Dare to shirk responsibility? This adorable little one will tear down your military district!

On the parade ground in the early morning, the dew had not yet dried. Thousands of soldiers had just finished their morning exercises, and the shouts made the leaves fall from the trees.

Gu Changfeng stood on the high platform at the very front of the formation, his military uniform impeccably tailored and buttoned up perfectly. He didn't speak, just stood there with his hands behind his back, like a javelin.

Not far from the stage, Wang Guifen and her family walked towards them with their heads held high. After a night's sleep in the guesthouse on a soft bed and a hearty meal, the family's energy and spirits had been fully restored.

Wang Guifen even dusted off her tattered cotton-padded jacket, and walked with a brisk pace, making it seem as if she was there to inspect work.

Meng Jianjun followed behind, picking his teeth with a roguish look on his face. Meng Jingui leaned on a cane, and his limping leg didn't stop him from looking down on people.

"Gu Changfeng!" Wang Guifen shouted at the top of her lungs as she reached the bottom of the stage, as if afraid the surrounding soldiers wouldn't hear her.

"What? You've figured it out last night? That's more like it. Mothers and children don't hold grudges overnight. As long as you admit your mistakes, how could your mother really disown you?"

Gu Changfeng looked down at them, his face revealing neither joy nor anger. He simply raised his hand to signal the disbanded group not to leave yet.

"Since you're here, then make yourselves clear in front of the entire regiment." Gu Changfeng's voice was icy. "What exactly do you want to shut up?"

Wang Guifen was overjoyed when she heard this.

Li Aihong was absolutely right; officials are most afraid of having a bad reputation. See, they've already backed down!

She cleared her throat, sat down on the ground, striking her signature tantrum pose, but her tone was undeniably arrogant:

"Boss, since you asked me to say it, then I will. This is for your own good, so that outsiders won't say you're unfilial."

Sitting on a small stool at Gu Changfeng's feet, Meng Yaya unwrapped the White Rabbit milk candy in her hand, stuffed it into her mouth, then opened the hardcover notebook on her lap and licked the pencil stub.

There's work to be done.

"First!" Wang Guifen held up a finger that looked like a withered twig.

"You need to arrange a job for your younger brother Jianjun in Beiping. He's wasting his talents farming back home. I see you're quite impressive as an official, so you should get him a position too. It doesn't have to be too high, just a regimental commander like you will do."

The soldiers around him almost couldn't hold back their laughter, their faces turning bright red.

Gu Changfeng didn't laugh, he just nodded: "Anything else?"

Holding a pencil in her small hand, Meng Yaya drew a little person wearing a peaked cap on her notebook, then drew a big X next to it, muttering to herself: "Demanding an official position, trying to interfere in military personnel matters... This alone is enough for a three-year sentence."

Seeing his elder brother nod, Meng Jianjun assumed the matter was settled and immediately perked up, eagerly saying:

"And my second brother! His leg was broken because of that wild girl from your family...you have to take responsibility! We're not going back to the village, we're going to get him a house right here in this compound, a ground-floor apartment with a yard, so he can sunbathe!"

"It has to be an apartment building!" Zhang Cuihua interjected from the side. "I heard that you all have central heating here, so you don't need to heat the kang (a traditional heated bed) in winter."

Gu Changfeng remained good-natured: "I want a house too, sure. Is there anything else?"

Meng Yaya drew another crooked house in her notebook, and then drew prison bars on the roof: "Extorting military property, seizing national resources... this one will be punished for at least five years."

Seeing Gu Changfeng's swift agreement, Wang Guifen became emboldened. Her eyes darted around, and she thought to herself, "I've really fallen into a lucky hole."

"There's still money!" Wang Guifen slapped her thigh.

"These past few years you've been living the high life outside, while we've been eating meager meals at home, supporting your wife and kids. This debt needs to be settled!"

Add to that our compensation for emotional distress, lost wages, travel expenses... you have to give us five thousand... no, ten thousand yuan!"

Ten thousand yuan!

These days, a worker's monthly salary is only twenty or thirty yuan. Ten thousand yuan is an astronomical figure, enough to build ten courtyard houses in the countryside.

The entire place fell silent. Even Zhao Tiezhu, who was watching the commotion from the other side, stared wide-eyed. This old woman really dared to speak out; wasn't she afraid of biting off more than she could chew?

This time, Gu Changfeng didn't agree immediately. Instead, he took out a cigarette case from his pocket, slowly shook out a cigarette, held it between his fingers, and didn't light it.

"Ten thousand yuan, that's no small sum." Gu Changfeng looked at Wang Guifen. "Are you sure you want that much?"

"Not a penny less!" Wang Guifen thought he was stingy with money, so her expression immediately changed, and she pointed at Gu Changfeng's nose and started yelling.

"You heartless bastard! How could someone as high-ranking as you be short of money? Let me tell you, if the money isn't in place, I'll go to your headquarters every day and shout! I'll call you a heartless traitor, a coward!"

"That's right! We'll stay here and eat and drink whatever you want if you don't pay us!" Meng Jingui shouted along.

"Okay." Gu Changfeng put a cigarette in his mouth. "Job, house, ten thousand yuan. All written down?"

He asked Meng Yaya the second half of the question while looking down.

Meng Yaya wrote "10000" heavily in her notebook, and then drew a bunch of little skulls after it.

"I've got it, Dad." Meng Yaya looked up, a bright, almost unsettling smile spreading across her delicate, pretty face.

"Not a single one has fallen. Extorting active-duty officers, the amount was particularly huge, and the circumstances were particularly heinous... If you add all of that together, they'd be riddled with bullets even if they were executed."

Wang Guifen didn't hear what Meng Yaya was muttering, but she saw the father and daughter nodding, and she was overjoyed.

She'd even started planning how to spend that ten thousand yuan. First, she'd find Jianjun a wife in the city, then buy him some silk clothes, and even have his big yellow teeth gilded...

"Alright." Gu Changfeng took the notebook from his daughter, glanced at it, and closed it. "Now that you've stated your requirements, we have to follow the rules."

"What rules?" Wang Guifen was taken aback. "Paying money is the rule!"

Gu Changfeng ignored her and turned to look at Lin Wanrou, who had been standing silently in the shadows.

Today, Lin Wanrou wasn't wearing her old work clothes; instead, she was wearing a faded Lenin suit, and her hair was neatly combed.

She carried the brown paper envelope containing the letter of farewell as she walked up the steps one by one.

Those steps were exceptionally steady.

Gu Changfeng stepped aside, giving his wife his seat.

"My dear wife, read them our family rules." Gu Changfeng handed the little notebook containing "evidence of crimes" to Lin Wanrou.

Wang Guifen looked at Lin Wanrou's face and her heart suddenly skipped a beat. This pushover used to tremble in her presence, how dare she look at her properly today?

"Lin Wanrou! You jinx!" Wang Guifen habitually tried to intimidate her by using her mother-in-law's status.

"It's perfect that you're here. From now on, we'll be living here, and you'll have to take care of our whole family! Laundry, cooking, pouring out foot bath water—you can't neglect any of it! If you don't take good care of them, I'll send you back to that poor mountain village!"

Lin Wanrou stood on the high platform, looking down at the faces that had once given her nightmares every night.

In the past, she might have been afraid, trembling, or wanting to hide.

But now, she has Gu Changfeng, who can cause a major upheaval, standing behind her, Meng Yaya, who can outmaneuver spies, sitting at her feet, and the confidence that Commander Lei gave her.

afraid?

What we should be afraid of are these beasts who devour people without spitting out the bones!

"Want money? Want a house? Want an official position?"

Lin Wanrou's voice echoed throughout the entire playground, clear and firm.

"Keep dreaming!"