Study System: I'm a 38-Year-Old Student

Chapter 367 - 246: Severing Family Ties with Money

The argument between the mother and daughter inevitably caught the attention of the neighbors.

The security door of 301 opened, and a middle-aged woman poked her head out: "Guilian, why are you and Qingwu arguing?"

"What’s going on?"

The middle-aged woman’s concern for the arguing mother and daughter was fake; her interest in the gossip was real.

She had already heard the gist at home, but from the words of their quarrel, all she could make out was that Li Guilian seemed to be asking Liu Qingwu for money for her brother Liu Xiaojie’s wedding, and it seemed to involve some deceit.

If she couldn’t get the full scoop, she might not even sleep well tonight, so the middle-aged woman really wanted to hear the whole story.

Seeing the middle-aged woman, Li Guilian immediately slapped her thigh and wailed, "Yufen, don’t laugh at me. This daughter of mine wasn’t worth raising!"

"You watched Qingwu grow up. Was it easy for me to raise her from a child, to educate her, send her to college, and to graduate school?"

"Now she’s become a university teacher, she’s capable, but when it comes to Xiaojie’s wedding, she refuses to contribute!"

"Isn’t this raising an ungrateful child?"

Li Guilian burst into a dramatic performance, sobbing as she talked.

Liu Yufen immediately looked at Liu Qingwu and persuaded, "Qingwu, your brother is getting married; as his sister, it’s only right for you to contribute some money."

"Aunt Liu, do you know how much they want?"

"500,000!!"

"I’m just an intern who just started working, where am I supposed to find 500,000?"

"And that’s not even the main issue. To get the money, they lied to me that Xiaojie had been kidnapped to Northern Myanmar, and if I didn’t pay up, they’d kill him. I maxed out my credit cards, took out online loans, and borrowed money from friends. I barely managed to scrape together a little over 400,000!"

"And the result?"

"It turns out they were scamming me to buy a house!!"

Liu Qingwu wouldn’t just let her mother distort the truth. If she didn’t defend herself now, by the afternoon, her reputation as an "unfilial daughter" would spread throughout the entire factory family area.

Liu Yufen was dumbfounded hearing this. When she was in her room, she only heard Liu Qingwu talk about a scam. She didn’t expect it to be such a bombshell.

"Liu Qingwu, stop talking nonsense. When did Xiaojie and I ever scam you!"

"It’s clearly because you’ve grown wings and don’t want to help your brother!"

"Yufen, tell me what karma this is, raising such an ungrateful child!"

Li Guilian sat directly on the stairs, wailing and complaining about how hard it was for her over the years.

As she was making a scene, Zhang Yayun, who Liu Qingwu had met earlier, and other neighbors at home were also alarmed.

"You’re all one family. Whatever the issue, take your time to discuss it."

"Guilian, what’s going on here? Weren’t you saying something about buying a house?"

"Qingwu, it’s nothing for you to contribute a little to your brother’s wedding."

"Qingwu, you’ve made something of yourself now, but you can’t forget where you came from!"

The neighbors chimed in one after another. The later folks didn’t know the details and instinctively sided with Li Guilian, seeing her sitting on the ground, making a scene with tears and snot.

Just then, Liu Xiaojie’s phone suddenly rang.

He glanced at it; it was a call from his girlfriend, Xu Huili. Liu Xiaojie was a classic people-pleaser, especially attentive to his girlfriend—at least at this stage—and hurriedly answered the call.

"Xiaojie, when are you arriving?"

"The homeowner is already here!"

They were checking out a house today. Liu Xiaojie specifically arranged for his girlfriend, thinking to show off a little of his financial means. His girlfriend, Xu Huili, was already at the real estate agency.

He looked at his mother making a scene on the stairs, then at his stern-faced sister, unsure of how to respond.

"Speak up!"

"Everyone’s waiting for you guys!"

Xu Huili, on the other end of the call, was getting a bit angry.

"Soon, I’ll be there right away!"

Liu Xiaojie gave a perfunctory reply and hung up the call, then hurried to crouch next to Li Guilian, whispering, "Mom, the homeowner and Lili are all here, just waiting for us."

Upon hearing her son, Li Guilian immediately stopped crying. She glanced at her daughter Liu Qingwu and angrily asked, "Liu Qingwu, I’m asking you, are you going to help your brother with his wedding or not?"

"No!!"

Liu Qingwu replied coldly with two words.

"Yufen, Yayun, you both heard that!"

"Oh, what karma do I have with such an ungrateful child..."

Li Guilian started a new round of theatrics.

The neighbors who didn’t know the truth began to criticize Liu Qingwu’s "heartlessness."

There’s a saying: "Those who stand by you are often rogues; heartbreakers are often scholars"!

She’s read too many books; now she doesn’t even care for her parents or brother.

Having already explained the context before, Liu Qingwu stopped explaining. She said coldly, "All that money was borrowed by me, return the money!"

"If you dare to use the money I borrowed to buy a house, I’ll call the police immediately!"

Before this incident, Liu Qingwu had been deceiving herself, believing that although her mother favored her brother, at least she had some care for her as a daughter.

Now she understood—what care?

She was just a tool to amass money for her brother Liu Xiaojie to buy a wedding house, with no concern for her own well-being!

This kind of care, she’d rather do without!

She made up her mind to completely break away from this family.

Otherwise, her mother, brother, and that unreliable father would just latch onto her and leech off her until they drained her dry!

Are these family members?

Is there such a thing as family like this??

Liu Qingwu let out a self-mocking cold smile, wondering what karma in her past life led her to this family.

Just when both sides were in a deadlock, Liu Qingwu’s phone rang; it was Shen Qiushan calling.

"Teacher Liu, how are things progressing?"

"If you need help, don’t hesitate to ask."

Shen Qiushan didn’t care about the 280,000 he lent, but was purely inquiring about the situation’s development. After all, being kidnapped to Northern Myanmar was something he had only heard about on the news before.

Upon hearing Shen Qiushan’s voice, Liu Qingwu, who had been holding back tears, unable to let them fall, couldn’t hold it anymore.

The family that should be closest to her only cared about her money, while Shen Qiushan, this "friend," was concerned about her.

Liu Qingwu first let out a soft sob and then began to wail...

A simple phone call had become a refuge at this moment.

On the other end, Shen Qiushan was startled, thinking something happened to Liu Qingwu’s brother, but realized he probably couldn’t get much out of her now, so he comforted her: "Teacher Liu, no matter what happens, take care of yourself first."

Hearing Shen Qiushan’s comforting words, Liu Qingwu cried even harder.

She cried as she made her way downstairs through the crowd.

Once outside the unit, in a secluded corner, she sobbed and began speaking about her ordeal.

"Old Shen, that 280,000 from last night, you directly transferred to my mom’s bank account; you can file a lawsuit to reclaim the loan."

"And apply for property preservation with the court first to prevent them from moving the money!"

After crying, Liu Qingwu started thinking about how to minimize her losses promptly.

From what she knew about her mother Li Guilian, expecting her to voluntarily return the money was impossible; legal action was the only route.

The money she borrowed herself—if she couldn’t get it back, she would consider it the cost of severing this family tie. But she really didn’t want Shen Qiushan’s 280,000 to be wasted too.