“Special circumstances?” Su Wan suddenly raised her eyes, staring straight at her with a cold, piercing tone that seemed to hammer each word into Sister Chen’s heart. “So the project you recommended isn’t even within the scope of resettlement explicitly stipulated by policy, is it? It’s neither property exchange nor monetary compensation—it’s just an ordinary commercial development. It’s merely using the guise of ‘relocation replacement’ to swindle us relocation households who don’t understand the policies and make a quick buck off our hard-earned money, right?”

Sister Chen was left speechless, her gaze darting around as she unconsciously clenched the hem of her clothes, losing all her previous composure. “You can’t put it that way. I’m only doing this for your own good—I want you to live in better conditions…”

“For our own good?” Su Wan cut her off flatly, her voice brimming with confidence and scorn. “Then let me ask you three more questions. Do you dare answer them? First, does this project have a pre-sale certificate? Second, are the purchase funds deposited into a government-regulated account? Third, if the house isn’t delivered after three years, who will bear our losses?”

Sister Chen stammered, unable to utter a single coherent sentence for what felt like ages, her eyes flitting about in panic. “I… I’m not really sure about these details. You’d have to ask the developer; I’m just responsible for making the recommendation…”

“You’re not sure, yet you still dare recommend it to us?” Su Wan slammed the file shut, her tone firm as she turned to face her parents, who were now staring in shock and sheer dread. “Dad, Mom, don’t sign! This is a trap!”

She stuffed the document into her bag, speaking each word with absolute conviction: “Our 135-square-meter relocation qualification is written into the official agreement and protected by law! To gamble our family’s security on a project that doesn’t even have a pre-sale certificate and could collapse at any moment—this isn’t worth it!”

Sister Chen tried to salvage the situation, forcing a nervous smile as she stepped closer. “Su, you’re being far too cautious. Opportunities are meant for those who dare take risks. Such a great benefit—if we miss out, it’ll be a real shame…”

“I’m not afraid to take risks; I’m afraid to joke around with my parents’ golden years,” Su Wan said, her eyes icy as she glared at her. “They’ve worked hard their whole lives just to have a stable place to live. I won’t let anyone, by any means or trickery, cheat them out of their hard-earned money!”

With that, she took her mother’s hand and gave her father’s arm a firm pat. “Dad, Mom, let’s go—no need to waste any more time here.”

The three of them walked out of the Demolition Office Hall. The midday sun was blinding, and Lin Shengnan remained silent all the way until they boarded the bus, when she finally lowered her voice, trembling with fear. “Wanwan, are those risks you mentioned really that serious? If we actually sign, will we be doomed?”

Su Wan nodded firmly, her tone heavy with concern. “Mom, I’ve seen too many families like this—people who fall for the ‘super-value exchange’ scam, putting their relocation qualifications on the line, only to wait five years without ever getting a home. They end up crammed into a tiny ten-square-meter rental, suffering terribly and regretting it bitterly, yet they don’t even have a place to air their grievances.”

Lin Shengnan fell silent for a long while before suddenly slapping her thigh in anger, her voice rising as she seethed. “What a scoundrel, Sister Chen! She pretends to be so warm-hearted on the surface, but behind our backs she’s always pulling tricks to rip people off! This isn’t helping us at all—she’s deliberately digging pits for us to fall into! Luckily we brought Wanwan along today; otherwise our family would truly be ruined!”

Lin Shengnan wore a look of deep remorse, pounding her own thigh in frustration. “I was such a fool! I thought she was genuinely helpful, always smiling and welcoming us—but who would have guessed she had such wicked intentions, deliberately targeting us ordinary folks who don’t understand the policies!”

By the time they got home at noon, Lin Shengnan had already rushed into the kitchen, chopping meat with a loud thud, as if trying to vent all the anger boiling inside her. Lin Jianguo sat on the balcony sipping tea, the newspaper spread open on his lap, though he wasn’t reading a single word. His expression remained grim, and every now and then he couldn’t help muttering under his breath how Sister Chen had tricked them.

Su Wan returned to her study, opened her laptop, and immediately pulled up a document titled “Relocation Pitfall Avoidance Checklist”—a densely packed list of over a dozen precautions, each one carefully compiled and annotated based on the painful lessons she’d learned from her past life, so as not to overlook a single trap.

As she scrolled through the list, one detail after another sent shivers down her spine. These are the kinds of nuances that ordinary people would never notice, yet stepping on even one of them can mean losing everything. In her past life, it was precisely because they’d ignored these details that they suffered such huge losses.

Her mouse hovered over the Jianying icon on the desktop for a brief moment, then she clicked it without hesitation. A draft box popped up, and she created a new project, importing a test video she’d recorded yesterday—the camera showed her standing in front of a white wall, holding that copy of the “Implementation Details,” her gaze resolute and her presence commanding.

End of Chapter 21: Misleading