Chapter 52: Should Not

Wen Lan Sheng shook his head while looking down.

Xie Cen slapped his thigh and said angrily: “Then why did you come back! To watch your father and mother become homeless? That money is our lifeline. If we don’t get it back, your mother and I won’t live anymore.”

Wen Lan Sheng spoke in a weak voice: “Dad, this has nothing to do with Xia Xia. Stock trading always has gains and losses. How can you ask Xia Xia to compensate you for the money you lost?”

“You—” Wen Ming Yue shakily raised her hand, her arm, old and wrinkled with only a thin layer of skin left, had an IV needle inserted. She pointed at Wen Lan Sheng, trembling. Although she couldn’t speak, her eyes were almost nailed to his face.

In Wen Lan Sheng’s ears, it was as if he could already hear Wen Ming Yue’s silent curses. The cheek that had been slapped by her burned with pain.

“Wen Lan Sheng!” Xie Cen shouted in a shrill voice, his rough fingers jabbing again and again, like sharp knives, at Wen Lan Sheng’s face: “You really don’t care if your mother and I live or die, do you? You clearly know that without this money, your mother and I will be so poor in the future that we won’t even be able to afford food, yet you’re still speaking up for Fan Xia! What kind of heart do you have? Do you really want your mother and me to die?”

Xie Cen’s angry scolding came down like a torrential rain, his saliva almost spraying onto Wen Lan Sheng’s face. He lowered his head, silently enduring it.

“He doesn’t want you to die, does he?” Wen Jing mocked sarcastically, her eyes cutting into Wen Lan Sheng like knives: “He hasn’t even registered his marriage with Fan Xia now, so they’re not considered husband and wife. He’s just an illegitimate man by Fan Xia’s side.”

“Yet at this time, you’re threatening Fan Xia, saying if she doesn’t give you money, you’ll take him away. Tch—, he’s been with Fan Xia for so many years, used to living a comfortable life without worries about food and drink. How could he be willing to go back to the life of a working-class person, working from nine to five, with a monthly salary of just a few thousand?”

“I guess he’s probably wishing for you to die right now!”

“Once you die, he’ll immediately clear out all those things in the living room, throw them away, and continue living a carefree life with just the two of them. If his belly works hard enough and he gets pregnant, maybe Fan Xia will agree to marry him and register their marriage, and he can go back to living the life of a noble husband.”

“Wen Jing! Shut up!” Wen Lan Sheng trembled all over.

“I won’t shut up!” Wen Jing glared at him fiercely: “Wen Lan Sheng, you’re not worthy of being part of our Wen family. Mom and Dad have been so good to you, even putting you through college. Is this how you repay them? For Fan Xia, you can even disregard your parents’ lives?”

Wen Lan Sheng shook with anger: “I’ll say it again, it’s not that I don’t care about Mom and Dad. If I didn’t care about them, when they sold their house back then, I wouldn’t have let them bring all their things to my place for them to live!”

“Tch—, it’s just clearing out some space, putting up a facade, who can’t do that? If you really cared about Mom and Dad, you should make Fan Xia give out the money!” Wen Jing said, her eyes narrowed tightly.

“This money was Mom’s own choice to invest, it has nothing to do with Xia Xia. Who told Mom to invest all her money at once? It was all because of her own greed!” Wen Lan Sheng said loudly.

The hospital room, which had been noisy just moments ago, suddenly became so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

“Heh—” Wen Jing sneered, pointing her finger at Wen Lan Sheng, and said to Xie Cen and Wen Ming Yue: “Dad, Mom, now you see clearly, right? As they say, a married-out son is like spilled water. He’s not even a proper husband yet, but his heart is already all about Fan Xia. He’d probably even change his surname to Fan if he could, being Fan Xia’s lapdog, not caring about his own family’s life or death.”

Xie Cen’s chest heaved violently as he sat down on the hospital bed, supporting himself. After a long while, he said: “Wen Lan Sheng, I’ll ask you one last time, will you go and make Fan Xia compensate for the money? If you go, it means you still have us in your heart, and your mother and I can forgive everything you’ve done before. But if you don’t go, I’ll truly be heartbroken with you.”

Wen Lan Sheng lowered his head in despair and helplessness, tears streaming down his cheeks.

“Speak!” Xie Cen heavily slapped the metal cabinet beside the hospital bed, making a huge clanging sound that made Wen Lan Sheng’s shoulders shudder, and tears rolled down.

He took a step back, his voice trembling: “…I’m sorry.”

Wen Ming Yue drew in a sharp breath, making a sound of near-throat-cutting pain from her throat, her cloudy eyes staring at him with unwilling resentment.

“Get out! Get out of here!” The moment she heard the answer, Wen Jing rushed forward and pushed his shoulder. Although it was just a push, when a woman’s strength falls on a man’s shoulder, it’s like being hit hard by a hammer on the bone. Wen Lan Sheng groaned in pain and hit the wall behind him.

Xie Cen slapped his thigh and cried out loudly: “What sin have I committed to have such a useless son? Other people’s sons are filial and sensible, but you’re not only unfilial, you even want to kill your parents!”

Wen Lan Sheng covered his shoulder, his voice choked with tears: “Dad, I don’t want to kill you, it’s just that this really isn’t Xia Xia’s fault. You can’t make her compensate for the money you lost, otherwise she’ll leave me. Dad, I can’t live without her. I’ve loved her for so many years, I really can’t live without her.”

“Mom-” Wen Lan Sheng stepped forward and held Wen Ming Yue’s hand: “Mom, don’t worry. Although your savings are gone, you still have me, right? I’ll pay for your living expenses in the future, okay? Rest assured, I absolutely won’t let you become homeless.”

Wen Ming Yue’s eyes were filled with angry bloodshot, she didn’t even look at him.

“You’ll support Mom and Dad?” Wen Jing laughed disdainfully: “You can’t even support yourself without relying on Fan Xia, how are you going to support Mom and Dad?”

“I-” Wen Lan Sheng bit his lip: “Never mind about that, I have my ways.”

Besides daily expenses, the living allowance Fan Xia gave him also included money specifically for buying clothes, shoes, skincare products, and going to beauty salons every month. If he saved this money, it would be enough to cover the living expenses of his two elderly parents.

He just needed to persist for a year. After another year, Wen Ming Yue would retire, and then they could live on her retirement pension.

Xie Cen covered his chest, constantly trying to catch his breath. The anger on his face slightly subsided, but he started to ask: “Then will Fan Xia still agree to let us live in her house?”

Wen Lan Sheng raised his head with joy and quickly agreed: “Of course, Xia Xia will definitely agree.”

Wen Ming Yue shook her head at Xie Cen, but Xie Cen patted her hand, appearing to make a generous concession: “Alright then, I won’t hold Fan Xia accountable for this matter. But tell Fan Xia not to forget how our family’s 500,000 yuan disappeared. If it wasn’t for her reckless suggestion encouraging your mom to invest, how could your mom have invested all the money?”

“Yes, yes, I know. I’ll go tell Xia Xia now.” Wen Lan Sheng wiped his tears and ran out of the hospital room to tell Fan Xia this good news. Of course, he chose to keep Xie Cen’s words to himself.

“You… how…” Wen Ming Yue said each word with great difficulty.

Xie Cen said helplessly: “I had no choice, did I? Look at Fan Xia’s reaction. Even if she let Lan Sheng marry someone else, she wouldn’t back down. It’s clear she’s determined not to give the money. If we keep making a fuss like this, we’ll really be thrown out, and where would we live then?”

“At least now we still have a place to stay, and Wen Lan Sheng said he could give us living expenses. We can only reluctantly agree.”

“This ungrateful wretch, raising him is worse than raising a dog.” Wen Ming Yue said weakly.

Xie Cen rolled his eyes towards the door: “Isn’t that right? I’m completely disappointed now. If I had known I’d raise such a bastard, I might as well have thrown him into a sewer to drown back then. But right now, we really can’t disown him as our son, otherwise we’ll have no house and no money.”

“But fortunately, you’ll retire in a year. By then, your retirement pension should be four or five thousand, right? Just bear with it for now, it’ll be better by then.” Xie Cen said.

Wen Ming Yue clenched her hand, the heavy stone in her heart still sinking and falling.

Things wouldn’t get better at all. The 400,000 yuan loss on the surface was just the tip of the iceberg. She had actually lost much more. Even with the retirement pension, it would take more than a decade of not eating or drinking to pay it back. She hadn’t dared to tell Xie Cen, but Old Zhang, Old Zou, and the others would come to ask for money sooner or later. What should she do then?

“And let me tell you, we’re backing down now just to show weakness to Fan Xia.” Xie Cen whispered in Wen Ming Yue’s ear: “She’s so rich, but hasn’t registered marriage with Wen Lan Sheng. We can’t get any money. The son I worked so hard to raise, she’s been sleeping with him for so many years for free, taking advantage for so many years. It’s such a loss, we must find a way to earn some back.”

Wen Ming Yue shook her head: “He won’t divorce Fan Xia, we can’t get any money.”

Over the years, Fan Xia had trained Wen Lan Sheng into an obedient dog. Except for her, Wen Lan Sheng didn’t recognize anyone else.

Xie Cen said: “That’s fine too. Anyway, since Wen Lan Sheng has boasted that he’ll support us, we don’t need to hold back. Fan Xia is rich, so she gives him a lot of money. We just need to ask him for money whenever we need it. Say, if I want to buy some clothes or some supplements during festivals, I’ll ask him for a few thousand. Would he dare to refuse? Save for a few years, and we might even be able to save up for a down payment for Jing Jing.”

“So, just bear with Fan Xia’s matter for now. We still need to rely on her. Don’t go against her. Be nice and humble, getting the money is the real deal.” Xie Cen advised.

“I understand.” Wen Ming Yue answered dryly, but didn’t dare to tell Xie Cen that if Old Zhang and Old Zou came to ask for money in a few days and revealed her borrowing in front of Fan Xia, would Fan Xia still be willing to marry Wen Lan Sheng after knowing she owed so much external debt? Seeing her IOUs, Fan Xia would probably dump Wen Lan Sheng, this burden, directly.

How could they maintain their current lifestyle then? No, she must find a way to cover it up.