Xu Changgui stormed in, furious. The dark circles under his eyes were so black they could fill a bowl of ink. He would take stock of his belongings every day after his night shift, but today he discovered that his drawers had been disturbed.
Having slept in the same bed with Liang Fenglan for so long, nothing like this had ever happened before, so he could only direct his anger at his own daughter.
“Xu Zhizhi, did you touch my drawer?”
Xu Zhizhi feigned surprise, “No?”
Seeing his own daughter’s face, which bore a striking resemblance to his deceased wife, Xu Changgui’s pent-up anger flared up. Who else could it be but her? He raised his hand to slap her.
“You jinx, you’ve stolen from my house, haven’t you…?”
The slap didn’t land on Xu Zhizhi’s head; instead, it struck the threshold of the room. Xu Zhizhi stood up and took a few steps back.
“Dad, we’re the only ones related by blood in this family. After you die, all your money will be mine. I have no reason to steal. Maybe a thief broke into our house?”
“Check if any clues have been left behind, so we can talk to the police later.”
You definitely can’t report it to the police.
The small yellow croakers in Xu Changgui’s drawer were leftovers from years ago. If he told the police that he had these things hidden at home, he might lose his job.
Upon hearing the report, Xu Changgui’s expression froze for a moment. He stormed back into the room and slammed the door shut.
About fifteen minutes later, Xu Changgui, reeking of smoke, opened the door, his eyes filled with a frighteningly fierce look.
“Don’t touch anything in the house, I’m going to find your Uncle Huang.”
Xu Zhizhi’s brow twitched. Uncle Huang was Xu Changgui’s childhood friend and worked as a police auxiliary officer at the police station near the match factory.
Is Xu Changgui really going to call the police?
In this day and age, there shouldn’t be any fingerprint detection or anything like that, right?
She hadn’t thought that much about it when she was looking for him, but now that she heard Xu Changgui was going to find the auxiliary police officer, she panicked.
We shouldn’t have been so hasty.
After giving his instructions, Xu Changgui was about to leave when he encountered Liang An carrying a small stool back home.
“Dad, I’m back!” Liang An called out with a simple smile.
Xu Changgui didn’t have time to pay attention to him, so he nodded haphazardly and closed the door.
At this moment, Xu Zhizhi came out of the room and saw the train ticket that Liang An handed her. Her face lit up with joy. It was even a sleeper ticket, for tomorrow night.
“The ticket seller said you’re a martyr’s family member and gave you special treatment. Xu Zhizhi, are you really going to attend your brother-in-law’s funeral?”
Shut up!
Xu Zhizhi took out ten yuan from her pocket, which she had taken from Xu Changgui yesterday. “This money is to keep you quiet. You keep my trip to the funeral a secret for me. After I leave, my room is yours.”
Liang An’s eyes lit up. “It’s a deal.”
…
Xu Changgui returned half an hour later, followed by a middle-aged man with a buzz cut, round and in his thirties, wearing a gray-blue uniform. After entering, the man nodded to Xu Zhizhi and then followed Xu Changgui into the room.
This time, Xu Changgui didn’t close the door, and Uncle Huang wandered around the whole house, not missing a single spot.
Finally, the person lingered in front of that large wooden cabinet for a long time.
Xu Zhizhi’s heart was in her throat, and her palms were sweating with nervousness.
Finally, Uncle Huang followed Xu Changgui to the balcony. Xu Zhizhi, sitting in the living room, could only vaguely hear their conversation on the balcony.
“Old Huang, what do you think about this?”
“It must have been someone you knew. There were no signs of forced entry in your cabinet. Does anyone in your family know where the key is?”
Where is the key?
Aside from Liang Fenglan, I doubt anyone else knows this.
“Only your sister-in-law should know.”
“Don’t jump to conclusions. Maybe it’s a misunderstanding. Go back and check it carefully yourself, then talk to your sister-in-law about whether the amount is large.”
Xu Changgui was a habitually stingy person, always displaying the characteristics of a poor man. When asked about the amount, he hesitated for a long time before answering.
“Not much, just a few tickets and a few dozen yuan.”
“You can’t file a case like this, so you’d better look for it at home… Also, let me tell you, if you had any small yellow croakers stored at home before, you’d better keep an eye on them. Although things are gradually opening up now, you can’t be sure about policies, especially given my ex-sister-in-law’s status…”
Xu Changgui’s face darkened. “Gui Meiren is gone, where am I supposed to get all that stuff? My family relies solely on my salary, we’re very poor…”
Seeing that Xu Changgui’s eyes were darting around, Old Huang saw no need to ask any further questions.
“That’s great, I’ll be going now if there’s nothing else!”
“Okay, come over for a drink sometime. Your sister-in-law’s cooking skills aren’t bad either.”
After seeing Uncle Huang off, Xu Changgui locked the door, picked up the bag, and went out again.
Xu Zhizhi knew that once the seed of doubt was planted, it would take root and sprout in Xu Changgui’s heart.
He must have gone to the cafeteria to find Liang Fenglan.
She wasn’t interested in their dispute; what she needed to do now was sell the house that belonged to Xiong Guimei, who was also the original owner’s biological mother.
The match factory underwent restructuring this year, and houses can be bought out based on years of service or exchanged among factory employees. I remember that the original owner’s biological mother had a good friend in the factory.
In the book, when the original owner returned home in fear of domestic violence, only Aunt Yang took her in.
However, the original owner was foolish and, after being instigated by Liang Fenglan at home, believed that her mother’s death was due to her switching shifts with Aunt Yang.
Therefore, the original owner only regarded Aunt Yang as a source of income from whom she could take whatever she wanted.
Xu Zhizhi rummaged through her spatial storage and grabbed a bag of apples and goat milk powder, then headed towards Aunt Yang’s house, which she remembered.
She took a deep breath outside the door before knocking on Aunt Yang’s wooden door.
“Aunt Yang!”
Xu Zhizhi’s voice was already soft and sweet, but her guilty, strained tone made everyone’s heart tremble.
Although the original owner of the body was the one who did it, Xu Zhizhi still felt somewhat guilty now that she was wearing the original owner’s face.
Yang Yufen was frying radish balls in the kitchen when she heard Xu Zhizhi’s voice and happily opened the door.
“Zhizhi, what brings you here today? I was just thinking of going to see you.”
This girl has had a hard life; she lost her mother when she was young, and then lost her husband after getting married. Yang Yufen treated her like her own daughter, and hurriedly welcomed her into the house.
“You, you come here without bringing anything. The match factory has everything. Your sister Fangfang even brought back a box of oranges last week.”
Xu Zhizhi put down her things and sat down on the sofa with a natural air of nonchalance.
“Aunt Yang, these are no ordinary apples. They used to be reserved for the emperor. And this bag is goat milk powder, which is perfect for your age. If you like the taste, write to me next time and I’ll buy you more.”
Upon hearing this, Yang Yufen quickly took off her apron.
“Why are you writing a letter, Zhizhi? Where are you going?”
Is this girl thinking of doing something drastic?
Thinking of this, Yang Yufen’s heart skipped a beat, and she quickly grasped Xu Zhizhi’s hand, “Zhizhi, tell Auntie, did Liang Fenglan bully you?”
Xu Zhizhi shook her head. “Aunt Yang, I plan to go to the station in Qiqihar to find Wenzhu.”
“What?”
Upon hearing this, Yang Yufen was so shocked that she stood up abruptly. Zhizhi’s husband had died half a month ago, and the funeral expenses had already been paid. Could this child be possessed?