Unable to persuade her to stay, and unable to resist Jiang Wanqing's insistence, Sister-in-law Song simply stopped trying to stop her, lest she say something wrong.
"Don't hesitate to ask me if you need anything. And remember to lock the doors and windows when you go to sleep at night..."
Back home, she could still hear his earnest admonitions, and the more he did so, the more uneasy Jiang Wanqing felt.
Cheng Ran didn't take a single thing from the house. He remembered that last time he went on a mission, he took clothes and some necessities. This time it was too unusual.
But no one could tell her what had happened; she could only wait, wait for him to come back, wait for everything to quiet down.
And so I waited...one day...two days...three days...
Finally, the weekend arrived, and Jiang Wanqing rushed out of the classroom as soon as get out of class ended on Friday.
On days when Cheng Ran wasn't picking her up or dropping her off, she found taking the bus quite convenient and familiar. She got off at a stop near her home and happened to pass by a phone booth.
It's her habit to let her family know she's safe and sound on the weekend, and this time was no exception.
Hearing footsteps, the old man, busy adjusting his abacus, didn't even look up, but shouted a question.
"What would you like to buy?"
"I'll make a call," Jiang Wanqing replied, while taking out her money.
"It's you, Comrade Xiao Jiang!"
"It's me! Why are you so excited today?"
Although she often calls here to buy newspapers and has become quite familiar with the old man, she has never seen him so excited.
She thought the old man was just in a good mood today, so she took the money and went to make a phone call. But to her surprise, he protected the phone with one hand, chuckled, and seemed a little guilty.
"I'm sorry, Comrade Jiang, you can't make the call today."
"Why? Did the price go up?" she frowned.
"No, no, no, it's not a price increase, it's... the phone is broken, yes, it's broken, don't call."
The old man had lived for decades and had told lies before, but he was also easily exposed, as Jiang Wanqing had seen through him at a glance.
She raised an eyebrow and pointed to an older man who had just left.
"What did he use to make that call? I saw him hang up with my own eyes."
"Ah, this..." The old man's eyes widened, and he shook his head: "No, no, you must have seen wrong."
She frowned slightly. What's going on lately? She went to the post office to inquire about her mail, but they said there was no mail for her. Now they won't let her make phone calls, even though it's clearly not damaged...
She took the money back, shrugged, and said, "Okay, I'll come back tomorrow. Please find someone to fix it as soon as possible so as not to delay your business."
She chose to trust the old man this once, after all, the two had no grudges against each other, and were even quite friendly, so there was no reason for him to target her. Perhaps there was some special reason behind it.
“Not tomorrow either!” the old man immediately said.
"When will that be?"
"When... well... wait for my notification. I'll let you know when it's ready to be called."
The old man's words almost made Jiang Wanqing laugh, and she did indeed laugh out loud, a helpless kind of laugh.
"You don't need to notify me. It's not my business that will suffer the loss. There are other telephone newsstands in the Beijing area besides yours. I'll just go to another one."
There are always more solutions than problems, and this little thing is no challenge for Jiang Wanqing.
"no!"
Just as she was about to take a step, the old man ran out of the newsstand and stopped her.
"What do you mean I can't? You didn't call me, so you won't let me go to another place? What kind of logic is that!"
At first, she was quite calm, thinking that it was normal for the old man to have some problems due to his age. But now that he was forcibly stopping her from making phone calls at other homes, she became quite annoyed.
"Oh, it's not that I don't want you to hit it, anyway... Comrade Xiao Jiang, I'm doing this for your own good, don't ask any more questions, I can't say."
Upon hearing this, she was even more confused. What did it mean that it couldn't be said?
"If you can't say it, then don't. You're old, be careful not to bump into anything. I really don't have time to play games with you, go away." She walked around the old man and headed home.
As soon as she entered the courtyard, Sister Song rushed over to inquire about her well-being, as if she were afraid something might have happened to her, which only deepened her suspicions.
"Wanqing, let your sister-in-law take you to the park for a walk tomorrow. The weather will be nice tomorrow. Here, take this and eat it. I just made it and it's still warm."
Sister-in-law Song gave her a few brown sugar steamed buns, which left her completely bewildered.
"Well... Sister-in-law, is there something you want to tell me?"
"No, go back and rest. Get plenty of rest and don't overthink it."
She was pushed home by her sister-in-law, who gave her a long list of instructions before she left.
After going through this whole process, although she didn't know exactly what had happened, she was certain that everyone was hiding something from her.
With something weighing on her mind, she couldn't sleep. The next day, she got up very early, bypassed her familiar area, and went to the city center to find a telephone kiosk.
The people here didn't know her. She said she needed to make a phone call, and after agreeing on a price, she successfully obtained the right to use the service.
My fingertips paused on the keys for a moment, then quickly pressed the familiar numbers in my mind.
The call was to Xiyang Village Commune. She and her parents had previously agreed on a time to talk every week, so she just had to make the call.
This time it was a little different; the captain answered the phone.
"Xiyang Village Brigade, who are you?"
"Captain, this is Wanqing. Could you please have my parents come over to answer the phone?"
"Oh, it's Wanqing! You finally called! Your parents waited for you for a long time yesterday, but they had to go back home when they couldn't wait any longer. I'll go right now..." The captain stopped halfway through his sentence: "Um... I'm afraid they can't come now."
"Have they gone out to work? I can wait..."
"They weren't there to work; the officers from the police station took them away."
"What did you say?!"
"You don't know? This matter involves your Comrade Cheng, there's no way you wouldn't know," the captain muttered.
The microphone acted like a sound amplifier, and Jiang Wanqing could still hear it clearly, causing her heart to skip a beat.
She swallowed hard. "Please explain clearly, what exactly happened to them?"
...
Back at the family compound from the city center, Jiang Wanqing was in a daze, the words of the brigade leader still echoing in her ears.
He said someone reported that her Jiang family was abusing Cheng Ran's power and acting recklessly, and now all relevant personnel are to be investigated.
Without a doubt, Cheng Ran's emotional changes over the past two days were definitely related to this matter. As for why he didn't tell her, it was probably because he was afraid she would worry.
Since she was taken away for investigation, why is she still perfectly fine? Jiang Wanqing's mind was a complete mess.
Who's stirring up trouble this time?!
Just as I reached the door, a sharp sound pierced my chaotic mind.
"Get out of the way! I need to go in to find Jiang Wanqing!"
"I told you she's not home. Can't you understand human language?"
Looking up, I saw that Sister Song and Guo Xueyun, who had arrived at some point, were having a verbal argument.
"I don't believe it. She's definitely hiding because she's scared. Humph, hiding won't help. I'll make her pay!"
Her sister-in-law blocked her at the door, preventing her from entering, but Guo Xueyun insisted on forcing her way in. This timing was truly delicate.
Jiang Wanqing straightened her expression and stepped forward.
"Who do you want to look good?"
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