Seeing that Lin Lu had actually pressed the call button, Wan Yinyin genuinely panicked and immediately turned around and screamed:
“Mom! Hurry over! Lin Lu is calling the police on me!”
In truth, she didn’t even need to shout. Dai Ya and Wan Feng had already heard the commotion.
The two hurried upstairs, and Wan Yinyin instantly felt as though she had found her support.
“Mom! Look at her!”
“She’s really calling the police!”
Dai Ya frowned and rushed forward, trying to grab the phone while scolding her:
“Lin Lu, what are you doing?”
“Stop making trouble in the middle of the night. Why are you calling the police?”
“We’re all family. Yinyin is your younger sister. She just wanted to switch rooms. Do you really need to make such a fuss?”
“You child, why are you so unreasonable?”
“Your Uncle Wan worked so hard to raise you. We’ve only come to stay for a couple of days, and look at your attitude.”
Lin Lu stepped aside to avoid her hand and pointed at the mess scattered across the room.
“Family?”
“Why don’t you take a look at whose room this is?”
“You’re really allowing Wan Yinyin to destroy Grandma’s belongings?”
Only then did Dai Ya clearly see the situation before her, and she immediately choked on her words.
A trace of guilt flashed through her heart, but it was quickly replaced by irritation.
The old woman had been dead for so many years. What was the point of keeping all this junk?
Of course, she didn’t dare say that out loud. Seeing Lin Lu’s reddened eyes, she knew this was one of Lin Lu’s bottom lines.
She silently cursed her bad luck. Why did this girl have to catch them today of all days?
Behind her, Wan Feng and his son, Wan Helin, immediately realized things were going badly.
It wasn’t time to tear off the masks yet. They still needed this villa as a refuge from the coming disaster!
Wan Feng quickly forced a smile onto his face and pulled Wan Yinyin over, pretending to scold her.
“Yinyin! How can you be so thoughtless?”
“Those are Grandma Lin’s belongings. How can you touch them so casually? Apologize to your sister right now!”
“Dad!” Wan Yinyin protested.
“Apologize!” Wan Feng repeated sternly while desperately signaling her with his eyes.
Dai Ya also reacted quickly and tried to smooth things over.
“That’s right, Xiaolu. Yinyin is still young and immature. She didn’t mean any harm.”
“Don’t hold it against her. I’ll have everything put back where it belongs right away, okay?”
As she spoke, she gently patted Wan Yinyin’s hand.
Looking at the hypocritical faces of the entire family, Lin Lu felt her anger burn even hotter.
Inside her grandmother’s room, her biological mother didn’t care about her deceased mother, nor did she care about her living daughter.
All she cared about was that stepdaughter.
A loving family?
“Get out.”
Lin Lu stared at them coldly.
“All of you. Get out of my house!”
“Oh, come on, child…” Dai Ya began.
Lin Lu suddenly charged forward.
With astonishing strength, she grabbed Wan Yinyin by the collar and shoved her hard toward the door.
“Ah!”
Wearing high heels, Wan Yinyin staggered backward and slammed into the hallway wall, crying out in pain.
“Lin Lu! Have you gone crazy?!”
“Yes! I have gone crazy!”
Lin Lu strode forward and raised her hand with all her strength.
Smack!
A loud, crisp slap echoed through the air.
The entire area instantly fell silent.
Wan Yinyin was stunned. Covering her face, she stared at Lin Lu in disbelief.
Earlier that day, Pei Yanzhi had slapped her left cheek.
Now, Lin Lu had slapped her right cheek.
Together, the two slaps formed a perfect pair.
Lin Lu looked at them coldly.
“Let me make this clear.”
“The title deed for this house has my name on it!”
“If I want someone gone, then they leave!”
“Otherwise, it’s trespassing, and we’ll settle it at the police station!”
Wan Yinyin finally came to her senses and was about to throw herself at Lin Lu in a rage, but Wan Feng immediately wrapped his arms around her and held her back.
He shot his daughter a sharp warning look, then gestured to the dumbfounded Wan Helin beside him.
“Take your sister downstairs! Now!”
What a joke.
If they were really kicked out, where would they find another shelter this safe once the apocalypse arrived in a few days?
As long as society’s order hadn’t collapsed yet, they couldn’t use force.
No matter what Lin Lu did, they had to endure it.
After Wan Yinyin was dragged away, Wan Feng immediately switched to a humble, apologetic expression.
“Xiaolu, please don’t be angry. Yinyin was in the wrong. I’ll apologize on her behalf.”
“The truth is… we’re out of options.”
“That child was deceived. She mortgaged the family house just to buy a piece of jade.”
“We really have nowhere else to live.”
Dai Ya also began wiping away tears and playing the victim.
“That’s right, Xiaolu.”
“For the sake of the years I spent raising you, please let us stay for a few days.”
“Just one week! We’ll leave immediately once we find another place!”
Lin Lu remained silent as she watched their terrible acting.
After delivering that slap, most of the anger in her heart had dissipated, and her mind had become much calmer.
Kick them out?
No.
That would be letting them off too easily.
They would simply find a new place and stockpile new supplies, putting themselves beyond her control.
No.
Lin Lu wanted them to stay here.
She wanted them to watch this villa filled to the brim with supplies and, in the end, get absolutely nothing.
She wanted them and Pei Yanzhi to tear each other apart in despair when the apocalypse arrived.
“You want to live here?”
Lin Lu spoke calmly.
Wan Feng and Dai Ya exchanged a glance, immediately overjoyed.
“It’s not impossible.”
“But even brothers settle accounts clearly.”
“Ten thousand yuan per person, per week.”
“Pay first, move in afterward.”
“What?!”
Dai Ya shrieked.
“I’m your biological mother! You’re charging rent to stay in your own house?!”
Wan Feng’s expression also darkened.
Forty thousand yuan for the four of them was something they could still afford, but it hurt.
They didn’t have much money left to begin with.
“Biological mother?” Lin Lu laughed and pointed toward her grandmother’s room.
“That was your biological mother too. And what then?”
“You allowed a bastard child to run wild in her room.”
“I’m just following your example.”
“Stay or don’t stay. If you don’t want to pay, get out right now. I’ll call the police immediately.”
As she spoke, she raised her phone again.
“Don’t!”
Wan Feng’s face changed.
He was afraid she would actually call the police and make a huge scene. Then it would be difficult to explain things to Pei Yanzhi.
Inwardly, he cursed Wan Yinyin for being completely useless. Then he gritted his teeth and pulled out his phone.
“Fine! I’ll pay!”
“Forty thousand it is!”
Lin Lu didn’t even spare him a glance as she accepted the payment.
“Remember this.”
“If something like this happens again, or if I discover that even a single item is missing…”
“You’ll pay double compensation and leave immediately.”
With that, she turned and walked downstairs without even looking at Dai Ya, who was trembling with rage.
Behind her, Dai Ya was held back by Wan Feng as she stomped around the hallway and cursed.
“That little beast!”
“I’m her biological mother!”
“She’s extorting us!”
“I should’ve strangled her in her cradle when she was a baby!”
“Ungrateful little ingrate!”
“Shut up!” Wan Feng snapped irritably.
“What’s the point of saying all that now?”
“If you were actually capable as a mother, you would’ve coaxed her just now instead of arguing with her!”
“Now look what happened. We’ve lost forty thousand yuan!”
The more Wan Feng thought about it, the angrier he became.
They could have stayed here for free.
Dai Ya choked on her words but unwillingly shifted the blame.
“It’s all Yinyin’s fault!”
“She just had to spend two million yuan on a fake jade pendant and drain all the family’s available cash.”
“Otherwise, would we have had to suffer this humiliation?”
“What’s the point of talking about that now?” Wan Feng said impatiently.
“Just endure it for a few more days.”
“We don’t have money, and we can’t afford to stockpile supplies ourselves. Everything depends on Pei Yanzhi.”
“Once the apocalypse arrives…” A cold sneer appeared on his face. “The whole world will be different. Who’s going to care whose name is on the property deed?”
Hearing that, the resentment in Dai Ya’s heart eased slightly.
Rubbing her chest, which ached from anger, she spoke viciously:
“When the time comes, we’ll throw that little bitch out of the villa.”
“We’ll make her unable to live and unable to die.”
“Best if she starves to death right outside.”