Chapter 16: She is Never Afraid to Settle Scores

At the height of her agitation, Li Xiangqin stood up abruptly, planted her hands on her hips in a teapot-like stance, and pointed at her eldest son.

"You went off to university far away, leaving your wife and children for your old mother to serve! Doing laundry, cooking, raising kids—which one of those doesn't cost money?

If you feel like you've been shortchanged, then I'll settle the books with you properly!

Your children's food, clothing, and necessities are all provided by us old folks. Your wife earns her own salary, yet she lives and eats here too. Have you ever asked her if she's given me a single cent? Has she ever washed a single diaper?

When you graduated and were assigned a job and an apartment, we bought you a whole set of furniture—was that free? And then there was your wedding dowry; all in all, your family of four spent every last penny of our savings.

I spend the money, I raise the kids, and once you all live comfortably, you turn around and deny it all. Has all those years of schooling gone straight to your heads?

You are nothing but selfish and ungrateful. I'd have been better off raising two pigs and fattening them up for the slaughterhouse; at least then I'd get meat and some money back in return!"

Listening to his mother vent with such fury, her finger practically poking his forehead, he felt a surge of guilt. His face darkened, but for the moment, he truly had no way to argue back.

He was among the first batch of college students after the restoration of the Gaokao. From the moment he received his admission notice, he was destined to hold his head higher than anyone else.

Wherever he went, people treated him with respect and greeted him with smiles.

As the eldest son, through his own hard work, he had elevated the family's status. His parents had always been proud of him, and whenever he spoke, they never refused him.

He had originally thought that after his father passed away, he would become the pillar of the family, the one who would hold everything together.

But his mother was as if possessed; she had changed completely—fierce, unreasonable, and impossible to communicate with.

Now, she was even cursing him by name in front of his brothers.

If word of this got out, he wouldn't be able to show his face in public again.

Once Li Xiangqin started, she became more fluent with every insult. Seeing the eldest silenced by her barrage, she turned her gaze toward the second son.

"And then there's you, you little brat! You've never given anyone peace of mind since you were a child. You were a troublemaker when you were little, breaking people's heads and making the family pay compensation. As soon as you grew up a bit, you started acting like a hoodlum.

To clean up your messes, the family had to pay out money and grain. Life was so hard back then—we never knew if we'd have our next meal. Your father and I tightened our belts and lived frugally, only for it all to be wasted because of you.

You had a perfectly good job, but you insisted on going to the countryside with those people, causing chaos in the village until the locals reported you to the police.

To bail you out, we spent our entire life savings and it still wasn't enough; we had to secretly sell our blood just to get by. You are the most troublesome one in this entire family.

Then came your wedding. The Zhang family didn't miss a single thing regarding the dowry or the banquet. People who didn't know better would think we were marrying off a daughter instead of a son.

Ever since you got married, you've basically become a live-in son-in-law for the Wang family. We don't see you all year round, but whenever you do come back, the walls get a little thinner—either you're asking for things or you're conducting a total raid on our resources.

You miserable wretch! From childhood to now, you've done nothing but take. The money wasted on you must be at least eight or nine hundred yuan.

Where do you get the nerve to argue with me about fairness? Pay back the money wasted on you first, then you'll have the right to speak!"

Li Xiangqin grew angrier as she spoke; merely cursing him wasn't enough to vent her rage. She took two steps forward, raised her hand, and delivered two sharp slaps right to his face.

The second son stood there frozen, listening to his mother's accounting, his eyes wide with shock. Before he could react, two more slaps landed on his cheeks. His face stung fiercely, and he was completely dazed.

What had he even come here for today?

Seeing him looking so foolish, Li Xiangqin turned to the third son and his wife.

"And then there's you two—one a sickly invalid and the other a useless mouth to feed! I borrowed money from everywhere just to get you married, and I didn't get a single benefit from it; instead, your wife pushed me and made me crack my head open.

Because I wanted to fulfill your wishes, I became the ultimate sucker, the softest mother-in-law in the entire residential compound.

Are your eyes growing out of your ass? You can't see your mother's grievances, but the moment your wife's eyes get a little red, you act like the sky is falling.

From your wedding to arranging your job, it's all totaled over a thousand yuan. Use your fingers and count it for me—how many bicycles could that money have bought?

In this life, I've failed my parents and I've failed your father. If I had known you'd raise a pack of wolves, I would have let him rest early so he wouldn't have had to give his life for this.

But the two of us old folks owe nothing to you wolves.

Just as I started being a little kinder to the fourth child, your eyes turned red with envy. You rushed off to spread rumors and teamed up to come after me. You are truly heartless!"

After her tirade, Li Xiangqin took a deep breath, jumped up, and delivered two more slaps to the third son.

Day after day, they just open their mouths to eat; they grow big and strong, but they are utterly useless.

"My biggest regret in life is giving birth to ungrateful, filial-less sons like you. I put in all the effort and got nothing in return, only to have you suck my blood!"

After shouting at each of them in turn, Li Xiangqin turned back to her chair, sat down, caught her breath, and picked up a cup of water from the table, gulping it down to soothe her throat.

"If you still think the money I spent on you was too little, then count it on your fingers. If you truly want to talk about fairness, spit out everything you've taken and overconsumed, and I'll respect you as a man."

The second and third sons held their faces, moving from anger to shame, before their heads slumped in silence. After a moment, they looked up and turned toward the eldest.

Their eyes screamed: *Say something!*

Zhang Jianguo felt incredibly uncomfortable under their stares. He regretted this immensely; he should never have stepped into this mess.

It was all the third son's fault—being so loud and unable to keep his composure.

Li Xiangqin watched the subtle exchanges between the three men. Her eyes landed on the eldest, and with lightning speed, she lunged forward and delivered two more slaps.

Zhang Jianguo's vision went crooked from the blow. He clutched his face and stared at Li Xiangqin in fury.

"Mom, why did you suddenly hit me?"

"You are the eldest in this family. You enjoyed your parents' love, so you should set a good example for your younger brothers. But what have you done? Have you taken less or taken less than your share?

When the leaders are bad, the followers follow suit. If your brothers are selfish and ungrateful, you bear half the responsibility.

You all keep shouting that I'm biased. I've already hit the second and third sons; you can't just stand there watching."

Zhang Jianguo: "..."

Was his mother crazy? If things continued like this, this family would be impossible to live in.

"Mom, it was indeed the third brother who told us today that you suddenly bought a bicycle. We were just worried you had suffered some kind of shock, so we came to check on you.

The fourth child is my biological sister; I have no objection to you buying things for her. But isn't your temper a bit too much? Making such a scene before anything has even happened just makes us a laughingstock."

Hearing the eldest son's tone, the second son rubbed his cheeks and nodded in sympathetic agreement.