Chapter 199 Mother
Ji Yang Town is not big. There is a small restaurant near the gas station. You can sit inside and see what’s going on in the hardware store. But because of the gas station's obstruction, the hardware store couldn't see clearly what was happening in the restaurant.
Seeing that it was almost time for dinner, Xia Mufan, Gong Weiguo and Sun Xianbing came to the restaurant with their dog.
The boss was shocked when he saw the big wolfhound Xia Mufan was holding, and he hurriedly bowed to her and said, "Boss, your dog is too scary. Our store is small, can you tie the dog outside?"
Xia Mufan looked around and saw two tables of people sitting in the shop, all looking at the big, grinning wolfdog with a little fear. Although the big wolfdog is very obedient in Xia Mufan's hands, its fur is shiny and sleek, its fangs are sharp, and its appearance is ferocious. It looks like a vicious dog at first glance, no wonder it scares people.
Xia Mufan tied the dog leash to a tree and said coldly to the big wolf dog: "Squat down and don't move."
The big wolf dog had been tamed by Xia Mufan. It didn't resist at all. It stuck out its tongue and wagged its tail constantly, trying to express its loyalty.
[Okay, I won’t move.] 】
After hearing the big wolfdog's assurance, Xia Mufan walked into the small restaurant. The boss came out to greet them and cautiously glanced at the big wolfhound tied to the tree: "Your dog looks familiar, is it the one from Old Mo's house?"
A person eating nearby said with a smile, "It's definitely not the one from Lao Mo's house. That wolf dog is very vicious. It bites anyone it sees and barks all day long. It's so annoying."
It seems that Mo Liangcai's wolfhound has a really bad reputation.
Xia Mufan said to the boss, "Bring four stir-fried dishes, and quickly."
The restaurant owner responded, asked them to sit down, and then went to the kitchen to cook.
Gong Weiguo lowered his voice and asked, "Shall we wait here?"
Xia Mufan nodded slightly: "Yes, just wait here until they come over."
The big wolf dog said that Wei Nianqiao was underground, and in the basement of the hardware store, which leaves two possibilities.
The first possibility is that Qiaomei is dead and her body was buried under the hardware store by the Mo family.
The second possibility is that Qiaomei is still alive and is hidden in the basement of the hardware store, away from the sight of daylight.
Whatever the possibility, we must take drastic measures. There are only five people in the special operations team, and they don't have any special tools. If they want to find Qiaomei, brute force is obviously not an option. That's why Xia Mufan asked Yu Jing and others to call Chi Juxiang over, make a big fuss at the Mo family, attract everyone's attention, and then they would attack quietly.
Gong Weiguo wanted to ask more clearly, but Xia Mufan put his finger to his lips, signaling him not to discuss the action plan outside.
Sun Xianbing glared at Gong Weiguo and said, "You are so nagging." Since the captain said that the big wolf dog knew where Qiaomei was, then we should just follow his instructions in everything. As for the cause and effect, the truth will naturally come to light after we find Qiaomei.
Gong Weiguo smiled awkwardly and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. Knowing that he was too impatient, he shut his mouth and asked no more questions.
The aroma of food wafted over from the kitchen. The restaurant owner moved quickly and soon brought up four steaming dishes, three meat dishes and one vegetable dish.
Yu Jing and Feng Xiaoyu were not there, so Sun Xianbing asked the boss to bring over a few lunch boxes and put two separate lunch boxes in them. Everyone then started eating, and while eating, they observed the movements in the Mo family hardware store out of the corner of their eyes.
After Mo Liangcai sent away the big wolf dog he had raised for many years, he still felt a little uneasy and stood at the door looking around. Occasionally a few customers came to his store, but he dealt with them absent-mindedly.
The Mo family built their own house, and the main door was on the east side of the hardware store. The door was closed and no one went in or out.
There is a counter in front of the hardware store and a warehouse in the back. There is a small door in the warehouse leading to the Mo family yard.
An old lady came out of the hardware store, said a few words to Mo Liangcai, and then stayed in the store to look after the store, while Mo Liangcai went home.
After a while, Mo Youcai returned to the hardware store with a cup of tea in his hand and replaced the old lady.
It seems that after lunch time, Mo Liangcai's mother switched shifts with him and let her son go home for lunch.
Everything looks normal.
At noon, everyone was eating and few people came to the store. Mo Liangcai sat down leisurely, took a big sip of hot tea from the teacup, and stared at the pedestrians on the street in front of the door in a daze.
Suddenly, a group of people appeared at the other end of the street, some carrying shoulder poles, some holding hoes, and they rushed towards the hardware store aggressively.
The one walking in front was Chi Juxiang.
She had gray hair, an angry face, and was holding a kitchen knife in her hand.
This group of people immediately attracted the attention of the townspeople. Those who were eating stood up, those who were walking stopped, and everyone talked about them curiously.
"What are so many people doing here? Which village are they from to start a fight?"
“Who in our town has offended them?”
"Ah, that old lady holding a knife seems to be Zhao Qingliu's ex-mother-in-law. She's not here to settle accounts with the Mo family, is she?"
Everyone talked at once and soon figured out what had happened - it was probably because Wei Nian disappeared five years ago, and her grandmother was upset, so she came to settle the score with the child's biological mother.
It was rare to see such a lively scene, and many people came out and followed the team. After a while, the team grew larger and larger and all gathered in front of the Mo family hardware store.
Yu Jing and Feng Xiaoyu followed the crowd from a distance, looking for traces of Xia Mufan and others.
Gong Weiguo and Sun Xianbing looked at each other, quickly finished the food in their bowls, one of them raised his hand to signal the boss to come and pay the bill, and the other ran out of the restaurant and called Yu Jing and Feng Xiaoyu in.
Yu Jing and Feng Xiaoyu were full of excitement. They ate their lunch boxes while quietly reporting today's itinerary.
"I told Grandma Chi that Zhao Qingliu had some information about Qiaomei, but she kept it a secret. When the old lady heard this, she was furious and yelled that she wanted to find Zhao Qingliu to ask."
"I heard that the Mo family is very powerful, so I need to bring more people to ask for information. Grandma Chi is very popular in the village, so she immediately called a large group of people, and they came with their weapons and drove a tractor."
Gong Weiguo and Sun Xianbing listened attentively and slapped their hands on the table: "What should we do!"
At this moment, no one in the restaurant paid attention to their table. They all gathered at the door to watch the fun.
Chi Juxiang led the villagers to the Mo family hardware store. Mo Liangcai stood up, walked out from the counter, frowned and asked, "What are you going to do?"
A burly man standing behind Chi Juxiang pushed Mo Liangcai back and said, "Tell your wife to come out!"
Mo Liangcai staggered and almost fell down after being pushed. He got angry and pushed the burly man away with his backhand: "What do you want to do? If you come to my store to cause trouble, I will call the police to arrest you!"
Chi Juxiang rushed to Mo Liangcai and swung a kitchen knife in her right hand. The cold wind frightened Mo Liangcai so much that he took two steps back. His voice was a little distorted: "You, what are you doing?"
Whenever Chi Juxiang thought of her granddaughter whom she had been searching for for five years, her heart ached. The information provided by the police comrades must be accurate. That damn Zhao Qingliu clearly knew where Qiaomei was, but she kept silent. She is simply conscienceless!
Chi Juxiang asked herself, when Zhao Qingliu was her daughter-in-law, she always loved her like her own daughter. Even after Zhao Qingliu divorced Tao Dazhuang, Chi Juxiang never said a bad word about her. But now, Chi Juxiang was angry.
Chi Juxiang's eyes were blazing with anger, and her voice was trembling: "Let Zhao Qingliu come out. I want to ask that woman who cruelly abandoned her own daughter why she was so cruel and didn't say a word when she knew where Qiaomei was!"
Hearing Chi Juxiang's words, Mo Liangcai's eyebrows jumped, and he shouted fiercely: "What are you talking about? Your sister has been missing for five years, how would we know where she is! Now you bring people to our door, this is a gang fight, you should go to jail!"
Chi Juxiang straightened her chest and said, "I'm already old, my life is worthless, I'm not afraid of death or jail! My Qiaomei is missing, and Zhao Qingliu, that rotten-hearted bitch, knows where she is, but she didn't say a word. I want to ask her, is she still a human being as a mother?!"
The villagers also started to make a commotion.
"That's right! Call out that stinky cousin Zhao Qingliu!"
"Hand over Qiaomei!"
"You are committing a crime by harboring people. You should go to jail!"
Mo Liangcai didn't know why these villagers were sure that Zhao Qingliu knew Qiaomei's whereabouts, and he felt a chill on his back. It's clear that this group of people will not give up. Even if the police come, they can only persuade them to reconcile, and it might even make things worse. What if Qiao Mei is discovered by someone...
Mo Liangcai had a plan in mind. He raised his hands and raised his voice: "Everyone, everyone, please be patient. My wife is Qiaomei's biological mother. She will definitely not harm her. It is impossible for her to know about her and not tell the police. So, I will call her out and explain to you. Don't do anything. Don't do anything."
Zhao Qingliu, who was called into the store, was thin and had a sallow complexion, but her facial features still showed the beauty of her youth.
Zhao Qingliu looked at Chi Juxiang, whose eyes were wide open, and snorted unhappily, "What are you doing? You want to blackmail me because you can't find Qiaomei?"
When Chi Juxiang saw her, she was so angry that she walked up to her and slapped her in the face.
Bang!
There was a crisp sound. Zhao Qingliu covered his face and looked at Chi Juxiang in disbelief: "You, you hit me?"
In Zhao Qingliu's memory, Chi Juxiang had always been polite and gentle to her. Even when she had a fight with Tao Dazhuang, Chi Juxiang never scolded her. Even when she abandoned her daughter and ignored her, Chi Juxiang just silently took over the responsibility of taking care of the child and never said a word about her.
Unexpectedly, Chi Juxiang actually hit her today!
Chi Juxiang raised her hand and slapped her again.
Although the old woman was over sixty years old, she had been doing farm work for many years and had great strength in her hands. She slapped Chi Juxiang twice, leaving two slap marks on her face, which was swollen.
Zhao Qingliu was stubborn when he was young. He despised Tao Dazhuang for being too poor. He smashed pots and bowls and made a lot of noise all day long. After he hooked up with Mo Liangcai, he wanted to live a decent life, which made Tao Dazhuang regretful and upset.
Unexpectedly, although Mo Liangcai was rich, the money was controlled by his mother-in-law and not a penny could reach her. However, Tao Dazhuang opened a rice noodle shop in the county town and his business was getting more and more prosperous, which made her jealous and resentful.
Now Zhao Qingliu was caught off guard and slapped twice by Chi Juxiang. He was so angry that his eyes turned red. He lowered his head and was about to crash into Chi Juxiang's arms, cursing: "I won't live anymore! Just beat me to death——"
Chi Juxiang took a step back and blocked the way with the kitchen knife in her hand: "Come here! If you are not afraid of death, come here! You hid my Qiaomei and dared to cheat. How can there be such a shameless person like you in this world!"
The kitchen knife flashed with a cold light, and Zhao Qingliu was startled. He stopped and looked at Chi Juxiang with doubt: "Who told you that I hid Qiaomei? I'm her biological mother, how could I hide her?"
Chi Juxiang sneered: "You also know that Qiaomei is your biological daughter? She has been missing for five years. Have you ever looked for her? I have figured it out these few days. No wonder you are not in a hurry. You must have concealed Qiaomei's news. Who knows what shameful things you have done!"
The villagers who had been standing behind Chi Juxiang also joined in.
"That's right! How can a mother not even look for her daughter if she's lost? She must have kidnapped Qiaomei!"
"She can do such harm to her own child. She deserves to never have children again."
"If you lose all conscience, you will end up being alone!"
It was the first time that someone pointed at his face and cursed him with such nasty words. Zhao Qingliu's face flushed red. Just as he was about to retort, he heard someone shouting from the back of the crowd, "The police are coming! The police are coming!"
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