Old Xu collapsed to his knees with a thud, his head banging against the ground repeatedly until his forehead was quickly red. He cried out in a sob:

"This jade pendant, it's our own! It's been hidden away at the bottom of a box for over ten years! It's a genuine antique! How could it be stolen! We've been honest and upright our whole lives, how could we dare to do something so dishonest!"

"It's their own?! And they'll be honest and obedient for the rest of their lives?!"

Zhou Shuhua, who had been staring intently at them, became extremely agitated upon hearing this. She abruptly broke free from Political Commissar Lei's embrace, her chest heaving violently, and spat at him indignantly.

"Bullshit! You're talking complete bullshit!"

She was about to kick Xu Laonian when Lei Yuhua and Political Commissar Lei quickly grabbed her arm and held it tightly.

"No, no, no, Shuhua, let's talk this out, why are you resorting to violence!"

Li Guixiang's heart skipped a beat when she saw that Xu Laonian, that fool, had blurted out the most important words. She knew that she could no longer hide it from him.

She glanced at Zhou Shuhua's murderous look, then at the gleaming handcuffs in the policeman's hand, and a surge of reckless, desperate energy rushed to her head.

She shoved aside Xu Laonian, who was blocking her way, and the old man staggered and almost fell to the ground.

Li Guixiang stepped forward as if she were going all out, glared fiercely at Zhou Qiqi with her triangular eyes, and then turned to Zhou Shuhua and Political Commissar Lei and yelled:

"Yes! It's our family's! So what?! Aren't you here to collect debts for that brat Zhou Qiqi? Fine! We'll make things clear today!"

She had no idea why Zhou Shuhua and her group had come, assuming they were all there to help Zhou Qiqi cause trouble for them. So she simply stood there, hands on her hips, neck stiff and self-righteous:

"This thing was left behind by Zhou Qiqi's deadbeat father! He said it was something he had carried with him for many years! It was given to him by his parents!"

Back then, that couple was dying, and they entrusted this little girl to our Xu family, along with this broken jade! It was to pay for the girl's meals!

We've kindly taken in Zhou Qiqi for over a decade, serving her like a slave, and she's grown up eating our Xu family's food. Consider this jade as payment for her food and for selling herself!

"What's wrong? Now that you're all grown up, married to a soldier, you want this jade back? No way! Pah!"

Li Guixiang shouted with spittle flying, her chest heaving violently, as if she had suffered a great injustice.

Her eyes were fixed on Zhou Qiqi, the venom in them so intense it seemed she wanted to tear a piece of flesh from her skin; it was clear she was saying:

It's all your fault, you little slut!

She had already planned it out in her heart. Today, she would tell the truth. Even if Shen Huaichuan beat or scolded her, she would still hold on to the jade and refuse to let go.

But unexpectedly, after she finished speaking...

Zhou Qiqi just stood there, her body swaying slightly, as if she was being blown off balance by the wind.

She wasn't entirely without a premonition.

Actually, I had a vague suspicion about this before I even left home.

But when Li Guixiang shouted out the truth with such vicious words, the impact was still like a wave crashing down on her, almost making her lose her footing.

Shen Huaichuan, who was beside her, didn't say anything, but quietly moved half a step to the side and pulled her into his arms.

But Zhou Shuhua was different.

She trembled like a leaf in the autumn wind, frantically and almost frantically pulling out the black-and-white photograph she had treasured for many years, now yellowed and brittle, from her inner pocket.

Rushing to Li Guixiang in a few strides, her fingers gripping the photograph tightly, she asked in trembling voice:

"You deadbeat dad?! You mean Zhou Qiqi's dad?! Look! Look at this photo! Isn't that him?! Isn't that the person in the photo?! Tell me!!!"

In the photo, the young Zhou Shuhua is embracing Zhou Jianbang, who is still a teenager. Both of them are wearing the same jade pendant around their necks and are smiling brightly.

Li Guixiang was startled by Zhou Shuhua's crazy appearance. She subconsciously squinted her triangular eyes and leaned closer to examine the old photo.

When her gaze fell on the boy's face in the photo, her eyes widened suddenly, she nodded, and blurted out:

"Oh my God! This...isn't this the sickly Zhou family member?! How do you have a photo of him when he was young?!"

Li Guixiang's words were like the coldest hammer, shattering Zhou Shuhua's last shred of hope.

Gui Xiang not only recognized her younger brother in the photo, but also personally confirmed that he had died more than ten years ago!

Zhou Shuhua stood there frozen, taking several seconds to recover. She looked at Zhou Qiqi in disbelief, her lips trembling uncontrollably, her mind a complete blank.

She instinctively gripped Commissar Lei's arm tightly, her nails almost digging into his flesh, tears streaming down her face, her voice broken and incoherent.

It was as if it were pleading, or as if it were confirming with God an answer that it dared not think about deeply, yet which was about to be revealed:

"Old Lei, she...she said...Jianbang...he...he...over ten years ago..."

Before she could finish speaking, she was already crying so hard she couldn't breathe.

The overwhelming sense of loss made her sway and almost collapse.

"mom!"

Lei Yuhua reacted quickly, grabbing her mother and calling out with a mixture of heartache and urgency:

"That's exactly what I mean! My uncle... my uncle passed away more than ten years ago!"

Tears welled up in her eyes, but her voice held a sudden, exhilarating clarity as she pointed sharply at Zhou Qiqi:

"But your uncle has a daughter! Zhou Qiqi! Sister Qiqi! She's your own niece! Your own niece!"

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