That evening, Su Ze was released.

When Su Ze returned home, he was starving and cold, but the house, which had been a mess, had already been cleaned up.

Qiao Jiuru and Zhou Wanwan were sitting on the bed board that had been broken, sewing clothes and quilts.

After spending the afternoon, both mother-in-law and daughter-in-law had calmed down a lot.

“Mom, Xiao Wan.”

When Su Ze arrived home and saw the situation, especially the sight of his mother and wife being unharmed, he breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

Although he knew his parents had made many preparations in secret, he still worried most about the safety of his family.

“Su Ze, you’re finally back?! It’s good you’re okay!”

When Zhou Wanwan saw her husband, she was both surprised and happy.

Tears immediately started falling.

She quickly dropped what she was holding and rushed to him, tightly hugging him, her voice choked with emotion.

“Xiao Wan, I’m fine. Are you and Mom okay?!”

Su Ze also hugged his wife tightly, gently patting her back to comfort her.

“They just searched the house, took everything they could find, and left. They didn’t harm us.”

Qiao Jiuru also put down the quilt she was working on and nodded at her son, signaling that he didn’t need to worry.

Su Ze felt truly relieved.

As long as the people were safe, that was what mattered.

His parents had kept some backup plans, and he himself had also secretly prepared some, ensuring they wouldn’t starve for at least a year.

“They still haven’t let Dad go back?”

Qiao Jiuru wasn’t surprised that her husband hadn’t returned home yet.

This was no different from the last life, except for the two little grandsons who weren’t home.

“Yes, I think they want to extract all the information from us, which is why they haven’t released Dad yet.”

When Su Ze was released from captivity, he didn’t see his father.

He had been escorted out of the interrogation committee’s doors by someone.

So, he suspected that they were holding his father to try and extract all the wealth of the Su and Qiao families from him.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t have kept him locked up.

Qiao Jiuru nodded.

The truth was obvious—they knew what the enemy wanted.

In the previous life, Su Huaiyuan had even been beaten up, partly because he was furious with what these people had done, but also because he didn’t want the Qiao family’s possessions to fall into their hands.

This time, she and Su Huaiyuan had made many preparations in advance, and had already discussed their strategy.

They planned to delay things as much as possible, not to reveal their cards easily.

Otherwise, these people would definitely try to squeeze more out of them, believing they still had treasures hidden away, continuing to torment them.

“Xiao Ze, you’re hungry, right? Let me get something for you.”

Qiao Jiuru told her eldest son to sit down and rest, then went to the kitchen to bring out the two mixed-flour buns and sweet potatoes that Sister Lu had given them in the afternoon.

She handed them to her son.

“Mom, this is…”

“Eat, Sister Lu gave them to us secretly.”

She had plenty of food in her space.

In this time, anything they needed was available in her space.

Not to mention that she and Su Huaiyuan cooked meals, porridge, steamed buns, boiled eggs, fried eggs, and meat every day in the space, but now was not the time to take those things out.

A mixed-flour bun and three sweet potatoes wouldn’t fill anyone up!

That evening, Qiao Jiuru and Zhou Wanwan each ate one and a half buns and one sweet potato, and this was all that was left.

Su Ze silently took the food and ate it quietly, feeling down.

The Su family had suffered, and Sister Lu was the only one willing to lend a hand.

His mood was low.

Qiao Jiuru sat down to continue mending the quilt.

The quilt that had been fine was cut open by those people, and the cotton inside was scattered and intentionally dirtied.

She had just washed the cotton with her daughter-in-law and hung it to dry.

Now, she was mending the torn quilt cover.

Zhou Wanwan saw her mother-in-law’s actions and couldn’t bring herself to feel sad or fearful anymore.

After all, her own family had gone through something similar, and she knew how important clothes and quilts were. So, she quickly joined in mending the clothes.

No one in the family could sleep.

Qiao Jiuru and Zhou Wanwan continued sewing, and in the end, when there was nothing else to do and Su Ze couldn’t sleep, he decided to learn to sew from his wife.

Bang.

Before dawn, there was a faint noise in the yard, followed by the sound of something falling to the ground.

Qiao Jiuru and Su Ze immediately exchanged a glance.

The person delivering something at this time couldn’t be anyone else…

Sure enough, Qiao Jiuru quietly went out to the yard and found a noticeable bundle.

As soon as she touched it, she knew it was food.

There was no doubt it was Zhang Hong delivering food to them.

The bundle was indeed filled with food: one pound of biscuits, fifteen steamed buns, even ten boiled eggs, and a bottle of trauma ointment.

“Eat. You’ll have more energy if you’re full. We should hold on a few more days, and we should be freed soon.”

Qiao Jiuru divided the eggs.

She and Zhou Wanwan each got three, and Su Ze got six, then they divided the steamed buns.

As for the biscuits, they didn’t divide them—those could be kept for later, when there was nothing else to eat.

Zhou Wanwan and Su Ze obediently did as told. After eating, they all began to feel sleepy and each lay down in their own rooms.

The Committee.

“Eat. I suggest you cooperate honestly. Otherwise, not only will you suffer, but your family will too.”

Tan Shuwei came to work on time, as usual, and took two sweet potatoes from his bicycle basket. In front of the others, he entered the room where Su Huaiyuan was held. He tossed the sweet potatoes onto Su Huaiyuan’s body while smiling faintly and said these words.

He didn’t care about Su Huaiyuan’s expression or reaction.

After throwing the sweet potatoes and delivering his message, he returned to his office.

Lin Kesheng hadn’t arrived at work yet. Last night, he led a team to search the Su and Qiao families’ homes, and probably wasn’t awake yet.

Tan Shuwei guessed Lin would only show up after noon.

For now, Su Huaiyuan was still safe.

Sure enough, after lunchtime, Lin Kesheng arrived at work slowly.

He seemed to be in a good mood.

Last night, he had found a lot of gold and silver treasures from the Su and Qiao families, as well as several property deeds—a big haul.

When he heard that Tan Shuwei had thrown two sweet potatoes to Su Huaiyuan in the morning, he didn’t say much.

He knew Tan was trying to ensure the man didn’t starve to death.

Tan Shuwei had done well, after all.

He hadn’t emptied the Su family’s valuables yet, and they couldn’t risk anything happening to Su Huaiyuan.

By afternoon, Tan Shuwei came to work, but Lin Kesheng didn’t interrogate Su Huaiyuan any further.

“Old Tan, let’s all work overtime tonight. I’ll give out some of the loot.”

When Lin Kesheng saw Tan Shuwei, he personally went to his office to say this.

It was the usual arrangement.

This meant that tonight, Lin Kesheng would distribute some of the wealth they had taken from the Su family.

He would take half, Tan Shuwei would take a third, and the rest would go to the others.

Tan Shuwei nodded in understanding and watched Lin Kesheng leave the committee.

As for where Lin Kesheng was going, Tan knew, but he pretended not to.

At 3 a.m., a person quietly walked out of the dark Su family residence, quickly leaving the compound and disappearing into the night.