Chapter 232: The Debt-Collecting Ghost

"What exactly is the reason?" Mother Shen pressed. "Is it just because of Lin Shutong's matter? Then let's not have the child, okay? Cut ties with Lin Shutong completely—that kind of jinx should be cut off completely!"

She regretted that she had kept dragging out the question of whether or not to have the child, which was why her son had never fully severed contact with Lin Shutong.

Father Shen said with a grave expression, "It's not purely because of this, is it?"

Personal matters would have an impact, but not enough to make the Fu Family willingly give up a professional manager they had personally trained.

Shen Xun nodded. "It's not just because of this."

Shen Xi: "Then what is it because of?"

Shen Xun didn't want to say.

He was worried that his parents would blame Jiang Lai for it and go bother Jiang Lai again.

Father Shen guessed it: "Jiang Lai spread the story of what happened among the three of you?"

Shen Xun stood up and said, "It has nothing to do with her. From start to finish, it was me who did wrong."

Father Shen concluded, "Sure enough, it was Jiang Lai."

Mother Shen said with bitter heartache, "A day as husband and wife means a hundred days of affection. You're already divorced—why does she have to blow things up to this point! How can Jiang Lai's heart be so cruel."

"Mom." Shen Xun frowned. "I told you, it has nothing to do with her. I'm the one who did wrong. What you're really worried about is nothing more than the issue of eldercare. You have a house and a car under your names, and so does Shen Xi. I'll keep living in the three-bedroom apartment where Jiang Lai and I lived for four years. Can't life go on just the same?"

Shen Xun's latter words hurt Mother Shen. She nodded, grinding her teeth, and said, "Yes, life goes on just the same. The little money you earned all these years—besides buying us a house, the rest all went to that jinx Lin Shutong. All these years you were working for her! Not only did every cent you earned go to her, now even your future has been smashed in her hands!"

Shen Xun lowered his eyes, not daring to deny it.

"Do you think we really care only about that little money of yours? Shen Xun, your conscience has been eaten by dogs! If it were really about your little money, how much have you given us all these years! Your father and I worked ourselves to the bone raising you kids. From childhood to adulthood, what did you ever want that we didn't give you? Did we ever short you on food? Short you on drink? Even that first pot of gold you made from investments in university—the starting capital came from us!"

"Did we expect every cent you earned after starting work to go to us? We wanted you to do well. Even if you didn't spend it on us, you should have spent it on yourself!" Mother Shen grew more and more agitated. Whether her husband or her daughter came over to pull her back, she shook them off, glaring furiously at her son.

"The clothes you wore and the things you used all these years—how many of them were even presentable? We always thought Jiang Lai was a miser, holding onto the money you earned and refusing to let you spend it. Turns out you were keeping Lin Shutong, that little tramp!"

"We didn't agree to you marrying Jiang Lai back then, also because Jiang Lai's family background and career weren't presentable and couldn't help you. Yes, she's now successful and remarkable. We were blind, we admit it. We lost this daughter-in-law, we admit it, and we regret it too."

"Fine, things have come to this point. Every person in our family is at fault, every single one. But the person who should be most at fault is Lin Shutong! You threw over a hundred million at her—with over a hundred million, if you'd quit your job to start a business, your company would already be of decent scale, Shen Xun!"

"When you wanted to marry Jiang Lai, why did you have to get entangled with Lin Shutong? Now it's great—the money has been drained by Lin Shutong, your career and future are ruined not only by Lin Shutong but also by Jiang Lai. You can't turn things around anymore. You know you were wrong, and then we become the bad guys here, right? Shouldn't we blame Lin Shutong? Shouldn't we feel that Jiang Lai's heart is too cruel?"

Facing his mother's accusation word by word, sentence by sentence, Shen Xun couldn't refute a single thing. He could only lower his head and admit his mistakes like when he was a child.

"Dad, Mom, I was wrong. I'm sorry."

"That line of yours, 'nothing more than the issue of eldercare'—that is what you're sorry for!" Mother Shen left in a fury. Whoever wanted to live in this place could live here.

Father Shen glanced at his son. He couldn't bear to keep criticizing him, and instead raised his hand and patted his shoulder. "I'll go check on your mother. As for work, if you've resigned, then it's resigned. As long as the green hills remain, there's no fear of running out of firewood."

Both parents left.

Shen Xi, who always quietly minimized her presence whenever a dispute broke out at home, suddenly spoke up: "Brother, tell me—if we went to beg Jiang Lai, would Jiang Lai give us a portion of the money she recovered from Lin Shutong?"

Over a hundred million—even at a nine-to-one split, that would still be ten million.

Shen Xun's head felt like it was splitting apart, body and mind exhausted. He gave a perfunctory reply: "I don't know."

Shen Xi: "Then I'll go try!"

Work for someone else? She would never work for someone else in this lifetime!

Shen Xi ran to Villa No. 9. From far away she spotted two dogs, so she picked up two paving cobblestones along the way. She tentatively stepped forward, shouting that she wanted to see Jiang Lai, insisting over and over that that was her sister-in-law.

Ever since she saw Lin Shutong's true colors, she knew perfectly well in her heart who had been good to her. Jiang Lai had bought two-thousand-yuan porridge for her, while Lin Shutong only used her brother's money to play the generous benefactor.

After just two shouts, the two dogs lunged at her. She threw stones at them, and the dogs chased her even harder.

She fell twice in a row, bruising both her knees!

Shen Xi didn't dare approach Villa No. 9 again. After going back, she kept crying, completely panicked, not knowing what she should do next.

Her own brother no longer had the ability to support her. Her parents had pensions, so their livelihood was certainly no problem.

Only she had absolutely no ability to support herself. As for going abroad? Don't even think about it.

Damn Lin Shutong!

Whenever Shen Xi thought of Lin Shutong, a glint of ruthlessness showed in her eyes.

The next day she went to Shuantianque to find Lin Shutong. She had barely told the guard which building and unit number before the guard asked if she was also here to view a property.

Only then did Shen Xi learn that Lin Shutong was selling her house and car to raise money.

Since Lin Shutong wasn't here, she must be at her maternal grandfather's house.

The location of the Ji Family could be found with a quick search.

Shen Xi then caused a scene at the Ji Family's front gate, shouting for Lin Shutong to come out and pay back the money—to return all the money her brother had given her all these years!

She disturbed the Ji Family so that they didn't have a moment's peace.

Ji Lao had someone drive Shen Xi away. Lin Shutong's aunt stepped forward and said, "What's the use of chasing her off? If there's a first time, there'll be a second. In the end, it's our Miss Lin who's in the wrong. Let me go take a look."

That left Ji Lao's old face with nowhere to hide.

The woman walked out, looked down at Shen Xi from above, and said, "Coming to our house to make trouble is useless. It's not like Lin Shutong doesn't have a home—she's hiding in her own home. If you don't know her home address, I'll give it to you."

Shen Xi obtained Lin Shutong's home address.

It was an old residential complex with lax security.

But this old complex was in a very good location as a school-district property. Back when school-district properties were being hyped, the prices were absurdly high—money alone couldn't even buy one.

Lin Shutong's parents each had one unit. They lived in one themselves and rented the other out. Those rental payments were also part of Lin Shutong's living expenses for studying abroad.

Shen Xi followed the door number Lin Shutong's aunt had given her, arrived at her doorstep, raised her hand, and started banging—bang bang bang.

"Who is it?" Lin Shutong opened the door, and it was actually Shen Xi, this debt-collecting ghost!