Chapter 14 — The Stolen Heir For Thirty Years

This news was like a bomb exploding in the living room, causing Chu Chinh Duc and Luu My Lan to stand dumbfounded, their faces pale. Three million two hundred thousand yuan fine... that number was like a knife cutting straight through all their previous stupid calculations. They just wanted to blockade the house to control Chu Cuong, but unexpectedly pushed everything to the brink of irreversibility.

“Son… don't panic… we'll think of another way…”

Luu My Lan's voice trembled, each word fell out as if it was about to crumble.

"Think of a way? What other way is there?"

Chu Cuong screamed, completely collapsed, pointing at his own parents as if he wanted to tear everything apart.

"It's all your fault! You're the one who harmed me!"

"If you weren't superstitious and wanted to divide the whole house with me, why would Chu Vu turn around?"

“If it weren't for you guys slandering him and robbing his house, would things have come to this!”

"Now it's great! Business goes bankrupt! House has to be sold! Still has to go to jail!"

“Are you satisfied?”

The house erupted into a terrible argument for the first time, all the family masks fell, revealing naked selfishness. Friendship, morality... in the face of money and fear, turn out to be as fragile as paper. Vuong Cam stood holding his child, coldly looking at everything, his eyes no longer showing any emotion. She went back into the room and quietly called.

“Lawyer Truong, right… I want to advise on divorce and property division.”

This ship was about to sink, and she had no intention of dying with it. While the Chu family was in chaos like a pile of ashes, the "buyer's" lawyer's letter arrived in Chu Cuong's hands. The paper is white and the ink is black, each word cold as a verdict. In three days, you must pay 3,200,000 yuan in compensation, otherwise... go to court. Chu Cuong looked at the paper, his legs went weak, and he fell to the ground. All the debts combined... is a number that he cannot pay back in his entire life. This time, it wasn't a failure. It's a great route. Chu Chinh Duc looked at his son as if he had lost his soul, at his family being torn apart before his eyes, his whole person seemed to have aged several decades in just one night. He understood... he had lost. Lose to the point where there's no way back. With shaking hands, he opened the phone and found the blocked number, as if grasping the last straw of his life. The bell rang for a long time... before being picked up. Chu Vu's voice on the other end was calm and cold. Chu Chinh Duc opened his mouth, but his throat seemed to be choked, all his previous arrogance had disappeared. Tears welled up in his eyes, his voice was hoarse, pitifully old.

“Chu Vu… son…”

“Save my brother…”

“Dad was wrong… it's all your fault…”

“Dad please…”

There was silence on the other end of the line for a long time, so long that it felt like time had stopped. I sat next to Chu Vu, looking at his cold face as if carved from stone, a little wavering arose in my heart. Then he spoke. The voice was still cold, not soft at all.

“Beg me?”

"It's late."

He paused for a moment, as if deliberately prolonging the other person's fragile hope.

“But… it's not without a way.”

“Tomorrow, nine o'clock in the morning, take the whole family to the old house in the suburbs.”

“There are some conditions… I want to say it directly.”

16 Place of Judgment The next morning, it was not yet dawn, we drove to the suburbs. The old house lay silently, with patchy brick walls and weeds growing all over the yard, like a memory forgotten by time. This place... is Chu Vu's childhood. It's also where the hauntings begin. When we arrived, The entire Chu family was waiting in front of the gate, looking like people with fate choking their throats. Chu Chinh Duc's back was bent and his hair turned gray almost overnight. Luu My Lan's eyes were red and swollen, and she no longer had any defiant aura. Chu Cuong was as empty as a body without a soul, standing there as if he had died a long time ago. Only Vuong Cam, his eyes still filled with calculation, as if looking for the last chance in a lost game. They looked at us, their eyes mixed with fear, resentment and pleading. Chu Vu said nothing. He walked straight to the wooden door covered with cobwebs and took out an old key. The door opens, like opening a whole chapter of the past that today... will be judged. The heavy wooden door was pushed open, dust flew, and the musty smell rushed straight into the throat, making it difficult to breathe.

“Everyone come in.”

Chu Vu's voice was as cold as this old house, not carrying any warmth of affection. The whole family hesitated, but still quietly followed, entering the yard full of weeds—a place that seemed to be burying their own rotten past. Chu Vu stood in the middle of the yard, looking at them from above, like a judge looking at the condemned.

“I brought you here to talk about conditions.”

His voice rang out in the empty space, echoing each word heavily.

"The first."

He looked straight at Chu Cuong and Vuong Cam, his eyes as sharp as knives.

“Write a letter of apology.”

“Apologize to my wife, and my wife's parents, publicly.”

"The content must clearly state how you forged documents and how you went to their house to cause trouble."

"After writing, print a hundred copies and cover the notice board of their house."

Vuong Cam's face turned white, this was no longer a punishment... but an exposure of his honor before the whole world.