Fortunately, they didn’t disappoint her.
The moment the police reached the front gate, they noticed Xu Nianchu trembling all over. Internally, they cursed her scumbag father several times.
Look how terrified this poor child is.
The senior officer comforted her.
“Don’t be afraid. We’re here. They won’t dare do anything to you.”
But the moment they reached the door, strange, inappropriate sounds drifted out from inside the house.
The senior officer’s expression stiffened.
“Wait here first. My colleague and I will go in and check.”
Xu Nianchu obediently nodded.
A scene this eye-searing… someone else could deal with it.
Thankfully, Xu Shanchuan had lived up to expectations. Otherwise, how could such a wonderful performance have unfolded?
She had planned everything beforehand.
These days, even if someone beat their own child to death, people would often dismiss it as “family discipline.” At most, the police would lecture them.
But gathering together to commit indecent acts was an entirely different crime.
That meant labor reform.
The young officer followed the senior officer inside without understanding what was happening.
Having little experience, the moment he pushed open the door, he let out a horrified scream.
Hearing it, Xu Nianchu hurried closer.
“What happened, Officer?”
The young policeman’s face alternated between red and white.
There was no way he could possibly describe something so embarrassing.
He quickly stepped outside and blocked the doorway.
“It’s… nothing. Just wait here.”
Xu Nianchu obediently continued waiting.
Looking at her quiet, well-behaved appearance, the young officer wanted to curse the three people inside even more. At the same time, he became curious about her family.
“What’s your family like? How many brothers and sisters do you have?”
Xu Nianchu answered honestly.
“My mother passed away when I was ten. A few months later, my father remarried. My stepmother came with an older daughter and a younger son.”
The young officer nodded in understanding.
So the pair inside were her stepmother and the stepmother’s children.
When the senior officer finally came back out, the three of them had already been dragged outside.
Each wore a pair of shiny steel handcuffs.
Xu Xunle only felt dizzy, with no idea what had happened.
The moment she saw Xu Nianchu, her mind cleared a little.
“It was you, wasn’t it, Xu Nianchu? It was all you, you jinx!”
The senior officer kicked her in the leg.
“Quiet.”
Xu Shanchuan had recovered his senses as well.
He recalled the powder Xu Nianchu had thrown at them.
“You little wretch! What exactly did you drug us with?”
Under their intimidation, Xu Nianchu burst into tears.
Seeing her cry, the young officer’s heart ached.
He kicked Xu Shanchuan hard in the thigh.
“Behave yourself. No talking.”
Grinding her teeth, Tang Jinhua spat,
“I never thought I’d lose to a little bitch like you.”
Xu Nianchu simply continued crying.
The senior officer cleared his throat before saying,
“Child… something’s strange about your house. Why is there no furniture inside?”
Xu Nianchu looked up, tears still clinging to her lashes.
“What? There was furniture when I went to the police station. Dad… what did you do?”
Xu Shanchuan finally noticed.
Only then did he realize…
The house was completely empty.
The sofa.
The dining table.
The cabinets…
He’d been too dazed to notice earlier.
Now, hearing Xu Nianchu seemingly accuse him, he exploded.
“It was definitely you! Damn it! I should’ve strangled you when you were little! Then none of this would’ve happened!”
He regretted it bitterly.
The quietest dogs were the ones that bit hardest.
Xu Nianchu was exactly that kind of person.
She had struck him with one devastating blow.
Everything in the house was gone.
What about the money he’d hidden inside the bed?
Who had taken it?
He didn’t dare ask.
If he did, he’d practically be confessing to another crime.
Suppressing his panic, he turned to the officers.
“I want to report a theft too. My house has been robbed. Please investigate.”
He was convinced Xu Nianchu was responsible.
There couldn’t possibly be anyone else.
He bitterly regretted raising such an ungrateful daughter.
The officers exchanged glances.
Since they were already here, they might as well inspect the place.
After securing the three suspects, Xu Nianchu led them back inside.
The moment she entered, she gasped dramatically.
“What happened? The whole house is gone!”
The officers were equally baffled.
The house was huge.
Moving out all the furniture wasn’t a small operation.
It would require trucks.
Big trucks.
Very few people had that kind of capability.
Judging from everyone’s statements, there simply wasn’t enough time to clear out the entire house overnight.
The senior officer could only grit his teeth and search every room for clues.
To his surprise…
He actually found something.
Several banned books.
“Damn…”
“This family really keeps giving surprises.”
He immediately confiscated them before asking Xu Nianchu,
“Whose room is this?”
“Xu Tianci’s. He’s the son my stepmother brought with her.”
The officer frowned.
“Where is he now?”
“City No. 1 Middle School. Class Seven, Grade Seven.”
“Good.”
“Xiao Li, write that down. Tomorrow we’ll visit the school.”
Possessing banned books had to be investigated.
If they were only found at home, it would be hard to determine who owned them.
But if the same books were found at school…
Then ownership would be confirmed.
Xu Tianci would be arrested immediately.
The senior officer rubbed his forehead.
A family this thoroughly dysfunctional…
He had rarely seen one.
After finishing the search and confirming there were no other issues, he looked sympathetically at the dejected young woman.
He sighed.
“Child, you can’t stay in this house tonight. It isn’t safe. More investigators will probably come tomorrow.”
“It’s alright. I need to go back and see my younger brother anyway.”
“Good. Xiao Li will take you to the hospital first. It’s not safe for a young woman to travel alone this late.”
“Thank you very much.”
After arriving at the hospital, Xu Nianchu saw a nurse rushing frantically toward Xu Xinglin’s room.
The moment the nurse spotted her, she grabbed her arm.
“Hurry! Your brother’s awake, and he’s causing a huge scene!”
Xu Nianchu quickened her pace, completely confused.
“What?”
In her mind, her younger brother had always been an obedient child.
Ever since he was little, he’d never cried after drinking bowl after bowl of bitter medicine.
He had never thrown tantrums.
Why was he making a fuss now?
Had Xu Shanchuan’s beating left him psychologically traumatized?
The two of them hurried into the ward.
Another nurse was already there.
“It’s good that the family is here. The patient keeps struggling to pull out his IV. He refuses treatment.”
He struggled so violently that blood had already begun flowing back into the tubing.
Yet he acted as though he couldn’t feel the pain, continuing to tug at it.
Xu Nianchu walked over and gently stroked Xu Xinglin’s head.
“What’s wrong? Is the medicine too cold?”
Xu Xinglin’s eyes lit up the moment he saw his sister.
Then they dimmed again.
With great difficulty, he whispered,
“Am I… just a burden to you?”
“How could you be? You’re the best little brother in the world.”
“But as long as I’m here… that man can threaten you.”
“Do you trust your sister?”
“No matter what happens, I’ll protect you.”
“What happened today…”
“…will never happen again.”
Xu Xinglin burst into tears.
From childhood, Xu Tianci had always told him he might as well die—that he only wasted money on medicine.
Back then, he hadn’t cared.
But today, when he saw Xu Shanchuan using him to threaten his sister…
He truly felt that maybe he would be better off dead.
Perhaps…
Everyone would be free then.
By the time she finally comforted him enough for him to fall asleep, it was already past midnight.
She herself looked utterly disheveled.
She had been busy the entire day.
She hadn’t even had the chance to enter her space and see whether anything inside had changed.