now, they were still hot commodities; you couldn't buy them even with money.

What a pity. The two of them had scrimped and saved, calculating every penny, even paying with their lives, only to raise a group of ungrateful ingrates.

Li Xiangqin pulled back her thoughts and gathered all the cash together, counting it...

Two hundred and eighty-six yuan in savings, plus the two thousand from the brick kiln factory, and one thousand four hundred and forty-four yuan in condolence money and funeral expenses from the machinery plant.

She currently had three thousand seven hundred and twenty-six yuan in her hands—the entirety of the family's assets.

(End of chapter)