"Keep looking," the shoe repairman urged. "All the scraps of cloth and strips of fabric from the last month or two are here."
Sister Liu's face first turned red, then white, and then blue—a truly fascinating and varied display.
At this moment, Wen Qing also looked at the woman behind Sister Liu: "Ma'am, you just said that you used nine feet of fabric to make a long dress and the labor fee was three yuan. Was it made here?"
The woman was taken aback, then her eyes darted left and right. Having witnessed Wen Qing's shrewdness, she dared not lie any longer and stammered, "No, no, it wasn't done here."
"Ah, so it wasn't done here after all," someone in the crowd exclaimed.
"If it wasn't done here, why say it was done here?"
"That's right."
"Are you deliberately picking a fight?"
"I even glared at Wen Qing on her behalf just now, which made me regret it."
"..."
The customers in the store started pointing and whispering about the woman.
The woman hadn't expected things to turn out so quickly. Unable to withstand the accusations from both inside and outside the store, she panicked, took two steps back, and suddenly pointed at Sister Liu, saying, "Yes, yes, Sister Liu told me to say that, it was Sister Liu..."
"Shut up!" Sister Liu snapped.
The woman immediately fell silent.
Wen Qing looked calmly at Sister Liu.
All of Sister Liu's schemes had been exposed by Wen Qing, and she was now at her wits' end. She was trying to find a way to escape, but because she had made too much noise, she had attracted a lot of people who surrounded Aunt Xiao's tailor shop, making it impossible for her to get out. She was extremely anxious.
"Sister Liu," Wen Qing called out.
Sister Liu's mind raced, and she suddenly put on a smile: "Wen Qing, I'm so sorry, I made a mistake and wronged you. I'm so sorry."
"Sister Liu, I accept your apology, but is it really a mistake on your part?" Wen Qing asked, "Or did someone else deliberately make a mistake to get you to cause trouble?"
Sister Liu was shocked. Wen Qing actually knew?
Wen Qing calmly looked up at the crowd and raised her voice slightly to call out, "Ji Ningzhi!"
Sister Liu immediately stiffened and turned pale.
Everyone was taken aback. Following Wen Qing's gaze, they saw a figure. The figure paused for a moment, then stealthily fled.
Someone has run away!
"The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind."
"There's a mastermind behind this."
"After all that, it turns out Sister Liu was just a target."
"..."
Then another sound came from outside the shop.
"It's Ji Ningzhi from the Ji family!"
"It's Ji Ningzhi."
"Ji Ningzhi has run away!"
"..."
Sister Liu could no longer remain calm; she wanted to run immediately, and had only just taken a step.
Wen Qing called out, "Sister Liu."
Sister Liu stopped in her tracks.
Wen Qing said, "Sister Liu, eating random things can make you sick, and saying random things can cause trouble. What you did today didn't just happen to one or two people, or even three or four, but dozens. You were the one who told me to call the police, right?"
Wen Qing's voice was not loud, and her tone was calm, but every word she said sent a chill down Sister Liu's spine: "Wen Qing, what do you want?"
Wen Qing looked at everyone and said, "Aunt Xiao's tailor shop belongs to Aunt Xiao. I'm just an employee. Now that Aunt Xiao isn't here, you're accusing me of stealing fabric. What if I run into another 'Sister Liu' who tells Aunt Xiao I stole fabric? Aunt Xiao definitely won't want to work with me anymore, right? I don't want to lose my job for no reason. So, I need the police to testify for me that I didn't steal the fabric. I want to clear Aunt Xiao's tailor shop's name. We sell fabrics, make clothes, and make shoes honestly and never take advantage of our customers."
"Yes, we need to get a certificate!" the shoe repairman chimed in. "Otherwise, what if Aunt Xiao comes back and Wen Qing loses her job? What if people say Aunt Xiao's tailor shop is a rip-off? Will Aunt Xiao still be able to run her business?"
The shoe repairman was right. There were quite a few customers in the shop. They felt guilty for misunderstanding Wen Qing earlier. In addition, Wen Qing was young, calm and composed, and his tailoring skills were first-class and convincing. At this moment, they couldn't help but wholeheartedly protect Wen Qing.
"Exactly! It's a baseless accusation. If they just apologized, they wouldn't have to go to jail for murder!"
"agree!"
"Let the police be our witnesses!"
"Be a witness! It would be best to present a banner as a token of appreciation!"
"..." The crowd almost unanimously shouted, "Call the police!"
Sister Liu never expected that the crowd would suddenly side with Wen Qing, and that they would all be seeking justice for Wen Qing. Instantly, Sister Liu was frightened and regretful. She shouldn't have accepted Ji Ningzhi's money, shouldn't have framed Wen Qing, and shouldn't have deliberately driven Wen Qing out of the county town, forcing Wen Qing to live an honest rural life with a dark past and never set foot in the county town again.
This shouldn't be happening... She was extremely panicked. She hadn't managed to drive Wen Qing out of the county town; instead, everyone in the shop trusted Wen Qing even more. What was she going to do? So many eyes had witnessed her wrongdoing. If she went to the police station, would she be detained for ten days, half a month, or even longer? If the villagers found out, she would never be able to hold her head up again, and her husband would beat her to death!
“Since no one has any clothes to make today, I’ll decide to close the shop for the day. Sister Liu, come with me to the police station to file a report. When Aunt Xiao comes back, I can clear my name,” Wen Qing said calmly.
Sister Liu's face turned pale.
"Could you all please make way?" Wen Qing asked again.
Customers inside and outside the store spontaneously made way for each other, accompanied by murmurs of conversation.
"Do we really have to go to the police station?"
"Of course we have to go! Otherwise, we'll just be wrongly accused for nothing!"
"That's right! It's fortunate that Wen Qing did this. If it were anyone else, they would have been scared to tears by Sister Liu's shrewishness and the crowd of people crowding around them."
"That's right, I really didn't expect Wen Qing to be so thoughtful at such a young age. She has quite a spirit."
"That's right. With just a few mental calculations, he can calculate the exact amount of fabric needed for shoes and clothes. This is something that ordinary tailors can't do."
"You know what, look at those two clothes hanging in the store, I fell in love with them at first sight."
"Those two pairs of shoes are beautiful. I want to buy them. A few days ago, Aunt Wang from Dongda Street said that Wen Qing makes good shoes, comfortable to wear, with top-quality fabric and thread, even stitches, soft soles, and breathable uppers that don't hurt the feet. I was just saying I wouldn't sell them to her, but look at her now, what a talented and beautiful girl she is. She didn't cry or make a fuss from beginning to end, and she didn't utter a single swear word. She resolved the matter perfectly. She is a good person and she is good at everything. Her shoes are solid and well-made, and she is just like that. I've decided, I'll buy those shoes in a bit."
"I'll buy it too!"
"I'll buy it too!"
"..."
A group of customers left the store. Wen Qing and Sister Liu were the last to come out, and they were still surrounded by layers of onlookers. Sister Liu couldn't escape even if she wanted to. Wen Qing, carrying the cloth bag, locked the three doors of Fugu, then turned around and said, "Sister Liu, let's go."
"Let's go take a look too." In this era, people live at a slower pace, and most people are unemployed, spending half of their day idle.
“I’ll go take a look too. I can’t let Wen Qing suffer any more losses. She’s just a young girl, and it’s not easy for her.”
"That's right."
"..."
Seeing everyone heading to the police station, Sister Liu panicked. She knew she couldn't escape now; they had names and identities, they couldn't find her anywhere. Waves of fear washed over her, and finally, she lost her mind, grabbing Wen Qing's arm: "I won't go, I won't go to the police station!" Then she shouted: "It was Ji Ningzhi, it was Ji Ningzhi who gave me money to frame you. She said all she had to do was kick you out of Aunt Xiao's tailor shop."
Upon hearing this, everyone gasped.
"That's really a frame-up."
"What a show!"
"It's still Ji Ningzhi."
"..."
The shoe repairman frowned. Ji Ningzhi had caused trouble once before, and now she was causing trouble again. She just wouldn't stop.
Wen Qing, however, disagreed: "Really? Then tell the police later that they will summon Ji Ningzhi to the scene."
"No, no, it has nothing to do with me. Ji Ningzhi gave me the money and told me to do this." Sister Liu was determined to shift the blame. Going to the police station was such a shameful thing. How could she, a woman, ever hold her head up again? She pulled Wen Qing and said, "If you don't believe me, I'll go and confront Ji Ningzhi face to face. She'll have to admit it whether she wants to or not."
As she spoke, Sister Liu forcibly pulled Wen Qing toward the Ji family's house.
"Sister Liu, Sister Liu," Wen Qing called out, but couldn't resist the tenacity Sister Liu had developed in the fields.
Sister Liu held Wen Qing tightly, afraid that she would run away: "Wen Qing, I'm sorry, this is really not my fault. It was Ji Ningzhi, it was Ji Ningzhi who made me do this. The Ji family is just ahead."
Sister Liu led Wen Qing ahead, followed by a large group of people.
Wen Qing struggled several times but failed to break free. She didn't want to go to the Ji family, much less see anyone from the Ji family; she would leave this matter to the police station for questioning.
However, Sister Liu had already brought Wen Qing to the Ji family's doorstep.
An iron gate, a single-story house, a small courtyard, and a cement floor—clean and spacious. Wen Qing stood at the doorway, gazing at the grape trellis extending over the wall, lush and green. In her past life, she had imagined countless times her daughter or son helping her pick bunches of grapes when they ripened, but she never lived to see that day…
"So this is the Ji family's house. It's a single-story house, and the entrance is even made of cement. It's really something else."
"Don't you know? The Ji family is incredibly wealthy."
"Then why go against Wen Qing?"
"I really don't know. Does anyone know?"
"I don't know."
"..."
"Ji Ningzhi! Ji Ningzhi!" Sister Liu shouted from the doorway, pulling Wen Qing out of her daze.
"Ji Ningzhi, Ji Ningzhi, come out here," Sister Liu continued to call.
"Who is it?" A woman's voice came from inside the door.
Wen Qing's heart skipped a beat.
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