Zhao Yuanjiang was yanking desperately at the door.
“We’re finished! Someone locked it from the outside!”
Shen Tiantian’s face had turned deathly pale. She was completely at a loss.
Zhao Yuanjiang grabbed Zhu Runmei and prepared to escape through the window.
But Zhu Runmei was so nervous that she accidentally twisted her ankle.
Left with no choice, Zhao Yuanjiang hoisted her onto his shoulder and climbed onto the windowsill.
The commotion quickly woke the neighbors.
One after another, they got out of bed to see what was happening, just in time to spot Zhao Yuanjiang carrying Zhu Runmei on his shoulder while trying to climb out the study window.
“There really are thieves!”
“Catch the thieves!”
Caught between the crowd outside and the locked door behind them, Zhao Yuanjiang didn’t know whether to jump or stay put.
Shen Jiawei witnessed the entire scene through the crack in the door.
“SHEN TIANTIAN!!!”
His furious roar shook the entire house, startling all three people inside the study.
“T-Tiantian… I think… I think that’s Young Master Shen…” Zhu Runmei stammered.
“We’re doomed! How are we going to explain this?”
Taking a deep breath, Shen Tiantian forced herself to remain calm.
“Brother, it’s not what you think! Open the door first!”
Shen Jiawei’s anger boiled over.
“What else is there to explain?
“None of you are getting away tonight!”
Just then, Shen Xiaoyuan hurried over, pretending to be shocked.
“It’s actually you, Shen Tiantian!
“You betrayed the Shen family and teamed up with the Zhao family to steal from us!”
At a moment like this, she absolutely had to stand on Shen Jiawei’s side.
Shen Tiantian’s mind was still in complete chaos.
Everything tonight was simply too strange.
Did Shen Xiaoyuan somehow have someone steal everything beforehand?
No… she didn’t even know the secret chamber existed.
Could Shen Jiawei be the real thief, pretending to catch a thief?
Her already muddled brain became even more tangled.
Helpful neighbors had already called the police.
Within minutes, several officers arrived and took control of the three suspects.
More and more neighbors gathered outside.
The Shen residence quickly became the liveliest place in the neighborhood.
To preserve the scene, the police blocked everyone from entering the study.
Several women standing outside began gossiping.
“As expected of a capitalist family—they even have a secret chamber. It’s probably bigger than my entire house.”
“Of course. The Shen family used to be one of Shanghai’s wealthiest.”
“So what if they were rich? Now they’re just capitalists everyone despises.”
“I heard the real Shen daughter had only been reunited with her family for a short while before she was branded a capitalist herself. She never got to enjoy any of the family’s wealth before being sent to the countryside.”
Seeing such a large audience, Shen Xiaoyuan immediately stepped forward to perform.
With tears welling in her eyes, she pleaded pitifully,
“Officers, please help recover those valuables.
“My parents originally intended to hand them over to the state.
“We can’t let people with such evil intentions steal them.”
The officers instantly became energized.
“Don’t worry.
“The Shen family has shown great political awareness.
“We’ll investigate this thoroughly.”
If they managed to recover such a large cache of valuables, they might even earn a commendation.
Turning to Shen Tiantian, Shen Xiaoyuan sighed sorrowfully.
“Although you aren’t biologically part of the Shen family, Mom and Dad never treated you poorly.
“I understand that now that the Shen family has fallen on hard times, you want to distance yourself.
“But joining forces with your biological parents to steal from the Shen family…
“That’s truly heartbreaking.”
In just a few sentences, she had made the motive behind the theft crystal clear.
The spectators sighed one after another.
“So they really aren’t family after all.”
“At the critical moment, she stabbed them in the back.”
“What an ungrateful white-eyed wolf.”
Even Shen Jiawei looked devastated.
“Shen Tiantian…
“I never imagined you could be this vicious.
“The Shen family truly loved you for nothing.”
Shen Tiantian was on the verge of breaking down.
She rushed toward Shen Jiawei.
“Brother!
“I really didn’t steal anything!
“I told you I’d stand with the Shen family through thick and thin!
“We grew up together.
“Don’t you know what kind of person I am?
“You have to believe me!”
Shen Jiawei turned his face away.
“You never truly know a person’s heart.
“You can explain yourself when Mom and Dad come back.”
Meanwhile, Zhao Yuanjiang wore a miserable expression.
“Officer, we’ve been wronged!
“We just came to visit our daughter.
“We haven’t seen each other in a long time.”
The officer looked at him sternly.
“You chose the middle of the night to visit your daughter?
“You opened a secret chamber just to chat?
“And after chatting, you tried to escape through the window?
“Do you think you’re stupid, or do you think we are?”
“But we really didn’t steal anything!” Zhao Yuanjiang protested.
“When we came in, the secret chamber was already empty!”
Shen Jiawei charged over.
“Stop making excuses!
“I personally helped my parents move things last night.
“When they left, there were still lots… lots…”
Only then did he realize he’d almost revealed too much.
He abruptly stopped talking.
“Lots of what?” one officer asked.
“Exactly how many valuables are missing?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’ll have to ask my parents when they get back.”
Realizing that the more he said, the more trouble he might cause, Shen Jiawei wisely kept quiet.
After taking statements from Shen Xiaoyuan, Shen Jiawei, and several neighbors, the police escorted all three suspects away.
By then it was already past two in the morning.
Still shaken, Shen Jiawei didn’t dare go back to bed.
Instead, he sat in the living room smoking cigarette after cigarette.
Shen Xiaoyuan quietly went upstairs.
Making sure Shen Jiawei wasn’t paying attention, she slipped into Shen Tiantian’s bedroom on the third floor.
With obvious reluctance, she took out the ladies’ Patek Philippe watch she had stolen from Shen Hanning’s bedroom…
Along with the envelope containing her three thousand yuan…
And carefully tucked both beneath Shen Tiantian’s pillow.
There was no helping it.
You couldn’t catch a wolf without sacrificing a lamb.
After finishing, she quietly crept back downstairs.
Shen Jiawei sat leaning against the sofa with his eyes closed, brows tightly furrowed, his face filled with worry.
A smile tugged at Shen Xiaoyuan’s lips.
She returned to her room.
Today’s performance of “the thief crying thief” was absolutely flawless.
She slept soundly once again.
Shen Hanning and Pang Dongling returned at around ten o’clock the following morning.
The moment they entered, they saw Shen Jiawei sitting on the sofa with enormous dark circles under his eyes.
The ashtray before him overflowed with cigarette butts.
After staying awake all night, even stubble had begun to grow on his chin.
Raised in luxury, Shen Jiawei had never faced any real hardships.
He spent his days having fun and chasing girls.
Whenever trouble arose, his grandfather and father always handled it for him.
His ability to withstand pressure was practically nonexistent.
The instant he saw his parents…
It was as though a lost boat had finally reached shore.
The emotions he’d been suppressing all night suddenly erupted.
He shot to his feet.
Before he could even speak…
He was already choking with sobs.
“Mom… Dad…
“We… we had… an insider…”
Pang Dongling had never seen her son in such a shattered state.
Her heart ached instantly.
She hurried over and embraced him.
“What happened, Jiawei?
“What insider?
“Take your time. Mom and Dad are here.”
“The secret chamber…
“It was robbed…
“Everything’s gone…”
“What?!”
Shen Hanning and Pang Dongling cried out simultaneously.
“Was it Shen Xiaoyuan?” Shen Hanning immediately asked.
The moment he heard the words insider, she was the first suspect that came to mind.
Shen Jiawei wiped away his tears and shook his head.
“Then… was it Aunt Wu?” Pang Dongling asked.
From the kitchen, Aunt Wu happened to overhear them.
She couldn’t help but spit on the floor in disgust.
They’re leaving anyway, and they still want to pin such a huge crime on me?
“No.”
“It… it was Tiantian.”
After Shen Jiawei recounted everything from beginning to end, Pang Dongling’s expression changed dramatically.
She staggered backward.
“Impossible…
“How could Tiantian…”
“Mom,” Shen Jiawei said, “the evidence is undeniable.
“Many of the neighbors saw everything.”
Pang Dongling began sobbing.
“Then… she must have had her reasons.”
Shen Hanning’s face turned as dark as iron.
He rushed into the study, hurried down into the basement, and stared blankly at the completely empty secret chamber.
This had been more than half of the Shen family’s fortune.
It was the capital he planned to use to rebuild his life in Hong Kong.
How could it all simply… disappear?
Just then, Shen Xiaoyuan’s anxious voice rang out from upstairs.
“My three thousand yuan is missing too!”