Chapter 22 Protecting Her Reputation
Jiang Zhizhi was stunned. It was dark with moonlight, so it wasn't very bright. She saw a wicker thermos next to the stove, which looked just like the one the Liang family usually used.
So she didn't think much of it, mainly because she didn't expect someone would poison the place.
Yang Fengmei exclaimed in surprise: "You mean you went out at night, took a thermos from the stove and brought it into the house, drank the water from it, and then uncontrollably ran to the river and jumped in?"
Jiang Zhizhi nodded: "That's right."
Yang Fengmei's face darkened instantly: "Which bastard dared to use such despicable means and even dared to come to my house? Just wait, I'll find out who he is, skin him alive, and throw him in the river."
Jiang Zhizhi knew in her heart that this matter would not be easy to investigate. They had already missed the best time, and she was now lying in the hospital. When she returned home, the thermos in her room might not even be there anymore.
Anything done will leave a trace.
She had plenty of patience to wait for the other party to make a second move, and then she would return the favor.
She has always been a vengeful person.
Following Zhou Xiye's instructions, Yang Fengmei went to the state-run canteen and bought a serving of wontons. Since Zhou Xiye had given her five jin of grain coupons, she could keep any left over.
Now it's confirmed: Zhou Xiye really has his eye on Comrade Xiao Jiang; otherwise, why would he be so meticulous in his considerations?
Jiang Zhizhi never expected that she could eat such a big bowl of wontons while she was sick. The wontons had thin wrappers and generous fillings, and each one was round and plump.
Seeing Yang Fengmei swallowing her saliva beside her, she felt a little embarrassed: "Auntie, you don't need to buy me this, anything you like is fine. Besides, I can't finish this, so I'll share half with you."
Yang Fengmei quickly waved her hand. When Zhou Xiye gave her the food coupons, he also asked her to buy herself a meal, but she couldn't bear to eat alone. She wanted to save the money to make something good for her husband and son when she got back.
"You eat, you eat, I just ate out, I'm not hungry."
Jiang Zhizhi knew Yang Fengmei was lying: "Auntie, I have a lot of internal heat right now and I don't have much of an appetite. If you don't help me, I won't be able to finish eating, and that would be a waste. I just want to drink some soup; I really can't eat this dry food."
Seeing that Jiang Zhizhi spoke sincerely, Yang Fengmei thought it made sense. People who had just recovered from a high fever really didn't have much of an appetite. She took out the lunchbox she had brought, divided one serving of wontons into two portions, and gave Jiang Zhizhi two extra wontons.
"Even if you can't eat, eat more. Eating more will help you fight off illness. Look how thin you are. You can get a high fever just by going down to the river."
Jiang Zhizhi smiled but didn't say anything. Yang Fengmei helped her up, and the two ate wontons together.
As Yang Fengmei ate, she exclaimed, "The wontons in this cafeteria are so delicious! The flavor is so fresh! How many dried shrimp did they put in? Even when my family makes dumplings for Chinese New Year, we don't put in this many dried shrimp."
He ate with a satisfied look on his face. After finishing the soup, he even poured some hot water to rinse the lunchbox and drank it all.
After eating half a portion of wontons, Jiang Zhizhi broke out in a sweat and felt much lighter and more energetic.
After walking around and feeling fine, they quietly waited for Liang Dazhuang to come and pick them up from the hospital.
...
Zhang Zhao noticed that Zhou Xiye had been acting strangely all day. He, who never smoked, was now sitting by the river smoking, staring intently at the rushing water with a deep and distant gaze.
He carried the lunchbox over and said, "Boss, lunch is ready."
Zhou Xiye glanced at him, then looked at the river and took a deep drag on his cigarette.
Zhang Zhao asked curiously, "Boss, where did you go last night? You didn't get back until dawn, and your clothes were still wet."
Zhou Xiye still ignored Zhang Zhao, but the scene from last night lingered in his mind. Under the cover of night, his senses were amplified, and the memory became even more vivid.
Seeing Zhou Xiye's serious expression, Zhang Zhao didn't dare to say a word. He had been by Zhou Xiye's side for ten years and had never seen Zhou Xiye like this before, as if he had encountered some difficult situation. Even when they went on missions and walked through minefields, Zhou Xiye had never acted like this.
While shoveling rice into her mouth, she would steal glances at Zhou Xiye every now and then, wondering what had happened.
Should we rotate the defense and transfer them away?
Zhou Xiye swallowed hard, closed his eyes, and tried to banish the image of Jiang Zhizhi kissing him and those tender moments from his mind, but to no avail.
...
In the afternoon, Liang Dazhuang came to pick up Jiang Zhizhi from the hospital, and it was evening when they returned to the village.
Old Liang was waiting at home. When he saw Jiang Zhizhi, he was very concerned: "Comrade Jiang, how are you? Are you feeling better?"
Yang Fengmei couldn't wait any longer. She rattled off a few words and went to Jiang Zhizhi's room to look for the thermos. After searching around, she found nothing: "Was the house burgled? The thermos is gone."
Old Man Liang was shocked when he heard this: "They've poisoned my house! Good thing! If I find out which bastard did it, I'll kill him."
Jiang Zhizhi knew that the thermos would definitely be gone, and the villagers didn't like to lock their doors. Sometimes they would just lock the big door, but the walls were low, and an adult could easily climb over them.
After she entered the house, she looked around and found that the bag and everything else were intact, including the money and bills inside. It seemed that the other party had come to destroy evidence.
Old Liang grew angrier the more he thought about it, so he went to the village loudspeaker and started shouting: "Has anyone seen anyone break into my house recently? They stole my thermos, especially last night and this morning. If anyone saw it, please report it immediately. Reporting will be rewarded. If you cover it up and don't report it, you'll lose a year's worth of work points."
Those who report such incidents will be rewarded with thirty work points.
A person works a day and earns only three to five work points. Now, you can get a reward of thirty points for reporting it. Everyone is staying home trying to see if they've seen it. Some even regret not going out for a walk at night, thinking they might have seen it then.
Jiang Zhizhi didn't expect that Old Man Liang would directly use this chaotic stick technique, which was simple and brutal.
Chen Shuangyan was at the educated youth settlement, holding her rice bowl and about to eat, when she heard the announcement over the loudspeaker. Startled, her hands trembled uncontrollably. She leaned close to Sun Xiaoyue and asked, "What should we do?"
Sun Xiaoyue looked around, glared at Chen Shuangyan to signal her to be quiet, and then told her to follow her outside.
The two found a secluded spot, and Sun Xiaoyue looked at Chen Shuangyan: "Didn't you say you would find a way? Why did you make such a fuss? Jiang Zhizhi wasn't punished either."
Chen Shuangyan calmed down again: "It should be fine, right? I just put the diarrhea medicine in the thermos. That way, at worst, the whole family will have an upset stomach, and they won't suspect us. At most, they'll think they just ate something bad."
Sun Xiaoyue looked at Chen Shuangyan in shock: "You put all the medicine I gave you into the thermos?"
Chen Shuangyan nodded: "Yes, I was thinking that if it was just a minor case of an upset stomach, I wouldn't want to punish her, so I just put it all in."
Sun Xiaoyue dared not utter a sound. That dosage of medicine could make several bears lose control, let alone a human.
She had no idea that Chen Shuangyan was so stupid as to put the medicine in the thermos.
Chen Shuangyan became worried again: "I threw the thermos into the ditch behind the village, is that alright?"
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