282: That's so embarrassing!

"The more we tolerate it, the more they'll look down on us! They'll think we're easy to bully! Think they can just step on us! Dad! Open your eyes! Today's mess isn't something we started!"

"It's because they don't see us as human at all! If we keep tolerating this, it's not just about losing face anymore! It's about them breaking our very backbone, our dignity as people!!"

Su Cha's explosive outburst voiced the feelings of many onlookers, immediately drawing strong resonance and support.

"Well said, Su Cha! Don't end up like your dad!"

"Right! If you back down this time, you'll never be able to stand tall again! You'll never be able to hold your head up in front of them!"

"Exactly! A person lives for their pride, a tree lives for its bark! You must fight for this dignity!"

"Wenchalong is really... sigh, it's so frustrating to watch!"

Songphong felt his face burning with shame.

Although he also looked down on his elder brother's family deep down, after all, with so many relatives and neighbors present, some things couldn't be said too bluntly. He still had to put on a bit of a show.

He put on a stern face and berated Su Cha:

"Su Cha! What kind of nonsense are you spouting?! We're all family here! What's all this talk about looking down on people?! It's not as serious as you make it out to be! It's all just a misunderstanding!..."

"Dad!" Atapong impatiently cut off his father. He had long been fed up with this hypocritical politeness.

Since they'd already torn off the facade today, they might as well tear it all the way!

He let out an undisguised cold laugh, glancing sideways at Su Cha's family, his voice dripping with naked contempt.

"He's right! I *do* look down on them! So what?!"

"You... what nonsense are you spouting, boy!" Songphong was startled by his son's completely unvarnished words. He quickly slapped him and shot him a warning look, lowering his voice.

"What time is it for you to be saying such things?! How awful would it sound if this got out!..."

Atapong, already worked up and now blocked by his father, grew even angrier. He shook off his father's hand and said loudly.

"Dad! At a time like this, what's the point of still pretending?! Is it fun?! What kind of people they are, don't we know it in our hearts? Poor, useless, and clinging desperately to their pride! They disgust me!"

"You... shut your mouth!" Songphong was both anxious and furious, but there was nothing he could do with this son who was both red-eyed from gambling and used to being arrogant. He could only make a futile attempt to salvage a bit of face as an elder and relative.

"Stop talking nonsense! You're making us a laughingstock!"

Su Cha's wife, Pinya, had been listening calmly all along.

She raised her head and looked at her father-in-law, Wenchalong.

"Dad, did you hear all that?"

"This time, if we back down again, if we retreat again... then we really will never be able to stand tall in front of these people for the rest of our lives. Losing money, perhaps we can earn it back. But if we lose our backbone, our dignity... then we'll truly have nothing left."

Hearing Pinya's words, Atapong wasn't moved in the slightest. On the contrary, he found it laughable.

He sneered and nodded repeatedly, clapping his hands: "Good, good, good! Well said! How touching! A loving couple, united against a common enemy!"

Then, his expression suddenly darkened, returning to that arrogant, overbearing look that said he had them cornered. He tapped his finger on the house deed Pinya had just placed on the table.

"Even if this dowry house of yours is worth eighty thousand at most!"

"You're still short by a million!"

He pointed his finger at Su Cha's head.

"Idiot! Let's see what you can use to fill this gap now! Huh? If you can't make up the difference—"

He deliberately dragged out his tone, his gaze greedily sweeping over all the bets on the table.

"Then I'm sorry, but everything you just put up as stakes—the junk car, the shabby three golds, the rural wedding house, and this 'deeply loving and righteous' good wife of yours's dowry house... it all becomes mine! Understand? It's all mine!"

Atapong's finger was almost poking Su Cha's face. Extreme anger and humiliation made Su Cha tremble all over.

But Atapong's words also acted like a bucket of cold water, sobering him up a little from the earlier emotion of marital solidarity.

Right, the money! They were still short! The huge gap in amount was still a chasm before them!

A thought suddenly flashed through his mind!

A thought that might just fill this gap!

Although the risk was enormous, even betting his future, at this moment, he had no way back!

He raised his head and looked coldly at Atapong.

"Atapong! Don't celebrate too soon! Have you forgotten the news about our village being about to be demolished?"

As soon as these words were spoken, many villagers in the courtyard were stunned, then suddenly understood.

Su Cha continued, speaking rapidly.

"According to the rumored demolition compensation plan that came out before, the total compensation for our family... wouldn't that cover the shortfall?"

Hearing this, Atapong's wife, Nala, sneered in contempt.

"Cover my ass! Su Cha, you're so poor you've gone crazy, daring to boast about anything! Yours is just a small, broken-down village, the land isn't worth much! Even if it really gets demolished, you'd get seventy or eighty thousand at most! And you think that can cover a gap of over a million? You're dreaming!"

Su Cha, having already thrown caution to the wind, sneered: "Fine! Even if, as you say, the demolition compensation for our family of four is only eighty thousand! Then add what we've already put up as stakes, isn't that almost enough? Even if there's still a little short..."

He gritted his teeth, a ruthless look in his eyes: "Then the shortfall isn't much! Atapong, just you wait!"

After saying this, without waiting for Atapong's further mockery, he abruptly lowered his head, picked up his phone, and began tapping rapidly on the screen. It looked like he was urgently contacting someone, or... operating some kind of loan app?

Watching Su Cha's desperate struggle, Nala found it utterly ridiculous.

She linked her arm with her husband Atapong's.

"Honey, I really don't mean to make fun of your poor relatives. It's just a little money, scrambling to scrape it together, calculating for so long and still can't figure it out, trying to gather it for so long and still can't make it! It's so utterly embarrassing! Poor is poor, why pretend to be a big shot!"

Atapong looked at Su Cha, head bowed and busy, sweat beading on his forehead, and felt immensely pleased.

He loved seeing his opponents in this kind of desperate, wretched state.

Playing along with his wife, he sneered and nodded: "Yeah, little cousin, I really love seeing your pathetic attempt to keep up appearances! Clinging to pride only brings suffering!"

He deliberately raised his voice, speaking in a tone full of pity and mockery.

"Listen to your elder brother's advice, cut your losses in time! Admit defeat now. Although you'll lose your stuff, at least you won't go crazy."

"Stop struggling. Don't end up failing to gather the money, losing everything, and even having this good wife who supports you so much run off with someone else! Then you'd really lose both the lady and your troops, and become a huge laughingstock! Hahahaha!"

After Atapong finished speaking, he exchanged a look with his wife Nala. The two of them once again burst into unrestrained laughter, as if victory was already assured, and they were merely enjoying the final clownish performance of their defeated opponent.