Qiao Changhai had to admit that his daughter's words made sense.
He whispered, "Then I'll keep an eye on him tonight and report to the police tomorrow morning."
Qiao Baozhu frowned, looking puzzled. Just as she was about to ask, her old father said sternly, "I have to investigate the situation. You can't rashly report this kind of thing to the police."
After saying that, Qiao Changhai said with a sullen face, "Okay, it's settled. Let's eat!"
Although Qiao Changhai's attitude was a little strange, the large table of delicious food in front of them did not affect everyone's appetite.
There were fish, meat and vegetables that are not common in winter, and everyone had a great time.
After dinner, Qiao Changhai picked up a bag and said he was going out to pick up cardboard. Huang Xing saw this and said he wanted to go out for a walk to help digest his food.
Qiao Baozhu stayed at home to wash the dishes, and everyone was busy with their own things tacitly.
The seemingly warm and quiet atmosphere actually has a kind of calm before the storm.
“Ahhh, oh…”
Bao Huihua and Qiao Baozhu were the only two people left at home. Bao Huihua couldn't help but tug at her daughter's sleeve.
Looking at her adoptive mother's worried eyes, Qiao Baozhu responded with a reassuring smile.
"Mom, don't worry. My dad just went out to scout the environment. He can only feel at ease after he confirms that those people inside are doctors."
Qiao Changhai was running around in the alley carrying a bag of fertilizer. He rummaged through the trash can on the front street for a long time before slowly walking towards the back alley.
Because the back alley is next to the hospital morgue, few people usually pass by during the day. At night, there are always residents who live nearby and are too lazy to go to the public toilets on the street, so they go to the back alley to relieve themselves quickly.
Because of this, the sanitation workers stood in the alley and cursed for a long time, and the comrades in the street also posted notices. The problem of urinating and defecating in the back alleys has not been solved. Especially in the coldest days of winter, some people directly empty their toilets in the back alleys.
Qiao Changhai wandered to the back alley where Qiao Baozhu mentioned, stood under the high wall and untied his belt.
While relieving himself, he pricked up his ears to listen to the noises inside the wall.
"Brother Zhou, Brother Zhou, there seems to be a figure over there."
"Binzi, follow him and find out his background."
Qiao Changhai stood at the foot of the wall, listening to the footsteps getting closer and closer to him. He glanced at them from the corner of his eye and felt that the two figures were guilty.
The man who changed his name to Brother Zhou walked quickly to Qiao Changhai with his younger brother Binzi. The two stood side by side beside Qiao Changhai, pretending to untie their belts, but actually did nothing.
Qiao Changhai frowned, took a look, tied his belt with a look of disgust, picked up the pesticide bag at his feet and was about to leave.
"Hey, where are you going?"
Brother Zhou and Binzi surrounded Qiao Changhai from the left and right. Brother Zhou put one hand on his waist and stared at Qiao Changhai with fierce eyes.
"I'm just an old man who picks up rags. Do you still want to rob me?"
Qiao Changhai shoved the pesticide bag in front of Brother Zhou and shouted in grievance: "I spent a day picking up only two newspapers, a few tree branches, and a dozen coal briquettes. If you want to take it, go ahead."
Brother Zhou snatched the bag, reached into the bag and rummaged around, feeling a few prickly sticks and newspapers.
After confirming that the old man was not lying, he breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "You are the old man who picked up rags in this area?"
Qiao Changhai stiffened his neck and said, "It's me. What's the matter? The government didn't say that we can't pick up rags. What do you do? Why are you blocking me here in the middle of the night?"
Brother Zhou glanced at Binzi, who yelled impatiently, "Who blocked you? The street comrades have repeatedly said that this is a public place and you can't urinate or defecate anywhere. We two brothers came here to patrol, it's getting late, let's go home quickly. Don't urinate or defecate here anymore."
Qiao Changhai grumbled unconvinced, picked up the silk bag, and left the alley under the gazes of Brother Zhou and the other man.
Qiao Changhai had been a repairman for more than ten years, and his hearing was excellent. He knew that the two men he met in the back alley had been following him silently.
Qiao Changhai took the two of them and ran around in the cold wind, sometimes rummaging through trash cans and sometimes rummaging around in front of neighbors' doors.
It was not until all the lights in all the houses were turned off and Qiao Changhai no longer noticed that anyone was following him that he returned home.
There was a small window on the Qiao family's front door. It was not locked and one could reach in and pull the door latch open.
Qiao Changhai entered the yard, locked the door, and walked into the house with a cold body.
As soon as he opened the door, Qiao Baozhu and Huang Xing rushed out of the house.
"Dad, you're finally back."
"Master, if you come back a little later, Sister Baozhu and I will go out to look for you."
The lights in the Qiao family's house were on, and Qiao Baozhu and Huang Xing were standing at the door, neatly dressed.
Qiao Baozhu even put on a cotton hat, and it was obvious that she was going out to look for someone.
"If a wild dog follows you, you have to get rid of it."
Qiao Changhai looked at his old wife, who was wearing clothes and leaning against the wall, looking at him with a worried look on her face.
He quickly explained, and Qiao Baozhu and Huang Xing understood his hint instantly.
Bao Huihua thought that Qiao Changhai had really met a stray dog on the street, so she quickly stepped forward and pulled Qiao Changhai's clothes.
"I'm fine. Wild dogs just like to follow me. They don't bite people. Just shake them off."
Qiao Changhai patted his wife's arm and looked at Bao Huihua gently, "Go boil a pot of ginger water so I can soak my feet."
When Qiao Baozhu heard this, she turned around and walked to the kitchen, saying, "Mom, take a rest. I'll go boil some water."
"Girl, let your mother go. Go get me a bowl of hot water."
Qiao Baozhu turned around and looked into Qiao Changhai's bright eyes, realizing that he had deliberately sent his adoptive mother away.
Bao Huihua went to the kitchen to boil ginger water. The ginger was stored in the autumn and had been frozen in the warehouse.
It takes time to thaw the frozen ginger, and adding the time to boil the ginger water, Bao Huihua couldn't enter the main room for a while.
Qiao Baozhu helped Qiao Changhai take off his frozen clothes, and took the frozen clothes to the kitchen and gave them to Bao Huihua to dry.
When he returned to the main room, Qiao Changhai took off his shoes and socks, wrapped himself in a quilt and sat on the warm kang.
Huang Xing poured a can of hot water and stuffed it into Qiao Changhai's arms.
One of them sat on the kang, and the other moved a stool and sat beside the kang, waiting quietly for Qiao Changhai to speak.
Qiao Changhai sat on the kang for about three or four minutes. His pale lips were no longer shivering from the cold, and his cold chest felt warm.
He then slowly said, "As soon as I entered the alley, I was watched. Those two people didn't have the strange smell of the morgue, and their accents weren't from our area."
"The leader has an axe on his waist. He doesn't look like someone under Master Ye San."
Qiao Baozhu gritted her teeth and said, "It's neither white nor black, which means they can't escape."
Qiao Changhai, who had been hanging out outside for most of the night, was not worried about reporting to the wrong police and causing harm to others.
With a solemn look on his face, he said, "After those two left, I ran back. I leaned against the wall and listened for a long time. They were talking about the 23rd and the bearing factory. I guess they didn't say anything good. Let's report to the police tomorrow morning."
Qiao Baozhu was shocked. 23rd, isn't that tomorrow?
Sure enough, these people were the murderers of the bearing factory explosion!
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