Old Mrs. Song is reborn; get out of here, you scumbag husband and illegitimate child!

The police, escorting the elderly couple from the Qiao family, led a group of men directly to the west end of the village.

When they arrived at Zhang Yujuan's house, they kicked the door open.

Zhang Yujuan was frantically stuffing clothes into a tattered cloth bag.

Before she could react, two policemen pinned her to the table and handcuffed her securely with a click.

Zhang Yujuan struggled desperately, shouting at the top of her lungs:

"What are you doing? What right do you have to arrest me? I didn't do anything."

The police ignored her completely and turned the house upside down.

Since no antiques were found, some people said that Zhang Yujuan's son, Wang Cong, might have stolen goods.

The police officer in charge waved his hand.

"Go to Wang Cong's house."

A group of people then surged towards Wang Cong's courtyard.

Wang Cong and Mei Fang were so frightened that they hid in the corner and dared not utter a sound.

The police found a dusty inkstone in a dilapidated cabinet in the storeroom.

Cai Zhiyong recognized at a glance that these were clearly his family's belongings.

Pointing excitedly at the inkstone, he shouted, "This is the Duan inkstone my grandfather used in his study. So this is where the thieves were! They stole our Cai family heirloom!"

Wang Cong's face turned deathly pale, and his legs gave way, causing him to collapse to the ground.

"No. My mom brought this back more than ten years ago. She said it was for me to practice calligraphy, but I wasn't good at studying, so I didn't use it. Later, I don't know where it got lost."

You should know how valuable this thing is.

Wang Cong must have taken the inkstone to the new city to exchange it for money, and then he moved there with his wife and children.

The villagers were very curious.

"My God, Zhang Yujuan has done so many bad things."

"Several years of labor reform haven't taught her a lesson."

"What do you know? She stole it more than ten years ago when she was working as a nanny for some relative. I remember she came back saying she took care of a woman who was in postpartum confinement, and that the woman treated her like a sister. Turns out she was a thief."

The villagers whispered among themselves.

The two Cai brothers looked very unhappy. Thinking about how they had been fooled by them, they wanted to beat Zhang Yujuan and the Qiao family elders to death.

Everyone was taken away.

The village is finally quiet again.

But Song Xianglan had no intention of giving up so easily.

The matter is far from over until the money is received and the newspaper report is published.

It was almost lunchtime.

Song Xianglan called Liu Chounu, Liu Dahua, and Widow Wang. The four women hitched a ride on a tractor at the village entrance, bumping along the way to the Cai family's house in town.

The Cai family's old house is located on the most bustling street in town.

The courtyard gate is spacious.

It was taken away and given to the commune cadres to live in back then.

They got it back now.

It's said that the Cai family renovated it again.

Song Xianglan stood at the gate and took out a large tin megaphone that she had prepared beforehand from her cloth bag.

Press the switch and bring it to your mouth.

"Listen up, Tsai family. It's only right to pay back debts! If you lost the bet, you have to accept it, pay up quickly, and publish an apology in the newspaper as soon as possible. Otherwise, I'll broadcast this on my doorstep every day."

The loudspeaker's blare caused everyone on the street to crane their necks to see what was happening.

Liu Dahua put her hands on her hips and shouted at the top of her lungs:

"You black-haired turtle surnamed Cai, stop hiding inside pretending to be a bastard. Come out and apologize right now."

He didn't shout more than a few times.

The door creaked open from the inside.

Grandpa Cai stood on the threshold, leaning on a willow cane.

Behind him stood Cai Zhiyong and several relatives of the Cai family.

Old Master Cai's face turned ashen as he suppressed his anger and spoke.

"Stop shouting outside. What kind of behavior is this? Come inside and talk. The Cai family is a respectable family, not like you people..." He swallowed back the curse words that were about to come out.

Song Xianglan turned off the loudspeaker and led the way across the threshold.

The four women swaggered into the main hall.

The room was furnished with exquisite details, complete with a set of mahogany furniture, and calligraphy and paintings hung on the walls.

Several exquisite tin boxes were placed on the octagonal table.

It contains butter cookies and pastries of various flavors.

Song Xianglan glanced at the cookies on the table.

These days, only ordinary families can casually display such rare foods.

I heard that the Cai family owns a food factory in town.

They are indeed shrewd and calculating; in just a few years, they have become much wealthier than she, a butcher who has been reborn.

Liu Dahua stared at the tin box, her stomach letting out a thunderous growl.

She pulled on the armchair without any hesitation, but couldn't move it.

He had no choice but to sit down, rubbing his stomach and grumbling:

"After all this commotion this morning, I'm starving. I haven't even had a sip of water."

With a forced smile, Grandpa Cai waved his hand and called over the nanny standing nearby.

"Go and bring over the pastries for these comrades to try. Also, go to the kitchen and tell them to prepare a few more dishes. Let them stay for a simple meal."

The nanny came over carrying a plate.

Cai Zhiyong stood aside, looking at the village women whose feet were still covered in yellow mud with disgust. He pinched his nose and took two steps back, afraid of getting some bad luck on them.

Song Xianglan picked up an onion biscuit and took a bite. It made a crisp sound.

Grandpa Cai sat down in the main seat, leaning on his cane with both hands.

"Comrade Song, today's events were due to a lack of consideration on our part as the Cai family. I will give you every penny of the compensation."

I'll have Zhiyong apologize to you in person, and that'll be the end of it. As for publishing an apology in the newspaper, that would negatively impact the family business.

I see that publishing an apology won't do you any good, so I'd rather give you something else.

Song Xianglan chewed on a biscuit and snorted coldly.

Throw the remaining half back into the plate.

"One thing at a time. You came to my door practically torn me to pieces, and you think a perfunctory apology is all you're going to do?"

Cai Zhiyong couldn't hold back any longer and pointed at Song Xianglan's nose.

"Don't push your luck. We're only letting you in because we're doing you a favor."

"Do I need you to give me face?" Song Xianglan slapped his hand away and spat in his face.

"Your Cai family cares about face, but I, Song Xianglan, am shameless? From now on, if someone loses a chamber pot, will you bring the police to search my house? Am I no longer allowed to buy anything nice? If I do, it'll be considered stolen goods."

"All the good stuff is engraved with your Cai family's name; no one else is worthy to use it. I think your Cai family has had too much of a good life."

Song Xianglan turned to look at Grandpa Cai, pressing him closer step by step.

"I don't care where your family's things went back then. If they were confiscated, go to the government."

"Just because they know people at the police station, they dare to get someone to file a false report and search my house. That weasel-faced relative of the Qiao family was probably hired by your Cai family."

Grandpa Cai was hit where it hurt.

His expression changed instantly.

"You think you can just crush an ordinary rural person because you have connections?"

Song Xianglan placed her hands on the table, looking down at him.

"Your Cai family has connections, and so does I, Song Xianglan. You have overseas connections, and so do I. You have influence in Beijing, and so do I. Let's see whose backing is stronger."

A hint of apprehension crept into Old Master Cai's eyes.

He didn't know Song Xianglan's true nature, so he didn't dare to easily turn against her.

"Comrade Song, your words are too harsh. Our Cai family has always been law-abiding citizens."

"Obey the law?"

Song Xianglan scoffed, pointing to the antique furniture filling the room, "You're law-abiding now. I'm a model citizen, though. My family has been dirt poor for generations, going back a few generations, they were all poor farmers."

They're poor, but they're incredibly confident. My son passed every single background check. Don't be so bold now; if a real background check were required, he'd fail.

Song Xianglan rolled her eyes, her tone full of disdain.

"When it comes to historical and cultural heritage, I can outdo you all."

The Cai family members were stunned by these words and stood there speechless, unable to utter a single word.

Liu Dahua grabbed an onion biscuit from the table and stuffed it into her mouth.

I opened another bottle of orange soda, tilted my head back and gulped it down, letting out a loud burp with an orange flavor.

"Don't try to intimidate me with your big talk." Liu Dahua chewed on a biscuit. "My family has been fishermen for eighteen generations. We've been law-abiding for countless generations. What is your family compared to us? We've only been relatively quiet these past few years."

Liu Chounv immediately chimed in, raising her chin.

"What else do you want to compete with us on? We may not be as rich as you capitalists, but when it comes to throwing tantrums and cheating, I'm second to none."

Widow Wang smoothed her hair.

She deliberately twisted her waist and took a step forward.

"Our two families used to have similar reputations," Widow Wang sneered, covering her mouth. "I'm a widow, so I get a lot of gossip around me, while you're like rats in the street, stinking capitalists. Let's not criticize each other's reputations, big brother.