23 Expulsion
◎Three generations unable to take the civil service exam◎
Bingbing slipped out through the crack in the door.
If your cat gets lost, blaming the person for not locking the door properly won't help.
The adoptive parents checked the surveillance footage. Bingbing took the elevator down to the first floor, and the community's surveillance cameras could only capture Bingbing running out of the community.
The adoptive parents tried to find them, but couldn't.
Yes, a city is so big and a cat is so small, the chances of finding it are extremely slim.
The adoptive parents said with regret and guilt that perhaps they and Bingbing were not meant to be.
Xu Huaihuai hung up the phone with the adoptive parent; she didn't know what to say.
Having been bullied since childhood and lacking much experience in wilderness survival, Bingbing, a stray cat, might be fed by kind-hearted passersby when hungry, but what if she encounters vicious dogs, or meets those wicked people and cat traffickers?
News of animals being maliciously abused frequently trends on social media.
She thought she would never see Bingbing again.
An adult's tears are like water droplets falling into a sink; after being submerged and washed away by the rushing water, the next thing you know, it's another day that you have to keep going.
The weather is gradually getting colder, and it's orange season.
As Xu Huaihuai was carrying a bag of oranges through the park, she suddenly heard a cat meowing again.
She stopped in her tracks, somewhat incredulous.
A slightly larger orange cat poked its head out of the flower bed, meowing at Xu Huaihuai, and then lay on its back on the ground.
There are many orange cats all over the world. And how many orange cats look alike?
But Xu Huaihuai recognized her.
Those are pancakes.
Oranges rolled all over the ground. Xu Huaihuai covered her face, squatted down, her throat choked, unable to say anything.
Bingbing has grown a lot and is still very pretty. Although she is a little dirty, her eyes are still round and bright, and she looks very energetic.
"Pie..."
Bingbing rubbed against her trouser leg, barking and making a lot of noise, trying to comfort the sobbing human.
The adoptive parents' city is more than 100 kilometers away from where she lives.
What hardships and suffering must a cat that is not yet an adult go through to move from one city to another?
Have you been eating well lately? Have you been hungry often? Have you been bullied? And where have you been staying?
It's a rainy season.
It was so damp and so cold.
"Bingbing...I'm sorry..."
Seeing that she was sad, Bingbing rummaged through the plastic bags at her feet and used her paws to help push the scattered oranges back to Xu Huaihuai's feet.
"Bingbing, how are you so smart..." Even though the cat clearly doesn't like citrus fruits, Xu Huaihuai sniffed. "Bingbing, let's go home."
Bingbing followed at Xu Huaihuai's feet, turning back to call out as it walked, as if it had a lot to say.
It spoke in cat language, meowing and wailing; she listened to it, tears welling in her eyes as she smiled.
The shadows of the person and the cat were stretched long by the streetlights.
The streetlights suddenly blazed on, and Xu Huaihuai was awakened by the sunlight shining on her face.
She drew back the curtains and stood by the window for a long time.
The days are getting shorter and the nights are getting longer.
When you're focused on the present moment and only see the present, you might not feel the passage of time, but looking back, it all seems to have gone by very quickly.
Before you know it, it's orange season here too.
A little over a month is enough time to lay a solid foundation and build a high-rise, or to raze any illegal structures to the ground. Xu Huaihuai's burned right hand has also healed.
The transaction records requested for inquiry lay quietly in her inbox. On a sunny day, Xu Huaihuai entrusted lawyer Song Xuan to report the case to the local police station in her hometown of Yicheng: Xu Jianshu and He Qiongzhi may have organized and participated in a huge amount of illegal gambling.
At this critical time, when illegal gambling and money laundering are being severely cracked down on, the Yicheng Public Security Bureau immediately launched an investigation after receiving the case.
An investigation confirmed that Xu Jianshu and He Qiongzhi, a married couple, organized and participated in illegal gambling, involving tens of millions of yuan.
Due to the seriousness of the circumstances, and the fact that Xu Jianshu and He Qiongzhi concealed the facts and fled abroad, they were forcibly arrested in a different location by the public security authorities.
The arrest went very smoothly. When the police arrived at Xu Huaihuai's house, Xu Jianshu, He Qiongzhi, Liang Jiajia, and Xu Chengbin were playing cards in the living room with smiles on their faces. There was some cash used for gambling scattered on the table.
Before Xu Jianshu and He Qiongzhi were handcuffed, hooded, and taken away, their gazes toward Xu Huaihuai were filled with despair and terror.
After the investigation concludes, they will be reviewed and prosecuted by the procuratorate. Lawyer Song Xuan told Xu Huaihuai that they would face a prison sentence of five to ten years.
That should be enough peace and quiet for a while. Maybe it will even be peaceful forever.
For such an unrepentant gambler, being able to spend his remaining years in prison is already a form of mercy.
Song Xuan also asked Xu Huaihuai a question that was outside of her legal practice but out of personal curiosity: why did she think of applying to investigate their assets and financial transactions?
Few people investigate their parents, and even if they know their parents are addicted to gambling, they generally don't suspect that their parents are connected to the ringleaders of illegal gambling operations.
Moreover, Xu Jianshu and He Qiongzhi appear to be honest people. Of course, in reality, they are extremely despicable.
She and Song Xuan had developed a personal relationship over time, and since there was nothing to hide, she said directly, "I never believe a single word from a gambler."
She doesn't believe the gambler when he says he lost money investing, and she doesn't believe his vows to quit gambling. After gambling for so many years, what are the chances that this latest, highly impulsive gamble is just him being a victim of a "pig butchering" scam? The probability of him not harming anyone else is extremely small.
Sure enough, the bank account showed multiple incoming and outbound remittances of varying amounts. The gambling addiction of gamblers should not be underestimated; in an attempt to turn the tables, if they can't win, they'll join in, dragging others down with them, harming others for their own benefit.
The police expressed their special gratitude to Xu Huaihuai for his strong cooperation in maintaining public order. Xu Huaihuai accepted the gratitude and presented banners to the police stations in both locations.
After witnessing their elder brother and sister-in-law being arrested, Liang Jiajia and Xu Chengbin were completely terrified.
“Those are your parents, your biological parents…” Liang Jiajia’s expression was terrified, and she couldn’t say another word.
Xu Huaihuai bent down, amused, and looked at the woman slumped on the ground. "Second Aunt, why do you look so scared? Shouldn't you be thanking me?"
“I know you and your second uncle were both involved. This time, it's just that they went in. See how loyal and righteous I am?”
Nonsense! Crazy woman! Would anyone with a sense of honor and loyalty send their parents to jail?!
Liang Jiajia wanted to scream hysterically, but she was so terrified that she didn't even dare to move in front of Xu Huaihuai.
Only now has she finally realized one thing: those who thought they could fool her with kinship and affection had already seen through her dirty deeds and unknowingly laid a trap for her. The apparent compromise and acceptance before were nothing more than smokescreens to lull them into a false sense of security.
This woman is insane, insane...
"Second Aunt, why are you trembling? Your niece will be heartbroken to see you like this."
Xu Huaihuai lifted Liang Jiajia's trembling face and adjusted the angle. Being sad was out of the question; he was ecstatic! "When I'm sad, I just want to chat with the police. The police should be very interested in your affairs, right?"
"What exactly do you want?" Liang Jiajia's teeth chattered and she trembled uncontrollably. She didn't want to go to jail; to her, jail was worse than death.
The law is still the most effective deterrent.
Thank you for the rule of law! Thank you for the law!
However, what she wanted to do was...
Xu Huaihuai swiftly slapped Liang Jiajia twice across the face.
*Slap slap*
The sound was exceptionally clear as she used both hands, and Liang Jiajia's face twitched on both sides.
Xu Huaihuai believes that one should be fair and impartial in life.
Liang Jiajia collapsed to the ground, one hand covering her face, the other supporting her body as she moved backward. Her bloodshot eyes were filled with overwhelming fear. Xu Huaihuai approached her step by step, "I really, really hate you."
"We're both women, and I don't like to make things difficult for other women, but I really hate you and what you said. You're greedy and yet you pretend to be a kind elder. Don't you find yourself disgusting?"
"Liang Jiajia, you probably don't think of yourself as a bloodsucker in human skin, do you? After all, bad guys not only have dull pee, but they also have no self-awareness."
"If you're a pest, you should be prepared to be eliminated..." Xu Huaihuai's trouser leg was grabbed by someone. It was Xu Chengbin who had crawled over. Xu Huaihuai kicked him away.
He scrambled to his knees, tears streaming down his face, before Xu Huaihuai and standing in front of Liang Jiajia, pleading, "My dear niece, it's all my fault! Please don't hit my wife. If you want to hit someone, hit me instead. You can kill me all you want..."
"Tsk."
Through Xu Chengbin's hunched back, Xu Huaihuai stared at Liang Jiajia, who was cowering behind him.
“Alright, since Second Uncle has said so, I, as a junior, can’t very well not listen. But I can’t bring myself to hit an elder. Liang Jiajia, come on, hit him. Haven’t you always looked down on your good-for-nothing husband? Come on, hit him. What’s with the politeness? Give him a go.”
Xu Chengbin and Liang Jiajia both froze.
"My God, you two are so loving that you can't bear to lay a hand on each other? Why don't you think about your son at school? If you also go to jail for organizing or participating in gambling and have a criminal record—Xu Yangfan won't be able to take the civil service exam, and your family for three generations won't be able to take the civil service exam."
"Oh dear, thinking about it, with my cousin's personality, he'll probably just drift through life aimlessly and accomplish nothing, right? Tell me, how did my cousin end up with parents like you? It's really good that you're locked up, so we don't have to make fun of others."
Xu Huaihuai's description was too terrifying; Liang Jiajia's breathing became noticeably rapid, and Xu Chengbin tremblingly turned to look at his wife.
"If you beat me to my satisfaction, I'll let this go. Hurry up, I have things to do tonight." Xu Huaihuai smiled, sat down on the sofa, lazily picked up her wine glass, and waited for the farce to begin.
The future of her son and her useless husband are clearly of paramount importance.
Snap—
Liang Jiajia slapped Xu Chengbin hard, as if to vent the anger she had felt from the two slaps she had just received.
One slap wasn't enough. She stared at Xu Chengbin with bloodshot eyes, looking at him as if he were her mortal enemy. If she hadn't married this good-for-nothing, why would she have to suffer this humiliation today?
It's all that good-for-nothing's fault! He ruined her!
She skillfully shifted the blame for her greed onto others, clinging to her last vestiges of conscience. She screamed and pounced on Xu Chengbin, the cowardly man who had just stood in front of her. He didn't fight back and was soon covered in bloody bumps from her beating.
Liang Jiajia didn't stop, frantically beating and biting the man whose face was already unrecognizable.
[Author's Note]
Feels good now~ [droopy-eared bunny head]
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