Witty Wife, Better Life-Chapter 864 - 854 Talks Collapsed

With Wang Dan’s involvement, the situation in the house took on a new change.

Wang Dan made her position very clear—if Li Hongqi really wanted to sell the house, she would buy it as long as the price was right. However, the price of a thousand yuan was definitely unacceptable. If she really had that much money, why would she still want to live here? She could just choose a piece of homestead land and build a few large tile-roofed houses, which would be much better.

Li Hongqi wasn’t giving in either. He was counting on this money to make his way in the city, so for the only asset he could liquidate, he had to sell it at a high price.

One insisting on a lower price to buy, and the other insisting on a high price to sell, this deal was bound to fall through. Sure enough, Wang Dan hadn’t been inside for ten minutes before her scolding voice came from the house again, followed by her storming out, dragging Li Hongxing and slamming the door behind them.

Li Hongqi sat on the kang inside the house, rock solid. He wasn’t afraid that his two older brothers wouldn’t agree. Their father was still lying in the other room. Both of them were filial sons; they couldn’t just watch their old man lie there bare, could they? If they wanted the old man to rest in peace, his house would definitely be sold.

Li Hongjun had been silent since Wang Dan, his sister-in-law, came in, just watching Li Hongqi’s expressions. Now he stretched his long legs and limbs, "If you insist on such a high price, I think even if you call out to the whole village, you absolutely won’t be able to sell it. And don’t think about using our father’s situation to threaten us. According to custom, the body is kept for three days. The day after tomorrow is the funeral. If you can’t come up with the money before then, we’ll have to get the village leaders to handle this. Then how the house is divided will depend on who contributed more or less to the funeral expenses." Li Hongjun’s message was also very clear: don’t use the old man’s funeral to make a fuss. If you really can’t come up with the money, find someone influential, divide the house, and whoever contributes more to the funeral expenses gets more of the house. In short, Li Hongqi shouldn’t even think about monopolizing it.

"Heh, big brother, that’s not going to work. The house is already mine," Li Hongqi said with a face full of smug satisfaction. To prevent exactly this situation, he had flattered the old man into transferring the house into his name just a few months after he came back. It cost a bit of money, but it was a good way to solve the problem once and for all.

Li Hongjun’s gaze sharpened. He hadn’t actually considered the possibility that Li Hongqi would have transferred the house into his own name, but seeing how confident he was now, it was likely true.

Li Hongjun gave him a deep look, realizing that this younger brother hadn’t reformed at all on the inside. He had learned quite a few bad things, it seemed.

"If you insist on doing this, there’s nothing I can do, but make it clear: the man lying in that room isn’t just mine and my older brother’s father, but also your own. The benefactor who gave birth to and raised you for all these years. Regardless of whether you took good care of the old man or not, now that he has passed, as his children, the first thing to think about is how to let the old man rest in peace as soon as possible. Are you really not afraid that dad will come looking for you in the middle of the night?" Li Hongjun finished speaking and walked out without giving another glance at this younger brother who had twisted beyond correction.

Zheng Huilan and her mother were eavesdropping in the other room the whole time. Since the people in the house didn’t intentionally lower their voices, the mother and daughter heard everything that was said.

When the door closed, Zheng’s mother hurriedly dragged her daughter to find their son-in-law, "Hongqi, you can’t be soft-hearted. Now all we have left that can be sold for money is this house. If your dad really loved you, he would definitely want you to sell the house for as much as possible. Besides, can a dead person compare with a living one? When you’re dead, you close your eyes and know nothing; we the living still need to eat and wear clothes, right? Just listen to your mother. In the end, they will definitely buy the house. A thousand yuan is way too little for us to sell it for." The words of Zheng’s mother were categorical. Actually, she was counting on Li Hongxing and Li Hongjun being unable to watch Li Hongqi fail to send off the old man properly because of the lack of money, which is why she advised her son-in-law to take this approach.

"Yeah, I’ll listen to mom," Li Hongqi replied, bowing his head.

Zheng’s mother was reassured to see her son-in-law being obedient and didn’t notice the ferocious expression on Li Hongqi’s face underneath.

Actually, Li Hongqi really hated his mother-in-law bossing him around, but given the circumstances, he couldn’t just abandon the Zheng family mother and daughter, so he had to endure it for now.

Moving on to Wang Dan’s side.

She angrily dragged Li Hongxing out with her and then cursed all the way back to her own home.

Shen Yunfang had just dozed off on the kang (a traditional Chinese bed-stove) when she heard Wang Dan’s voice and got up.

When Wang Dan entered the room and saw Shen Yunfang, she blurted out everything that had happened across the way without even being asked.

Shen Yunfang understood Li Hongqi’s intentions as soon as she heard it. However, she didn’t plan to interfere; this was her eldest brother’s family matter. Under the current circumstances, it was only her eldest brother’s family that needed to buy the old house.

It wasn’t long before Li Hongjun also came into the room.

"Hongjun, what do we do now? If Li Hongqi really sticks to wanting one thousand yuan and we don’t agree... We can’t delay our father’s funeral," Li Hongxing was comparatively conscientious; he never stopped worrying about their father’s final rites.

"Don’t worry about it for nothing. Are you the only son of the Li family? Li Hongqi is too, and Dad is still lying in that room. Even if Li Hongqi has no conscience, he wouldn’t dare to make a fuss over the old man’s funeral," Wang Dan deduced based on common sense – even the most unscrupulous person has to pretend to be a filial son at a time like this.

However, Li Hongjun and his wife Shen Yunfang didn’t quite see it that way. It seemed to them that Li Hongqi was only taking advantage of their father’s impending burial to squeeze out as much money as he could, and he certainly wouldn’t be soft in his approach. Whether he had any conscience was really hard to say – from the looks of it, Li Hongqi’s conscience had indeed been eaten by a dog.

"Elder brother, we must not delay our father’s funeral," Li Hongjun gave his elder brother a definitive statement.

"That’s right, elder brother. No matter what tricks Li Hongqi pulls, he’s right about one thing; regardless of who was supposed to take care of the elderly as agreed during the division, we can’t just watch the old man suffer more because of money issues after his death. We’re not that heartless, we can’t just stand by," Shen Yunfang knew that with Li Hongjun here, such a thing could never happen. Although they wanted to deal with Li Hongqi, they couldn’t make an issue out of this matter. After all, respect for the deceased was paramount, and she could understand that.

Wang Dan didn’t quite agree with her sister-in-law’s words. Things that were agreed upon should be followed according to the original agreement. But in the end, she pursed her lips and didn’t voice her opposition.

Li Hongxing, however, nodded along. In his view, no matter the conflicts among the brothers, they needed to be united when it came to their elderly parent’s affairs.