Chapter 208 Cleaning Up Social Garbage
She turned her head and leaned close to Zhou Yufan's ear.
"That shovel... I actually picked it up this morning when I passed by. I thought it was strange that a perfectly good shovel was lying in the corner, and I was thinking of returning it later. I never expected it would come in so handy today."
Zhou Yufan was slightly taken aback.
He then raised an eyebrow and a smile played at the corners of his lips.
"Ha, you're really better at finding loopholes than when you were a kid. Before, you'd at most dare to pick a date, but now you can even 'pick up' evidence in advance."
"Likewise."
Zhou Shufen smiled faintly.
What she never said was that the system had told her all of that in advance.
They're leaving soon.
All the gossip and scheming here will vanish as soon as we leave.
Originally, Li Huachen wanted to say goodbye to a few familiar neighbors.
But when she looked around, all she saw were evasive eyes and indifferent faces.
She opened her mouth, but ultimately said nothing.
She simply tightened her scarf silently, turned around, and followed the two figures that were gradually disappearing into the distance.
"Shufen, let's go back to Yuxin."
Li Huachen looked at this dilapidated place where she had lived for more than ten years, her eyes reddening.
She married and had children here.
I was also insulted and isolated here.
Leaving now is not about escaping, but about finally mustering the courage to live again.
"Okay, let's go to the station now."
Zhou Shufen noticed the weariness in her eyes and gently took her hand.
The four of them left the factory area, boarded a bus, and headed towards the train station.
When the car started, it kicked up a cloud of dust.
Li Huachen sat by the window, her arms tightly around Rong Kai.
The child nestled in her arms, eyes half-closed, lips slightly pouting.
Zhou Yufan sat opposite, holding his backpack, quietly watching the street scene rushing past the window.
No one spoke.
Upon arriving at the station, Li Huachen buried her face in Zhou Shufen's shoulder, tears streaming down her face.
All the grievances I'd kept bottled up inside over the years burst out in tears.
Zhou Shufen gently patted her back.
"If you want to cry, then cry."
She spoke very softly.
"Let's pour out all our grievances. Once we get to Yuxin, we won't have to suffer like this again."
Zhou Yufan held Li Rongkai's hand and stood to the side without saying a word.
He watched his wife cry, and his heart felt like it was being cut by a dull knife.
But he understood that some pain needed to be expressed through tears in order to heal slowly.
He simply gripped Rong Kai's small hand even tighter.
The little guy stuffed the unfinished candy cake in his hand into his father's palm.
The little girl gripped her father's clothes tightly with her hands, her eyes wide open.
My mother used to cry, but she would always hide quietly in the kitchen, with her back to everyone.
This is the first time I've cried so much I can't breathe like this.
A wave of panic washed over him.
They even began to doubt whether they had done something wrong.
In the waiting room, some people were peeking out furtively, while others were quietly wiping away tears.
A railway worker quietly handed over a cup of hot water, put it down, and left.
In the corner, an old woman took two candies out of her cloth bag and stuffed them into Rong Kai's pocket.
Almost everyone who leaves their hometown carries a tender spot in their heart that they dare not touch.
Perhaps they were parents who couldn't be there for their children in their final days, or perhaps they were children who were forced to be given away.
Or perhaps it's a period of youth that can never be revisited.
At this moment, as they looked at this family, it was as if they were seeing their former selves.
It's unclear how long Li Huachen cried before she finally raised her head.
She took the cloth Zhou Shufen handed her and wiped her face.
"I'm sorry to have troubled you."
Zhou Shufen tidied her disheveled hair.
"We're family, why are you making a fuss?"
Zhou Yufan carefully handed over the sugar cake, his voice gentle.
"Eating something sweet can make you feel better. Don't keep thinking about those worries."
Li Huachen hesitated for a moment before reaching out to take the sugar cake.
She opened her mouth and took a small bite.
That familiar sweetness slowly melted on the tip of my tongue.
Before she could even process what she had tasted, a salty and astringent flavor entered her mouth.
A moment later, she raised her face and stared straight at the timetable on the wall in the direction of "Yu Xin".
Suddenly, she grabbed Zhou Yufan's hand.
"Yu Fan, now that I'm in Yu Xin, I want to find a job."
“I haven’t forgotten my days in the textile factory, and the skills I honed over those years are still there. As long as I’m willing to work, I can always earn a living and won’t have to be a burden to you all.”
No rush.
Looking at her haggard face, Zhou Yufan felt a pang of heartache in his eyes.
He raised his hand and gently tucked a few stray strands of hair behind her ear.
"Focus on getting better first. Your priority right now is to recover your strength; don't worry about these things."
"You have me now, and you have Shufen. We are a family, and I will protect you both."
As soon as he finished speaking, Zhou Shufen suddenly moved closer and bumped her shoulder into Zhou Yufan's arm.
He then gestured towards the corner of the waiting room with his lip.
Zhou Yufan followed her gaze.
Three men dressed in dark blue cadre uniforms were standing behind a pillar.
His gaze kept sweeping in their direction.
"Are they from Pan the Cripple's side?"
Zhou Yufan frowned and asked in a low voice.
How did they get here?
Zhou Shufen shook her head, her eyes narrowed slightly as she carefully observed the other person.
"No way. Look at the button on their collar; it's a new style that the district issued to them. Pan the Cripple and his gang have to make do with their own clothes; they don't get this kind of treatment."
As she spoke, her heart sank.
Wu Qinghai and Yang Keyuan were also imprisoned in the space.
If these people were indeed sent by their superiors, wouldn't they be after these two people's case?
If word gets out, we'll be in big trouble.
The next second, the system's lazy voice rang in my mind.
Don't panic, they're not after you, they're after Crippled Pan.
Zhou Shufen's tense nerves finally relaxed.
She reached up and pulled a pocket watch from her chest.
The watch cover was open, and the hands pointed to 10:42.
"There's still half an hour before ticket check-in, I'm going to the restroom."
After saying that, she turned and walked deeper into the waiting room.
Just as she passed a load-bearing pillar, she suddenly turned and disappeared into a small alley.
After confirming that no one was around, Zhou Shufen vanished from the real world in a flash.
The next moment, she appeared in the space.
The surroundings were empty, and four iron cages stood side by side in front of me.
Inside the cage, Wu Qinghai was yelling and cursing at Yang, the clerk.
"You spineless coward who betrays his own people! If you hadn't leaked the information, would I have ended up in this state?!"
Clerk Yang suddenly raised his leg and kicked Wu Qinghai's cage.
"Stop trying to shift the blame! Who told you to be so greedy, even daring to touch that money? I was just helping out; you're the mastermind!"
The two auxiliary police officers huddled in the corner, their faces pale.
Zhou Shufen's gaze fell on the light screen that was suspended in the air.
The data on the screen keeps scrolling and updating.
Under Wu Qinghai's name, the list has already rolled up to the 15th person.
Some were forced into labor, and some lost their families.
Even more shockingly, children as young as twelve were forced to work in mines and were worked to death.
In Yang's file, the system retrieved a piece of paper.
It was a so-called "voluntary form" with several blood-red handprints on it.
The system can mark multiple traces of forgery in red.
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