FID – Chapter 628

Chapter 628: Shameless

Seeing his relaxed demeanor, the two elders secretly sighed in relief. “As long as it’s settled. Who was responsible for it?”

“A nephew of the village chief. He secretly made a copy of the key while the village chief wasn’t paying attention and had a new one forged. Every night, he would sneak in to steal materials and brew his own wine. The taste wasn’t great, but since he used the same wine jars as our Xinghua Village Wine, people believed it was the real deal.”

The elders suddenly understood. “That explains everything! Didn’t Nannan and the others go to Xuzhou to handle the issue of people getting sick after drinking ‘Xinghua Village Wine’? That man—without Nannan’s secret formula, anyone with a single sip could tell the taste was off. Where did he get the confidence to pull off this scam? He must be out of his mind for money!”

“The distributors who bought from him placed orders in large quantities. When he couldn’t meet the demand, he stole a batch directly from the winery. That’s what led to his exposure. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been discovered so soon.” Liu Zhiqiu didn’t know whether to call the man clever or just plain stupid.

“So, how did you deal with him in the end? Did you kick him out of the winery?”

Liu Zhiqiu chuckled, “I kicked him out. Even if I hadn’t, the other workers wouldn’t have let him stay. No one wants to be dragged down by him.”

In his mind, he recalled the scene of the Duanqiao Village Chief kneeling with his nephew, pleading on his behalf. His gaze darkened for a moment before he quickly concealed it. There was no need to burden the elders with the details.

However, the matter wasn’t kept under wraps for long.

By noon, visitors arrived at the Liu courtyard.

A whole group of people, bringing their families along, knelt in the courtyard, crying their hearts out—tears, snot, and all. They lamented their hardships, their poor living conditions, and begged for forgiveness, claiming their actions were out of desperation.

The Liu elders were taken aback by the spectacle.

At the front was a middle-aged man—though they didn’t recognize him, they could easily guess that he was the village chief’s nephew.

Behind him were men, women, elders, and children, all looking worn and miserable.

The two elderly figures among them were especially frail, their bodies thin and hunched. The women appeared sickly, their faces pale and weak.

It was clear that their household was truly struggling—otherwise, they wouldn’t look so drained of vitality.

The entire courtyard was filled with the sounds of weeping and pleading, loud enough to draw the attention of the neighbors. People gathered at the entrance, curious to witness the commotion.

“Elder Master, Elder Madam, I know you are kind-hearted people. Please forgive me just this once! Let me go back to work at the brewery. If I lose this job, my whole family will starve to death! I only made a foolish mistake in a moment of weakness—I swear I will never do it again!”

“Elder Master, Elder Madam, please spare our family this time! Our man didn’t mean any harm! Look at our household—we have elders and children, and everyone’s health is poor. We can’t do heavy labor, nor do we have any other means to earn a living. Our entire family depends on him to put food on the table. If he loses this job, we will all die—five lives gone!”

The middle-aged woman behind the man wailed, her hair disheveled. Her cries were so shrill and desperate that they startled the children, making them burst into loud sobs as well.

The entire scene was pitiful, tugging at the heartstrings of onlookers.

At the entrance of the Liu family courtyard, no one spoke.

Faced with such a dramatic plea, they didn’t know how to respond.

Although the family did seem genuinely miserable, no one there knew the full story. It wasn’t their place to make reckless judgments.

However, in their eyes, bringing the entire family—elderly parents and young children included—to beg for mercy was rather shameless.

Wasn’t this just forcing them to agree?

If the Liu family refused, word would spread—people would say they were heartless, even when elderly folks and children had knelt at their doorstep begging for mercy.

Grandma and Grandpa Liu and the other elders stepped out of the main hall. Seeing the scene before them, their expressions darkened.

It wasn’t because they felt soft-hearted—it was because they were furious.

Asking for forgiveness wasn’t wrong, but using such a method was disgraceful.

The two elderly people kneeling in front of them had completely white hair. The little child on the ground didn’t look older than five or six.

Dragging elderly parents and young children into this—it was utterly shameless!

Even the elders themselves had no sense of decency!

“Grandpa, Grandma, Father, Mother, Uncle and Aunt—you all go back inside. I’ll handle this.” Liu Zhiqiu addressed his elders, his voice steady. 

Then, he turned to the middle-aged man kneeling in front of him, his expression ice-cold.

“The elders of my family don’t oversee business matters, nor do they know the full details of what happened at the distillery. Begging them is useless. If you have something to say, say it to me. 

But bringing a whole group here like this—what are you trying to do? Get up. Let’s go outside and talk.”

“I’m not getting up! If you don’t agree, we’ll just stay here kneeling. We’ve lost our jobs—there’s no way for us to survive anyway!” the middle-aged man shouted loudly.

Seeing that the Liu family elders were about to head inside, he discreetly signaled to the wailing child.

The child immediately got up and rushed forward, hugging Grandma Liu’s leg tightly. “Grandma, grandma, please forgive my father! He won’t dare to do it again—never again!”

The child cried and pleaded, clinging tightly to her. 

Grandma Liu didn’t know whether to stay or leave, nor did she dare to push the child away. Such a small child could easily be hurt with just one wrong move.

“Child, get up right now! What kind of behavior is this?” Grandma Liu crouched down, trying to pry the child’s hands apart, but the more she pulled, the tighter the child held on. She didn’t dare to forcefully break the grip and could only turn angrily to the couple in the courtyard. “Come and take your child away! You are using a child like this—how shameless can you be?!”

The person kneeling in the middle of the courtyard acted as if they hadn’t heard anything, repeatedly wailing, “Oh! We really can’t live anymore! We’ve begged you so much, but you refuse. You’re leaving us no way to survive!”

“If you won’t give us a way to live, then us two old folks are just a burden. We might as well smash our heads here and die—it’ll save the family two portions of food!”

Such shameless words made everyone tremble with anger.

On the other side, Wei Hong walked up to Grandma Liu, skillfully pried the child off, and placed him back into the middle-aged woman’s arms. She didn’t leave, but instead crossed her arms and stood beside them, blocking anyone who tried to charge forward.

“We really can’t go on living, or else we wouldn’t be begging at your doorstep like this,” the elderly person, who had been kneeling and claiming to want to die, saw Wei Hong’s imposing manner and collapsed, slapping the ground. “Your Liu family is a great and noble household. Everyone says you’re a family of great kindness. One mistake shouldn’t mean death—why can’t you show some mercy? Do you really want all five of us to die before you’re satisfied?”

Liu Zhiqiu’s face darkened as he flexed his wrist. “Aunt Hong, help throw them out!”

“Brother Zhiqiu, wait.” Liu Muqiu finally stepped forward. She had waited for a long time, but still hadn’t seen Liu Zhiqiu make a decision. In the end, he still left these people a way out.

“Muqiu.” Liu Zhiqiu looked at her, frowning. “Stay out of this.”

“I’m not interfering,” Liu Muqiu replied, “I just won’t let anyone tarnish the Liu family’s name without reason.”