Chapter 19
Wu sneered: "That only works if he's actually here. If he's not here, who are you going to extort money from?"
"Then what do you suggest we do?" Xu Ning asked, her face full of worry.
The other person was silent for a moment, then clenched their fist. "Can you find the safe where the Han family keeps their money?"
Xu Ning: "You want me to steal it? But how am I supposed to open that safe?"
"Pry it open."
"If I could pry it open, I would have done it already. Besides, it's so big, there's probably a lot of money inside. How could I steal it without being discovered?"
“Since stealing won’t work, then…” A cold glint flashed in the man’s eyes. He lowered his voice, leaned close to Xu Ning’s ear, and told her his plan.
Xu Ning's voice trembled slightly after hearing this: "This is too risky..."
The man gritted his teeth and said, "We're in dire straits; we have no choice but to take a risk."
"Let me think about it some more."
"What are you still thinking about? Do we even have time to think about it? What are you afraid of? I'll help you. If anything goes wrong, we'll face it together."
Xu Ning gritted her teeth: "Alright then."
Now that things have come to this, we have no choice but to take the risk.
*
After studying medical books for two days, Han Meng went to a traditional Chinese medicine pharmacy to practice for two days. The customers gave positive feedback and even high praise for her, so she felt confident that she could do it again.
"Master, Young Master Lu said that he has a terminal illness. Do you know what illness he has?"
The old Chinese medicine doctor smiled and said, "I haven't examined him, how would I know these things?"
The accountant replied, "I have heard of it."
Han Meng: "Oh? Tell me about it."
"Madam Lu passed away early. I heard that not long after her burial, the Third Young Master Lu would often go to the cemetery. Once, after returning, he fell seriously ill and was so sick that he couldn't get out of bed. Although he recovered later, he was not fully recovered. He went from being a healthy child to being weak and sickly. At that time, everyone was saying that he was possessed by an evil spirit."
Han Meng: "Huh? Possessed by an evil spirit?"
She never imagined that the origin of this "terminal illness" would be so bizarre.
"Then what is he now..."
The accountant said, "These mysterious things are hard to distinguish between true and false. Perhaps they are a kind of disease that we modern people don't understand."
Han Meng: "Is it possible to cure or alleviate this disease?"
She looked at the old Chinese medicine doctor, who remained silent.
On the other side, Chen Miaoyin, who had just finished her work in the cubicle, came out and said, “Miss, I’ve heard some of what you were saying. I think there are indeed many diseases in this world that cannot be cured, but if you maintain a good attitude, you might be able to slow down the progression of the disease.”
Chen Miaoyin usually enjoys reading philosophy books, and now even her speech carries a philosophical tone.
However, Han Meng agreed with her point of view: "You are right, there are many such examples in medical history that are beyond the judgment of professionals."
"I know what to do now, you guys get back to work!"
When it was almost time, Han Meng left the traditional Chinese medicine pharmacy and returned to the Han family home.
There was also a study on the first floor of the Han family's house. She originally thought that it was almost time to eat and she was too lazy to go upstairs, so she would just read a book here for a while. But coincidentally, she saw Xu Ning acting suspiciously inside, and she didn't know what she was doing.
She waited until Xu Ning came out before quietly going in, closing the door, and exploring the inside.
The books in the bookcase showed no signs of being touched, and the stationery on the desk was neatly arranged. Only a small door at the bottom of the wooden cabinet seemed to be ajar.
There was no key to the cabinet, but based on her understanding of Han Xianfei, he was probably a person with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Every time he opened the cabinet, he would close the door properly and would not leave it with a gap.
Han Meng opened the small cabinet door, inside which was a large safe.
The light was dim, so she reached inside and touched the lock on the safe. It was a combination lock, and it was intact.
"Sigh, so this is a thief scouting the place." She roughly figured out what was going on and couldn't help but feel sorry for Han Xianfei.
Fortunately, she discovered this. If she hadn't, the God of Wealth's life savings would probably have fallen into someone else's hands.
However, since she had caught her in the act, she certainly wouldn't just stand by and do nothing.
"Then let's use this to bring down Xu Ning," Han Meng thought. One person's strength is limited, so she'd better have a smart assistant.
A moment later.
"Xiao Liu, could you please run an errand for me? I need to meet Young Master Lu at the teahouse tonight."
The boy was stunned: "Tonight?"
Han Meng: "Yes, around 7 p.m.."
The boy hesitated and asked, "Have you... encountered something?"
Han Meng paused for a moment, then said, "No."
It wasn't that she didn't trust the Han family's servants, but this was, after all, a family matter for the Han family. If the servants got involved, and Xu Ning and the people behind her wanted to retaliate, then given the servants' ordinary family backgrounds, they would probably be the targets of retaliation.
Xiao Liu was very efficient and quickly got the job done. Lu Jinxian agreed to come.
Seven o'clock in the evening, at the teahouse.
Both of them arrived as promised.
Without any pleasantries, the first thing Lu Jinxian said upon meeting was:
"It's late at night, disturbing people's rest."
Han Meng pouted: "You've helped me so many times, I consider you a friend, and I'll help you if you ever need anything."
Lu Jinxian took a sip of tea and asked calmly, "Speak, what's the matter this time?"
Han Meng told him what she had seen during the day.
Lu Jinxian analyzed, "It seems that your cousin came to your house for money. She probably wanted to swindle your father at first, but now that he's not here, she's in a hurry."
Han Meng said, "I've figured out what she's trying to do. Preventing her from getting the safe isn't difficult, but I want to eradicate this menace."
As their eyes met, Lu Jinxian guessed what she was thinking.
"So you're planning to... turn the tables on me?"
"Um."
What can I do to help you?
"She'll probably take action in the next couple of days. I don't have the key to that safe either, so the safest way is to 'strengthen' the lock."
As Han Meng spoke, she took out the drawing she had prepared in advance. In addition to the shape of the safe, she also marked the specific dimensions of its length, width, and height.
Lu Jinxian glanced at it and chuckled, "Does Miss Han think I'm a locksmith?"
Han Meng said guiltily, "...What I mean is, do you have any way to reseal the lock on this safe?"
Without hesitation, Lu Jinxian said, "The simplest way is to apply paste."
Han Meng: "..."
Very good, such a simple and unpretentious method, but it seems to work, and if applied at the right time, it might even stick to a thief's hand.
Lu Jinxian: "Can you tell me exactly what you plan to do? Your aunt wants to steal this thing, so she'll definitely try to make sure you don't find out."
"She'll definitely try to distract me with something else, but that's okay, I'll just do it. When the time is right, I'll secretly call the police." Han Meng didn't actually have a concrete plan yet, mainly because she didn't know exactly what Xu Ning would do.
So her thought was—to deal with whatever comes her way, and to adapt to the situation.
Lu Jinxian warned, "Be careful she doesn't do anything desperate. Why don't you call the police and come to the teahouse? It's on the way from the police station to your house anyway."
Han Meng looked up, a slight smile in her eyes and at the corners of her mouth: "Hmm... is this considered concern?"
The other person avoided her gaze.
*
"Do we really have to do this?"
"Our fate for the next few decades hangs in the balance! Whether we live a life of hardship burdened by debt or flee to distant lands with our money, it all depends on this one moment! What are you still hesitating for?"
Xu Ning bought a case of liquor, and because she bought a lot, she asked the restaurant staff to deliver it to her door.
Now, looking at the bottles of liquor placed in her residence, she recalled her previous conversation with "Mr. Wu" and her heart pounded with nervousness.
She'd done many bad things, but never had anyone killed before. This time...
Oh well! Who told her to be at her wit's end?
*
"Miss, I saw Mrs. Xu buy a case of liquor this morning."
Today was Xiao Liu's turn to clean the front door, so he naturally witnessed what happened. The Han family is a wealthy family, and it's common for them to buy wine by the case, so he didn't think anything was wrong at first. However, upon closer inspection, he discovered that Xu Ning had hidden the bottles of wine one by one in her current room.
Aren't you afraid of accidentally breaking the wine if you leave it in the room?
Han Meng pondered, "Alcohol? Who cleaned her room today?"
"It's Aunt Zhang."
The servants of the Han family are actually divided into two categories. One category is like Xiao Liu and Yu Zhi, who come from very poor backgrounds and were sold to the Han family from the beginning, and they have contracts. The other category, although they are also servants of the Han family, are relatively less fixed and have more freedom.
Aunt Zhang is one of those people. The room she cleans is not fixed; she takes turns cleaning with several other maids.
Han Meng considered for a moment, then said, "Let her go into my aunt's room and pour out all the wine, replacing it with water. You meet her outside the room. This is your reward; you can divide it among yourselves."
It would be a lie to say she didn't feel heartache when she took out the small box. Although she had already spent a lot of the money in it, she still had more than half left.
The boy seemed to sense her difficulty and waved his hand, "No need, Miss, this is what we servants should do."
The hostess would share food and drinks with them, arrange other odd jobs for them, and wouldn't lose her temper with them easily; she was already a wonderful hostess.
Han Meng became serious: "No, it's only right that you get paid for doing things for me."
She's not an evil capitalist!
Moreover, there are always some risks involved in doing that kind of thing.
...
The task of pouring the wine was completed without any major incidents.
Aunt Zhang and Xiao Liu did it while Xu Ning was having dinner, but they didn't expect that when they opened the box, there were more than thirty bottles of liquor. Just pouring them into the toilet would take a lot of time, and then they had to fill them with water, so time was really tight.
Fortunately, Han Meng deliberately put a few more pieces of food on Xu Ning's plate, thus delaying the situation for a few more minutes.
Hearing Xu Ning's footsteps approaching, there were still a few bottles of liquor left to be poured out.
Aunt Zhang touched the silver dollar she had just put in her pocket, then opened a bottle of liquor and chug it down in one go.
Xiao Liu was dumbfounded. Despite his extreme resistance, in order to avoid being discovered, he had no choice but to drink a bottle of liquor like Aunt Zhang.
The two of them finished off the remaining bottles, but there wasn't time to refill them with water.
Because Xu Ning has returned.
They quickly tidied up the case of wine. Xiao Liu crawled under the bed, while Aunt Zhang skillfully took a rag and wiped everything down.
Perfect timing! Wipe away any traces of wine or water that might remain while Xu Ning isn't looking.
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