Chapter 339

Chapter 339

The old lady was at her wit's end but didn't want to report the issue, fearing it would put her son in a difficult position. In the end, she went to the community office. Bai Xiuxiu found this case particularly challenging because the old lady was reluctant to make things difficult for her younger son.

This was one of the unresolved mediation cases inherited from the previous officer.

Some time had passed, and Bai Xiuxiu wasn't sure what the situation was like now.

When Bai Xiuxiu and Wang Qiong arrived, they were shocked by the scene at the entrance.

This area used to be a courtyard complex belonging to a wealthy family, and many households had been allocated one or two rooms within it.

It was a large, crowded courtyard.

The old lady lived in the eastern room of the front courtyard. This room had been subdivided into two.

Normally, that was the case.

However, in front of the old lady’s room, a makeshift canopy had been erected, with a wooden bed visible from outside.

The old lady was lying inside, wiping her tears.

"What...?" Wang Qiong looked over, equally surprised.

Bai Xiuxiu spoke through the simple cloth curtain, "Grandma Yang, we are from the community office. You came to us for help some time ago, and we're here to understand the situation now."

Hearing this, the old lady slowly got out of bed, trembling as she opened the curtain.

"Come in and talk," she said.

The old lady looked haggard, her eyes red from crying, and she was extremely thin.

Her clothes had many patches.

Both women winced at the sight of her.

"Please sit," the old lady wiped her tears, inviting them to sit before sobbing, "Why did it take you so long to come..."

"Grandma Yang, the person who was previously in charge of this area from our office has been transferred, and I was reassigned here, which caused the delay. What's going on with your family now?"

Bai Xiuxiu wasn't sure about the current state of the old lady's family.

"Since you hadn’t come, I asked some influential neighbors to help mediate. My eldest grandson insisted on marrying this girl. My son cares about my eldest grandson.

He agreed to the fiancée’s demands, even allowing her brother to move in.

The people who tried to persuade my son eventually gave up after multiple attempts. In the end, my son got annoyed and just left me here.

He said he'd bring me food every day, but that's all he'd do for me.

This place is drafty. Even with the clothes and quilts I have, it’s still cold.

What have I done to deserve this?"

The old lady was shivering as she cried.

The room was so cold that even they felt chilled staying there.

"Grandma Yang, I've roughly understood the situation. Before I speak with them, I need to be clear about a few things with you," Bai Xiuxiu looked at the old lady, feeling that for this issue to be resolved, the old lady would need to be firm with her youngest son.

"The old lady nodded. 'Go ahead, I’ll agree to whatever you say.'"

"'Is this house registered under your name?' Bai Xiuxiu asked."

"Nodding, the old lady said, 'It’s me, it’s me. After my husband passed, this has been my home.'"

"'This matter is actually easy to handle. When we talk later, if you stay firm, it’ll work out,' Bai Xiuxiu continued."

"As soon as she mentioned staying firm, the old lady became afraid. 'What are you going to do to him?'"

"'We’ll ask him to leave. You have four children, don’t you, Grandma Yang? Even if your eldest son doesn’t want to come back to take care of you, you still have your younger daughter, right?'"

Bai Xiuxiu said without hesitation.

"'No, how can that be possible? Where’s he supposed to go?'"

The old lady became anxious.

"'Grandma Yang, isn’t it cold in the middle of winter? For now, they give you something to eat, but in a little while, they might not even give you that. They haven’t cared about where you live, so why should you worry about where they live?'"

"'They won’t go hungry,'"

"'Plus, they probably don’t want anyone else around either.'"

"'Grandma Yang, there are two possible outcomes to the solution I’m proposing.'"

"'One is that your son would rather move out than take care of you. In that case, you’ll have to rely on your daughter and your youngest grandson to take care of you. The good thing is they’ll likely be willing, and you won’t have to worry about going hungry or freezing again.'"

"'You’ll also be the one calling the shots, and I think your daughter will take better care of you out of gratitude.'"

"'She visits you every week, right?'"

"'Of course, there are downsides too. The downside is that you won’t be able to live with the son you value.'"

Bai Xiuxiu continued to persuade her.

Grandma Yang shook her head repeatedly. How could that be okay?

"'There’s another possible outcome. If they don’t want to leave at all, they’ll choose to stay in this house, along with the granddaughter-in-law’s brother.'"

"'The good thing is, you won’t have to suffer from the cold, and you’ll get to live with the son you value.'"

"'But whether you’ll go hungry or not, if you offend them, no one knows the outcome.'"

"'Maybe next time, they won’t even let you go to the community office for help.'"

Bai Xiuxiu laid out both possibilities for the old lady. Seeing her hesitation, she continued, "'Grandma Yang, if you’re willing to accept either of these outcomes, then we can go into the house right now to mediate this matter.'"

"'If you don’t accept these outcomes, we’ll try something else. We’ll contact the factory where that family works and let the factory know what kind of people they are. To save face, they’ll have to let you back into the house.'"

"'But if you offend them this way, the outcome won’t be much different from the previous option.'"

Grandma Yang looked lost after hearing Bai Xiuxiu’s words.

Among her sons, only the youngest was still by her side.

Daughter... daughters are great, but sons...

Old Lady Yang felt like crying again, but the biting cold wind from outside blew in, instantly scattering all her hesitation.

If things keep going like this, she was going to freeze to death this winter.

Causing trouble at her younger son's factory wasn't an option. He was already struggling there, and she didn’t want to drag him down.

"Let's go with the first method. If he really doesn't want to take care of me... then I'll accept it." The old lady sobbed, her heart heavy with sadness.

"Alright, let's go inside then." Bai Xiuxiu helped the old lady to her feet.

Wang Qiong, standing nearby, fully agreed with Bai Xiuxiu. Old Lady Yang couldn’t bear to see her son struggle, and even now, she clung to a glimmer of hope.

The issue was that her son didn’t seem to care much about her situation.

If they didn’t help her face reality, it would only make communication harder.

"Old Lady Yang, we’ve got a plan. From now on, you need to stay on my side. No matter what he says, you have to stick to our plan.

Otherwise, things will get even messier.

You can’t stay out in this freezing weather any longer."

Despite wearing multiple layers, Old Lady Yang was still shivering from the cold.

Her whole body was stiff from the cold. Hearing Bai Xiuxiu's words and feeling the strong wind that day, she didn’t dare to think of anything else.

She nodded repeatedly.

Seeing her nod, Bai Xiuxiu went to knock on the door: "Hello, is anyone home?"