Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Hence, he came up with an excuse to reject them. “My brother and I plan to have a simple meal at home on New Year’s Eve. There’s no need for us to have a family feast!”

Xiang Yu was unhappy when she heard that. “Why? Do you find us an embarrassment? Now that your brother has struck a fortune with a famous daughter and a rich son-in-law, is he trying to chase his poor relatives away?! We are still your family even though we are poor! We aren’t asking for much except to have a reunion dinner with you guys. What’s wrong with that?!”

In reality, the woman had spent all the money she had with her over the last two months.

Before they moved to the city, this mother-daughter trio had high expectations and anticipation for life away from the village. However, as they finally settled down in the capital, the expensive rent and hefty daily expenses were starting to stress them out! It was difficult for them to maintain a decent standard of living with the high cost of living.

Her daughters had looked for employment soon after they found a place to stay. As they were new to the city, they did not manage to earn much with their part-time jobs. Each of them could only bring home about 3,000 yuan or so each month. In combination, their monthly household income of 6,000 yuan or so barely allowed them to survive each month after deducting expenses for their meals, transportation, and occasional shopping!

The woman was thick-skinned enough to borrow money from her brother-in-law a couple of times. Yun Yecheng knew, of course, that the money he lent her would never be returned!

Still, he was worried that the greedy trio would target his daughter if he refused. Hence, he passed her some money a few times behind his brother’s back. Alas, the woman had enjoyed too much to let go of this money tree by then!

On this New Year’s Eve, he believed that this shameless woman would try to squeeze some money from his daughter on the pretext of a reunion dinner. Thus, he decided to be forthright with her. “Are you out of money again?”

His sister-in-law was furious with shame. “What do you mean by that, brother-in-law?! Are you taking my daughters and me as beggars? Do you really think that we are out to exhort money from you and your family? We just want to enjoy a reunion with our extended family—that’s all! Are you so stingy to refuse this humble request of ours now?!”

Her accusations put her brother-in-law on the spot, instead. He was struck dumb by her fierce rebuttal.

His brother blurted out angrily, “Isn’t it true that the three of you are always asking for money?! Do you think I don’t know that you’ve been borrowing money from my older brother behind my back?! You’ve owed him tens of thousands by now, but are you able to pay any of it?!”

The woman did not learn anything much from her stay in the urban city other than cultivating brazenness. She laughingly retorted, “We have to borrow because our money isn’t enough! Anyway, we are a family so there’s no need to be calculative with us, is there?”

Her husband was not amused and told her off. “There’s a saying that even biological brothers need to be clear in their debts and ledgers! My brother has already spent a lot of resources in order to take care of me. Are you trying to kill him by asking him to support the three of you, too?! You three lazy b*gg*rs!”

His wife turned red with embarrassment and lashed out indignantly, “What’s wrong with that?! He has a rich son-in-law, hasn’t he?!”