Chapter 40 He wanted to push her again.
Flames shot high and thick smoke billowed out. Liu Nian and Su Xu exchanged a glance and quickly went outside.
"Be careful!" Su Xu put one hand on Liu Nian's waist, afraid that she would fall.
The villagers, carrying buckets of water, rushed inside, exclaiming, "Oh no! How did it catch fire!"
By the time Liu Nian and Su Xu arrived, Liu Qiang and his men had already put out the fire.
The fire was not large, but it spread from the warehouse where the embroidery was stored.
"What am I going to do!" Jin Qiaomei cried as she ran over. "My embroidery! It's all burned!"
"How am I going to explain this to everyone tomorrow!" Jin Qiaomei cried, glancing furtively at Liu Nian.
Liu Nian looked at her coldly.
"You said everything was burned, so I definitely couldn't complete my mission! It's not my fault!" Jin Qiaomei wiped away her tears, a hint of undisguised smugness in her eyes.
The ten women who had taken on the embroidery work also sighed, "What bad luck! We had all finished embroidering and were just waiting to hand it in! Now, it's all gone to waste."
Jin Qiaomei began to feign pitifulness, "Fellow villagers, although it was said that if I failed to complete the task, I would be punished for multiple crimes! But natural disasters and deaths are inevitable, and I can't escape them!"
"Please, everyone, give me a way to live!"
The villagers all looked at Liu Nian. Now Liu Nian had a very high reputation in Jiangjuntun, and everyone couldn't help but want to say a few words on behalf of Jin Qiaomei.
“Let’s keep things separate. It was wrong of her to destroy the greenhouse, and she should be punished. But failing to complete this task has nothing to do with her.”
"Liu Nian, we need to be reasonable."
“Yes, we absolutely must not let personal grudges get involved!” Jin Qiaomei added.
Liu Nian coldly retorted, "Did I say anything? Why are you so anxious?"
“But don’t worry, your embroidery is completely undamaged.” Liu Nian raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t expect that, did you?”
"What did you say?" Jin Qiaomei was stunned. "The warehouse caught fire, how could it not have been destroyed!"
"I said it wasn't destroyed, and it wasn't destroyed." Liu Nian chuckled softly. "What? You seem disappointed to hear it wasn't destroyed?"
Jin Qiaomei's expression changed immediately. "No, no, I'm not disappointed at all."
Liu Nian snorted and turned to Liu Qiang, saying, "Brother, you really need to investigate how this fire started! If someone set it on fire, you should hand it over to the police station immediately!"
Within the militia, Liu Qiang held absolute authority, overseeing the civilian security of Jiangjuntun—it was his duty. He nodded and said, "Don't worry, I will definitely investigate thoroughly!"
Some people probably won't be able to sleep tonight, but Liu Nian slept soundly until dawn.
The next day, the embroidery teacher arrived at Jiangjuntun early, waiting to inspect the embroidery.
Jin Qiaomei looked around nervously, and saw Liu Nian leading Su Xu towards her in the distance.
Su Xu pushed a cart, which was full of embroidery.
Jin Qiaomei's face turned ashen instantly; it was all over.
"Teacher, this is an embroidery piece led by Jin Qiaomei. Please take a look and inspect it," Liu Nian said respectfully to her teacher.
The embroidery teacher had a good impression of Liu Nian, smiled and nodded at her before going to inspect the work.
But the more he looked at her, the uglier her expression became. "You've embroidered them all wrong!"
"How did you learn? How did you teach them?" the embroidery teacher scolded Jin Qiaomei. "You didn't learn properly from the beginning! Everything you taught was wrong!"
Several women who were embroidering immediately said, "Yes! We'll just follow Jin Qiaomei's instructions! This has nothing to do with us!"
"You!" Jin Qiaomei exclaimed anxiously, "Don't talk nonsense!"
"Tell me, what are we going to do?" The embroidery teacher sat down in her seat and said coldly, "They're waiting for it!"
Jin Qiaomei cannot bear this responsibility, and she cannot hand over the documents, so she will be punished for multiple crimes.
She tried to argue her point, but Liu Qiang suddenly barged in with his militia, waving his hand and saying, "Take Jin Qiaomei away!"
"What are you doing?" Jin Qiaomei panicked immediately. "Why are you arresting me!"
"Because you are suspected of arson!" Liu Qiang immediately ordered Jin Qiaomei to be taken away and handed over to the police station immediately.
Secretary Jin chased after her, crying and shouting, "My daughter is innocent! Innocent!"
"If you have any grievances, go to the police station and tell them!" Liu Qiang was an upright and incorruptible man. "Now that Jin Qiaomei is a suspect, we must take her away!"
Jin Qiaomei's wailing gradually subsided, leaving everyone dumbfounded.
"How could this happen?! How could this possibly happen!" The embroidery teacher slammed her fist on the table in anger. "This Jin Qiaomei, afraid of not being able to complete the task, actually planned to ruin it!"
The embroidery teacher sighed, "Luckily you had the foresight to move the things away."
Last night, Liu Nian and Su Xu came to the village committee. She only glanced at the embroidery and knew that they definitely wouldn't be able to complete the task, and Jin Qiaomei was well aware of this as well.
Under such circumstances, Jin Qiaomei would definitely take a risk, but no one expected that she would actually set fire to the village committee!
The embroidery teacher looked at Liu Nian earnestly, "The higher-ups urgently need this batch of embroidery. Only you can help them. If they don't complete the task, they'll lose all their work points from these past few days."
The women who were embroidering alongside Jin Qiaomei looked at Liu Nian awkwardly.
They had said countless bad things about Liu Nian in order to curry favor with Liu Xiangxiang.
Especially Liu Xiangxiang, Wang Xiuzhi, and Shen Juan, all of whom don't get along with Liu Nian.
"Please, Liu Nian, please, for the sake of us being fellow villagers, have a good deed!"
“One of them is your mother-in-law, and the other is your sister-in-law. How can you bear not to help us?”
If Liu Nian said no, she would definitely be morally blackmailed by the villagers and be berated again. In fact, the embroidery teacher also had her own plan. If she stayed in Jiangjuntun for a few days and taught each person carefully, she wouldn't make any more mistakes.
But they didn't want to get involved and wanted to push the blame onto Liu Nian.
She was already too busy with the greenhouse work. Besides, if she did this job well, the credit wouldn't go to her, and if she did it poorly, she'd have to take responsibility. In her previous life, Liu Nian took on this job, and it took her more than half a year of back and forth, constantly reworking it, exhausting her. Liu Nian didn't want to get involved.
But Liu Nian still smiled and said, "Of course, I will definitely help you. We live in the same village, and I'm not heartless."
The group immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
Liu Nian suddenly cried out in pain, "Ah—my stomach—it hurts so much—"
"Ah, my child..." Liu Nian clutched her belly, her face pale.
Su Xu's expression also changed, and he panicked.
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