Mu Zhaozhao blinked her innocent, large eyes, every word aimed directly at Qi Ruobing.
Hearing this, Factory Director Song and his family were completely dumbfounded. Was this how Mu Shangyu and Qi Ruobing truly treated Mu Zhaozhao behind closed doors?
Qi Ruobing coughed awkwardly twice, her mind racing to find an excuse. “That… Zhaozhao, how could your aunt possibly know Yue Xianzhi was that kind of person? He’s lying to you and trying to pin it on me! That Yue Xianzhi—he pisses me off so much! How dare he treat my Zhaozhao like this? Just wait until I skin him alive!”
Her act managed to win back a bit of their belief.
Mu Yunxing quickly stepped in to back her up. “Exactly, Little Sister. Why would Mom pay someone to marry you? That makes no sense at all, does it?”
Mu Zhaozhao pouted aggrievedly. “I thought so too at first, but Yue Xianzhi swore that Aunt did it to kick me out of the Mu family so you all could claim the family fortune for yourselves! He even said you’ve already made plans to embezzle the family assets and flee to Hong Kong!”
Her words hit like a boulder dropped into the sea, sending shockwaves through the room.
The three members of the Song family stared at Mu Shangyu and Qi Ruobing in utter disbelief.
Mu Shangyu slammed his hand on the table and stood up, his chest heaving with rage. He pointed at Qi Ruobing and snapped, “Is that what you told Yue Xianzhi?!”
He was furious because this was a secret known only to them. How could she carelessly tell an outsider, only for it to reach Mu Zhaozhao’s ears?
Qi Ruobing waved her hands in panic. “I didn’t! Shangyu, I never said anything like that!”
Seeing this, Mu Yunxing chimed in to reassure him, “Dad, I trust Mom. She wouldn’t say such things.”
“So you really are planning to run off with the fortune Grandpa left me!” Hearing the underlying truth in their reaction, Mu Zhaozhao sobbed out her accusation: “How could you be so heartless? You tried to pawn me off on a scumbag, then run away with my inheritance without leaving me a single penny!”
Wang Ailing interjected angrily, “How could your family do something so treacherous and ungrateful?! If Master Mu hadn’t adopted you back then, you’d still be a beggar on the streets! You’ve enjoyed the Mu family’s wealth and privilege for so many years, and now you want to ruin the family’s only surviving bloodline?”
Song Linghui tugged at his wife’s skirt, subtly gesturing for her to stay out of other people’s business.
Song Zhoubai added with indignation, “My mother is right. I wouldn’t dare marry a daughter from a family like yours!”
Hearing this, Mu Yunxing grew anxious. Song Zhoubai was the crush she had harbored for a long time. Handsome and bright, he had always excelled in school and was now a deputy factory director at the textile mill with a promising future. She had pulled countless strings to set up today’s blind date—she couldn’t let it fall apart now.
Putting on a deeply wronged expression, she said, “Mu Zhaozhao, stop making things up out of nowhere to frame Mom and Dad! They raised you and have always cared for you deeply. How can you break their hearts like this?”
As expected of the original female lead, Mu Zhaozhao thought to herself. Her White Lotus act is top-tier, turning black into white effortlessly. Well, let’s see you handle this next move!
Continuing to wipe away her tears, she said, “It’s not that I want to hurt Uncle and Aunt’s feelings, but Yue Xianzhi swore an oath to heaven, and he sounded so convincing. Why don’t we take advantage of Director Song’s family being here and go check the basement together to see if the family fortune is still there? That way, you can prove you have no intention of running off with the money.”
Mu Zhaozhao remembered reading in the book that years ago, to prevent the original host from competing with him for the Mu family’s visible assets, Mu Shangyu had already relocated the money. The book didn’t specify where it was moved to, but one thing was certain: the basement was completely empty right now.
She was bringing this up to force Mu Shangyu to reveal where he had transferred the wealth.
Of course, this wasn’t all of the Mu family’s fortune. What was kept in the house was only a small portion; the majority had been hidden by her grandfather, and he hadn’t told a soul. He only left word that once Mu Zhaozhao came of age and the right opportunity presented itself, the location of the treasure would naturally be revealed.
Wang Ailing nodded in agreement. “Good idea! Let us see if the Mu family’s property is still there. If it’s truly gone, that proves you really do plan to embezzle the funds and flee!”
Faced with such aggressive questioning, cold sweat broke out on Mu Shangyu’s forehead. He couldn’t let these people go into the basement. It was already empty—once they saw it, he wouldn’t be able to explain his way out of it.
He stammered, “Well… the basement key was lost. I’ve been looking for someone to make a duplicate recently, so it can’t be opened right now.”
“Yes, I can vouch for that. The key to the basement was indeed lost a few days ago,” Qi Ruobing chimed in quickly.
Mu Zhaozhao let out a cold laugh. “You’re vouching for him? You two are practically spelling out your own guilt!”
Turning back to Wang Ailing with a aggrieved look, she said, “Auntie Wang, they’re blocking us from checking, which is proof enough that they’ve already moved the family’s money away.”
Mu Yunxing frantically tried to defend them. “Auntie Wang, that’s not true! If our family really wanted to flee to Hong Kong, why would I be on a blind date with Zhoubai? I genuinely like Zhoubai and want to marry him—I’m not leaving!”
She deftly shifted the topic, putting Mu Zhaozhao on the spot.
Mu Zhaozhao matched her move effortlessly. “Maybe you don’t want to leave, but Uncle and Aunt do. That makes complete sense too. Either way, unless you produce my Mu family’s assets, I’ll believe Uncle and Aunt have transferred them away.”
“Exactly! If your family really did something like that, there is no way I’m marrying you,” Song Zhoubai agreed, backing Mu Zhaozhao up.
He hadn’t liked Mu Yunxing in the first place. For some reason, he always felt she lacked honesty and transparency, and he had only come to this blind date because his parents forced him. Now that he had this perfect excuse, he could turn down the marriage proposal directly.
Hearing this, Mu Yunxing panicked and gave Mu Shangyu a desperate, reproachful look. “Dad, look at this…”
Mu Shangyu clenched his fists helplessly and explained, “You all know that capitalists are being cracked down on lately. That’s why I buried the money out in the yard, but I never had any intention of hiding it from Zhaozhao or running away!”
Pushed to the brink like this, if he didn’t reveal where the money was today, the Song family likely wouldn’t let the matter drop. If they ended up reporting them for being capitalists attempting to abscond with wealth, that would be a severe crime.
Fortunately, he had split the fortune into several portions and hidden them separately. One of those portions was indeed buried in the yard.
“Then let’s go out to the yard and take a look to prove Uncle isn’t lying,” Mu Zhaozhao said, calmly standing up.
“Right, let’s go check together,” Song Zhoubai echoed.
And so, everyone followed Mu Shangyu out to the willow tree in front of the house. He pointed to a patch of freshly turned soil. “It’s right in there.”