Chapter 73 Stealing a Job (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

“You stole my clothes. If you don’t give me the clothes, you should give me money. I didn’t get a single one, and you still have the nerve to act arrogantly towards me. You’ve used all sorts of shameless tricks. I’ll show everyone what your true colors are like.”

Song Cuiping deliberately shouted loudly outside to attract other people to come and watch.

“I’ve made myself perfectly clear. I didn’t steal any of your clothes. Who knows if you deliberately left the clothes at my house to frame me?” Hong Lanlan deliberately tried to disgust Song Cuiping.

Song Cuiping acted as if she had heard a joke, "Did you even use your nearly new brain before you spoke? Fabric is so expensive now, and I spent a lot of time sewing the clothes. Would I deliberately leave my new clothes at your house to frame you?"

Hong Lanlan glared at her, "Anyway, I didn't steal the clothes. I'm looking for who stole them now."

"So much time has passed, and you still haven't found it?" Song Cuiping asked.

Hong Lanlan's expression changed slightly. "It's not that easy to find."

"I think you're deliberately wasting time and trying to drag things out. I'm not going to hold it against you."

Hong Lanlan said, "I didn't think that way. It doesn't matter whether you believe it or not. I won't explain further. If you want to wait, then wait. If you don't want to wait, then leave."

Song Cuiping pulled up a stool and sat down directly. "You have to give me a solution today. I can't let you keep dragging this on."

Hong Lanlan started doing her own thing, deliberately ignoring Song Cuiping.

As time went by, it was soon lunchtime. Song Cuiping didn't stand on ceremony and brought Daya and Erya to Hong Lanlan's house for lunch.

Hong Lanlan had brought back a lot of meat and vegetables from cooking at Xu Qingmo's house. She deliberately preserved them with salt and would stir-fry a piece of them every day when she cooked.

Da Ya and Er Ya smelled the aroma of meat, and their stomachs were filled with cravings.

Hong Lanlan rudely told them to leave, "It's already lunchtime, why did you bring the child along?"

“If you don’t give me compensation, I won’t feel like cooking. I can’t let them starve. The children need to go to school in the afternoon and they need to eat well, so of course I have to bring them here to eat,” Song Cuiping said matter-of-factly.

He arranged for Daya and Erya to sit at the table and reached for a bowl to serve them rice.

Hong Lanlan reached out to grab it, but Song Cuiping grabbed the other end of the bowl and tried to snatch it back.

Two people started arguing over a bowl.

Song Cuiping was strong, so she snatched the bowl away, scooped rice with a spoon, and placed the bowl in front of Daya. Then she took another bowl and scooped rice for Erya.

She served rice not only to Daya and Erya, but also to Zhang Yu and Zhang Ziqian.

Song Cuiping served herself a bowl of rice and sat down to eat. Only when Da Ya and Er Ya saw Song Cuiping eating did they pick up their chopsticks.

Zhang Yu asked in confusion, "Mom, why are Da Ya and Er Ya eating at my house?"

Hong Lanlan said angrily, "They're shameless and you can't get rid of them. You two shouldn't be like them in the future; it's embarrassing."

Song Cuiping slammed her chopsticks on the table and glared at Hong Lanlan. "Thieves don't feel ashamed, so why do you think we who are trying to collect debts are shameful?"

"Song Cuiping, can you please stop talking nonsense in front of the children?"

"You attacked us, mother and daughters, first."

Hong Lanlan sighed silently and sat down at the table. "The children are here. I don't want to argue with you right now. We'll have a proper talk after the children go to school."

"I'll wait."

The meal was quickly finished. After seeing the children off, Hong Lanlan returned to her room and took out a ten-yuan note.

"I don't know how much your clothes cost, but here's a ten-yuan note for you. Give me a week to investigate the real thief. If I don't find the thief after a week, I'll consider myself unlucky and pay whatever compensation is due without question."

This large sum of money served as reassurance for Song Cuiping and also gave her the opportunity to conduct an investigation.

Hong Lanlan waited for Song Cuiping's response.

Song Cuiping took the money, pondered for a moment, and then agreed.

"Okay, I'll give you a week to investigate. I'll take the money now, and I'll come back to you in a week."

After seeing Song Cuiping off, Hong Lanlan sat down at the table and began to think about how to conduct the investigation.

She knew absolutely nothing about this and didn't know where to start. The reason she gave Song Cuiping money to leave was because she didn't want to see her constantly appearing at home.

After thinking about it, Hong Lanlan decided to ask Xu Qingmo and the others for help.

She brought more than ten salted duck eggs to their door last time, so Xu Qingmo's family should have given her some face.

Thinking of this, Hong Lanlan got up and went straight to Xu Qingmo's house.

Xu Qingmo had just come down from the mountain and entered the house when Hong Lanlan arrived.

Xu Qingmo didn't have a good impression of Hong Lanlan and asked suspiciously, "What are you doing here?"

"I came here to ask you for help with something." Hong Lanlan got straight to the point, without beating around the bush.

Xu Qingmo: "We're not even close, why should I help you?"

“We’re close, we’re very close. Have you forgotten how often I used to cook for you? I even brought you some salted duck eggs a few days ago. We live in the same compound, we see each other all the time,” Hong Lanlan said with a smile.

Xu Qingmo pointed to the small bamboo basket in the corner, "The salted duck eggs are still inside. If you feel you've lost out, you can take them back."

"No, no, no, there's no reason to take back something that's been given away."

"Since you're not taking it, you can leave." Xu Qingmo directly asked him to leave.

Hong Lanlan not only didn't leave, but deliberately ran up to Xu Qingmo with a smile on her face, "Xu Qingmo, I'm begging you, only you can help with this, you're the little prodigy in our family compound."

Xu Qingmo was getting a little annoyed by his persistent questioning, so she asked, "What kind of help do you want me to do?"

Hong Lanlan explained her purpose for coming here.

Xu Qingmo roughly understood that Hong Lanlan wanted her to help find the real thief who stole Song Cuiping's clothes.

"I can't think of anyone else, only you can do it." Hong Lanlan praised Xu Qingmo very highly.

Xu Qingmo was flattered by the praise, but she didn't agree. She deliberately kept everyone in suspense.

"It's not that I can't help, but I still have some clothes to wash at home, and I simply don't have the time to help."

The clothes at home are usually washed either by Wang Jing or Chen Jiang.

Xu Qingmo doesn't like doing laundry, but she figured she might as well take advantage of the free labor that was offered to her.

Hong Lanlan immediately understood what she meant and offered to help, "Where are the clothes? I'll wash them."

Xu Qingmo led Hong Lanlan to get the dirty clothes. Hong Lanlan was very quick and efficient, and soon she washed and hung the clothes up to dry.

They then cleaned every room in Xu Qingmo's house again.

Xu Qingmo was fairly satisfied. She told Hong Lanlan to go back first, as she was going to take a nap.

Hong Lanlan: "The clothes are washed, and the room is tidied up. You said you're going to sleep?"

"If you're sleepy, why don't you go to sleep? Are you going to sing and dance for you?"