B5SB -Chapter 378 Cleaning the Room

Mother Lu lay blankly on the dark, foul-smelling quilt, her eyes lifeless. From time to time, she murmured unconsciously, “Hungry…”

Lu Huailin held his breath as he entered the room and swept his gaze around. He saw his mother lying skin and bones on the bed, her face deathly pale and completely drained of color.

In an instant—

The rage in his heart surged straight to his head. If not for the last shred of reason telling him not to act impulsively, he would have strangled his elder brother and Fang Yi on the spot.

He knew his mother was biased to an extreme. He also knew that unless she suffered enough to learn her lesson, she would never understand right from wrong.

Whenever it was his family’s turn, she would deliberately find ways to torment his wife.

But seeing her treated so cruelly with his own eyes still made Lu Huailin feel heartbroken, angry, and furious.

He felt his elder brother was worse than an animal.

Suppressing the turbulent emotions in his heart, Lu Huailin picked up the lunchbox, turned around, and knocked on a neighbor’s door.

The door was opened by a middle-aged woman. She looked at the expressionless Lu Huailin suspiciously and asked cautiously, “Who are you?”

Lu Huailin restrained his emotions, coughed lightly, pointed toward Mother Lu’s courtyard, and explained that they were mother and son.

The woman suddenly understood. “Oh, you’re Sister Lu’s eldest son!”

She looked him up and down, then smiled. “Just call me Aunt Yu.”

After moving here, Mother Lu often bragged to the neighbors about how good and filial her eldest son was.

It made all the women who had married sons and become mothers-in-law extremely jealous.

Lu Huailin didn’t bother correcting Aunt Yu’s misunderstanding.

He tugged at the corner of his mouth and said, “I’d like to find two diligent people to help clean my mom’s room. Do you have anyone to recommend?”

Aunt Yu waved her hand with a smile. “No need to look elsewhere. I can do it.”

Hearing this, Lu Huailin quickly explained, “Aunt Yu, my mom’s room is a bit messy.”

“She can’t move and also needs her body cleaned. How about finding another person to help?”

“After it’s done, I’ll pay twenty yuan per person.”

When Aunt Yu heard “twenty yuan,” she rolled her eyes at him.

With dissatisfaction, she said, “We’re neighbors. It’s just helping clean a room. Why bother paying?”

Lu Huailin paused, thought for a moment, and said, “Aunt Yu, you’d better go take a look first.”

Then the two entered the courtyard one after the other. Before they even reached the room, Aunt Yu smelled something unpleasant.

She frowned. “What’s that smell in your house?”

Lu Huailin pressed his lips together and pointed to the room. “Aunt Yu, go in and take a look. If you can’t handle it, I’ll find someone else.”

She looked at him doubtfully, not understanding what he meant.

Soon, she understood.

The moment she entered the room, a wave of urine stench mixed with sour rot rushed toward her, almost making her vomit.

Before she could see the room clearly, she hurried out, holding her breath.

Her face full of anger, she scolded Lu Huailin fiercely.

The gist was that he was unfilial—his own mother was paralyzed and couldn’t care for herself, yet he didn’t clean her in time.

All this, despite the fact that Mother Lu constantly cared about him and helped maintain his reputation as a filial son.

Lu Huailin’s eyes darkened. A sarcastic smile appeared on his lips.

“Aunt Yu, the ‘filial son’ you’re talking about is my elder brother. He’s also the one taking care of my mom now.”

Aunt Yu froze.

She had never heard Mother Lu say she had two sons.

Lu Huailin glanced at her, then turned toward his elder brother and Fang Yi, who had just entered.

Coldly, he said, “Brother, we agreed that each family would take care of Mom for four months.”

“She’s only been with you for two months. How did you manage to treat her like this?”

Fang Yi was extremely dissatisfied.

She would take care of her however she wanted. Who was he to interfere?

Her gaze landed on Aunt Yu, a cold glint flashing in her eyes.

She sneered inwardly. Lu Huailin was trying to ruin their reputation.

With a cold snort, she said, “Oh, the busy man finally remembers he has a paralyzed mother?”

“She’s been bedridden for half a year. You can count the times you visited her on one hand, right?”

“How do you still have the face to question us?”

“No matter how imperfect our care is, at least we’re not like you—disappearing for half a year.”

Lu’s elder brother sighed. “Huailin, yes, we agreed on four months each.”

“But after Mom was discharged, your sister-in-law and I took care of her right away.”

“It’s just that the factory has been busy these past few days, and we didn’t have time to clean her properly.”

“You accuse us without knowing the truth. That really hurts me.”

As he spoke, his eyes reddened and he squeezed out two tears.

He created the image of a man who only cried when deeply hurt.

Fang Yi sneered, “If Mom had to rely on him, the grass on her grave would already be waist-high.”

“I really don’t know how he has the nerve to question us!”

Lu’s elder brother choked up. “Yes, Huailin, you don’t know how hard it is to care for a paralyzed person…”

At the open gate, some neighbors who heard the quarrel whispered:

“Are these Sister Lu’s son and daughter-in-law?”

“No, didn’t they say they weren’t related, just renting the same courtyard?”

Lu Huailin watched their performance with mockery.

Glancing at the onlookers, he said sarcastically, “Brother, you and Sister-in-law really work hard.”

“You live in the house I rented and spend Mom’s forty-yuan monthly pension.”

He paused and stared into his brother’s nervous eyes.

With a sneer, he continued, “To keep you from suffering so much, I’ve decided to return the house to the landlord.”

“Then I’ll use Mom’s pension to hire someone suitable to care for her. That way, you two won’t be so exhausted.”

Lu’s elder brother’s face darkened instantly. “Mom said her pension will be mine in the future.”

Lu Huailin glanced at him indifferently. “She can barely take care of herself. How could she possibly say that?”

Then he turned toward the gate and shouted, “I’m paying twenty yuan for someone to help clean the room. Is there—”