Chapter 23
Chen He, wearing slippers and a shawl, came to the public area in the side hall on the first floor, brewed a pot of lemon mint tea, poured two cups, and greeted the cleaning lady who was mopping the floor not far away.
"Sister Qin, come and have a cup of tea and rest for a while."
Sister Qin put down the mop, sat across from the table, pulled down her mask, and gathered her short hair to her ears, revealing a plain face.
Her skin was rough, and she had crow's feet at the corners of her eyes even though she was only in her thirties, and lines of sorrow were carved at the corners of her mouth.
Sister Qin held the cup with both hands and took a sip of tea. She raised her eyelids and looked at Chen He. Their eyes met, revealing a tacit understanding.
Sister Qin is Chen He's hidden connection.
As early as half a year ago, not long after Xu Candong started live streaming, Chen He followed the live streaming and noticed something was wrong.
In the live broadcast, Xu Candong's home environment was extremely dirty and messy. Leukemia patients have low immunity and are extremely susceptible to bacterial and viral infections. Such a dirty and messy environment is too dangerous for children.
The child was wearing an oxygen tube, indicating difficulty breathing and a possible lung infection. He should have been hospitalized, so why was he still at home?
There were also doubts in the comment section, but those doubts quickly disappeared, and they were suspected to have been blocked.
There are fewer and fewer voices of doubt.
Video accounts seem like something that anyone can watch, but in fact the platform has a sophisticated push mechanism. In addition, the anchor actively blocks those who question him, and gradually selects some users who sympathize with him and believe in him, forming a "traffic pool" that seems open but is actually closed.
It's like a stagnant pond that's gradually overgrown with algae, and the fish in it mistakenly think it's the ocean.
Watching the gift rewards such as "Paper Cranes of Love" flashing on the screen from time to time, Chen He tentatively sent a private message to Xu Candong using his secondary account, asking him if he needed a donation.
The account number was given to me quickly, and the recipient was Xu Candong, with a message attached: Thank you kind person, may good people have a peaceful life.
Chen He did not donate, which made him even more suspicious.
At that time, she had not yet thought that the child was not sick at all, but only suspected that Xu Candong was using the child's illness to make money.
Could humans be so cruel?
To confirm, she sent Sister Qin.
She asked Sister Qin to disguise herself slightly, put on a curly wig, and rent the house opposite Xu Candong to create the persona of a middle-aged divorced single woman.
Xu Candong rarely goes out during the day and usually orders takeout for meals. But you can still see him occasionally.
Sister Qin is an introvert and doesn't like to talk, but in order to build a good relationship with him, she imitated the gossipy older sisters in the community and started chatting with him, asking him who else was in his family and where his wife worked.
Xu Candong ignored him and was unwilling to talk more about the situation at home.
Sister Qin was not discouraged. Every time she made dumplings or fried pancakes, she would make an extra portion for the neighbor next door. If the neighbor next door didn't want to open the door, she would hang it on the doorknob.
After many times, Xu Candong would also say thank you. But he was very cautious, and Sister Qin never got to enter his house.
It wasn't until more than two months later that she knocked on the door, carrying a casserole of chicken soup. Xu Candong reached out to take it, but she hurriedly said, "It's too hot, don't take it, I'll bring it in for you!"
Sister Qin just barged into his house, put down the casserole, and then sat down on the sofa without any courtesy.
Xu Candong obviously wanted to drive her away, but since she brought chicken soup with her, he really couldn't go too far.
Sister Qin looked around. The coffee table was piled with takeout boxes, the floor was littered with beer bottles, the room was unsanitary and stale, the sofa was covered in greasy stains, and the room was filled with a foul odor.
She asked, "Is your sister-in-law not at home?"
"Divorced." Xu Candong said vaguely.
"Are you living alone? No wonder the house is such a mess!" Sister Qin spoke with sympathy and started to clean up the garbage very naturally.
Xu Candong stood aside: "I still have something to do, why don't you go back first..."
At this moment, the bedroom door creaked open a crack. A bald little girl with a dirty face peeked out timidly.
Sister Qin said in surprise: "Oh, this is your child?"
"Yes, she is not in good health." Xu Candong pushed the bedroom door back, and the little girl's face disappeared.
"What's wrong with the child?" Sister Qin asked with concern.
"Leukemia." Xu Candong observed Sister Qin's reaction.
"Oh, that's so heartbreaking..."
Sister Qin sighed sympathetically and casually put the cigarette box and a silver tiger-head lighter thrown on the coffee table aside.
"You should also take care of your health and smoke less." She muttered as she cleaned up. She accidentally knocked over a medicine bottle and picked it up to read.
Xu Candong's expression became tense.
"I have only been to school for a few days and can hardly read. What does this medicine treat?" Sister Qin asked.
"It's my stomach medicine." Xu Candong replied.
Sister Qin put the medicine bottle back on the table and continued nagging: "You men just don't know how to take care of yourselves. You usually only eat takeout and your stomach is damaged. How can this be allowed? I'll cook more in the future, don't be disgusted."
"Then... I'm sorry to bother Sister Qin."
When I left, Xu Candong's house had been cleaned tidy. Sister Qin took away three big bags of garbage, and she also took Xixi's dirty clothes home to wash.
Xu Candong sent him to the door with a smile on his face, a little contemptuous, a little proud, and a little calculating.
He thought he saw through Sister Qin's intentions - she must have taken a fancy to him and that's why she was trying to please him like this.
Of course he looked down on Sister Qin. Sister Qin was six years older than him, and she was not good-looking and looked old.
The permed hair is dull, messy and looks cheap.
The job was also bad. They said he was doing cleaning work somewhere, and it was dirty and undignified.
He always has a silly, apologetic smile on his face. He can't even read and is obviously stupid.
But stupid women have their advantages.
Easy to cheat.
She spent half a day at the house and felt only sympathy for her and Xixi's lifestyle, without any doubts.
If you don't take advantage of a good opportunity, you will be struck by lightning. Xu Candong made a wishful calculation in his mind: keep her hanging and get a free nanny.
What he didn't know was that Sister Qin came out of his house, rode an electric bike to a deserted place, took off her wig, put on a mask, and immediately became like a different person and went to work at the B&B.
Every now and then, Chen He would go to the side hall on the first floor to drink tea, meet Sister Qin, and listen to her talk about what she saw and heard at Xu Candong's house.
Connecting many details together, Chen He concluded that although it is easy to change the country, it is difficult to change one's nature, and Xu Candong was even more vicious than she expected.
The only shred of sympathy I had vanished.
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