Chapter 21 Evidence

These past two days, Huo Chenzhou has been extremely busy dealing with urgent tasks for the troops, often returning home late at night. No one dares to talk nonsense in front of him, so he is unaware of this matter.

Shen Zhixia didn't want to distract him, so she didn't tell him about her discovery.

That night, she got up to use the restroom in the middle of the night and heard a very soft sound outside. She held her breath and looked out through the crack in the window paper. She saw a dark figure sneaking out of Officer Li's yard. The figure moved with practiced ease, holding a few newspapers in its hand and throwing them on the ground.

Shen Zhixia put on her coat and carefully opened the door.

The night wind made her shiver. She leaned against the wall, staring at the figure in the distance. She wanted to catch the person directly, but the dark figure was very cautious. She left quickly, the door closed, and she disappeared into the night.

Although she couldn't see the figure clearly, she could roughly guess that it was Old Mrs. Li.

But there are no surveillance cameras in this era. If she rushes in now and the other party doesn't admit it, there's nothing she can do.

Thinking of this, Shen Zhixia went back to sleep.

The next morning, when Shen Zhixia went out, she deliberately passed by Officer Li's house. Officer Li's door was open and there was someone in the yard, but the yard was quiet, as if nothing had happened yesterday. However, through the door, she noticed that the soil at the entrance of their cellar had been disturbed.

She found Zhang Weihong and told her what she had seen last night. Zhang Weihong turned pale with shock: "My God, what is that old woman Li trying to do? She's trying to kill you!"

“I’m going to find her right away, she deserves to die.”

“No rush.” Shen Zhixia frowned. “Even if we go to her now, she won’t admit it. We need to find evidence first.”

Zhang Weihong thought for a moment and said, "Okay, how do you want me to help?"

Shen Zhixia whispered something to her.

Zhang Weihong's expression was serious.

After discussing it with Zhang Weihong, Shen Zhixia decided to risk going to see Old Mrs. Li's cellar. So when she saw that no one was in the Li family, she asked Zhang Weihong to keep watch outside while she quietly slipped into the Li family's house.

Old Mrs. Li's cellar was in the courtyard, and the entrance was covered by a stone slab.

Shen Zhixia struggled to move the stone slab, and a damp, musty smell wafted out. She turned on the flashlight she had brought and slowly went down into the cellar.

The cellar was dark and filled with all sorts of odds and ends. Shen Zhixia shone her flashlight around and finally found a broken earthenware jar in a corner. It was half-filled with raw sugar, and the sand mixed in with the sugar was exactly the same as the one that Old Mrs. Li had given to Zhang Weihong!

She also found some torn newspapers next to the pottery jar, with many malicious words written on them, indicating that the old lady Li intended to continue spreading rumors.

She finally found the evidence!

She carefully took a small piece of taffy from the earthenware jar, picked up the newspapers, and prepared to leave, but just then she heard footsteps coming from above the cellar.

"Who's down there?" It was Old Mrs. Li's voice.

Shen Zhixia frowned, quickly turned off her flashlight, and hid behind a pile of clutter, holding her breath.

Old Mrs. Li took the oil lamp and went down into the cellar, muttering, "Strange, how could the stone slab have moved?"

She shone the lamp on the broken earthenware jar and suddenly exclaimed, "Sugar! Where did my sugar go? And the newspaper too..."

Shen Zhixia hid in the shadows, her heart pounding. She knew she couldn't be discovered by Old Mrs. Li, otherwise not only would the evidence be lost, but she might also be falsely accused.

Just at this critical moment, Zhang Weihong's voice came from above the cellar: "Grandma Li, are you home? I've come to borrow a winnowing basket."

Grandma Li was taken aback, then grumbled, "Why would I need a winnowing basket? I'm not home."

"What are you yelling about downstairs when you're not home?" Zhang Weihong shouted. "I just saw you go in. Come out now, stop hiding."

Having no other option, Old Mrs. Li angrily climbed up into the cellar, muttering complaints all the while.

Shen Zhixia then took the opportunity to quietly come out from inside. Zhang Weihong then used another excuse to lead Old Mrs. Li outside. The two were talking when Old Mrs. Li saw Shen Zhixia and her eyes widened: "How come you are in my yard?"

Shen Zhixia slammed the newspaper on the stone table, and the brown sugar rolled to Old Mrs. Li's feet: "Old Mrs. Li, you have quite a lot of sugar and newspapers in your cellar."

Old Mrs. Li's cane clattered to the ground, her face turning ashen: "You...you're spouting nonsense..."

"Slanderous accusations?" Zhang Weihong looked at the brown sugar and newspaper on the table and said, "The sugar crumbs in the paper package at my door yesterday are exactly the same as those in your cellar! You wrote rumors in the newspaper and stuffed them at our door, weren't you just trying to make Xiao Shen gossip?"

Zhang Weihong suddenly raised her voice: "Come and see! Come and see!"

Her loud voice startled the sparrows in the locust tree, and the echo carried far: "Old Mrs. Li was caught red-handed for writing rumors in the newspaper!"

Old Mrs. Li's hand, which was holding a cane, trembled violently, and the tip of the cane made a harsh sound as it scratched against the bluestone slab: "You, you're talking nonsense."

Before long, a large crowd gathered around, all coming to watch the show. In the past two days, everyone had seen what was written in the newspapers, and Shen Zhixia had not explained anything, so everyone assumed that she had tacitly agreed.

Who would have thought that Shen Zhixia would dare to make such a big fuss? It seems there's more to the story.

"Is this slander? Look at this!" Shen Zhixia stepped forward and pointed to the pile of newspapers and candy: "I found this in Old Mrs. Li's cellar. There are her handwritings on the newspapers, crooked and messy. Look, isn't this dry?"

People kept picking up the newspaper and candy, and then a gasp of surprise would ripple through the crowd.

Grandma Li wasn't very educated; her handwriting was like an earthworm's, and it was full of typos. It was clearly her doing.

Zhang Weihong slapped her thigh: "Good! It really was you! You've framed Xiao Shen time and time again, I think your heart has turned black."

"I didn't!" Old Mrs. Li took a half step back, her cane striking the door with a hollow echo. She suddenly shouted, "This isn't mine! You're framing me!"

When Officer Li and several comrades returned, they found their room surrounded by people, and he had a bad feeling.

Huo Chenzhou walked ahead. He wasn't interested in the commotion, but when he saw Shen Zhixia, he went over to her as well.

“Mom,” Officer Li’s voice sounded like it had been sanded on, “what are you doing here?”

Grandma Li suddenly started coughing violently. Her first instinct was to frantically try to cover the cloth bag on her body, a move that was utterly obvious and only made things worse.

Zhang Weihong immediately snatched her cloth bag and lifted it open. Inside, half of a clod of earth wrapped in newspaper was visible. After she unwrapped it, she saw that the newspaper inside still had crookedly written rumors about Shen Zhixia: "You're still trying to spread rumors, huh? I've caught you red-handed this time."

Li, the clerk, staggered and grabbed the door frame, his face ashen.

A chorus of accusations rose from the crowd: "They're really going backwards as they get older!"

"Spreading such rumors about Xiao Huo's wife is practically driving her to her doom."

Huo Chenzhou frowned and stepped forward. He took Shen Zhixia's hand and was about to ask something when Shen Zhixia pouted and said aggrievedly, "She's spreading rumors everywhere, saying that the child in my belly isn't yours, waaaaa, how am I supposed to live like this?"