Chapter 11 – The Truth

The man had a brutish face, a fierce glare, and his clothes were filthy—Liu Ying knew it was from the motor oil he got on himself while repairing cars.

Tao Yingying looked at her mother in confusion, catching the flash of fear in her eyes. Her heart sank along with it.

Tao Jingjing, seeing the man striding toward them, couldn’t help but ask, “Mom, do you know him?”

Liu Ying thought to herself: I guess you could say I do.

Three days before Sang Feiyu’s parents died, she had gone to a repair shop and met this very man.

At the time, his face had been covered in grime, so she hadn’t clearly seen his features.

But she remembered he had a brutish, meaty face and a large belly. In this era, when most people were skinny, that left a deep impression on her.

She opened her mouth and said with difficulty, “Wait here for me. I just need to talk to him for a moment.”

The man stopped in his tracks when he saw Liu Ying walking toward him.

Some things weren’t meant to be overheard by a third party.

Liu Ying furrowed her brows, her tone laced with reproach. “How did you find this place?”

“You promised me three gold bars once the job was done.”

“I’m here to collect those gold bars,” the man replied bluntly.

Back then, Liu Ying had thought that once she got her hands on the second couple’s inheritance, three gold bars would be nothing. Most importantly, giving them would shut him up so he wouldn’t spread rumors.

But now, although the job had been done, she hadn’t gotten a single cent of that inheritance!

Where was she supposed to get three gold bars?

Even if she sold herself, it wouldn’t be enough.

“You can see our house has been seized. I don’t have a single coin on me.”

“As for those three gold bars I promised, once I get the inheritance, I’ll give you five instead. How about that?”

The man rejected her instantly. “The police are already suspecting that their deaths weren’t accidental. This morning, they even came to the garage asking technical questions.”

“I need the gold bars now so I can lie low.”

Liu Ying looked distressed. “It’s not that I don’t want to give them to you. I’m really in a tight spot.”

“That wretched girl went to the Revolutionary Committee to report us, and we lost everything.”

“My husband is still locked up!”

She was full of regret. If she had known how tight-lipped Sang Feiyu was, she would’ve kidnapped her and used her to threaten the second couple.

That way, the two of them—who only had one daughter—would have definitely handed over most of their wealth. Then, they could’ve used the money to buy boat tickets to Hong Kong and escape with the whole family and a fortune. Even if the second couple went to the police, it’d be too late!

The man’s eyes gleamed with murder. “You’re living in a mansion like this, and you want me to believe you have no money?”

“Even a cunning rabbit has three burrows. You people couldn’t be dumb enough to keep everything in one place.”

Liu Ying quickly explained, “This house doesn’t belong to me. It belongs to my husband’s younger brother.”

“I don’t have a job. My husband and son are both unemployed. We don’t have any source of income. We’re truly broke.”

But the man clearly didn’t believe her. “Your husband’s brother is a restaurant tycoon in Yangcheng. His Cantonese restaurants have even opened in Shanghai. Don’t tell me your family didn’t get a cut.”

Liu Ying was nearly in tears. “If he were really that generous, we wouldn’t have thought about getting rid of him!”

“He doesn’t even care about his own parents—why would he care about us?”

The man shot back, “If he doesn’t care, why would he let you live in this mansion?”

Wasn’t that completely contradictory?

Liu Ying was at a loss for words, her throat tightening.

The man had lost all patience. “I’ll give you one day. If I don’t get those gold bars, the Revolutionary Committee’s tip-off box will receive a very interesting letter.”

“Liu Comrade, carrying two lives on your back isn’t just about re-education through labor—it could mean prison and death.”

Liu Ying was stunned—of course she knew that!

But the man didn’t give her a chance to speak and turned to leave.

Tao Jingjing and Tao Yingying rushed forward to support Liu Ying. Tao Jingjing asked curiously, “Mom, when did you meet that man?”

Liu Ying barely found her voice. “This isn’t the place to talk. Let’s go.”

Once they’d walked a good distance, Liu Ying finally poured out all her fear. “A few days before your fourth uncle and aunt’s car accident, I went to the repair shop and sought him out.”

“I promised him that if he could tamper with their car, I’d give him three gold bars.”

“To get your fourth uncle to the shop, I even purposely stuck a nail in his tire to cause a blowout.”

“Later, he messed with the car. And as it happened, your aunt was also in it. Halfway through the drive, the car suddenly went out of control, crashed into a tree, then exploded and caught fire…”

The truth was, there had been no one else on the road that day. She had gone over to make sure they were dead, even threw in an extra spark. And before she left, she took Sang Feiyu’s mother’s Swiss pocket watch.

She had coveted that watch for so long!

But Sang Qingyue had never let her even borrow it once.

Tao Jingjing and Tao Yingying were utterly stunned, mouths agape. They hadn’t expected that their uncle and aunt’s deaths were actually caused by their own family!

They’d blamed their uncle for not caring about them before, but they’d never considered harming him.

Liu Ying scolded them harshly, “Don’t just stand there! You need to help me think of a solution too.”

“If he reports me tomorrow, you two will be motherless!”

Tao Yingying was the first to react. “Right now, the most urgent thing is to give him the gold bars.”

“Otherwise, our whole family will be in deep trouble.”

Even if they weren’t directly involved, they’d be considered accomplices.

Tao Jingjing fretted. “We’re dirt poor right now—where are we supposed to get three gold bars?”

A gleam flashed in Tao Yingying’s eyes. “Doesn’t Sang Feiyu have them?”

Liu Ying slapped her forehead. “How could I forget about her!”

“Let’s go find her right now!”

Her mind was clear. “Sang Feiyu said she donated everything to the state. That house of hers probably isn’t hers anymore. Let’s go check the guesthouse to see if she’s staying there.”

…

Sang Feiyu, worried that her grandparents wouldn’t find her, went straight to Granny Zhang’s house after getting discharged from the hospital.

Before she could find them, she saw Liu Ying and her two daughters angrily heading toward the guesthouse.

Sang Feiyu was stunned—how had they suddenly been released?

Did the Revolutionary Committee discover something?

No matter what, it wouldn’t be safe to stay at the guesthouse anymore. She needed to find a new place.

Just as she started walking, someone suddenly sprang out from ahead of her. A sharp dagger was aimed straight at her pitch-black eyes—