Xie Zhi answered a phone call, a smile spreading across his face. He turned to Li Chunxiang and said, "Mom, your method really works! Look, Aunt Chen went to the Xiao family's house and came back, and the police station called..."

"So? Is Yinzi coming back?" Li Chunxiang asked smugly, throwing away the sign in her hand. "Then I don't need to hold this sign and parade through the streets anymore."

"Yes, they told me to bring two thousand yuan to redeem Yinzi now." Xie Zhi reached out and tidied his messy hair.

"That much money?" Li Chunxiang, who loved money more than anything, picked up the sign from the ground again. "No, I'll go instead."

She was thinking to herself that if she succeeded using this method, she would ask Xie Zhi for a thousand yuan.

The plan seemed perfect, but Xie Zhi disagreed, saying with a stern face, "If it can be solved with money, then it's nothing. Don't go and embarrass yourself. Two thousand yuan is nothing. I'll go pick Lan Yin up right now. You take care of her at home and make her something nice to eat. She must be starving after being locked up for several days."

"What should we do with these two children?" Li Chunxiang took Xie Zhi's angry words seriously. "Should we call someone to pick them up, or should I take them there myself?"

"What do you mean, 'someone come to pick them up'?" Xie Zhi stared intently at Li Chunxiang. "They are my children, of course they will stay in this home."

"But didn't you say you were going to give them away?" Li Chunxiang's hopes were dashed. She did want to give the two children away so that her Lan Yin's child could inherit all of Xie Zhi's assets without two more people dividing them up.

"You don't understand!" Xie Zhi glanced at Aunt Chen, who was tightly protecting the children. If he hadn't said that back then, Aunt Chen wouldn't have gone to beg Su Xiaonuan. Obviously, the call from the police station was because Su Xiaonuan had pleaded for them. He deliberately said it to Aunt Chen. No matter how bad he was, he wouldn't give his own children away.

However, he didn't voice his true feelings. Instead, he said angrily to Aunt Chen, "You're not allowed to let them go. If their mother doesn't come back, they can forget about living in this house. They're traitors, they've mistaken a thief for their mother. Don't they know their own mother and that Su Xiaonuan are mortal enemies?"

"Yes, they've mistaken a thief for their mother. You really need to teach them a lesson." Li Chunxiang gritted her teeth.

"Mom, hurry up and tidy up. Don't let Lanyin see the house in such a mess. Just call and order some good food to be delivered. Lanyin doesn't like your cooking anyway." Xie Zhi originally wanted Aunt Chen to cook, but seeing that Aunt Chen's hand was still wrapped in gauze, he was afraid that the food would have a medicinal taste and affect Lanyin's mood for eating, so he had Li Chunxiang order the food instead.

Xie Zhi went back to his room to get the money and came out. Aunt Chen knelt down in front of him with a thud. "Boss, please let the children go. Their delicate skin is all marked by the ropes."

"I can't let you go." Xie Zhi looked down at her. "Besides, I'll tie you up too."

Xie Zhi wanted to please Lan Yin, but he would only release her after he brought her back. Otherwise, the woman would be furious after being locked up for several days, and he preferred beauty to women over children.

"Release the children." Su Xiaonuan barged in with a group of people.

Xiao Moxi, along with a group of aunties, followed closely behind.

When the aunties saw that Xiaotian and Xiaoli were tied up, they immediately went forward to untie them.

"It's so pitiful. If their own mother were here, how heartbroken she would be to see this!" An aunt said, tears streaming down her face.

"Why is it that your family never learns from your mistakes?" Aunt Zhang's authoritative voice rang out. "Last time you were locked up for half a month for abusing the child, wasn't that enough?"

"It's none of your business how I educate my own child behind closed doors," Xie Zhi said rudely, ordering them to leave. "Get out, all of you get out, or I'll sue you for trespassing."

As he spoke, he gave a wink to his bodyguards.

Several men in black surrounded them, spreading their arms to urge them out.

"Boss Xie, aren't you going out to pick up Lan Yin?" Su Xiaonuan crossed her arms. "Why don't we have Aunt Chen bring Xiao Tian and Xiao Li to our house? We can give you two a nice time alone tonight, so you won't have to see them in your eyes."

"No way." Li Chunxiang refused outright. "Su Xiaonuan, don't even think about taking advantage of our family. Let me tell you, the children calling you godmother doesn't count because they didn't get their parents' permission."

Xie Zhi scratched his head and thought for a moment, "Okay, take them with you, and it would be best if they came back in a few days."

He really wanted to spend some time alone with Lan Yin; this woman had completely captivated him.

Hearing him say that, Aunt Chen breathed a long sigh of relief. Now, she and the children were free. Otherwise, when that vicious woman Lan Yin came back, they didn't know how much more inhuman torture they would have suffered.

Xiao Moxi quickly stepped forward and took Xiao Tian and Xiao Li's hands. "Come on, let's go to our house."

The two children followed Xiao Moxi without looking back.

DouDou and GuoGuo stood outside the courtyard gate with their grandmother, along with TieSuo and SuMing. They didn't dare to rush in with the children, fearing a conflict would hurt them, so they had to let them wait outside.

Upon seeing Xiaotian and Xiaoli rescued, the children rushed over and bombarded them with questions.

"Brother Xiaotian, are you alright?"

"Little Li, don't cry."

Tie Suo took Xiao Li's hand and noticed several deep marks on her wrist. He asked with concern, "Xiao Li, does it hurt?"

"It doesn't hurt," Xiaoli shook her head. "Seeing you all makes it stop hurting."

DouDou and GuoGuo quickly stepped forward to blow on her.

"Okay, let's go home first," Su Xiaonuan said. "We'll apply the medicine to Xiaotian and Xiaoli when we get home."

Ye Mei stayed home alone and didn't go to the Xie family's house. While Xiao Nuan was applying medicine to the two children, she cried sadly. "Look at them, they've only been away from our house for half a day, and they're covered in injuries. It breaks my heart to see them like this."

"If it weren't for the plight of those two children, I would have quit working here a long time ago," Aunt Chen said angrily. "No amount of money could make me want to see Lan Yin and that old witch's faces; they're disgusting!"

Aunt Chen was reluctant to give up Xie Zhikai's high salary, which was the truth, but if it weren't for Xiao Tian and Xiao Li, she probably wouldn't have been able to continue working there.

She couldn't leave because she had been entrusted with this task; otherwise, the two poor children would be even more like fish on a chopping board for those two women.

"You damned beast!" Zhang Yulan, who always spoke softly, couldn't help but raise her voice to an unprecedented level when she saw the injuries on the two children. "How could there be such a person? They're just two children! How could they do this?"

"Grandma." Xiao Tian and Xiao Li knew that their godmother and godfather had gone to pick up Dou Dou and Guo Guo's grandmother, so as soon as they saw this unfamiliar but kind-looking old lady, they knew who she was and raised their little faces, calling out to her with teary eyes.

"Uh." Zhang Yulan's heart softened when the children called her "Grandma," and tears streamed down her face. She gently stroked the children's heads with her rough old hands, afraid that her hands would hurt their little faces, so she could only keep stroking their hair.

Everyone present was choked up.