Chapter 22: Retirement Day 22: In order to find the real thief,...
Uncle Li quickly scanned the numbers recorded on it and his face changed.
Mr. Sun, who was originally talking to Uncle Li, noticed the couple's slightly strange expressions and asked, "What's wrong?"
Uncle Sun was from the old lady's family, and was considered an elder to Uncle Li and his family. When he asked, Uncle Li naturally told him the truth: "I found a ledger in my mother's room. It said she had over 50,000 yuan in savings."
Aunt Wang added, "But I was just sorting out some things with Aunt Jin, and I didn't see any money."
Master Sun was slightly startled.
It's not uncommon for elderly people to have savings before they die and have them discovered afterward. However, it's rare for someone like Mrs. Li to remember the exact amount of the savings, yet the money is nowhere to be found. He frowned, took the small notebook from Uncle Li, and carefully read it several times before nodding. "Although your mother is old, she's always had a good memory and a clear mind. If she didn't really have that money, she certainly wouldn't have written it down so casually."
There was one more thing he didn't say.
Everyone who knew the Li family knew that the old lady had a lot of grievances against her youngest son's family. If the deposit didn't really exist, then leaving such a message would be an attempt to create conflict between the two families. Given the old lady's personality and character, she would never do such a thing.
So, this money definitely exists.
Fifty thousand yuan is not a small number, so he felt he needed to confirm it again.
"Xiu Lan, please take the trouble to look for it again," Master Sun suggested. "If you really can't find it, the money might have been taken away during the chaos."
When Aunt Wang and Uncle Li heard the words "take it away during the chaos", their expressions suddenly darkened.
Without further ado, Aunt Wang hurried back to the old lady's bedroom and quickly searched every crack and nook that looked like a place to hide money. Sadly, there was still no sign of the money.
Sang Qiqi took advantage of the perfect angle to watch Aunt Wang's back as she hunched over and searched back and forth. She blinked and asked curiously, "Old lady, do you have someone in mind who to steal the money from?"
The old lady glanced at her and snorted, "You already said it, the thief must have taken advantage of my dying moment to steal my money."
She was still breathing at the time, so naturally, no one else would be called to help by the news of her death. The only people gathered around her bed were her eldest son's family and her youngest son and his wife, so the thief who stole the money must have been a family member.
It wasn't that the old lady was prejudiced against her youngest son; she simply knew their personalities all too well... The eldest son had been upright since childhood. Though stubborn, he couldn't tolerate even the slightest laziness or slacking. The youngest, on the other hand, was always looking for shortcuts and rubbing shoulders with low-brow scoundrels. Put these two together, who do you think stole the money? It had to be the youngest!
Seeing the old lady's expression of "I see through everything", Sang Qiqi praised: "You have a good attitude."
The old lady said: "I have lived for more than 80 years, and now I am dead. If I don't have a good attitude, it would be a waste of my life and death."
Sang Qiqi: "I won't. I've been dead for twenty years, and my mentality hasn't improved. Now, whenever I have free time, I run to the house of that jerk who bullied me when I was a kid and scare him to death. He also likes to go crazy in front of my boss and idiots for no reason."
Of course, she felt that the key reason for the huge difference between her and the old lady was——
She is a dead beast that still has to work.
There is always more resentment.
The two ghosts huddled together and chattered for a long time. Aunt Wang finally came out of the old lady's bedroom and met the gazes of Uncle Li and Master Sun. She shook her head grimly and said, "No."
The old lady also heard it and sighed: "These idiots, can't they think of who took the money?"
Obviously, the old lady's worries were unnecessary.
Not only did the old lady know what kind of punk her youngest son was, but Uncle Li and Aunt Wang, the eldest brother and his wife, also knew it. However, there were some things Aunt Wang couldn't say out loud. Once she did, she would most likely be blamed by someone with ulterior motives for "stirring up discord between the Li brothers."
Uncle Li also knew this, and without his wife having to ask, he calmly explained to Mr. Sun, word for word, "From the time my mother returned from the hospital last night until she passed away this morning, no outsiders came to our house."
The relatives who had planned to visit the old lady decided to wait because it was getting late. Today was the first day of the new year, which was not a suitable day for visiting the sick according to the older generation. Therefore, during this period, only their family and Li Erhai and his wife came to visit the old lady.
Hearing the hidden meaning, Master Sun frowned even more. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Go call Erhai and his wife over. I'll ask them."
Aunt Wang said, "I'll go."
Aunt Wang only found Li Erhai on a narrow path outside the house after being alerted by a neighbor. Li Erhai was on the phone at the time, his back to Aunt Wang, and he didn't hear her footsteps. He was just complaining to the person on the other end of the line: "It's not like I haven't mentioned it to my brother and sister-in-law, but they refused to do it. They even found a young girl in her twenties to do the job. The most abominable thing is that little girl actually has some skills. I saw her dressing my mother without even a trembling hand. Is she still a normal girl?"
Aunt Wang looked at her brother-in-law's back expressionlessly without interrupting him.
Li Erhai became more and more excited as he spoke, kicking a stone on the side of the road. "Come on, if the deal didn't work out this time, I'll introduce you to another one next time. It's not like I can only make money from my eldest brother's family. What? Drinking tonight? That's inappropriate, right? After all, today is my mom's wedding day... Okay, okay, I'll wait and see and call you back then."
After finally hanging up the phone, Li Erhai thought about what his friend said about drinking and felt a little itchy.
...Or just find an excuse to go home, the boss's family is here anyway.
Besides, the old lady didn't like him very much when she was alive, so it probably wouldn't matter if he wasn't there when the matter was done.
After convincing himself, Li Erhai happily turned back to the villa. However, when he raised his head, he met Aunt Wang's expressionless face and dark eyes. He was so scared that he gasped and his body stiffened.
Thinking of what he had said during the call just now, Li Erhai's eyelids twitched, and he asked casually, "Sister-in-law? When did you come here? Are you looking for me?"
Aunt Wang didn't say when, she just said, "Your brother wants to talk to you and Chunfang. Call Chunfang. Her stomachache should be gone by now. Tell her to come over quickly."
After saying that, he turned and left.
Li Erhai followed her in frustration, feeling uneasy... Did she hear it? If she did, if he made another excuse to drink, his brother would probably beat him to death.
Muttering to himself, he took out his cell phone and called Yan Chunfang. A few minutes later, the couple went into the small compartment on the first floor of the villa together.
This small compartment was right across from the old lady's bedroom and was used to store miscellaneous items. The space was very narrow. Yan Chunfang fanned her nose as she entered and asked impatiently, "What did you call us here for? And why did you have to come here to talk?"
She was standing facing the main door, and just two steps away was the old lady's open bedroom. Yan Chunfang suddenly felt scared and quickly moved her body to the side, finding a corner where she couldn't see the old lady's bedroom.
Noticing her little action, Uncle Li and his wife and Uncle Sun all rolled their eyes.
Master Sun said, "It's like this. Just now, when Xiulan was sorting out the old lady's things, she found an account book. It said that the old lady still had more than 50,000 yuan in savings."
Li Erhai and Yan Chunfang looked at each other. The former rolled his eyes and shouted in shock, "What? Over 50,000?! Did my mother write down how to divide the money?"
Uncle Li: “…”
He closed his eyes, resisted the urge to kick his brother out, and said nothing.
Master Sun rubbed his aching brow. Li Erhai's dislike for cats and dogs was perfectly justified. Was that even human language? The old lady had just left, and as soon as he heard about the money, he immediately asked how it was to be divided. In his opinion, if the old lady's coffin lid really couldn't be held down, it definitely wasn't because the young woman who was in charge of the funeral was incompetent, but because she was pissed off by this brat!
Glancing at him unhappily, Mr. Sun said, "Why divide it? The money is gone."
"Gone? How could it be gone? Could it be that you, big brothers, secretly took it and didn't want to share it with us, so you said it was gone?" Yan Chunfang glared at Uncle Li and his wife, as if she didn't notice their darkened faces, and shouted, "We don't accept it. Our Erhai is also the old lady's biological son. If it's 50,000 yuan, at least we should get half."
"You've got a nice idea. The old lady wrote that Dahai's family will give 40,000 yuan, and your family will give 13,600 yuan." Uncle Sun couldn't stand Yan Chunfang's expression and added sternly, "Besides, if Dahai took it secretly and told you about it, how could he be so stupid?"
As soon as these words were spoken, Yan Chunfang jumped up and down as if her tail had been stepped on.
"What? The deposit is more than 50,000, but only gives us Erhai 13,600? The old lady has three times more than us? Why? I don't accept it! I want to split it equally!" Yan Chunfang was very angry. Although she had known for a long time that the old lady had always been partial to the old lady, when she suddenly heard the difference between 40,000 and 10,000, Yan Chunfang still couldn't help but raised her voice, her eyes full of accusations and dissatisfaction with the old lady.
"What do you mean by splitting it equally? It's not your money, so why are you so decisive? Just divide it up as the old lady wrote. Besides, the money is lost and hasn't been found yet, so where can I get it?" Master Sun sneered. "From the time the old lady returned home until she passed away, your two families were the only ones who stayed in her bedroom, right? I won't waste any more time on you. I'm just asking you, did you two take the old lady's money?"
"What do you mean? Not only do you not plan to share the money with us, but now you're accusing us of being thieves and trying to take 40,000 yuan from us? What a joke! Who knows if the money actually exists? Even if it does exist, who knows when it was stolen? How can you be sure it disappeared when the old lady came back from the hospital? What if the old lady was in the hospital and a thief broke into your house?"
Yan Chunfang, already furious at the old lady's partiality and the small share of the money, pushed Li Erhai aside and sneered as she walked out, "How dare you slander us without even a shred of evidence? You think we're easy to bully, right? Well, there are so many people outside today, let's all judge for ourselves!"
“Eh—”
Mr. Sun Er had no close ties with Li Erhai's family, and he obviously hadn't expected Li Erhai's wife to have such a tantrum. His expression immediately changed: "If you have something to say, just talk it out nicely. Why make a scene in front of outsiders? Besides, today is your mother-in-law's day!"
"Outsider? Hasn't this been brought to the attention of outsiders?" Yan Chunfang put her hands on her hips and glared at Mr. Sun. There was a clear message in her eyes: Aren't you an outsider if you have the surname Sun?
Master Sun: “…”
He held back his anger and said, "During the time the old lady was in the hospital, someone was staying at Dahai's house every day. It's impossible that they didn't notice the thief. But you, you were alone with the old lady for more than half an hour last night."
Yan Chunfang: "What do you mean, being alone with the old lady for half an hour makes you a thief? Don't the old lady stay alone with the old lady every day? Why don't they thieves? And that little girl you hired, she was alone with the old lady! No one was around when she was cleaning the old lady, right? How can you be sure it wasn't her?"
The rebuttal does make some sense.
Sang Qiqi squatted at the door and nodded.
But she was unhappy when she was involved.
She slowly scraped against the wall outside the door frame and poked her head in. The sudden scene startled everyone in the storage room. Uncle Li met Sang Qiqi's gaze and was slightly stunned. Before he could speak, Sang Qiqi explained, "It's quite a bit. A certain auntie was speaking too loudly, and my hearing becomes extra sharp when someone says something bad about me, so I accidentally overheard your conversation."
Yan Chunfang: “…”
Turning her gaze to Yan Chunfang, Sang Qiqi's dark, deep eyes were large and surprisingly a little creepy. She smiled and suggested, "In order to find the real thief, I suggest calling the police. What do you think?"
Call the police? !
Yan Chunfang was stunned and subconsciously looked at Li Erhai. A trace of panic flashed in her eyes, but she quickly concealed this hidden emotion. She shouted, "Call the police if you want. It wasn't us who stole it. But think about it, big brother. Is it appropriate for an old lady to have to ask the police to come for an official business? Will it make people laugh?"
Knowing how much Yan Chunfang cares about her uncle's reputation, he would never call the police about such a thing. He would just bear the loss by himself.
And the old family is indeed not short of money.
Uncle Li’s eldest son opened a small company two years ago. Without saying much, he can earn at least one or two million yuan every year. The 50,000 yuan is just a small amount compared to the one or two million yuan.
Yan Chunfang had a good idea, but she didn't expect Uncle Li to just glance at them expressionlessly and say, "Okay, I'll have Yucheng call the police."
"Really calling the police?!"
Li Erhai, who had been sitting quietly like an invisible man for a long time, finally couldn't hold it in any longer and said hurriedly, "What if we call the police? Wouldn't that make people laugh at our family?"
As soon as he opened his mouth, Aunt Wang also spoke up: "A joke? You were going out drinking with someone on the day your mother died. Isn't that a joke? Seeing one joke is a joke, seeing two jokes is also a joke, there's no difference."
Li Erhai: “…”
He bit the soft flesh in his mouth and cursed in his heart: I really heard it.
He subconsciously looked at Li Dahai, and sure enough, he saw Li Dahai staring at his eyes with a stern face: "You want to go drink with someone?"
Li Erhai didn't dare to respond and quickly shook his head like a rattle: "No, no, sister-in-law, I heard it wrong. Someone asked me out for a drink, but I turned him down."
"That's better." Uncle Li didn't say anything more, but threw down a sentence "I'm going to find Yucheng", and pushed aside a few people and walked out.
Aunt Wang and Master Sun were furious when they saw the couple, so they left together. As they left, Aunt Wang took Sang Qiqi's hand, pulled her aside, and whispered comfortingly, "Don't listen to my sister-in-law's nonsense. Boss Sang, you handled our old lady's affairs so well. We can't thank you enough, and we won't doubt you lightly."
As she spoke, she looked over at Uncle Li, who was talking to his two sons not far away, and patted Sang Qiqi on the shoulder: "I'm sorry for putting you in such a difficult position. Just wait for your Uncle Li to call the police."
Uncle Li's family was indeed very sensible, so Sang Qiqi naturally wouldn't point the finger at them. She smiled and said, "It's not a big deal."
Aunt Wang was still busy, so she said a few words to Sang Qiqi and left.
Sang Qiqi returned to the old lady's side and quietly pricked up her ears to listen to the whispers of Li Erhai and his wife who were still in the storage room.
Li Erhai was obviously panicked when his elder brother said he would call the police. His brows were tightly furrowed, and he kept tapping the ground with his toes. He asked in a hoarse voice, "What should we do now?"
"What should we do? Why are you panicking?" Yan Chunfang glanced at him. "There's no surveillance, so who would know it was you who took it? Then we can just deny it and that'll be fine."
Yan Chunfang is an ordinary person. When she hears the words "call the police", she will subconsciously worry and be afraid. But the police need evidence to arrest people. Let alone the old lady's bedroom, there is no surveillance in the entire villa. Where can she get the evidence?
After hearing what she said, Li Erhai's pounding heart finally returned to a stable state, and he nodded repeatedly: "You are right."
The two walked out the door one after the other.
The old lady stared at the two men from behind with disdain, her lips curled openly, and she began throwing melons at Sang Qiqi. "I used to treat the eldest and second child the same. I even spent more time caring for the second child because he was weaker since childhood. But this kid has been a bad boy since he was young. He stole money from my wallet to buy toys. After I scolded him, he cried and said he had changed, but the next day he stole his brother's pocket money."
"After he robbed the money, he went to play with a bunch of shabby little scoundrels on the street, and he wouldn't let his brother tell me. I beat him and scolded him, but it was no use. Later, when he grew up, he became surprisingly sensible. He found a job on a construction site, worked diligently every day, and got a dark tan. Unfortunately, the good times didn't last long. He met a co-worker there and learned to play cards from him."
"He'd been gambling away all my hard-earned money since I was little, and within a month or two, he'd given away all the money he'd worked so hard to save. When he ran out of money, he came to me asking for it. But after I figured out the whole story, I knew I couldn't give him the money, or I'd be hurting him. He got drunk and lost his mind, so he barged into my room and rummaged through everything. When I tried to stop him, he pushed me to the ground, forcing me to stay in the hospital for two months."
"The funniest thing is, after he pushed me to the ground, he sobered up and ran away. His brother searched for him for half a month before he found out he had gone to hide in Linxing."
"After this incident, I knew I couldn't keep this youngest son. He's addicted to gambling, irresponsible, a coward and a loser. The key is that he refuses to change despite repeated warnings. But it's also interesting to say that this kid met Yan Chunfang in Linxing. I don't know how they fell in love. One said he would definitely change, and the other said she would only marry him, so they got married."
Yan Chunfang was a tough-minded woman, and with a tall, muscular older brother, she had Li Erhai assigned to her brother's construction site. With his brother-in-law watching over him, Li Erhai was able to return to a quiet, working life. Over the years, he still couldn't break his habit of playing cards and hanging out with street thugs, but he wasn't overly aggressive.
"About twenty years ago, the eldest and second sons were preparing to split up the family business. Naturally, the question of who I should live with came up. Before I could even say that, the second son's wife said her family was coming to live in their new house soon, and there was no room for me. The second son sat there like a mute, not saying a word. Then he kept asking me for money, saying things like he was having a baby and had to hold a wedding. A few days later, he wanted to start a business, and his child had to go to school. He kept coming to me for any excuse he could think of. I gave them shit! I wouldn't give them any money, even if I threw it in the river!"
The old lady grew angrier as she spoke. "That 13,000 yuan was meant for the second son's daughter, but who knew that half a day had passed and there was no sign of that girl! She's just as heartless as her parents!"
Sang Qiqi recalled and indeed had not seen any girl of her age.
Patting the old lady on the back, Sang Qiqi comforted her: "But Uncle Li and Aunt Wang are very nice to you. It's obvious that they really respect you."
The old lady sighed, "The eldest and second sons' father passed away early, and the eldest son matured precociously. It's been tough raising them these past few years, trying to earn money and look after the children. He's seen it all. He's honest and kind, and treats everyone who treats him well. The two eldest sons are also good people. Every time they come home, they bring me lots of gifts and love to give me red envelopes. They take me out for walks whenever they have time. Life is truly comfortable."
After sighing, the old lady's aggrieved mood finally eased a little, and she no longer paid attention to the matter of her younger son stealing money and her older son calling the police. Seeing that Sang Qiqi was still listening to the story with great interest, she waved her hand and pointed at a white-haired, bespectacled, and gentle-looking old man in the crowd and said, "Isn't this old man handsome?"
Sang Qiqi observed carefully for a while and nodded: "Not bad."
Old lady: "This appearance is just okay?"
Sang Qiqi: "I've seen more handsome ones, and he showed up as a hero when I was being chased and pecked by a big rooster. That's when I knew he was the most handsome man in the world, bar none."
The old lady curled her lips and then revealed a big secret: "That was my first love."
Sang Qiqi: “?”
The old lady continued, "But he was always looking at the pot and eating what he had in his bowl. He was a complete scumbag in the making. I kicked him out. I don't know what he's doing here today... Although he's quite handsome, I feel unlucky when I think about him living longer than me."
Before Sang Qiqi could respond, the old lady pointed to a man and a woman diagonally opposite. Just as she was about to speak, she suddenly heard a noise outside the door.
The two ghosts looked at each other, immediately dropped the topic they were talking about, and rushed out to join in the fun.
Outside the door.
The two police officers were stunned as they looked at the family who were clearly holding a funeral. When they received the call, the person on the phone said that their grandmother's 50,000 yuan had been stolen. This was no small amount of money, so they hurried over.
But I didn't expect that a funeral tent would be set up in front of the house here.
Could it be that the old man couldn't accept the theft of his money and couldn't figure it out, so something happened? But doesn't the time match? Muttering in their hearts, they quickened their pace and asked in the crowd, "Is Li Yucheng here?"
Li Yucheng immediately ran out of the living room and shouted, "Yes, yes, police comrades, thank you for coming here. The situation is like this. My grandmother left a deposit of over 50,000 yuan before she passed away, but now the money is gone. We suspect it was stolen, so we wanted you to come and investigate."
"The money is lost?" When the neighbors heard this, their eyes widened.
"Wow, over 50,000 are gone?"
"No wonder I saw Xiulan rummaging around in the old lady's room just now. It turns out she was looking for money."
"This is a large sum of money, how did it get lost?"
Amid the commotion, the police officer called out for quiet twice and then approached Uncle Li and his friends to discuss the situation. They found a quiet room to ask for details. Although the neighbors, who loved to join in the fun, didn't enter the house, they crowded at the door, peering in, and rushing to the front line of the melon-eating.
After listening to Uncle Li's account, the police officer turned his attention to Li Erhai and his wife who were standing nearby. Just as he was about to ask them a question, Yan Chunfang burst into tears and screamed, "Officer, please judge for yourself. You weren't here just now, so you don't know. My uncle started saying that my wife and I stole the old lady's money. How can this be justified? No one has ever seen the money, and it's hard to say whether it even exists. How can they still falsely accuse me?"
The police officer frowned.
There is no surveillance, no eyewitnesses. I just asked people nearby, and no one has ever heard the old lady mention that she has saved such a large sum of money... Although the woman's yelling was a bit exaggerated, it was not without reason.
So he nodded and said, "It's indeed wrong to jump to conclusions."
Seeing this, Yan Chunfang wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, but the corners of her mouth, which were blocked by her hands, twitched silently.
But at this moment, a hand holding a mobile phone slowly stretched out from the crowd.
Sang Qiqi squeezed to the front of the crowd, met Yan Chunfang's gaze with a smile, and suddenly said, "Uncle police, I have a recording of this aunt and her husband discussing how they insisted they didn't steal the old lady's money."
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