Chapter 736

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

Her mother Lin Xiudi and her father Du Guoqing both held a strong preference for sons over daughters.

Before Du Xiaojuan and Wang Dashan married, they had caused Du Xiaojuan no end of trouble, even going back on their word just before the wedding and extorting another fifty thousand yuan from Wang Dashan.

Wanting to sever ties with her natal family, she acted as if she were destitute in front of them, not only claiming that she and Wang Dashan were both migrant workers, but also claiming that the bride price had been borrowed by Wang Dashan through online loans.

And after the marriage, Du Xiaojuan would regularly call home once a week, saying that the online loans Wang Dashan had taken out were nearly impossible to repay, and asking them to lend her money to pay off the debt.

After she made so many of these calls asking for money, when she later took the initiative to call home again, neither Lin Xiudi nor Du Guoqing answered her calls anymore.

Du Xiaojuan thought her scheme had succeeded and that she had completely severed ties with her parents' family, so she stopped calling home altogether.

Unexpectedly, after a long time had passed, Lin Xiudi suddenly called her again on her own initiative.

"Hello, Mom, what's the matter?"

Du Xiaojuan had originally not wanted to pick up the phone, but after thinking it over, she felt that avoidance was not a solution, so she still answered the call.

"Where are you now?"

As soon as Lin Xiudi spoke, she asked Du Xiaojuan where she was.

Du Xiaojuan's heart skipped a beat, and she felt even more that something was wrong.

"I'm at the rental house; I just got off work at the factory, I'm exhausted, just tell me directly what you want."

Lin Xiudi said coldly:

"What kind of attitude is this? I call you, isn't this out of concern for you? Do you still have me, your birth mother, in your eyes at all?"

Du Xiaojuan let out a long turbid breath:

"Can you just say directly what you want? I still need to rest, I have to get up at midnight to go to the night shift."

But Lin Xiudi still didn't directly say what the matter was, and instead went on to say:

"You should know, you were born to me and your father; alive you are a member of our family, dead you are a ghost of our family. Don't think that just because you've married out, you can ignore this family."

"I haven't said I'm ignoring you, so what exactly do you want!"

Du Xiaojuan was very irritable: "If you don't say it now, I'm hanging up!"

"Actually it's nothing, it's just that your younger brother is immature and borrowed some money outside, and now he can't pay it back. See if you can help him out a bit and help him repay thirty or fifty thousand."

Lin Xiudi said it lightly, as if it were nothing.

Du Xiaojuan was immediately stunned, her face full of surprise:

"The money Du Jiabao borrowed, why should I be the one to repay it? My husband and I still owe a lot of money to outsiders. When I borrowed from you back then, why didn't you help me repay it?"

"He is your birth younger brother; as his older sister, what's wrong with helping him repay it?"

Lin Xiudi said it righteously and confidently.

"Mom, you're also a woman, how could you..."

Du Xiaojuan was so angry she could hardly get the words out.

She really couldn't understand why her own mother, also a woman, could hold such strong ideas of preferring sons over daughters.

Reality is often like this: in some rural families, old women often value sons over daughters even more than old men do, spoiling sons or grandsons more, and looking down on daughters or granddaughters more.

The hardships they themselves suffered, they want to inflict on their daughters or granddaughters to suffer all over again, and who knows what they're thinking.

"What's wrong with me? You're the older sister, you should help your younger brother. If you don't help him, who will?"

Lin Xiudi continued to say it righteously and confidently.

"I have no money! I gave you so much bride price before; use the bride price to help him repay it!"

Du Xiaojuan refused decisively.

"That bride price money has long been spent! I don't care what method you use, hurry up and give some more!" Lin Xiudi commanded.

"I don't have it!"

Du Xiaojuan shouted loudly.

She wasn't without money; she had always been lying to her family.

But this couldn't be blamed on her. If blame was to be assigned, it could only be blamed on the family that gave birth to and raised her—it was a bottomless black hole.

She knew all too well what kind of people this family was.

She was a smart woman tempered by hardship, so she could see many things clearly and thoroughly, and could plan ahead.

This was true for business, and it was true for family as well.

"The online loans my husband owes have rolled over with compound interest to over five hundred thousand now. Where do you want me to get money to repay Du Jiabao's debt?"

Du Xiaojuan was even more righteous and confident than her mother.

After all, the lie that Wang Dashan owed online loans was something she had repeatedly laid the groundwork for long ago, and Lin Xiudi absolutely could not doubt its truth.

Du Xiaojuan thought this reason should be able to well refuse the request her mother had made.

However, she still underestimated her mother's bottom line.

Lin Xiudi said coldly:

"Why don't you go take out an online loan too, and lend it to your younger brother to repay."

Du Xiaojuan was immediately speechless:

"Are you serious? Are you sure you're not joking?"

But Lin Xiudi said:

"How could I possibly be joking with you? Your husband already owes so much, and he can't pay it back anyway. So you might as well throw caution to the wind: you also go take out an online loan, use part of it to repay your brother's debt, and keep part for yourself. Anyway, when the debt collectors come knocking, they can't do anything to you."

"Am I still your birth mother? How could you say such a thing!" Du Xiaojuan cried.

She had actually long ago held no expectations of her parents, but hearing her own mother say such cold and heartless words with her own ears still made her heart feel as if cut by a knife.

"Why are you shouting? Your younger brother is our family's only hope; asking you to help him a little, why such a big reaction!"

Lin Xiudi shouted even louder.

Du Xiaojuan did not want to speak to her anymore:

"Whether Du Jiabao lives or dies has nothing to do with me; please do not bother me again!"

After saying these words, Du Xiaojuan hung up the phone.

Wang Dashan, standing nearby, had heard Du Xiaojuan and Lin Xiudi's phone conversation in his ears.

He immediately came over and embraced Du Xiaojuan, comforting her:

"Don't cry, I'm still here."

Du Xiaojuan cried even harder:

"I just don't understand why they treat me like this!"

"It's fine, it's fine; we won't live with them in the future. If you don't want to be bothered by them, just block them."

Wang Dashan had just finished saying these words when Du Xiaojuan's phone rang again.

Her mother Lin Xiudi called again.

Du Xiaojuan firmly pressed the reject button.

She did not want to answer her mother's phone call anymore.

But not long after, the phone rang again.

Du Xiaojuan did not answer, letting it ring.

Until it automatically hung up, and then rang again.

This time, it was her father Du Guoqing calling.

Du Xiaojuan knew that her father calling this phone must be coming to question her.

So she did not answer either.

"Why not just block them? We've given them so much bride price; we don't owe them anything anymore!"

Wang Dashan continued to comfort Du Xiaojuan, and also said:

"If you can't bear to do it, I'll help you operate it!"

Du Xiaojuan said nothing, only crying in Wang Dashan's arms, counting as agreeing.

Wang Dashan picked up her phone and helped her block Lin Xiudi, Du Guoqing, and Du Jiabao's phone numbers, all of them.

No more incoming call displays.

The world finally quieted down.

But can the entanglement of the original family really end just like that?

I'm afraid it's not that simple.

……