The man named Li Deng simply didn’t want to offend Wang Dahua—not that he was afraid of her.
Earlier, he had just been watching the commotion and didn’t want trouble.
But now, what Su Qinghe was holding in her hand were real meat coupons—two whole jin of them!
All he had to do was run and call the police for a few minutes, and he could earn two jin of meat coupons. Only a fool wouldn’t go.
Li Deng was young and strong. With a hard yank of his arm, he directly shook Wang Dahua off balance.
“Wang Dahua, you’re already this old—why are you grabbing me? What, you trying to eat young grass with an old cow like you?”
Li Deng had always been a rough-and-tumble type. Now that he was in a hurry, his words became even more unrestrained.
Wang Dahua was furious. “You little brat, what nonsense are you talking about! Who would ever fancy you? I’m telling you not to meddle!”
“Who are you calling an old lady?” Li Deng glared fiercely. “Say one more word and I’ll slap you!”
Thinking of Li Deng’s usual reputation, Wang Dahua instinctively shrank back.
“I’m just telling you not to go!” she said, her voice much lower. “It’s just a few pieces of dried sweet potato. If you really call the police over this, they’ll think you’re wasting their time.”
Hearing this, Li Deng hesitated and glanced toward Su Qinghe.
At that moment, Su Qinghe pulled another meat coupon from her bag.
“Whoever calls the police—four jin of meat coupons.”
The hesitation in Li Deng’s eyes vanished instantly, as if two flames had lit up in them.
“Police are here to serve the people! Even if it’s just a few sweet potatoes, the police will definitely handle it!”
Without another word, he turned and ran.
And the moment he turned, he saw others already sprinting ahead of him.
“Damn it! You’re stealing my lead!” he cursed, immediately breaking into a full sprint.
Wang Dahua’s expression changed completely as she watched them run.
These people were really going to bring the police!
What was she supposed to say when the police arrived?
Her expression flickered between panic and calculation, but soon steadied again.
Even if the police came, so what?
She only needed to say her dried sweet potatoes were missing. That was enough.
No proof they stole it—and no proof they didn’t.
With that thought, she became smug again.
More than ten minutes later, two police officers arrived.
Li Deng walked proudly beside them.
“I was the one who brought the officers here!”
He was almost out of breath, lungs burning from the sprint, but he had made it first.
Su Qinghe smiled and handed him the two jin of meat coupons.
“Comrade, thank you for your trouble.”
Li Deng examined them carefully, confirmed they were real, and tucked them away happily.
But he didn’t leave—he wanted to see how this would unfold.
The older officer spoke first. His name was Xu Changjiang, a seasoned policeman. The younger one was his apprentice, Zhao Liang.
“Who is reporting the case? What happened?”
“I am!”
Su Qinghe raised her hand.
“Comrade officer, this old lady says my son stole her dried sweet potatoes.”
“Although sweet potatoes aren’t valuable, this concerns my son’s reputation—and mine as well.”
“How can my son be a thief? How can I be a thief’s mother?”
“This must be investigated!”
Xu Changjiang had originally thought this was a trivial matter.
But after hearing her words, his expression changed.
It wasn’t just about a few sweet potatoes.
It was about a child’s reputation—and a mother’s dignity.
This had to be investigated properly.
“Who reported the loss?” he asked coldly.
All eyes turned to Wang Dahua.
“It’s me,” she stepped forward. “Comrade officer, I lost my dried sweet potatoes.”
“Where did you dry them?” he asked.
“Right here!”
She pointed to the stone steps outside her door.
Everyone looked over and indeed saw a straw mat with sliced dried sweet potatoes.
“And here—two pieces are missing! The marks are still here!”
She said this proudly, glancing at Su Qinghe.
She wasn’t making a false accusation—she had prepared this.
The crowd immediately believed her, looking at Qin Mu with mocking eyes and at Su Qinghe with sympathy.
The boy clenched his fists tightly, glaring at Wang Dahua.
Just as he was about to speak, Su Qinghe stepped forward.
“Your sweet potatoes were just cut, right?”
“Yes, so what?”
“That means they were cut from whole boiled sweet potatoes.”
“Yes, obviously. Are you stupid?”
She looked at Su Qinghe like she was an idiot.
Su Qinghe smiled slightly.
“Then they can be reassembled into whole sweet potatoes. If I put them back together, we’ll see if anything is missing.”
Everyone froze.
Even Officer Xu raised an eyebrow in surprise.
That… actually makes sense.
Wang Dahua panicked instantly.
“Who could possibly reassemble them?!”
“I can,” Su Qinghe said firmly.
“I’ll do it right here. Everyone can watch.”
Xu Changjiang nodded. “Alright. Go ahead.”
With no way to stop it, Wang Dahua could only stand there anxiously.
She didn’t believe it could be done—
But she also feared it really could.
Because she had carelessly tossed the two missing pieces on top of the others instead of hiding or eating them.
Now it was too late.
Under everyone’s gaze, Su Qinghe calmly squatted down and began piecing the dried sweet potatoes together one by one.
To others, it seemed impossible.
But to her, it was too simple.
She had solved 10,000-piece puzzles before.
This was nothing more than a few pieces of dried sweet potato.