Chapter 8 — A Pigsty Cleaner Than the Ancestral Home

Harmony was raised by the old matriarch, and she has been buried here for ten years now...

The eldest uncle immediately darkened his expression.

Rules cannot be broken.

When Justin arrived at the scene, an intense argument was already echoing across the mountainside. Upon seeing the chicken blood smeared across the gravestone, his countenance changed instantly.

Who did this?

No one confessed. Mindy spoke with a sneer.

For all we know, a stray dog dragged it here.

Justin rebuked her angrily.

Since when do stray dogs roam the ancestral cemetery?

She shrank back defensively. The eldest uncle grew impatient.

Secretary, we are here today to discuss relocating the graves.

Do not try to change the subject.

Justin stared him down.

Zhengde, your mother’s body is barely cold, yet you are already trying to cast out her adopted daughter from the ancestral plot?

The eldest uncle hardened his face.

An adopted daughter is not of direct blood.

Legally speaking, any relation has already ceased to exist.

At that moment, Attorney Wright walked up the mountain path, carrying another document pouch in his hand.

Who said that legally, all relations have ceased to exist?

The eldest uncle frowned.

Why are you here?

Attorney Wright ignored him entirely and walked over to my side.

Miss Lily, last night as I was reviewing the elderly matriarch’s entrusted documents, I discovered an additional certificate proving familial relations.

I froze. Attorney Wright pulled out several sheets of paper.

The adoption procedures for Miss Harmony were entirely authentic.

The eldest uncle sneered at once.

Did you all hear that?

Attorney Wright continued smoothly.

However, the adoption paperwork was incomplete.

In the orphanage’s registry from those years, the person who brought the child in—listed under the guardian relinquishing the child—was none other than Matriarch Qin.

The mountainside fell into an absolute hush. The eldest uncle’s expression shifted.

What are you implying?

Attorney Wright looked toward Justin.

The Secretary likely knows a part of this already.

Justin remained silent for a long moment, then let out a heavy sigh.

Harmony was not a child the matriarch picked up from the streets.

She was her own biological daughter.

The eldest uncle let out a piercing shriek.

That is impossible!

Justin slammed his cane against the ground.

Back then, your father was away working for two years without returning home.

When the matriarch gave birth to Harmony, the extended clan felt it was a disgrace and forced her to send the infant to an orphanage.

Later, when your father returned, the matriarch fought tooth and nail to bring the child back, claiming to outsiders that she was merely an adopted daughter.

Everyone from that older generation knew the truth, but they simply chose to never speak of it.

The eldest uncle’s face turned an appalling shade of pale. The cigarette in the third uncle’s hand slipped and fell to the dirt. Mindy’s mouth hung open, incapable of uttering a single word for a long time. Attorney Wright delivered the final blow.

During her final days, Matriarch Qin underwent a blood relation test. While these documents cannot retroactively alter the household registry of the deceased, they are more than sufficient to prove that she and Miss Harmony shared a direct blood tie.

In other words, Miss Lily is not an outsider.

She is the biological granddaughter of Matriarch Qin.

A gust of wind swept across the cemetery, sending swirling ashes of burnt paper dancing down onto the eldest uncle’s shoes. He looked down at them, stepping backward as if he had been scalded. When the truth finally struck, the eldest uncle’s first reaction was not shame. Instead, he lunged forward to snatch the documents.

Fake!

It is all fake!

Attorney Wright had anticipated this and stepped back. Stephen blocked the path in front of me. The eldest uncle grabbed at empty air, his foot slipping, and he nearly tumbled over the grave. An elderly member of the clan spoke up with a somber voice.

Zhengde, you have humiliated yourself enough.

The eldest uncle spun around instantly.

Third Elder, even you are taking the side of outsiders?

The old man leaned heavily on his cane, his expression grim.

I was present for what happened back then.

The day your mother carried Harmony back home, she knelt outside the ancestral hall for an entire night.

She declared that the child was a piece torn directly from her own flesh. If anyone dared to try and banish her again, she would take her own life right before the ancestral tablets.

The Third Elder looked at me, his eyes turning red.

Lily, the only reason your mother was allowed to be buried here is because your grandmother fought for it with half her life.

My tears could no longer be held back. So grandmother had not been partial after all. She had simply been trying to reclaim a delayed justice, decades overdue, for her daughter and her granddaughter. Mindy’s expression was ghastly, yet she stubbornly refused to relent.

Even if she is a biological granddaughter, it still does not give her the right to take the gold entirely for herself.

Attorney Wright glanced at her.

The deed of gift is legally valid. Furthermore, Miss Mindy, last night someone used chicken blood to desecrate the gravestone of Miss Harmony. The local police station has already pulled the surveillance footage from the village entrance.

Mindy’s face turned completely white. There was only a single camera at the entrance of the village, installed the previous year to deter fish thieves. She had likely forgotten all about it. Stephen took out his phone.

At ten-forty-six last night, you carried a red bucket out through the back door of the ancestral home.

At eleven-three, you returned empty-handed.

Mindy screamed in panic.

What gives you the right to investigate me!

Attorney Wright said indifferently.

The police investigate according to the law; Mr. Stephen did not investigate you.

The eldest aunt rushed forward to cover her mouth, but it was already too late. As she was being led away to provide a statement, Mindy was still weeping and wailing hysterically.

I only wanted to scare her!

I did not dig up any grave!

Not a single person spoke up to defend her. The eldest uncle seemed to age ten years all at once, sitting heavily on a boulder beside the grave, his lips trembling. Yet I knew he felt no remorse. He was merely calculating his losses. Sure enough, as soon as we descended the mountain, he blocked my path.