Back at the Fu family home, Fu Wenwen pulled her mother aside, gesturing for her to sit down.
"Spill it! What's going on?" Fu Wenwen tapped the table twice, urging her mother to confess.
Fu Mu glanced at her daughter. "Oh, it's nothing, dear. I was just going to show An An your room."
"An An, let's go!" Fu Mu grabbed Lu Ze'an and headed towards Fu Wenwen's room, not even looking at her daughter.
Fu Wenwen's eyes narrowed slightly. Seeing her mother's guilty demeanor, she knew they were hiding something.
As soon as Fu Jing and Fu Wenxuan returned, they saw Fu Wenwen in interrogation mode. The father and son exchanged a look.
"Ah, I'm tired after a long day. I'm going to rest."
"Mom, is dinner ready? I'm hungry..."
They bypassed Fu Wenwen, heading for their rooms. Fu Wenwen let out a soft哼. "Come back."
"Yes," Fu Jing and Fu Wenxuan obediently returned and sat down in front of Fu Wenwen.
"What's wrong?" Fu Jing asked Fu Wenwen curiously, completely in the dark.
"Dad..." Fu Wenwen was about to speak when a sharp wail came from outside the door.
"Are you trying to force me to my death?"
The three exchanged glances and rushed to the door, opening it just a crack.
In front of the Liu family's neighboring house, Liu Mu sat dejectedly on the ground, beating it in despair. Meanwhile, four or five people in black clothing were moving in and out of the Liu house, appearing to be checking account books before confiscating belongings.
"I paid for all of this! You can't take it..." Liu Mu cried hysterically.
"I advise you not to interfere with our work, or you'll be taken away as well!" A man in black said coldly, ignoring Liu Mu's protests and forcefully removing everything.
The once affluent Liu family was nearly emptied.
"How can anyone live like this..." Liu Mu looked at her empty home, utterly devastated.
"Just live, how else? Liu Weizhi did so many wicked things, he deserves this!"
"So that's why my Old Wang's chance for promotion disappeared! It turns out it was all Liu Weizhi's doing!"
"You talk about not being greedy with this money, acting like my Old Qian's best friend, brothers day in and day out, but what happened? You stepped on us Old Qians to get ahead!"
"Hmph, no one in your family is good. Liu Ziming plays with women, and your Liu Weizhi is doing despicable things behind the scenes!"
"So you all used our men as stepping stones, and only your family is successful."
"Stop your howling, no one will help you, hmph!"
After the men in black left, many of the surrounding neighbors rushed out and began to curse Liu Mu.
Once Liu Weizhi's wrongdoings were exposed, their men, unable to confront Liu Weizhi, had been drowning their sorrows in alcohol, feeling utterly frustrated.
Now that the Liu family was left with only women, their men couldn't bring themselves to confront a woman. But the neighbors, however, would not let her off the hook. Their men's hard-earned promotion opportunities had all been ruined by Liu Weizhi. Ruining someone's future was like killing their parents; it was an irreconcilable hatred.
"Is this Liu Weizhi's house?" a few men approached and inquired.
"This is Liu Weizhi's house, and this is Liu Weizhi's wife," someone pointed to Liu Mu on the ground and replied to the newcomers.
"Wuuu..." Liu Mu, having endured all the insults, looked at the newcomers with tears of grievance.
"I'm from the factory. I'm here to inform you that due to Liu Weizhi's serious misconduct, the factory has revoked his position and is repossessing this house. You have one day to vacate the premises." The man produced a document and handed it to Liu Mu, informing her that the factory had decided to reclaim their house.
"This... this house was bought by us! You have no right to kick me out..." Liu Mu immediately scrambled to her feet upon hearing that she had to move.
"Who knows how you got that money!" someone in the crowd shouted.
"Our money is all legitimate and clean!" Liu Mu said indignantly.
"Who believes that!" The crowd immediately scoffed. Everyone knew what her husband had done; the money was surely ill-gotten.
"As this comrade said, the factory now suspects the source of this money is improper. Liu Weizhi cannot provide a clear explanation for its origin, and the public security bureau is investigating. In the meantime, the house will be sealed, and no one is allowed here." The man from the factory replied.
"Our Old Liu is being framed!" Liu Mu still refused to believe it. She had left home normally that morning; how could this have happened so suddenly?
"The public security bureau will investigate this. We are merely carrying out the factory's orders. Please cooperate with our work," the man said calmly to Liu Mu.
"We will return tomorrow. You should pack up as soon as possible! Otherwise, once we seal it, the house will remain locked until the investigation is complete," the man said to Liu Mu before turning and leaving with his men.
The factory's decision had been conveyed; the rest was up to the Liu family to move out.
"See? You reap what you sow when you do bad things! It's retribution!" someone sneered.
"All of you, get out! Get out! When my Old Liu was in power, you all clung to him like lapdogs, begging for favors! Now that my Old Liu is in trouble, you're all celebrating." Liu Mu said frantically, grabbing one of them and losing her temper.
The person she grabbed also got angry and pushed Liu Mu away.
"What are you yelling at me for? If it weren't for wanting a position for my son, who would have lowered themselves to beg you!"
"You took four hundred from us back then. You promised a transport team, but what did we get? Just manual labor. You took four hundred from me, don't your consciences hurt?"
"Exactly! I even borrowed over a hundred from my family, and what did we get? You arranged some worthless job!"
"..."
Hearing this, many people became angry. They had paid a considerable sum of money, begging the Liu family for help, but after taking their money, they were only offered the worst jobs. It was hardly worth the price they had paid.
"Stop talking nonsense with her, just throw her things out!" one aunt got angry and rushed into the Liu house, throwing out all of their clothes.
Where there was one, there were others. Soon, people rushed into the Liu house, helping Liu Mu to 'pack' her belongings.
"Stop! Help..." Liu Mu watched them run roughshod over her home, but no matter how much she cried out, no one came to her aid. If only she hadn't been so arrogant in front of people before, losing favor, she would have someone to plead for her now. Fortunately, these aunts didn't go too far, merely throwing out their clothes and not doing anything further.
Fu Mu came out holding Lu Ze'an and saw that their door was ajar. Fu Jing, Fu Wenwen, and Fu Wenxuan were crouching by Fu Jing, peeking at the events at the Liu house as if they were thieves.
Lu Ze'an wriggled down from Fu Mu's arms and his little legs ran under Fu Jing. He too, through the crack in the door, curiously looked outside...