The Liao family only discovered something was wrong the next day. The living room was completely empty—there was nothing left. This was bad. Had they been robbed?
Liao Yong rushed to the study. It was empty as well—everything was gone. He forced himself to suppress the panic rising in his chest and hurried to the master bedroom, desperately hoping nothing there had been touched. Losing money was just losing money, but if the account books were gone, it meant death. Their entire family would be sent down, maybe even executed.
The moment he reached the doorway, his heart sank to the bottom. The ceiling of the master bathroom, parts of the walls, and several floor tiles were all gone—cleaned out completely. Clean. Completely. At least the study still had a money tree and a broken flowerpot left behind.
This was a huge disaster.
He clenched his fists so tightly that veins bulged, then slammed one punch hard into the wall. Blood splattered as he let out a beast-like roar.
“Ah! Who the hell did this?! If I catch him, I’ll shoot him dead!”
More than a dozen members of the Liao family were thrown into panic. If the account books and those assets were exposed, their family would be finished. Being sent down to the farms would be the lightest punishment—they could even face execution. There were elders above and young children below. What would happen to the kids? They had to find a way to send the boys to Hong Kong to hide. If heaven was determined to destroy the Liao family, at least they could leave behind descendants.
“Woof! Woof! Woof—!”
Suddenly, the dogs at the back door started barking madly. Something was happening. The whole family rushed to the back door.
They saw their dog biting onto Wang Aihua’s pant leg.
“Damn dog, why are you biting me?! Let go right now! Believe it or not, I’ll kick you to death! Agui, save me!”
Lin Fugui grabbed the leash and dragged the dog backward. The dog turned and bit into his arm instead, making him scream in agony.
“Ah! Someone help! Damn dog! Get away! Get away!”
“Where do you think you’re running, you thieves?”
The couple had barely escaped the dogs’ jaws when they were tackled to the ground by the Liao brothers. Their arms were twisted behind their backs, treated like criminals. Lin Fugui’s face was pressed against the ground, his mouth scraping the dirt. He struggled hard before managing to speak.
“What thieves? We don’t know anything!”
“Crack!”
Liao Yong snapped one of his arms and roared,
“Still daring to argue? Hand everything over now, or I won’t spare your worthless life!”
“Ah!”
The eldest Liao daughter-in-law noticed the sack beside Wang Aihua and rushed over to open it.
“Ayong, there are things from our house in here!”
“Crash!”
The contents spilled out—pots, bowls, chopsticks, all used, all worthless junk. The valuable items had clearly been moved elsewhere. That was what the Liao family believed.
“You piece of trash. The evidence is right here—what else do you have to say? I’ll beat you to death, you damn thief!”
As he spoke, Liao Yong and his brothers began beating Lin Fugui mercilessly.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!!!”
“You bastard, are you poor and desperate or just suicidal? Stealing from our house—are you out of your mind? Afraid of death, stealing right into our home? Talk! Where did you hide the stuff?! If not, we’ll send you straight to be shot!”
“What are you people saying? We don’t know anything! We woke up in front of your house and got bitten by your dogs—you owe us medical fees—”
He had once suspected that it was too dark the night before and he had gone to the wrong place. He meant to go to the Li family but ended up at the Liao home. But thinking it over, it didn’t add up. He had clearly opened the stone door to the Li family’s underground treasure chamber, and before blacking out, he had seen a young man knock them unconscious. His head and neck were still aching.
Wang Aihua also cried out,
“It wasn’t us! We didn’t steal anything! We don’t know how we ended up here!”
“Still lying at death’s door. I’ll beat you to death, you old hag!”
Liao Yong threw another punch.
“Bang!”
“Pff!”
Lin Fugui spat out blood and hurriedly begged for mercy.
“Don’t—don’t hit me anymore. Another blow and I’ll die. I’ll talk. I’ll say everything…”
His voice was weak, as if he might die the next second.
Liao Yong grabbed him by the collar, yanked him up, and raised his fist again.
“Talk! Where are the things from the study and the master bedroom?!”
On the other side, Wang Aihua was being held down and beaten as well. She lay on the ground screaming,
“We’re innocent! We really didn’t steal anything! We were knocked out last night and woke up at your doorstep, then got bitten by dogs!”
“Still stubborn. I’ll send you straight to the underworld!”
“Bang! Bang! Bang!!!”
They beat the couple again. Two of the Liao brothers beat Lin Fugui until he was severely injured and vomiting blood. Wang Aihua was knocked unconscious by the old Madam Liao with her cane.
That wasn’t the end of it. The two were detained and interrogated on charges of theft, but nothing could be extracted from them. Only two important pieces of information came out: the Lin family had also been completely emptied the previous day, just like the Liao family—not even a bed board left. And the Li family’s treasure chamber still contained valuable items.
They suspected that a rival had stolen their things and used the Lin couple as scapegoats. But without evidence, they could only bite down on Lin Fugui and Wang Aihua. Even if they weren’t the thieves, they must be connected to an enemy. By following this lead, they hoped to solve the case and recover the account books as soon as possible.
The disappearance of the account books was like a blade hanging over their heads, ready to fall at any moment.
They had to prepare a backup plan—get their hands on the Li family’s treasure. If things blew up, they could sell the treasures for money and smuggle the whole family to Hong Kong to escape.
When they arrived at the Li family home and followed the method Lin Fugui had described, they took out the key and opened the door to the storage chamber—only to find it completely empty. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
“Fuck his ancestors, we were fooled again!!!” Liao Jun shouted.
“Lin Fugui, that bastard. When I get back, I’ll kill him. Even in death, I’ll drag a couple of people down with me.”
Liao Yong reached out and pressed a hand on his shoulder. “Third Brother, this is exactly the time we need to stay calm. Lin Fugui is in our hands—he can’t run. If he really lied to us, he’ll just get beaten again. That does him no good either. I remember earlier this year, when Lin Fugui came to our house to beg for a job for his son, he brought a hundred-year-old lingzhi and a hundred-year-old ginseng. The Lin family has been dirt poor for three generations—how could they possibly come up with something that good? I suspect it was taken from the Li family.”
“I’ll go to the Li family and look for my cousin-in-law, see if I can privately arrange for a capable criminal investigator to handle this case, catch the thief, and recover the account books. You go to the hospital first and tell Dad about this, see if he can think of whether he’s offended any big shots.”
To empty out the Liao household overnight—even hauling away a combination safe weighing several hundred jin—meant the other side had a lot of manpower. Only people from the underworld or the military could pull that off. The military had strict discipline and wouldn’t use such dirty tricks, so it could only be people from the underworld. The other side had gone all out.
That old man of his was a lecherous bastard. He had warned him countless times, especially in this special period, to keep a low profile—low, low, and even lower. Yet he still kept causing trouble, leaving the whole family to clean up after him. He had a strong feeling that this burglary was trouble stirred up by that sex-crazed old man. Ordinary thieves wouldn’t go that far—prying up even the floor tiles. This was clearly targeted at their family. Someone was taking revenge on the Liao family.
Hiding in her space, Li Jiyue heard every word of the brothers’ conversation. So the Liao family did have someone smart among them—someone who might even suspect her. But before they could start suspecting her or make a move against her, she would strike first and bring the Liao family down.