Cui Lanhua burst into tears on the spot, wiping away her tears and begging for mercy.
"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. We've let Zhao Di down. We... we just couldn't stop our son from causing so much harm to Zhao Di."
“We actually felt sorry for Zhao Di at the time, but we were both too old to do anything about it.”
Zhou Dazhu echoed this sentiment.
"Yes, it's all our fault. We didn't raise our son well, which led him to do such a wrong thing."
Zhou Dazhu clasped his hands together and repeatedly bowed to Huang Meiling and Xie Wenyuan.
Finding that Huang Meiling and the other woman were unmoved, he then turned to Xie Mingzhu, bowing even deeper and begging for mercy desperately.
"Zhaodi, it's all our fault. We should have treated you better, but you've suffered so much for nothing. Can you forgive us just this once? We promise we'll never do it again!"
This was the first time Xie Mingzhu had seen Zhou Dazhu and Cui Lanhua act so humbly. She didn't feel pleased; instead, she found it somewhat surreal and laughable.
Xie Mingzhu was well aware that the couple had always been bullies who preyed on the weak.
If her biological parents hadn't come with bodyguards and police today, and if they hadn't relied on the Xie family's status and position, Zhou Dazhu and Cui Lanhua would never be behaving like this now.
If Huang Meiling and Xie Wenyuan were of slightly lower status, they wouldn't be so terrified, begging for mercy so desperately. They would probably be scheming to take her back and continue to exploit and serve the Zhou family like slaves.
Xie Mingzhu stared at them coldly and spoke bluntly.
“You don’t think you’ve done anything wrong at all. You just witnessed the fate of Song Yongfu and He Caixia and are afraid that you will end up like them.”
To put it bluntly, it was just fear, not real reflection.
"Since you are not genuinely repentant or apologizing, I have no reason to accept your forced and insincere apology."
Xie Mingzhu turned around.
"Mom and Dad, let's handle this as we see fit, and not pay any attention to what they say."
Huang Meiling and Xie Wenyuan observed their daughter's reaction throughout. They were initially worried that Xie Mingzhu would soften her heart, but after hearing what their daughter said, they finally breathed a sigh of relief.
As expected of their daughter, she is indeed insightful and can see the essence of things at a glance. She also has her own principles and will not be easily deceived by a few words or give useless acts of kindness.
Huang Meiling and Xie Wenyuan no longer cared about anything. They stared coldly at Zhou Dazhu and Cui Lanhua with expressionless faces and spoke directly.
"Given the harm you have done to my daughter in the past, we have decided to pursue legal action to hold you accountable and demand compensation."
"And Song Yongfu..."
Song Yongfu suddenly shuddered and swallowed hard.
“You must settle all the accounts with the resources and money you previously took from my family, and return every single penny.”
"However, given your situation, if you cannot repay..."
Song Yongfu and He Caixia, who had been listening with trepidation, thought there was still a chance to back down when they heard this. Without thinking, they immediately looked up, put on pitiful expressions, and rushed to speak—
"We can't afford it! We really can't afford it!"
"Oh dear, my family is so poor that we can barely afford to eat. How could we possibly pay it back? Even if we were to pay it back, we would have to do it slowly."
"For example... ten or eight years, or fifteen or twenty years, should be enough to pay it off gradually."
Huang Meiling gave a cold laugh.
"Five years, ten years, fifteen or twenty years? You're overthinking it."
She continued speaking from where she left off.
"If you can't pay it back, then use your house and land, as well as everything that can be exchanged for money, as collateral."
Xie Wenyuan was prepared and simply took out a document from his pocket.
He turned to He Yaoqing and Lu Qunli, as well as several other police officers who had just arrived.
“We have already applied for and completed the relevant procedures in advance. Officers, could you please help us investigate the relevant assets of these two companies?”
Cui Lanhua and her husband, as well as He Caixia and her husband, were instantly terrified upon hearing this.
Cui Lanhua's lips trembled—
"You...you've come to ransack our house?!"
Huang Meiling chuckled.
"What do you mean by 'confiscating property'? It's a new era, and it's so awful to still use such outdated terms."
"This is called—asset inventory, which facilitates subsequent sentencing."
"This is no longer the old era. In this new era, everything is governed by the law. It's not a time when you can do whatever you want or get away with playing the victim and being a rogue."
"Sentencing...?"
"You...you want us to spend a few more years in jail for this money?!"
He Caixia is going crazy.
Huang Meiling's smile gradually faded, and she became frighteningly serious.
"You should have thought this day would come when you bullied my daughter!"
“What you are going through now is less than one-thousandth of the suffering my daughter has endured over the years. I have been very merciful!”
As Cui Lanhua and Zhou Dazhu watched the police officers heading towards their home, they frantically tried to stop them, but to no avail. They turned around and knelt down in front of Xie Mingzhu with a thud, kowtowing to him frantically.
"Zhaodi, we've wronged you, and my son is indeed a scoundrel, but you have to have a conscience! If you take away all our house and land, how are we supposed to live the rest of our lives?!"
Song Yongfu and He Caixia followed suit, kowtowing loudly and pretending to be weak and pitiful, while saying the same morally blackmailing things.
"That's right, you can't be so ruthless. We can talk things over. We'll definitely do everything we can to compensate you for what you owe."
"But if you use this method, it's going too far. Do you want to kick us out onto the street and make us live like beggars, begging for food all day long?"
Xie Mingzhu pulled the hem of her clothes that they had grabbed from her, her face expressionless.
"Compensation? Compensation that's been delayed for five or ten years? Sorry, I'm an impatient person. I need the compensation I want immediately; I can't wait any longer."
"When you made me work, you didn't say you'd give me five or ten years to recover. And when you beat me, you didn't even say a word before you started!"
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