280: Pity for Those Who Suffer from the Same Disease

Everyone's eyes immediately turned to him. They were also curious about how the grace of fostering a child would be calculated. For Wang De and his wife, it meant nothing more than money to be collected.

"Old lady, if I'm not mistaken, my dad is not actually the adopted son of the Wang family because you’ve never gone to the Civil Affairs Bureau to go through the adoption procedures. The law does not guarantee that you have any familial ties to my dad," Wang Cheng said in a stone-cold voice.

Everyone was stunned. Back then, Wang De and his wife hadn’t taken this matter to heart, feeling that it was unnecessary and they could save some money without it. Anyway, they had the adoption agreement, and they never wanted Wang Hongxin to know about any legal contract. They delayed this matter again and again until they forgot about it.

Now that Wang Cheng brought this up, Wang De and his wife recalled the process. They hadn’t understood any laws at the time, and the national reform also occurred after they signed the adoption agreement. Decades had passed since then, so how could they remember such layers of family relationships?

Unlike the Wang De husband and wife, Wang Zhiren immediately understood what Wang Cheng meant. He then said: “Indeed, a privately-signed adoption agreement is not valid if the adoption procedures aren’t officially registered - you two can't be regarded as Hongxin's adoptive parents."

"Even so, my grandparents had begun to raise my third uncle before the national reform."

Wang Ningkai’s voice came in from the periphery of the crowd. He hadn’t been able to rest assured, so he and his parents had come over to take a look. Unexpectedly, the situation had taken an abrupt turn, becoming increasingly unfavorable for them. He was the only one of them able to understand what was going on a little, so he had no choice but to stand up.

Wang Cheng looked directly at Wang Ningkai, who didn’t have the nerve to return his gaze, and smiled. "I get it, you just want the money. I’ll calculate things with you now, ah. To be honest, who cares about how many hundreds of thousands it is, I’m fine with just throwing that amount of money away to beggars - the premise is that I’d be willing to take that money out in the first place."

Wang Ningkai flushed immediately, embarrassed.

Were they beggars in Wang Cheng’s eyes? Did he really feel like he was offering money to beggars?

In addition to Granny Wang, everyone in the Wang family was trembling with anger due to Wang Cheng's words. They had once been so outstanding in the Guan’s Village, but now they had become beggars asking for money? They were so ashamed it felt like being slapped by Wang Cheng in public.

"Some people say that the grace of being raised is greater than the sky’s limits. However, if those doing the raising have ulterior motives, it is a different story. I’ll leave it at that for now. Anyways, it's true that the old lady took the jewelry that my father’s biological mother had left for him. Since it was that jewelry that allowed you to buy such a big house, it should be worth tens of millions in current money - enough to offset the grace the Wang family had in raising my father.” Wang Cheng smiled as he admired their expressions.

Granny Wang wanted to argue that the money they used to buy that big house was not from the jewelry given by Wang Hongxin's biological mother. However, she was immediately prevented due to Wang Ningkai's quick reflexes. The agreement was clearly written, and a witness of its signing was right there. Saying this would only make bystanders more disgusted.

Li immediately said: "My mother-in-law had raised Wang Hongxin for over 20 years. Now you suddenly want to draw a line from our Wang family on such a basis? Did you think it was realistic to get something so cheap in life?"

"Do you want money?" Wang Cheng asked rhetorically.

Li's face stiffened.

Wang Cheng smirked: "To put it bluntly, supporting the two elders is not only my father, the adopted son’s, responsibility; my eldest uncle and second uncle are also responsible. According to the law, since my father is actually unemployed now, without any income, so logically, he shouldn’t need to bear the responsibility of supporting the elders. However, I know that you won’t stop your demands. Therefore, I can give you money that will act as my father’s alimony* for the two elders. After accepting this money, you will not have any sort of ties with my father in the future. Whatever happens in the future with your family will have nothing to do with my father. Everyone present is a witness to this, so how about it?"

[T/N: *usually meant as financial support given from one ex-spouse to the other in a divorce]

Wang Cheng’s words served to inform everyone that Papa Wang was no longer legally obligated to support the Wang De husband and wife. He had let everyone feel that their debt had already been repaid with the jewelry before adding that he was also willing to give alimony to the Wang family. In this way, everyone felt that the Wang family had the better end of the deal.

In fact, several members of the Wang family also thought so.

In this situation, Wang Hongxin was completely justified if he didn’t pay the alimony. He did have money and a career, but the money and career belonged to his younger son who he had no blood ties with. He was completely able to say that he had no money. Therefore, instead of that situation where they wouldn’t have received a cent, it was better to take this opportunity to make a fortune.

The five members of the Wang family exchanged glances, and finally left this heavy task to the thickest-skinned Granny Wang, only to hear her sky-high demand.

"We want half a million."

Onlookers immediately looked at them as if they were idiots.

The Wang De husband and his wife were now in their 70s. Even if they were able to live for another twenty years, the alimony they received yearly would be around 5,000, and would add up to no more than 100,000.

"Five hundred thousand is impossible, one hundred thousand." Wang Cheng did not outright say two hundred thousand, because he knew that with the Wang family’s insatiable personalities, they would raise the price no matter what he said. Sure enough, Granny Wang retorted the next second.

"Are you haggling with a beggar?"

Wang Cheng smiled, "If you really were a beggar, I would just give you ten yuan and leave it at that - at least a beggar wouldn’t dare to bargain with me."

The five faces of the Wang family members changed color again. Granny Wang said, "No, at least two hundred thousand yuan."

"One hundred thousand, leave if you don't want it."

When she saw that Wang Cheng’s attitude was very firm, Granny Wang was unable to make a decision. She was worried that Wang Cheng really wouldn’t give her the money if she disagreed with the price. However, if she did accept it, it was too little. Just as she was in a mental stalemate like it was a battle between the heavens and earth, Wang Cheng surprised them all by giving them an additional statement.

"It isn’t impossible for me to give you two hundred thousand," Wang Cheng continued as everyone looked over at him, "if the extra one hundred thousand is meant for my second uncle’s alimony. Even though my second uncle is your biological son, you only treat him a little better than my father. I’m doing this for the sake of pitying those who suffer from the same disease*."

[T/N: *sense of sympathy]

Wang Hongwen and Zhang, who were standing at the outskirts of the crowd, were stunned.

Wang Cheng’s words were as if they came directly from Wang Hongwen and Zhang’s heart. Wang Hongwen was not as smart as his elder brother when he was a child, so the Wang De husband and wife never treated him as well as his elder brother. If not for Zhang’s family, life as the second family would most likely never improve - and the current improvement was only by a little bit. That was to say, the one with the most complaints should actually be Wang Hongwen.

However, the Wang Hongwen couple did not expect that Wang Cheng would actually offer to help them with the alimony. One should know, to their second family, one hundred thousand was no small sum. Wang Hongwen had never thought he would be able to pay his parents’ alimony. This meant that in the future, he would have very likely faced parental entanglement, especially with this situation. His eldest brother’s family was facing hard times, and his parents made trouble with his third brother's family for the sake of his eldest brother's family. Now that his third brother left the Wang family, they would have likely been the next objects to be squeezed and tossed by their parents. Although they were incredulous - after all, their family was not good to Wang Cheng - the couple was still relieved. There was also a rare sense of guilt in their hearts, which Zhang was quick to overcome.

"Wang Cheng, this... i- is what you said true?" Wang Hongwen walked over and asked, stuttering.

"Of course it's true."

Wang Cheng's move actually had another purpose. The 200,000 yuan originally belonged to Wang Hongwei's family*, and he’d always meant to return it to them; it just had to be a worthwhile transaction.

[T/N: *he’s bringing up the 200,000 he’d stolen from their safe earlier]

Wang Cheng no longer hated his second uncle’s family as much as he did before: now that they were both in a stalemate with Wang Hongwei’s family, Zhang didn’t join the trouble as she did before. Another reason was that he wanted to find a shield for his parents, and with Zhang’s fighting strength, she was definitely the best candidate. Anyway, the money wasn’t originally Wang Cheng’s, so he didn’t feel distressed about using it as he wished. Zhang quickly poked her husband a few times. Such a good opportunity absolutely could not be wasted. Although she felt that 100,000 yuan was too much for her parents-in-law, she had no reason to refuse such a good thing like Wang Cheng helping them out.

Wang Hongwei's family was also incredulous. Since when did their second brother have such a good relationship with Wang Cheng that he was willing to help him with an alimony of 100,000?

"Hongwen!" When she saw Wang Hongwen's hesitation, Granny Wang gave him a threatening look. She knew that her second son had a cowardly and timid personality and wasn’t so clever, so she didn't particularly like him when he was a child. She didn’t expect the money to suddenly land in her second son’s hand. A shrew knew a shrew best. Just like how the eldest family had her, the second family had Zhang.

Wang Hongwen was taken aback by his mother’s cold-heartedness. His third brother was not his mother’s biological son, so she had a reason for treating him like that. However, he was different. He was the biological son of his parents, but he was still treated in such a way. Sometimes he grew really jealous of his elder brother and resented his mother.

When she saw Granny Wang’s behavior, Zhang couldn't help but get angry. She dragged her husband over to unceremoniously shout: "Hongwen, do you still care for this type of parent? She has only ever had our eldest brother's family in her eyes. We still exist! Now she’s stretching out her hand to ask for money for our eldest brother’s family, not even bothering with feeling shame. Since she wants this money now, we won’t be obliged to support them at all in the future. Anyway, after you give them the money, it’s none of our business whether they live or die."

Granny Wang had a displeased expression. "Zhang Yan, you shut up. This is no place for you to talk." She just couldn’t wait to get her hands on the 200,000.

Wang Hongwen finally surrendered with a faint smile when he heard her words. He suddenly understood his third brother’s feelings. Unlike the way things were for him now, his third brother had been treating their parents as his biological parents for his whole life. He probably felt even worse than himself.

Wang Hongwen said to Wang Cheng, "Chengcheng, thank you. I'm sorry for what happened in the past."

"My second uncle doesn’t have to thank me." Wang Cheng was still very happy to be able to solve this problem with only one hundred thousand yuan.

"When will the two hundred thousand be given to me?" Granny Wang immediately asked.

Sensing her impatience, Wang Cheng replied: "In order to prevent you from failing to keep this promise, you will have to sign an agreement with everyone present as a witness. If you take the two hundred thousand, my father and my second uncle will never have to pay alimony to you two in the future."

"Sign it, sign it." Granny Wang agreed without a second thought, but Wang De had a feeling that things were going a little too smoothly. When he saw his second son's gaze towards them, disgusted as if he was looking at strangers, he couldn't help but panic. He knew that they were doing something wrong, but his heart more or less leaned towards his eldest son. Now that things had developed to this point, he was afraid that it could not be undone. He finally gave a helpless sigh.

***

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