“This year, I had only just started making the smoked meat, and within three days, Zhang Ying’s shop announced a new batch. Who told her? Who else could it have been besides Mom?”
The corner of Liu Xiulan’s mouth twitched.
“You… You’re slandering me!”
“Then let me ask you one question, Mom.”
My voice was very calm.
“How much of the money Zhang Ying’s shop makes every month do you get?”
Everyone’s eyes immediately turned toward Liu Xiulan.
Finally, Chen Beicheng raised his head.
His chopsticks had been set down a long time ago.
He hadn’t said a word all this time, but I knew he had been listening.
“Mom.”
Chen Beicheng’s voice was slightly hoarse.
“What exactly is going on?”
“There’s no such thing!”
Liu Xiulan raised her voice.
“Your wife is talking nonsense. It’s the Lunar New Year, and she’s making the whole family miserable…”
“Then take a look at this.”
I opened my phone and pulled up another set of photos.
Chen Beicheng’s transfer history.
Three thousand yuan every month, transferred to Liu Xiulan.
“Beicheng transfers three thousand yuan to you every month, thirty-six thousand yuan a year. You told him it was living expenses, that things were difficult.”
I turned the phone toward Liu Xiulan.
“But are things really difficult for you?”
I opened another photo.
It was the payment account information for Zhang Ying’s shop that I had asked a friend to look into.
There were two recipients.
Zhang Ying.
And Liu Xiulan.
I didn’t know the exact percentage they split.
But Liu Xiulan’s name was clearly listed there.
“You receive three thousand yuan a month in ‘filial support’ from your eldest son, while also taking a share of the money your younger daughter-in-law makes from selling my smoked meat.”
“Taking money from both sides.”
I put my phone away.
“You really do treat your two sons equally, Mom.”
Liu Xiulan’s face turned purple-red.
At that moment, my father-in-law, Chen Jianguo, finally reacted.
He put down his chopsticks and looked at Liu Xiulan, his brows drawn tightly together.
“Xiulan, is this… true?”
“Mr. Chen, don’t listen to her nonsense…”
“Is it true or not!”
Chen Jianguo slammed his hand on the table.
He normally never lost his temper.
The single slam made the dishes on the table jump.
The two children were frightened into tears.
Crying and silence filled the room together.
Finally, Chen Nanxuan could no longer sit still.
He stood up, wanting to say something.
His mouth opened and closed before he finally managed to squeeze out a sentence:
“Sister-in-law, about this… I didn’t know.”
“You didn’t know?”
I looked at him.
“You didn’t know your wife opened a shop selling smoked meat? That its monthly revenue was over a hundred thousand yuan? You didn’t know?”
His eyes flickered.
Just that one flicker was enough.
He knew.
“You didn’t know? Then where did your wife get the money to buy that cashmere coat? What brand are the shoes you’re wearing? When did your family replace its car with a new one?”
Chen Nanxuan lowered his head.
Zhang Ying suddenly began to cry.
It wasn’t crying because she had been wronged.
It was the kind of crying that came after being exposed on the spot, when there was no way to hide anymore.
Tears and mucus streamed down her face as she cried and said:
“Sister-in-law, I was wrong. I shouldn’t have hidden it from you, but I really didn’t expect it to sell so well. At first, I only meant to give it a try…”
“Give it a try?”
I laughed.
“The startup capital you used to give it a try was my twelve kilograms of smoked meat.”
“The core product you used to give it a try was my craftsmanship.”
“And the advertising slogan you used to give it a try was ‘the mother-in-law’s family secret.’”
“You never asked me for permission, not even once.”
“And your mother-in-law…”
I looked at Liu Xiulan.
“Her family secret was to take advantage of the fact that I was at work and clean out my refrigerator.”
Chen Beicheng suddenly shot to his feet.
His chair scraped backward, its legs grinding against the tiled floor with a shrill sound.
He didn’t look at me.
He looked at his mother.
“Three thousand yuan every month.”
His voice trembled.
“You told me things were difficult, and you even told me not to tell Su Tang because you were afraid she would overthink it.”
“You said Nanxuan was having a hard time with his business, that Zhang Ying had it difficult taking care of two children by herself, and that as his older brother, I should help out a little.”
“And what about the result?”
“They make more in a month than I make in an entire year?”
Chen Beicheng turned to look at Chen Nanxuan.
“Nanxuan, I’m going to ask you one question. Answer me honestly.”
“Are things really difficult for you?”
Chen Nanxuan said nothing.
“Answer me!”
“…No, they’re not.”
Chen Nanxuan’s voice was so quiet it was almost inaudible.
“I knew about the shop, but I thought… Mom said Sister-in-law didn’t have a problem with it…”
“She never asked me!”
I finally couldn’t keep my voice down, and it rose sharply.
“She never asked me even once!”
I took a deep breath.
My fingernails dug into my palm.
I held myself back.
“Chen Nanxuan, listen carefully.”
I stood up and looked at each of them in turn.
Zhang Ying.
Chen Nanxuan.
Liu Xiulan.
“I’m not going to pursue the money from before. A hundred-some thousand yuan or several hundred thousand, I can’t be bothered to calculate it.”
“But starting today, there are three things.”
“First, close that shop. Take down every product related to my smoked meat, and delete the video account. I’m giving you three days.”
“Second, the three thousand yuan Beicheng transfers to Mom every month stops today. If our parents need to be supported, the two brothers can split it equally, but not with one person silently bearing the loss like this.”
“Third…”
I looked at Liu Xiulan.
“Mom, you owe me an apology.”
“Not because of the smoked meat.”
No comments for this chapter yet.