"What about you?"

Xu Yun smiled. "I’ll grab a cab myself, find a hotel in town, and get some sleep. I haven’t slept all night, and I’m a bit tired."

"Okay, I’ll come find you when I’m done."

After Yu Xuan and Li Jinshu left, Xu Yun waited for a moment before hailing a taxi.

After getting in, Xu Yun said, "Driver, please take me to the best hotel you have here. Thanks."

"You got it, man."

The best hotel in a small county town was actually a four-star hotel.

This came as a bit of a surprise to Xu Yun.

He went ahead and booked the largest, most luxurious suite, which cost 2,300 a night.

When he got to the room, the environment was quite nice.

But to be honest, from the moment he walked into the hotel until he checked in, he felt that while it had the star rating and the facilities barely met the standard, the staff’s service level just wasn’t up to par.

There was still a noticeable gap compared to hotels in big cities.

He took a shower, sent the address and room number to Li Jinshu, and then crashed into bed.

...

Gong Meiping was heartbroken by the actions of her husband and son.

But after the two of them caught up to her and persuaded her for a while, she chose to forgive them.

It just goes to show, birds of a feather flock together.

Perhaps the reason Li Jinshu’s character was so incompatible with theirs was that she wasn’t their biological daughter.

After pocketing an easy twenty thousand, they started plotting how to get the car back, all while cursing Li Jinshu.

But when they got back home, they found their key wouldn’t open the door.

Li Huaiming couldn’t get it open, so Gong Meiping gave it a try.

When Gong Meiping failed, Li Yonghua tried.

The three of them took turns, but no matter what, the door wouldn’t open.

Li Yonghua asked, confused, "Don’t tell me the lock is broken?"

"How could it be?" Gong Meiping said. "It was working just fine when we left this morning."

"Then why won’t it suddenly open?"

"Forget it, Mom. I’ll call a locksmith to come take a look."

"I guess that’s our only option."

"What a rotten day."

Gong Meiping said resentfully, "The car gets snatched, I get slapped across the face, and now even the lock is broken!"

Suddenly, the door of the opposite apartment opened.

A neighbor came out and said, "You’re back?"

"Yeah." Li Huaiming gave an awkward smile. "The door’s broken, so we can’t get in. We’re waiting for a locksmith."

"The door isn’t broken. Someone changed the lock cylinder."

The neighbor said kindly, "Before you got back, I saw a few people at your door through my peephole. They were big, burly guys, and one of them even had a tattoo.

They brought a locksmith and had him change your lock cylinder directly."

"!!!" The three of them were dumbfounded.

"Did you guys offend someone?"

Gong Meiping asked, confused, "Who could we have offended?"

When Li Yonghua heard about the tattoo, he immediately reacted, saying angrily, "Mom, could it be the same group of people who took my car this morning?"

"Are you saying your sister sent those people to do this?" Gong Meiping asked.

"Who else could it be!"

Gong Meiping said angrily, "So what? She can change it? We can change it right back! Call the locksmith, have him come and change it!"

"Okay."

A short while later, the locksmith arrived. He looked at the familiar door and asked, puzzled, "Didn’t this lock just get changed? You’re changing it again?"

"Change it."

Li Yonghua said, "This time, install a smart lock for us—one that uses a fingerprint and a passcode, no keys."

"Son, aren’t those locks expensive?"

"They’re a bit pricey, but they’re secure. It won’t be so easy for them to change it again."

"Alright, we’ll do as you say."

Gong Meiping looked at the locksmith and instructed, "Sir, install a more secure smart lock for us."

"Hold on..."

The locksmith asked with some suspicion, "Is this house really yours?"

"Of course it is."

"Then who were the people who had me change the lock cylinder earlier?"

The locksmith replied, "They also said this house was theirs.

I can’t just go around changing locks for anyone. If something happens, I can’t afford to take responsibility."

"Bullshit! This house is mine! They’re the liars!"

Li Yonghua said, "If you don’t believe me, ask our neighbor. Ask them how long we’ve lived here."

"The house is indeed theirs."

The neighbor kindly testified, "Sir, they’ve been living across from me ever since they first moved in."

Seeing that the locksmith was still suspicious,

Gong Meiping said, "Sir, how about this? You open the door for us, and I’ll go inside and show you the property deed. We have the deed."

"Alright, then."

The locksmith spent some time getting the door open, then went inside and looked at the property deed they held, and was finally convinced.

He then installed the smart lock, charging them over 1,300 yuan.

After the locksmith left, the family of three spent a long time cursing Li Jinshu.

After eating, they went out together to a law firm to consult a lawyer.

’They had to get the car back. The title was in his name, Li Yonghua’s, after all.’

Downstairs in their residential complex, some people from a loan company were keeping watch. The moment they saw the family of three leave, they immediately reported it.

A few moments later, a few men arrived with a locksmith.

It was the same locksmith as before.

The locksmith once again found himself staring at the door—the one he had *just* installed a smart lock on—and was completely dumbfounded!

’What in the world is going on?!’

"Boss, I really can’t change this one." 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

The locksmith said, speechless, "This is a smart lock now. It can’t be replaced. Only the owner who set the passcode can open it. Otherwise, your only option is to destroy it with brute force!"

"Fine, we get it."

The men turned around, found some tools, and immediately began to dismantle it by force.

They didn’t just break the lock; they removed the entire door.

The locksmith standing to the side was completely stunned.

Then they made a call and brought in a door installer to put in a new door.

They then had the locksmith install another smart lock.

It was the exact same model!

Not only that, but this time they completely emptied the apartment, moving everything downstairs and piling it up in the complex.

It made for a huge pile.

They had completely pulled the rug out from under them!

...

That evening, when Gong Meiping’s family returned to the complex, they saw the pile of belongings at the building entrance. "Is someone moving?" Gong Meiping asked, puzzled. "Why is everything just left here blocking the path? So inconsiderate."

"Exactly. And property management isn’t doing anything about it. I’m going to file a complaint tomorrow!"

"Why complain?"

Li Yonghua said, "This is perfect. We can use this as an excuse not to pay this year’s property management fee."

"Good idea."

Taking the elevator up, the family arrived at their front door, only to find that it looked cleaner and newer than before.

Although they were puzzled, they saw the familiar smart lock, so they reached out and used the fingerprint scanner to open the door.

"BEEP BEEP~" A red indicator light flashed, and the lock’s display showed "Fingerprint recognition failed."

"???"

They tried again.

The fingerprint recognition failed again.

"What’s wrong with this thing?"

Gong Meiping was instantly annoyed. This lock was brand new; how could it already be failing to recognize her fingerprint?

She reluctantly tried entering the passcode manually.