Chapter Seventy-Nine: The Retribution of an Ungrateful Child

Having worked in the same department for four or five years, Wang Mei had always regarded Xu Chuntian with a certain disdain, as the locals of Tiancheng would say—she looked at her with half an eye, never taking her seriously.

Though there was no shortage of rotten dealings and convoluted nepotism in a big subsidiary like Songtian, Wang Mei truly hadn’t encountered a pair quite like Xu Chuntian and Li Chengdong.

One relied on the vestiges of fading beauty, always exchanging flirtatious glances with the male colleagues, cozying up to the leadership, wielding trivial authority as if it were a royal decree.

The other, outwardly honest and dependable, was in truth forever sneaking off to the boss’s office with petty grievances, targeting powerless colleagues, climbing over others to get ahead, all while pocketing benefits under the guise of impartial duty.

Two utter scoundrels!

Now that Li Chengdong had been nominated for head of the procurement office, the whole department was in an uproar. Everyone muttered behind closed doors that if these two ever called the shots, life would become unbearable.

Wang Mei was already worried—her previous accounts had been seized upon by Li Chengdong, and if he rose to power, what would become of her?

When she saw the old man in the video on her phone, whose appearance bore a striking resemblance to Li Chengdong, her eyes widened.

Though she wasn’t on good terms with Li Chengdong, she did know Li Shixin! During Li Chengdong’s first two years at the company, the old man would often drop by with meals for his son; she had met him.

She had always thought the father and son got along well. But now, hearing Li Chengdong’s voice in the video lashing out at the old man with venomous words, seeing the old father’s tear-streaked face...

Wang Mei narrowed her eyes.

She glanced at Li Chengdong and Xu Chuntian toasting the boss, arched her brow, and after attracting attention in the office chat group with a red packet, casually forwarded the video there.

“Hey, everyone, check out the video in the group! Who would’ve thought something like this could happen in Tiancheng? Heartless! Refusing to pay his own father’s medical bills, forcing the old man to take bit parts in Rongdian, and then coveting his house—what kind of person does that?”

“Well, isn’t that something! Let me see...”

“Wait a second, listen to the part at five minutes in—doesn’t the voice on the phone sound just like Director Li?”

“Wait! If I recall, Director Li’s father is also called Li Shixin, right? What a coincidence?”

“No way, could it really be Director Li? You must be mistaken. Oh my! I visited Director Li’s house last New Year and met the old man. Isn’t that his father?!”

“Director Li, this is too much. The old man’s getting on in years—how could you... Ahem, if the family’s having trouble, why not just tell us?”

“Thirty thousand yuan in medical bills isn’t that much. If we all pitched in, we could cover it. Why go to these lengths, eh... Ahem. Right?”

As phones chimed around the table and people opened the video, the room erupted in chaos.

With nearly everyone in the private room chattering about it, Li Chengdong and Xu Chuntian, wine glasses in hand, looked utterly bewildered.

What video?

Just as they fumbled for their phones in confusion, the manager beside them, having fast-forwarded through the video, darkened his face, raised his phone, and spoke.

“Director Li, Xiao Xu... This is your father, isn’t it?”

Both froze at the sight of Li Shixin on the screen.

Instinctively, they nodded.

What was happening? He was still alive?!

Seeing them admit it, the manager narrowed his eyes, then dialed the HR manager. “Hey, Old Zhang, put a hold on Li Chengdong’s appointment as director. Why? No particular reason, just don’t think he’s suitable. As for a replacement? We’ll discuss it at tomorrow’s meeting.”

By now, Li Chengdong had watched the video to the end. When he saw his own father answer that call in the video, a cold sweat broke out down his spine.

You old bastard, setting me up!

When did I ever call you?!

“Manager! Manager, listen to me, I swear I never called my father like that! The call is fake, it’s definitely that old... my father faked it!”

Oh?

In an instant, everyone in the room curled their lips in a knowing smirk.

So you never made that call—meaning the rest of it is true?

That old bastard...

The call is fake, huh...

Heh...

Who would believe that?

With all their colleagues regarding them with meaningful, penetrating stares, Li Chengdong and Xu Chuntian trembled, sweat pouring down their faces.

It was over...

If there’s mud in your pants, even if it’s not shit, it might as well be.

Even if they jumped into the Yellow River, they’d never wash this away.

...

Ten o’clock at night.

The living room was thick with smoke.

Holding a cigarette, staring at his wife who was sitting in front of the sofa, wailing and cursing his ancestors back to the eighteenth generation, Li Chengdong finally lost his patience.

“Can’t a man get some peace? Yell all you want, what’s it going to change?” He crushed the cigarette on the floor and sprang up from the sofa.

“Li Chengdong, you have the nerve to shout at me?” Shocked at being yelled at by a husband who had always been obedient, Xu Chuntian’s voice rose another notch.

“You can’t even handle your own father, and you dare shout at me? I must have been blind to marry you! Life is impossible... really impossible... Marrying into your family was the worst luck in eight lifetimes!”

Watching his wife collapse onto the floor, Li Chengdong grabbed his phone. “How many times do I have to tell you? I didn’t call the old man this morning! Look, there’s no record of it! You don’t believe me? I’ll call him right now and you can ask him yourself!”

After a night of losing his promotion, enduring colleagues’ jeers and his wife’s sobs, Li Chengdong was shaking with rage.

He was on the verge of breaking down.

He dialed Li Shixin’s number, put it on speaker, and tossed the phone onto the coffee table.

Ring.

Ring.

Sorry, the number you have dialed cannot be reached...

Hearing the busy tone, Li Chengdong was dumbstruck.

Damn it, he’s blocked me!

As his mind reeled and fury swelled inside him with nowhere to go, there came the sound of a key turning in the lock at the door.

Their son was home.

Hearing the noise, Li Chengdong and Xu Chuntian hurriedly sat up, wiped away their tears, and tidied up the ashtray.

“Son, how was your tutoring today? Did you understand everything the teacher explained?” Xu Chuntian forced a smile, asking as soon as their son Li Tianchao entered.

The teenager, still in his school uniform, hung his head and stood by the shoe cabinet, not coming in, not responding to his mother.

“What’s with you? Why won’t you answer me?” she pressed.

At this, their son looked up, and only then did they see his tear-streaked, acne-marked face.

He gazed at his parents for a long moment, then, voice cracking in the throes of adolescence, shouted, “How can you even ask me about tutoring? Grandpa’s video has spread all over school! I didn’t even dare tell anyone that the voice on the phone was my father, that the man with a serious stroke forced to go to Rongdian is my grandpa!”

Xu Chuntian was stunned by his anguished cry.

At the door, their son flung his backpack to the floor with a crash.

“Don’t you know? Everyone at school is saying you’re worse than animals! Listening to them, I just wanted to find a quiet place and die! It’s so humiliating, you’ve brought such shame on me! I don’t want to go to school anymore. If everyone finds out this is my family, how can I face them? You’re a disgrace, such a disgrace! From now on, don’t you dare claim to be my parents in public—I don’t have parents as shameful as you!”

Weeping and shouting, pouring out all the frustration pent up inside, young Li Tianchao shoved open the door and dashed down the stairs.

On the sofa, staring at the door as it swung back and forth, Li Chengdong and Xu Chuntian sat slack-jawed, their eyes empty.

All these years of scheming at work, scrimping over every penny in life—what was it all for?

For the child, of course.

And now, how could that ungrateful brat say such... such hurtful words?!

Just as the couple sat in despair, the neighbor’s door across the hall creaked open, and a nosy neighbor poked his head in.

Seeing Li Chengdong and Xu Chuntian on the sofa, he grinned.

“Hey, Brother Li, Sister Xu, at home? I saw the video too. You really shouldn’t have done that, how could you—”

“Get out!” Xu Chuntian, finally snapping, hurled a cup at him.

“Hey!”

Amid the sound of shattering glass, the neighbor cursed.

“Bah! What are you so angry about? Serves you right!”