Finally, Sunday, a day off, arrived. Fang Qiao asked Cheng Baidong to stay home and look after the children, while she took Tian Tian, who was eager to go out and have fun, and prepared to go to the black market to buy some crisp persimmons from the local villagers. However, as soon as they arrived at the entrance of the family compound, they heard several women who were slightly older than her talking about how the black market had been shut down.
Upon hearing this, Fang Qiao naturally stepped forward to ask, "When did this happen? Why was it suddenly blocked?"
The sisters-in-law immediately started talking all at once.
"It's still fresh in my mind what happened this morning!"
"I don't know where this scoundrel came from, but at such a young age he dared to steal things from the textile factory's warehouse and sell them. This alarmed the factory's security department, and eventually the police were called, leading to their arrest. The stolen goods were caught red-handed, and the market was shut down as a result."
"Not only that, I also heard that they're going to cut down the whole forest in that area."
“Cut down the forest? That can’t be right. That forest is the collective property of Heshan Commune.”
"That's right, would the brigade be willing to do that? That forest has only been planted for about ten years, it's not time to cut it down yet. If it's cut down now, who will bear the collective loss?"
"Wait a minute." Fang Qiao became increasingly confused and couldn't help but ask, "Big sister, isn't the textile factory in the east of the city?"
“Yes, it’s in the east of the city.” One of the older women said indignantly, “That’s why we say these bastards are despicable! They stole the stolen goods from the textile factory in the east of the city and came all the way to Heshan to sell them, but instead they dragged us down with them.”
"Absolutely! It would be so much better if we only caught these petty thieves, but the police don't discriminate. They arrest anyone in the market they see. You know Old Chang from the village up ahead, right? He's quite old, and he brought a basket of jujubes from his own tree into the market. And even that, he was tied up with rope and taken away."
"After all, it's speculation and profiteering. Let alone a basket of dates, even a single date counts..."
"I also heard that so-and-so was arrested..."
The older women had gone off on a tangent when Fang Qiao happened to see Xiao Jing standing under a big tree not far away, waving at her. So she took Tian Tian's hand and walked towards her.
As soon as Fang Qiao approached, Xiao Jing eagerly grabbed Fang Qiao's wrist and pulled her to a quiet corner.
Xiao Jing's behavior was very unusual, and Fang Qiao had a bad feeling. She asked, "Xiao Jing, what happened?"
Xiao Jing looked anxious. She glanced around to make sure everyone was far away before speaking, "Sister-in-law, you know that the forest area has been sealed off, right?"
Fang Qiao nodded: "I just overheard those older women at the entrance saying that some young men stole things from the textile factory in the east of the city and came here to sell them. They were caught red-handed by the police."
Xiao Jing bit her lip and said, "Sister-in-law, I think I saw the child's uncle among those who were arrested."
"Who?" Fang Qiao wondered if she had misheard.
"Is it the eldest uncle or the youngest uncle?"
As soon as Fang Qiao said this, she knew she had lost her mind in anger. This kind of thing had never been related to her honest and upright older brother Fang Hai; it must have been Fang Lu.
He was a bad person in his past life, always walking the line between law and wrong, and did a lot of shady things.
I never thought I'd still be so eccentric in this lifetime.
Fang Qiao didn't care that he was courting death, but his uncle's crime would affect his nephew's future! Fang Qiao couldn't tolerate that!
Suppressing her anger, Fang Qiao asked, "Is it Fang Lu?"
Xiao Jing nodded: "Yes, it's him."
"I knew it was him! There are no two of them!"
Fang Qiao: "Xiao Jing, what did you see at that time? Tell me."
"I didn't see anything either." Xiaojing shook her head and said, "I arrived late. When I got there, there were many people gathered around me, and because I'm short, I could only see the back of the heads of the people in front of me even when I stood on tiptoe. I only saw a profile when the last few people were being put on the truck. It looked like him."
Are you sure?
Xiao Jing nodded: "I'm sure."
"Okay." Fang Qiao suppressed her anger, put Tian Tian's hand in hers, and said, "You take Tian Tian home first, I'll go back later."
After saying that, Fang Qiao turned and walked in the opposite direction from home.
She was furious. Xiao Jing was afraid that she might do something irrational in her anger, so she quickly grabbed Tian Tian's hand and chased after her, saying, "Sister-in-law, sister-in-law, wait a minute."
Fang Qiao stopped and turned to look at her.
Xiao Jing said, "Sister-in-law, please, please don't be impulsive. Well, people can look alike. What if I've mistaken someone for someone else? It wouldn't look good if things got out of hand."
"Don't worry, I wasn't acting impulsively."
Fang Qiao twitched her lips, smiled reassuringly at her, and said, "I'm just going to the grocery store to call my parents' home and ask."
Realizing she had misunderstood, Xiaojing relaxed and said, "Okay, okay, then I'll take Tiantian back."
Fang Qiao hummed in agreement and said, "Let's go back. I'll go back in a bit too."
Xiao Jing, holding Tian Tian's hand, left, turning back every few steps.
Once they had disappeared into the family compound, Fang Qiao turned around and continued walking forward.
When she arrived at the grocery store, she paid the money and, referring to the phone book, called the textile factory where Jiang Lu worked.
The call connected quickly, and a sweet female voice came through: "Hello, this is the communications office of the textile factory. How can I help you?"
"Hello, I'm looking for Fang Lu, a temporary worker in the loading and unloading workshop. I'm his sister, and there's an emergency at home that requires him to go back."
"Okay, please wait a moment and don't leave. I'll make an announcement for you and call you back when the person arrives."
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