Su Zhenzhu felt something was wrong as soon as she stepped off the carriage.
It was so cold that everyone wished they could just hole up in their houses for the winter. So why were there so many people gathered at the entrance of the alley? Looking closely, the people standing in the center of the crowd were actually quite familiar.
Of course they were familiar—they were all neighbors from the shared courtyard. Most of them had expressions of inexplicable excitement and were gossiping so animatedly that spit flew from their mouths.
Even from this distance, she could vaguely hear a few snippets, such as:
"Who would have thought... dumb luck..."
"That's right, the Su family is really going to strike it rich... their relatives are incredible."
"Seven or eight policemen came... gifts, the courtyard can't even hold them all, there are several pigs alone..."
Hearing this left her completely bewildered.
Taking another look, all the people from the shared courtyard were standing outside, but surprisingly, only her father and brother were missing.
Could something have happened at home?
Su Zhenzhu furrowed her brows deeply. She was only a few steps away from home, so she quickened her pace and rushed homeward in a flurry.
Who knew that this would instead attract the attention of the crowd gathered over there. The crowd stirred, and the original voices of discussion suddenly grew louder: "Look, even Zhenzhu is back."
"There are only three people in the Su family. With such a big event, Zhenzhu definitely had to come back."
"We've been gathered here talking for ages, and all we've said is what everyone already knows. We haven't figured out anything else. Since Zhenzhu is here, why don't we ask her?"
Someone suggested.
This immediately struck a chord with everyone.
They didn't dare go into the courtyard for the time being, but Su Zhenzhu was right outside. It was the perfect opportunity to ask her.
As soon as the words fell, an impatient person couldn't hold back and rushed straight over, blocking Su Zhenzhu's path. While reaching out to grab her arm, the person said:
"Zhenzhu, tell us..."
Su Zhenzhu was not known for having a good temper.
She nimbly dodged to the side. The person couldn't stop their momentum and instantly fell flat on their face.
"Oh my, whose forgetful child is this? It's not even the New Year yet, but you're giving me such a grand bow. I don't even have any candy to give you."
She mocked coldly.
Falling on the ground was already painful, and hearing such sarcastic remarks made the person furious. This wretched girl had such a venomous tongue.
They were over two dozen years older than her!
Just as they were about to rush up and start a huge argument, they were quickly pulled back by bystanders, who advised all at once, "Alright, alright, it's just a fall, no big deal. We're neighbors, why haggle over every little thing?"
"Just let it go."
"Yeah, we've all lived together for so long, we should be more tolerant. Whatever you do, don't hurt our harmony... As the saying goes, a distant relative is not as good as a near neighbor."
The person being advised also sobered up. The Su family was not what it used to be. Arguing a few sentences in the past was fine, but if they argued now, they might just get arrested and thrown in jail.
So they took the opportunity to back down, forcing a smile on their face and saying that they were old and hadn't stood firm, and that it had nothing to do with Zhenzhu.
Meanwhile, Su Zhenzhu's suspicion that something was off grew even stronger.
None of the families living in this area were weak. After all, at the bottom of society, being gentle meant being easy to bully. Normally, it would be a miracle if a fight didn't break out in this situation.
How could they really be persuaded to stop?
Suddenly, a bad suspicion flashed through her mind.
Could something have happened to someone in her family?
Death is the ultimate matter; that must be why the others were acting so strangely.
It wasn't Su Zhenzhu's fault for thinking the worst. Half-Immortal Su was only a half-baked fortune teller, yet he demanded exorbitant fees, resulting in him getting beaten up every few days. Not to mention Su Chen, who made a living doing dangerous, life-risking work.
The more she thought about it, the more convinced she became.
Su Zhenzhu instantly panicked. After all, she was just a teenage girl. Her usual mature demeanor was only out of necessity, but right now, her mind was in complete chaos.
She shoved past the people blocking her way and ran into the shared courtyard like a gust of wind. At the entrance, she heard the snorting of pigs, and her heart sank even further—that's right, wouldn't they need to slaughter pigs to hold a funeral!
Throwing caution to the wind, she forcefully pushed open the courtyard gate.
"Dad, brother..." The sobbing tone was already on her lips, but looking up, she saw a joyous and harmonious scene in the courtyard.
The ground was covered with carrying poles, bags, and boxes wrapped in red cloth. Beside them were several people sweeping the floor and wiping the tables. Looking closely, they were actually wearing police uniforms.
On the left, her father was grinning widely, happily ordering people around while chatting with the only policeman who wasn't working.
On the right, her brother was sharpening a knife, preparing to slaughter a pig.
And at this moment, everyone looked in her direction.
Under the watchful eyes of everyone.
Su Zhenzhu blushed all the way from her face down to the base of her neck.
......
Outside the courtyard.
Watching Su Zhenzhu rush into the courtyard, the crowd didn't disperse. They continued to gather and discuss. They couldn't help it; what happened today was simply too astonishing.
It wasn't that they hadn't dealt with the police before.
However, in their impression, policemen were always arrogant and domineering, looking down their noses at everyone. If you saw them from afar, it was best to shrink your neck and stand by the wall. If you were unlucky enough to be noticed, you would inevitably lose money, and if your luck was really bad, you would suffer a beating with clubs and fists.
The policemen visiting Half-Immortal Su's house, however, completely overturned this impression.
Who had ever seen policemen carrying heavy gifts in their hands and on their shoulders, with smiles brighter than the next, asking for directions politely, and even saying "thank you for your trouble" after getting the directions?
It was like seeing a ghost in broad daylight.
"Do you think these policemen today were brought here by that relative of the Su family who rode in a car earlier?"
"Who else could it be? It couldn't possibly be the Fang family, right?"
Hearing this, everyone smiled knowingly.
Su Zhenzhu was engaged to the young master of the Fang family, but these neighbors had never seen a single person from the Fang family. No gifts were ever sent during festivals and holidays; they only saw Su Zhenzhu running to the Fang family time and time again.
It was obvious—
There was a high probability that the Fang family did not acknowledge this marriage.
But who would have thought that just when it seemed they wouldn't get to bask in the glory of their in-laws, a wealthy relative would pop up for Half-Immortal Su's family.
Some people were indignant, feeling that God was truly blind. Instead of blessing good people like them, God allowed the swindling Su family to become so smug.
Some felt regretful. If they had known earlier that the Su family was going to strike it rich, they would have arranged a marriage with them first. Now, even though they were close neighbors, given the Su family's unreasonable and stingy nature, they wouldn't be able to benefit from them at all.
Those who held grudges against the Su family felt fear, hatred, and anger. For example, Widow Li was staring blankly right now, not even realizing that she was squeezing her precious son's hand so hard it hurt, as she muttered:
"This isn't right. Why isn't the Buddha answering my prayers?"
These past few days, she had been praying to the Buddha morning and night. She didn't ask for anything else, only that Half-Immortal Su's wealthy relative had gone to the wrong place and found the wrong person.
The Buddha had consumed her incense offerings, so why wasn't he getting things done!
Old Man Zhao's eyes were even redder. Thousands of malicious thoughts swirled in his mind. He even thought about finding a gangster to stab Su Ning to death as soon as he appeared—
Once the wealthy relative was gone, the Su family would once again be the Su family that he could trample under his feet.
Suddenly, someone said:
"It's been so long and they still haven't come out. What are they talking about inside? Could the Su family be complaining about us to the police?"
The atmosphere instantly froze.
Everyone looked at each other, all feeling a bit panicked. No one dared to guarantee that they hadn't had conflicts with the Su family.
The Su family's existence in this area was actually quite cutthroat. Other families with as few members as theirs would swallow their pride and endure quietly, terrified of being attacked at their own doorstep by larger families.
But they were different.
When Su Chen and Su Zhenzhu were still young, Half-Immortal Su, being weak and isolated, wouldn't confront people head-on. Instead, he would play dirty tricks behind their backs. Within a fortnight, he would surely make anyone who tried to take advantage of them suffer a heavy loss.
As Su Chen grew a bit older, the boy turned out to be quite handsome, but ruthless.
Whoever provoked him got a fight. Even if he couldn't win, he would still fight. Even if he was beaten until his head was bleeding and swollen, he would crawl out of bed in the middle of the night to smash their windows. When caught and kicked and punched, he wouldn't beg for mercy; he would even laugh:
"As long as you don't kill me, your family will never know peace."
At that time, people said this boy was the reincarnation of a vicious wolf, ruthless to the bone.
Sure enough, the moment he came of age, he joined the local gangs.
Although Su Zhenzhu was a girl, she was not to be trifled with either. She had a sharp tongue and, relying on her beauty, was incredibly arrogant, rejecting quite a few boys who liked her.
Seeing their own sons heartbroken over a woman, what elder wouldn't feel distressed? Behind her back, they all ridiculed her.
Bah, a pheasant sticking on some feathers and dreaming of flying into the sky as a phoenix.
In short, the resentment had been building up for a long time.
In the past, although the Su family was formidable, they were ultimately confined to this poor area and couldn't do much to them.
Now they had so many police officers backing them up.
If they really filed a complaint, wouldn't ordinary folks like them just get arrested without a word?
The more the crowd thought about it, the more frustrated and aggrieved they became. They couldn't help but feel immense malice towards Su Ning, the legendary rich relative of Half-Immortal Su's family, cursing wildly in their hearts:
Bah, having money but not doing any good deeds.
Relying on her filthy money to even boss the police around to back up the Su family. The Su family was already completely rotten to the core; now, who knows how they would bully good, law-abiding citizens like them.
......
"Ding, detected that the host is acting as an unscrupulous rich person... Rewarding eight thousand..."
Starting half an hour ago, the reward notifications in Su Ning's mind hadn't stopped, and they were becoming even more frequent. She was so disturbed that she couldn't calm down to continue reviewing her plans.
Fortunately, she had already pretty much finished her research.
Having the front desk send up a meal, Su Ning ate while curiously guessing with the system what earth-shattering bad deeds the Su family had actually done to draw so much hatred for her.
Counting it up, basically all the named plot characters around the Su family had been affected.
"Host, your decision to acknowledge villains as relatives was absolutely correct." Even the experienced and knowledgeable system was shocked by the Su family's destructive power.
"You have to let professionals do professional work." Su Ning raised an eyebrow and smiled, full of high spirits: "At least when it comes to being annoying, the Su family has far more experience than I do."
As the saying goes, extreme joy turns to sorrow.
Suddenly, a long string of bold red messages popped up on the system interface. The screen full of numbers was dazzling, and she subconsciously moved her gaze to the last line of text:
"...Congratulations to the tasker, the rewards obtained have reached one million. One hundred twenty-eight thousand, three hundred and seventy-two yuan have been spent. Please clear the remaining reward amount within ten working days."
"Note: If overdue and uncompleted, obliteration."
Looking back and forth several times in disbelief, confirming she hadn't read it wrong, an appropriate song lyric suddenly flashed through Su Ning's mind: I dare not open my eyes, hoping it is my hallucination.
"If I'm not misunderstanding, does this task mean I have to spend over eight hundred thousand in ten days?"
Over eight hundred thousand.
Ten days!
The system fell into a rare silence.
According to its programming, it should have reminded the host of this task before the accumulated rewards reached one million, but the Su family was just too effective... It simply didn't have the time.
"Host, I believe in you."
The system gave an irrelevant answer and casually hung up a countdown: [9 days 23 hours 57 minutes]
Su Ning's vision went black for a moment:
Hehe, thank you so much for your trust, because even I don't believe in myself!
