Chapter Ninety-six: Supporting the Elderly

  "Oh my, you're really asking for it now. I'm your grandmother, what's wrong with hitting you? Don't even mention calling the police, even if you called the President, I wouldn't be afraid." Old Lady Qiu was about to launch into her usual unreasonable tirade, but although she said she wasn't afraid, she still withdrew the hand she had raised to hit.

  Qiu Ye whispered loudly from behind, "Yes, grandma's behavior is upright and fearless of the police. It's just unknown whether everyone here is also upright and not afraid of the police." The threatening tone in Qiu Ye's words was very clear.

  Qiu Yansen and his wife wanted to say they were not afraid, but after the house celebration incident, although they compensated for it, the other party also said they would not sue, yet they still felt guilty. If not, they wouldn't have come all the way to the north to start anew. They were afraid of what might happen.

  Zhang Cui Lan hastily whispered to Qiu Nainai: "Mom, today we're here to talk about Jia Bao's matter. Let's not discuss other things for now."

  Old Lady Qiu suddenly remembered the purpose of her visit, smoothed out her clothes, turned around and said to Mrs. Qiu: "I'm here to settle accounts with you, how do you educate your children? How can you let your child bully others?" She seemed to have completely forgotten that Qiu Feng was also her grandson.

  She didn't want to hear Qiu's mother explain anything, and she scolded Qiu Feng who had walked up to her side: "Our Bao is still so young, you can bear to do this, your heart is really black! He is your own younger brother!"

  Qiu's father grabbed Qiu's mother who was about to blow up and asked his son, "What's going on? You hit your brother Xiaobao?"

  "Dad, the police need evidence to solve a case, can't just take their word for it that I hit him. Was anyone else there who saw what happened?" Qiu Feng didn't admit to doing it, not because he was afraid to own up, but rather because in his mind, a real man takes responsibility for his actions and isn't afraid of consequences. However, his sister's words also made sense - why make things difficult for himself over that little brat? Besides, if he didn't admit to it, they couldn't bother his parents either.

  "You're still making excuses. When Baobao came back, he said it was after playing with Qiu Ye that you beat him up. Your younger brother wouldn't lie." Granny Qiu said angrily.

  "Mom, you're wrong. A few days ago my gold ring went missing and you said it wasn't Xiaobao who took it, saying he wouldn't do such a thing. What was the result?" Qiu Ma said coldly, she had just taken one look at her son and daughter and knew for sure that it was her son who did it. Once these people were sent away, she would definitely make something delicious for her son as a reward.

  Qiu's grandmother was so choked by her second daughter-in-law that she couldn't say a word, and her mouth was dry.

  Zhang Cuilan quickly took over and said: "Sister-in-law, you can't say that, they are brothers after all. If Xiaofeng hadn't beaten Jiabao badly, we wouldn't have come to find him. Children fighting is normal, but after Jiabao came back crying, he cried for the whole afternoon. I'm worried, so I came to ask Xiaofeng clearly."

  What Zhang Cui Lan said sounded pleasant enough, but Qiu Ye knew that as soon as her brother admitted to being the one who hit him, she would no longer speak pleasantly.

  "Third Aunt, today Jia Bao didn't come to play with me, isn't it that Jia Bao cheated you again!" What Qiu Ye said was true, and Qiu Jia Bao came to bother her instead of playing with her.

  "I didn't cheat anyone. Think about it, I didn't snatch your bun today? Didn't flip over your bowl?" Qiu Jiabao saw that everyone looked at him with suspicious eyes after hearing his sister's words, and he was also very depressed. He had finally told the truth once, but why didn't anyone believe him?

  "Oh, you mean to say that you went and messed things up for me? Yeah, I did go, but it was to flip over all the meatballs from my bowl that could have been sold for several dollars each onto the ground." Qiu Ye had a look of sudden realization on her face, then directly asked Zhang Cui Lan for money.

  "Third Aunt, you also heard it. My brother Ge said with his own mouth that he knocked all my buns to the ground. Luckily you're here, so I don't need to bring my parents to find you. You should compensate me for the bun money."

  "Our family is poor, and the money my parents earn, apart from grandma's pension, can only cover our household expenses. During this period, you guys came over, and it was a big expense with food, drinks, and rent. Grandma even stayed in the hospital for a while, and my parents had to borrow money to get by. I originally thought of selling some dumplings to earn some money for school fees and reduce my parents' burden. But who knew that today, Xiaobao's brother ruined everything for me? Shouldn't I ask you for compensation?"

  "Xiao Ye, are you saying that your little brother bullied you today?" Qiu's mother said in a low voice from behind.

  "Hey, Second Auntie, don't say that. They're just kids, it's normal for them to play and roughhouse together. Who hasn't bumped into each other before? You can't blame them." Zhang Cuilan panicked when Qiu Ye asked her for money, thinking she was going to extort some cash from him instead. How did things turn around so that she ended up owing him money? And this kid Jia Bao, why didn't he explain the whole situation clearly at home? Now she's caught off guard."

  Now in this situation, in order not to lose money, it can only be a draw, and no one will pursue anyone's responsibility.

  "Jiabao, you naughty child, what's the point of bothering your sister for no reason? You deserved to be beaten." She said and slapped Jiabao on the head with her hand.

  This made Qiu Jiabao feel even more wronged. He was the one who got hit, so why did he end up getting scolded? He couldn't take it anymore and let out a loud wail of tears.

  "What are you doing, hitting a child? He's still so young, what does he understand?" Old Lady Qiu was very dissatisfied with San's wife beating their little grandson.

  Zhang Cuilan regretted it after hitting him. Now that she saw the child crying, she felt even more heartbroken. However, she still had a task to complete, so she handed her crying son over to Qiu Yansen and asked him to comfort him.

  Zhang Cui Lan adjusted her clothes, smiling with a face full of chrysanthemums at Qiu Dad and Qiu Mom: "Second Brother, Second Sister-in-law, look at this matter, I don't know what else that child Baobao has done. Today I brought him here just to clarify things with Xiaofeng. These two children are biological brothers after all, their relationship is close, they should play together, can't fight on their own, right?"

  "Yes, I love to hear what Cui Lan said. In Oil City, there are only a few of them, young people like Xiao Ye who understand things and set up small stalls every day after school. Others don't go to disturb him, how can his own family's children go to disturb him? From now on, we must distinguish between inside and outside, and cannot go to disturb his cousin's stall again." Qiu Ma said with a mix of praise and warning.

  Zhang Cuilan forced a smile on her face and quickly said: "Right, right, right, I'll go back and talk to him properly, he's really being unreasonable. Oh, Second Aunt, now that our mother is living with us, shouldn't you be giving her some allowance? Actually, if we were as well off as you are, we would take care of Mother ourselves and wouldn't need any money from you. But as you can see, we've just arrived here and haven't even found our footing yet, it's really frustrating."

  The Qiu family realized that there was still something they didn't understand. The main purpose of their visit today turned out to be about money, and the issue with the child was just an aside.

  Qiu's mother said slowly, "Xuelan, you said it yourself, taking care of the elderly, how can we let your family bear the burden and spend money? Didn't we agree before that the three sons would take care of me in my old age? The two elder sisters are married out, so we don't bother them. Now that I'm living with you, logically speaking, we should be the ones to contribute financially."

  Qiu's mother said so, and Zhang Cuilan opposite her nodded vigorously, the old lady was also very satisfied, and finally had a smile on her face that had just been drooping.

  At this time, Qiu's mother changed the subject and continued to say: "Since we mentioned our mother's pension issue, it's a good opportunity for me to calculate with you the medical expenses of our mother's hospitalization last time. Our mother stayed in the hospital for several days and spent a total of 173 yuan. The three families split the bill evenly, which is 57.6 yuan per family. Yansen is the youngest, so he only needs to pay 57 yuan."

  Qiu's mother said, observing the changes in the expressions of the people in front of her. Seeing Zhang Cui Lan and the old lady's faces slowly darkening, she felt a sense of satisfaction, it's about time you two got anxious, when you were thinking of scheming against my family back then, you should have thought of this day.

  "Logically, we should give the pension money, but as Xiaoye just said, we borrowed a lot of money outside to pay for mom's medical expenses and now we really don't have any extra money. Originally, I wanted to ask you all to think of a solution, but Old Qiu insisted that it wouldn't work, saying that you're not easy either. But this matter must be resolved, so I thought about it and realized that neither can we afford the money nor can you, so let's just cancel each other out. If your family pays the 57 yuan, then deduct two months of mom's pension, we'll take a small loss."

  This was what Qiu's mother had thought of long ago. When she first heard people in the hospital say that the old lady intentionally didn't leave the hospital, wanting to make them spend more on medical expenses, she had already thought it out. How could they not pay the price for their wicked intentions!

  Qiu Ye almost applauded her mother's clever plan, thinking that it would be great to see if they would still be so ungrateful in the future. By moving into the hospital, they wouldn't have to come out again, and from now on, they would also have to bear part of the medical expenses.

  "Yanlin, is this what you mean?" Old Lady Qiu apparently couldn't accept what her mother said and asked her second son.

  Obviously, Qiu's father had also discussed it with Qiu's mother beforehand. When they mentioned this matter in the hospital, he was there too, so he was angry. His money didn't come from nowhere, and he spent medical expenses to treat his own mother's illness, only to be schemed against by his own mother and brother in the end. This would chill anyone's heart.

  "Mom, we had already discussed about taking care of the elderly when we were back in our hometown. Besides, we are really struggling now." said Qiu's dad calmly.

  "Difficult? Difficult my ass! Your family's difficulties can still afford to live in a high-rise building, your family's difficulties can still send two children to school, and a young girl is still being supported. I don't care, I'm your mother, you have to support me. Otherwise, I'll go to your workplace and report you, saying that you're not supporting your own mother, and get you fired."

  Her saliva was flying all over the sky, Qiu Ye accidentally stood within the attack range, and her heart quickly retreated backwards, but Qiu's mother thought that her child had been scared, she immediately thought of the time when her child had a high fever after being scared a month ago, and she was no longer in a good mood, and started arguing with Qiu's grandmother.

  For a time, the house was filled with Old Lady Qiu's curses and Zhang Cui Lan's supporting voice. It seemed that they would not rest until they got their pension money.

  At this time, the door was knocked again.