Soon after, he gazed at Feng Cuihua with deep affection and comforted her. For this reason, he had specifically asked Qin Mu for confirmation multiple times. The purpose of the lawsuit was just to get them to apologize and admit their wrongdoing, not actually to send them to prison.
Upon hearing this, Feng Cuihua silently nodded.
"Right," Zhang Qingyuan suddenly remembered something and continued, "Xiao Qin said they might call you in the next few days to try and reach an understanding. When that happens, you can assess their attitude before deciding whether to forgive them."
Feng Cuihua gave a bitter laugh and shook her head. "I doubt thatâs likely. I know my sons too well..."
Apologizing simply wasnât something theyâd do. Calling to scold her, on the other hand, was far more likely. Such things had happened quite often over the years.
"When their dad passed away," she began, lowering her head as she recounted the past, "he worried they might become unfilial and feared I would be bullied. So, he specifically sought a lawyer and made a will to leave the estate to me..."
As it turned out, her late husband hadnât misjudged them. The children she had raised with such effort had become estranged because of the inheritance. They ended up having a huge argument, and her four sons no longer even recognized her as their mother.
Providing for her... had become a distant hope.
"If my husband were here, he would definitely beat them severely. I was always the one who stopped him..."
As she spoke, Feng Cuihua couldnât help but start crying again.
When the children were young and occasionally misbehaved, her husband wanted to discipline them, but she always stopped him, saying they were still young. As they grew older, her husband no longer had the strength to discipline them, so he stopped intervening.
Thinking about these things now, she was filled with immense regret. It was one thing for one child to be unfilial, but all four sons she had raised were like this, and she felt largely to blame. When they were younger, her husband had even complained that after he died, their four unfilial sons might very well dig up his grave. Ultimately, it was all down to her failure in how sheâd raised them.
"Donât dwell on it," Zhang Qingyuan said, putting his arm around Feng Cuihuaâs shoulder to console her. "There are still six days until the court hearing. Itâs possible some of them will come to their senses by then."
He knew Feng Cuihuaâs personality very well. Beyond being overindulgent, she was also quite timid. That was why her four sons, after their fatherâs death, had revealed their true natures and become increasingly lawless. Because deep down, they felt their mother was an easy target, so they had only gotten worse. And this time, he figured Xiao Qinâs intervention would teach them a lesson theyâd never forget. Refusing to provide support could indeed land them in jail!
ăJin City.ă
In a certain residential community:
"What kind of garbage lawyer is this?!" Jiang Daping had returned home. Sitting on the sofa, the more he thought about it, the angrier he became, and he couldnât stop himself from cursing. "He just gave me some ridiculous analysis without offering any solutions. And this is supposed to be the top-ranked lawyer in Jin City?"
Earlier that day, he had visited a law firm, hoping to find a solution. He had assumed that a lawyer with such a prominent reputation would be genuinely skilled. But this Zhang Wei... his competence was simply abysmal.
"After I explained everything to him for ages, he actually told *me* to call and reconcile!" he fumed. "He even said that if *we* donât reconcile, *weâll* most likely be sentenced!"
In the kitchen, his wife, who was cooking, heard his shouting and couldnât help but ask, "What on earth happened?"
Jiang Daping snorted coldly and recounted his experience at the law firm.
"Wasnât this lawyer supposed to be highly skilled? This is unbelievable..." After listening, his wife was also completely perplexed.
Reconciliation... what a terrible idea! They had sought a lawyer precisely because they wanted nothing more to do with Feng Cuihua. Their relationship had already soured to this point; how could they possibly call to reconcile? Besides, if they did reconcile, how would *we* handle the responsibility of supporting her? If *we* made the first call, wouldnât *we* end up bearing the brunt of it? If Feng Cuihua then latched onto *us*, *weâd* have nowhere to turn for help.
"I think heâs all show and no substance, completely overrated!" Jiang Daping gritted his teeth and said angrily, "Iâm blacklisting that lawyer! Heâs so hyped up, but all he does is give terrible advice!"
During the day, he had subtly explained his relationship with his mother, yet this lawyer still told him to apologize. He clearly doesnât know how to handle people and didnât propose a single viable solution.
"So, what do we do now?" his wife asked with a grimace, clearly reluctant. "We canât actually apologize, can we?"
Before she could finish, Jiang Daping said coldly, "We havenât done anything wrong, so why should we apologize?! When we bought our house, Mom didnât contribute a single cent and even said outright that she didnât need us to support her. The neighbors all heard it. Besides, itâs not like we never supported her before; itâs just that we havenât bothered with her these past few years."
He kept making excuses for himself, and the more he talked, the more justified he felt.
Itâs only been a few years of not providing for her. Could that really be a crime? If that were the case, then many people in the world would deserve jail time!
"Forget it." After venting, Jiang Daping took a deep breath and said with a determined gaze, "Tomorrow, Iâll find another lawyer, someone with real professional skills. We have to win this lawsuit!"
Apologizing was out of the question.
What I have to do now is win this lawsuit,
he resolved.
Preferably, Iâll shift the main responsibility for her support onto my other brothers. Itâs not that I wonât provide support at all, but itâs absolutely unacceptable that I should contribute the most just because Iâm the eldest.
ăJin City.ă
In another residential community:
Jiang Erping returned home with a grim expression. As soon as he walked in, his unemployed son, who was at home, came up to him and asked with concern, "Dad, how did it go? Can the issue be resolved?"