279: Settlements

When she returned home, Li immediately told her family what she had heard at the market. Rumors had spread quickly the past few days; as soon as anyone went out, they would hear gossip about how Wang Hongxin was an ungrateful, unfilial son, who only pretended to be innocent on the surface, but had other intentions at heart.

This situation had been extremely beneficial to them. They delusionally thought that in a few days, Wang Hongxin would bend under pressure and take the initiative to submit to them. How could they know that the situation would change so dramatically within two days?

"Mom, is this so-called adoption contract real or not?" Wang Hongwei quickly asked Granny Wang. They had thought that Granny Wang casually adopted Wang Hongxin, and didn’t expect that there would be an adoption contract.

Granny Wang reluctantly answered: "It's real."

The faces of the Wang Hongwei husband and wife visibly changed. "Where is the adoption contract, then?"

"I don't know, who could remember which corner it was thrown into?" Granny Wang was careless at the time. She had originally only signed that contract to get the jewellery and to reassure Old Village Chief Wang; neither of them planned to fulfill the conditions after receiving the jewelry. Now that so many years had passed, they’d long forgotten about it. They lost track of the location of the adoption agreement after moving.

Wang Hongwei wanted to see the adoption agreement so he could think of a way to deal with it. However, they knew it was definitely lost when they could not find it after searching through the house a few times.

"If the agreement is lost, it's lost. Even if Wang Hongxin is not my own son, he was raised by me. I don't believe that they are able to reverse black and white." Granny Wang sneered. She was too self-confident and always felt that no one could take her on, which was why she always behaved unscrupulously.

The Wang Hongwei husband and wife did not think as optimistically as she did.

"Grandma, the problem now isn’t whether or not he is your biological son. The adoption agreement is very important: even now, it still has a legal basis. If you have not followed the conditions of the agreement, Wang Hongxin can propose to terminate the adoptive relationship between you. He’ll no longer have any obligation to support you." Wang Ningkai said.

Granny Wang’s face suddenly changed when she heard those words. "Why wouldn’t he support me? I'm still his adoptive mother, after all, so shouldn’t he still have to support me?"

"Grandma, my third uncle might still have such obligations in the future, but you won’t be able to take his money at will. He’ll only have to give you a few hundred yuan a month.”

"Then what should I do?" Granny Wang had been aiming for Wang Hongxin’s whole fortune, not a few hundred yuan. When she heard that she could only get so much yuan a month, she finally began to panic.

Wang Hongwei and Li looked at Wang Ningkai expectantly, hoping that he could give some advice.

Wang Ningkai said: "But, there is a way to prove that the adoption agreement is false."

Li asked: "How can that be proved? I heard that the agreement is being looked after by Wang Bo, for his late father. With Wang Bo’s testimony, even if we say that it’s false, no one else will believe us. And isn't your grandma’s signature on that agreement, anyway? There are people to testify for everything."

In fact, Wang De was originally the one who wanted to sign the agreement, but he hesitated when he saw that the high bar the conditions set. As a result, Granny Wang wanted the jewelry so bad that she signed the agreement without giving it a second thought.

Wang Ningkai didn't expect things to be so tricky; the adoption agreement was actually able to stun them.

"If this method doesn't work, there is only one way left."

“What is it?"

"Denying that my grandparents failed to meet the conditions of the agreement. It’s been a long time. No one has any evidence to prove that my grandparents used the money from my third uncle's biological mother to buy the house. We can just say that they sold the jewelry to spend the money on my third uncle."

"Good idea, since there’s no evidence anyway." Wang Ningkai's approach immediately received unanimous approval from everyone.

They only missed such an important detail because of the way the news caught them all off guard, especially surprising the Wang De couple.

The Wang De husband and wife spent two hours making up nonsense, such as how they helped pay Papa Wang’s tuition until he graduated from high school.

In fact, they barely helped Papa Wang complete junior high school, and that was only because it was enforced by Old Village Chief Wang. As for high school, Papa Wang actually earned his own tuition through his part-time jobs during the winter and summer vacations and holidays. The Wang De husband and wife went on to say that they paid for his food expenses, as well as his food and clothing. Any harsh demands that Papa Wang had were fulfilled and he always received the best things first.

After writing all this, the couple went to Wang Cheng's house.

The Wang family had been the talk of the town several times. When they saw the Wang De husband and wife, the villagers immediately knew that there was a good show to watch. They followed the couple to the doorway, where Granny Wang used one of her best tricks: crying in front of Wang Cheng’s house. Wang Cheng heard Granny Wang’s loud wails before he even went outside. He saw her sitting on the ground, crying over a paper in her hand. She wailed about the adoption agreement, about how she worked so hard to raise Papa Wang, giving him the best as a child, only in exchange for his ungratefulness.

One didn’t need to look at it to know that the paper was full of nonsense. Because most of the people from the Wang’s Village were gone now, and there wasn’t anyone left to testify, they came up with such a tactic.

Wang Cheng couldn't help but sneer. He was determined to cleanse their family matters. How could he be unprepared? Instead of striking his heart, Granny Wang’s attack landed straight into his arms.

"Wang De, He Ying, do you two have no shame?" At this time, out from the crowd of onlookers appeared a grey-haired old man who seemed to be older than the Wang De husband and wife, but his face was very lively.

A trace of panic flitted across the faces of the Wang De husband and wife when they saw this person. This old man was no one else but a former clan uncle of the Wang’s Village, Wang Zhiren. He was seven or eight years older than Wang De. He was one of the local elders who learned health boxing, so he had a good relationship with Wang Cheng. Wang Cheng had specifically invited him over to deal with Granny Wang.

In addition to being a past clan uncle, Wang Zhiren had a more important identity, that was, the father of the new mayor of Chengping. Many people knew him because of this. It was also worth mentioning that he was one of the original eyewitnesses for the signing of the adoption agreement by Wang De and his wife - his words held more validation than Wang Bo’s.

"In the beginning, you vowed and promised Wang Dage* that you would treat Hongxin well, as if he was your own son. As a result, you not only seized his share of his own property, but also treated him harshly. What bullsh*t ingratitude? Obviously, now that you see he still has some value, you want to squeeze the last drop of it from Hongxin. Tell yourselves, after doing so many wicked things, are you not afraid of being struck by lightning as retribution?

[T/N: *Brother Wang; the old village chief]

"You said that you’ve never mistreated Hongxin since he was a child, and that the best of everything first went to him. That’s bullsh*t. Ever since Hongxin was a child, the only new clothes that he received were given to him by Wang Dage, as well as the best food and drink. Had Wang Dage and I not discovered it, I would’ve never known that you often neglected to give him food. As for the houses; you bought them all with Hongxin’s biological mother’s jewelry, leaving the best houses to your own sons. But what did you give Hongxin when he got married, a few hundred dollars?" Wang Zhiren became more and more angry and his face flushed red. He would not give the two a chance to speak and both of their faces were sprayed*.

[T/N: *gaming slang, meaning to be insulted]

The onlookers listened in anger, and were almost provoked to slap the Wang De husband and wife. It turned out that they had done so many immoral things - taking other people's money was one thing, but they even dared to ask for money! They’d never seen such shameless people.

"So what? Wang Hongxin is just our adoptive son, why should I have even given him money!"

Granny Wang went all out. She knew that everyone would believe Wang Zhiren's words and wouldn’t trust them anymore, so she disregarded her reputation.

Everyone thought, this person is too shameless!

Wang Zhiren snorted coldly: "Hongxin's biological mother had money that she left to you and her son, but you’ve long since taken away the share of money that should belong to you."

"Well, Wang Hongxin was raised by my Wang family anyway."

"So what if he was raised by your Wang family? You didn't follow the conditions of the agreement, even daring to embezzle his property and treat him harshly. You have yourself to thank for all this - you are no longer qualified to ask Hongxin to support you."

When Wang Zhiren finished speaking, he said to Wang De, "Wang De, if you still care about your reputation, you should quickly take your wife and leave. You’d better not show up in front of Hongxin’s family anymore, or else it won’t be my fault for being impolite."

Wang De was ashamed after he spoke. He knew that they were not in the right in this situation, but he was long used to his old wife's haggling. He also let his wife continue to behave in such a manner because he himself had a trace of hope in his heart. Now that he was called out by Wang Zhiren, pairs of eyes around him pierced him like spikes. He couldn't bear to stay any longer and pulled his wife up to leave. However, he underestimated his wife's resolve in this matter.

"I won't go, I won't go! No matter what, we at least raised Wang Hongxin until he was a teenager. Who are you to dismiss the years we raised him with a few words? I’m looking for him because he owes my Wang family. Do you believe that such a debt can be erased with a sentence? I’m telling you, don't even think about it."

Granny Wang laid on the ground, unwilling to get up.

"If you want to count up all these things, then let’s calculate them clearly."

Wang Cheng stood up.

***

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