She stepped out for a moment, then returned, coaxing the old man, "He’s on the way... He’ll definitely be here... They said they’re in the car now... Please, just wait a little longer..."

The old man finally let out a sigh of relief.

Mrs. Xu spoke delicately, "My dear, you see, these past few days, our daughter has been taking care of you, running all over, and she’s paid for all the medication. About those two houses we own..."

The old man’s eyes widened as if he wanted to say something, but his breathing was shallow and rapid, and he remained silent.

Mrs. Xu sighed quietly.

After a while, she thought the old man had fallen asleep again. Just as she was about to get up and leave, she heard his faint voice, "Will our son really come?"

She froze, then hurriedly said, "He will... He’ll definitely come..."

"If our son comes, then those two houses... let’s still give them to our grandsons."

Mrs. Xu hesitated, "But... my dear, Xiaoya is the one who’s been looking after you..."

The old man heaved a long sigh. "Sigh, I know Xiaoya has been taking care of me... But I have no choice. After all, our two grandsons are the ones who will carry on the Xu family line. It’s not like Xiaoya’s future children can take our family name, can they? If I give the houses to her, won’t our two grandsons resent me to death later?"

Mrs. Xu retorted, unconvinced, "Old man, when a person dies, it’s like a lamp going out. How can you worry about so much then? Those two bastards are disrespectful and unfilial. There’s no point in you doing this!"

"Old woman," he said, "giving them to our grandsons means keeping them within the family. Giving them to an outsider wouldn’t be right. Besides, Xiaoya has always been foolish. If we give them to her, she might just get tricked out of them by some outsider."

"Xiaoya is much smarter now. She won’t be tricked again."

"Smart? If she were smart, she wouldn’t have taken five hundred thousand from the demolition compensation to buy a car for an outsider. She was clearly scammed and was still counting money for them!"

"..."

"Besides, she was so heartless in the past. Why would she come back to take care of me this time? If I didn’t have these two houses, would she have come? Do you really believe she isn’t after the houses at all? Old woman, there’s no way I’m giving these two houses to her. Her taking care of me this time? Consider it repayment for me raising her. That’s what she owes me. After all the hardship of raising a daughter for over a dozen years, what’s it for? Isn’t it for some form of return? Other people’s daughters at least earn a bride price for their parents. To this day, we haven’t seen a single cent of bride price from her!"

Mrs. Xu protested, "That’s not right..."

His voice suddenly turned harsh, his expression severe, "Old woman, do you dare disobey me?"

Just then, the sound of footsteps approached.

The old man immediately closed his eyes.

Mrs. Xu turned and saw her daughter. Flustered and extremely awkward, suspecting Xiaoya might have overheard, she quickly said, "Xiaoya, you’re here again? You must be exhausted these past few days, sigh..."

Xu Xiaoya took a step forward, looking at the old man who was clearly dying.

All this time, she hadn’t exchanged a single word with him; they had rarely even faced each other when he was lucid. Just now, she had heard everything he said, crystal clear.

Is this a final burst of energy before death, or is he dictating his will?

She acted as if nothing was out of the ordinary, not feeling hurt in the slightest—truly, every pitiable person has their detestable aspects. The fact was, even now, he still believed she *should* be the one taking care of him, and that the property *should* go to his son.

People always think that if you’re sincere enough, you can move even hearts of stone—utterly wrong!

Some people, even if you were to dig out your heart and offer it to them, wouldn’t spare it a second glance.

The best way to deal with such people isn’t to offer them your own heart—it’s to dig out theirs and see what kind of stubborn, foul material it’s made of.