Chapter 84 Hardship
While waiting for Xiang Quan to come out, Xia Lili sent a message to the family of four's small group chat: "I might have to stay in the supermarket for a while to investigate something."
My parents responded to the message quickly.
"Don't worry, our big purchases will take a long time."
Xia Xubai sent a voice message, reminding Xia Lili to be careful.
Seeing the concerned words of her family members, Xia Lili couldn't help but think of Xiang Quan and his three children, and felt worried.
At this time, Xiang Quan came back pushing a cart loaded with goods. "Actually, tallying goods is very simple. You will be able to do it after a short while."
Xia Lili followed Xiang Quan and imitated him to put the drinks into the freezer.
"Brother, you are really skilled at tallying goods."
Xia Lili deliberately slowed down her movements and pretended to be clumsy in adjusting the angle of the packaging. "You've been doing this for a long time, right?"
Xiang Quan wiped the sweat from his forehead and pulled a tired smile at the corner of his mouth: "It's been more than three years. This job doesn't require any technical skills, it's just about spending time."
Xia Lili chatted with Xiang Quan as if he were chatting with her, and learned that Xiang Quan worked as a stock clerk in a supermarket during the day, and sometimes worked part-time at night loading and unloading goods in the supermarket's cold storage.
In addition, I have to work as a waiter in the restaurant in the evening, serving dishes and clearing tables during the busiest time.
When Xiang Quan smiled and said that he could pack free meals from the restaurant to take home for his children after get off work, Xia Lili felt a little sad.
During the conversation, the two also exchanged phone numbers and WeChat accounts, and discussed sharing part-time job information in the future.
The phone vibrated, and Xia Lili looked down and saw that it was a notification that the friend request was approved.
Xiang Quan’s WeChat avatar is a graffiti drawing, which can be seen as drawn by his child.
"Then your children at home must miss you very much? They get off work so late all day."
Xia Lili asked casually, her fingers quietly clenching the edge of the box.
Speaking of children, Xiang Quan paused. Under the light from the freezer, the wrinkles around his eyes deepened. "My oldest daughter is the child of my wife and my ex-husband. She's in junior high now and very sensible. But..."
His voice dropped. "The two little ones always ask why mommy doesn't come home."
Xia Lili's heart suddenly clenched. She watched Xiang Quan's rough fingers rubbing against the box, their joints covered in tiny cracks.
"Where's the child's mother..."
Xia Lili thought of the woman in the hallucination who ran back to fight for compensation, and seemed to guess the reason.
"He ran away." Xiang Quan laughed dryly, and the laughter seemed to be forced out from his chest.
"She said her mother had cancer and took away all the 200,000 yuan I had saved and the money I borrowed from relatives. Later I found out that her mother had died a long time ago."
The air suddenly became stagnant.
Xia Lili gently straightened a can of Coke and spoke carefully, "I'm looking for a job as an auxiliary police officer, as a dispatcher. But my family needs money, so I need to find a part-time job."
Xiang Quan's eyes widened slightly after hearing this: "Police operator? You're the one who answered all the calls from people who called 110?"
"Yes, of course I can't answer all the calls. The system will first intelligently classify them, automatically labeling the calls through voice annotation. It's divided into red, yellow, and blue. Red is the most urgent, such as violent crimes like murder..."
Xia Lili observed his reaction calmly: "Anyway, the alarm mechanism is quite complicated~"
"If you encounter any difficulties and need help, you can just call my private number. The response is very fast. If there is a major incident, I can also help you report it directly to our superiors."
Xiang Quan's movements suddenly stopped.
Xia Lili saw his Adam's apple roll and his dry lips tremble slightly.
Xiang Quan suddenly looked up, a glimmer of light flashed in his turbid eyes, and then quickly dimmed.
He opened his mouth, but ultimately just forcefully pushed a box of mineral water deeper into the shelf. "This is a good job, and the benefits should be pretty good."
In the next half hour, Xiang Quan spoke less and became more worried.
Xia Lili noticed that he glanced towards the cold storage from time to time, and his dry lips trembled slightly.
"Actually, I..." Xiang Quan suddenly spoke in a hoarse voice.
Xia Lili immediately became alert.
Just then, the piercing alarm sounded. Xiang Quan shuddered as if startled awake. "I have to go! I'm going to be late for my part-time job as a security guard at the venue this afternoon."
“Eh—”
Xia Lili watched Xiang Quan's hurried departure and felt a little anxious, but she was also afraid that she would scare Xiang Quan and trigger a series of butterfly effects, changing the murderer's plan and failing to better protect the people involved in the misfortune.
She pursed her lips and lowered her head to send a message to Li Qihan: "The person involved in the misfortune incident, Xiang Quan, a stockist at Baijiadenghuo Supermarket, mobile number 173xxxxxxx, will be killed in the cold storage at 2 am."
"Maybe he saw something he shouldn't have seen and was killed to silence him. The two suspected murderers were wearing white coats and unlocked his phone to delete the content."
In addition, she sorted out Xiang Quan's daily work and childcare schedule when she chatted with him just now.
It is three o'clock in the afternoon. Xiang Quan is now going to work as a security guard at a two-and-a-half-hour lecture, and then go to the Dongxing food stall not far from his home to work as a helper.
He would be working in the cold storage from 11 to 2 tonight, so it is very likely that he was killed late tonight.
Li Qihan responded quickly and said he would bring people to investigate.
Xia Lili absentmindedly took a few bags of snacks.
Twenty minutes later, Li Qiuhan sent a message saying that he had notified the plainclothes police officers from the police station near Dongxing Food Stall to follow Xiang Quan.
Leng Xiaohe also arrived near Xiang Quan's residence to prevent any bad guys from approaching Xiang Quan's children.
Li Qihan sent a message: "The deployment has been completed, you can rest assured and move your parents there." Xia Lili felt a little relieved.
At this time, Li Qihan sent another message: "Send me a message when you come back from the supermarket."
Xia Lili was confused when she received the message. She replied "OK" without asking any further questions. Captain Li must have his reasons for doing that.
After shopping, the family of four returned to the police family compound.
The parking lot of the compound is still an old-fashioned open-air parking lot.
Life assistant Yu Shou parked the car and the family of four moved their belongings down first.
Yu Shou had already prepared a cart for hauling bulky goods. Xia Lili and Xia Lintian, carrying lightweight shopping bags, walked to Building 6, chatting and laughing.
Xia Lili suddenly caught a glimpse of the person standing under the sycamore tree in front of Building 6. She rubbed her eyes and suspected that she was dazzled.
Li Qihan was standing under a tree in a black sportswear, his slender figure was framed by the tree's shadow, making him look even taller.
Without the restraint of uniform, he exuded a rare casualness, but the sharpness between his brows remained unchanged.
The black fabric outlines the broad shoulders and narrow waist, and the cuffs are casually rolled up to reveal the well-defined forearms.
"Captain Li, why are you here?!" Xia Lili widened her eyes in surprise.
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