Chapter 16 — My Husband Brought His Ex Home

Han Hao, do you honestly believe your actions stem merely from a gentle and forgiving heart? Or are you simply utterly foolish, or perhaps just fundamentally wretched?

Han Hao’s lips turned the color of ash.

Zhi Xia, must you speak to me with such cruelty?

I offered a cold, detached reply: I am merely summarizing the reality of your behavior for you. The police officers instructed him to re-enter the station to provide his formal statement. Before stepping through the heavy wooden door, he cast a lingering glance in my direction. That single look was a chaotic tangle of complex emotions: lingering grievance, creeping panic, and that distinct flush of humiliation and anger that comes from having one’s hypocritical facade ruthlessly stripped away. I was already far too exhausted to bother dissecting his inner turmoil. When my father and I finally stepped out of the precinct building, the lawyer was already waiting for us. His surname was Lam, a seasoned professional in his early forties whose movements were crisp, purposeful, and entirely devoid of hesitation. He immediately handed me a neat stack of documents.

This is your independent asset declaration.

This is the complete ledger proving the legitimate origin of the funds used to purchase your pre-marital home.

This is the supplementary evidentiary dossier for the official police report.

Today, your person and your property must be cleanly and irrevocably severed from his entanglements first.

As I took the pen to sign my name, my father stood quietly at my shoulder, scrutinizing every single page with meticulous care. He read at a snail’s pace, terrified of missing even the most microscopic legal trap. Attorney Lam turned to me with a grave expression: If the creditors arrive around noon, do not attempt to hide.

We will go directly to the property management office.

We will demand that they produce all so-called documentation they claim to hold.

The moment the other party dares to create a disturbance, we will immediately gather and legally preserve the evidence of their unlawful debt-collection tactics.

I nodded in solemn agreement. At precisely eleven-fifty in the morning, we returned to the residential compound. Several security guards were already standing at rigid attention by the front gates. The estate manager spotted me the moment we arrived and hurried over with a nervous stride.

Miss Xu, the security checkpoint intercepted an unfamiliar vehicle earlier.

There are four people inside claiming they have come to find Han Duc Hai to collect a debt.

We refused them entry.

Attorney Lam spoke in a measured tone: Let them wait outside the perimeter of the complex.

We will go out and speak with them face-to-face.

My father immediately chimed in: I am going as well. I made no attempt to stop him. There are certain bitter scenes in this life that a father must witness with his own eyes. Not merely to deepen his heartache, but to grant him the enduring peace of mind that his daughter was no fragile piece of porcelain to be casually trampled upon by others. Parked just outside the main gates was a black seven-seater van. Standing beside the vehicle were three intimidating men and a single woman. The bald man acting as their ringleader was chewing lazily on a cigarette, eyeing me up and down with predatory calculation the moment I approached.

Are you Xu Zhi Xia?

I pulled out my phone and switched the camera to record.

I am.

If you have anything to say, speak clearly into the lens.

The bald man’s expression instantly darkened.

You certainly have a sharp spine on you, don't you?

Attorney Lam stepped forward, placing himself squarely between us.

I am Miss Xu’s legal counsel.

If your faction is here to assert legitimate claims, please present the official documentation proving your lawful creditor status.

The bald man stared at the lawyer in hostile silence for a few seconds before finally fishing a thick folder out of his jacket pocket.

Fine.

See for yourselves.

Attorney Lam accepted the papers, flipping through the pages with practiced speed. I caught a glimpse of the opening page, which bore the title of a loan agreement. Borrower: Han Duc Hai. Guarantor: Han Hao. Under the section designated for collateral, my apartment on the eighteenth floor was starkly and unequivocally written in. Attached to the back was a photocopy of my property ownership certificate. Further down was a purported family consent agreement. At the very bottom was a signature bearing my name: Xu Zhi Xia. Those three characters still bore no resemblance to my actual handwriting. If anything, they bore a closer likeness to the cramped, slanted script typically written by Chu Lan Chi. My heart plummeted into a cold abyss. Attorney Lam deftly pulled that specific page out from the rest.

Who provided this signature?

The bald man sneered, Han Duc Hai did.

His son was present as well.

They both claimed the daughter-in-law had given her full consent.

I locked my gaze onto his.

I never gave any such consent.

The bald man let out a harsh, mocking laugh.

How your family divides your internal affairs is of no concern to us.

We only recognize the agreement in our hands.

Attorney Lam’s voice turned glacial: Without the property owner's personal presence, without formal notarization, and without official mortgage registration.

Your so-called collateral holds zero legal validity over this apartment.

The color abruptly drained from the bald man’s face.

Who do you think you are trying to intimidate?

Han Duc Hai certainly didn't sound like this when he took the money.

I cut in: How much did he actually take? The bald man instinctively held up four fingers.

Four million.

With rolling compound interest, it is now four million eight hundred thousand.

My father let out a sharp, audible gasp. I pressed on: Into whose bank account was the money transferred? The bald man clearly had no intention of answering. Attorney Lam warned him: If you refuse to provide the transfer receipts and continue to come to private properties making threats of forced eviction, we will immediately report this entire extortion ring to the police. The woman lurking behind the bald man suddenly blurted out.

The money was split into two separate transfers.

One portion went to Han Duc Hai.

Another portion went to Phuong Tieu Hue.

I snapped my head around to stare directly at her. Realizing she had spoken out of turn, she abruptly clamped her mouth shut and turned pale. The bald man shot her a murderous glare that could have killed. But the damage was already done, and my phone had captured every second of it.

How much did Phuong Tieu Hue take?

The woman did not dare utter another word. The bald man spat his cigarette onto the pavement and ground it out fiercely with his heel.

Stop wasting your breath prying into things.

If we cannot lay eyes on Han Duc Hai by noon today, we will simply wait outside your front door indefinitely.

Just as the ultimatum left his mouth, Han Hao’s voice suddenly rang out from behind us.

There is no need to wait around anymore.

I spun around. Han Hao was standing just inside the gates of the residential complex, flanked by two uniformed police officers. Clutched tightly in his trembling hand was a newly printed bank statement. He stared directly at the bald man with hollow eyes.

Of the four million my father borrowed, one million two hundred thousand was transferred directly to Phuong Tieu Hue.