Wang Meijuan finally got her hands on the bankbook.
She was so thrilled she wanted to open it right away to see exactly how much money was in it.
Liu Chunlan, however, was terrified.
She lunged forward to snatch it back:
"Give it to me! Give me my bankbook, Wang Meijuan! That's mine!
"Hand it over now!"
Wang Meijuan, of course, wasn't about to let go.
Getting that bankbook meant getting her hands on Liu Chunlan's hundreds of thousands.
A few years back, Liu Chunlan had been worried that Lin Wanyi would go after her money. To be safe, she'd shared her phone payment password and bankbook password with Wang Meijuan.
But she had never told Wang Meijuan just how much she actually had.
Now that Wang Meijuan had the bankbook, the amount was right there in black and white.
Her secret was probably about to be blown wide open.
No.
Absolutely not.
She went crazy trying to grab it back, but Wang Meijuan had already slipped the bankbook into her coat pocket.
Wang Jianguo, lying in bed, saw Wang Meijuan take the bankbook and got frantic too.
But Wang Meijuan had slapped him so hard he couldn't even get up.
All he could do was reach out desperately and shout:
"Ah!!! Ah!!!
"Stop! Wang Meijuan, stop right there!
"That money belongs to our Wang family!"
Wang Meijuan didn't care one bit.
She turned to leave and find Li Jun, but Wang Hao blocked her at the doorway:
"Wang Meijuan, put Mom's bankbook down."
Wang Meijuan wasn't about to do that.
She clutched it even tighter:
"Wang Hao, we're both Mom and Dad's children. Why shouldn't I get a share of the property?
"Besides, out of all that money, four hundred thousand of it is my bride price.
"Why can't I take it? Tell me, why?"
Wang Hao didn't want to say another word to her.
Back when Lin Wanyi was still around, Wang Hao had always treated Wang Meijuan like the eldest sister he respected.
He'd rather let Lin Wanyi suffer than let Wang Meijuan down.
But now he finally realized—Wang Meijuan was nothing but an ungrateful snake.
No matter how much you gave, she'd never be satisfied.
Her greed was bottomless, and now she wanted to steal money that should have been his alone.
Without another word, he simply reached his hand out toward her.
Wang Meijuan yelled toward the door:
"Honey! Li Jun! Hurry up and help me! Wang Hao is trying to steal our money!"
Li Jun came in cursing.
Without a word, he threw a punch straight at Wang Hao's back.
Wang Hao's focus was entirely on Wang Meijuan, so he never saw the sneak attack coming.
By the time he turned around, Wang Meijuan had already made a break for it.
He tried to chase her, but Li Jun blocked him fiercely.
Frustrated, he heard Liu Chunlan yelling too.
She stomped her foot and screamed:
"Stop! Wang Meijuan, you stop right now!
"Put my money down!"
Wang Meijuan wasn't stupid—she bolted like crazy.
Just as she was about to dash out of the yard, Liu Chunlan waved at the nosy neighbors watching the commotion:
"Stop her! All of you, help me stop her!
"Hurry up!"
But her shout only made things worse.
The moment she called out, the neighbors who had been crowding the entrance immediately stepped aside, clearing a path.
By the time Wang Meijuan escaped outside, Liu Chunlan stood frozen in disbelief.
She pointed right at Wang Cuihua:
"Why did you let her through? Why?!"
Wang Cuihua kept nibbling on sunflower seeds, unfazed:
"Ha! Liu Chunlan, what does it have to do with me?
"We're just here for the show. We can't exactly restrict someone's freedom, can we?"
Liu Chunlan shoved them aside, but Wang Meijuan was already gone without a trace.
She hurried back to find Wang Hao.
Her real worry wasn't that Wang Meijuan would withdraw the money—it was that Wang Meijuan would discover there was barely any money in that account to begin with.
If that day came, she would die a miserable death.
She could already picture her three children tearing her apart.
Meanwhile, Wang Hao and Li Jun were still locked in a brutal fight.
Punch for punch, each trying to beat the other bloody.
It only stopped when Liu Chunlan screamed:
"Li Jun! I'm calling the police! Stop right now!"
Hearing "police," Li Jun finally took a few steps back and dropped his fists.
He wasn't afraid of the cops—he just saw that Wang Meijuan had already gotten away with the bankbook.
So he took off running too.
Wang Hao was exhausted, bent over panting.
Wang Jianguo dragged himself out of bed on trembling legs:
"The money... our money..."
Liu Chunlan was already furious. Seeing him only made it worse.
She kicked him to the ground in one swift move.
She then told Wang Hao:
"It's dark now. Even with the bankbook, Wang Meijuan can't withdraw any money tonight.
"Son, don't panic. We'll head straight to Li Family Village."
Wang Hao thought for a moment.
"Mom, you just saw what Sister did. Do you really still trust yourself to hold onto all that money?
"I told you the last time—give it to me to handle. But you refused.
"So now what? When we get the bankbook back, will you let me keep it?"
"Yes."
Liu Chunlan didn't hesitate. The top priority was to get Wang Hao to retrieve the bankbook.
Otherwise, her secret would be exposed tomorrow.
And then, her life would be over.
While chaos reigned back at the house, Lin Wanyi and her group were getting ready to head down the mountain.
Chen Hui once again pushed Lin Wanyi and Liu Renzhi onto a smaller path.
The three of them chatted and laughed as they descended.
Liu Renzhi held out his hand to Lin Wanyi again:
"Don't mind them. Come on, I'll take you back."
Lin Wanyi knew she should keep her distance—but there were snakes around.
Snakes were the one thing she was terrified of.
In the end, she still reached out and took Liu Renzhi's hand.
His heart swelled with sweetness.
It had taken two hours to climb up the mountain, but coming down, he wished the trip could last two days.
He deliberately slowed his pace more and more.
As the sky began to darken, Lin Wanyi grew increasingly nervous.
She spoke softly:
"Brother Liu, maybe we should walk a little faster. It's almost night, and I'm scared."
Liu Renzhi tightened his grip on her hand:
"Don't be afraid—I'm here.
"Wanyi, I'm so busy at the company every day, spinning like a top.
"In all these years, I've never once taken a break or given myself a vacation.
"Can you believe this is the first time I've gone hiking in all that time?"
He turned to look into her eyes:
"Wanyi, let me walk with you a little longer. I need some time to wind down too."
For some reason, Lin Wanyi felt a twinge of sympathy for him.
So even those at the top had it hard?
She didn't argue anymore—she simply let him hold her hand and walked beside him.
When the path narrowed, she stepped behind him.
As the sky turned pitch-black, Lin Wanyi called Lin Jiajun. But he said:
"Sis, just get a ride back with Brother Liu. It's dark now, so we've gone ahead."
"Jiajun!"
She wanted to scold him, but with Liu Renzhi right beside her, she swallowed her words.
The light grew dimmer, and so did her courage.
By the end, she didn't even dare to put her foot down without checking.
Every blade of grass that rustled made her jump, afraid a snake would appear.
Finally—just as total darkness fell—they reached the foot of the mountain.
Lin Wanyi let out a deep sigh of relief, clutching her chest like she'd just survived an ordeal.
Liu Renzhi felt a little guilty. He opened the passenger door for her:
"Sorry, that was my fault for slowing us down.
"Get in. I lost the bet, so dinner's on me."
He then called Lin Jiajun:
"Jiajun, where are you guys? I lost the bet, so I'm treating everyone to dinner."
Already having sent Liu Siyue home, Lin Jiajun said with a straight face:
“No need, Brother Liu. Just treat my sister to a meal, that’s enough.”
Liu Renzhi had just started the car when he heard Lin Wanyi shout excitedly:
“Brother Liu, look over there—”
