CHAPTER 13
She was worried and didn’t get enough rest for several days. After selling steamed buns, she ran to the police station to find Han Jun and ask about the child’s custody.
”Haiyang is in this state now. If Murong Danling really sues, the case will most likely be given to her.”
Han Jun also sighed after he finished speaking. He and Shen Haiyang have been best friends since elementary school. He has had little contact with Murong Danling over the years and doesn’t know her well. But this woman’s character can be seen from the fact that she divorced Shen Haiyang as soon as he got into trouble and didn’t take the child with her. How could anyone feel at ease leaving Shen Hui to her?
”Then, is there no other way? Shen Hui’s share of the money is a fixed deposit. If she becomes the guardian, can she find a way to withdraw it?”
”It should be. After all, Shen Hui is still young. If Haiyang doesn’t wake up, this matter will be difficult to deal with. But don’t be too anxious, we will find a way.”
”All right.”
Shen Haiyang is now incapable of acting, and as his guardian, she can supervise his share. Now that the Uncle Shen is like this, she is worried that there will be other tricks, and with Murong Danling, the two of them are plotting against the father and son together.
”Find a way to contact Shen Haiyang’s father. This money was given by the old man. As long as we can contact the old man, as he is the direct relative of the father and son, the amount will definitely be enough. No one should think of getting money anymore, because their true colors will be exposed by then.
Otherwise, if Haiyang’s uncle sues you for not being qualified as a guardian, or if Murong Danling gets custody of Shen Hui and then turns her attention to Shen Haiyang, it will be troublesome.”
”But the provincial post office can’t make international long-distance calls now. If you want to make a call, you have to go to Beijing, and it seems you need to apply for it. And what if I go there and can’t get through? If I go, what will happen to the three of them at home?”
Last time, Uncle Shen yelled at her. After all, she had to consult Han Jun and the people at the post office to understand the situation. Now, if she wants to call, she has to travel far away, which is really inconvenient.
”Do you have an address? Write to me.”
”Okay.” Li Xia knew the backwardness of this period, and sighed: “I don’t know when I can receive this letter?”
Han Jun hesitated for a moment and said, “I see someone is selling a house. You can turn the money into physical objects and transfer it to your name. We can’t do anything about Huihui’s custody, but at least we can find a way to keep Haiyang…”
He hesitated to speak, his eyes a little guilty. He felt that Li Xia was trustworthy these days, but he felt that the adult’s vigilance was still a bit too cautious.
”Let’s be frank…”
Li Xia didn’t wait for him to speak and spoke: “It’s written in black and white, let’s do what we have to do. I already have the house and household registration, I won’t covet their things anymore.”
”I’m sorry, thank you for everything you’ve done for them.”
”As I should, I have gained something. I told the old lady that I would take good care of them, so I must do my best. But, will they sue me for transferring Shen Haiyang’s property? Isn’t this illegal?”
”You are his guardian, so it’s not illegal to do this. The most you can do is lose the case and you will be ordered to return the money to Haiyang. Then they will have to sue separately if they want the money, and the back and forth will delay a lot of time. Then we will contact Shen Haiyang’s father, and he will make the decision.”
”That’s fine.”
When the old lady was alive, she helped her get a household registration and transferred the house to her name. Just for this trust and great favor, she had to do her best to protect them. As for what outsiders would say about her, she was not afraid of what others would say because she was true to her conscience.
After leaving the police station, she rode her bike to the place where the house was being sold. The old man told her that his nephew would be back in a few days and asked her to come in person to talk then.
”Daughter, my nephew will most likely disagree with your price. I advise you to prepare more if you really want it.”
”Thank you, sir.”
She rode home, washed up, and started preparing stuffing. For lunch, she made three-grain noodles and added two eggs to the water chestnut stew. The two children came back with their heads down and looked unhappy. She looked at her daughter and asked what was going on.
Huihua turned to look at her brother, and Shen Hui raised his head and said, “My mom was waiting for me at the school gate, saying she wanted to buy me some clothes. I didn’t go, so she stuffed this into my pocket.”
The child took out a handful of transparent glass eggs from his schoolbag. This thing was new and a favorite among children. The woman was obviously trying to please her son and seemed to want to win him over first.
”I’ll cook the noodles, you guys wash your hands and eat.”
At the dinner table, Shen Hui observed her expression and then said, “Mom, if you don’t like it, I’ll throw away the egg later.”
”Why throw it away? There’s nothing wrong with the item.”
The relationship between mother and child is not something that outsiders can interfere with. If she hadn’t seen the news in her previous life, if Murong Danling divorced and took the child away and just came to ask for money, she would have given the child as much as she should reasonably. With Shen Haiyang’s condition, it would definitely be better for the child to stay with his biological mother. But after seeing the news, she had to make plans for the child.
After dinner, she went into the house to talk to the child about buying a house. The child was silent for a while and said, “Grandma said that you can decide on Dad’s share, and keep my share for me to use in the future. Mine is 30,000, right?”
”right.”
Since the old lady had already said it, Li Xia didn’t say anything more to the child. But from the tone of his voice, his attitude was different from before. It seemed that his biological mother had a lot of influence. I don’t know what provocative words she said behind his back. The relationship between the stepmother was already difficult, and with the biological mother messing around, she… Anyway, she just did her best and lived up to her conscience.
She was busy buying a house, so the renovated courtyard house could not be sold for the time being. She rushed home anxiously, and within two days she received a court summons. And there were two of them.
One was for Murong Danling to ask for custody, and the other was for her cousin to apply for custody of Shen Haiyang, saying that she had not fulfilled her responsibilities and applying to cancel her custody. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when holding the subpoena, and she talked to Shen Haiyang again at night.
”You and your son are both incompetent. If you didn’t have a cent, you would have avoided him like the plague. Now that you have money, it’s like a child holding a gold brick on the street. Everything that can stick to you will stick to you. Shen Haiyang, can you wake up? You lie here without any response. I can’t contact your father for the time being. As a stepmother, I will most likely lose the lawsuit for Shen Hui’s custody.”
She was worried and was so focused on talking that she didn’t notice Shen Haiyang’s fingers moving slightly and his eyelashes trembling a few times.
Neighbors who knew about the situation were also discussing it. Zhang Qiuhua from the west room came in specially at night, looked at Shen Haiyang lying on the bed, and sighed several times.
This girl is 24 years old this year. She failed to get into college after going to the countryside and is now assigned to work in a machinery factory. Li Xia has been here for a few months. She has been to the main room three times, looking at the room where Shen Haiyang is and sighing silently.
”Li Xia, what are you planning to do?”
”I have no idea.”
”How could you not know? Uncle Shen has bad intentions. If he gets the guardianship of Shen Haiyang, he will definitely not take good care of him. Although you are not well educated, Brother Haiyang would definitely not want you if he was normal. But you take good care of him, at least better than his uncle.”
”This matter has nothing to do with you. You have no right to speak.”
Hey, what do you mean, girl? Is it fun to belittle me in front of me? Whether Shen Haiyang likes me or not is his business. It has nothing to do with you, right?
”I, I just want to help you out of kindness.”
”How will you help?”
”As a neighbor, I can testify that you took good care of him.”
”Thank you very much.”
”Actually…” She stood up and was about to leave, then came back to ask, “Do you really think it’s worth it to spend your whole life in it? Or are you waiting for Brother Haiyang to die, then you can remarry.”
”This is my business, it has nothing to do with you.”
The woman lifted the curtain and prepared to leave. Her words were clearly heard by Li Xia. “If Shen Haiyang and his son had no money, you probably wouldn’t be in charge of this.”
”I hope they have no money.”
Zhang Qiuhua stepped back and said, “Li Xia, don’t sound so noble. That much money is more than you can spend in a lifetime…”
”So you are jealous?”
”I, humph, why should I be jealous? That money will belong to Shen Hui in the future and you can’t take it. Besides, those two are suing you, maybe you will end up with nothing.”
”I just hope you can speak according to your conscience in the court. Thank you very much.”
This woman obviously had good intentions towards Shen Haiyang and his son, so Li Xia did not quarrel with her.
There were rumors that she might be kicked out with nothing, but she knew that the house had long been in her name and no one could kick her out.
She has a house and a household registration, and the money originally belonged to Shen Hui, so she didn’t want to take it. If she had known, she could have earned money on her own, but now she was worried about how to live up to the old lady’s trust.
She promised the old lady to take care of them, so now she had to find a way to at least keep the custody of Shen Haiyang and take good care of him in his last days to live up to the gift of the household registration and house. As for Shen Hui, he still had a long time to wait until he became an adult and something happened. If there was no way now, she could find a way out later.
To be on the safe side, she asked Han Jun to find someone who knew about the law for advice, so that she could be prepared for any eventuality. The other party invited them to sit down and explained the situation after listening to them.
”In the case of Shen Hui, it is very likely that he will be given to his biological mother. As for your case, there are no clear provisions, so it is hard to say. Your case is different from the rural cases where people do not obtain a marriage certificate. I am not sure whether it will be considered a de facto marriage or invalid.
I personally think the judge will definitely lean more towards the legal level. Your marriage is obviously illegal. If it is ruled invalid, then your guardianship qualification will be… You should start looking for familiar neighbors to testify for you. The more witnesses the better. As long as you can prove that you have taken good care of the old lady and fulfilled the guardianship duties entrusted by the old lady, there is still hope.
Of course, the best thing to do is to contact Shen Haiyang’s father. As the donor of the money and the immediate family of the father and son, his words carry weight. If he follows the old lady’s wishes and entrusts you as the guardian to keep the money, the problem will naturally be solved.”
She nodded to the lawyer, as it coincided with her idea. She went home and began to win over the neighbors in the courtyard. She got along well with the neighbors in the past few months. She would sell them buns even if they didn’t have food coupons, so she was popular with them.
Notary offices are units that have been restored in recent years. Li Xia later learned about their functions from TV. She had thought about this at the time, but the provincial capital notary office was still in preparation and had not yet been opened. Now that it has started normal work, the old lady has passed away, and it is too late.
The purpose of the two was very clear, it was for the 50,000 US dollars. The money was in the name of the father and son. Now if they wanted the money, they had to ask the two of them. This would actually reduce her burden. Anyway, she already had a house and a household registration. Han Jun was worried that she would just go with the flow. But she hesitated for a long time and asked him to help take care of the family for a few days.
”I’m going to Beijing and I have to contact Shen Haiyang’s father as soon as possible.”
