“Lu Rao!”
Qiao Shuxin was the first to notice her. Seeing her return, she immediately scrambled up from the ground and deliberately shouted loudly.
“Young Miss!”
The moment the clan members heard Lu Rao’s name, within two seconds they all scattered and stood to the side like obedient cats.
Qiao Shuxin was stunned.
What? They looked down on her so much—but were actually afraid of Lu Rao this much?
She couldn’t understand it at all.
Wasn’t Lu Rao just a useless rich girl ruined by Gu Yucheng? Even if she had a bit of a spoiled young lady temper, she was still supposed to be brainless. What was there to fear?
“Lu Rao…” Xu Zhengyang’s eyes lit up when he saw her, but remembering she might be handling family matters, he didn’t step forward and quietly moved aside.
Lu Rao glanced at them indifferently and walked straight in. Only when she saw Gu Yucheng lying on the ground, bruised and swollen, did she look at the clan members.
“You did this?”
“Yo-young Miss, we…”
The clan members didn’t dare speak immediately.
Lu Rao stopped and calmly swept her gaze across them one by one.
She knew every single one of them.
Every year-end, she had personally given them red envelopes.
Even last year, when things were unstable and they couldn’t be too extravagant, she still sent gifts to every household.
Some people were simply ungrateful.
Lu Rao could deal with them directly—but they were using her grandfather’s old promises as moral leverage.
Her grandfather’s reputation was not exactly spotless, but in all of Shanghai—and even nationwide in underground circles—who didn’t know Lu Zhensheng’s sense of justice?
She didn’t want her grandfather’s reputation ruined after death.
So—
She needed a legitimate reason.
Of course, there was no need to overthink it.
Just a casual excuse would do.
Lu Rao put on her arrogant young miss demeanor as usual.
“No matter how bad Gu Yucheng is, he is still a dog of the Lu family. If you hit the dog, you must see the owner. You barged into the Lu residence and beat the Lu family’s dog—are you planning to rebel and break off from the family yourselves?”
The clan members’ faces instantly changed, and they hurried to explain.
Gu Yucheng’s expression also turned ugly.
He hated being called a “dog of the Lu family” the most.
But Lu Rao didn’t give them a chance to speak.
“I’ll settle it for you. I agree. You may all split off from the Lu family.”
“We’re not! That’s not what we meant!”
“We were just upset because our homes were robbed last night. We acted impulsively—please don’t take it to heart!”
They were all panicking now.
They knew the situation was bad, but they had already inquired.
Even if the Lu family was in trouble, they were only dependents. As long as they blamed everything on the Lu family, they could escape punishment.
But if they were officially expelled, they would lose everything.
Thinking about the losses from the robbery, they were unwilling to give up the Lu family’s wealth.
Just then, Gu Yucheng, still on the ground, shouted:
“Young Miss is right! They should’ve been expelled long ago—”
Lu Rao shot him a sideways glance.
“Second Uncle, I’m handling family matters. Do you know your place?”
“You—!” Gu Yucheng exploded in anger, but dizziness from blood rushing to his head made him collapse back down, gasping for air.
Lu Rao looked back at the others.
“These years, the Lu family has never mistreated you. Today I learned that what you’ve done in secret is truly disgraceful.”
“You’ve damaged the Lu family’s reputation outside and assaulted family members internally. I now, on behalf of my grandfather and father, officially announce that all of you are expelled from the Lu family. From today onward, you have nothing to do with the Lu family.”
“It’s been exposed?”
“How did it happen so fast?”
The clan members were truly panicking.
Many of their family heads had already been taken by authorities, along with evidence.
Some of them didn’t know everything, but most had guilty consciences.
Now hearing Lu Rao’s words, their hearts sank.
Some wanted to beg, others wanted to resist—but none dared to act.
Lu Rao was not like Qiao Shuxin.
They had all seen her whip people before.
More importantly, there was the old master’s written promise granting her inheritance rights regardless of bloodline.
That was practically a death-free token.
So even if she wasn’t technically Lu family by blood, as long as she stood here, she was still the Young Miss of the Lu family.
Qiao Shuxin meant nothing.
And now that Lu Rao was taking action, they didn’t even think she was scheming—they thought it was perfectly normal.
That was just how the Young Miss did things: casually and decisively.
So they genuinely didn’t dare provoke her.
“Miss, we can discuss this! Our grandfathers were sworn brothers with the old master. We can change!”
“Please, Miss, give us a way out!”
Some even tried to kneel.
Lu Rao kicked the back of his knee and forced him upright.
“It’s already the era where the people are the masters. You kneel to me? Trying to frame me?”
“A bunch of troublemakers trying to set me up!”
“We didn’t mean that!”
“Miss, we don’t want to leave the Lu family! We won’t go no matter what you say!”
“Unless the old master comes back from the dead and personally revokes the promise!”
“Exactly! Otherwise, we won’t leave!”
Lu Rao smiled.
Trying to play dirty with her?
They were using tactics her grandfather and father had already taught her.
“Too late.”
She glanced outside the courtyard.
At that moment—
A postal worker threw a thick bundle of newspapers into the courtyard and shouted:
“Today’s paper! Breaking news—Lu family severing ties in Shanghai!”
“Ding-ling-ling…”
The bicycle quickly rode away.
The newspapers scattered everywhere.
The clan members went crazy.
They grabbed the papers, those who could read quickly scanning the headlines, those who couldn’t crowded forward anxiously.
Within minutes, all their faces turned pale.
“How is this possible? Our heads of household personally signed the severance documents…”
“The Lu family really expelled us? How could it happen so fast? It’s only been less than three hours since morning!”
“So she wasn’t at home because she was doing this?!”
“It’s been published in the newspaper—this is final!”
Lu Rao coldly watched their expressions shift in panic.
From today onward—
The entire Shanghai would know that the Lu family had righteous integrity, expelling corrupt relatives for the greater good.
Not that the Lu family had fallen and been abandoned by its clan.
She had preserved the Lu family’s dignity.
When the Lu family rises again, these people will forever be the ones cast out—not ones who can come back and exploit them.
Control of narrative mattered greatly.
“Ha ha ha! Good! Expelled well!”
Gu Yucheng struggled up from the ground and laughed loudly.
He had long disliked these parasites. Now that they were finally gone, he was genuinely happy.
“You bunch of bloodsuckers—I’ve hated you for ages!”
“Keep acting arrogant! Why aren’t you bold now in front of Lu Rao? All of you are just cowards who bully the weak!”
“Gu Yucheng!”
Someone snapped back angrily.
“You’re no better than us!”
“You don’t even realize—you’ve been expelled too!”
That person slapped a newspaper onto Gu Yucheng’s face with a cold laugh.
“Take a good look. Your expulsion notice is even more formal than ours!”