Ma Laoer had a flash of delight in his eyes, "Mom, then I’ll take half a day off tomorrow. I’ll borrow the brigade leader’s bicycle and take you to Lao San’s place to get the money."

Yuan Chun agreed, "That works. With a bicycle, we can make a round trip in the morning."

Qinghe Village is an hour’s bike ride from the county town. The original owner couldn’t ride a bike, so walking would take three hours.

A round trip would take the whole day.

Ma Xiangling stopped crying, looked at Yuan Chun in disbelief, "Mom, are you really planning to go to the county to ask Third Brother for money?"

"What do you mean ask for money? We haven’t split the family; he can’t have private money. Your old mother is going to take what’s rightfully ours," Yuan Chun said confidently.

In the countryside, if the family isn’t split, sons and daughters-in-law can’t have their own private money.

Money earned must be handed over to the parents, who would manage it.

In the past, the original owner pampered Ma Laosan, and with a few words from him, didn’t make him and his wife hand over their salaries, even secretly gave Ma Laosan pocket money.

Now, huh...

After dinner, the task of cleaning up and washing dishes was assigned to Ma Xiangling.

Ma Xiangling didn’t dare to say a word against it and obediently went to wash the dishes.

The next day, Ma Laoer took half a day off, borrowed a bicycle from the brigade leader, and took Yuan Chun to the county town.

Ma Laosan worked at the wool spinning factory in the county town as a minor official, the job was easy. Ma Laosan’s wife, Wang Yingying, worked at the county supply and marketing cooperatives. Both had quite good jobs and high wages.

Wang Yingying often managed to buy some flawed goods without needing tickets, secretly reselling them for a small profit. Ma Laoer also often took grain, dried mushrooms, and eggs from home to secretly sell for profit.

So both were good at making money.

But they were also extremely stingy and calculating.

Ma Laosan and Wang Yingying had been married for six or seven years, and they had never brought anything back to the family. Even when they returned to the village for New Year, they came back empty-handed.

After New Year, they left with bags full.

No wonder Ma Laoer resented the original owner’s favoritism. No one wants to earn work points so hard, yet had to feed such a big rat for free over the years.

When Ma Xiangling got married, she also learned from Ma Laosan, often coming home to take food. After all, buying vegetables in the city cost a lot, so the family had to support another little rat.

For this reason, Ma Laoer and his wife were very resentful of the original owner, which eventually led to the original owner suffering a stroke and being paralyzed, and Ma Laoer and his wife refused to care for the original owner.

An hour later, Yuan Chun and Ma Laoer arrived at the wool spinning factory’s family area.

Yuan Chun often brought some vegetables from the home to Ma Laosan during the farming offseason, so quite a few people in the residential area knew the original owner.

"Xiang Nan’s mother is here, bringing vegetables for her son again."

An old lady greeted Yuan Chun with a smile.

Yuan Chun immediately put on an act, with tears in her eyes, sighed, "There’s no more vegetables at home. Xiang Nan picked them all last time. There’s nothing for the family to eat. I’m here to ask my son for money. My Lao San has worked for seven or eight years, and hasn’t handed over a penny of salary. Now, the family needs money, so I’m here to get it."

The old lady’s eyes instantly showed a hint of gossip, "Oh my, you’re really good to your Xiang Nan. Married for so many years and never handed over a penny. Tsk tsk tsk, you’re so big-hearted. If it were any other mother-in-law, she would have come knocking long ago."

Yuan Chun wiped a tear and said, "I’m forced to do this. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have come all this way to trouble Lao San and his wife."

"My eldest son lost a leg and came home recently. I... boo hoo... it breaks my heart to see him like this."

"Before, our family’s life was supported by the eldest alone. Now that the eldest is down, isn’t it up to Lao San to support the family in the future? Otherwise, how would this big family of old and young live?"