"Where...where did the money come from?" Xu Jianguo asked, looking puzzled.
Liu Xueli smiled smugly: "You don't need to worry about that, it's all for Mom anyway."
Xu Kuo immediately sensed something was wrong. He walked up to Liu Xueli and coldly asked, "Where are the grain coupons and meat coupons I left on the table?"
"What grain coupons and meat coupons?" Liu Xueli feigned ignorance. "I didn't see them."
"Didn't you see it?" Xu Kuo sneered. "Sister-in-law, you're really good at playing dumb! Those tickets are all mine. You took them to buy things without even saying hello. Don't you take me seriously at all?"
"Oh, Xu Laosan, why are you so stingy?" Liu Xueli said nonchalantly. "It's just a few tickets. Besides, this money isn't being spent on me; it's all for Mom to buy food. Why are you making such a fuss?"
"These are all Xu family's things, what's wrong with giving them to Mother?"
"So this is all stuff from the Xu family!" Xu Kuo laughed angrily. "Sister-in-law, do you believe I'll go to the police station right now and report you?"
"You dare!" Xu Jianguo jumped up immediately upon hearing this. "You ungrateful wretch, you're going to report your sister-in-law for a few tickets?"
“A few tickets are a small matter, but what my sister-in-law is doing is theft!” Xu Kuo retorted firmly.
Liu Xueli panicked too; she hadn't expected Xu Kuo to be so serious: "Third brother, it can't be that serious... we're all family..."
"Yes, Xu Kuo, we're all family, don't make things too ugly." Jiang Xiuying tugged at Xu Kuo's sleeve and whispered her advice. She didn't want to escalate the situation; after all, family scandals shouldn't be aired in public.
Xu Kuo took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. He looked at Liu Xueli and said, word by word, "Sister-in-law, I'll give you two days to return all those grain coupons and meat coupons to me, not a single one missing. Otherwise, don't blame me for being impolite!"
Liu Xueli had never seen anything like this before. She was so frightened that her face turned pale, her legs went weak, and she almost knelt down.
She stammered, "Third brother...it's just...just a few tickets...is it really that big of a deal...?"
As she spoke, she shakily pulled out a stack of grain and meat coupons from her pocket, held them out with both hands, and handed them to Xu Kuo, afraid that if she was too slow, Xu Kuo would really take her to the police station.
Xu Kuo snorted coldly, snatched the grain coupons and meat coupons, and carefully counted them. He found that many were missing. He glanced at Xu Jianguo and Xu Jianjun with a look that seemed to want to devour them alive.
"Eldest brother, second brother, you've seen it yourselves. Sister-in-law's hands are really 'clean'. From now on, you'll have to pay more attention to Mother's side. Don't rely on me for everything!" Xu Kuo's words were barbed and merciless.
"Moreover, this time I'm only giving you two days to return the tickets you've used."
Xu Jianguo and Xu Jianjun knew they were in the wrong, so they lowered their heads and didn't dare to say a word, but in their hearts they cursed Liu Xueli to the core.
"Alright, you can all leave now. Mother needs to rest." Xu Kuo gave them the order to leave, his tone icy and leaving no room for negotiation.
Xu Jianguo and Xu Jianjun felt as if they had been granted a pardon. They grabbed their wives and slunk away from the scene.
After seeing off these two plagues, Xu Kuo finally breathed a sigh of relief and turned back into the house.
He walked to the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) and asked Ren Hongmei softly, "Mother, how did you fall? Tell your son the truth."
Xu Kuo was filled with doubts. He had scanned Ren Hongmei with the system before and found that apart from some malnutrition, she was otherwise healthy. Logically, she shouldn't have fallen so badly.
Ren Hongmei's eyes flickered, and she stammered, refusing to tell the truth, only waving her hands repeatedly: "No...it's nothing, it's just...it was an accident..."
Who was Xu Kuo? He saw through Ren Hongmei's lie at a glance, and his suspicions deepened. He knew this matter was definitely not simple.
"Mother, you should rest well. If anything happens, just call Xiuya." Xu Kuo stopped asking questions. He knew that he wouldn't get any results by asking now, so he might as well find out for himself.
After settling Ren Hongmei in, Xu Kuo instructed Jiang Xiuying to take good care of her, and then went out alone.
As soon as I stepped out of the courtyard, I ran into Liu Yuan.
"Xu Kuo, where are you going? Is your mother alright?" Liu Yuan asked with concern when he saw Xu Kuo's gloomy face.
Xu Kuo suppressed his anger and asked in a calm tone, "Teacher Liu, did you see anyone come to my house today?"
Liu Yuan tilted his head and thought for a moment, then said, "I saw Zhao Ming's grain shop assistant come by, acting suspiciously. I don't know what he was doing."
Zhao Ming!
Xu Kuo was startled and immediately understood everything. That bastard must be holding a grudge about the pond incident and has come for revenge!
An unnamed rage burned in Xu Kuo's chest. He wished he could rush to Zhao Ming's grain shop and tear that bastard to pieces!
Seeing Xu Kuo's increasingly grim expression, Liu Yuan became frightened and quickly advised, "Brother Xu Kuo, please don't act rashly! Zhao Ming is ruthless and has a grain shop under his control. You can't defeat him! Why don't you... go find Secretary Wen? She just took office and will definitely take care of this matter!"
Yes, find Secretary Wen!
Xu Kuo suddenly realized that now was not the time to act rashly; he needed to come up with a foolproof plan to completely eliminate Zhao Ming, this scourge!
He took a deep breath, forced himself to calm down, said "thank you" to Liu Yuan, and strode towards the county town.
Upon arriving in the county town, Xu Kuo went straight to Secretary Wen's office, but as soon as he reached the entrance of the supply and marketing cooperative, he saw a group of people gathered there, making a fuss, and he didn't know what had happened.
Xu Kuo squeezed through the crowd and saw a young girl surrounded by several shady-looking youths. The girl was Wenwen.
"What are you doing? Trying to act like hooligans in broad daylight?" Xu Kuo shouted angrily, parting the crowd and walking in.
The young men were stunned when a country bumpkin suddenly appeared. They looked Xu Kuo up and down, their eyes filled with disdain and contempt.
"Brother Xu Kuo, what brings you here?" Wenwen saw Xu Kuo as if she had seen a savior and quickly hid behind him.
The young man leading the group was dressed in fashionable clothes and looked like a city dweller, and also the son of an official.
Seeing Wenwen hide behind Xu Kuo, he immediately became displeased, pointing his finger at Wenwen's nose and cursing, "Wenwen, let me tell you, you'd better stay away from this country bumpkin, or don't blame me for being impolite!"
This man, named Zhang Zijian, is the son of Zhang Qingzheng in the county. Relying on his family's power, he is arrogant and domineering, bullying men and women and committing all sorts of evil deeds.
Wenwen turned pale from his scolding but dared not utter a sound. She just clung tightly to Xu Kuo's clothes, clearly terrified.
Seeing that Wenwen wouldn't listen to him, Zhang Zijian became even more furious. He waved his hand at the thugs behind him and shouted, "Get him! Beat this country bumpkin to the ground!"
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