After four years of living alone after marrying far away, he went back to his parents' home and

As soon as Lan Yujuan arrived at her neighbor's house to pick up her daughter, Liu Mei's mother hurriedly entered the house, stopped the mother and daughter, and then closed the yard gate.

"Yujuan, listen to your aunt's advice, don't go home yet!"

"Take the children and go upstairs with Liu Mei first. Let the children watch cartoons on the second floor for a while, and you two can chat and play on your phones."

Hearing her mother's tone, Liu Mei realized something was wrong and immediately stood up to ask:

"Mom, what's wrong?"

"Is it those clueless bastards in the Liu family causing trouble again?"

Liu Mei's mother sighed, glanced at Lan Yujuan, and then lowered her voice, saying, "I just came back from the vegetable garden and saw a few thugs going to your house looking for Liu Zhigang!"

"During the first month of the lunar year, being targeted and approached by people like that usually boils down to a few things: either you've been fighting and made enemies, or you've gambled away money and racked up debts!"

"These past few days, everyone in the village has been watching closely as Liu Zhigang has become addicted to gambling, and the stakes have been rising higher and higher."

"The wins and losses in one night can reach five figures, how terrifying is that?"

Liu Mei spat out the sunflower seed shells in her mouth. "What did I say yesterday? With Liu Zhigang's way of doing things, he'll be getting his hands on creditors sooner or later!"

Liu Mei gently patted Lan Yujuan's shoulder again, comforting her, "Yujuan, don't worry about so much. Those messy things have nothing to do with you!"

After saying that, she bent down, picked up Liu Xiaoman, affectionately rubbed her little head, and said with a smile, "Let's go upstairs and watch cartoons!"

Looking at her neighbors, a mother and daughter, Lan Yujuan said gratefully, "Auntie, thank you!"

Liu Mei's mother waved her hand, her eyes full of tenderness: "Silly child, don't be so polite!"

"Your aunt has a daughter too. Put yourself in her shoes. I feel bad seeing you being wronged."

"I just hope you can figure things out soon and live the life you want!"

Upon reaching the second floor, the two little ones were completely captivated by the cartoons.

Liu Mei pulled Lan Yujuan along and quietly walked to the window at the corner.

This spot offers an excellent view; one can not only observe the situation in front of the Liu family's house, but also clearly hear their conversations.

"Hey! Who's in charge of your Liu family? Step forward now!"

The gang leader slammed his open leather jacket behind him, pulled up a chair, sat down, and began giving orders in a very impolite manner.

Tian Xiuhua and her daughter Liu Zhifang stood trembling at the doorway, clearly having never encountered such a scene before.

"What do you want? Get to the point!"

The thug glanced at Tian Xiuhua, clearly disregarding her. "What? You think you can make decisions for this family?"

Tian Xiuhua swallowed hard and quickly shoved her daughter beside her, "Go! Call your dad back! Tell him something terrible has happened at home!"

Liu Zhifang staggered, her face full of confusion.

"Dad left early this morning without saying anything, and I don't know where he is."

Tian Xiuhua gritted her teeth and said, "Go to the other side of the river and see if anyone is home at Widow Zhang's house."

"If it's not at Widow Zhang's house, go look around the fields; you should be able to find it."

Upon hearing this explanation, Liu Zhifang looked utterly bewildered. "Why would my father go to Widow Zhang's house for no reason?"

"Forget it, I'll just go look for them in the fields!"

Tian Xiuhua rolled her eyes in anger and immediately turned around to scold, "Just go! Why are you asking so many questions?"

Liu Zhifang was both worried and aggrieved, but in the end she bypassed the gangsters and went to find Liu Defu.

Liu Mei stood behind the window, nervously watching downstairs.

Hearing instructions downstairs to go to Widow Zhang's house to look for someone, I couldn't help but whisper and inquire:

"Yujuan, could it be that your father-in-law and Widow Zhang really... did that?"

When the conversation got to the crucial part of the gossip, Liu Mei blushed first.

Lan Yujuan turned to look at the other person and nodded gently, "Yes, really."

Upon hearing this, Liu Mei gasped in astonishment. "My God, the older generation is so open-minded!"

"Speaking of which, your mother-in-law is really hard to understand in this respect."

"You said she knew everything, so how come she's so calm, not crying or making a fuss? How can she be so carefree?"

Lan Yujuan blinked. "She's easygoing? I doubt it..."

If it weren't for her father-in-law's strong will, the Liu family would already be setting up a mourning hall by now.

While Lan Yujuan was watching the show upstairs, she took out her phone and checked the time.

More than half an hour had passed since she called the police. The police should be arriving soon!

After waiting for about 10 minutes, Liu Defu still hadn't returned, but suddenly there was a noise coming from the direction of the back door of the Liu family's house.

"Ouch!"

"What are you doing?"

"Let me go!"

A short while later, two of the gangsters came out from the back gate, walking around the wall, and grabbed Liu Zhigang by the collar.

They went around to the front and back of the house and pushed Liu Zhigang directly in front of the leader.

The leader sat with his legs crossed in a chair, fiddling with a thumb-thick Bodhi seed bracelet, while giving Liu Zhigang a meaningful look.

"Why are you running? Why are you running!"

"I'm asking you, what's the point of running away? Paying back debts is a matter of course!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Zhigang's expression changed.

His knees buckled, and he knelt on the ground with a thud. "Big brother, I was wrong!"

"We had late-night snacks and drinks together last night, please forgive me this time!"

"I was just having fun last night, please don't take it seriously, okay?"

"How about this, I'll kowtow three times to you, and we'll call it even for last night!"

As he spoke, Liu Zhigang disregarded whether the other party agreed or not, knelt down and took a few steps forward, then began to kowtow violently.

"Brother, how about this?" Liu Zhigang looked up and pleaded.

"If that doesn't work, I'll do 10 more, or even 100!"

The leader sneered, raised his foot and stepped on Liu Zhigang's shoulder, gradually applying pressure.

"Hmph, who do you think you are? You dare to be my underling?"

"You lent me your hard-earned money, and you think you can just renege on it after a few kowtows?"

"I'll knock your grandpa's door open! No way!"

After saying that, the leader kicked Liu Zhigang to the ground.

Terrified, Tian Xiuhua's heart broke at the sight. She rushed over and helped her second son up, shouting:

"Just pay back the money! Why are you hitting people?"