332
"It seems so at the moment."
"Was it recorded?"
Lu Jiao nodded. "They recorded it. But they didn't get anything useful. Guo Eryun was very cautious and didn't reveal anything on the phone. Li Bali had just said, 'Oh no, we've been found out...' when he interrupted him. They must have arranged to meet somewhere."
On the phone screen, two dots are moving.
Jian Yu curled the corners of her lips. "This shouldn't be too difficult for you, right?"
"nature."
The next second, a wheezing sound came from the phone.
Two minutes later, the dots met.
An angry voice came through the phone, "You two idiots, didn't you even check if anyone was sleeping inside before you set the fire?"
Another muffled voice said, "What if we deliberately go in and wake someone up? Didn't you say that Old Liu's wife locked the door at 9:30? Usually, when they lock the door, it means they're closing up shop and going to sleep. They're already closed up shop, what are we going in to confirm?"
There was also an old voice, probably Li Bali's father, "You said that Old Liu and the others had already locked themselves in and gone to sleep, and I asked you to come with me, why didn't you go?"
"If I were to do it, I wouldn't need to ask you and your son."
Guo Eryun sought out Li Bali and his son to prevent his own actions from being exposed and implicated.
“Bali has difficulty walking and can only keep watch from a wheelchair. It’s a miracle he was able to escape just now.”
"I'm so angry! Didn't you poison the flour in your mom's pastries? Lu Jiao loves your mom's pastries. He sleeps like a log after eating them, and he won't wake up even if there's thunder."
"At one o'clock in the morning, everyone is sound asleep. Even if they don't eat the pies with added ingredients, as long as the fire starts, Lu Jiao won't be able to escape."
"The premise that they couldn't escape was that they were inside the house. Now, we don't even know when they left. This fire was a waste, and it might have already alerted Lu Jiao."
“It should have already caused a collision. When I was pushing the wheelchair back, I almost collided with a car at an intersection. Although I dodged in time, my dad is old and reacts slowly. He didn’t notice the car lights. By the time he realized what was happening, he had already dodged, but the people in the car still noticed him.”
Guo Eryun was so angry she almost hit him. "What are you all doing? Aren't the car lights visible from far away? Why didn't you run away when you saw them? Why did you deliberately move closer? Are you afraid others won't notice?"
The old man said, "I didn't mean to move forward."
Li Bali didn't take it seriously. "Don't worry, as long as we don't expose ourselves, we'll be fine. Let's go to your house now, drink together until dawn, and we can vouch for each other."
"You wish. At most, it's you and your son who are exposed. Even if the investigation reaches you, it will only be seen as revenge. It won't trace back to me."
Li Bali sneered, "You wish! Now you must take us to your house, or I will tell Lu Jiao that you asked my dad to set the fire."
Guo Eryun's breathing became noticeably heavier.
Li Bali, "Have you thought it through?"
After taking a deep breath, Guo Eryun repeatedly said yes.
Lu Jiao smiled and shook his head, "We'll need Xiao Xi's blind date's help later."
"Hopefully they didn't finish eating, otherwise they'll have to have their blood drawn."
The fire trucks and police cars arrived at the same time.
When Jian Yu and the others returned, the fire had shrunk considerably and was almost completely extinguished.
Firefighters searched around the farmhouse for the source of the fire.
Lu Jiao couldn't directly call the police with his phone, so he could only provide clues to the police in a skeptical tone, "That figure really looks like my stepfather Li Bali's father. I don't know what he's doing out at this hour? I called the factory's duty room, but my stepfather didn't answer. Also, the brown sugar pastries tasted a bit strange today; we didn't eat any, and they burned in the kitchen. Now, only Xiaoxi's blind date's family has some left, but I don't know if they've finished them?"
The police immediately split into two groups: one went to the factory to find Li Bali, and the other went to Xiaoxi's blind date's house to find brown sugar shortbread.
Xiaoxi's blind date's surname is Tian. When the police arrived at their house, they didn't ask them to open the door.
No one answered the phone.
After confirming that the door was locked from the inside, the police broke it down and entered.
The commotion woke up all the neighbors, but none of the three members of Xiaotian's family woke up.
Upon checking the kitchen, only three shortbread cookies remained.
It seems that the three members of the Xiaotian family each ate a pastry, and were unable to wake up due to the effects of the medicine inside.
The remaining three brown sugar shortbreads were put into an evidence bag, and a vial of blood was drawn from each of the three members of the Xiaotian family.
At this moment, traces of kerosene were discovered in a corner of Xiaoxi's house.
This confirms it was arson.
When the police found Li Bali and his son at Guo Eryun's house, they were already completely drunk and unconscious.
Jian Yu: "You're quite the actor! The alcohol smell on you is probably from spraying alcohol, isn't it?"
Lu Jiao nodded. With such a strong smell of alcohol, the only solution for the time being was to spray some strong liquor.
Jian Yu whispered, "Could you transfer the recording you just made to Li Bali's phone without being detected?"
"Are you trying to take advantage of the police checking their phones to do something?"
"Yes. You can't just hand the recording over to the police; you can only let them discover it on their own."
Lu Jiao nodded. "That's a good idea."
Can you do it?
"cannot."
"ah?"
"Because I just turned on Li Bali's phone recorder in the background."
Jian Yu silently gave Lu Jiao a thumbs up.
They don't need to do anything now; they just need to wait for the investigation results.
Lu Jiao: "This time we'll have to stay a few more days."
Jian Yu had no objection, since she couldn't go back to her own home anyway.
Since we're out in the world, it doesn't really matter where we are.
"Waaaaah---"
Aunt Liu's grief-stricken cries reached them, and Jian Yu and Lu Jiao both turned their heads away in embarrassment.
Lu Jiao had just turned away when he looked at her again. "Aunt Liu, don't be sad. If it's proven that this matter is related to my stepfather and his family, I will take responsibility for all your family's losses."
Xiaoxi quickly grabbed Aunt Liu's clothes, signaling her to speak.
Aunt Liu cried because she was heartbroken over the loss, but after receiving Lu Jiao's assurance, she immediately smiled and said, "Really?"
Xiaoxi screamed, "Mom..."
Aunt Liu slapped her hand away. "Stop shouting. I know what you want to say, but can't you face reality? We're just an ordinary family. Our losses are so huge. If we don't make Mr. Lu pay compensation, can we afford it ourselves?"
After saying that, she apologized to Lu Jiao, "I'm sorry, Mr. Lu, my family really can't afford it."
Lu Jiao said, "No need to apologize, it was my responsibility to begin with. Fortunately, everyone is alright, otherwise I would have felt guilty for the rest of my life."
Aunt Liu was still shaken. "Luckily, my family and I went to the hospital with you last night, otherwise we would have been burned to death."
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