The key wouldn't open the iron gate!

As Ruan Jin reeled with shock and anger, the others also noticed something was wrong, plunging the scene into an eerie silence. Ruan Su's bright smile instantly froze on his face; the awkwardness was palpable.

Zhou Heng shot him an odd look. "Old man, you're not playing me, are you?"

He mumbled to himself, "I was just thinking, this is Haitang Court, the Tower King of properties. Entry is forbidden within a ten-kilometer radius, so how could you possibly have a key?"

As he spoke, he looked at Ruan Su, and his sighing gaze seemed to say, *We're old friends, why lie just to save face?*

Ruan Su glared at his grandson. "What's going on!"

Beads of sweat rolled down Ruan Jin's cheeks as he stammered, "Th-that is..."

Song Ru quickly gave him a pointed look, chiming in, "You must have brought the wrong key. Isn't that right, son?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Ruan Jin hurriedly nodded. "I must have brought the wrong key..."

"This gate has a smart access control system. You can use facial recognition, a fingerprint, or a passcode," Zhou Heng's silver-haired wife pointed out curiously. "You couldn't have forgotten all that, could you?"

"This..." Ruan Jin was speechless. He internally cursed his friend's ancestors back eighteen generations.

The silence grew extremely awkward. Ruan Su felt as if his old face were being slapped repeatedly, wishing he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into. He had invited his good friend Zhou Heng over to show off, but he never expected his own son and grandson to let him down so badly!

Just then, Ruan Qingshan walked over to a side door and gave it a push. The door swung open!

He exclaimed in delight, "Over here! This door is open!"

Ruan Jin let out a long sigh of relief. So that's what it was. My friend left a side door unlocked, which explains why he only gave me one key. This key must be for the door to the Haitang Court villa itself!

"You mean you weren't lying?" It was Zhou Heng's turn to be skeptical.

"Nonsense," Ruan Su snorted. "But if you and your wife don't believe me, you can leave right now."

Leave? We're standing right at the entrance to Haitang Court. How could we possibly leave without at least going in for a bit! Zhou Heng thought.

He teased aloud, "Kicking us out already, old man? Such a childish tantrum. Do you want me to kneel and apologize?"

Ruan Su, never one to back down, actually nodded. "Fine."

The two old men nearly came to blows.

"Grandpa, Grandpa Zhou, stop arguing!" Ruan Jin cut in, his face dark with frustration. "If we go in now, we can still catch the sunrise." Why are they both acting like children?

Zhou Heng's wife also scolded them, "Arguing in front of the younger generation, aren't you embarrassed?"

"Hmph!" Zhou Heng and Ruan Su exchanged a glare before simultaneously looking away.

The group then entered through the side door.

Ruan Jin held the key out toward the main villa door, only to break out in a cold sweat again. The key… was wrong! This key wasn't for this door at all.

"What the hell!" Ruan Jin jumped up and cursed. What in the world was going on?!

"Hey! You there! Come on out!" a few sharp voices yelled from a distance.

Ruan Jin and the others turned to see a dozen security guards approaching with cold expressions, batons in hand.

One of the middle-aged guards pointed at Ruan Jin. "Captain Wang, it's them. They used fake staff passes to get in."

"Heh," the security captain sneered. "Pretty bold of you, trying to steal from Haitang Court."

"And bringing two old men and an old lady along for the job. How audacious!" the deputy captain added, his face darkening. This was a blatant insult to their Mount Haitang security team!

The staff passes are fake? And this key is also fake… Ruan Jin was completely dumbfounded. If he couldn't realize by now that his friend had set him up, he was a true idiot.

"No, we're not thieves!" Ruan Su roared. "I am Ruan Su of the Ruan Family from East Sea, and he is Zhou Heng of the Zhou Family! We came here to watch the sunrise!"

"Right, right!" Zhou Heng nodded vigorously, like a chicken pecking at grain. "We're really not thieves."

"Zhou Heng of the Zhou Family, Ruan Su of the Ruan Family…" The security captain clapped his hands as if in sudden realization. "Oh, so it's you!"

Zhou Heng and Ruan Su breathed a collective sigh of relief. It seems our names still carry some weight.

"Captain, who are these two?" the deputy captain asked cautiously. Could they be important people? If so, we're in big trouble.

"Never heard of them. I'm just messing with them." The captain waved a lazy hand. "Beat them up, then call the police!"

Fifteen security guards, all able-bodied men between twenty and forty, swung their batons at them all at once. How could Ruan Su and his family possibly resist?

Soon, every one of them was covered in injuries. They finally screamed, "We surrender! We surrender, stop hitting us! Why are you still hitting us after we've surrendered?! Ah!"

"Hands on your heads! Kneel down!" the security captain barked.

Humiliated and furious, they could only comply.

Zhou Heng, his face bruised and battered, cursed under his breath, "Ruan Su, you son of a bitch! Didn't you say you knew the owner of Haitang Court? What the hell is going on!"

Ruan Su, whose arm was now broken, choked and couldn't get a word out. Unable to bear his old friend's furious glare, he finally managed to whisper an explanation.

Tears streamed down Zhou Heng's old face. "You've really screwed me over!"

Zhou Heng's wife was already sobbing softly. As a distinguished botanist and a visiting professor at East Sea University, she was respected wherever she went. Yet today, she had been beaten like a common thief! If she was taken to the police station and left with a criminal record, how could she ever show her face again?

Ruan Jin and his parents, Ruan Qingshan and Song Ru, kept their heads down, not daring to utter a single word.

Just as the security captain took out his phone to call the police, the curtains on the second floor of Haitang Court were pulled aside, and an annoyed woman's voice called out, "What's with all the racket so early in the morning? Are you trying to keep people from sleeping?!"

"My apologies, my apologies! We've caught some petty thieves. We'll take care of it immediately. Please, go back to sleep!" the security captain said nervously. He had to be nervous. Anyone who could spend five hundred million on Haitang Court possessed a power and status that, much like the view from the villa, allowed them to look down on the entire East Sea. Such a person was absolutely not to be offended!

"Oh, thank you for your hard work. Please handle it quickly; there are children in the house."

Ruan Lan rubbed her sleepy eyes. That group kneeling on the ground looks a little familiar, she thought. But their faces were bruised and swollen, and having just woken up, she wasn't wearing her contact lenses. She failed to recognize them, so she closed the window and went back to sleep.

Meanwhile, Ruan Su and his eldest son's family were completely stunned.

The woman was incredibly familiar! She looked just like…

"Ruan Lan!?" Song Ru exclaimed in shock. "How could Ruan Lan be living in Haitang Court? This is impossible!"

Ruan Qingshan and Ruan Jin were equally dumbfounded.

"All of you, shut your traps!" the security captain roared. "Wake the owner of Haitang Court again, and you might not leave here alive."

"How dare you!" Ruan Su scrambled to his feet, sneering, "The woman who was just here is my granddaughter! You'd better apologize immediately, or else—"

"Apologize my ass!" the security captain spat, his face grim. "Brothers, give them a proper welcome. These petty thieves are more stubborn than the usual ones."

"Stop hitting me! Aaargh! Stop, that's really my granddaughter!" Ruan Su wailed, covering his head in his hands.

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