“Uncle Ergen, have you decided yet? Everything’s already arranged over there. They’re waiting for us.”
Liu Chuanjia pushed open the door and walked in.
“Chuanjia… doing this at the police station won’t cause trouble for you, right?”
Xu Ergen vaguely felt that police officers normally wouldn’t interfere in family disownment matters.
“No trouble at all,” Liu Chuanjia replied calmly. “People sever family ties all the time. We simply provide witnesses.”
Complete nonsense.
If the police actually handled this kind of thing every day, they’d die from overwork.
“…Alright then. Let’s go.”
Xu Ergen took a deep breath and stood up.
Together, Xu Ergen, Xu Bu, and Xu Duoduo were led into the interrogation room.
Old Xu was visibly dispirited, crouched miserably in the corner.
Old Madam Xu sat beside him with hair like a chicken nest and a dazed expression.
“You cursed little bastard! I gave birth to you so you could send me into the police station?!”
The moment Old Madam Xu saw Xu Ergen enter, she jumped up and lunged toward him.
“What are you doing?! Squat back down!”
Dead Fish Eyes immediately kicked her backward.
“Don’t you realize where this is? This is a police station, not some place for you to run wild!”
Old Madam Xu instantly froze like someone had pressed pause.
Then she shrank back beside Old Xu like a wilted hen, not daring to make another sound.
“Grandma,” Xu Duoduo said coldly, “you caused trouble at the police station and got arrested for it. What does that have to do with my father?”
“Don’t randomly blame him.”
“Second Son…” Old Xu suddenly began crying crocodile tears. “I only slapped Eldest Girl once. How can you be this heartless?”
“Grandpa,” Xu Duoduo interrupted immediately, “the issue now isn’t you hitting my sister.”
“It’s that you sneaked into the police station.”
“What if you really were a spy using us as cover?”
“Wouldn’t our family get implicated too?”
“We’re good citizens of the New Society. We firmly draw a line between ourselves and all counterrevolutionaries.”
“Shut up, you damned little thing!”
At this moment, Old Xu truly wished Xu Eryou and Xu Sanyou had successfully killed Xu Duoduo back then.
“Dad…”
Xu Ergen finally spoke, tears already streaming down his face.
“When I was only a few days old, you threw me to Grandma in the countryside.”
“For fifteen years, you never raised me and never once came back to visit me.”
“At that time… did you treat me like your son?”
“When I became old enough to marry, you wanted me to become a live-in son-in-law and marry a mentally disabled woman so you could trade me for money to help Third Brother get married.”
“We were both your sons. Why was I the one who had to marry a fool?”
“At that time… did you treat me like your son?”
“I found my own wife. My bride price came from two pheasants I hunted in the mountains myself.”
“The bedding in our home came from my wife’s dowry.”
“The family didn’t spend a single cent.”
“At that time… did you treat me like your son?”
“For over ten years, all the housework was done by my wife and our three daughters.”
“Whenever Mom got upset, she hit them and cursed them.”
“At that time… did you treat me like your son?”
“My wife and I both earned money, yet my three daughters were never once allowed to eat their fill.”
“Look at Xiaobu and Duoduo — they’re skinny like sticks.”
“At that time… did you treat me like your son?”
“After Duoduo’s head injury, she lay unconscious for two days.”
“Mom blocked us from taking her to the hospital and said if she died, then she died.”
“Why was my daughter not allowed to go to the hospital? Why did she deserve to just wait for death?”
“At that time… did you treat me like your son?”
“You called it splitting the family, but you gave me the old village house.”
“It takes over two and a half hours just to ride from the county to the town by bus, not even counting the trip from the village to town.”
“Did you ever think about how I was supposed to work?”
“If I can’t work, how is my family supposed to survive?”
“At that time… did you treat me like your son?”
“My wife and I earned four or five thousand yuan for the family over all these years.”
“And after all that, you only divided thirty yuan to us.”
“At that time… did you treat me like your son?”
“Then later you changed your mind and promised three hundred yuan.”
“But when I returned home to collect it, you refused to give it to me.”
“You even sent Sister-in-law to humiliate me by saying she was lending me the money.”
“At that time… did you treat me like your son?”
“When Duoduo was injured so badly, the doctor said she needed transfer to the city hospital.”
“But because you wanted us to release Eryou and Sanyou, you only gave us ten yuan.”
“Did you ever once think whether that money would even cover Duoduo’s medical bills?”
“At that time…”
“Did you ever treat me like your son?”
Each question struck harder than the last.
Xu Ergen cried openly as he interrogated Old Xu and Old Madam Xu with every grievance buried in his heart for decades.
“Holy shit… hurry up and sever ties already!”
Even Dead Fish Eyes became emotional listening to him.
“This whole family’s trying to suck your blood dry like vampires!”
“Damn it, if you don’t sever ties today, I’ll personally send them to the Revolutionary Committee for struggle sessions!”
“Second Son, I’m your father! I gave birth to you!”
Old Xu still tried to rely on blood ties.
“And I’m your mother!” Old Madam Xu screeched. “You have to support me!”
“The grace of raising someone is greater than the grace of giving birth.”
Xu Ergen finally lifted his head.
“The one who raised me was my grandmother.”
“If I’m going to repay filial duty, it should be to her.”
“Name your price.”
“Even if I have to beg on the streets, I’m severing ties today.”
“Three hundred!”
Old Madam Xu immediately raised three fingers.
“Grandma!” Xu Duoduo exploded. “You never raised my father, and you still dare demand three hundred?!”
Xu Duoduo had money.
But she absolutely refused to hand it to these monsters willingly.
“If I hadn’t pitied your father and sent him to the countryside for your great-grandmother to raise, he would’ve died long ago!”
“Fine,” Xu Ergen replied hoarsely. “If Mom says three hundred, then three hundred.”
“No! Five hundred!”
Old Xu suddenly interrupted viciously.
“That old woman doesn’t decide.”
Three hundred was too cheap in his eyes.
“Old man…” Dead Fish Eyes narrowed his eyes. “You’re changing your price halfway through?”
“Do you realize how many years of work five hundred yuan represents if someone doesn’t eat or drink?”
“Don’t get too greedy.”
The way he looked at Old Xu subtly changed.
After this matter passed…
Maybe there’d be an opportunity to “investigate” the Xu family.
A household hiding that much money probably had hidden assets too.
At that moment, Liu Chuanjia signaled for Xu Duoduo to step outside.
“Duoduo,” he said quietly, “I can help pressure your Eldest Aunt into paying five hundred yuan to protect Xu Eryou and Xu Sanyou.”
“Then you can use that same five hundred to buy out the severed family ties.”
“The current situation needs a quick, decisive resolution.”
“If Xiao Yu gets blinded by greed later, he might become a problem.”
“Alright, Brother Liu,” Xu Duoduo nodded immediately. “You handle it.”
Liu Chuanjia went out and instructed another officer to fetch Chen Hehua from the Xu family home and tell her to bring five hundred yuan to secure her sons’ release.
When he returned to the interrogation room, he asked calmly:
“Five hundred yuan for severing ties.”
“Old Master Xu, you’re not changing your mind again, are you?”
“If not, then sign the severance papers.”
Liu Chuanjia, Dead Fish Eyes, and several other officers all acted as witnesses.
Old Xu.
Old Madam Xu.
Xu Ergen.
One after another, they pressed their fingerprints onto the severance document.
“The money.”
Old Madam Xu immediately stretched out her hand.
Xu Duoduo calmly pulled out the family separation agreement from her pocket.
Actually, from her space.
“Officer Yu,” she asked sweetly, “doesn’t this family separation agreement clearly state that our family was supposed to receive three hundred yuan in separation money?”
“The family split happened before the severed relationship.”
“So shouldn’t they pay us the separation money first?”
Old Xu and Old Madam Xu nearly died from rage.
They hadn’t expected Xu Duoduo to leave them another trap.
“Fine,” Dead Fish Eyes grinned. “Five hundred minus the three hundred they already owed you.”
“That means there’s still two hundred left.”
“Old Madam Xu, wait in here a bit longer. Someone’s bringing the money shortly.”
Liu Chuanjia then led Xu Ergen, Xu Bu, and Xu Duoduo out into the office to wait for Chen Hehua.
“Officer! Officer, I’m here!”
Chen Hehua and Xu Dagen arrived at the station running.
The moment they entered the office and looked up—
they saw Xu Ergen, Xu Bu, and Xu Duoduo sitting inside.
“Second Brother! Where did you all disappear to these past two days?” Xu Dagen immediately began complaining. “I searched everywhere for you!”
“The police already said Duoduo didn’t die. Just hurry up and write whatever forgiveness letter they want!”
“You actually got your own nephews thrown into jail!”
“And now even our mother got locked up because of this!”
“You unfilial little bastard!”
“Officer Yu,” Xu Duoduo interrupted calmly, ignoring Xu Dagen completely, “I’m willing to settle Xu Eryou and Xu Sanyou’s case privately.”
“But I demand five hundred yuan in medical compensation.”
She handed over the medical diagnosis papers.
This kind of ugly extortion work shouldn’t fall onto Liu Chuanjia.
Chen Hehua immediately exploded.
“We’re family! Why should we pay money?!”
“I don’t have any money!”
“If Xu Duoduo refuses to sign the forgiveness letter,” Liu Chuanjia added coldly, “then Xu Eryou and Xu Sanyou will be sentenced today to three months of labor reform at a state farm.”
“You can decide whether you’d rather pay five hundred yuan…”
“…or send both your sons away for labor reform.”
Perfect finishing shot.
Liu Chuanjia knew exactly why Xu Duoduo deliberately handed the medical papers to Dead Fish Eyes earlier.
But if Chen Hehua later tried causing trouble at his home?
Who cared.
“Second Brother, think carefully,” Xu Dagen warned darkly. “When you’re old, you’ll still need your nephews to support you.”
“When my daughters grow up,” Xu Ergen replied calmly, “I’ll simply recruit a live-in son-in-law.”
“I’ll have my daughters support me.”
“Why would I need your sons?”
Liu Chuanjia raised an eyebrow slightly after hearing that but said nothing.
In the end, Chen Hehua lost.
She returned home, brought back five hundred yuan, and Xu Duoduo finally signed the forgiveness letter.
Then Xu Dagen and Chen Hehua left gritting their teeth, dragging along their two sons who had been locked up for two days and were nearly frightened out of their minds.
And perhaps intentionally…
neither of them mentioned Old Madam Xu still being inside the police station.
Of course, they still didn’t know Old Xu had also been arrested.
Later, Liu Chuanjia handed two hundred yuan to Old Xu and forced them to sign a receipt before finally releasing both Old Xu and Old Madam Xu from the station.
And from that moment on—
Xu Ergen’s family was finally free from the shackles of the Xu family forever.