After this complete falling out, the father and daughter had clearly reached a breaking point.
The result was that Liu Lan threw the eight hundred yuan she had brought back this time, along with her bank card, onto the ground in anger.
She threw it at Liu Guoding.
She herself then rushed out, crying.
There was no other way; Liu Guoding had made it clear that if she didn't give him the money and the card, he would report her to the police for stealing eight hundred yuan of welfare money from him, a recipient of minimum living allowances.
Therefore, Liu Lan had no choice but to compromise.
The moment Liu Lan left, Liu Guoding got the eight hundred yuan, and the bank card that would have eight hundred yuan deposited into it every month from then on, he was overjoyed.
But in the next instant, when he saw the leftover food on the table and the unwashed clothes beside it, he couldn't help but feel a pang of regret.
It was good that he got the welfare money in full.
But if he truly drove Liu Lan away completely.
Who would buy him groceries, cook for him, and do his laundry in the future? He could still manage to do laundry and cooking himself now that his body was still mobile, but he had quite a few chronic illnesses. He didn't know how many more years he would be able to move around. What if he became paralyzed or had difficulty moving later on? What would he do then?
Eight hundred yuan wouldn't be enough to hire a caregiver.
Nor would it be enough for a nursing home if his health declined.
Not to mention what would happen if he had to be hospitalized!
Moreover, given his daughter's situation, even if he sued for her financial support, he wouldn't be able to squeeze any money out of her. After all, she didn't work and had no income. No matter how much the court supported children in supporting their parents, it couldn't force someone with no money in any account to borrow money at high interest to support their parents, or to sell a kidney to support their parents.
Thinking of this, Liu Guoding's head began to ache.
His heart felt more conflicted and troubled than ever.
He was conflicted and troubled about whether he should take a step back, soften his stance, and apologize to his daughter when she came back to get her belongings, urging her not to leave.
He was conflicted and troubled about what to do if his daughter refused.
Whether he should return the money he had just received.
Of course, apart from the conflict and trouble, what he felt more was regret. For example, he regretted not having a son with his ex-wife, and he regretted not quickly finding someone else to have another child with after divorcing his ex-wife.
If he had had more children back then, maybe one of them would have been successful. Even if none of them were particularly successful, they probably wouldn't all be living at home, leeching off him, and never having worked a day in their lives.
Combined with the fact that the relevant laws now favored him.
As long as he sued them one by one.
He could at least guarantee a worry-free old age.
Unlike now, where he only had one daughter, who also never worked and had no income, and was incredibly poor, making him unsure how to sue her for support. He worried that suing his daughter might even cost him money, and he wouldn't even get back the court fees.
Besides all this, he even resented his ex-wife Ding Yun a little, resenting Ding Yun for raising their daughter into such a state.
It made it impossible for him to have a peaceful old age.
He also resented his deceased parents, and his parents who had already passed away. He felt that if his parents had left him a few houses, or if those few houses had been demolished and he had received compensation, he wouldn't have to be in his current situation, not even having a fixed residence, and having to rent a basement.
If his parents had given him a few brothers.
He could have shamelessly sought help from his brothers.
In short, he resented many people, but never thought about his own problems. He never considered that if he had gone into business back then, made money, and hadn't spent it extravagantly, but instead spent money to build a few houses for his parents in the countryside, his family's old house wouldn't have collapsed due to disrepair after his parents died and he himself was in prison. Now he didn't even have a place to live.
He also never considered that if he hadn't insisted and even threatened to jump into the well, preventing his mother from having more children, he wouldn't be without siblings.
He never considered that if he and the original owner hadn't caused so much trouble through their divorce, Liu Lan, who would have had a complete family,
would likely not be in her current state.
This was the situation with Liu Guoding.
And Liu Lan, who had impulsively left the basement after throwing things, calmed down in the wind and also felt a vague sense of regret. It wasn't regret for running out.
It was regret that she shouldn't have gone to pick up Liu Guoding in the first place.
She shouldn't have thought that her father was so old and detached from society, and that it would be difficult for him to survive alone.
She definitely shouldn't have thought of bringing him back.
To try and get her mother and him back together.
And she had privately felt that her mother, who hadn't remarried all these years, might still have feelings for her father.
Recalling her thoughts at the time, she felt nothing but regret.
Once her mind cleared, Liu Lan also began to feel conflicted and hesitant. She was conflicted and hesitant about whether she should go back and take all her belongings.
She was conflicted and hesitant about whether she should just give up.
And never care about her father again.
She was even more conflicted and hesitant about whether she should go back. She naturally wanted to go back, but she felt it was too embarrassing to go back like this, feeling a sense of shame. Moreover, she knew she had wronged her son a bit recently, and she didn't know if she should apologize to him when she saw him again.
And whether she should buy some small gifts for her son?
But now she was almost penniless.
What gifts could she buy?
Liu Lan might not have noticed it herself, but her true thoughts were far from feeling embarrassed or conflicted.
The moment she thought about what gifts to buy for her son,
her heart had already completely leaned towards going back.
Then, she finally used the little money she had left to find a small shop, bought a few very cheap toys, and returned to the basement with her things.
Liu Lan wasn't shamelessly trying to stay, of course.
She just went back to get her things.
To save money, when she came to take care of Liu Guoding, she had brought her own clothes and bedding, and even her shampoo and towels from home. She wouldn't take back the bedding set she used for Liu Guoding, but she had to take her own personal items.
Otherwise, she would have nothing to use when she went back.
As for the process, it wasn't smooth.
As soon as Liu Lan returned to the basement, she saw Liu Guoding hesitating, as if he had something to say, but couldn't utter a word. Liu Lan completely ignored him, didn't ask him what he wanted, and directly pulled back the bed curtain to start packing her things.
At this moment, Liu Guoding, who didn't want to be left without help for housework, became anxious. He quickly reached out and grabbed Liu Lan:
"Daughter... daughter, don't go!
Dad was just talking out of anger just now. My mind was just blank for a moment, and I said a lot of things without thinking. It's Dad's fault. I didn't really mean it!"
"I was listening to others, yes, I was incited by others. Many of the things I said just now were told to me by those gossipy old women next door. They are definitely not my true thoughts. You also know that I was in prison for so many years and really don't understand the outside world.
But I believed whatever they said.
I admit I really don't have a good head, and I was deceived by their words. I thought you were a bad person and mistakenly thought you had bad intentions. But now that I've calmed down and thought it through, who are you?
You are my daughter, how could you harm me?
It was my mistake to misunderstand!
It's Dad's fault, it's all my fault.
Please don't go. You're my only family. If you leave, I... I..."
Saying this, Liu Guoding began to cry uncontrollably.