Chapter 215 Origin Unknown

When Song Yazhi took the bottle, her fingertips trembled slightly.

It wasn't excitement, but a sudden sinking feeling in her heart—she had heard of this brand, but very few supply and marketing cooperatives in the city stocked it, let alone sold it.

How could this be...?

It was bought so easily?

She suppressed her doubts and tried to appear surprised, deliberately raising her voice: "This...you bought it on the black market?"

She said this as a test, but her eyes were fixed on her daughter-in-law's expression, afraid of missing the slightest flaw.

"No, I bought it at the supply and marketing cooperative!"

Qiao Wanyin sat down and poured herself a cup of hot tea, her movements as natural as if she could buy such a luxury every day. "I was lucky to catch the last bottle. The sales clerk knows me well and secretly saved it for me, otherwise it would have been snatched up long ago."

Upon hearing this, Song Yazhi's mind went blank for a moment, as if she had been hit hard by something.

This is a brand new model that just came out in Shanghai. It's extremely rare on the market, and the local supply and marketing cooperative has never stocked it!

Even someone with connections like her had tried for several days without success, so how could Qingqing have just happened to run into her?

"Really?"

Her voice changed, trembling noticeably with disbelief, "The supply and marketing cooperative has this kind of thing? Don't try to fool me... We've never seen anyone use it here before."

"you do not say!"

Qiao Wanyin blew on her tea and said with a smile, her expression so calm that it was almost impossible to doubt her, "They said this is a trial product, not to be advertised to the public, and can only be purchased internally. If I didn't know someone, I wouldn't have been able to get one."

Song Yazhi stared at her daughter-in-law's flushed face, and the more she looked, the more she felt something was wrong.

That smile was too pure, too composed, and it gave off a strange sense of falseness.

Her heart was pounding and her palms were sweating—where did this girl get all this stuff from?

behind……

Is there something she doesn't know?

Just a few days ago, Fang Xiaoju confidently declared that brown sugar was impossible to buy and was out of stock everywhere. How come she was able to get it so easily?

This is truly hard to understand; there must be more to it than meets the eye.

“Oh right, Mom,” Qiao Wanyin suddenly slapped her forehead, as if she had remembered something extremely important, and her eyes lit up instantly, “Guess who I ran into on the street today? What an incredible coincidence.”

"who?"

Song Yazhi subconsciously gripped the heavy porcelain bottle in her hand, her knuckles turning slightly white, her tone revealing a hint of vigilance and unease.

"Captain Wang, that's Captain Wang from the disciplinary team!"

Qiao Wanyin lowered her voice, looking tense and pretending to be in shock. She even patted her chest as if she had been quite frightened. "They said they just arrested someone who was smuggling state supplies. The woman was immediately taken into custody, crying her eyes out and gasping for breath. She looked so pitiful."

"Isn't it a coincidence? I was just passing by to see what was going on, but the closer I got—" She paused deliberately, her eyes darting around, as if she were choosing her words carefully, or perhaps creating suspense, "when I saw the person's face clearly... it was actually, it was actually Little Ju!"

After she finished speaking, she suddenly covered her mouth, looking regretful and remorseful, and exclaimed in a low voice, "Oh dear, was it appropriate for me to say that? Will it cause her trouble? But I was really scared at the time, and I blurted it out in a moment of impulse."

Song Yazhi's face turned deathly pale in an instant, her lips lost all color, and she looked as if she had been struck by lightning.

She loosened her grip, and the porcelain bottle in her hand slammed heavily onto the table with a sharp, jarring sound. The bottle rolled twice before finally coming to a stop at an angle, the brown sugar inside swaying slightly.

"Impossible! How could Xiaoju...be arrested? This must be a mistake! She's a person of status, how could she possibly be involved in reselling supplies?"

Song Yazhi's voice trembled, and she almost blurted it out, her eyes filled with disbelief.

Qiao Wanyin quickly waved her hand, her tone gentle yet tinged with just the right amount of anxiety: "Mom, please don't panic, please don't get agitated. I also think this is too strange; there must be some misunderstanding. Little Ju is a key talent being groomed by the performing arts troupe. She's always well-mannered and speaks and acts with propriety. How could she do something so illegal?"

Song Yazhi was breathing heavily, her chest heaving, her lips trembling uncontrollably, her voice almost squeezed out of her throat: "Where...where is she now? Is she alright? Is she hurt? What have they done to her?"

"They were taken away."

Qiao Wanyin sighed, shook her head gently, her eyes filled with sympathy and pity, and even slightly reddened. "I saw her being taken away by two disciplinary officers who were holding her arms. She cried as she walked, her voice hoarse from shouting, constantly saying that she was innocent and that she had been framed, but they wouldn't listen to her at all."

"But the police said that this time they caught the culprit red-handed and the evidence was irrefutable."

She paused, her tone growing increasingly heavy, "What we found on her wasn't just several packets of brown sugar, neatly hidden in the lining of her clothes, but also a whole stack of grain coupons, with a considerable denomination, clearly intended for exchange on the black market."

Song Yazhi jumped up from her chair with a thud. The movement was so sudden that the chair leg scraped against the floor, making a sharp, piercing sound that was particularly jarring in the quiet room.

"Impossible! Xiaoju clearly—" she almost shouted, her emotions out of control, her eyes filled with shock and disbelief.

She stopped abruptly halfway through her sentence, as if something had struck her heart hard, and she froze on the spot.

Her pupils contracted slightly, as if she had suddenly realized an extremely terrifying detail—just now, she herself had received brown sugar that Xiaoju had sent through someone.

The origin of that batch of brown sugar was also unknown.

Qiao Wanyin tilted her head, her eyes wide open, feigning innocence and curiosity: "Mingming what? Mom, what are you thinking about? Do you know something inside?"

"No...it's nothing."

Song Yazhi forced a smile, her lips twitched slightly, and her voice trembled noticeably, almost unsteady.

Her hands hung limply at her sides, trembling slightly uncontrollably, even her nails turning white. "I just want to say that I know Xiaoju better than anyone. She's been sensible and obedient since she was little, and she would never do anything against her principles. She would never do something so illegal and disorderly."

Qiao Wanyin nodded, her tone almost sincere: "Yes, I also think it's not something she would do. How could someone as respectable as her get involved in such shady dealings? But the problem is, the police are very firm in their stance, saying they caught her on the spot and have both witnesses and physical evidence. They not only found several bags of brown sugar but also a stack of grain coupons, with the serial numbers clearly recorded, so there's no way to deny it."

As she spoke, she took out a neatly folded, clean handkerchief from her pocket.