Zhang Meiling nodded and poured her husband a glass of baijiu (Chinese liquor).
"Have some drinks to calm your nerves."
Liu Zhiqiang drank it all in one gulp, but he still couldn't stop trembling.
"Meiling, this is a crime punishable by jail time! If someone dies, I'll be the mastermind!"
What are you afraid of?
Zhang Meiling lowered her voice.
“My dad has everything arranged. He has people in the Education Bureau and the Health Bureau, so they can't trace us. Besides…”
She moved closer to her husband.
"Haven't you always wanted to be deputy director? If this gets done, my dad guarantees you'll be promoted next year."
Liu Zhiqiang clutched his head and groaned in pain.
"But those are children... I've been teaching for twenty years..."
"Shut up!"
Zhang Meiling shouted sternly.
"Do you think you have a choice? My dad said if you don't do it, you'll be fired tomorrow! How do you think you became a school principal?"
Liu Zhiqiang fell silent.
He knew his wife was right; in Beijing's education system, Zhang Erhe, though retired for many years, still wielded considerable influence.
He was able to rise from an ordinary teacher to a principal entirely thanks to his father-in-law's connections.
"I...I'll order the groceries tomorrow..."
Liu Zhiqiang eventually gave in.
Zhang Meiling then smiled and picked up a piece of meat for her husband.
"That's more like it. Don't worry, my dad has planned everything out; nothing will go wrong."
Liu Zhiqiang chewed the meat without tasting it, but felt as if a heavy stone was pressing on his heart.
The next morning, Liu Zhiqiang, dressed in a neat suit, arrived at Su Ji Vegetable Shop.
The shop was bustling with customers, and business was booming.
Liu Zhiqiang stood at the door, hesitant to go in.
"Excuse me, sir/madam, are you looking to buy groceries?"
A young female shop assistant noticed him and greeted him warmly.
Liu Zhiqiang forced a smile.
"I...I'm the principal of the First Elementary School, and I'd like to...order a batch of vegetables for the school cafeteria."
The female shop assistant's eyes lit up.
"Oh, it's the principal! Please wait a moment, I'll call our boss right away!"
A moment later, Su Jianguo strode over.
He was dressed in a simple Zhongshan suit, with a smile on his face, and looked even more energetic than in the newspaper.
"Principal! Hello, hello!"
Su Jianguo warmly shook hands with Liu Zhiqiang.
"We heard you're going to supply food to our school cafeteria? That would be an honor!"
Liu Zhiqiang's palms were sweaty, and he could barely hold Su Jianguo's hand.
Faced with the "enemy" his father-in-law spoke of, he was so nervous he couldn't speak.
"Principal? Are you alright? You don't look well."
Su Jianguo asked with concern.
"No...it's nothing..."
Liu Zhiqiang wiped his sweat.
"It's just too hot..."
Su Jianguo quickly asked the shop assistant to bring over some herbal tea.
"Please have some tea first, then we can talk. What kind of dishes does the school need? And how much?"
Liu Zhiqiang stammered out the words his wife had taught him.
"Next...next Wednesday, the school is having a sports meet...we need...we need 200 jin of bok choy and 150 jin of spinach...they need to be...the freshest..."
Su Jianguo carefully wrote it down in his notebook.
"No problem! All the vegetables at the Su family's are picked that day, absolutely fresh!"
He thought about it.
"In that case, I'll send another fifty kilograms of tomatoes to the school to supplement the children's vitamin intake; it's just a small token of my appreciation."
Hearing this, Liu Zhiqiang felt even more upset.
The person they were planning to frame actually thought of giving the children free tomatoes.
"Thank...thank you..."
Liu Zhiqiang lowered his head, not daring to look Su Jianguo in the eye.
"The principal is too kind!"
Su Jianguo laughed heartily.
"Education is the foundation of a nation, and it's my honor to do something for the school. By the way, I'll personally deliver the vegetables to the school next Wednesday morning at 7:00 AM; I guarantee they'll be fresh!"
Liu Zhiqiang nodded, hurriedly signed the order, and left as if he were fleeing.
As he stepped out of the store, he let out a long sigh of relief, but felt even more depressed.
He knew that he had just signed not only a vegetable order, but also a sinful contract.
When he got home, Liu Zhiqiang handed the order to his wife and then hid in his study, not coming out all day.
Zhang Meiling was very satisfied, and she immediately called her father to report the good news.
"Dad, Zhiqiang has already ordered the groceries. Su Jianguo will personally deliver them next Wednesday morning at seven o'clock."
Zhang Meiling lowered her voice and said.
On the other end of the phone, Zhang Erhe gave a sinister laugh.
"Okay, very good."
...
at the same time.
On the other side.
At Su Mingqiang's home.
Li Jinhua huddled in the corner of the room, clutching a tattered rag doll in her arms.
She sewed it herself from old clothes; the rough, crooked stitches became her only solace.
"Baby, be good... Mommy's here..."
Li Jinhua hummed softly, shaking the rag doll in her arms as if it were truly her child.
The room was in a mess, with clothes, food wrappers, and empty wine bottles scattered all over the floor.
A piece of glass in the window was broken, and it was barely covered with newspaper, but it couldn't stop the night wind.
Li Jinhua has been completely devastated ever since Zhang Erhe took her child away.
She was expelled from school and lost her source of income. Although she still had some money she had saved, she spent most of it on alcohol in an attempt to numb her pain.
"Baby... Mommy is so sorry..."
Li Jinhua's tears dripped onto the rag doll.
She was disheveled, and her clothes hadn't been changed for a week, emitting an unpleasant odor.
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