In the 90s, you could acquire max-level skills every 14 days.

Li Guilan leaned against the kitchen door and sighed again, pinching a steamed bun in her hand.

"Every time your uncle comes, your dad takes him out to eat."

"That restaurant on Jinsong Road can easily cost twenty or thirty yuan for a meal. They'll set up a table with all that clattering and clanging, and every time they'll say, 'Brother, you rarely come here, so please eat whatever you want!'"

"Your dad always says the living room is too small and there's not enough room, so he insists on eating out."

She rubbed her nose with the back of her hand, and her eyes started to redden again.

"If I had forced him to take out all the money to buy a bigger house, things wouldn't have come to this."

"But this time you're in charge... so how do we do it?"

Zhang Yong was rubbing his black hands with soap in the kitchen.

My fingernails were filled with machine oil residue that had been there for several days; it was black and I couldn't get it clean no matter how I washed it.

He sighed softly and glanced at the system panel in the corner.

[Auto Repair Lv.5: Progress 20% (AFK... 30x speed)]

Going to Old Zhao's place to try and get some money back won't increase it much; it's going to be slow and sluggish. It's time to consider doing something else.

"Eat at home."

Zhang Yong's voice came through the sound of water.

"No need to buy groceries, just make whatever you have at home. Corn porridge, pickled vegetables, pickled cucumbers, and this half-bottle of fermented bean curd too, that's all you need."

Li Guilan pinched a steamed bun into a flower shape in her hand.

"what?"

She quickly stood up, her voice trembling with urgency.

"How...how can that be? Pickled vegetables with porridge—would your dad agree to that?"

She held the steamed bun in her hand and circled twice in place at the kitchen doorway.

"Besides, even if we don't feed your uncle well, your dad can secretly take him out for a nice meal behind our backs!"

"Even if the sun rose in the west, he would never let his own brother suffer any injustice!"

"Won't the money still be spent anyway? And once it's gone, he won't dare tell me, and he'll just keep it on credit!"

Li Guilan took a big bite of the steamed bun in her hand.

"I've been with your dad for almost twenty years! He's just obsessed with saving face, even if it means suffering for it! You think he'll stop spending money just because you tell him not to? Nobody believes that!"

Zhang Yong shook the water off his hands, grabbed a towel to dry them, turned around and leaned against the edge of the sink, looking at Li Guilan.

"mom."

"I guarantee you, my dad won't dare this time."

"After you went to sleep the night before last, I spoke with him alone again."

Zhang Yong walked to the table and picked up a steamed bun.

"Anyway, I've said everything. I told him that how the family receives his uncle this time is up to me. If he doesn't cooperate, fine—"

Zhang Yong paused for a moment.

"I'll take you straight back to Linyi to live with your maternal grandparents. Let him stay in Beijing alone, and he can give his salary to whomever he wants; I won't stop him."

Li Guilan's eyes widened suddenly.

"I also told him that if he ever sends money back to our hometown behind our backs again, even if he's my biological father, I won't take care of this family anymore. It's not that I'm unfilial, it's that he doesn't treat this family as his home."

Li Guilan was shocked.

She had been a wife for almost twenty years and had never dared to think of going back to her parents' home if things didn't work out.

She knew Zhang Defa wasn't afraid of her, which is why she dared to secretly send money.

But Zhang Defa was afraid of his son.

Especially this son who suddenly became enlightened.

"Your dad... agreed?"

"He nodded," Zhang Yong said. "He nodded very quickly."

Li Guilan let out a long sigh, then lowered her head to break the steamed bun into smaller pieces.

"Then... let's eat at home." Her voice softened.

"Mom, there's something else I need to tell you."

Zhang Yong's tone shifted to one of serious business.

"My uncle lives in our hometown, and he's not poor at all."

Li Guilan was taken aback.

"What does this mean?"

"Last time I went to the police station to ask about that man in the jacket, didn't I?"

Zhang Yong took out the notebook with phone numbers written on it from his pocket and showed it to Li Guilan. It contained the phone number from Baoding.

The police officer pulled a piece of paper from the jacket-wearing man's pocket. The front read "Zhang Dewang" and "This phone number." The back had three other words written on it.

He placed the notebook on the table, turned a page, and pointed to a new name.

"Ma Degui".

Li Guilan had never heard of this name before, but she sensed danger. A woman's intuition is more accurate than anything else.

"Who is this person?"

"They're from Gaoyang County, Baoding, and they specialize in collecting waste engine oil, processing it, and reselling it."

"The fake oil used in the three Dongfeng trucks that Wei Dabiao had previously suffered cylinder failure came from his operations."

Zhang Yong lowered his voice.

"The man in the jacket confessed that he sent people to our house with IOUs to cause trouble, and the person behind them is this Ma Degui."

"Mom, Uncle's name and Ma Degui's name are written on the same piece of paper."

Li Guilan covered her mouth and lowered her voice, as if someone in the room was eavesdropping.

"You...you mean your uncle is in cahoots with the people selling counterfeit oil?"

"I don't understand either." Zhang Yong took the notebook back. "What I meant was, there's a connection between the two of them."

"But one thing is certain—my uncle's life back in his hometown wasn't as bad as he made it out to be when he complained to my dad about being poor."

Zhang Yong briefly told Li Guilan about how he had called his hometown in Baoding to try and extract information from them.

The person who answered the phone said that Zhang Desheng's claim of being "poor as a dog" was just an act for outsiders.

Li Guilan's face turned from red to white, and then from white to green.

"I told you so... I told you so!"

Her voice trembled, not from fear, but from anger.

"You come every year, always complaining about being poor, and always talking about money! Your dad has sent over eight thousand yuan! Over eight thousand!"

"I've saved up this money for so many years! I dare not order meat in the cafeteria! I mend my socks three times before throwing them away!"

"So it was all an act?! An act for us?! I'll scratch his face to pieces when he comes tomorrow!"

"mom."

Zhang Yong stood up, helped Li Guilan to the dining table, and asked her to sit down.

"When your uncle comes tomorrow, just pretend you know nothing. Call him 'elder brother' as usual, and serve him tea as appropriate. Don't give anything away."

Li Guilan's eyes have gotten bigger.

"You want me to act?"

"Yes." Zhang Yong handed his mother a fresh steamed bun. "We need to lure the snake out of its hole."

"My uncle's trip to Beijing this time isn't about borrowing money. I suspect he has other motives—maybe related to the fake oil scandal, or maybe it's related to my recent offense against Ma Degui. Whatever it is, once he's here, the truth will inevitably come out."

"So, try to make him give himself away at home as much as possible."

"How...how do I do this? I don't know how."

"Just keep complaining about being poor, as poor as you can be. My job for my dad is to play dumb and say whatever he asks is to listen to his son and his wife."

"I'll take care of the rest."

Li Guilan stared at her son's face for a long time.

This face is only eighteen years old, and the features still have the immaturity of a teenager.

But she suddenly had a very strange feeling—when did this child become like this?

It seems like one day it just happened suddenly, and it was as if her son had been given a completely different soul.

"Mom, shall I add some sauce for you?"

Li Guilan lowered her head and looked at the spoonful of cucumber sauce her son had scooped out for her.

Silently, I broke the steamed bun in half.

"Just add a little bit."

After taking two more bites, Li Guilan sighed.

"Okay, fine. I'll do whatever you say."

"I'll cook the corn porridge tomorrow morning, and there's still half a radish in the pickled vegetable jar. That's enough."

Zhang Yong cleaned up the dishes and went back to his bedroom.

He opened his notebook and looked at the line that read, "Zhang Dewang will arrive in Beijing next Monday."

Zhang Defa was an honest man his whole life; he would never refuse his brothers and sisters if they asked for his help.

Even though he had promised his son he wouldn't secretly give him any more money, when they arrived at the bus station, the eldest brother got off the long-distance bus and, with tears streaming down his face, called out "Third Brother!"

Zhang Defa softened.

Should we let him go pick it up alone?

No way.

I'll go to Liuliqiao by myself tomorrow.

I'm finally going to meet this uncle who's "extremely strapped for cash."

......