I couldn't take it anymore; when I went home for Chinese New Year, the family genealogy book ha

"Sister Cuifen, you have to hang in there! No matter how tough things are outside, we can't go back to that wretched village and embarrass ourselves!"

Two months ago, Liu Cuifen said this while applying lipstick in front of the mirror in her 80-inch TV at the Imperial Bay villa.

Two months later.

She squatted at the entrance of the Dijingwan property office, staring blankly at a payment reminder notice.

The property management fee is 12,000 yuan per month.

The water and electricity bill is 8,000 per month.

Garden maintenance fee: 6,000 per month.

The maintenance fee for the smart home system is 3,000 per month.

Security system service fee: 5,000 per month.

These miscellaneous expenses alone add up to more than 30,000 a month.

This doesn't even include the six Podocarpus macrophyllus trees.

Of the 4.8 million yuan spent on planting the Podocarpus macrophyllus, not a single one survived.

The landscaping company came and inspected the trees, saying that the species itself had problems, and the trees were worth at most 150,000 yuan each, not 800,000 yuan.

Do you want to confront that landscaping company from back then?

The other party changed their phone number, cancelled their business license, and vanished without a trace.

The renovation process was also incredibly frustrating.

My Poltrona Frau leather sofa, which claims to be imported from Italy, started cracking after just one month of use.

Jiang Wei checked online for the same model—the genuine product cost 200,000 yuan, while his mother spent 1 million yuan.

The underfloor heating system, which claimed to be made of graphene, short-circuited after only half a month of use, burning a black hole in the living room floor.

Repair once, 50,000.

Liu Cuifen sat on the cracked sofa, looking at the dark hole, then at the balance in her mobile bank account.

Three hundred million, spent over one hundred million in two months.

Less than 200 million yuan remains.

I heard a lot.

But if we keep spending at this rate, it will be clean in three years.

She has never managed money in her life. When she lived in the village, food and lodging were free, medical care was free, children's schooling was free, there was always a car to take her when she went out, and there was always food to eat when she came home.

At that time, she felt that the benefits Jiang Chen gave her were a matter of course.

Now she realizes how much those "taken-for-granted" things are worth.

What devastated Liu Cuifen even more was loneliness.

There are three detached villas in the Dijingwan villa area, but the other two are unoccupied and have been vacant for many years.

Her house was the only one with its lights on on the entire street.

During the day, security guards stand guard at the entrance.

At night, the sound of the wind rustling through the leaves could terrify her.

Jiang Jianguo would stay in his study all day, smoking one Double Happiness cigarette after another, and when asked anything, he would just say, "You decide."

Jiang Wei goes without saying.

He took the black card and went to the provincial capital to "start a business," claiming he was investing in some kind of technology company. He called back twice in a month, each time asking for money.

She wandered around the huge villa all by herself.

Back in the village, you could run into Third Grandfather playing with walnuts, Hu Lahua cursing, and Jiang Mancang carrying manure as soon as you stepped out of the door.

There were many people, and it was noisy, but life still made a sound.

Now this villa is as desolate as a grave.

Liu Cuifen finally couldn't take it anymore.

Early that morning, she changed into her bright purple floral-patterned coat, carried two large bags of fruit and a box of milk, hailed a taxi, and headed straight for Jiangjia Village.

When the taxi arrived at the village entrance, Liu Cuifen glanced out the window and almost thought she had gone to the wrong place.

The old locust tree at the village entrance is still there.

But next to the old locust tree, there is now a stainless steel barrier gate equipped with cameras and facial recognition terminals.

Two stone pillars stand on either side of the gate, with four characters engraved on them: "Jiang Family Home".

Two black Mercedes-Benz G-Class patrol cars were parked behind the gate, with the words "Jiangjia Village Security Team" printed on their sides.

Liu Cuifen paid the fare and walked over carrying her bags.

Before I even reached the gate, a security guard in a black uniform came up to me.

"Halt. Please show your pass or register your information."

Liu Cuifen was stunned for a moment, then put on a big smile.

"Young man, I'm from this village, from the eldest branch, Jiang Jianguo's wife."

The security guard looked down at the tablet in his hand, scribbled a couple of times on the list, and then looked up.

"Your information is not in the system. Please leave."

"What do you mean there's no information about me? I've lived here for thirty years!"

Liu Cuifen raised her voice.

Just as the security guards were about to explain, a grinning voice came from behind them.

"Oh my, isn't this my sister-in-law?"

Wang Dagou, with a toothpick dangling from his mouth, sauntered out from behind the patrol car.

He was wearing a crisp black uniform with a brass badge on his chest that read "Security Captain".

Liu Cuifen's eyes lit up, and she quickly went to greet her.

"Da Gou! I've finally seen someone I know! I've come back to see the old man, please let me in."

Wang Dagou crossed his arms and leaned against the gate pillar, giving Liu Cuifen a half-smile.

From the bright red floral jacket to the two bags of fruit in her hand, she scanned them from head to toe.

"Sister-in-law, are you here to visit relatives?"

"What visiting relatives? I'm going home!"

"My own home?" Wang Dagou rolled his eyes and reached into his pocket to pull out a piece of paper.

That was a copy of the extermination agreement.

"Look at this, whose handprint is on it? The agreement clearly states in black and white—'I voluntarily withdraw from the Jiang clan and will never return.' You no longer bear the surname Jiang, so this place is someone else's territory for you."

Liu Cuifen's face flushed red and then turned pale.

"Da Gou, that was back then... I was just confused. Can you talk to Chenzi and ask if I can come back to see Grandpa?"

Wang Dagou stuffed the copy back into his pocket and scratched his chin.

"Excuse me, but the old man's exact words were—'If they disgust you, don't let them in.'"

These words were like a blunt knife, stabbing directly into Liu Cuifen's heart.

She was stunned for a full five seconds.

Then, he threw his bags on the ground and plopped down on the concrete ground in front of the gate.

"You son of a bitch!"

Liu Cuifen slapped her thigh and started howling at the top of her lungs.

"They won't even let us go home! I've devoted my whole life to this family! That heartless Jiang Chen is trying to drive us to our deaths!"

The loud crying attracted several villagers passing by behind the gate.

Jiang Taohua stood by the roadside, hands on her hips, glanced at it twice, and clicked her tongue twice.

"Sister Cuifen, you're not crying the right way. You have to wail, not cry. Crying makes you look cheap."

Hu La Hua poked her head out from the direction of the cafeteria, her voice as loud as a megaphone.

"Who's rolling around on the ground at the entrance of our village? I thought they were here to put on a monkey show."

Liu Cuifen cried even louder, wiping away her snot and tears.

She thought to herself—as long as she made a big enough scene, Jiang Chen would have to come out and deal with it. Once Jiang Chen came out, she would have a chance to cry and play the victim.

Wang Dagou tilted his head and looked at it, then calmly took out his walkie-talkie.

"Little Li."

"Captain, what's up?"

"Go and bring the big wolfhound over here."

There was silence on the other end of the walkie-talkie.

"Why are you walking the dog?"

"Someone urinates or defecates anywhere at the village entrance, and we have to use dogs to chase them away."

Liu Cuifen's crying stopped abruptly.

She looked up at Wang Dagou's forced smile and then at the faint barking of dogs coming from behind the gate.

She had seen the patrol dogs in Jiangjia Village before—two purebred German Shepherds with chest hair as stiff as steel needles and teeth that could chew bones to pieces.

Liu Cuifen's buttocks bounced up as if they were springs.

She grabbed the fruit and milk from the ground, carried them haphazardly, and ran away.

After running a couple of steps, one of my slippers flew off.

She didn't even bother to pick them up, and ran barefoot on the cement road with a loud crackling sound.

Wang Dagou leaned against the gate pillar, watching Liu Cuifen's retreating figure, and spat out the toothpick from his mouth.

The security guard next to him leaned over and asked in a low voice.

"Captain, you really let Xiao Li go walk the dog?"

"Lead my ass." Wang Dagou picked up a toothpick again. "Xiao Li is off today, he's not here."

After doing all this, Wang Dagou took out his phone and sent a message to Jiang Chen.

"Brother Chen, your sister-in-law came by and chased you away. She cried a lot, but there were no injuries."

Thirty seconds later, Jiang Chen replied with a single word.

"Um."

Wang Dagou put his phone back in his pocket and then took out his walkie-talkie.

"Be careful, keep a close eye on the village entrance these next few days. I reckon the other families will be here in a couple of days too."

A "Received" came through the walkie-talkie.

Wang Dagou is right.

The next day at noon, Sun Yumei had an accident.

They didn't come to the village entrance to cause trouble.

An even bigger incident occurred at the sales office in the county town.