It's just a pity that today is Monday. Earlier, Father Huo and Mother Huo had already taken several days off to deal with these matters, so a lot of work had piled up at their workplace.
If they took another day off today, it would really be too much to explain.
The situation was similar for the other branches of the family—no workplace was ever not busy on a Monday.
By the time everyone finished their urgent tasks and hurried back to the old family home, they had already missed the call from Eldest Brother Huo.
Mother Huo couldn’t help but feel regret at missing her son’s call.
Fortunately, she had Jiang Si, her thoughtful and comforting daughter-in-law.
Noticing the shift in her mother-in-law’s mood, Jiang Si promptly offered some words of consolation.
"Mom, even though you missed Eldest Brother’s call this time, there’ll be another chance, won’t there?"
"Besides, Grandpa and Grandma have already given him the office numbers for you and Dad. Who knows? He might call back in a couple of days."
Hearing this, Mother Huo forced a weak smile.
She understood the logic, but still…
After hesitating for a moment, she finally voiced the question weighing on her heart.
"Mom, Dad… does he… resent me and Zhen Dong?"
"Look at you, getting tangled up in your thoughts again…" Father Huo began, but Mother Huo cut him off.
"Lao Huo, it’s only natural for him to resent me. If it weren’t for me, he wouldn’t have suffered so much, and Third Brother wouldn’t have been abducted."
She often wondered—if she hadn’t entrusted the child to that couple back then, would all of this have been avoided?
But Father Huo responded firmly, "You can’t think like that. Given the circumstances back then, leaving the child with them was the only chance of survival. Staying with us would’ve meant certain death."
He wasn’t exaggerating. Shortly after they rejoined the main forces back then, the full-scale war broke out.
No one knew how long it would last or whether they’d emerge victorious.
Every day, they woke up to the relentless barrage of enemy machine guns, artillery, and aerial bombings.
In that kind of situation, what choice did they have but to entrust their child to that couple?
Grandma Huo nodded in agreement. "Yue Ling, none of us wanted this to happen."
"The Yang family hasn’t shown a shred of remorse for what they did."
"Why are you foolishly taking all the blame on yourself?"
She patted Mother Huo’s hand reassuringly. "His adoptive parents have already told him everything about what happened back then. He truly doesn’t blame you or Zhen Dong."
Mother Huo immediately turned to Old Master. "Dad, is that true?"
Old Master smiled and replied with certainty,
"It’s true. His adoptive parents raised him well—he’s a sensible and kind-hearted young man."
Though their call had lasted less than ten minutes, the way he spoke and carried himself bore traces of Father Huo’s influence.
What pleased Old Master the most was the young man’s composed and dignified demeanor.
He hadn’t abandoned his adoptive parents upon learning of the Huo family’s current status, but instead treated the matter with a level-headed attitude.
"The child said that in his heart, the debt of birth and the debt of upbringing hold equal weight."
"So he hopes to maintain things as they are for now. Next year, when he has time, he’ll bring his wife, children, and elders to Capital City to visit us all."
"But the child said he still plans to settle down in the frontier province in the future, and hopes we can understand."
"Oh, and the child's adoptive parents sent us photos of him when he was little, along with a family portrait of the four of them."
Worried that Father Huo and Mother Huo might feel burdened, the Old Master added a comforting remark.
"Children grow up and have their own ideas. We must learn to respect that, and even more so, to let go."
"The fact that he’s alive and well now is already a blessing in disguise. Nothing else really matters."
"Dad, we understand."
Father Huo and Mother Huo nodded in unison. Truthfully, from the moment they learned their child was still alive, they had already prepared themselves for this.
"As long as you understand."
The Old Master continued, "Huo's fourth uncle and his family have also contributed a lot to this matter. Let’s invite them all over this Sunday for a lively reunion dinner."
"Understood, Dad."
"However, with the recent crackdown in Capital City, Fourth Huo might be quite busy. We won’t know until the last minute whether he’ll have time. I’ll call and ask later."
Father Huo had it all planned out—he’d make the call on Saturday afternoon.
If Fourth Huo said he was free the next day, then he’d truly be free.
But who would’ve thought that on Thursday evening, as Father Huo arrived at the entrance of the old family home, he spotted Fourth Huo standing there.
Seeing the smile on his face, Father Huo immediately caught on and asked,
"Has the verdict for the case come through?"
In this era, as long as the evidence was solid, trials moved quickly.
During a crackdown like this, it wasn’t unusual for someone arrested in the morning to face execution the very next day.
Sure enough, Huo's fourth uncle nodded with a grin.
"Yes, but let’s talk inside."
Once they were home, he didn’t keep them in suspense. He pulled several copies of the court verdicts from his briefcase.
Third Master Yan, guilty of abducting multiple women and children, inciting brawls, and violent assaults, among other crimes, was sentenced to death by the court.
As for the Yang brothers, Yang Zhiqi and Yang Zhiqiang, though they had only participated in one child abduction,
the police investigation revealed that the amount of money in their bank accounts far exceeded their legitimate wages.
Following this lead, it was discovered that Yang Zhiqi had frequently taken advantage of his night shifts to steal scrap metal from the factory,
which his younger brother Yang Zhiqiang then sold on the black market.
In the end, the court convicted them of child abduction, speculation, theft of public property, and other charges, sentencing both to death.
These three cases were clear-cut, with irrefutable evidence. The executions would be carried out within a week of the verdict.
Next was Sister-in-law Tian. Given her lesser involvement and her subsequent cooperation in exposing Yang Zhiqi, she was sentenced to a year of reform through labor.
Originally, Dong Lihua and Su Shanshan had nothing to do with this.
But they had violently obstructed the police during the arrest. Given the ongoing crackdown, they too were sentenced to a year of reform through labor, just like Sister-in-law Tian.
Though the sentence was only a year, they were both permanent employees at their workplaces.
Once they had a criminal record, it was uncertain whether they could keep their jobs after serving their time.
The most complicated case among them was Yang Tingtao’s.
For one, he had only been nine years old at the time of the crime.
Secondly, he hadn’t directly participated in the later stages of the abduction.
So even with Huo Tingzhou’s testimony, he could only be treated as an accomplice.
After the court's deliberation, he was sentenced to twenty years in prison.
Though it wasn't the death penalty, the Huo family was quite satisfied with the outcome.
For someone like Yang Tingtao, who had grown accustomed to a life of luxury, twenty years of hard labor might as well be a death sentence.
Just as the Huo family was reveling in their triumph, Huo's fourth uncle suddenly cleared his throat softly.
"Wife of the third nephew, might I ask for your help?"
