By then, the three villains had drunk nearly enough to be thoroughly slurred. Yun Qing controlled his divine sense and placed a dose of poison into their wine jug. Only after watching them drink it did he feel at ease.
The poison was the “Thousand-Day Sleep” previously collected by the System. Those poisoned would fall into a deep sleep like drunken people and never awaken, making it perfectly suited for them.
After watching the three men collapse, Yun Qing slipped the envelope into Zhou Hongjun’s pocket.
Even if the public security officers came, they would only assume that Zhou Hongjun had come to arrange a job position for Zhou Yunlan. In any case, the dead could not testify, so Yun Qing was not afraid in the slightest.
After erasing his traces, Yun Qing went to a private residence in the outskirts. It was the treasure vault of Director Sun and his son; over the past few months, they had amassed quite a fortune.
Director Sun was poorly educated and had no interest in antiques or calligraphy and paintings. He liked collecting gold, silver, jewelry, and jade instead. This greatly benefited Yun Qing. Those antiques and calligraphy and paintings all had identifiable origins, so he would not dare sell them even if he took them. These valuables, however, were clearly much easier to deal with.
There were goods in more than a dozen chests, and Yun Qing did not leave a single thing behind. It was ill-gotten wealth, so why should he not take it? Had investigating all this not been hard work?
Only after finishing everything did Yun Qing return to the guesthouse. Since he had not received a warning from Lü Xiao, it meant no one had come looking for him, giving him an alibi.
After putting Lü Xiao away, Yun Qing happily went to sleep. These past few days had truly exhausted him, and at last he could get a good night’s rest.
Early the next morning, the machinery factory waited and waited, but Director Sun still did not show up. Several of his lackeys hurried to his home to look for him. The moment they pushed open the door, they saw the three men sprawled there, dead drunk.
But after walking over for a closer look, they realized this was not merely being dead drunk. They were clearly drunk to death. Terrified, they quickly called the police and notified the families.
There were only Director Sun and his son in his household; his other relatives were all in the countryside.
When Zhao Hongmei heard the news that Zhou Hongjun had drunk himself to death, she was so shocked that her legs went weak, and she nearly fainted.
Zhou Yunxue, Zhou Yunxi, and Zhou Yunlan hurriedly supported her to the scene. Seeing the peaceful expression on Zhou Hongjun’s face, the three of them burst into loud sobs.
After the public security officers finished inspecting the scene, they found nothing suspicious. The deaths were determined to have been caused by alcohol poisoning—in other words, they had drunk themselves to death.
Director Sun’s death gave his opponents hope. They seized the opportunity to take power. This fellow had been utterly inhuman; the fact that they did not kick him while he was down was already proof of their kindness.
There was certainly something odd about Zhou Hongjun’s job position, but no one knew the truth. Everyone assumed that he had finally found his conscience and cared about his daughter.
Naturally, Zhao Hongmei refused to accept this result. In her heart, Zhou Hongjun had never possessed such a conscience. He might give the job position to Zhou Yunxi, but he would absolutely never give it to Zhou Yunlan.
She took Zhou Yunxi to the machinery factory, hoping to transfer the job position to him. The newly appointed leader naturally refused to acknowledge it. What kind of person Director Sun was, and why should he clean up that man’s mess?
There was only one answer: “Director Sun arranged this matter. We only recognize the result. If you refuse to accept it, go find Director Sun and have him change it.”
Zhao Hongmei said, “He’s already dead. Am I supposed to go look for a ghost?”
No matter how unwilling she was, the matter was settled, and she could only force herself to accept it.
And so, Zhou Yunlan went off to take over the job position in high spirits.
Once the Zhou family learned that Zhou Hongjun had died, they naturally came to pay their respects. They also had to transport Zhou Hongjun’s body back to his hometown for burial.
Grandma Zhou was no pushover. When it came to handling Zhao Hongmei, no one could do it better than this mother-in-law. Every force had its counterforce.
The moment they met, Grandma Zhou grabbed Zhao Hongmei by the hair and started slapping her across the face, cursing, “You bringer of ruin! I said from the beginning that you were no good. You seduced my son! You husband-killing wretch! Killing one husband wasn’t enough, so you killed my son too! I want you to pay with your life for my son…”
If the residents' committee workers had not threatened her with punishment for spreading superstition, who knew what else the Old Madam might have cursed her with?
After Zhou Hongjun’s death, the house should, in theory, have been reclaimed. But Zhao Hongmei and her family all had Jing City household registration and no other home, so the factory and the neighborhood authorities could only let them stay for the time being.
After all, Zhou Yunlan was still there. She had taken over the job position and was also a worker at the factory. Thus, the house was transferred from Zhou Hongjun to Zhou Yunlan. However, Zhou Yunlan was single, and under the regulations she could only be allocated one room. The extra room had to be reclaimed by the factory.
There were plenty of people without housing in those days. Why should your family be allowed to occupy space for free? This time, even if the Zhou family threw tantrums and rolled around on the ground, it would be useless. Especially those waiting for housing allocations—they all stood on the factory’s side this time.
If they dared throw a tantrum, those older women were not people to provoke. Every one of them was battle-hardened; each delivered a single insult, leaving you no chance to talk back.
In the end, one room was reclaimed, leaving the room that had previously belonged to the three brothers. Zhou Hongjun and Zhao Hongmei’s former room was taken back.
Zhao Hongmei knew there were gold bars in the house. While sorting through Zhou Hongjun’s belongings, she searched so thoroughly that she might as well have been a rat digging tunnels, turning the entire room upside down. Yet all she found beneath the bed, underground, was an empty chest.
What gold bars? She had not seen them at all.
Zhao Hongmei had been beaten and had also lost the gold bars. The blow was far too great, and she fell ill from anger.
“Still no word from Second Brother?” Zhao Hongmei asked weakly.
“No. Second Brother graduated early and was assigned to Northeast China. We don’t have his address, so we can’t contact him.” Zhou Yunxi spoke dejectedly.
“That ungrateful wretch! His father died, and he still didn’t come back. What an unfilial bastard!” Zhao Hongmei cursed furiously.
Zhou Yunxue rolled his eyes and thought, If it were me, I wouldn’t come back either. You aren’t his biological mother, and now that his biological father is gone too, what the hell does this family have to do with him?
Zhou Yunxi thought the same way. Second Brother would not return to this family. He now had a job and a position, and he was a cadre. He would surely hide as far away as possible.
How could Zhao Hongmei not understand this? She simply wanted an outlet for her anger. Otherwise, how could she vent what was in her heart? She could not bear to curse at her own son, so naturally she could only curse at other people.
Yun Qing did not care about any of this. He was already aboard a train returning to Northeast China. For the rest of their lives, they would have nothing to do with one another.
After learning that Zhou Yunlan had successfully taken over the job position, he stopped paying attention to that family. Just as they had thought, what did that family have to do with him?
He still had a brilliant life to build. However, he did not sever contact with Wang Qiang. He often sent him local specialties from Northeast China, and Wang Qiang never took advantage of him, always sending money back in return.
There were many brothers and sisters in his family, and their ration was nowhere near enough to eat. Only his father and he had jobs, so with Yun Qing as a source of supplies, they could barely keep their stomachs full.
Wang Qiang always remembered what his father had told him: “Having a friend like this is your good fortune. Yun Qing’s future path will be broader than yours. Do your best to build a good relationship with him. If he can lend you a hand at a critical moment, you will benefit for the rest of your life.”
What Wang Qiang’s father had not said was that he absolutely must not provoke that boy. Zhou Hongjun’s death was suspicious, especially his job position. No matter how he thought about it, something was wrong, though he could not say exactly what. But with age came wisdom; this matter certainly could not have been unrelated to Yun Qing.
To calculate everything against an entire family and bring Director Sun and his son down with them—could someone like that be an ordinary person?
The matter of Zhou Hongjun wanting to become relatives with Director Sun was not exactly a secret. Even if no one said it openly, clever people could guess it. Everyone simply chose not to speak of it.
Director Sun had done so many despicable things that his death was a good thing. The only reason no one applauded was out of respect for the dead. Who would bring such matters up for no reason? It was not as if they were sick.