The cold wind blew into Li Guifang's neck, and she shivered, but her mind became clear.
She rubbed her frozen face, turned around and waved at Li Mingyuan and Wu Xiaomei:
"Xiaomei, go home and cook. Stew some more cabbage and vermicelli noodles and heat up the kang.
Mingyuan, please take me to Guifangzhai."
Li Mingyuan's eyes widened: "Mom! Why are we still going to the store at this critical moment? We have to find a way to get Minghua out!"
Wu Xiaomei also became anxious: "Yes, Mom, the police station..."
"Shut up!" Li Guifang yelled at the two of them, her eyebrows raised high. "People are sentenced today and eat peanuts tomorrow, right? What's the point of crying and wailing now?"
She wrapped herself tightly in her cotton-padded jacket and walked back. "It's time to eat, it's time to work, even if the sky falls, it won't affect my meals!"
Li Mingyuan was about to try to persuade her, but Li Guifang glared at him: "What are you standing there for? Hurry up! It will be dark before you dawdle any longer!"
Wu Xiaomei stood there with red eyes, twisting the tassel of her scarf in her hands, not knowing what to do.
Li Guifang took a few steps and then turned back to add, "Xiaomei, remember to put two more slices of pork belly in the dish!
"When you have money in your stomach, your brain works fast!"
The bicycle creaked as it went towards the city, and the north wind made people's faces hurt.
Li Guifang huddled in the back seat, staring straight ahead without saying a word.
She is also anxious now. It is her son who is in the police station. How can she not be anxious?
But right now, my heart was in turmoil, and I couldn't think straight. What was the point of going home and crying? The person wasn't dead yet, so it was too early to mourn now!
It would be better to find something serious to do instead of sitting at home thinking about it, which will only make you more anxious.
When they arrived at Guifangzhai, as soon as Xie Dazui saw Li Guifang come in, he immediately surrounded her with several shop assistants.
"Fang, how's the matter with Minghua?" Xie Dazui pulled Li Guifang's sleeve, the worry in his eyes almost overflowing.
Li Guifang waved her hands and put on her apron: "I'm being detained at the police station right now. The police are still investigating!"
It's no big deal, let's get back to work."
She turned around and went to count the goods on the counter, obviously not wanting to say more.
Xie Dazui acted mysterious, grabbing Li Guifang's arm and looking around like a thief. He lowered his voice but couldn't suppress his excitement as he told a secret known to everyone in the store: "Fang! Guess how much we earned this time?"
She held up five fingers and made the number nine. "Five thousand and nine! A whole five thousand and nine!"
Before Li Guifang could react, Xie Dazui started to do his own thing again, gesticulating with his hands and feet, the soles of his cloth shoes making a clacking sound on the ground.
"Oh my God! This is the first time in my life that I have seen so much money piled up together!
"You didn't see it, the guy from the diesel factory came to settle the bill with a blue cloth bag, and he dumped out a whole table of money. We all counted it three times before we dared to record it in the account book! Now it's all locked in a metal box, and I'm keeping the key close to me!" As he spoke, he lifted up his shirt to reveal the key chain pinned to his belt, and shook it proudly!
"Fang, I bet even the credit union doesn't have as much cash as we do!"
Xie Dazui unscrewed the lock of the metal cabinet with a "click". As soon as the cabinet door opened a crack, stacks of banknotes poured out.
Although Li Guifang was mentally prepared, she was still shocked by the scene and took a step back - wow, her eyes were full of brand new "Great Unity", and some of them were swirling and floating on the surface of her cloth shoes.
"Oh my god..." Xie Dazui swiftly tried to retrieve the banknotes that had fallen to the ground, his voice cracking as he shouted, "This money has become a spirit and is trying to run away!"
Li Guifang took a deep breath, bent down to pick up the ten-yuan bill on the shoe, and rubbed her fingertips over the working-class pattern on the banknote.
She suddenly remembered how shabby she looked when she stood in line to buy butter at the Overseas Chinese Store last month while holding foreign exchange coupons. Her nose felt sore, but she forced herself to hold it back.
"Don't be so ignorant, okay!" She slapped Xie Dazui on his pouting butt. "Hurry up and settle the 230 yuan from the sugar factory. Accountant Wang has said that if you delay the payment any further, the flour will be charged at the negotiated price next time!"
As he spoke, he accurately pulled out three stacks of money from the pile, and counted them with his fingers dipped in saliva.
The abacus beads clattered until the sun set.
Li Guifang sorted the 930 yuan payment into different categories and wrapped them in brown paper. She used a brush to write "Flour Mill Lin Overseas Chinese Store Huang" on each package.
She put the remaining money into a canvas bag, which felt so heavy in her hands that it weighed her arms down.
"Let's go to the credit union!" She kicked Zhang Fengzhi, who was still counting money. "Wait until the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month to get the dividends, so that everyone can have a prosperous new year!"
Li Guifang deposited all the money into the credit union. Looking at the five-digit number on the passbook, Li Guifang felt so excited!
At the same time, the police station
In the duty room of the police station, Liu Wei took advantage of the time when Lao Zhang was eating and stuffed a pack of "Da Qianmen" into his pocket.
Old Zhang looked around to see if anyone was around, then lowered his voice and said, "This was reported to the Wujia Village Public Security Director himself. He said a villager saw Li Minghua laying nails on the highway..."
"That's bullshit!" Liu Wei pressed his cigarette butt hard into the enamel pot, causing the tea leaves at the bottom of the pot to splash out. "My brother-in-law would never steal food even if he was picky. How could he have the guts to do that?"
Old Zhang slammed the file on the table and said, "Hey, it's all written here in black and white. Take a look!"
Liu Wei opened the file and turned the pages one by one with his fingers covered in saliva.
There are only two things on it: a testimony from Wu Sangui, who said that he saw Li Minghua spreading nails on National Highway 221 in the middle of the night; and an account book of a repair shop, which showed that the number of people coming to repair tires was indeed too frequent.
"That's it?" Liu Wei closed the file, shaking it loudly. "There's not even a single physical evidence? Just based on some Wu Sangui who appeared out of nowhere and said something like that? And you dare to arrest him! Who is this Wu Sangui? Where does Wu Sangui live?"
Old Zhang took the file back and said, "Believe it or not! The director is personally overseeing this case."
After saying this, he leaned closer and said, "But I heard that Wu Sangui is somehow related to the 28,000 yuan case last time. He's Wu Jinhua's biological brother..."
Liu Wei's heart skipped a beat. After hearing this, what else was there for him to not understand?
Liu Wei was extremely upset, but he didn't show it on his face. He handed over another cigarette and said, "Old Zhang, I'll need your help on this matter..."
"Hey, that's easy to say."
Old Zhang now sympathizes with the man named Li Minghua. If he hadn't just talked with Old Wang and knew that Li Minghua was related to the person involved in the famous 28,000 yuan case, he would not be able to understand the reason!
After walking out of the police station, Liu Wei crushed the remaining cigarettes in the box.
The north wind hurt his face, but he felt even colder in his heart - it was obvious that someone wanted to torture Li Minghua to death!
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