She won't clear her name; she'll throw away all the scum.

Pan Li was being stared at by everyone present with extremely strange looks. They didn't speak, but in the current atmosphere, silence was more embarrassing than speaking. He was furious and said, "Where did you come from, you little comrade? How dare you slander people as soon as you open your mouth?"

Grandma Xia laughed and said, "Whether it's a frame-up or not, we can find out when Comrade Pan Li joined the factory, when he separated from his family, how much his monthly salary was, how many children he had at the time, and then guess the expenses at the time. That will tell us whether he could afford to raise his children on his own."

Director Shao started flipping through the documents, but Pan Li stopped him, saying, "Alright, all you've done is to get us brothers to support our parents, right? I agree to pay my share."

Director Shao put Pan Li's documents back into her cloth bag. As the women's director of the food factory, she had successfully completed her task for the day. Now it was time for the directors of the other factories to step up their efforts.

Pan Mei's face was still dark. "Dad, so you really want to starve us sisters on purpose? If my brother hadn't been born, you wouldn't care if we starved to death, would you?"

Pan Li remained silent, but Pan Fu spoke up, "Amei, aren't you just humiliating yourself by questioning your father? You know the answer in your heart. Your father doesn't care about the lives of anyone except himself and his son. When he doesn't need it, he just pins all the blame on us brothers. If you expect someone like that to say he cares about you, you're really dreaming."

Hearing this, Pan Mei was disappointed in her father, but it was still a family matter. Being ridiculed by her uncle was embarrassing. As Pan Li's daughter, she had naturally learned some of his ways of shifting blame. "Uncle, please stop making fun of my dad. Your family isn't exactly harmonious either. Saying my dad is shifting blame, aren't you getting the benefit and acting innocent yourself?"

Pan Fu: "You've certainly learned a lot of skills from your father. Even though my family wasn't harmonious, I never let my children go hungry, nor did I hide money from my daughter."

Pan Mei: "Stop trying to glorify yourself, Uncle. Who are you? You blame others for your mistakes. You even said that Grandpa couldn't get promoted because he offended the leader. But Grandpa's generation of workers retired a long time ago. Who would offend you for the sake of a retired old comrade?"

"Uncle, you said I'm good at shifting blame? Well, I am better than you. I wouldn't make up such lame excuses to cover up my incompetence. I think you're the most heartless one. Grandpa treated you, his eldest son, the best, and yet you're still stubbornly refusing to contribute any money."

Seeing her eldest uncle's face flushed with anger after being scolded, while her second, fourth, and fifth uncles were snickering, Pan Mei was also unhappy. Why was her father the only one who agreed to pay? "Second Uncle, stop laughing..."

Grandma Xia and the other factory leaders watched as Pan Mei's mouth, which was like a machine gun, rattled off all the dirty secrets of her uncles and aunts' families. The other members of the Pan family, who had just been chuckling, were so angry that they raised their hands to hit her.

"Hitting someone is illegal. Although Pan Mei is your relative, if she's unwilling to mediate, you can expect to pay up," Old Lady Xia shouted, causing the enraged men to put their hands down.

Chen Xiangbei finally understood. The long conversation Pan Mei had with him on the way was all told to her by her father, and almost nothing of it was true. The entire Pan family were heartless and rotten bastards, the kind of ungrateful wretches who would watch their elderly parents die.

They weren't even willing to save face. It was just a few cents, nothing to these workers, but because the others weren't paying, they were afraid of losing out, so they didn't pay at all.

Under Pan Mei's constant provocation and disruption, everyone was forced to agree to pay up, just as she wished. Although the payment was made unwillingly, and it saddened the leaders, at least it was considered alimony.

Then they can report it to the subdistrict office and the civil affairs office to see if they can apply for any subsidies, which will make their lives much easier.

The matter was resolved as desired. Old Mrs. Xia sighed. The issue of alimony was settled, but the attempt at moral education had completely failed. Judging from their expressions, they would probably hate their parents even more in the future.

"Director Xia, wait a minute." Director Shao of the food factory called out to her from behind.

Grandma Xia asked in confusion, "What's wrong?"

Director Shao said worriedly, "I'm wondering what we can do about this. I feel so frustrated by this outcome."

The women's directors from the other three factories also gathered around, chattering as they walked out, their feelings summed up as anger and disheartening for all five of them.

At the fork in the road, Grandma Xia came up with a good idea: "What do you think about discussing with the factory's publicity department about publishing a special issue about filial piety and elder care in this week's factory newspaper and bulletin board?"

“That’s a good idea. Words have the greatest influence on the atmosphere. Although most people in the factory are good and it’s rare for someone like them to do this, publishing a journal on this topic can serve as a warning to them and remind those comrades with such intentions that this is wrong.” Director Shao was the first to agree.

The group parted ways at a fork in the road, and Old Lady Xia began to ponder on the way. Although the people who published the journal and wrote the articles were from the propaganda department, she still wanted to learn how to do it.

On the other side, Pan Mei angrily tried to pull Pan Li aside to question him again, but Pan Li shook her off by saying that he was busy at the factory.

She could only follow behind Chen Xiangbei, cursing and getting angry at the same time.

Chen Xiangbei was exasperated. "Why are you following me? I haven't done anything for you, so I won't charge you. We're even."

Pan Mei just wanted to talk to someone. Today, she suddenly realized that she had been deceived by her father for so many years, and she didn't know how to feel. "Comrade Xiangbei, why do you think my dad hides his money when he can easily support us? Although we sisters are not as good as my brother, we are still his biological children."

Chen Xiangbei: "Comrade Pan Mei, please call me Comrade Chen Xiangbei. You already know the answer, so don't ask me. Your father doesn't treat you like human beings but still wants you to do things for him. That's why he hasn't taken off this hypocritical mask all these years, making you think he's a good father."

I've made myself perfectly clear: I don't want to get involved in your family's affairs; I find it too troublesome. If you want to ask me for information, feel free to bring money next time. But if you're still trying to get me to speak on your behalf like you did today, then I refuse.

Pan Mei said aggrievedly, "You look down on me and my family, so you don't want to be friends with me? But my family isn't like this because I wanted it to be."

Chen Xiangbei: "I don't mean to look down on you. I'm here to do business, not to make friends. One thing at a time. If everyone who comes to me wants me to be their friend, I can't possibly handle it all by myself. I'm leaving now, you should go back too."

Chen Xiangbei walked incredibly fast, as if a ghost was chasing him. He knew that if he didn't investigate things thoroughly beforehand, there would definitely be trouble later. Not only would he waste his time and not make any money, but he might also get dragged into these things and become one of the parties involved for no reason.

He's really going to suffer a huge loss.

At this moment, Chen Xiangbei had no desire to see Pan Mei again.