Insatiable Greed? Li Junsheng Kicks His Eldest Son Upon Returning Home!

Xiaowei held the pear Li Junsheng had given him and reached out to be carried. The little boy, still clutching the pear, thanked Li Junsheng, calling him "Grandpa."

Li Junsheng felt both touched and bitter. It was just a pear, after all. The two children from his eldest son's family had eaten countless fruits from him over the years, yet not once had they uttered a word of thanks.

"Dad, since you're here, why not come inside? I'll have Xiaocui whip up a couple of dishes, and we can have a drink together," Li Guohua said with a smile, a rare moment of warmth between father and son.

Li Junsheng agreed. After leaving the hospital, he bought groceries and followed Li Guohua back to the small rented house where the young couple was staying.

He had purchased a chicken, fish, and rock sugar with white fungus to make a nourishing soup for Xiaowei's lungs.

Li Guohua and Ji Xiaocui couldn't help but wonder where he had gotten the money. Upon asking, they learned that Li Junsheng had sold his factory job.

He explained the factory's impending layoffs, but the couple didn't comment. Nor did they covet the money in his hands.

Li Junsheng invited them to dinner that evening to discuss dividing the money, and they nodded in agreement.

After lunch with Li Guohua, spending time with his grandson and mending some of the distance with his second son, Li Junsheng decided it was time to head home.

On the way, he couldn't stop thinking—if he wanted to make money, he had to settle the issues at home first. Otherwise, there would never be peace.

His eldest son and daughter-in-law were eyeing his money like tigers, even willing to deceive their own siblings.

Li Junsheng had no doubt they would stoop to even lower, more desperate measures for money.

He couldn't trust such people to live under the same roof.

Then there was Ma Yulian—scheming, calculating, ensuring that with her around, the household would never know peace.

These two major problems had to be dealt with.

Lost in thought, Li Junsheng returned home with a dark expression.

The moment he pushed open the door, Li Guojun greeted him with his son and daughter in tow.

"Dad, where have you been all morning? We've been waiting for you to have lunch!"

Li Guojun smiled ingratiatingly, while his young but already shrewd granddaughter, Xingxing, fawned over Li Junsheng.

"Grandpa, have some candy! My grandpa gave it to me, but I saved it for you!"

Looking at Xingxing and his grandson Xiaoming, Li Junsheng sneered inwardly. His eldest son and daughter-in-law were certainly cunning.

Knowing money was about to be divided, they had deliberately brought their children back from their maternal grandmother's house, hoping to claim a larger share by counting extra heads.

As if he would distribute the money based on household numbers.

Even Xingxing, who usually couldn't be bothered with him, was suddenly so attentive.

And the child's transparent attempt at flattery was written all over her face.

It didn't take a genius to guess that Li Guojun and his wife had coached Xingxing to butter him up.

Staring down at the young faces of his grandchildren, Li Junsheng's thoughts drifted to his past life.

He couldn't help but recall how these two had treated him then.

Xingxing had forced him to sleep in the doghouse, while Xiaoming had gone even further—dumping his food into the dog's bowl, expecting him to fight the animal for scraps.

The memory sent a chill down his spine.

His already grim expression darkened further.

Xingxing shrank back, unnerved by her grandfather's unusually terrifying demeanor.

Taking a deep breath, Li Junsheng reminded himself that in this life, they were still just children. If they grew up to be as cruel as before, he could deal with them then.

With that in mind, he pulled out thirty cents in change from his pocket—leftover from his grocery shopping—and handed it to Xingxing.

Ignoring her gleeful reaction, he said coldly, "Grandpa doesn't want the candy. Take this money and buy some for yourself and your brother."

"Yay! More money for candy!"

Without a word of thanks, Xingxing grabbed the cash and dragged her brother outside.

Li Guojun smirked to himself, pleased that bringing the kids back had been the right move.

Once the children were gone, Li Guojun immediately turned on the charm. "Dad, you must've missed them, huh? They missed you too, especially Xingxing—she kept saying she wanted to come home to see Grandpa..."

"Oh, really?"

Li Junsheng's patience snapped. In one swift motion, he kicked Li Guojun square in the stomach, sending him sprawling to the ground.

Li Guojun lay there, stunned.

"Dad! What the hell was that for?" Wang Xiuhua rushed to help her husband up before rounding on Li Junsheng.

"You just hit him out of nowhere? After he saved lunch for you because he was worried you'd go hungry?"

Li Junsheng ignored his daughter-in-law and instead brought up how Li Guojun had swindled ¥180 from his younger brother under false pretenses.

"Li Guojun, you deserved that kick. How dare you use my name to take back that money from your brother? You claimed it was for Xiaowei's treatment—were you hoping he'd die? He's your own nephew!"

Li Guojun hadn't expected his father to find out so soon, but he wasn't afraid. Rubbing his stomach, he defiantly retorted, "So what? Second Brother didn't need that much for his kid's treatment. What's wrong with taking back the extra?"

Li Junsheng laughed in disbelief. "Do you even know that because of the missing money, Xiaowei couldn't finish his treatment and had to leave the hospital?"

"That was my money! What right did you have to take it? I'm not dead yet—it's still mine! If I hadn't gone to see Xiaowei today, I'd still be in the dark!"

Pausing, Li Junsheng thrust out his hand.

"Give me back that ¥180!"

There was no way Li Guojun would return money once it was in his grasp.

Jutting his chin out, he adopted a defiant stance. "I already used it for Xingxing's tuition. She's your granddaughter too—doesn't matter which grandkid gets the money!"

"Besides, your money is my money. It'll be mine sooner or later—why shouldn't I take it back from Second Brother?"

Hearing such shameless reasoning, Li Junsheng yanked off his size 44 shoe, grabbed Li Guojun by the collar, and raised it to strike his mouth.

This wasn't just simple freeloading—his eldest son had crossed a line.

"Enough!"

Ma Yulian's shrill voice cut through the tension.

She had been staying in the bedroom, avoiding her eldest son and daughter-in-law after their recent falling-out. But hearing the commotion, she saw an opportunity to mediate and mend fences.

She rushed over, shielding Li Guojun like a mother hen, then sneered at Li Junsheng.

"Li Junsheng, that's enough! Weren't you the one who said this morning that there's no point hoarding money for yourself?"

Remembering his earlier words, Ma Yulian seized the chance to twist the knife and stoke the flames between father and son.

"You said all your children are your own, and it's only right to share the money with them. Did you forget what you said just this morning?"

"Second Brother didn't need that much for his kid's treatment. Eldest was just worried he'd waste the extra and wouldn't get it back later. What's wrong with taking it back now? Stop making a fuss over nothing!"