Witty Wife, Better Life-Chapter 868 - 858 Completely Severed

Time flew by, and before they knew it, ten days had already passed. After the seventh day of Old Man Li’s funeral service, Li Hongjun and his family packed their bags, ready to head back. After all, there were many things that needed their attention back home, and it was already quite impressive that they managed to spend such a long time in their hometown.

"Look at you all, always hustling back and forth like this, it’s been so many years, yet you’ve never really stayed at home for a few days." Wang Dan helped Shen Yunfang pack local specialties into bags, all of which she had picked out for them to take back to Z Province.

Don’t get it wrong, it wasn’t that Wang Dan had suddenly become generous. She had another favor to ask Shen Yunfang, and since Shen Yunfang had agreed to it, this special treatment followed.

"The office is just too busy, Hongjun and I can never sync our schedules; it’s either he’s busy or I’m busy. But it’ll get better later on. When you’re free, you can come and visit us in Z Province too." Shen Yunfang looked at the two big bags full of items on the ground, feeling a bit worried. It wasn’t just their family of four on the trip back, so they couldn’t just stash the luggage into the void; there really wasn’t enough space in the car for all of this.

"Hehe, of course not. This time Erdan is going with you, and at home, it’s just Sandan. In a couple of years when he’s a bit bigger, I’ll send him over to work with you too, then his dad and I will really be at ease. Then I’ll come over to chat with you," Wang Dan said, laughing until her eyes disappeared.

Yes, she had managed, once again, to send Erdan off to be taken care of by the younger couple.

Wasn’t Erdan too young? What kind of person was Wang Dan? Once she had set her mind to it, she had already found someone to change her son’s household registration; now, legally, seventeen-year-old Erdan was eighteen.

Seeing her sister-in-law’s sincerity, Shen Yunfang couldn’t bear to let her down. Moreover, her farm really needed labor, and who better to recruit than family? As long as Erdan and Goudan could work diligently, she didn’t mind taking care of another nephew. But she still laid it out plainly to Wang Dan, the mother, saying that Erdan would initially work on probation. If he was deemed fit, he could stay, but if he failed to meet the standards or was deceitful, then being a relative would not secure his place on her farm.

Wang Dan wasn’t worried at all. Although none of her three sons was particularly clever or academically inclined, each one of them was good at physical labor. "Let him be on probation," she thought, "as long as he isn’t maliciously harmed, he’s sure to be kept on."

Wang Dan had much confidence in her son.

"Sister-in-law, don’t mention this to Sandan just yet. If the child can pursue an education, let him study first. Think about it, which is better, working in the fields or sitting in an office?" Shen Yunfang was truly afraid that her sister-in-law, in pursuit of immediate wages for the child, might ruin his path to education.

"Hey, don’t I know that? Do you think I’m some ignorant woman? If they were cut out for studies, your brother and I would spare no expense to provide for their education," Wang Dan widened her eyes. "But those three rascals at home just don’t have it in them. Besides, skipping school might even be better – I wouldn’t want them to turn out heartless and cold like their third uncle, which would be the death of us." She didn’t care if her speech was contradictory; within a few sentences, she had shifted the topic to Li Hongqi next door.

Shen Yunfang laughed and comforted Wang Dan, "Sister-in-law, don’t worry about that. Not everyone can be like him. Our kids are all good-hearted; just rest assured."

Wang Dan, flattered by her sister-in-law’s praise of her children, couldn’t stop grinning from ear to ear.

"Yunfang, do you really think I can buy the house across the street for that price?" Wang Dan was still a bit nervous.

"It should be fine. I see that the person across the street is desperate for money; he will surely sell if someone wants to buy the house. And even if he really doesn’t sell, sister-in-law, can’t you just find another place to build a new house? Why insist on living here?" Shen Yunfang had never found the old house appealing; in fact, she had disliked the Li Family home since the day she married into it.

Speaking of Feng Shui, she truly didn’t think the old house had good Feng Shui – otherwise, why would those who lived there end up the way they did, right?

"Just talking about building a house, your elder brother and I can barely earn any money in a year." Wang Dan really wanted to build a new house, but she knew very well how little money she had on hand.

"That was before. This year, haven’t you and my elder brother leased land to grow potatoes? Once the potatoes are harvested in autumn, you’ll definitely have money to build a house," Shen Yunfang said with a smile.

"Oh, I hope your good words come true!" Wang Dan also chuckled.

At dinner, Li Hongxing hesitantly mentioned that Li Hongqi had asked him again about buying a house, saying if his elder brother didn’t buy the old estate, he was truly going to sell the house to outsiders.

A few days ago, the brothers had a complete fallout on the day of Old Man Li’s funeral. Shen Yunfang took out the gift money and made Li Hongqi sign an IOU to cover the entire funeral expenses, but Li Hongqi was unhappy, saying Shen Yunfang paid for the funeral willingly and why should he give his money or sign an IOU. He even shamelessly claimed that if he had organized it, he could have managed a decent ceremony for less than two hundred yuan.

That implied Shen Yunfang was swindling him.

Li Hongjun’s face darkened at the time and he asked Li Hongqi why, on the morning of the old man’s funeral, he, the son supposed to care for his father, hadn’t prepared anything. If his elder brothers hadn’t made arrangements in advance, did he plan to just let their father go without any dignity?

Li Hongqi had nothing to say, but he stubbornly refused to yield.

Mother Zheng eavesdropped outside the door for a while, and seeing her son-in-law at a disadvantage, she couldn’t hold back anymore and burst in, hands on her hips, scolding the Li brothers for bullying others.

Shen Yunfang and Wang Dan, of course, couldn’t let her get away with it, so while the men stayed silent, the women started arguing again.

Later, Mother Zheng and Wang Dan had such a heated argument that they almost came to blows.

Li Hongjun coldly watched Li Hongqi remain silent while his mother-in-law and sisters-in-law argued. After observing for a while, he seemed to make a decision, relaxed his facial expression, and no longer glared at Li Hongqi with a black face.

He stood up, walked over to his wife, whispered a few words to her, and then Shen Yunfang took out the gift money she had just pocketed and handed it to Li Hongjun. Li Hongjun then threw the stack of money right in Li Hongqi’s face and very calmly said, since their parents were no longer alive, there was no need for any connection between them. Li Hongqi could take the money if he valued it; consider it his final act of filial piety to his father. But from then on, Li Hongqi and Li Hongjun were no longer related.

After that day, Li Hongqi barely stepped out of the house. Even if he did see Li Hongjun or Shen Yunfang, he would immediately turn his head away as if he hadn’t seen them. Their relationship was truly severed.

"You didn’t say anything, did you?" Wang Dan asked nervously, fearing that Li Hongxing, in his naive way, might have been tricked into saying something by Li Hongqi.

"No, what could I say? I just said I had no money." Li Hongxing might be slow at speaking, but he wasn’t stupid.

"Right, that’s exactly what you should say, no matter how flowery his words are, just stick to one point, simply that you have no money."