The next day.
Tong Anqu went to school as usual. After school in the afternoon, he did not go straight home. Instead, he went to the wholesale market first. Only after learning that Liu Aimei had not come today did he go home.
On the way, Tong Anqu fell again.
He dragged his injured knee and walked very slowly, arriving home close to 6:30.
A large crowd had gathered downstairs, including police officers.
"Look, isn't that Liu Aimei's son? Her son is back!"
"Oh dear, what a tragedy! Such a tiny child, how will he survive without a mother? Poor thing..."
"Sigh, with a mother like that, this kid hasn't had a good life. It's good enough that Liu Aimei doesn't abuse him!"
The police officer walked towards Tong Anqu. "You're Tong Anqu?"
Tong Anqu's face showed alarm. "What's wrong? What are you talking about?"
The police officer looked at him with a complicated expression. "Do you know where your mother is?"
Tong Anqu's eyes widened: "I don't know. She went out last night. I just went to the wholesale market, and the owner said she didn't come today. He also said that someone came looking for her during the day."
"You went out last night?"
Tong Anqu nodded. "What are you doing?"
Old Zheng said, "Someone came to your mother's house today asking for money, but no one was home or in the market. The police chased them away."
Tong Anqu was terrified.
The police officer then asked, "Why did your mother go out last night? Did you know that your mother owed money?"
Tong Anqu nodded, swallowing hard. "I started cooking after I got home last night, but she didn't come back for a long time. She didn't get home until after nine o'clock in the evening. She told me to eat first and said she had to go to work that night."
Working at night?
Police officer: "Your mother has a second job?"
Tong Anqu tugged at his fingers and shook his head. "It wasn't like that before. I didn't dare ask her last night. She must have left in the middle of the night."
The police station is nearby, and the police officers know about Liu Aimei's family situation. It's normal that they don't dare to ask Liu Aimei because the child is beaten every day.
Tong Anqu was terrified. "Will those people come back? I know where my mother went."
Liu Aimei wasn't home, and the child wasn't even fourteen years old yet, so the police didn't dare leave him alone and had to temporarily put him up at the home of a police officer at the station.
Tong Anqu continued to fidget with his fingers, "...I, I can just stay at the police station, I don't need to stay at someone else's house."
The police station also has dormitories, and there are police officers on duty at night, so Tong Anqu isn't afraid to stay there.
The police offered a few more words of advice.
Tong Anqu: "I'm just a little scared. If they don't come to my house, I can just stay here..."
This was also Tong Anqu's true thought; he wouldn't be sent to the welfare home for the time being, but would have to wait to find Liu Aimei's whereabouts.
The police had no choice but to agree to let Tong Anqu stay in the dormitory for the time being.
Liu Aimei took all the money from the house before she left last night, leaving Tong Anqu with only the money Lao Zheng gave him the day before yesterday.
The child was so pitiful that the neighbors in the same building each gave him ten or twenty yuan, raising more than two hundred yuan for Tong Anqu.
While wiping away her tears, Tong Anqu followed the police officers to the police station.
The remaining group of people sighed.
"Liu Aimei is a real scoundrel! How old is that kid? She just ran away like that!"
Every family has its own problems.
"She herself was heavily in debt, and she left it all to her son. What a tragedy."
“If my daughter studied as hard as Tong Anqu, I would be half at ease.”
Everyone started discussing it animatedly.
Meanwhile, the police station managed to find Chengxiang Lane and notified Liu Qiangdao and Old Man Liu. When they learned that Liu Aimei had run away, they were all stunned and couldn't react for a long time.
Especially Liu Qiangdao, who yelled that he had just lent money to Liu Aimei last night, and Liu Aimei had run away?!
Old Man Liu was still worried about Liu Aimei and asked, "Have you been able to find out where she went?"
The police officer shook his head; there were still no leads.
Liu Qiangdao pulled his father, Liu Laodie, to leave, fearing they would be targeted by the casino gang—that was a debt of tens of thousands!
Besides, they would never support Tong Anqu!
Liu Aimei didn't give them a single penny back then, and now they want them to raise her son for her? Dream on!
Liu Qiangdao was filled with regret when he thought about last night. That money was his son's tuition for next year, and he had just lent it to Liu Aimei, who dared to lie to him!
Back home, Li Xia immediately asked them what had happened.
After Liu Qiangdao finished speaking with a livid face, Li Xia started cursing loudly in the yard.
“I told you last night I wouldn’t lend it, but you insisted! Now look what’s happened, we don’t even have the tuition fees! Liu Aimei hasn’t come back once in all these years, and she comes to our door just to borrow money. This isn’t borrowing! It’s practically robbing us!”
Old Man Liu roared, "Enough! Haven't you said enough?! The person's gone now, what are you yelling about!"
Li Xia moved her lips as if to speak, but was glared at by Liu Qiangdao.
Li Xia stormed into the house!
Over the years, has Liu Aimei ever cared about her father?
Leg injury, high blood pressure... it's all taken care of by her and Liu Qiangdao!
Liu Aimei has lived a carefree life for so many years, and now she's leaving them with a mountain of debt!
Li Xia grew increasingly angry. She opened the door and roared at the outside:
“I’m telling you, if you pay off Liu Aimei’s debt, I’ll take my son and go back to my parents’ home right now! I’ll divorce you, Liu Qiangdao!”
Old Man Liu was furious again!
Liu Qiang said, "Alright, that's enough."
By the time Xu Guiying and the others learned about Liu Aimei's situation, a month had already passed.
Xu Guiying went to the new store in the south of the city that day, and overheard some customers talking about gossip in a teahouse while they were eating. The conversation drifted to Liu Aimei.
When Xu Guiying heard Liu Aimei's name, she and Song Xinfu exchanged a glance. When the group came to pay their bill, Xu Guiying rounded it down to zero and inquired further about what had just happened.
"You know Liu Aimei?"
Song Xinfu gasped.
I never expected it to really be her.
Xu Guiying: "I had met him before, and the name sounded familiar, so I asked him a few more questions."
"Anyway, the casino people went there to collect the money several times, but Liu Aimei never came back. Her son is in a terrible state; he's living in the police station and will probably be sent to an orphanage soon."
When the other guests at the table came out of the restroom, they joined the discussion, saying that Liu Aimei owed more than 40,000 yuan.
Xu Guiying's brow twitched slightly. "I've never heard of her gambling before."
"I don't know, you can know a person's face but not their heart."
...
That evening, Xu Guiying and her husband returned home and told Song's grandparents about it.
Song Yangmin also returned tonight, frowning as he said, "I doubt he'll be back for several years; he's gone to another place to hide from his debts."
Grandma Song sighed.
Liu Aimei was, after all, the eldest grandson's wife, and they had been together for several years. It's quite sad that she ended up like this.
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