Chapter 2

“Kang Wei needs money right now. You can't even bear to sell one house of your own—so how could you ask me to sell the house that belongs to my son?”

Mom pushed the appraisal aside.

Before she could get angry, my sister-in-law started sobbing with her daughter in her arms.

“Mom, we don't want to pressure you.”

“But if she doesn't get into a good school, her whole life could be ruined.”

My brother was silent for a long time before finally speaking in a low voice.

“When we divided the estate, you said everything in the family would be mine.”

“Now I really need the money. You can't just leave me on my own.”

Mom looked at her granddaughter in my sister-in-law's arms, then at the wounded expression on her son's face.

Everyone was waiting for her to prove that her son's future truly mattered more than anything.

Three days later, she put the old house up for sale.

The day the money came in, the full 1.2 million yuan was transferred to my brother's account.

He quickly bought the house near the school.

When the purchase contract was signed, my sister-in-law claimed she qualified to register as the owner. She put only her own name on it.

After Mom found out, she went to my brother's house and made a scene for half the day.

My brother shut the door and spent the evening coaxing her.

“Why keep score between husband and wife?”

“What's hers is mine, isn't it? And the house will go to your granddaughter someday anyway.”

Mom was unhappy, but she couldn't bear to blame her son, so she complained instead that my sister-in-law was too calculating.

When we got home, Chen Zheng put the deed to the house that had almost been sold into the safe.

After locking it, he didn't leave right away.

“What if they come asking again?”

He asked slowly.

The wariness in his eyes hadn't completely faded.

I went over to the safe and checked the combination once more.

“This house is for our son.”

“No one is taking it.”

I heard soft footsteps outside.

Our son had been standing by the door. When he heard that, he quietly ran off.

At dinner, he put a piece of pork rib in my bowl.

It was the first time since I came back that he'd reached out to me on his own.

A month later, a business plan appeared in the family chat.

My brother wanted to buy a franchise for a restaurant that was popular online. He needed eight hundred thousand yuan in startup capital and also wanted to mortgage the shop Dad had left behind.

Mom specifically asked what I thought.

In my previous life, I'd discovered that the franchise company was mired in lawsuits, so I'd rushed to my parents' house that very night to stop him.

Mom slapped me in front of my brother, accusing me of envying his abilities and fearing he would be more successful than me.

This time, I read the plan from beginning to end and replied with one sentence in the group.

“Kang Wei is capable. A man building a business can't be timid. Mom, you should support him wholeheartedly.”

Mom promptly sent a voice message.

Her voice was full of smug satisfaction.

“Your younger brother really is the capable one. Don't come crying to me because you didn't invest when the restaurant starts making money.”

I deleted the plan and went back to helping our son with his homework.

Of course I wouldn't regret it.

I knew the first thing my brother would do with Mom's retirement money wouldn't be to rent a storefront or negotiate the franchise.

He'd buy himself a luxury car.

The day the eight hundred thousand yuan was transferred into his account, he put down a deposit on one.

Mom saw the debit notification and went straight to the restaurant to confront him.

My brother led her around the unfinished storefront, then pointed at the parking space out front.

“Image is everything in business.”

“If I show up in some beat-up old car…”

Mom had still been frowning at first.

When she didn't respond, my brother helped her sit down and kept painting a rosy picture.

“Once the restaurant starts making money, the first thing I'll do is get you a big house.”

“Then we'll hire a helper, and you won't have to lift a finger.”

Mom's anger melted away.

After she went home, she told everyone that her son had vision and that the car was necessary for business.

On opening day, my brother spent two hundred thousand yuan hiring online influencers to livestream from the restaurant.

A cousin handled purchasing, my brother's daughter handled operations, and two other male cousins barely showed up but still collected a salary every month.

All our relatives thought they were benefiting.

In less than six months, the restaurant's cash was gone.

The franchise headquarters stopped supplying products, employees blocked the doors demanding wages, and the bank began calling in the loan secured against the shop.

When creditors finally cornered Mom at home, she called me.

As soon as I answered, she gave me an order.

“Transfer five hundred thousand yuan right now to help Kang Wei pay his employees.”

I opened our household budget.

“So the eight hundred thousand yuan and the loan against the shop are both gone?”

She fell silent.

Perhaps she knew there was no way to justify it. When she spoke again, her voice wasn't as forceful.