The relevant departments acted with exceptional swiftness—one could even say lightning speed—after receiving that outrageously detailed anonymous report with a chain of evidence as clear and complete as a textbook.

In the morning, the system had secretly delivered the report letter without anyone noticing, and by the afternoon, a sweeping operation to reel in the Lei family was already rapidly underway.

The Lei family.

A foul smell of mixed medicinal oil and tobacco permeated the house.

Shen Hong was carefully applying medicine to Lei Mingguo.

The wounds on his back were souvenirs left yesterday by the angry neighbors at Lei Mingyuan's apartment.

Her movements were extremely light, for fear of angering the short-tempered man in front of her.

However, when her hand touched a particularly severe swollen bruise, Lei Mingguo immediately hissed and drew in a sharp breath of cold air, then fiercely swung his hand back and slapped Shen Hong hard across the face!

A crisp slap rang out!

"Idiot! You have no sense of how heavy your hands are! Are you trying to hurt me to death?"

Lei Mingguo cursed, taking his anger out on her, his eyes fierce as if Shen Hong were his enemy rather than his wife.

Shen Hong's head was knocked to the side by the blow. A clear red five-finger print instantly appeared on half of her cheek, burning with pain.

She covered her face, her eyes instantly welling up with tears. Her body trembled slightly from grievance and fear, but she bit her lower lip tightly, not daring to cry out, let alone say a word in rebuttal.

In this family, she had long been accustomed to this life of meek submission and being blamed at every turn; even her breathing seemed superfluous.

Finally, Lei Zhenhua, who was sitting on the sofa nearby smoking a sullen cigarette, couldn't stand it anymore and impatiently scolded,

"Shut up!"

He then turned to Shen Hong and found a cold-toned excuse,

"We're out of salt, and the soy sauce is almost gone. Hurry up and go buy some."

Shen Hong felt as if she had been granted a general amnesty. She quickly walked out of the house, as if fleeing a dragon's pool or a tiger's den.

In the living room, only the three Lei family men—the father and his two sons—remained.

Lei Zhenhua sported a "pig's head" face that was still somewhat swollen, with bruises around his mouth.

Lei Mingguo and Lei Mingquan were not much better off; their faces and arms were covered in crossing purple and blue bruises, looking quite comical yet miserable.

The three of them occasionally groaned in pain while huddling together, lowering their voices with ferocious expressions to discuss their next plan, looking exactly like rats plotting in a dark gutter.

"Dad, we can't just let this go! I can't swallow this anger! That old woman from the Pei family is too ruthless!" Lei Mingquan said hatefully, his eyes full of venom.

"Right! Tomorrow! First thing tomorrow morning! We'll go block Lei Mingyuan at the entrance of his workplace! In front of his leaders and colleagues, let's see if he really dares to lose face and not care about the consequences!"

Lei Mingguo echoed, his tone sinister.

Lei Zhenhua blew out a thick ring of smoke, his cloudy eyes flashing with a calculating and malicious light,

"Yes, we must make him relent... make him go use the Pei family's connections to pull strings... otherwise, our family really won't be able to get over this hurdle. We'll truly be finished..."

However, their grand scheme was still only words. Before they could even finalize the details, they were interrupted by a rapid knocking on the door.

"Open the door! Open up! Routine inspection!"

Lei Zhenhua's heart suddenly sank.

He forced himself to stay calm and signaled for Lei Mingquan, who was closest to the door, to open it,

"Go... go see who it is..."

The moment the door opened, standing outside was a group of public officials with cold, serious expressions, wearing matching uniforms. The leader, with a gaze as sharp as a falcon's, swiftly flashed his badge,

"Lei Zhenhua, Lei Mingguo, Lei Mingquan, we are now conducting a lawful search of your home! This is the search warrant! Please cooperate with our work and do not make any pointless resistance!"

Seeing the arrivals and the paper stamped with a red seal, the faces of the three Lei men instantly turned ashen.

What happened next was as fast as an irresistible whirlwind.

The Lei house was thoroughly raided and turned upside down. A lot of embezzled money was found, along with some shady correspondence hidden in secret corners, privately recorded account books, and small pamphlets.

The people, too, were all mercilessly taken away for isolated investigation.

Following detailed, multi-verified investigations, just as the anonymous report had exhaustively revealed, from top to bottom in the Lei family, almost no one had clean hands or was innocent.

Abusing their power, accepting bribes, profiteering, framing others, forming cliques... their crimes were numerous, the evidence was irrefutable, and what awaited them was the severe punishment of the law.

And the only one who luckily escaped the fate of being captured on the spot at this moment was Shen Hong, who had just gone out to buy salt.

Not long after she walked out of the alley, she saw the relevant departments rushing in the direction of the Lei house.

She immediately realized—disaster had struck!

With almost no hesitation, she ran away.

...

At dusk,

The Pei family courtyard.

Father Pei had just finished answering a call from an old comrade-in-arms. After putting down the receiver, his brow completely relaxed, and even his usually steady steps seemed a bit lighter.

Holding his large enamel mug, he walked into the kitchen and said to Pei's Mother, who was busy preparing dinner at the stove,

"I ​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​​​‍just got concrete news. The Lei family is finished."

"From top to bottom, they've all been taken into custody."

"I heard they confiscated quite a lot of things."

Pei's Mother paused her hand that was slicing cured meat. Immediately, an incredibly delighted smile bloomed on her face. She chopped the kitchen knife down onto the cutting board, making a crisp thud,

"Good! That's wonderful! The heavens truly have eyes!"

"Evil gets its retribution; it's not that there's no payback, it's just that the time hadn't come yet!"

"Such social parasites and family menaces should have been completely cleared out long ago!"

"Now let's see how they can still be arrogant and harm people!"

Pei's Mother was so happy she was at a bit of a loss for what to do, doing a little twirl in the kitchen,

"Old man, today is a good day! We must celebrate properly and wash away all this bad luck we've had for so long!"

"I'll go to the chicken coop right now and catch the fattest old hen to slaughter! We'll add a dish for dinner tonight and have a good meal!"

Father Pei was all smiles. "No problem! Call Eldest Son and Lao'er back, and tonight we'll eat to our hearts' content."

"Alright, you go make the calls, I'll go catch the chicken."

"Okay!"

...

In the living room, Shen Nanchu was sitting on the sofa, holding Pei Anchen, who was babbling and waving his little fists.

In her hand, Shen Nanchu held a brightly colored little cloth doll, teasing Pei Anchen with it.

Hearing her mother-in-law's cheerful voice and those words filled with vindication and joy coming from the kitchen, a gentle and meaningful smile appeared on Shen Nanchu's face.

She lowered her head and looked at her son's chubby, smiling face in her arms, her smile widening.

"Little baby, did you hear what Grandpa and Grandma said?"

"Daddy is coming back tonight."

"You have to be a good boy today, otherwise, I'll complain to your dad!"

Little Anchen grinned widely, revealing his two big front teeth, drooling all over Shen Nanchu's hand.

...