The Evil Mother-in-law: Torment Children, Work Hard, Be Rich!-Chapter 187: Each Goes Their Own Way

"What nonsense, daring to lust after my sister."

Dashi glared menacingly at the Tong family.

No one knows Tong Zhijie better than he does.

Tong Zhijie lived with the Tong family for a few years when he was young, and every year he would return to the Tong family for a while. Whenever he came to the Gu family, others had no good days.

The food and clothes had to be given to him, and this little rascal was always up to no good, constantly tattling on Dashi and his siblings to their mother.

Dashi had long wanted to beat him up.

Such a person daring to desire their sister was intolerable without a beating.

So Dashi grabbed Tong Zhijie and swung his fist.

With one hit, a bump swelled on Tong Zhijie’s forehead.

Mrs. Wang let out a howl and blocked in front of Tong Zhijie, defiantly saying to Dashi, "Hit me, hit me, kill me first."

After all, Mrs. Wang was an elder, so Dashi withheld his punch and scolded Tong Zhijie, "Hiding behind your mother, you shameless thing. If I see you again, I’ll hit you again."

Tong Fusheng was furious and wanted to hit Dashi but couldn’t find a handy tool.

"Tong Fusheng, do you think my home is a garbage collection station? Let me tell you something, do you see Yihong House over there, where handsome young men do prostitution business? Although Tong Zhijie is a bit wretched, the mama there often orders pastries from my house. I can sell her a favor and let Zhijie do prostitution business. Maybe a rich family with peculiar tastes will fancy him, and your whole family can live luxuriously by association."

Tong Huaqiong’s scolding was so loud that it drew people from nearby shops to come and watch.

Tong Fusheng’s face turned purple with anger from the insult.

To suggest sending his son to Yihong House to do prostitution business, she actually said it out loud.

Tong Fusheng pointed at Tong Huaqiong, trembling with rage, and said, "You unfilial, disrespectful person, from now on, there’s no longer a daughter like you in the Tong family, you don’t need to come to burn paper for your parents during Qingming."

Such a good thing.

Tong Huaqiong couldn’t help but want to clap her hands. Such a good thing.

Who wants to burn paper for a couple of old folks who sell daughters and pamper sons, who wants to be a daughter of the Tong family in this day and age.

She certainly wouldn’t want to be Tong Huaqiong.

"Fine, it’s settled then, from now on, we’ll keep to our bridges and roads, we sever ties here."

Tong Huaqiong saw Jingzhe returning from the school and waved at Jingzhe, "Do I need a document for severing ties with your uncle?"

Upon asking, Tong Huaqiong remembered this is the ancients.

Severing ties usually implied a son being disobedient to his parents and getting removed from the family registry by the clan.

For a woman, it was about marrying and then following the husband, following the child, she thought if there was a document, she’d have Jingzhe as the son draft one for her.

Jingzhe walked over and said, "Mother, if you don’t want to interact with uncle’s family, just close the door and live your own life."

Tong Huaqiong’s eyes lit up.

She had been carried away by anger. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Jingzhe was right, Tong Dajiao’s parents were dead, she didn’t need to show filial piety to Tong family’s eldest brother.

She was now a member of the Gu family with no obligation to manage the Tong family.

Moreover, if anyone outside accused her of disrespecting the deceased Tong family elders, going to the tomb during Qingming and burning a sheaf of paper wasn’t an issue.

"Jingzhe, you’re a scholar, look at how your mother is being disrespectful to her elder brother, and how your brother is acting disrespectfully to his elders," Tong Fusheng turned to Jingzhe and said.

Tong Fusheng thought as a fellow scholar, Jingzhe would surely understand him.

They usually had a good relationship, so he hoped Jingzhe would speak on his behalf to ease relations with Tong Huaqiong.

"Uncle, that’s unfair. Which of your living expenses in these years, your study expenses, or the cost of traveling to the provincial city for exams wasn’t provided by my mother? My mother nearly gave you all she had, and you never gave a word of gratitude. As for my brother being disrespectful, it’s because you haven’t acted like a respectable elder."

"You claimed to be a scholar and yet plotted with your useless son against my sister. You have no sense of propriety, justice, modesty, and shame. What is there to respect? Do you expect my brother to hand over my sister to you to consider it respectful?"

Jingzhe, with a stern expression, publicly rebuked his uncle in front of the bystanders.

When he was younger, Jingzhe held a good opinion of his uncle, the only scholar in the family, but as he grew older, he developed grievances against Tong Fusheng.

Having a scholar in the family, yet Tong Dajiao siphoned off family resources to support his uncle, raising Tong Zhijie for several years.

His uncle, after a lifetime of exams, was still merely a child student.

His uncle had studied all his life, yet in learning, he was not even his equal now.

Since Jingzhe passed the child student exam, he looked down on his uncle who refused to face reality with his grand ambitions.

Arriving at Rouge Alley, Jingzhe saw his uncle’s family and worried they’d meddle with Taohua Dessert, concerned Tong Huaqiong might involve his uncle in shop matters.

Seeing Tong Huaqiong scold his uncle, Jingzhe felt secretly pleased.

It seemed his mother was determined to sever ties with his uncle.

He certainly wanted to add fuel to the fire.

"Dear neighbors, this is my uncle’s family. After my maternal grandfather passed away, his family relied on my mother for support. Uncle has been studying at the school since childhood until now, with his children about to establish their own families, and it’s been my mother funding everything from study supplies to household. My mother has never complained, but now that she’s opened a shop, uncle wants my cousin to marry my sister. The truth is my cousin’s utterly useless, and marrying my sister to him would be like throwing her into a pit, hence today’s quarrel."

"You’ve all witnessed today’s quarrel. You must all have your scales. Whether uncle’s family genuinely wants to marry my sister or uses her to seize our shop, I believe you all know the score. If we agreed to this marriage, we’d be failing our sister and squandering my mother’s efforts in opening the shop. Neighbors, please serve as witnesses. If my uncle’s family ever comes causing trouble at Taohua Dessert or spreads unpleasant rumors, we’d appreciate your help in refuting them."

Jingzhe explained to the bystanders the cause of today’s conflict.

Tong Huaqiong said, "My son speaks rightly. I’m a widow raising a large family, and it was no easy feat to open a shop, yet my brother’s family covets it. It’s bad enough they covet my shop, but they also covet my daughter, hence my decision to sever ties today."

Tong Huaqiong knew public opinion was important in any era.

The saying ’public opinion is as sharp as gold’ is precisely this principle.

Especially in these times, filial piety was paramount.

If she didn’t explain the reasons for her severance from Tong Fusheng to everyone, and if Tong Fusheng came stirring trouble at Taohua Dessert repeatedly, the unknowing public might side with Tong Fusheng.

This could indirectly affect business at Taohua Dessert.

So taking advantage of Tong Fusheng’s arrival, she decided to clarify openly in front of everyone at Taohua Dessert’s doorstep.

Tong Fusheng’s intention of marrying Gu Taohua for the purpose of taking over the shop was destined to fail.

Thus, the family left in disgrace under Dashi’s fists and the disdain of their neighbors.