"Officers! You must have made a mistake. I didn't do anything."
Seeing that Jia Zhangshi was still denying it, Li Shengli was too lazy to waste words with her and simply waved his hand.
"take away!"
Zhang Chu, who was standing beside her, pulled Jia Zhangshi out.
"Huai Ru, please save your mother! Please tell the police that I didn't steal that piece of meat."
But clearly, Qin Huairu was powerless to do anything about it. Now that there were witnesses and physical evidence, how could she possibly deny it?
"Oh! I know, officers! It must be my daughter-in-law who wanted to eat meat. She must have stolen it. Arrest her!"
"Huai Ru, say something! Did you steal it? You can't implicate your mother! Just admit it!"
The people around were speechless. This Jia Zhangshi was so desperate to protect herself that she didn't even spare her own family. She was truly worse than a pig or a dog.
Li Shengli had been arresting criminals for several years, but this was the first time he had encountered someone as shameless as Jia Zhangshi. He couldn't hold back any longer and shouted at her.
“Jia Zhangshi, if you dare to talk nonsense again, I will add the charge of false accusation to your name.”
"You can't do this! You can't treat the elderly like this! Waaah...!"
Jia Zhangshi cried; she finally couldn't bear it anymore and paid the price for her greed and ignorance.
The crowd gathered at the entrance made way as they watched Jia Zhangshi, who was crying and sobbing, being taken away by the police.
"Oh! By the way, could you send a representative to the police station to give a statement?"
Seeing that Liu Haizhong's family still had things to do, Li Shengli thoughtfully asked him to send a representative instead of specifying that he himself should go.
"Thank you, Officer Li. We will definitely cooperate."
Liu Haizhong expressed his gratitude.
"Of course, of course."
After Li Shengli had arranged everything, he left with Jia Zhangshi, accompanied by his second aunt.
With the police gone, the onlookers, having lost their spectacle, scattered like birds and beasts.
Liu Haizhong saw that the meat had been found and quickly handed it over to Sha Zhu to handle. They couldn't delay any longer, or the lunch banquet wouldn't be able to proceed.
The neighbors in the compound are now at ease, as they can eat meat again at noon, as if nothing had happened and they've returned to normal.
...
Meanwhile, at a vegetable market far from the courtyard, Jia Dongxu smiled. He had been waiting here for a long time because his family was short of food, and now he had finally found his target.
Jia Dongxu quickly walked over and saw that the other person was dressed like a country farmer with a bag in front of him, so he whispered something.
"Is that bag of grain in your hand? Are you selling it or not?"
The other person didn't speak, but looked Jia Dongxu up and down. After a moment, he nodded. It seemed that he often did this kind of thing and was very cautious.
After that, neither of them spoke. They tacitly went to the alley next to them, and only after confirming that it was safe did they start talking in hushed tones.
Finally, the two reached a deal. Without asking for a receipt, Jia Dongxu bought the 30 jin of cornmeal at a price 20% higher than the market price.
After the transaction was completed, the other party left quickly. Jia Dongxu didn't linger either; he picked up the bag and headed towards the courtyard house.
On his way home, Jia Dongxu was in a good mood. He had bought the food today, and there would be a feast at noon. Just thinking about it made him happy.
As he approached the courtyard house, Jia Dongxu noticed something was wrong. People kept pointing and whispering about him on the road. He knew most of these people; they were all residents of the nearby courtyard houses.
However, he didn't take it seriously. He figured that carrying a bag of grain would definitely attract envy from others, and it was normal for them to point fingers at him.
Back at the courtyard house, the neighbors all looked at Jia Dongxu with schadenfreude, which puzzled Jia Dongxu. So he asked Li Jianjun, who worked in the same workshop.
"Jianjun, what's going on, guys? There's something wrong with my expression!"
"Brother Jia, there are too many people here, so don't ask. Go back and ask your wife; she knows what happened."
Li Jianjun said embarrassedly.
"Okay! Jianjun, you've learned to keep secrets now. Tell me quickly, your brother won't blame you."
Jia Dongxu patted his chest loudly, indicating that he could handle it.
"Brother Jia, you should go back and ask your wife! I really can't help you."
After Li Jianjun finished speaking, he ran away before Jia Dongxu could react.
Jia Dongxu then realized that something serious might have happened and hurried home.
When Jia Dongxu got home, he saw his wife sitting on a stool with their child in her arms, all safe and sound. He breathed a sigh of relief and was about to sit down to catch his breath when he suddenly jumped up again.
Wait, my mother is missing?
"Huai Ru, where did Mom go?"
Hearing the sound, Qin Huairu came to her senses and quickly stood up.
"Dongxu, you're finally back! Mom's been arrested by the police, sob sob sob..."
Qin Huairu's words struck Jia Dongxu like a thunderbolt, leaving him stunned and unable to recover for a long time.
"Dongxu, what's wrong? Say something! Don't scare me, can't you say something?"
No matter how much Qin Huairu called out, Jia Dongxu remained standing there motionless. Having no other choice, she could only go forward and pinch him.
"Ouch! Why are you pinching me? Isn't this already a mess? Tell me quickly, why did the police arrest my mom?"
Seeing that Jia Dongxu had reacted, Qin Huairu was overjoyed and burst into tears.
"Waaaaah...!"
"Don't cry, I don't blame you anymore. Tell me, what happened?"
Qin Huairu knew this wasn't the time to be petty, so she quickly recounted the whole story from the beginning.
Upon hearing this, Jia Dongxu's first thought was to plead with Liu Haizhong for leniency. However, after thinking about it, he realized that Liu Haizhong had already been arrested by the police, so he decided to go to the police station first.
"You stay home and keep an eye on the kids. I'll go to the police station to inquire and see what's going on."
"Yes, yes! Don't worry! I'll take good care of the child."
Without stopping, Jia Dongxu left the courtyard and rushed to the police station.
Upon arriving at the police station, Jia Dongxu didn't know who to turn to, so he could only ask the police officer on duty at the entrance.
"Hello comrade, I'd like to ask, this morning, some police arrested an elderly woman in courtyard number 95. Who should I contact about this?"
"Who are you? What's your relationship with that old lady?"
"I asked the officer on duty."
"Oh! My name is Jia Dongxu, and I am her son."
"After entering, go to the third room from the left and find Captain Li Shengli. He's the one who handled this matter."
"Thank you!"
After Jia Dongxu finished speaking, he went inside and found the third room from the left, where a young policeman was sitting.
"Hello comrade, I'm looking for Captain Li."
The young policeman looked up at Jia Dongxu and then said.
"Captain Li is currently handling a case. Please sit down and wait for a while!"
Helpless, Jia Dongxu could only sit down and wait patiently.
It took more than an hour for Captain Li to arrive.
After the two sides met and exchanged brief introductions, Captain Li began to speak.
"Jia Zhangshi has already confessed, so it's not convenient to meet with her now. You can only meet with her after the sentencing. You should go back first! Someone will come to inform you when the time comes."
"What? You want to be sentenced? No, Captain Li, you can't be mistaken! It's just about two pounds of pork, we can ask for forgiveness."
Jia Dongxu was incredulous; he was actually going to be sentenced? This was unacceptable to him.
"Don't you understand the law? This is a criminal case. Do you think this is a street vendor selling cabbages? You can't haggle over the price!"
Captain Li, seeing that this was yet another person ignorant of the law, said rudely.
"My family can pay compensation; we'll pay more, isn't that enough?"
Jia Dongxu believed that as long as he lost enough money, he would definitely succeed.
"If money could solve everything, what would we need the police for? Go home now! Don't waste your time here."
Captain Li was too lazy to talk to him anymore; he'd seen plenty of people like him, always so arrogant.
Jia Dongxu left the police station in a daze and walked home on instinct.
Inside the courtyard, the central courtyard was already full of guests. When everyone saw Jia Dongxu return, the entire scene fell silent, and all eyes turned to Jia Dongxu.
Jia Dongxu felt like a clown with nowhere to hide, a feeling that made him feel incredibly humiliated!
Why!
Is the road home so difficult?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com