"Both are Xiao Zhang's biological children." An experienced person quickly raised a question, "But they're only half a year apart? Didn't Xiao Feng say he's six?"
"Six years old? That's what six years old looks like?"
"Yeah, this kid said he was three years old and some people believed him."
"If he's half a year older than Xuanxuan, he's four and a half years old."
"That's because they're afraid of being embarrassed. The child was just sent here from the countryside. It's not up to them to say how old he is."
Xia Mian praised the policewoman's wit and immediately said, "She is my brother-in-law's biological child. Huang Xiaojuan took advantage of my sister's pregnancy and had an affair with Zhang Qiming."
"My sister had just given birth to Xiaofeng when she couldn't wait to send me a photo of her pregnant belly, saying that Zhang Qiming loved her. My sister was in confinement after giving birth and couldn't bear it. She immediately went to look for them, but she died in a car accident on the way."
She pointed at the house and said, "Otherwise, how could my brother-in-law, an ordinary worker, afford to buy the house in Building 18? Even with my sister's compensation, I heard it was about 40,000 or 50,000."
Huang Xiaojuan's face changed drastically when she heard the word "compensation".
The people watching behind him were even more shocked. In this era when the average savings of an ordinary family is only three to four thousand, forty to fifty thousand is definitely a huge sum of money.
"Is it true? Isn't it said that Xiao Huang's family is well-off?" someone wondered.
Unexpectedly, Huang Xiaojuan also created a persona for herself that she came from a good family.
Xia Mian sneered, "A well-educated family would let their daughter be a mistress?"
"You're willing to take the job my sister left for her child even if you have the conditions?" Xia Mian continued, "You killed my sister, reaped all her benefits, and now you're abusing her child. How dark is your heart?"
Everyone was in an uproar.
"What?"
"What's going on?"
Xia Mian explained, "My sister is a graduate of Ming Normal University. After graduation, she was assigned to Huagang No. 1 Middle School as a teacher. Zhang Qiming was also able to work at Huagang because he was married to my sister and had family status."
Xia Mian looked at Huang Xiaojuan contemptuously and said, "Huang Xiaojuan's current job as a librarian at Huagang Junior High School was given to her by the school out of humanitarianism when my sister died unexpectedly, out of pity for Zhang Qiming and the child."
"I guess the school didn't expect that the position originally reserved for Xiaofeng would eventually fall into the hands of the culprit who killed my sister!" Xia Mian said sternly, "Tell me, am I right, Huang Xiaojuan?"
Huang Xiaojuan was still wondering how Xia Mian knew about the compensation, but Xia Mian told her everything again. She then said in a stern voice, "You're talking nonsense! You're talking nonsense!"
Ordinary people had never tasted such a melon before, and immediately started to discuss it, which was comparable to the barrage of comments in later generations:
"Tsk tsk, if this is true, it really is..."
"If we can make up the child's age, what else can't we make up? Xiao Zhang really only came to the factory five years ago. Who knows who he was before?"
"That's true. Mr. Huang said her parents and brothers were very powerful in the city. In the past four or five years, apart from her sister who is a nurse, I haven't seen many of them."
"Xiao Huang is really the mistress."
"She's not a mistress anymore. She's already succeeded in killing the original wife and taking her place."
"Then isn't she a murderer?"
"He's more than just a murderer. He used the compensation money to live in a big house, took over the other person's job, and even abused the other person's children..."
"Tsk tsk, you only know a person's face but not his heart. You're worse than an animal!"
"Who would have thought, he looks so kind...tsk tsk..."
"But that poor child...what a sin..."
The director's wife, who had been following Huang Xiaojuan closely, immediately took two steps to the side, frowned at her, and asked, "Xiaojuan, is what she said true?"
Huang Xiaojuan was furious. "Of course not! She's just talking nonsense! Sister Wang, don't listen to her nonsense. She just wants to stand up for her sister and can't bear to see our Lao Zhang and I live in peace!"
At this point, he remembered something and his eyes lit up. "How old was she five years ago! How could a ten-year-old girl know so much? She just doesn't like my random fabrications!"
Looking at the doubtful looks from everyone, Xia Mian was not afraid. Although she couldn't tell the source of the information, the facts were there:
"You said I made it up, so let me ask you: Isn't Xuanxuan my brother-in-law's child? Didn't you send my sister a photo of your big belly when she just gave birth? My sister gave the photo to my mother, and I kept it. How about I show it to everyone?"
"Or you didn't use my sister's compensation to buy a house? My brother-in-law and your family are both broke, where did you get the money? Don't tell me your family is well off. You just live in the suburbs. You can find out with a little inquiry."
"And wasn't your current position as the librarian at Huagang Junior High School arranged for you by Zhang Qiming? Just ask the principal and you'll know why he arranged such a good position for Zhang Qiming, a factory worker's wife."
The job of a junior high school librarian is leisurely and the pay is good, but it is a welfare position that most people can't get.
"Yeah, speaking of connections, Mr. Li's connections are much stronger. His daughter-in-law is still a college graduate, and she hasn't even landed a good job."
"Before, they said it was arranged by their family, haha..."
"This is indeed an easy matter. Our Mr. Li is familiar with Principal Chen. Just ask and you'll know."
Huang Xiaojuan became more and more flustered as she listened. She was at a loss for words and could only insist that Xia Mian was lying.
"You're talking nonsense. I borrowed money from my family to buy the house. I got the school job because my dad's resources are not here, so I switched with Xiaofeng for convenience. We agreed that when Xiaofeng grows up, my dad will find him a job in a power plant."
Xia Mian knew that she was good at speaking, and such groundless remarks would not produce any results even if she argued for days.
But there was one thing she couldn't avoid, "So, how old is Xuanxuan? Is he Zhang Qiming's biological son?"
Seeing Huang Xiaojuan's eyes fall on Xiaofeng, Xia Mian reminded her, "Don't try to confuse Xiaofeng's age. Our family has Xiaofeng's birth record from the hospital."
Huang Xiaoxia took a deep breath and said angrily, "I didn't want to say it, but you forced me to."
"Xiao Feng is not your brother-in-law's child. It's your sister who cheated on your brother-in-law!"
Holy shit! After confusing right and wrong, you're trying to confuse right and wrong again?
If she hadn't been holding the child in her arms, Xia Mian would have definitely slapped her. "Huang Xiaojuan, you're such a heartless person! You're enjoying yourself by stepping on my sister's corpse, and you're still slandering him?! Let's do a test and we'll know if Xiaofeng is Zhang Qiming's child!"
Huang Xiaojuan blurted out, "Blood test is unscientific and totally inaccurate!"
"So you're convinced of this, that's why you dare to throw dirty water on my sister," Xia Mian sneered, "Nowadays, blood tests aren't used to determine paternity."
A gray-haired old lady nearby explained, "Nowadays, it's a DNA test. As long as there's hair from the child and the father, it's 100% accurate. That's what our Xiaobai said."
Someone immediately agreed, "Your Xiaobai has just returned from abroad, so what he said must be correct."
Seeing that Huang Xiaojuan wanted to say something else, Xia Mian said coldly, "You'd better think it over before you speak. If you dare to spread rumors about my sister, I will sue you for defamation."
The policewoman corrected her, "It's defamation."
Xia Mian instantly became more imposing, "Did you hear that? I'm going to sue you for defamation, and you can expect to spend the rest of your life in jail!"
With the police's support and hearing that she would go to jail, Huang Xiaojuan didn't dare to say anything more. Her eyes rolled around anxiously in her sockets.
What else did everyone not understand? No matter how much she said, she could not escape the charge of child abuse. As for the rest, it was just the first step in destroying the Zhang family's reputation. Xia Mian was not in a hurry.
She led the police and onlookers to the bathroom and pointed to the colorless clothes in the aluminum basin. "These are all the clothes our children have, and they have always washed them themselves."
Huang Xiaojuan caught up and said, "How could they not have clothes? The two brothers are about the same age, and they both wear clothes together."
Xia Mian glanced at her and said, "You don't feel any pain anymore? Your legs and feet are very nimble."
Huang Xiaojuan immediately showed a pitiful look of strong endurance.
Unfortunately, there is a saying that justice is in the hearts of the people.
The old lady next door who had just been cursing Xia Meng came in at some point and stood at the bathroom door and said, "This child has been here for over half a year. Except for when his grandmother first brought him here, he looked very clean. Since then, I haven't seen him wearing any nice clothes. Anyway, since summer came, he has been wearing these few clothes in the basin."
"I remember I mentioned that the child's clothes needed to be washed, but Xiao Huang said that the child was too noisy and dirty, and that he had worn all the good clothes to pieces, so he just had to make do with Xiao Zhang's clothes."
Huang Xiaojuan didn't expect the old lady to interrupt, and said anxiously, "Aunt Liu, you've only met this child a few times..."
Old Lady Liu retorted rudely, "That's right. You've locked me up at home and beaten me all day long. How often can I see you? I actually believed you were a good person. If I had known you were so vicious, would I have let you live in this building?!"
Huang Xiaojuan's face suddenly changed.
You have to know that all the people living in this building are leaders. Zhang Qiming was able to get a salary increase in the past two years because he has a good relationship with the people here.
Recently, she has been trying to please the director's wife in various ways in preparation for being recognized as an outstanding advanced worker at the end of the year. If Zhang Qiming is recognized as an advanced worker again this year, he will be promoted again next year.
Huang Xiaojuan was racking her brains to think of a reason to pass the buck, but Xia Mian had already opened the door to the north room and said to Huang Xiaojuan sarcastically, "So the reason he lets the child sleep here is because he's too dirty and sloppy?"
The people behind him who had followed in to watch the fun because of Old Lady Liu's lead fell silent instantly.
The dark windowless room, about five or six square meters in size, was filled with miscellaneous items. There was only a dirty mattress thrown on the open space at the door. The cotton had already clumped into pieces, and only the black ball in the middle proved that the child had been sleeping here for quite some time.
"How do you explain this?"
Old Lady Liu pounded her cane hard and sighed angrily, "What a sin..."
In the novel, the villain Zhang Yuxuan suddenly rose to prominence at the age of eighteen, becoming known as a talented painter. As his fame grew and the prices of his paintings soared, he finally moved out. This means the child was likely locked up in this dark little room for over a decade...
Thinking of this, Xia Mian couldn't help but burst into tears, "This murderer has such a cruel heart. If he didn't like the child, he could have just sent him away. Why did he abuse him like this..."
Seeing Xia Mian crying, Xiao Feng was a little scared. He suppressed his fear, carefully touched Xia Mian's eyes and said, "Auntie, don't cry." His voice was like a child's tender cry.
He was too young to even understand what kind of vicious harm he had suffered. His clear eyes were filled with only worry about Xia Mian.
Xia Mian felt extremely uncomfortable. She tried hard to hold back her tears, pressed the child's head on her shoulder, and choked, "It's okay, auntie is okay, Xiaofeng, don't be afraid. Auntie will definitely protect you." After she finished speaking, she still couldn't hold back her tears.
Many people's eyes turned red.
"Beast!" Someone in the crowd cursed.
Huang Xiaojuan looked embarrassed and said aggrievedly, "It's not what you think! Xiaofeng doesn't sleep here at all! She's the one who's slandering me!" She also put her learning into practice, "I'm going to sue her for defamation!"
"Whether it's defamation or not, let's go to the police station and discuss it." The middle-aged police officer said, "Liu Hong, have you taken all the photos?"
The policewoman named Liu Hong put away her camera and said, "It's all there."
"Why are we going to the police station? I, I didn't commit any crime!" Huang Xiaojuan panicked and tried to explain herself. "I didn't abuse the child. It was Qiming who said the child wasn't his and he didn't want to see her, so he only let her stay there occasionally. He's so dirty and sloppy that he can soil the bedding in just three days."
Xia Mian sneered. She had never openly linked Zhang Qiming to someone because in the novel, he was an extremely terrible hypocrite. He looked honest and enthusiastic on the outside, but he was extremely cautious and thorough in his actions. In addition, he was eloquent, so no one believed that he was a bad person.
I didn’t expect that Huang Xiaojuan would bite the person out first, which was just right.
"So, he allowed you to abuse the child?" Xia Mian suddenly realized, "Yes, if he didn't agree, how could you abuse the child like this under his nose?"
"So what you're saying is that Zhang Qiming suspected my sister of cheating, and that he was right to cheat, and that you were also right to be a mistress?"
Xia Mian pointed at the torn mattress and said angrily, "The child has to go through all this just because of your groundless suspicion? If it turns out that the child is Zhang Qiming's, will you two kowtow to my sister and apologize?"
"That's right," someone cursed. "No matter what Xia Chun is like, it's true that Zhang Qiming and Huang Xiaojuan are having an affair."
"That's not the case..." Huang Xiaojuan shed tears, "We..."
"You are committing murder!" Xia Mian suddenly shouted.
"Comrade police officer, I'm suing them for murder! Zhang Qiming suspected my sister of infidelity, so he conspired with Huang Xiaojuan to murder her. Otherwise, how could my sister have been called out by them right after giving birth, and then had a car accident?! They abused the child because they felt guilty, so they wanted to eradicate the problem!"
Huang Xiaojuan was stunned. She had just wanted to deflect blame, but the other party had framed her for something even more horrific. Listening to the buzzing discussion, Huang Xiaojuan couldn't help but scream, "You're talking nonsense! What evidence do you have?!"
Xia Mian said coldly, "Then what evidence do you have to prove that my sister is cheating? They say that catching an adulterer in pairs means there's at least one cheating partner, right? Or was it Zhang Qiming who told you this himself? Who knows if he was just making up an excuse to feel at ease with his cheating? Anyway, Xuanxuan is the ironclad evidence of his infidelity!"
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