"Rats, I suppose," said his companion nonchalantly, "there are plenty of places like that."
The footsteps gradually approached the cleaning cabinet, and Zhang Shumin could smell the strong scent of cologne on the man, mixed with a faint scent of tobacco.
At this critical moment, the man with the gold watch's cell phone suddenly rang.
"Hello? ...Found it? ...Okay, I'll be right there."
He hung up the phone and told his companion, "Don't look for him anymore. We found blood in Jason's apartment, and the technical team has already gone there."
The two hurried away, and the garbage room fell back into darkness. Zhang Shumin waited another ten minutes, confirming it was safe before crawling out of the closet. Her legs were numb from being crouched for so long.
She didn't bother to rub her legs, and immediately checked the tie in her hand. The blood had dried, revealing a dark red color. There was a neat cut on the back of the tie, as if it had been cut by a sharp weapon.
"Something big is going to happen..." Zhang Shumin muttered to herself, quickly rolled up her tie and stuffed it into her pocket, together with the mysterious memory card.
Leaving the garbage room was much harder than coming in. Her hands and feet were so unresponsive that she nearly knocked over the stacked cardboard boxes twice. When she finally reached the back alley, the early morning wind blew against her sweaty back, bringing a shiver to her.
Instead of going home directly, Zhang Shumin went to a 24-hour convenience store three blocks away.
In the bathroom, she hid the tie and memory card in a sanitary napkin bag - this was her usual method of hiding money for years, and she had never been discovered by her son or daughter-in-law.
On the way home, her mind raced. The bloody tie was clearly linked to a crime, and her son, Zhang Shuo, was likely implicated. As a mother, she should have warned her son; but reason told her that the less she knew, the safer she was.
The building remained dark and silent. Zhang Shumin tiptoed upstairs, and as she inserted her key into the lock, she heard an argument coming from inside.
She deliberately jingled her keys, then coughed loudly as she pushed the door open. The quarreling in the room immediately stopped, leaving only the ticking of the wall clock.
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