"What should we do then?" Zhao Kunming dared not retort, his voice tinged with hesitation.
"What's so difficult about that? We can just find Yifeng again," Liu Ju said dismissively. "Tell him we want to invest in his vegetable greenhouses, and ask him to give us some equity."
"Mom, you're thinking about this too simply. Yifeng has already allocated equity to the investors. If we invest now, he'll have to re-allocate the shares. Not only is the process troublesome and complex, but those existing investors won't agree either."
Liu Ju still didn't see it as a problem. "No matter what, I'm Yifeng's biological aunt. Would he refuse to let me make money just for those outsiders? I'll call him about it later, no, I'll go see him in person tomorrow and tell him face-to-face."
"Go ahead. I doubt you won't be met with a cold shoulder!" Zhao Dacheng, who had been happy about the sudden increase of over a thousand yuan, was now filled with helplessness and regret. Such a good opportunity to make money, lost just like that. When all the relatives were joyfully collecting their dividends, they would only have envy.
"Hmph, that won't happen!" Liu Ju had a mysterious confidence.
Even Zhao Kunming felt that investing midway was impossible. Through today's events with Optimus Prime, he understood that Yifeng was not someone swayed by family ties; he had his own principles. Of course, nothing is absolute. If they didn't try, there would be no chance at all. If they tried, there might be a sliver of possibility. Thus, he didn't stop his mother from going tomorrow.
Just as Liu Ju was pondering how to persuade Yifeng, Liu Yifeng was chatting with his elder aunt in the living room. Suddenly, Tong Tong ran out from a room, "Daddy, Optimus Prime is wobbling and about to fall!"
Liu Yifeng immediately stood up, "Tong Tong, what's wrong?"
"I don't know. I just touched it, and it started to wobble," Tong Tong explained, looking anxious.
Liu Yifeng rushed into the room and indeed saw Optimus Prime shaking. Logically, as long as it wasn't aging, Optimus Prime shouldn't be shaking. This thing weighed seventy to eighty pounds! It wasn't until he saw that the screws at Optimus Prime's joints and knee joints were missing, and a part on its chest was also gone, that he understood why it was wobbling. But these parts wouldn't fall off on their own; there was only one possibility: it was done intentionally.
"Tong Tong, did you see anyone take anything from Optimus Prime today?"
"No. My brothers and sisters and I just played for a while, and we didn't see anyone take anything off Optimus Prime!" Tong Tong shook his head.
At this moment, Liu Mei and Liu Chunsheng also walked in. "Yifeng, what's wrong with the toy?"
"Some parts of Optimus Prime were removed, which is why it's unstable and shaking," Liu Yifeng pointed to several areas.
"Could it be that one of the children was mischievous and knocked them off?" Liu Chunsheng voiced his guess. People usually wouldn't suspect adults of such things. After all, they were all family; who would do something so pointless and wicked? On a small scale, it was just taking off some parts, but on a larger scale, it was deliberately damaging property. This Optimus Prime wasn't cheap to buy. If it toppled over and they couldn't find suitable replacement parts, it would be useless. Three to four thousand yuan would be wasted.
However, Liu Yifeng had a different idea. "Dad, I'm afraid this wasn't done by a child!"
"Yifeng, you can't just say things like that. The people who came for dinner today were your uncles and aunts. Why would they take apart this thing? It's not like it's valuable!" Liu Mei quickly added, "Elder aunt didn't take anything apart!"
"Elder aunt, I wouldn't suspect you of anything. But when I say it was an adult, I'm not making it up. Look at the chest area of Optimus Prime. It's about 1.5 meters high, right? The children who came for dinner today were all around 1.2 to 1.3 meters tall. They couldn't have reached the parts there unless they used a stool, but that would have drawn too much attention. Anyone would have seen them. Therefore, it must have been an adult!" Liu Yifeng explained his reasoning.
Upon hearing this, the two of them felt it made some sense. But adults had no reason to tamper with a child's toy, especially since they were all family. Who would do something so unethical?
"Yifeng, no matter who did this, it was definitely one of us. I think we should let this go. Let's not fall out over this, which would embarrass everyone! Go and ask the toy store if they have matching parts, and buy them if they do!" Liu Chunsheng, from his generation, always prioritized family ties above all else.
Liu Mei also shared this sentiment. "Yifeng, I think your father is right. We don't know who did it, and you can't ask them one by one, can you? No one will admit it, and it will hurt everyone's feelings!"
"Actually, I already have a suspect in mind." The moment Liu Yifeng saw the missing parts on Optimus Prime, a person's face flashed in his mind.
Liu Chunsheng immediately asked, "Who do you suspect?"
"I suspect it was Second Aunt. She always spoils her grandson. Today, her grandson took a liking to Tong Tong's Optimus Prime and wanted to take it home, but we refused. Wasn't that why you said Cousin Kunming slapped Xiao Hao before dinner? Second Aunt is a petty person, and she might actually do something like this to get back at Xiao Hao!"
After hearing Yifeng's analysis, Liu Chunsheng agreed to some extent. "But we don't have any evidence to directly prove it was your Second Aunt. If you ask her, she'll definitely deny it. In my opinion, it's best to smooth things over and let it pass."
"Dad, this isn't a matter of smoothing things over. For Second Aunt to do something like this, on a larger scale, it could be considered a crime: intentionally damaging someone's property. We are family, so we can let it slide, but if it were someone else, they would definitely call the police. It might even leave a criminal record. Therefore, only by teaching Second Aunt a lesson will she not dare to do it again. Otherwise, there will be a second, a third time." Liu Yifeng's expression was serious.
"Then what do you plan to do?" Liu Chunsheng didn't want to get involved and decided to let Yifeng handle it himself. After all, she was his sister, and he couldn't bear to see her in trouble, but he also knew that Yifeng had a point.
"We definitely won't get anything out of asking directly, so we can trick her into admitting it." Liu Yifeng had already thought of a plan. He knew his Second Aunt's character too well: domineering at home and flustered when facing trouble. If he just scared her a little, she would surely confess.
After speaking, he immediately called his Second Aunt. Liu Ju had just returned home after selling vegetables when she received Liu Yifeng's call. She couldn't help but recall what she had done, and her heart sank with a hint of panic. However, thinking that she had done it secretly and no one had seen her, she calmed down and casually asked, "Yifeng, why are you calling Second Aunt?"