Chapter 41 Drooling on the Nightgown
"Call the police? What the hell are you doing, calling the police?!"
Zhou Shuyao immediately jumped up and down in a fit of anger, reacting violently, "We're all family, who are you accusing me of stealing!"
Song Yaoyao also covered her belly, which wasn't showing, and was so angry that she couldn't catch her breath.
"Your nightgown costs a hundred yuan? Who are you trying to fool? Where I'm from, a hundred yuan can buy a house. Is your dress trimmed with gold?"
She knew that Ling Huanwu was later sent to Hong Kong by her grandfather to live a life of luxury, but she never expected it to be such a waste.
Song Yaoyao had only managed to scrape together a hundred or so yuan from Ling's parents over the past ten years, yet this woman had spent so much on a single dress. This was enough to show how much money Old Master Ling had left her, and she was green with envy.
Call the police? No way!
Song Yaoyao grabbed a chair and blocked the doorway. "There's no phone here. Are you just going to pretend to call the police?"
As she spoke, she used the same tricks she used to deceive Ling's parents, looking pitifully at the aunties in the family compound behind her.
“Aunties, look how vicious this woman is! She secretly stuffed her nightgown into my son Shuyao’s bag. Shuyao was just being polite to her because she’s his sister-in-law, so he didn’t confront her and said he didn’t see the nightgown. But she’s really pushing her luck and is going to call the police. What should I do?”
"My wife and I came here to seek refuge with Commander Zhou, and now we've offended his wife. She's even trying to extort money from us. We're doomed! Waaah..."
After she finished speaking, she immediately sat down on a chair and cried her heart out, her whole body trembling.
This tactic worked on Ling's parents, and it had the same effect on the aunties in the family compound who also only sympathized with the weak.
The aunties put away the melon seeds, patted Song Yaoyao on the shoulder to comfort her, and at the same time started to criticize Ling Huanwu.
“Hey, Commander’s wife, you’re just taking advantage of the fact that these two are here to rely on your husband and are afraid of offending him by calling the police, so you’re deliberately trying to extort money by saying you’re calling the police. How could you be so wicked?”
"That's right, they're brothers, how could you accuse them after failing to seduce them?"
Among them, Xu Amei and Gao Huimei, who are usually the loudest and most outspoken in the family compound, stepped forward and supported Song Yaoyao like righteous messengers.
Zhou Shuyao, standing to the side, was stunned to see his wife lying and convincing everyone around her.
Ling Huanwu ignored them and instead found a chair to sit down.
She certainly knew why these aunties supported Song Yaoyao.
Like Ling's parents, they also believed that whoever was weaker was right.
They thought she was trying to extort money by saying she was calling the police, but they didn't know that on the way there, she had secretly stopped Lin Xiaoqin, who was watching the commotion at the door, and stuffed ten yuan into her hand, asking her to help call the police.
The group of aunties were still criticizing Ling Huanwu for daring to fake a police report and extort money from her.
The next second, when two uniformed island police officers appeared at the door of the aquaculture farm office, everyone present was stunned.
"Who among you called the police to report a theft?"
Ling Huanwu immediately stood up and raised her hand, "Me!"
She pointed at Zhou Shuyao, "That perverted man actually stole my nightgown! I suspect he took it to do something shady!"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Shuyao almost collapsed to the ground, his face turning red with embarrassment. He looked at Song Yaoyao with pleading eyes, "I didn't steal it, you forced it on me!"
Seeing that Zhou Shuyao had also started lying without thinking, just like Song Yaoyao, Ling Huanwu sneered and was extremely disappointed.
She turned to the two police officers, spreading out the stain on her nightgown to show them. "Comrades, he won't admit it, but I have a way. I heard there's technology in the city that can identify what these liquids are. I suspect this liquid is from my uncle. Please help me with the testing; I'll pay for it!"
Perhaps Ling Huanwu's words were too shocking, because everyone stared wide-eyed.
Just as the police officer put on his gloves and was about to take it, Zhou Shuyao finally panicked.
He was like an inflated balloon, suddenly deflated after being pricked like that, and blurted out in a hurry, "That filth isn't...it's just my saliva!"
One sentence struck like a thunderbolt, leaving everyone present stunned and speechless.
If Zhou Shuyao admits it was saliva, then that's tantamount to admitting he stole Ling Huanwu's nightgown and did something perverted.
This is undoubtedly a slap in the face to Song Yaoyao, and even more so to those aunts who defended her.
Song Yaoyao almost fell off the chair, looking at Zhou Shuyao in despair, wishing she could find a hole to crawl into.
Finally, the entire audience fell silent.
After the facts were clarified, under the mediation of the police, Zhou Shuyao, whose face had turned ashen, signed an IOU for fifty yuan to Ling Huanwu as cleaning fees and compensation, and Ling Huanwu no longer pursued the matter.
The group of aunties who had just been criticizing Ling Huanwu all covered their faces and tried to escape quietly, but Ling Huanwu called them back.
"Aunties, how can you openly insult military wives and spread rumors and slanders, just leave like that?"
Ling Huanwu looked at the police officer beside her, "They insulted me without investigating the facts. It's not unreasonable for me to ask them to apologize!"
The police officer nodded. "It's not excessive. Those who refuse to apologize can come back with us."
All the aunties were so frightened that their legs went weak. They hurriedly came over to apologize one by one, then covered their faces and slunk away.
Song Yaoyao even bit her lip to apologize, until her lips bled.
After the matter was resolved.
The two police officers had just left when Qiao Hui returned to his office.
He saw this and was about to ask Ling Huanwu what had happened.
The sound of horns could be heard from the dock.
The group quickly went out to check.
Then I saw a group of people who had come by boat from the neighboring island. They got off the boat at the dock and walked straight toward the aquaculture farm.
The villagers who had just been digging for oysters all threw down their chisels and ran over to greet the big boss from the city who was coming to buy them, all in the hopes of getting their wages smoothly later.
Qiao Hui hurriedly went to greet them and explained to the seafood merchants from the city that the oysters could not be delivered this year and whether they could be delivered next year.
Upon hearing this, the portly seafood merchant's face immediately darkened.
He turned and winked at the workers behind him, signaling them to move the oysters that were still stored in the warehouse and on the mudflats.
After giving his instructions, he casually glanced at Qiao Hui and the villagers behind him, who were filled with anticipation.
He took out the contract and pointed to the terms, explaining that if the goods could not be delivered, not only would they not receive the final payment, but they would also have to compensate them for five times their losses, totaling 100,000 yuan!
On the mudflats, all the villagers waiting to receive their wages gasped in shock.
The original 20,000 yuan payment was the wages for about 50 people at their farm for a whole year.
Each person can receive about three hundred yuan a year.
You should know that they save every penny and work hard from dawn till dusk every day, all for the wages they receive once a year.
Now, not only is the money gone, but they're also expected to pay over 100,000 yuan in compensation?
Qiao Hui panicked. He had wanted to delay the delivery for a year, but the buyer didn't even ask him anything and directly asked them to compensate him five times the price of the goods.
He adjusted his glasses, staring at the fine print on the contract, his face turning deathly pale. He couldn't utter a word for a long time.
Seeing Qiao Hui's expression, the aunties and grandmas were struck dumb.
Yesterday, they still held a sliver of hope that the oysters stored in the warehouse, along with the oysters they had dug up, could bring back some of the money, and each of them could earn some wages.
Unexpectedly, not only did they not get a single penny back, but they also ended up owing a large sum of money.
Many of the women had already broken down and started howling.
Several older women rushed over and punched Qiao Hui, demanding that he pay them their wages.
In an instant, the entire mudflat became a complete mess.
The seafood vendor covered his mouth and nose in disgust and took a step back, finally uttering a harsh threat to demand that they pay back the money as soon as possible before leaving.
This made the aunties and grandmas even more devastated.
Some even collapsed to the ground, wailing, "What should we do? My husband is still sick. If we don't have this money this year, our whole family will starve to death!"
Lin Xiaoqin clutched her faded clothes and burst into tears.
"Me too! My brother has been eating dirt all year round, and I was hoping to use this money to take him to the city for medical treatment. Now it's all over!"
Qiao Hui felt extremely guilty and never fought back even when surrounded and beaten by several aunts.
Seeing an aunt lose her temper and grab a carrying pole to hit Qiao Hui, Ling Huanwu quickly stepped forward and hugged the aunt to stop her.
Zhou Shuyao, who had just lost face, huddled in a corner and secretly slurped up an oyster, cursing as he chewed, "What bad luck, this happens on my first day at work."
Meanwhile, Song Yaoyao's eyes darted around, and she immediately had an idea.
She was about to make Ling Huanwu pay for the humiliation she had just suffered.
Song Yaoyao squeezed into the crowd, pointed at Ling Huanwu, and shouted at the top of her lungs, "Fellow villagers, don't be afraid! My sister is a capitalist, she's very rich! If you ask her to take out some money to pay everyone's wages, all our difficulties will be solved!"
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