Ye Cheng was also thinking to himself, it's almost 8 o'clock, a police car came with flashing lights, it can't be good.
Before the police car even arrived, some busybodies had already called out the village chief, Chen Jinhai, since at a time like this, someone with official status was needed to come forward.
The police car drove in quickly, and three serious-looking policemen got out. Ye Cheng recognized one of them; he was Liu, the head of the town's police station.
Chen Jinhai greeted him with a smile.
"Director Liu, you didn't even give me a heads-up before you came, so I could have bought some food and drinks."
Liu ignored Chen Jinhai's attempts to curry favor and spoke in a businesslike manner.
"Village Chief Chen, we're here on official business. Does anyone from your village sell crayfish in the city?"
Upon hearing that crayfish were being sold, Ye Cheng's heart skipped a beat. Could there be something wrong with the crayfish?
The villagers basically knew about Widow Zhang and her friends selling crayfish, and Chen Jinhai naturally knew about it as well, since his two nephews were also involved.
"Yes, we do, but we're doing all legal business. We didn't steal or rob. Is there some misunderstanding?" Chen Jinhai asked tentatively.
"No misunderstanding. Someone reported that they got food poisoning from eating your crayfish. We need to take people back to investigate." Liu was very direct. There was no need to beat around the bush with the villagers; everyone knew each other well.
Upon hearing that there had been food poisoning, the villagers immediately began to discuss it.
"Food poisoning? This could land you in jail."
"I told you, these mantis shrimps are no good. You see what happened?"
"Widow Zhang was so smug before, thinking she could make a fortune from this. Now look what's happened."
"Giving such filthy food to people is just making dirty money."
"Even if he doesn't go to jail, he'll probably go bankrupt from paying so much money."
Ye Cheng frowned, pushed through the crowd, and stepped out.
"Director Liu, how do you know it must have been sold by someone from our village? There are many people selling crayfish, and the ones from our village are all cleaned thoroughly, so there's absolutely no problem."
Liu glanced at Ye Cheng. This kid was a tough one; he asked all the right questions and was more difficult to deal with than Chen Jinhai.
However, this time he had solid evidence and was not afraid of Ye Chengwen.
"Ye Cheng, they said they bought it outside the market. It clearly says it's called Baiyun Village Crayfish, and they said they're going to make it a brand in the future. The seller is a middle-aged woman, I think she's a widow and she's selling crayfish because she's having financial difficulties."
Damn, they've gone into such detail, almost naming names, that Ye Cheng had no way to say anything.
"Officer Liu, that's Widow Zhang. She goes to town to sell shrimp every day." As soon as Chen Jinhai heard that it had nothing to do with his family, he immediately revealed Widow Zhang's identity.
Ye Cheng couldn't stop it either; the information was too complete.
However, in his opinion, the person was probably just having an allergic reaction, not necessarily food poisoning.
Now that the person had been identified, Chen Jinhai led Liu and the others toward Widow Zhang's house. With such an incident in the village, the onlookers naturally followed.
Some even went home to call for help.
They arrived at Widow Zhang's house in just a few minutes. The lights were on inside. Chen Jinhai knocked on the door and called out loudly,
"Xiuqin, Xiuqin, are you home?"
"Yes, who is it?" A voice answered from inside, and Widow Zhang came out wearing a short-sleeved shirt.
Seeing so many people standing at the door, Widow Zhang was taken aback. She looked at Chen Jinhai.
"Village chief, what do you mean by bringing so many people to see me?"
Chen Jinhai smiled faintly, stepped aside, revealing Liu, who was behind him, and said, "It's not me looking for you, it's Liu who wants to see you."
Seeing the three serious-looking policemen, Widow Zhang was completely bewildered. She tried hard to recall what bad things she had done, but it seemed like she hadn't.
"Zhang Xiuqin, did you sell crayfish at the city market today, and even promote Baiyun Village crayfish?" Director Liu stepped forward and asked sternly.
Widow Zhang was just a widow; she'd never been questioned by the police before, and she panicked immediately.
"Officer, I was just selling shrimp, I didn't do anything wrong!"
"Someone has been poisoned after eating your crayfish. Please come with us." Officer Liu gestured for them to come.
"No way, officer, how could it be that I got food poisoning from eating my crayfish? I cleaned them very thoroughly. You must have made a mistake."
"Are you kidding me? If you come back with us, we'll investigate. Get dressed and come with me."
Just then, Xiao Liang rushed out of the house. When he saw the police were about to take his mother away, he was so frightened that he burst into tears.
"Don't cry, Xiaoliang. Mommy's okay. The police officer just asked me a few questions and I'll be right back. Don't worry," Widow Zhang tried her best to comfort the child.
"Director Liu, I'll send the child to my sister-in-law's, and then I'll go with you," Ye Cheng said, unable to bear it any longer.
Xiao Liang just had surgery; if he can't handle this kind of stimulation, it will be troublesome.
Liu didn't stop her; he just wanted Widow Zhang to stay put.
Widow Zhang glanced gratefully at Ye Cheng, then took Xiao Liang from him. Before Ye Cheng could take him, Aunt Qian took him from behind.
"Xiuqin, don't worry, we'll take care of the child. You'll be fine. If anything happens, we'll all share the burden."
"Aunt Qian, I'm begging you." Widow Zhang looked at the child with a troubled expression. In traditional thinking, it was unacceptable to be born into an official family, and they were still very afraid of places like police stations.
Aunt Qian was actually quite panicked. She hadn't gone to sell shrimp today, or she might have been the one caught.
And it's hard to say whether this will implicate me later.
Ye Cheng was very satisfied that Aunt Qian was willing to stand up for him. He believed that everyone should make money together and share the burden when things go wrong, which was the only way to ensure long-term success.
If everyone tries to avoid it, then I'm sorry, there will be no chance to cooperate in the future.
After Aunt Qian, it was the Chen brothers. Ye Cheng glanced behind him and saw that the Chen brothers were indeed in the crowd, but they had all huddled up, afraid of being dragged along with him.
When the two brothers saw Ye Cheng looking over, they avoided eye contact and lowered their heads.
Ye Cheng snorted coldly; the Chen brothers were indeed unreliable.
Chen Zhangfu also sensed Ye Cheng's dissatisfaction. He gritted his teeth and stepped forward reluctantly.
"Brother Cheng, let's go along too, since we're the ones who collected the shrimp."
This startled Chen Jinli, who quickly stepped forward to pull the two back.
"Why are you all getting involved? The police didn't say anything to you."
Chen Zhangfu struggled for a moment, but Chen Jinli held on tightly; he wouldn't let the child act recklessly at a time like this.
"Alright, you guys don't need to go. There's no room in the police car. I'll go with you," Ye Cheng said calmly. He just wanted the attitude, and that was enough.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com