Have you thought of me all these years?
Xu Tangmian was so engrossed in watching that she didn't notice the several sets of footsteps in the living room.
A woman's voice said softly, "Old Wu, you're too kind. It was just a small favor, yet you went out of your way to do it."
The footsteps grew closer. "Zhilian, are you in your room? Why aren't you saying anything? Old Wu is looking for you. Ah! Who are you!"
Hearing the voice, Xu Tangmian turned around abruptly, "Grandma..."
"Where did this vixen come from!" Old Wu interrupted her, blocking Liu Yufen's way and saying righteously, "You dare to come to Teacher Liu's house? You've got some nerve!"
Realizing they had misunderstood, Xu Tangmian quickly said, "No, I'm here to reunite with my relatives."
"Recognizing relatives?" Liu Yufen and Lao Wu exchanged a glance. "I've never seen her before."
"Of course you've never seen me!" Xu Tangmian couldn't help but think to herself: "I'm your granddaughter!"
The first meeting wasn't perfect, and Xu Tangmian didn't intend to rush into a family reunion under these circumstances, so she had to tell a lie: "I'm a relative from Uncle Xu's hometown, and my name is Xu Tangmian."
"How did you get in?" Liu Yufen asked warily.
“Yes…” Xu Tangmian wanted to say that it was your son who brought me in, but she had promised her “little” father not to tell anyone that she had seen him today. However, she couldn’t find a suitable reason for the moment, so she choked on the spot.
Old Wu suddenly said, "By the way, Teacher Liu, I heard from the leader that your family has been losing money frequently lately?"
Liu Yufen nodded in agreement, "Yes, it's really strange. Zhilian beat his son several times, but he still wouldn't admit that he took the money. Tell me, if it wasn't him who took the money, who else could it be?"
Old Wu gave Xu Tangmian a look.
Xu Tangmian: "I'm not a thief!"
Liu Yufen hesitated and said, "She looks so young, even if she were to steal, she wouldn't steal from our neighborhood, would she?"
Old Wu snorted, "Teacher Liu, you're just too soft-hearted. In their line of work, it's all about 'fortune favors the bold.' Do you think we could have caught her if we hadn't suddenly come back today?"
No… Xu Tangmian didn’t expect them to treat her like a bad guy, but she couldn’t admit her identity right now, otherwise they would think she was desperate and might send her to a mental hospital.
"Uncle Wu..." She tried to appeal to his emotions, but he stepped forward and pressed her arm down, twisting it behind her back and pushing her into the living room against her will. A twisting pain spread from her shoulder to her entire upper body.
Xu Tangmian struggled to escape, but he pushed her away again. Her arms had just recovered when she was pinned down by two people, and her head was also pressed down.
The sudden change caught her off guard. Xu Tangmian didn't know how things had turned out this way. How could Grandpa Wu, who was kind and gentle in her memory and said he would kick out all the people who cursed her, have become so fierce?
It must be because of a bad first impression; I assumed she was a bad person from the start! That must be it!
Xu Tangmian hurriedly shouted, "You've got it wrong! You've got it wrong! I'm not a bad person, I know you! You're Wu Siping, right? I... I didn't mean any harm."
"How dare you address Director Wu by his full name?" one of the men pressing down on her said menacingly.
Xu Tangmian was on the verge of tears, and she no longer expected to get anything from this place. She just hoped that Wu Siping would kick her out right now.
She never wanted to step into that house again.
As she wished, Wu Siping whispered an order: "Throw her out and teach her a lesson."
The two men responded with "Yes" and dragged her outside.
"Wait!" Wu Siping added, "Replace all the personnel on duty at the gate immediately! Notify their leaders to write self-criticisms. I will be holding a meeting tomorrow morning to discuss this matter."
"yes!"
Xu Tangmian was pushed and kicked as she was driven to the bottom of the building, her scarf nowhere to be found.
The rain outside was getting heavier and heavier, and her hair was all tangled up by the rain. In addition, it was dark and she couldn't see the road at all. As she walked, she tripped and fell several times due to the pushing and shoving between the two people.
Bleeding from her knees and tears streaming from her eyes, Xu Tangmian gritted her teeth and walked silently out of the residential area.
When they reached the security booth, the two men shone flashlights on her from inside, saying, "Don't blame us for being impolite. In such a big neighborhood, of all people you could steal from, why would you dare to steal from Director Xu's house?"
"That's right. If you offend someone else, a minor scuffle will pass, but to dare offend Director Wu's superior, I think you're asking for trouble!"
Xu Tangmian's ears were ringing, and she had no interest in listening to them.
"Alright, you're quite pretty, so we'll let you off the hook today. Now you can go."
The other person said, "But if we let her go like this, won't Director Wu cause us trouble later?"
The first person to speak said, "Look, she's bleeding all over. Consider it a lesson we taught her."
The other person said, "I don't care. It's your business if you want to do good deeds. But if some troublemaker tells on you, I won't speak up for you."
"They've all been called to a meeting, so it's just the two of us guarding the entrance. We've blocked people out from the outside, so how could anyone know about it so late at night?"
"That's true, but who knows if Director Wu will suddenly send someone over?"
After saying that, he took a step forward and slapped the other person across the face.
Xu Tangmian was walking peacefully in the rain when she was forcibly dragged over and slapped. All the grievances she had suffered that day erupted at this moment, and she could not swallow this insult no matter what.
She thought, "That's it. Maybe if I die, I can go back to the modern world."
She didn't want such a strange grandmother, nor such a strange grandfather Wu; she didn't want this entire old era!
She shouted in the rain, "Go to hell!" Then she rushed at the man who hit her, knocked him to the ground, and punched him hard in the face.
Seeing that things were not going well, the other person quickly came to break up the fight. He had initially thought she was ignorant and that was why he had let her off the hook, but seeing how desperate she was now, he knew that if he let her off the hook, he might lose his job. So he quickly pulled her down and dragged her on the ground for more than a meter.
Xu Tangmian felt like her legs were about to break, her back was burning with pain, and her limbs and bones didn't feel like her own. There was also a blinding light flashing in front of her.
"Squeak—" A car stopped at the door.
Two men got out of the car and said menacingly, "What are you doing? Hitting someone here? What do you think this place is!"
"I'm so sorry!" Wu Siping's subordinate quickly explained, "This woman is a thief. She broke into Director Xu's house and was caught red-handed by Mrs. Xu and Director Wu."
"Oh? You stole from my house?" A steady, powerful voice came from the back seat. The driver's side door opened in response, and the driver hurriedly got out of the driver's seat, holding an umbrella, and went around to the back seat.
A gleaming leather shoe stepped out of the car first, shattering the shimmering surface of the pit, and walked towards Xu Tangmian.
Xu Tangmian's face was swollen on one side, with strands of hair sticking to her face, mixed with blood and rainwater, making it almost impossible to see her original delicate appearance.
She stared at Xu Zhilian with her head slightly raised, without saying a word.
What happened today has largely shattered some of her preconceived notions.
She thought she was surrounded by good people and could do anything she wanted, but when she turned out to be Xu Tangmian instead of Xu Tongtong, all of that vanished!
And what about him? How will her beloved grandfather, the respected Mr. Xu Zhilian, treat Xu Tangmian?
Xu Zhilian glanced at her for a moment before looking away, then looked up at the person behind her and asked in a deep voice, "Is my wife alright?"
Wu Siping's men quickly nodded and bowed, saying, "It's alright, it's alright. The thief didn't do anything. Teacher Liu is fine."
"That's fine then." Xu Zhilian then asked, "What did Director Wu tell you?"
"Director Wu said he would teach her a lesson."
Xu Zhilian grunted and turned to get back to his car, leaving behind the words, "Since my wife is alright, let's do as Director Wu says."
The two exclaimed "Hey!" and pulled Xu Tangmian, who was slumped on the ground, to her feet.
Xu Tangmian did not expect her grandfather to react this way. In despair, she gave a self-deprecating laugh and gave up on resisting.
Just as the two were about to make their move, a lithe figure darted out from the residential area, leaping up and kicking at them. With a nimble roll, the figure stood up again, shielding Xu Tangmian behind him.
Xu Zhilian stopped and gestured for his men to come forward and check what was going on.
Wu Siping's two henchmen were stunned by the kick. They got up, adjusted their hats, and looked at the man opposite them who was wearing a black raincoat just like theirs.
"No, who's your boss? Don't they have eyes?"
Xu Tangmian felt that the tall figure in front of her looked familiar, like Yu Chunsheng, but why would Yu Chunsheng run out of the community wearing their clothes?
Xu Zhilian's men also surrounded them, and the four of them together completely encircled the two.
If he were alone, he would probably have run away, but Xu Tangmian is currently exhausted and unable to fight, especially since she is injured. The two of them standing here look like they really came to cause trouble.
Xu Tangmian gently nudged his shoulder and whispered, "Chunsheng, I know it's you. You should run, I have no grudge against them."
Yu Chunsheng stood still, his eyes fixed on the middle-aged man not far away.
"Looks like he's no ordinary thief," Xu Zhilian scoffed casually. "What are you still standing here for? You can't even tell he's infiltrated your group?!"
Upon hearing this, one of Wu Siping's men gritted his teeth and retreated, presumably to the security booth to call for reinforcements.
The remaining three charged at them, but Yu Chunsheng suddenly shouted, "Wait!"
He took off his raincoat hood, revealing his resolute face. Under the car headlights, his face was frighteningly white, and the rain streaming down his face made him look as if he had just crawled out of the muddy ground.
He smiled slyly: "Brother Zhilian, is this how you treat an old friend?"
"Lin... Brother Lin!" Xu Zhilian stammered, backing away. "You... you're still alive? No! No!! How is this possible?"
Seeing that Xu Zhilian was not in a good state, the others did not dare to act on their own. They could only bow and assume an attacking posture, but were forced to retreat step by step by Yu Chunsheng's steps.
“Yes.” Yu Chunsheng walked slowly toward Xu Zhilian, but put his hands behind his back, gesturing for Xu Tangmian to go first.
Xu Tangmian saw his actions but was unwilling to leave. Instead, she strode forward and took his hand.
Yu Chunsheng was stunned and struggled to break free from her, but Xu Tangmian held his fingers tightly.
His eyes flickered for a moment, then he sighed and resolutely led her toward the car, exposing his face completely to Xu Zhilian.
Xu Zhilian almost collapsed onto the car. His face was no different from when he was buried eighteen years ago, the only difference being that back then he had his eyes closed and couldn't see anything, but now he was staring at him with his eyes wide open.
The face he would never forget in his life drew closer, and the cool hand traced its shape on his face as the person asked with a smile:
"Have you thought about me all these years?"
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