“Why are you still staying at my house? Hurry up and get out.” Li Shuping looked up and said sharply to the people from the Lin and Liu families.

“…” The two families turned pale, like pig liver.

“Officer, she’s now cut ties with my husband. She hit both me and my husband, so isn’t this no longer a family dispute? We can sue her, right?” Liu Qin pointed at Li Shuping and asked Gu Zhenyuan.

Lin Xiaoyu said, “She was the one who first insulted me, calling the old lady dead, and calling me a cheap girl. That’s why my mom hit her. She even wanted to hit my mom again, but my second brother helped her, so my mom hit both of them.”

Actually, this so-called “cutting ties” letter has no legal effect at all.

Even if ties were cut, a mother hitting her son’s wife is still considered a family dispute.

Moreover, by moral and social norms, it’s natural and justified for elders to reprimand juniors. It was clearly her fault from the start; getting hit was deserved.

“You insult an elder as a ‘dead old lady’ and you still think you’re right?” Gu Zhenyuan retorted.

“…” Liu Qin was at a loss for words, her face flushing red.

“That’s because—because she reported my brother to the police, that’s why I—”

“Your brother broke the law, shouldn’t he be arrested?” Gu Zhenyuan asked again.

“It’s exactly because of people like you who protect young offenders that they feel they can do anything wrong and gradually slide into crime.”

“According to Liu Yong and those other criminals’ confessions, they not only extorted and vandalized Li Shuping but also repeatedly broke into other people’s homes to steal before this.”

During interrogation, when told that reporting others could reduce their sentences, those thugs started betraying each other.

“Oh, so they’re also thieves? Thieves are the worst and should all be arrested.” Qin Rong (Chunbao’s Mom), who had been stolen from, said through clenched teeth.

Outside, people looked at Yang Meifeng and her husband with disdain.

To have such a thief for a son, they themselves must be bad people.

Lin Yongnian frowned and lowered his head.

How could Liu Yong be such a person?

Before the second son’s wedding, he and Li Shuping had gone to the Liu family to discuss the marriage and lost a wallet.

Could it have been Liu Yong who stole it?

Actually, Liu Yong didn’t steal it; someone had pickpocketed him on the bus.

Gu Zhenyuan said, “If you go to our police station to complain about Li Shuping, we won’t accept it. For these minor disputes, you should go to the neighborhood committee for mediation. We won’t get involved.”

Liu Qin was silent.

She was so angry.

How could this be called a minor dispute?

Besides, the neighborhood committee is mostly old women. If they knew she had insulted her mother-in-law and sister-in-law and got beaten, how could they side with her?

“Hurry up and leave, I’m going to the police station.” Li Shuping steadied herself on the table and stood up.

Lin Yongnian gave her a sharp look and led Lin Guodong and the others out.

“Stay home. Mom is going to the police station but will be back soon.” Li Shuping told her daughter.

Lin Xiaoyu said, “No, I want to go too.”

“Why?”

“I want to see the people who hurt Mom punished.”

“All right, go ahead.” Let her see what these little thugs look like, so she can stay far away from them in the future.

Gu Zhenyuan left Li Shuping’s small room and looked at Yang Meifeng and her husband. “As family members of the criminal Liu Yong, you also need to come to the police station. There are compensation matters to discuss.”

“Compensate who?” Yang Meifeng asked.

“Of course, compensate Li Shuping for her economic losses and medical expenses.”

Thinking about how her son had been sent to jail by Li Shuping, and now having to compensate her, Yang Meifeng felt deeply upset.

“What if we don’t pay?” Liu Qin asked.

Gu Zhenyuan said, “If you don’t pay, your sentence will be extended.”

“…”

Lin Yongnian and Lin Guodong didn’t want to get involved in Liu Yong’s matter and went home immediately.

This was the father-in-law’s family matter. Lin Jianshe, as a son-in-law, had no choice but to go even if he didn’t want to.

After locking the door, Li Shuping was helped by Lin Xiaoyu as they followed Gu Zhenyuan out of the alley.

Yang Meifeng and her husband followed behind with Lin Jianshe and his wife.

When they reached the main road, Gu Zhenyuan used the car key to open the police car door and helped Li Shuping and her daughter into the back seat.

Seeing the car, Yang Meifeng hurried after her daughter and son-in-law, grabbed the still-open car door, and tried to get in.

“What are you doing?” Gu Zhenyuan stopped her.

Yang Meifeng said, “…Going to the police station.”

Gu Zhenyuan said, “You can take your own car.”

“Why can they ride in your car?” Liu Qin protested, pointing at Li Shuping and her daughter inside the car.

Gu Zhenyuan said, “They are the victims and their family; you are family of the criminal. How can it be the same?”

“…” Liu Qin was speechless.

Gu Zhenyuan closed the back door, went around to the driver’s seat, opened the door, started the car, and drove off, leaving a trail of exhaust.

Li Shuping and the others arrived at the police station first and identified the five suspects temporarily detained.

The suspects confessed to the crimes without hesitation but initially denied that there was fifty yuan in the iron box.

Soon, Brother Hu and others changed their story, saying there might have been that much money. When they first looked, the iron box did have quite a bit, but later when splitting the money, they only found ninety cents.

The iron box was held by Liu Yong; surely he pocketed the money.

They didn’t get any of the fifty yuan, only Brother Hu took the ninety cents.

They believed even if the iron box didn’t have fifty yuan, it shouldn’t only have ninety cents. Liu Yong definitely took some for himself.

Liu Yong had urged them to extort in Lihua Alley, which got them arrested. This bastard even stole their money.

They hated Liu Yong so much they blamed everything on him.

Although Liu Yong repeatedly denied the iron box had fifty yuan and said he didn’t take it, Brother Hu and others’ testimony made the fifty yuan count against him.

Liu Yong was speechless and glared at Li Shuping, wishing he could bite her.

“Dead old lady, just wait until I’m out. I’ll kill you for sure.” Liu Yong, handcuffed, shouted threats at Li Shuping.

The police officer holding him pressed hard on his shoulders and kicked the back of his knee; he collapsed to his knees with a thud.

“Behave yourself.”

Li Shuping stepped back half a step. “Captain Gu, listen to him. He’s threatening me and wants to kill me. You have to keep him in jail longer and make sure he’s fully reformed before release.”

It’s best if this kind of person wears out the bottom of his jail cell and never gets out.

Liu Yong had been caught last time for a financing scam that ruined many families, driving some to despair, leading to broken homes and deaths.

People like him should spend their whole life behind bars.

Gu Zhenyuan nodded, “Don’t worry, for stubborn criminals like this, the prison has many rehabilitation methods. If they don’t reform well, they won’t be released.”

If they don’t reform well in prison, their sentence can be extended.

After the identification, Gu Zhenyuan had Xiao Zhao take Li Shuping and her daughter to a conference room to wait and even prepared tea for them.

They had already notified other offenders’ families to come discuss compensation.

Yang Meifeng’s family arrived first and were also taken to the meeting room.

Then other families from the western district arrived one by one.

The people involved with Liu Yong all lived in the same area. Even if not close, they knew each other.

Every time a family arrived, if the police hadn’t stopped them, fights nearly broke out with Yang Meifeng and Liu Jianping.

Everyone believed Liu Yong ruined their children. If he hadn’t urged them, their kids would have just been a bit unruly, not criminals.