Chapter 589 - 588: Dealing with the Scumbags (Part 4)

"Who would give a beggar eight hundred yuan? Go on, show me one!"

Su Li took a deep breath. "Brother, I’ve told you, the money isn’t for you, it’s for Mom. Don’t even think about taking it to squander and then letting her go hungry!"

"Who’s squandering it!" Su Dan bristled at her words.

"Then let me ask you, what about that four thousand yuan? I held back from asking earlier, but I want to know now. A full four thousand yuan. How could there be no money to take Mom to the doctor? No money to buy clothes? And you even came here dressed in such rags."

The mention of the four thousand yuan made Su Dan flustered. "What four thousand yuan? Don’t you..."

"I’m not asking because I want that money back. It’s just..." Su Li cut him off, her voice filled with heartache and disappointment. "Could it be true, what people are saying? That you gambled all four thousand yuan away?"

Su Li didn’t actually know how the four thousand yuan had disappeared; she was just trying to get a reaction out of Su Dan.

Unexpectedly, Su Dan’s guilt was plain to see. He jumped to his feet. "What gambling? Who are you saying gambled? The money was lost..."

Lost? Looking at his reaction, was there anyone present who didn’t know he had gambled it all away?

The crowd gasped, but Su Li just looked utterly heartbroken.

"You actually... you actually went gambling. Heavens, with you like this... Forget eight hundred, I couldn’t support you even with eight thousand or eighty thousand!"

Su Li took another deep breath and suddenly turned to Mr. Li and Police Fang. "Mr. Li, Fang Luo, this money... if I give it to my mother, it might end up in a casino the very next moment."

Miao Fenghua, who had been silent this whole time, finally couldn’t hold back any longer.

"Then just give her a little more! He’s your full-blooded brother, the only male heir of our Su family! His health is poor, why can’t you support him? You’re good at making money, so what’s wrong with helping your brother out a bit!"

"Besides, your brother only gambled that one time. He won’t do it again! If it’s eight hundred a year, then so be it. Just give an extra share for your brother, and from now on, you can’t abandon us no matter what happens..."

Su Li shook her head violently, backing away. "No! I won’t! If making money means I just have to hand it over for you to squander, then making money is wrong! I’ll stop! I won’t make any more money! I’m shutting down the factory!"

When Su Li said this, everyone was truly shocked.

"No!"

"You can’t do that!"

Everyone present tried to stop her. Mr. Li even broke out in a cold sweat.

How could the factory be shut down? It was the county’s leading enterprise! The county’s rapid development in the last two years was all thanks to the factory. It paid its taxes on time every year. What would the county do without it?

Closing it would be a huge disaster!

The reporters also hurried to stop her. The factory wasn’t just helpful to the county, but to the entire city as well. It absolutely could not be shut down!

With this one drastic maneuver, Su Li had completely turned the situation around.

After that, things went much more smoothly.

"...In accordance with the laws on parental support and the results of today’s discussion, Su Li will henceforth pay eight hundred yuan per year in support payments... To avoid unforeseen circumstances, this amount will be distributed in twelve monthly installments, and Miao Fenghua must collect the money in person."

The lawyer Su Li had brought along worked with swift professionalism, turning the results of the day’s negotiations into a formal agreement.

The responsibilities of Miao Fenghua, Su Dan, and Su Li, as well as all points of caution, were laid out with perfect clarity.

"If Su Dan is found to be in violation of this agreement by taking Miao Fenghua’s support money for gambling or other personal expenses, the support payments will be unconditionally suspended for three months, effective immediately."

"If the above situation is discovered three or more times, the support payments will be terminated permanently."

Clause by clause, the agreement meticulously eliminated any possibility of Su Dan taking the money. Of course, if Miao Fenghua willingly gave the money to Su Dan and let herself go hungry, that was her own business. Outsiders couldn’t control that.

The agreement was drafted and dictated aloud by the lawyer, ensuring Miao Fenghua and Su Dan heard every word clearly. Then, the parties involved signed and affixed their thumbprints. Miao Fenghua, being illiterate, just used her thumbprint.

Besides the main parties, those present were also asked to act as witnesses. Mr. Li, Police Fang, and the two reporters all signed their names.

The effective agreement was drawn up in quadruplicate: one copy for each of the main parties, Miao Fenghua and Su Li; one for the lawyer’s records; and one to be filed with the county.

The issue of not supporting Miao Fenghua was thus smoothly resolved.

Technically speaking, Miao Fenghua was still relatively young and perfectly able-bodied. She could fully support herself and was not yet of an age where Su Li was legally required to provide for her.

But Su Li didn’t care about the money for a few years. Her goal was to settle this matter once and for all, leaving no lingering problems.

In the future, if they tried to cause trouble again, or if someone dug this incident up, she could show everyone that she had begun supporting Miao Fenghua at the age of twenty-three, before she had even graduated from university.

Miao Fenghua’s twisted logic—that true filial piety meant endlessly satisfying her and Su Dan’s demands—would never hold up.

A faint, mocking smile touched Su Li’s lips. By establishing the support payments early, she was also giving Miao Fenghua and Su Dan the opportunity to make trouble. And as they made trouble, the payments would eventually be troubled right out of existence.

She hadn’t drawn up this agreement for fun, just because she had nothing better to do.

Su Li’s foresight was impeccable. Or rather, she had seen through Miao Fenghua and Su Dan long ago.

In the end, she paid the support funds for less than a year before they were cut off, just as the agreement stipulated. The reason, naturally, was that the two had violated the terms.

With an extra few dozen yuan appearing out of thin air each month, the already ambitionless Miao Fenghua and Su Dan truly began to just drift along, waiting to live off Su Li. With their lives easier and free of pressure, Su Dan had money again, and his old, shady friends came calling.

They went out eating, drinking, and fooling around, and even gambled a few rounds. Su Dan was manageable when sober, but the moment he drank, he became a beast.

Eventually, all of Miao Fenghua’s money was taken by him for his debauchery. After he was discovered and warned twice, Miao Fenghua, afraid that Su Li would make good on her word, tried to hide the money. But when Su Dan got drunk and couldn’t get what he wanted, he resorted to outright robbery.

Su Dan beat Miao Fenghua until her head was bleeding, then took the money and left. In the end, a neighbor who couldn’t bear to watch any longer, fearing for her life, took Miao Fenghua to the hospital.

With the incident blown up to this scale, Miao Fenghua couldn’t hide it even if she wanted to.

Everyone had heard about Su Li giving Miao Fenghua eight hundred yuan a year in support, as well as the conditions that couldn’t be violated. Many had been envious of the arrangement.

Who in Su Family Village didn’t know that Miao Fenghua’s favoritism for her son was extreme, and that she had treated Su Xing and Su Li like maids? To raise them like that and still have the audacity to take Su Li’s money!

Since most of them couldn’t get jobs in the factory, they were even less willing to see someone like Miao Fenghua get so much money. Thus, everyone became a particularly enthusiastic watchdog.

Many people shared the same mentality: If I can’t have it good, neither can you!

With the matter escalated to this point, Miao Fenghua beaten until she bled, the support ended.

"Giving my mother support payments only ended up putting her in danger and bringing disaster upon our family. I feel deeply guilty and will reflect on my actions. I will definitely not give any more money in the future."

Su Li stated this with absolute conviction, and the so-called "unfilial support" incident came to a perfect conclusion.

Anyone who heard the story would be unable to find any fault with her. A woman like Miao Fenghua was still considered a strong laborer in the countryside; it was nowhere near her time to be cared for in old age!

She would have to bear her own hardships!

By the time Miao Fenghua truly couldn’t work anymore, it would be more than a decade later.

And who knew what the situation would be in over ten years?

From the moment she received the phone call, everything that followed had been anticipated by Su Li. The subsequent developments all unfolded just as she had predicted.

In any case, Su Li had spent a few hundred yuan to resolve the matter, legally shaking off two leeches without leaving any lingering problems.

Of course, all this came later. At the present moment, with the agreement just signed, Miao Fenghua and Su Dan had no idea that they would soon lose this hard-won money.