Vivian punched Leo straight in the face.
"How dare you come up short? You're courting death!"
Thud!
Leo lost two front teeth on the spot, his face covered in blood.
"It's not my fault! I swear I brought exactly thirty million! It must have rolled somewhere—look for yourselves!"
Leo pulled up his bank withdrawal slip and showed it to the two leaders.
"I don't care about your papers! I want my money back!"
Vivian dragged Leo into a corner and rained blows on him.
"If you don't find that two hundred thousand, I'll skin you alive!"
"I'll look! I swear I will!" Leo howled, scrambling around on the floor.
He checked under the chairs, under the sofa—nothing.
Suddenly, Leo spotted Su Yue's bulging handbag on the sofa.
He snatched it away and felt two thick stacks of cash inside.
He dumped them onto the floor. "Here it is! Su Yue stole it!"
"Hey! That's my money!" Su Yue shouted.
"How dare you take money from my bag! You're rich—can't I have two hundred thousand too?"
"All my money is brand-new, sequentially numbered bills!" Leo shouted furiously.
"These two stacks are exactly the missing ones! What do you have to say for yourself?!"
Leo had finally found the thief!
It was Su Yue!
Su Yue froze.
The money on the floor was indeed new and sequentially numbered,
and the cash in her bag matched perfectly.
"Kayson! You put the money in my bag! You explain this to Azure Group!"
Su Yue threw her bag at Kayson, then hid behind the sofa screaming:
"It was Kayson! Kayson the family thief stole the money! I'm a respectable person—I would never do such a thing!"
Su Yue rambled on rapidly:
"Kayson's mother is sick and eats vegetable scraps from the street. He's always stealing from our family to give to her!
He's stolen countless steamed buns from this house, that's for sure!"
Su Yue pulled out her phone and played a video.
In the footage, Kayson was wearing an apron, washing pots and dishes.
He then wrapped two leftover steamed buns in newspaper,
put them in a bag, and left.
"See?! Am I lying?" Su Yue said triumphantly.
Liu Yun had always regarded Kayson as a thief
and had even installed security cameras in the kitchen.
The video showed Kayson working until ten o'clock one night.
His mother was bedridden, and Liu Yun had demanded a late-night soup that took three hours to make.
Kayson simply hadn't had time to cook for his mother,
so he took two leftover steamed buns from the Sullivan house.
Su Yue had edited the clip to frame Kayson as a thief,
using it as "proof" of his guilt.
Susan, standing nearby, was mortified.
She felt utterly ashamed.
Not only was Kayson useless, his entire family was pathetic.
His mother picked scraps, he stole buns, and his adoptive father had vanished without a trace.
And she, a top university graduate and future CEO,
was stuck with this family!
Susan snapped angrily:
"Did you really take the buns home? Or did you throw them away? You're in charge of taking out the trash anyway."
Susan was hinting at Kayson:
Just say you took the leftovers to throw them away, and save face.
Kayson said calmly:
"I was working late that night and didn't have time to cook for my mom, so I took two leftover buns."
It was the only time he had ever taken food home for his mother.
The Sullivans never ate leftovers.
Liu Yun was obsessed with beauty and skincare and would never touch day-old food.
Every meal had to be freshly made.
With Kayson as their free servant, they made him do all the work.
Could this really be called stealing?
They were just things the Sullivans didn't want!
Yet Su Yue was using it to hold him hostage.
Su Yue sneered:
"I'd feed my buns to a dog before giving them to you! At least I'd get some meat in return! You're just a born thief!
You came to this house to steal and scheme! That money is for your mother!"
Zhou Mengnan shook her head. Kayson wasn't even free to take two buns
without being called a family thief.
Susan blushed bright red with humiliation.
This was the real embarrassment!
Kayson was not only useless but also stupid.
She had given him a way out, but he refused to take it.
He just had to shame them all completely.
Furious, Susan turned and ran upstairs.
Kayson hadn't expected Su Yue to frame him. He clicked on the home security TV
and pulled up the footage, skipping to the part where Leo dumped the money on the floor.
The recording clearly showed Su Yue secretly slipping two stacks of cash into her bag
while no one was looking,
then sitting back on the sofa eating sunflower seeds as if nothing had happened.
Ironically, Liu Yun had installed the cameras to catch Kayson stealing.
Now they exposed the real thief.
The truth was out.
Su Yue immediately turned to Shawn. "Shawn, beg these gentlemen for mercy!"
Shawn walked over trembling and had just opened his mouth to say, "Sir—"
Vivian glanced quickly at Young Mistress Zhou Mengnan.
She saw Zhou Mengnan give a sharp, downward hand gesture.
Vivian understood at once.
He nodded to his subordinate.
Slap!
A hard slap across Shawn's face sent him spinning.
He stumbled against a pillar and dared not move again.
He stayed silent as Vivian's men moved toward Su Yue.
Su Yue stared at the two cropped-haired men—they looked extremely dangerous.
Her father Su Haiyang was out, hunting for treasures at the flea market again.
Her mother Liu Yun, usually so fierce, was now terrified and frozen.
Liu Yun only dared to bully people at home.
Watching the men hit Shawn, she stammered and didn't even dare call the police.
Her sister Susan had run upstairs angry at Kayson and knew nothing.
Only Kayson was left standing there.
Su Yue turned to Kayson. "Kayson, we're family! I'm in trouble—are you just going to stand by?"
"Family? Are you insane?"
Kayson stepped back. "Your boyfriend is right there! Go ask him!"
It was true that Kayson had originally been brought in to be Su Yue's luck-bringing husband,
but as soon as she recovered, she denied the arrangement,
dumped Kayson onto her sister Susan, and quickly started dating Shawn.
"Don't look at me! I didn't steal anything!" Shawn quickly distanced himself.
Terrified of being beaten, Su Yue clung tightly to Kayson's leg.
"Kayson! I'm your wife's sister! You can't just let this happen!"
Kayson said, "I'm the useless one, remember? The idiot, the good-for-nothing."
"You're part of the Sullivan family! You should take responsibility! You can't let a woman take the heat!" Su Yue shouted.
Kayson snapped: "Why should I? You stole the money—you face the consequences!"
He was furious that Su Yue had said she'd "feed the buns to the dogs"—a direct insult to his mother.
She had to pay for it.
Two of Vivian's men grabbed Su Yue.
Crack!
They broke one of her fingers.
Su Yue screamed in agony.
She fell to her knees and hugged Kayson's legs.
"Kayson! Save me! Please!"
Kayson looked down at her and thought:
Enough. She's been taught a lesson.
He stepped forward. "Gentlemen—"
Vivian waved at once.
"Of course. Since Brother Kayson has spoken, we'll show you respect."
They let Su Yue go.
But instead of thanking Kayson, Su Yue hated him for not stepping in sooner.
If he had begged earlier, her finger wouldn't have been broken.
Now she would have to get it reset.
Zhou Mengnan turned to Leo. "You lost the bet. Crawl under my big brother's legs."
Vivian added, "A debt must be paid, and a bet must be honored."
Leo was terrified of Vivian. He had no idea the beggar girl was actually Chloe Zhou, the Young Mistress of Azure Group.
He had no choice but to kneel and crawl between Kayson's legs.
From that moment, he swore bitter revenge.
Vivian and his men prepared to leave.
At the door, he leaned close to Zhou Mengnan and whispered:
"Young Mistress, Ms. Zhou wants you to return home."
Zhou Mengnan pouted and said to Kayson:
"Big brother, I have to go. I'll see you later."
Kayson said casually, "Little sister, come visit anytime."
It was just a polite remark.
"I will," Zhou Mengnan replied.
"Get lost! You filthy beggar!" Liu Yun shouted from behind.
Zhou Mengnan slowly turned around, narrowed her eyes, and stared at Liu Yun.
"If it weren't for my big brother, you'd be dead ten times over."
Su Yue was consumed with hatred toward Kayson.
She hated him for not taking the blame for her.
Her twisted logic said that since she had stolen the money, Kayson should have confessed to it.
If he had, she could have permanently labeled him a thief and a disgrace.
Su Yue muttered angrily into her mother's ear.
Liu Yun slapped her thigh and made an immediate decision.
Her eyebrows furrowed as she snapped at Kayson:
"Go collect the final two million payment from Oceanwave Group! If you don't get it back, don't bother coming home!"