The police officers worked through the night to gather manpower and finally unearthed another skeleton.

But what can they do when a junior high school student, a 14-year-old youth, does something like this?

“Send him to a juvenile detention center.”

"How long can they be locked up? They'll be out soon. Those are two lives at stake."

What he found most unacceptable was his maternal grandmother's house—

Why did you do this? Our family raised you all these years, aren't you satisfied?

“I should have grown up in a normal family. If it weren’t for you, my sister and I would never have ended up living under someone else’s roof, suffering your contempt and exclusion. You deserve to die, you are the ones who deserve to die the most.”

"I will never be grateful for your upbringing. I not only killed my cousin, but I also poisoned your food. You won't live much longer."

Not only them, but even she herself.

Only my younger sister—

He said with heartache, "My sister knows nothing about this. Let's send her to an orphanage. I think things will never get any harder than they are now."

-

The case involved many aspects, but due to its smooth progress, it was solved within a month.

However, because it involved the school, the school was delayed by half a month, and it did not officially start school until mid-September.

Of course, these are none of the business of junior high school students.

Lin Yuan and the Su brothers were packed up and sent to school early on.

On the contrary, Zhang Min and Lin Xiaomeng—

Although it wasn't their business, they had been neighbors for many years.

Seeing how different everyone's lives have become and how they have all ended up in different ways is inevitably disheartening.

Just as everyone was lamenting, Zhang Chunfang jumped into the river while holding Li Xiao's belongings.

Her only dying wish was that a kind person would bury her son next to his father, and she—

She couldn't bear to face the father and son, no matter where she left them.

Lin Xiaomeng and Zhang Min couldn't bear it and became the kind-hearted people.

But she couldn't bring herself to abandon her; after some repairs, the three graves were placed close together.

“When this life ends, the karmic ties will be severed. Chunfang, you are indeed difficult to get along with, but the world was tough back then. I understand that you were a widow raising a child, and many relatives were eyeing the little money in your pocket. I understand you, and your husband and son understand you too. If we don’t bury you together, they will truly be at ease.”

"Alright, burn more money. I hope you'll have a better life down there, that the road will be easier, that you won't look back, that you'll be reborn into a good family, and that you won't have to suffer anymore."

-

In the blink of an eye, it's October.

The project for the ceremony is also scheduled to resume after the National Day holiday.

Lin Wei said, "Principal Liu, this delay in the construction period is not our fault. The time needs to be postponed."

"Okay, the delay is a minor issue; the most important thing is to avoid digging up anything else. Mr. Lin, please be careful."

"Don't worry, we can't dig up anything, and we can't stop anything that's there."

One sentence completely broke the principal's spirit.

Fortunately, there weren't really any truly upsetting things.

Finally, just before the winter vacation of 2002, the school playground was officially completed.

As soon as school was out for break, the workers also began their holiday.

"Alright, come over on the 16th tomorrow. Construction will officially begin on the 17th and 18th. Everyone should go home early and have a peaceful New Year. Before you leave, go to the finance department to collect some money. But the project is not finished yet. We will continue to do it next year, so we can't settle all the money for you. You all understand. I'm also afraid that you won't come next year."

In the building materials industry, all payments are settled on an annual basis.

If a project is not completed, only a portion of the payment will be settled so that the workers can go home for the New Year.

Once the project is completed, they will settle all the money in one lump sum.

Every time this happens, problems arise.

For small companies, payments may be delayed, and it can take many years to get the final payment, or even result in lawsuits where the money cannot be recovered.

But large, trustworthy companies pay on time and never delay payment.

Lin Wei had experienced the hardship of contractors defaulting on payments to their companies, so naturally she didn't want her workers to suffer the same fate.

Fortunately, the company has never had any issues with delayed or unpaid wages since it opened.

As a result, their reputation has accumulated.

-

The incident at Chaoyang Elementary School didn't seem to affect Boyuan. Before the project there was even finished, Jiangcheng University sent them an invitation.

They want to renovate the teaching building, build a new dormitory building, and add a library and three canteens.

This project—

Almost everyone in their company was eagerly anticipating it.

"Renovating your own school? Who wouldn't want to do it? Let me do it, let me do it."

"I'm a professional too, okay? There are definitely too few cafeterias, and the dormitory area is poorly designed; it should be renovated properly."

Seeing that everyone was arguing, Lin Wei was not annoyed, but instead gave everyone a chance.

“Drawing is very simple for you. Five days. Put aside your current projects and give me the exterior and interior structural design drawings of the dormitory building and library within five days. We will select the best ones, and everyone will be satisfied.”

This decision, though cumbersome, is indeed fair.

“Sure, we don’t have any other projects on hand right now, so let’s just focus all our energy on this.”

"But what if both are good? What if there are many people with good ideas?"

Everyone looked at Lin Wei—

“This project isn’t big; two people will be enough. You don’t need to think too much about it. You’ve been in this industry for so many years, and your aesthetic sense is actually quite tired. You’re very professional, but you may not be able to come up with anything new, so I don’t think the competition will be that fierce.”

Lin Wei ran away as soon as she finished speaking, and by the time everyone reacted, she had already disappeared.

"Damn, we've been underestimated."

"Although these words didn't belittle us, they still felt like an underestimation."

"This is also an opportunity for us to have a healthy competition, recognize our shortcomings, and hopefully make up for them in the limited time available."

"Let's begin then."

"Okay, let's begin."

Five days, not including the day itself.

In other words, they have five and a half days to think carefully about what to do with the design drawings.

Before long, everyone got the hang of it based on the data they had obtained.

She did a great job on this end, so Wang Ying and Zhang Yanyan called her to the construction site.

"The area around our project is already completed, and the holidays are just around the corner. That household... shall we not talk to them again?"

The household the two were referring to was Ms. Wang.

But isn't that exactly what Ms. Wang was waiting for—they to come to her door and then demand a higher price?

Lin Wei had been stubbornly resisting, but now she was finally able to comply.

"You mean well, but they might not appreciate it. Alright, mind your own business. Since the project is already underway, let's leave Ms. Wang alone."

"But if the entire residential area is actually built, will Ms. Wang still not leave?"