Chu Sheng put on a show of urgency, yet he couldn’t hide the excitement and smugness in his eyes.
Besides, with a family like theirs that couldn’t even afford a bride price for their daughter-in-law, where would they get savings of over two thousand yuan? Where did he dream that up?
And claiming Xia Xian had stolen it—what an idiot.
Quan Ruifeng curled his lips in a sneer, his gaze heavy.
“Are you sure Xia Xian stole over two thousand yuan from you? Think carefully before you answer—filing a false report carries serious consequences.”
“You don’t want to find out what they are.”
Quan Ruifeng reminded them out of professional duty.
But Chu Sheng wouldn’t hear any of it—as far as he was concerned, Xia Xian stealing their family’s money was a fact!
He said with certainty, “I’m sure. Xia Xian stole over two thousand yuan from our family. We want to file a report!”
“That’s right! We’re filing a report!”
“You little cop, you keep trying to stop us—don’t tell me you’ve hooked up with that shameless little hussy Xia Xian? Let me tell you, even if she’s your mistress, you can’t play favorites. You’re a cop! You’re supposed to serve the people!”
Old Mrs. Chu eyed Quan Ruifeng suspiciously, throwing around words like “hussy” and “mistress” left and right.
Quan Ruifeng had never encountered anyone so vulgar and crude. He let out a cold laugh of disbelief, then abruptly turned and strode back into the police station.
His long legs carried him swiftly, the air rustling in his wake.
“Come do the statement. I’m dispatching officers immediately.”
He tossed out a single icy sentence, clearly genuinely angered.
“Mom, can you control your mouth and stop running it? He doesn’t look like someone to mess with. If you piss him off, we’ll all be in deep trouble!”
“Besides, he’s a cop. If he really doesn’t want to handle our case, what can we do about it? We wouldn’t even know where to file a complaint against him—what, throw a tantrum? And what if they lock us up again like yesterday?”
Chu Sheng was exasperated and started lecturing his mother—he couldn’t let her ruin his plans.
“Oh, yes, yes, yes. Mom knows she was wrong. I’m used to throwing tantrums. I’ll change.”
Old Mrs. Chu also knew how serious this was and immediately apologized sheepishly. She even went inside to carefully apologize to Quan Ruifeng.
“I’m sorry, little cop. I was just too anxious earlier. I didn’t mean to say those nasty things to you.”
“Who wouldn’t be anxious after losing so much money? And my family didn’t just lose money—we lost our daughter-in-law too. You have to understand an old widow like me. I’ve been on my own for years, life hasn’t been easy…”
She started to wail again.
“Quiet.”
But Quan Ruifeng wasn’t buying it. He shot her a cold, piercing glare and barked the order, his voice commanding. Chu Sheng quickly tugged at his mother again, and the group stumbled through the rest of the paperwork.
Quan Ruifeng went to fetch Liu Jun, and they first stopped by the Chu residence to take a look before heading with Chu Sheng and his mother toward Xia Xian’s house.
The two families lived at opposite ends—one east, one west—a good hour’s walk apart.
It was precisely because of the distance that the Xia family hadn’t heard about Eldest Brother Chu’s illness in the first place.
At this hour, the men of the Xia family had all gone to work. At home were Father Xia, Elder Brother Xia, Second Brother Xia, and Xia Xian, who all had jobs.
Her mother and sisters-in-law were unemployed—finding work in these times was incredibly hard. Occasionally they’d fill in as day laborers if someone needed temporary help, earning a few days’ wages.
Back then, to keep their children from being sent to the countryside, Father and Mother Xia had scraped together every last cent of their savings and called in every favor they had, finally managing to buy jobs for Elder Brother Xia and Second Brother Xia—and racking up considerable debt in the process. As for Xia Xian’s job, she’d earned it herself through an exam. She’d been lucky enough to help a benefactor, who told her the factory was hiring and urged her to take the test. She rose to the occasion and passed.
She was still only a temporary worker, but at least she didn’t have to go to the countryside.
She hadn’t originally wanted to marry so soon, but she feared something might go wrong with her job and she’d still be sent down. On top of that, the house was too crowded, she was of age, and Eldest Brother Chu seemed decent enough—all factors combined, she’d gotten married.
Who would’ve thought that even being this cautious, she’d still fall into the Chu family’s trap? Fortunately, heaven had given her another chance.
Today, Xia Xian had planned to go find Quan Ruifeng to discuss their deal. Once that was settled, she’d free up her hands to deal with Chu Sheng and his mother. She never expected them to come knocking on her door.
The moment the door opened and she saw Chu Sheng and his mother daring to show up, Lei Juan flew into a rage. She grabbed a broom and swung it at them.
“You dare come to my house! You heartless bastards—you tricked my good daughter into becoming a widow! I’ll beat you to death!”
“That’s right, that’s right! And now you’re bullying her at her own doorstep!”
Sister-in-law Xia and Second Sister-in-law Xia immediately went to grab whatever weapons they could find.
“Hey, hey, hey, Auntie, calm down! Don’t hit us—we’re the police!”
“These two are claiming that Xia Xian stole over two thousand yuan from their house before she came back to her parents’ last night. They’ve filed a report, so we have to come check it out and question Comrade Xia Xian.”
Liu Jun grabbed the broom and urged her to settle down, then explained why they were there.
However, his words only made Lei Juan fly into a rage, and she asked in disbelief.
“My daughter stole over two thousand yuan from them? Setting aside whether my daughter would steal money, if they had that much money, would their son still be unmarried?”
Xia Xian was also shocked by the audacity and stupidity of this mother and son pair, though they had always been like this.
She let out a scoff, crossed her arms over her chest, and couldn’t be bothered to argue, merely glancing at them sideways.
“They say I stole, so I stole? Where’s the evidence?”
“Director Mei watched me leave yesterday. I couldn’t wait to get out of the Chu family’s house—who would have the time to steal money? Besides, I didn’t even ask them for a bride price, precisely because I understood how poor they were. Accusing me of stealing is an insult. If they can’t produce evidence, I’ll sue them for defamation! Along with fraud by false marriage and hooliganism!”
Xia Xian spoke with conviction, showing not a trace of guilt from having done something wrong.
Liu Jun also thought what this mother and son pair said was far-fetched, but unfortunately, as a public security officer, he still had to enforce the law impartially and follow the proper procedures.
“Then—”
“You come with us, and have Director Mei serve as your witness.”
Liu Jun was about to speak when Quan Ruifeng cut him off. He looked at Xia Xian, and although his voice was still cold and his expression indifferent, Liu Jun could still detect something different.
He wondered to himself—this man usually didn’t care about anything except that matter, and this was just going through the motions. Why did he suddenly speak up today?
“Fine.”
“Mom, eldest sister-in-law, second sister-in-law, don’t worry about me. I’ll be back soon.”
Xia Xian wasn’t afraid in the least and was ready to head out immediately.
“Who’s poor! We just don’t flaunt our wealth!”
“It’s not that we can’t afford the bride price—we wanted to test you! We wouldn’t want those who worship money and despise poverty anyway!”
“Regardless, my money was stolen by you. Go back and take a look yourself—see what you’ve done to our house! There’s not a single place to set foot!”
Old Mrs. Chu said with fierce momentum, growing even more self-righteous.
“It’s not that they can’t afford the bride price, but that marrying a sister-in-law is more cost-effective? Hah.”