The Final Preparations Are in Hand!

The moment those four words were spoken, the entire place fell silent.

Were Li Youcai and Liu Cui fools?

They looked like it—stupid and utterly unreasonable.

When detective Li Xiang had gone to Li Family Village with a gun to rescue someone, Li Youcai had dared to surround him with more than forty villagers and even threaten the police officers' lives!

And just two days ago, when he realized Wang Wei wouldn't help him, he'd cursed him out!

All of that made the two of them look like fools, but in truth...

They weren't.

Li Youcai and Liu Cui were simply rotten!

Rotten to the core.

Li Youcai knew the police wouldn't kill him. That was why he dared to push his luck.

Even when he'd cursed Wang Wei, he'd only been trying to force him to do his bidding!

So...

He wasn't stupid. He knew what Xu De was doing.

Threatening him.

It was a blatant threat!!!

"That's my grandson!"

Li Youcai was furious, like a bull in the ring ready to charge.

But his thin, scrawny body and sinister eyes made him look more like a venomous snake lurking in the rainforest.

"Mr. Li, please don't be angry. I know you're the boy's grandfather, a close blood relative."

Xu De maintained his professional smile.

At those words, the anger in Li Youcai's chest eased a little. But...

The next second, Xu De changed tack and added something else.

"Likewise."

"I also know Wang Mei is Li Yang's mother... his biological mother, and the only one with parental custody!"

The words landed.

Li Youcai's head snapped up. He glared at Xu De, his anger reigniting as he clenched his teeth and forced out four words.

"You damned thug!"

A thug...

Yes, Li Youcai didn't know what an unscrupulous lawyer was.

But he could tell Xu De was no different from the thugs he often saw in the village.

"I'll take that as a compliment."

Xu De smiled. The insult didn't bother him; it even gave him a small thrill.

Why?

For one simple reason.

If a brute like Li Youcai, who had no respect for the law, was calling him a thug, it proved one thing... the man had no way to deal with him.

There was no use explaining the law to a brute like this like an honest man.

You had to play dirty right back!!!

"You!"

Li Youcai felt as if a mouthful of stagnant blood were stuck in his throat.

As someone who often threatened others, he had no trouble understanding what Xu De meant.

It was a threat, plain and simple: the child in exchange for a letter of forgiveness!

"He's only six, you know..." Liu Cui said quietly beside him, her head lowered. She had understood Xu De's meaning too.

Li Youcai's expression darkened further.

Xu De saw that.

He smiled and stepped aside.

"I'll leave you two to talk. I'm going for a smoke."

With that, he gave them plenty of space, walked to the other side, took out a cigarette, and smoked slowly.

Once Xu De had left,

Li Youcai grew restless. He squatted on the ground, puffing at his dry tobacco pipe, his thoughts in turmoil.

The child in exchange for a letter of forgiveness...

But was his son supposed to have died for nothing!?

And Wang Mei—five thousand yuan! He'd paid five thousand yuan for that daughter-in-law, and after just ten years, she'd run away!?

He'd paid for her. What right did she have to run?

Li Youcai couldn't accept it. But then his grandson Li Yang came to mind...

Conflict showed on his deeply wrinkled face, making him look almost ferocious.

Until...

While he was still unable to decide, Liu Cui spoke up beside him. Her tone was sharp and reproachful.

"Whether Wang Qiang gets the death penalty or not, Erniu is already dead."

"But Dahu's still alive. He's our only grandson. If we lose him... I'll never forgive you!"

Before, things had been fine. They might not have had custody, but the child had been right there with them, so she hadn't felt anxious.

But ever since Xu De had taken the child away... Liu Cui had been beside herself!

"Besides, didn't we want to use the case to get the child back from the start?" Liu Cui added when she saw Li Youcai was still hesitating.

"We can still make that exchange now!"

At those words,

the last trace of hesitation vanished from Li Youcai's eyes, replaced by resolve.

That was right.

From the beginning, they had wanted to use the case to threaten Wang Mei into giving them custody.

Now they were the ones being threatened. They had no leverage and couldn't set the terms...

But if they could get the child back, that was good enough!

With that thought,

Li Youcai swallowed his fury, gritted his teeth, and looked toward Xu De. "We're willing to sign the letter of forgiveness!"

Hearing him,

Xu De raised an eyebrow. He put out his cigarette and walked over with a cheerful smile.

"Mr. Li, how generous of you!"

With that,

he pulled a prepared letter of forgiveness from his bag, took out a pen, and pointed to the signature line.

"Sign here. If you can't write your name, a fingerprint will do."

Li Youcai looked down at the paper, pen, and ink pad, then back up at Xu De. His resentment deepened.

Letters of forgiveness weren't standardized forms. Every case was different, so Xu De couldn't possibly have had one ready to hand—unless...

He had known from the start that he had them cornered and had drafted it in advance.

Bastard!

But Li Youcai had no choice but to bow his head.

Fuming, Li Youcai pressed his finger into the ink pad. Just as he was about to stamp the signature line, he paused and looked up at Xu De.

"You said so."

"If I sign this, you'll give Dahu back to me?"

At that,

"Mr. Li, please don't put it that way. Let me make this clear: a letter of forgiveness signed as part of a transaction or under coercion or threat is illegal. I would never do anything illegal!"

Xu De still wore a faint smile.

Before Li Youcai could lose his temper, he continued,

"However,"

"you absolutely have the right to spend time with the child!"

What was that supposed to mean?

Li Youcai frowned. Something about Xu De's words sounded strange, but he couldn't pinpoint the problem.

Still, it didn't matter.

He understood the last part.

I can see the child!

He was about to press his finger down again when Xu De suddenly stopped him.

"Mr. Li, let me be clear."

"Custody generally passes to close relatives only if both of the child's parents die."

Li Youcai frowned, baffled and annoyed. He waved a hand.

"As long as I can be with the child, I don't care about custody."

He didn't care whether he had custody. He'd fought for it before only because, without it, the police and the court could forcibly take the child away!

Now Xu De had said he could guarantee they would spend time together...

What did Li Youcai need custody for?

With that thought,

Li Youcai moved to stamp the document.

But Xu De stopped him again.

"Mr. Li, please think this through. I'm recording this conversation."

"I'll say it again: generally, you can get custody only if both parents die. Only then would the child legally be yours."

Xu De repeated the warning.

"Enough with the chatter!"

Li Youcai was getting angry.

The child wouldn't legally be mine? As if he'd been legally mine before! We'd managed just fine. All that mattered was keeping him with us!

The next second, he hesitated no longer and pressed his finger hard onto the document.

Ssh!

His fingertip touched the white paper. When he lifted his hand,

a bright red fingerprint, its ridges clearly visible, remained on the page.

Xu De then took out a settlement agreement. Li Youcai stamped that too, and Liu Cui did the same with both documents.

A moment later,

Xu De looked at the two documents and smiled.