Episode 34 Thermos Cup
When Jiang Shu returned to the car, Lin Ying was sitting in the back seat with her daughter. Ru Xing was filled with righteous indignation and lashed out at his mother about the little boy's evil deeds.
"Sun Jiawei always bullies Jiajia, and I always help Jiajia scold him, so he dislikes me... But Jiajia is too weak. It's obvious that we are being bullied, but she doesn't dare to say a word..."
Lin Ying patiently comforted her, "Jia Jia was timid to begin with, and she got splashed with water. Everyone was arguing, and you were so fierce. She was already frightened, so how could she care about speaking or testifying? You, you are not afraid of being scared because of your loud voice, but you can't expect other children to be like you. Look at Sun Jiawei, such a big guy, but he hid in his mother's arms and threw a tantrum. Would you do the same?"
Speaking of Sun Jiawei, Ruxing was furious again. "I'm not like him. He's just a coward and a liar! I'll beat him up every time I see him!"
"I support you helping your friend vent his anger, but you should always protect yourself first. Don't confront others just to show off. What if Mom and Uncle hadn't arrived in time today? Would he have thrown a bucket of water on you? You might even get hurt."
"I'm not afraid! If I get hurt, I'll tell the teacher that he's a bad kid. I'll teach him a lesson so he won't bully us again!"
At this point, Jiang Shu had already fastened his seat belt. He happened to catch a glimpse of Lin Ying's helpless look in the rearview mirror and couldn't help laughing.
"I would do the same if I were in her place. Ruxing would even fight back. She's obviously very powerful."
Lin Ying thought: Genes are truly amazing. But she was also thankful that these genes had also benefited her daughter.
She asked Jiang Shu: "What did you do just now?"
"When I was watching the surveillance video, I thought of something and asked the surveillance teacher about it."
Jiang Shu drove the car onto the main road. "Also, I reminded Ruxing's homeroom teacher to pay more attention to Ruxing's school situation. I'm afraid the child will retaliate. His parents are also not easy to deal with. If there is any situation, please report it to you in time."
Hearing this, Lin Ying realized that he had not considered it carefully just now.
She was very emotional at the time, perhaps because she was not feeling well today, she couldn't help but say some nonsense to the useless parents, and in the end she didn't think of giving the teacher a heads-up... If Jiang Shu hadn't been paying attention, she would have been in a difficult situation again tonight.
"You're thoughtful."
She raised her eyes and looked at the eyes in the rearview mirror. "If it weren't for you today, it might not have been so smooth."
"No way! You were right to scold them back then. They were not in the right anyway."
"They're not in the right, but what I mean is that they didn't continue to pester me tonight, most likely because they saw you were there. If I were the only one to support Ruxing, they might not stop."
This is not the first time she has encountered such a situation in recent years. A mother and her daughter are on the verge of a fight, and they will always be suppressed in such occasions. She was not good at being arrogant in the past, but in recent years she has always forced herself to become domineering.
But I can't always feel relieved. There are still many times when I am not understood and even forced to compromise...
She needs to take the lead, but she dare not take the lead too much, all for her daughter. The former is for protection, and the latter is for self-protection.
Today was the first time she felt that having someone's support was so effective.
The irony is that the person who backs you up only needs to be a man.
Even if this man is not her husband, or even necessarily her daughter's father, he can still intimidate the other party. As the child's closest mother, it seems far from enough.
That night, considering Lin Ying's physical condition, the three of them went to eat Yunnan mushroom hotpot together. Ruxing observed the various wild mushrooms and described them to Lin Ying in a chattering manner, saying that this one looked like a tadpole, that one looked like a big tree... In the end, she put all these strange-shaped mushrooms into her stomach, feeling very satisfied.
After dinner, Jiang Shu sent the mother and daughter downstairs as usual. Before returning the car keys, he did not forget to adjust the seat to its original angle so that Lin Ying could use the car next time.
The ride-hailing car would not arrive for a while, so he took the time to remind Lin Ying:
"Aying, I know you don't want to rely on others, but your body is no different from anything else. If there are any hidden dangers, you must not be stubborn. I'm very familiar with that hospital. If you really need help, just call me and I can help you arrange a follow-up visit."
"Okay, I promise, I'll call you if I need you."
After tonight's incident, Lin Ying couldn't help but soften her attitude. She couldn't help but think of Wang Duo's advice to her at that time. It was said that men were thick-skinned and not very sensitive, but in her opinion, they were obviously terrifyingly sensitive to the things they cared about - even if the things they cared about were not worth mentioning at all in the eyes of women.
Jiang Shu was about to say something else when he suddenly felt a pair of small hands pulling at his fingers.
"Uncle, uncle...can I give this cup to Ruxing?"
The little girl was looking up with desire in her pair of bright black pupils, and her other little hand was tightly grasping the mini thermos cup that he had given to Lin Ying at that time - a small cup with macaron colors all over, which was very eye-catching and attractive.
"She saw it as soon as she got in the car today and thought I had just bought it for her. She loved it. But I told her it wasn't mine and I couldn't just decide on it."
Lin Ying's explanation was helpless, and Jiang Shu almost forgot about it. "You reminded me, Ruxing, this cup is not mine either."
This is Xu Yiwei's thing, one of the few possessions she has now. She always keeps it with her because she often suffers from dysmenorrhea.
"At that time, she noticed that you were not feeling well, so she directly filled some warm water for me to take down. I hope you don't mind."
"I was wondering, how come you have such a cute thermos?"
She squatted down and patiently explained to her daughter, "Now Ruxing knows that this cup doesn't belong to your uncle, but to another older sister. She's not here today, so we can't just take other people's things. If you like it, Mommy will buy you a similar one. Give this one back to your uncle first, okay?"
Seeing Ruxing nod reluctantly, Lin Ying took the thermos cup from her and returned it to Jiang Shu.
"Thank you for today. Remember to let me know if there is any progress on the villa."
"Well, I've asked my assistant to help me find a new place to live. I'll probably be moving in a few days."
Lin Ying nodded, but added, "Then thank Xiao Xu for me, too. If there's anything I can do to help, please let me know."
It was already late when the villa was robbed. According to Xu Yiwei's meager and confused recollections, there were at least two people on the other side, both wearing masks and baseball caps, and wearing loose uniforms that blurred their figures. At that time, she knew that a thunderstorm was coming, so she was collecting clothes on the terrace. Naturally, she was not vigilant, which led to her mistake and the thieves taking advantage of the opportunity.
She didn't know when the two men came up behind her. Xu Yiwei was so frightened by the gleaming silver dagger that her legs went weak. The other man quickly subdued her and threatened her to tell him the location of her valuables and the safe...
As a young girl, she couldn't bear such a fierce threat, and burst into tears.
"I don't know, I don't know! I'm just a cleaner, I don't know anything!"
But the thieves had been staking out their position for days, so how could they possibly believe this? They grabbed a piece of laundry from the drying line and tied her hands and feet. They dragged her unceremoniously into the corridor, pressing the dagger to her throat again, and finally pried her out:
"But... maybe in the study, I'm not sure... he... he never lets me in, and I really don't know anything else... please let me go, I don't know anything!"
The other party let her go, but did not let her body go.
"After they heard there might be something in the study, they covered my head, gagged me, and tied me up at the stairs. I heard them banging on the door... and the sounds of rummaging through things and smashing things... I was so scared at the time, I couldn't move or shout... I thought they would just take the things and leave, but... but I didn't expect them to be so beastly! I'm sorry, I'm sorry... I didn't mean to do that. I didn't expect this to happen. I didn't mean to..."
While taking notes, Xu Yiwei's whole body was shaking. After he finished speaking, he burst into tears and lay on the table sobbing...
Jiang Shu watched the girl blaming herself with tears in her eyes, and for a moment he could not utter a word except to sigh in silence.
And she is not the only one who blames herself.
This villa used to be managed by a nanny and housekeeper for Jiang Shu. After six years, he had been absent-minded since returning, having only asked the cleaning staff to come and clean it temporarily. Even the Wi-Fi was only installed half a month ago. Except for the one on the porch, the other surveillance cameras were not connected to the internet and activated at all. Unfortunately, this only surveillance camera was destroyed as soon as the two men entered on the day of the incident...
In order to track down the whereabouts of the thieves, the police have been searching nearby residents and even properties in the villa area for a whole week.
The two men did not drive, and the uniforms were also on the list of items that the dry cleaner was responsible for cleaning every week. There were dozens of pieces in a batch, and there was no fixed code. These two sets were obviously discarded and pre-recycled old products. They had been transferred to several transfer stations, so it was not easy to trace them.
The footage captured by the neighbors' surveillance cameras was mostly outdoors, and the characters' characteristics could not be clearly seen. Moreover, it was raining heavily outside when the incident happened, and there were very few witnesses.
When asked about Xu Yiwei, the only person who had physical contact with the suspect, the useful information she could provide was extremely limited - she was already very frightened, and her head was covered the entire time. Even when that incident happened, her vision was dark and she could only hear screams.
Even afterwards, when the police asked him to cooperate in sampling biological information from his body, they still found nothing - the other party acted cautiously and used a condom.
Jiang Shu, who learned about this, was speechless - if you say they are cautious, they still have to violate the girl under such circumstances; if you say they are careless, they did not forget to wear a condom when violating the girl... It seems that they are habitual offenders.
In short, according to the police, this case is not difficult, but it is time-consuming and requires more patience. Before the two left the police station that day, they also specifically instructed Xu Yiwei:
"If you remember anything, please contact us immediately, any details are welcome."
That being said, it was still a bad memory. Her life was already shaky, and now it was even more of a mess.
She thought that God had mercy on her and let her get lucky by meeting Jiang Shu, a rich man who was willing to give her food and shelter, but she ended up having to encounter this kind of thing... Maybe this is the price, or maybe, it is her retribution?
I heard Jiang Shu was planning to move out soon, and my future was completely uncertain. Would he take me with him? Would he, considering how pitiful I was, give me a little more?
Whenever she thought about this, she always felt a little regretful. She regretted why she hadn't just been tougher that night when she was "picked up" and tried every possible way to get him to have sex with her. If they had, would she now have a legitimate reason to rely on him?
But they didn't do that that day, and he always indulged her afterwards, even doing his best. Even if he was being unreasonable, she seemed to have no excuse - except that she was still a pitiful person.
Looking at the dense stream of urging text messages and the unbearable voice threats on her phone, Xu Yiwei became sleepless again. She tossed and turned until almost midnight. She had no choice but to get up, pull out her hidden cigarette lighter, and head to the third-floor terrace...
However, before the tobacco had burned for long, it was interrupted by an unexpected sound -
"No wonder I smelled smoke in the house before, it turned out to be you."
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