Governing the country, enriching the people, an unparalleled imperial tutor

The doorbell rang at nine o'clock the next morning. It was banged on.

Lin Yanzhou opened the door. Six people stood outside. Qin Li stood at the front, wearing a long, bright red coat. Her makeup was three times heavier than yesterday, with bright red lips, and the gold bracelet on her left wrist jingled under the fluorescent light. Behind her stood an elderly woman in her sixties, with dark brown curly hair and wearing a purple sweater embroidered with subtle patterns. Her sharp gaze swept over Lin Yanzhou's face, carrying an air of "My daughter has been wronged, so of course I have to stand up for her." Next to her stood a bald man in his thirties, wearing a black jacket and a thick gold chain around his neck, with a slightly protruding beer belly—Qin Li's younger brother, Qin Hao, who owned a building materials company locally. Business had been good a few years ago, but recently it had been so-so, but he was never one to back down.

Further back were two young men in black jackets, seemingly there to keep things in order, leaning against the corridor wall scrolling through their phones. At the very back stood a middle-aged man in a gray coat, carrying a briefcase, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, his expression exuding professionalism.

As Qin Li pushed Lin Yanzhou aside and walked in, her high heels clattered on the marble floor of the entryway. Her gaze swept quickly across the living room—the sofa, the TV cabinet, the medical journal on the coffee table, the potted plant in the corner—as if assessing the value of the house. Qin Hao followed with large strides in, and the old woman also stepped into the living room.

Qin Li stood in the center of the living room, arms crossed, chin slightly raised, her voice not loud but audible throughout the house: "Lin Yanzhou, I'm not here to argue with you today. You recently received a large sum of money, nine million, which you didn't have in your name at the time of the divorce. Now you need to clarify things. I've hired a lawyer and obtained your information; you can't refute it."

Lin Xiaoya came out of the kitchen, handed Lin Yanzhou a glass of water, and sat down at the other end of the sofa without saying a word.

Lin Yanzhou sat down opposite him on the sofa, his posture relaxed: "You hired a lawyer, and he found out about my income. How did he find out?"

The lawyer adjusted his glasses: "We obtained your bank card transaction records through legal credit investigation authorization, and the remarks were all 'selling ancestral antiques'."

"Yes, it's an heirloom being sold," Lin Yanzhou repeated. "The source is legitimate, taxes are paid in accordance with regulations, and all records are complete. What does this money have to do with my ex-wife?"

Qin Li's expression changed slightly: "Don't try to fool me! You didn't give me a single penny when we divorced—"

"You had the lawyer draft the divorce agreement, you decided on the property division—the house and car are yours, the savings are yours, and I'm leaving with nothing," Lin Yanzhou said. "I was working on construction sites for those years and accumulated a mountain of debt, which you didn't pay back a single penny. Now you're telling me there were 'omissions in the division of marital property'?"

Qin Hao took a step forward: "Don't bring up the past! My sister was married to you for eight years—"

Lin Yanzhou didn't respond to him. He took out his phone, opened a number, and put it on speakerphone.

The phone rang about three times before being answered. Hu Dahai's voice came through the speakerphone, deep and steady: "Young man?"

Lin Yanzhou placed his phone in the center of the coffee table: "Boss Hu, I'm at home taking care of some household matters. My ex-wife brought a lawyer, saying that the money I received from selling antiques should be considered marital property. Could you be my witness?"

Hu Dahai's voice came through steadily and calmly: "That item of yours, the contract is in triplicate, and it's filed in my safe. The transactions all took place after your divorce. Whether you had this money in your account at the time of the divorce, the bank statements are irrefutable proof."

The lawyer took the pen out of his briefcase, held it in his hand, but didn't write anything.

Hu Dahai added, "Sir, if you have any doubts about the legality of these two transactions, feel free to bring your documents for verification. I have all the necessary receipts here. Besides, making a big fuss about something unreasonable only makes things worse, don't you think?"

The lawyer glanced at Qin Li; he must have known Hu Dahai. He said in a very low voice, "...Understood, Boss Hu."

Lin Yanzhou hung up the phone and put it in his pocket: "Now, is there anything else you want to say?"

The old woman suddenly spoke, her voice abruptly rising: "Lin Yanzhou, you've lived in our family for so many years, and during the years my daughter suffered with you, you never even bought her a decent piece of jewelry. Now that you've made it big, you're turning your back on us?"

"When we divorced, your daughter took the house and the car, and I only had three hundred and twenty yuan left in my pocket." Lin Yanzhou looked at her. "You turned your back on me after you'd done that? What do you expect me to acknowledge? What do you take your daughter for? A prostitute?"

Qin Hao suddenly rushed forward: "My sister has been with you for eight years—"

"Your sister was with me for eight years, and I was with your sister for eight years. Your sister asked me to leave with nothing, and I signed the papers. In those eight years, your sister changed jobs three times, the longest she stayed was ten months. The year you opened your building materials company, you borrowed 50,000 yuan from me, did you pay it back?" Lin Yanzhou looked at him, his voice not at all impatient. "I paid off several of your sister's overdue credit card bills, 36,000 yuan. I paid 42,000 yuan for your parents' hospital expenses. And now you're standing here talking to me about 'eight years'?"

Qin Hao opened his mouth, his thick gold chain dangling outside his collar, but no words came out. The old woman's gaze shifted from Lin Yanzhou's face to her son's, then back to Lin Yanzhou's, as if something was blocking her throat. The elevator reached the 16th floor and opened again, and Haozi suddenly emerged from the elevator.

He was wearing an old blue coat and carrying a bag of breakfast he had just bought, as if he had always lived on this floor and had just happened to be out for a while. When he came in, his gaze lingered on the people in the living room one by one, then he put down the breakfast and took out a set of keys from his pocket—the keys to the apartment in Shangcheng Garden that Lin Yanzhou had bought for him; the silver key rings gleamed under the fluorescent light.

"Everyone's here?" Haozi placed the keys on the coffee table. "If you want to talk about money?" He looked at Qin Hao. "Your family's building materials company ran out of money last fall, didn't they? Did you come to me then? You asked to borrow 30,000 yuan for working capital, did I give it to you?"

Qin Hao's neck jerked back.

"Did you borrow money from this person?" Qin Li turned to look at her younger brother.

"Sister—" Qin Hao's voice suddenly lowered, "That's a business matter—"

"I gave it to you," Haozi said. "Thirty thousand. I still have the IOU. You said you'd pay it back in three months, but it's been over a year and I haven't seen a penny. You brought people here to cause trouble today, let's settle that thirty thousand first, shall we?"

Qin Hao took half a step back, his thick gold chain swaying slightly before stopping. The old woman's gaze darted back and forth between Haozi and Qin Hao twice, her expression shifting from stern to a complex, stiff one.

Qin Li stood in the center of the living room, her lips pressed white, wanting to say something more, but in the end she only gritted her teeth and said, "Fine, Lin Yanzhou, you're something else. So you paved the way in advance. I admit defeat." She turned and walked to the door, glancing back at him, "But don't think this is over. If you don't pay up, there are plenty of ways to make you suffer."

Qin Hao followed them out, and the old woman and the lawyer also left one after another. The footsteps in the corridor gradually faded away, the elevator doors opened and closed, and then fell silent.

Haozi glanced at the doorway, then at the file folder on the coffee table: "Gone? I almost couldn't help but come out when that old lady was yelling."

"Why didn't you say anything when her brother borrowed money? That's half a year's salary for you," Lin Yanzhou said.

"I told you two you shouldn't argue. You were having such a hard time back then, I wasn't planning on ending the relationship. But I just couldn't stand watching you like this today."

"It's okay, they'll come back again in a bit, I'll get it back for you."