Chapter 272: Repaying Money

Clear sky, light wind passing, slightly cool.

In the suburbs with green trees and good mountains and water, a group of people dressed in black coats, their expressions could not hide their sadness. At the front of the team was Su Mingcheng holding Zhao Meilan's portrait, and Su Mingzhe holding the bone ash box. Needless to say, these people are naturally the relatives and friends of the old Su family, following the team and walking slowly.

The memorial service for Zhao Meilan has just been held, and now they are going to the cemetery to be buried.

Wang Yan held his daughter and walked in the team with Su Mingyu. In front of them was Su Daqiang, who was walking step by step, not knowing what he was thinking.

Wang Lin is still young, and has never experienced this battle. Infected by the emotion, she was originally happy and jumping, but now there is no smile on her little face. She pulled her biological father and looked up and asked: "Dad, what are we doing?"

"Mom's mom passed away, we are going to send her off." Wang Yan said: "What is Mom's mom called?"

The little one tilted her head and thought for a while, and after a long while, she still had a singing tone: "Mom's mom is called grandma..."

Wang Yan estimated that his girl was recalling the rocking horse that put coins in front of the supermarket to play family songs, and even sang it in her head... There are still differences in the names between the north and the south. He calls her grandma, and here she is called grandma.

"Hmm, you are right, we are going to send grandma off." He didn't tell the child before, and took her here directly today, which was Su Mingyu's temporary idea. Children are all like that, although Wang Lin is quite sensible, she doesn't want to go to school much, and it is more interesting to mix with her father at home than in kindergarten.

Wang Yan talked to the little girl patiently, listening to her curious muttering, and Su Mingyu said a few words from time to time, revealing two words, happiness.

Julie in the back looked at the chubby little girl and the family of three, which was still quite interesting. She and Su Mingcheng had been married for so many years, and they didn't have a child. On the one hand, they were not ready to be parents, and they still wanted to live their own happy little life. On the other hand, it was also because of career prospects. After all, they were only twenty-four or twenty-five when they got married, and pregnancy would delay them for two years, which had a great impact. So although both parents had been urging, they were both very firm, and it was now in their thirties.

In the past two years, there have been thoughts of having children. After all, being in their thirties is already an older age, and it will be more difficult to have children later, but they have never been able to make up their minds. The main thing is that now it is their career rising period, and the living expenses of the two are also large. Having a child will reduce the quality of life. The two who are used to being chic are not willing to give up easily. It is that the actual conditions do not allow it.

This funeral process went very smoothly, not because Su Mingyu kept making phone calls, which led to Su Mingcheng's dissatisfaction, and finally the two had a big fight, and even broke Zhao Meilan's bone ash box, and finally Su Mingyu failed to participate in Zhao Meilan's burial activities.

Because Su Mingyu didn't pay this time, the overall progress was delayed, and Su Mingyu met the Hong Zong who talked about business in the original play, and there were not so many things. And even if she didn't meet, even if there were still a pile of things today, if Su Mingcheng dared to find trouble, Wang Yan, the man, would not just watch on the side.

And it is estimated that Su Mingcheng has no intention to manage so much now, because Wang Yan saw that the three father and son of the Su family, including Julie, were all strange in atmosphere, especially Julie's look at them was very empty. He naturally thought that Su Daqiang must be studying to go to the United States to live in a big mansion, and then took Su Mingzhe back to the old house, and then Su Mingzhe found that the number of the passbook was wrong.

But Su Mingzhe is different from Su Mingyu. He thinks that the eldest brother is like a father and wants to take on the heavy burden of the Su family now, so he will definitely not let it go easily and will definitely make a scene.

And the facts are exactly as Wang Yan thought, not much difference...

In the old house, Su Mingzhe looked at the mottled and peeling walls in the old house, some rotten wooden doors and windows, cabinets, and memories flooded into his heart, turning back and forth upstairs and downstairs. Su Daqiang was fiddling in the inner room, and finally took out two passbooks and blew off the floating dust on them. He was a little tired from bending his waist and buttocks, so he turned around and sat down, holding the passbooks and looking through them.

It happened that Su Mingzhe also finished recalling, went downstairs and walked in.

Su Daqiang was very relieved of this eldest son, and he didn't mean not to let Su Mingzhe know the truth, so he didn't hide or dodge, and continued to look through it in a big way.

"Dad, you came back to get the passbooks."

Su Daqiang looked at his eldest son and said: "The savings of your mom and me over the years are all here. Your mom is gone, this is the money for my pension in the future, so I have to carry it with me. It's been too busy these two days, and I haven't had time to come back to get it. You also know the door lock of our family, I think about it every day."

"Dad, don't worry, there will be me, Mingcheng, and Mingyu to be filial to you in the future, and we will definitely not treat you badly. Come, sit down." With a smile, Su Mingzhe sat down beside his biological father and took the passbooks: "Let me see how much savings you and Mom have over the years."

"These two passbooks add up to less than 120,000..." Taking the passbooks in his hand, Su Mingzhe estimated the amount and muttered, frowning at Su Daqiang beside him: "Dad, this number is wrong. Your and Mom's pensions add up to more than 8,000, and Wang Yan said before that he gave you 500,000. You two don't have any big expenses, how can you only have this little left? Where is the money, Dad?"

Su Daqiang was very unhappy: "Your mom gave it all to Mingcheng."

"Gave it to Mingcheng?" Su Mingzhe frowned: "Mingcheng and Julie earn a lot, why give them money?"

"They earn a lot, but they can also spend it. Julie is spoiled, the cosmetics she uses, the clothes she wears, are all big brands. Mingcheng is also big-handed, and his salary is spent every month, and your mom subsidizes it every month. When changing cars last month, your mom gave him another big sum. It was said to be a loan, but it hasn't been returned for so many years. And your uncle also often comes to borrow money, your mom didn't say let them return it, three thousand, five thousand at a time, and after so many years, it's not a small amount of money. You say what is left of your mom and me?"

Su Daqiang seemed to have found a target for pouring out, and after saying a lot, he thought about it and said: "Don't hide it from you, Mingzhe, your mom gave Mingcheng money, I have recorded it all. Not only him, yours and Mingyu's, and your uncle's, I have recorded it all."

Su Mingzhe looked at his biological father in surprise: "Dad, when did you have this habit? Why don't I know?"

"I recorded it long ago. In the work-study and thrift activities organized by our school, my account book won the first prize."

"Where is the account book? Dad, find it out and let me see."

Su Daqiang sighed, got up and bent down and fiddled again, took out a pile of 32-open notebooks, and put them beside Su Mingzhe: "The top one is Mingyu's, only recorded until the freshman year, and later she didn't spend family money. The middle one is yours, since you went to the United States for work-study, you didn't spend family money anymore. The rest, except for the last one which is your uncle's, are all the money Mingcheng took from home over the years, until before your mom passed away, they are all on it."

Looking at Su Daqiang, Su Mingzhe didn't speak. He of course felt that it was not good for his biological father to record the accounts of his children, but he didn't say anything in the end. Deep breath, he picked up the account of Su Mingyu on the top and looked at it.

This look was a long time. From the first book to the last book, it clearly recorded the year, month, and day, the whereabouts of the money, from a pencil, an eraser, to his studying abroad and the last few sums of money, Su Mingcheng's bride price, buying a house, etc., in detail, with zero and whole, clear and clear.

Looking at the account book in his hand, thinking of the words he said to the Wang Yan couple Su Mingyu before, Su Mingzhe was a little blushing, and he couldn't help but complain about his biological mother Zhao Meilan. All the expenses of Su Mingyu from childhood to adulthood, let alone compared with him and Su Mingcheng, were not as much as the money Zhao Meilan gave to her younger brother in the same period of time. As for the fifty thousand given by Wang Yan, it was really enough. Even if she went to Su Mingyu's expenses for so many years, it was enough to handle Zhao Meilan's funeral now...

It was just that he was busy studying at the time, and he was a little negligent about the things around him. Just care more about Mingyu in the future. After all, they are biological siblings, and there is nothing that cannot be said. Su Mingzhe comforted himself.

"Spent so much money at home, Mingcheng is too unreasonable, I have to talk to him when I go back. Mom is also, how can she treat Mingyu like this. And you too, Dad, you said that for so many years, why don't you talk about Mom, just let Mom treat Mingyu like that, and spoil Mingcheng so much?"

"Talk about your mom? You don't know, what kind of life I have lived these years, do I dare to talk about her? Everything in our family, big and small, has always been decided by your mom, and it has nothing to do with me." Su Daqiang was unhappy, drooping his old face: "And, Mingzhe, don't talk to Mingcheng, just know it yourself. You find him, he doesn't have money to return to me."

"I tell you, yesterday Mingyu and that Wang Yan came over and quarreled with Mingcheng, and Mingcheng wanted to pay for your mom's funeral himself. However, after inquiring, it was too expensive, and they didn't have that much money, so they waited until you came back today to handle it. Besides, if he knew that I told you, he would find me trouble even more."

"He dares, this Su Mingcheng, he is still against the sky." Su Mingzhe was furious, and after the scene was quiet, he looked around suspiciously: "Who can tell me what's going on?"

No one answered, Wang Yan thoughtfully gave a step: "In 2012, Mingyu and I were going to get married, and went to get the household registration book. Your mom said that raising Mingyu to this age cannot be raised for nothing, and she wanted not to give the household registration book, not letting us get married. So I settled all the expenses of Mingyu in the Su family for eighteen years with your mom, totaling fifty thousand. Whether Mingyu spent so much, you should be clear. At that time, the old man was watching, counting clearly bill by bill, and Su Mingcheng was also helping to count on the side."

"Mingcheng, is that so?"

Seeing Su Mingcheng stiffening his neck and not speaking, Su Mingzhe knew that what Wang Yan said was true, and pondered: "Mom was also confused for a while and did something wrong. Besides, parents always gave birth to and raised us, what contradictions can't be said."

"I know, Mingyu ran away from home back then because she wanted to take the Tsinghua exam, but Mom let Mingyu go to a normal school to save money, and Mingyu felt the school was not good. I admit this, it was Mom who did wrong. But she gave birth to and raised Mingyu after all, we children must understand our parents."

"And that fifty thousand, maybe in Mom's view, it was a bride price, she just wanted to see if you had the ability to give Mingyu happiness. We don't need to make it so stiff, if it really doesn't work, Dad, you return that fifty thousand to Mingyu and them."

Su Daqiang trembled, continued to play dead, a little nervous. Su Mingcheng's eyes flashed, and he

"Alright, alright. Zhu Li and I spent the whole afternoon picking out a decent cemetery. As for the funeral ceremony, we felt it was useless, so a standard, conventional one will do. In the end, it cost 320,000, all for the cemetery plot. Cemeteries are too expensive now; in the future, who knows, we might not even be able to afford to die." Su Mingcheng shook his head with a sigh, changed his shoes, and said, "You can trust me to handle things, right? Let's go take a look together tomorrow. We've been hungry all afternoon, let's eat first."

"Mingcheng, come over and sit down. The meal can wait a while; it's not too late."

Noticing that Su Mingzhe's tone wasn't good and his expression was very ugly, Su Mingcheng and Zhu Li exchanged a glance, then looked at the old man playing dead, and hesitantly walked to the sofa: "What's wrong, Big Brother?"

Su Mingzhe pointed to the account books stacked on the table: "Look at the good deeds you've done, Mingcheng. You've disappointed me too much. How do you still have the face to criticize Mingyu? Huh?"

Su Mingcheng wasn't happy: "What did I do? Why are you talking to me like that? What did I do wrong?"

"See for yourself."

Zhu Li hurriedly put the food on the dining table and ran over, smiling awkwardly: "Big Brother, what's wrong? Did we do something wrong somewhere?"

Su Mingzhe wasn't stupid enough to be beyond saving; he knew he couldn't scold Zhu Li. His expression softened slightly, and he said, "You take a look too, see the good deeds Mingcheng has done."

The two of them looked at Su Mingzhe suspiciously and picked up the account book on the table to flip through it. After only two pages, Su Mingcheng's face changed. He looked up at Su Daqiang, who was playing dead: "Dad, did you record all this? It wasn't you..."

"Su Mingcheng, it was Dad who recorded it, so what? Is what he recorded wrong? Huh? What kind of attitude is that? Is that how you talk to Dad?"

"No, Big Brother, I..."

Su Mingzhe didn't tolerate such behavior. With the full air of an elder brother, he started spraying: "No what, no? What kind of money did you spend? Huh? You don't know, do you? To put it bluntly, that was money sold from Mingyu. How do you have the face to explain yourself here? What is there to explain? Huh? Didn't you spend the money? Have Mom and Dad had it easy working so hard all these years? How are you not ashamed?"

Su Mingcheng was sprayed, and of course, he wasn't happy. He stiffened his neck and looked at Su Daqiang: "Dad, say something, did you record it wrong? Huh? Even if you didn't record it wrong, what's the meaning of you bringing out this account book? What do you mean, Dad?"

"Su Mingcheng! What are you doing? What are you trying to do?" Su Mingzhe was burning with rage. He stood up and pointed tremblingly at Su Mingcheng: "What, you still want to hit Dad? Huh? If you're not convinced, hit me, come on, come on, hit me."

"Big Brother, Big Brother, calm down, calm down." Zhu Li hurriedly stood up to appease him. After Su Mingzhe sat down, she turned back to Su Mingcheng, whose neck was red and whose forehead veins were popping, and shouted: "Su Mingcheng, sit down for me! The time and place Dad recorded are clear, how could it be wrong? Sit down for me, wait for me to look at it properly before saying anything."

Su Mingcheng sat down indignantly, glaring at Su Daqiang, who was silent. His chest heaved violently, and his breathing was rapid; he was truly angry.

The room fell silent. Zhu Li flipped through the account book page by page. Su Mingzhe glared at Su Mingcheng, Su Mingcheng glared at Su Daqiang, and Su Daqiang closed his eyes and played dead.

Finally, Su Mingzhe couldn't take it anymore. He spread his hands: "Big Brother, don't be anxious yet, listen to me. You can't just look at the surface of problems. Over these years, I haven't bought less for the family, and that wasn't cheap either. Dad didn't record any of those things, did he? He only recorded how much I spent; this in itself is unfair. And, Big Brother, a lot of the money here was given to me by Mom, it wasn't that I asked for it."

"When we got married and bought a house, Mom told us to buy it. The renovation was also told by Mom. The wedding banquet was also hosted by Mom. Including when I bought a car before, Mom also said she supported me. Mom said all of this, this money doesn't need to be returned. The most critical thing is, Big Brother," Su Mingcheng looked up at Su Mingzhe: "How can the accounts between parents and children be calculated with cold, in-and-out numbers? How can family accounts be calculated clearly?"

"Why did Mom give me money? It's because she loves me, and I cherish her too. Parents cherishing their children, and us children being filial to our parents, is all a matter of course. What's wrong with that? There are three children in our family. Let's not even talk about that ingrate Su Mingyu; she never had Mom and Dad in her eyes. Just talk about you, Big Brother. In the ten years you've been abroad, who has been accompanying Mom and Dad? Who listens to them talk about their inner thoughts, who makes them happy? It's me, it's me, Big Brother. When Mom gave me money, she was also happy and joyful."

"Big Brother, you say all these years, you went abroad, you got a green card for the United States, and you lived in a big house abroad. Su Mingyu, she hooked up with a rich man, driving a million-dollar luxury car, acting like she doesn't recognize her own kin. But which of you two has ever taken care of Mom and Dad? It's just me who has been taking care of them at home all along. As a result, I'm the only one who is useless, and instead, I've become a parasite? There's no such logic. What exactly do you want me to do?"

After this heartfelt, aggrieved speech was uttered, Su Mingzhe's expression cleared slightly, because he indeed owed his parents, and it was indeed Su Mingcheng who had been serving his parents by their side all along.

"Even if what you say makes sense, did you spend the money or not? And how could you say that about Mingyu? Don't you know that money was Mingyu's? She is your sister, your own sister. You are too outrageous, Su Mingcheng."

Su Mingcheng looked like he wanted to die: "Big Brother, it was Mom who wanted to give it to me. You know what Mom is like, so if she gave it to me, what could I do?"

Just as Su Mingzhe was about to open his mouth to continue spraying, Zhu Li gritted her teeth and slapped the account book on the coffee table, startling Su Daqiang.

"Su Mingcheng, you still have the face to talk? If she gives it to you, you spend it? How are you not ashamed?" Zhu Li blushed with shame, because she had a share of that money. But she also had her reasons; after all, she had only met Su Mingyu once, and as time went on, she forgot. She and Su Mingcheng were living their lives well, who would think about how others were doing? That's how it was ignored.

Seeing Su Mingcheng wanting to get angry, Zhu Li stubbornly reddened her eyes and stiffened her neck to meet his gaze, her eyes full of 'if you keep blabbering, we're getting a divorce'.

Su Mingcheng knew himself; he was indeed in the wrong. He wanted to get hot-headed and act like a rascal, but he really lacked the confidence. In the end, he was a defeated rooster, lowering his head and saying nothing.

Having subdued Su Mingcheng, Zhu Li turned to look at the two father and son figures on the side: "Dad, Big Brother. This matter is our fault, and I also have a great responsibility here, after all, I spent quite a bit of this money too, so I won't explain much. But Dad, Big Brother, I promise, we will definitely return this money to Dad. Just now I roughly calculated it, it's about 500,000 or so. We can't pay it off all at once, but no matter how long it takes, we won't let it go. Su Mingcheng, say something, say something..."

She kicked the silent Su Mingcheng in annoyance.

Su Mingcheng looked helpless: "Pay, pay, pay, isn't it enough that you have the final say?"

Zhu Li glared at him, turned around and went back into the bedroom. After a short while, she came out with a card, walked to Su Daqiang, who was playing dead: "Dad, there is 100,000 in this card, you take it first, we will slowly pay you back the rest, okay?"

Su Daqiang looked at Su Mingcheng, who wanted to kill him, and then looked at Su Mingzhe, who looked relieved on the side, and probed: "Then... I'll accept it?"

Zhu Li patted it into his hand: "Accept it, Dad. In the future, we will deposit the money we pay back into this card monthly, you can rest assured."

"Then I'll accept it." Su Daqiang agilely stuffed the card into his pocket and patted it twice. He stood up with his hands on his thighs, and instantly had a smiling face: "Alright, let's hurry up and eat, I've been hungry all afternoon. What are you still standing there for, Mingzhe?"

"Three bows!"

In the cemetery, in front of the underground mansion belonging to Zhao Meilan, a group of people followed the slogans of the person in charge of the funeral, bowing three times with solemn expressions, and many even had tears on their faces. If one says people are good at disguising, they didn't have much contact in daily life, but now that this person is dead, each one of them acted more intimate than anyone else.

The brothers Su Mingcheng and Su Mingzhe cried quite miserably. Su Daqiang also cried uncontrollably, as if he couldn't live without Zhao Meilan. If one says who was the most genuine, it was Su Mingcheng, after all, Zhao Meilan really spoiled him while she was alive. The others were just Zhao Meilan's younger brother, perhaps thinking that there would be no place to get free money in the future...

Su Mingyu didn't cry. Her tears had long since dried up countless nights ago, in the countless quiet nights, the moment she received the news of Zhao Meilan's death. Looking at the portrait in front of the tomb, smiling kindly and gently, only relief remained in Su Mingyu's eyes—a lightness of having no more entanglements with the past.

The little one followed suit and bowed together, her lively big eyes curiously looking at the woman in the photo in front, that was Mom's mom, she had never seen her, she still didn't understand what death was.

Wang Yan didn't have any baggage or obstacles, and followed along with the three bows.

After the memorial service was over, a group of people got on the funeral company's bus. There was still a considerable distance from here to the building where the business was handled at the cemetery entrance. On the way, people were in low spirits, some looked at the retreating scenery outside the window and sighed about life, some comforted the family members not to be too sad.

All the way to the cemetery entrance, Wang Yan's family of three got off the bus, without a word, and headed straight for the black G-Wagon parked there.

"Mingyu, wait a moment."

Hearing the shout, Su Mingyu turned back to look at Su Mingzhe, who was jogging after her: "What's wrong, Big Brother?"

"Mingyu, Big Brother wants to say sorry to you. You've been wronged all these years."

Su Mingyu shook her head, smiling without a word.

"Let's not talk about Mom's matter, but you should also be considerate of Dad, right? He hasn't had it easy all these years either. Also, Mingyu, you, me, Mingcheng, the three of us are own siblings, we must definitely help each other. Only when the whole family works in one direction can life get better and better." Seeing that Su Mingyu wasn't interested and turned to leave, Su Mingzhe hurriedly said: "Oh, right, Mingyu. Dad will go to the United States with me to retire in a while, I will take care of everything, you don't need to worry."

Nodding, Su Mingyu said: "Then if there's nothing else, I'll go. Take care, Big Brother."

After speaking, Su Mingyu took the little girl's hand and turned to leave.

"Hey, Mingyu..."

Wang Yan smiled and reached out to stop him, not saying anything, just letting him know not to nag anymore, and then turned and got into the car.

Su Mingyu started the car and left.

Su Mingzhe looked at the car driving away, sighed and shook his head, and walked back to comfort his sad father. He still believed that Su Mingyu was in a fit of anger and was a bit extreme. When he goes back, he'll make a couple of phone calls to communicate more, and if that doesn't work, he'll have his wife call. They are all one family, there's nothing that can't be resolved...

"I have to go back to the company, I can't play with you guys anymore. You don't know, the company has been a mess lately, it's very chaotic, and the infighting is fierce." Su Mingyu steered the car, looking at the road ahead: "You took a day off today, no classes, and our girl is also resting. Where are you guys going? I'll drop you off."

"To your company, I'll take her to eat something, and then go to the headquarters." Wang Yan, sitting in the passenger seat, said, then adjusted the seat back and lay down little by little, looking at the little girl who was a bit listless in the child seat: "Big girl, the two of us will drop Mom off at work, then eat something delicious, and go play at Dad's company, okay?"

"Okay." Wang Lin nodded like a chicken pecking at rice, instantly becoming spirited. The big sisters there all looked pretty, spoke nicely, and there were many fun things there.

"Then it's settled." As he spoke, Wang Yan smiled and reached out his palm.

The little girl giggled, followed suit, and gave her dad a heavy high-five: "It's settled."

There were indeed many fun things inside the Long Teng headquarters. Just the semi-open park in the middle was enough for her to play wildly. You must know that not only were there various garden buildings, flowers and plants, but there was also a small park. The most important thing was that Wang Yan raised two cute, half-grown pandas inside, with professionals looking after them. Accompanied by professionals, the little girl could play with the pandas. How could a child not like such a cute little fatty?

Besides the park, there were also some technological products, such as robots. After all, Wang Yan specialized in artificial intelligence, and all kinds of applications must have been researched, and researched very deeply, all at a leading level. It's just that in the real world, in the short term, they really couldn't be used. There was only the process direction of him moving them back trip by trip, as well as various corresponding core codes.

Amidst the little girl's chatter, Wang Yan's patient responses, and Su Mingyu's happy smile, very quickly, they arrived near Su Mingyu's company. Wang Yan took the little girl out of the car, found a place to eat something, and then got into the car he had notified to pick them up earlier, heading to the Long Teng headquarters...