It's not that Li Xiangdong is petty; a mother's love is enough to drive a woman to do all sorts of incredible things.

With Fu Xiangyun's son still in Pan Jixian's hands, Li Xiangdong didn't entirely believe Fu Xiangyun's decision to surrender directly.

When Fu Xiangyun heard Li Xiangdong ask about her son, she burst into tears.

Fu's parents hurriedly wiped away their daughter's tears and comforted her.

Fu Xiangyun cried until her whole body trembled and her lips turned white.

At this moment, Xiao Liandi, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke up, "That's not my brother. I don't have a brother, I only have a sister!"

Fu's parents were already sweating profusely with anxiety, and when they heard their granddaughter talking nonsense, they became even angrier. "What nonsense are you talking about? Go play over there and don't make trouble here!"

"What did you say?"

Li Xiangdong leaned down and looked at her kindly, "You mean, that younger brother isn't your biological brother?"

Xiao Liandi stared with her dark eyes and nodded seriously, "Yes! I saw it when my mother gave birth to my sister. My father brought a baby from outside, and my grandmother put my mother's newborn sister directly into a bucket of water and drowned her."

Li Xiangdong was greatly shocked, and the people around him were also shocked.

Fu Xiangyun cried even louder.

Fu's parents grabbed their daughter's arm and asked anxiously, "Is what Lian Di said true? Ah! Speak up, is what she said true?"

Fu Xiangyun closed her eyes, two lines of tears sliding down her cheeks. She nodded, then cried out, "My poor daughter—"

Fu Xiangyun's parents grabbed her shoulders in disbelief and shook her. "Is it true? Guangzong isn't your biological son?!"

Fu Xiangyun opened her eyes and said in a hoarse voice, "I knew it right away. That little beast didn't look like a newborn at all. He looked like he was four or five months old."

Fu's mother murmured, "No wonder, no wonder my mother-in-law wouldn't let me take care of you during your postpartum period. I thought she meant well, that she felt sorry for my back pain back then..."

Looking back now, it's clear she wasn't being kind at all; she was obviously afraid she'd stumble upon their scheme and realize Zhang Guangzong wasn't a newborn baby!

Fu Xiangyun continued, "Later, Liandi told me that she saw that old beast drown my newborn daughter with her own eyes. I wanted to turn against him then, but you all know what Zhang Baisui is like. If I told him that I already knew about the beastly things they did, I'm afraid Liandi and I would never see you two again."

They could kill them at will, poison them with pesticides, or throw them into the river to drown them. Anyway, Fu Xiangyun's family had no one to back them up.

Whether it's good or bad, come over and have a good cry, that's all.

To survive, they had no choice but to wait.

And finally, they got this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Fu Xiangyun wiped away her tears, and a resolute expression appeared on her face, completely different from before. "Guangzong took my daughter's life, and now that I'm dead, it's only right and proper. Besides, I only lost two hands!"

————

Pan Jixian estimated that four days had passed, and news should have arrived from Forty-Eight Bays Village by now.

Sure enough, Zhang Baisui came over excitedly in the afternoon to share the good news.

“My wife secretly told me that most of the five-needle pines in the village of Sishibawan have died.”

Pan Ji frowned. "Why is it you who came? Where is your wife?"

Zhang Baisui leaned closer and said, "Her mother is sick, so they won't let her leave. She's staying to take care of the patient!"

"No one has discovered that she did it, right?"

"Hehe, who cares? Even if they find out, she'll be the one who suffers, it has nothing to do with us!"

Pan Ji snorted coldly, "You're quite ruthless!"

Zhang Baisui, unashamed, chuckled and said, "Boss Pan, shouldn't the rest of the money, and my son, be given to me?"

Pan Ji waved his hand, and someone took Zhang Baisui away.

However, given his personality, Zhang Baisui's words alone were not enough to convince him.

Over the next two days, more married women returned to Forty-Eight Bays Village, but none of them were able to enter the village.

It is said that now, apart from a few specific people, no one is allowed to enter or leave the village of Forty-Eight Bays. Even a mosquito must be checked to determine its gender before it can enter or leave.

Some of the older women were insistent on going in, so their family members came over to dissuade them, vaguely saying that something terrible had happened in the village and that they should go home immediately and not come back to cause trouble.

This gave Pan Jixian even more certainty.

The old man was pressuring him, so Pan Ji gritted his teeth and raised the price of five-needle pine bonsai in the market a little more.

The market, which was about to cool down, has become hot again with this small increase.

Buying high and selling low has always been human nature.

As the days passed, the five-needle pine market returned to its previous bustling state, and the entire market even went into a frenzy due to the influx of large sums of money.

A decent five-needle pine bonsai can now sell for over ten thousand yuan.

Recently, there have been frequent incidents of burglaries in residents' homes.

The thieves didn't take any gold or silver; they focused solely on the five-needle pine bonsai.

Pan Jixian saw that there was no movement from Sishibawan Village and Li Xiangdong, and he was completely relieved.

It seems they really are out of stock.

Pan Jixian felt a pang of pain in his heart when he thought of the three million that Li Xiangdong had taken from him. He secretly made up his mind to get the money back from him sooner or later.

night.

Inside the luxurious five-story building.

Pan Jixian was reporting to the old man.

"Now all eight families, Hu, Cheng, Wang, Li, Zheng, Liu, and Ye, have entered the game. The bank said that Ye's eldest son even took out a mortgage loan of two million yuan, which is probably all used to buy five-needle pine bonsai."

The old man stood up excitedly, clapping his hands. "Good! Well done! This time I'm going to take over all eight of their businesses!"

He gently patted Pan Jixian's shoulder, "Let's go all out and raise the price to a level that they can't help but be tempted!"

Pan Jixian broke out in goosebumps. With a serious face, he replied, "Okay—"

————

Forty-eight Bay Village.

Inside the brigade headquarters, Li Xiangdong, Chen Zaohua, Zhou Hongsong, Feng Yucai, Fang Shilan, Fu Youde, Fu Youcai, and the village chief were having a private conversation.

Feng Yucai first drew out the recent price trend, which was a very obvious upward curve on the paper.

Li Xiangdong said, "The price has risen very quickly in the last few days. I estimate that once everyone gets involved, the price of five-needle pine will plummet."

Chen Zaohua asked, "Then what should we do? Should we keep waiting?"

Li Xiangdong shook his head. "We're not waiting any longer. Tomorrow morning, you'll split into five groups and sell off all the remaining five-needle pine bonsai."