Liu Ran nodded glumly.
Ye Liu said to him with a smile, “Ran Er, you can be sure that you can eat whatever you want when you’re staying with us, and no one will bully you anymore! So don’t be sad, alright? Good boy!”
And then he patted his head, consoling him.
Liu Duo’s mouth twitched. It was not like this idiot had seen it all. What did he mean by ‘eat whatever you want’?
Back home, Liu Duo brought Liu Ran to his room on the second floor.
“Ran Er, from now on, this is your room. Do you like it?” She grinned at him.
The room was a lot bigger than his previous one, and there were two blankets on top of a bamboo mat that had been prepared for him. The whole setup was soft and comfortable, and the bed was just the right size.
The arrangements were quite complete. He sat on the bed, nodding in approval, “Thanks, sis. I love it.”
“Don’t thank me,” She patted him on the head, deciding to prepare some supplements for him. He was far too skinny – almost malnourished.
She was just thinking about it when Ye Ling entered with two eggs, “Ran Er, I’ve boiled two eggs for you, so come eat your fill.”
And so she chuckled, “Ling, we really think alike. I was just planning to get him something, and here you come with eggs.”
Ye Ling laughed when he heard that. He thought so too.
On the other side of town, Grandmother Liu returned home and immediately shut herself inside her room. She opened her money bag and began counting the silver notes inside.
She counted eight, and was so excited her arms trembled. It was the most she had ever held in her hands.
“Dad, we have eight hundred taels of silver now, so isn’t it about time I take a wife?”
Liu Qing asked Liu Quanyan when they were alone in the room.
Liu Quanyan nodded, “Of course, your grandmother would want a great grandson too. There’s no reason she won’t let you take a wife.”
They began to discuss expansions to the house, buying this and buying that, very excitedly.
But Liu Qing reminded himself, I have to settle the gambling debts first, or they’ll have my arm.
He had gone gambling again a few days earlier. He had lost everything he had and even owed ten more taels of silver. He had just been thinking about ways to collect the money, when cash suddenly fell from the sky!
Liu Quanfu’s room, however, was so silent that one could hear a pin drop. The couple hung their head low in silence, barely thinking.
“Quanfu…” Liu Liushi suddenly spoke in a low voice, weak and pitiful.
He looked up at his wife, “Yes, dear?”
She looked at the husband she had stayed with for a couple of decades, and choked, “Quanfu, now both our kids are gone. I don’t know what to feel.”
Liu Quanfu also hung his head in sadness. He felt useless. He couldn’t even protect his children.
“Dear, let’s just move out. If Mother wants to cut ties, let her. If she wants compensation, we can use Ran Er’s money as mortgage,” she couldn’t bear it anymore, to live with the person who had sold her kids.
Liu Quanfu only pursed his lips in response, and his thoughts were unknown.
Liu Liushi wiped away her tears when she didn’t receive a response, “It’s come to this! If you still want to stay here, then go ahead! Let’s divorce!”
She wanted to be by her children’s side. Even if they didn’t need workers, she’d be content just watching them from afar.
Now Liu Quanfu finally spoke up, “Little Yun, how could you say that?”
Divorce? How could one say it so easily?