Chapter Twenty-Nine: Explain everything clearly!
Zhong Chengren was already annoyed, and upon hearing this, he impatiently roared, "What are you yelling about! Is the sky falling down?!"
The boy shrank back when he was yelled at, but still hurriedly said, "Your...your mother! Your mother went...went to the grain and oil station to find...Meng the recorder!"
"What did you say?!" Zhong Chengren sobered up instantly, jumped up from the stool, and stared wide-eyed.
His mother went to see Meng Wanshu? And she brought people with her?!
Zhong Chengren felt a chill run from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head, and cold sweat poured out of his back in an instant!
His mother has that temper, and Meng Wanshu is such a handful... if things really escalate...
Zhong Chengren didn't even dare to think about it anymore!
He shoved the card table aside with a "whoosh," not even bothering to greet his fellow gamblers, and with a curse of "Damn it, bad luck!" he turned and ran wildly toward the grain and oil station!
Hearing Meng Wanshu's stubborn denial, Zhang Chunxue's anger flared up instantly.
Her eyebrows furrowed, she took a step forward, and her voice was even colder than before: "Meng Wanshu, stop trying to play games with me!"
"Even if that bastard Zhong Chengren were standing right here, you still have to take this necklace off!"
"Either pay up, or pay up!"
Meng Wanshu, with her neck stiffened, was determined and started throwing a tantrum: "I said! This matter doesn't belong to you! It has to be Zhong Chengren! If he says I have to pay it back, I'll pay it back without hesitation! If he doesn't say so, no one can take it off my neck!"
Meng Wanshu knew perfectly well that she and Zhong Chengren had never conspired on this matter, and the more she said, the more mistakes she would make.
The only way to deal with the situation is to wait for Zhong Chengren to arrive and let him speak first.
Just then, a commotion suddenly broke out on the outskirts of the crowd.
"Make way! Make way!" a hurried and rough male voice rang out.
Before the words were even finished, a figure, like a weasel being chased, sweating profusely and panting heavily, squeezed through the crowd.
It was Zhong Chengren!
He immediately saw his mother, Zhang Chunxue, with an angry and domineering expression, while Meng Wanshu opposite him looked like she was about to cry, weak and pitiful, staring at him expectantly.
Zhong Chengren's heart turned crooked almost instantly.
When Meng Wanshu saw Zhong Chengren, her eyes lit up as if she were a drowning person grasping at the last straw!
Before Zhang Chunxue could speak, she cried out in a tearful, aggrieved voice, "Comrade Zhong! You've finally arrived!"
"You'd better explain this to your mother!"
"I... I just asked you to bring me a gold necklace! I didn't have enough money on me at the time, so I gave you 120 yuan first. We agreed that I would pay you the 30 yuan I owe you after I get my salary this month!"
"The old lady...she insists that we...we have an improper relationship!"
Upon hearing Meng Wanshu's words and seeing her tearful appearance, Zhong Chengren's mind raced, and he immediately understood!
He nodded quickly and gave Meng Wanshu a reassuring smile: "Yes, Comrade Meng, you're right, that's true."
"It's just thirty yuan, no rush, you can pay me whenever it's convenient for you."
"Whoosh—"
The surrounding crowd began to whisper among themselves again.
"Huh? So, the recorder Meng really wasn't lying?"
"Could it be that this old lady has misunderstood?"
"Well...that's hard to say..."
When Meng Wanshu saw that Zhong Chengren had indeed kept up, her heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally settled back into her stomach, and she breathed a long sigh of relief.
She immediately pressed her advantage, turning to Zhang Chunxue with tears in her eyes, and accused her: "Auntie! Did you hear that? Comrade Zhong and I really have nothing going on! How could you frame me like this? And... and even come to our workplace!"
Zhong Chengren immediately put on a stern face and complained to Zhang Chunxue, "Mom! What are you doing here?!"
"Comrade Meng kindly asked me to do him a favor, how could you wrong him like this?"
He paused, his voice tinged with hurt and dissatisfaction, as he addressed Zhang Chunxue, and also seemed to be defending himself to those around him:
"Besides, Mom, in your heart, am I that kind of person?"
"Besides, aren't you the one who controls all the money in the house? Where would I get so much spare money to buy someone else a gold necklace!"
After saying that, he turned to the onlookers and waved his hand with a hint of embarrassment and helplessness: "Sigh, I'm sorry for making you all laugh. My mother... she's getting old and sometimes a little confused. Please don't take it to heart!"
Upon hearing this, Zhang Chunxue was so angry that she almost fainted!
She's only in her early forties, how could she be senile!
Before Zhang Chunxue could react, a clear but somewhat cold voice rang out from the side.
“Zhong Chengren, your mother is only in her early forties, how is she old?”
Zhong Chengren was trying to calm things down with Meng Wanshu when he suddenly heard this voice and was startled.
He looked in the direction of the sound and saw Song Xingzhi standing in the crowd, his expression calm but his eyes sharp.
"Clerk Song...?" Zhong Chengren's expression froze for a moment, somewhat surprised. "What are you doing here?"
Song Xingzhi said calmly, "I came to buy some rice and just happened to run into you. Comrade Meng was agitated just now and pushed your mother. She almost bumped into the corner of the counter over there."
Upon hearing this, Zhong Chengren frowned slightly, but then muttered dismissively, "Well, who told her to come here and cause trouble for no reason..."
Song Xingzhi's face immediately darkened.
He stared at Zhong Chengren, his voice laced with obvious coldness and displeasure: "Zhong Chengren, she's your own mother! What kind of attitude is this!"
Zhong Chengren involuntarily shrank back under Song Xingzhi's stern gaze and tone.
He was actually somewhat intimidated by this Secretary Song.
Although Song Xingzhi is not yet forty and is an educated youth from elsewhere, rumors in the town are quite detailed, saying that his family has a very powerful background and that he has a relative who is a high-ranking official in the capital.
Otherwise, how could an ordinary educated youth so easily become a clerk in the brigade headquarters and receive a commodity grain ration?
Offending him will likely lead to dire consequences.
Zhong Chengren stiffened his neck, lowered his voice, but still muttered with a hint of resentment, "If she hadn't come looking for trouble herself, none of this would have happened..."
Hearing this unrepentant muttering, Zhang Chunxue's gaze shot towards Zhong Chengren like an icy blade.
This son is truly a burden to be raised!
The disgust in her heart surged up like a tidal wave, almost drowning her.
She took a deep breath, suppressing her surging anger, but her voice was even colder than Song Xingzhi's earlier.
“Zhong Chengren, listen to me carefully. Say it again in front of everyone. Are you sure it was this Meng Wanshu who asked you to buy her the gold necklace?”
Meng Wanshu's heart tightened suddenly, and she subconsciously gripped the hem of her clothes.
Zhang Chunxue's gaze shifted to Meng Wanshu, then back to Zhong Chengren's face: "Why would she, a mere record clerk at a grain and oil station, ask you to buy something so valuable? And what's your ambiguous relationship with her? When did you meet? How did you meet? Explain yourself clearly!"
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