Chapter 172

People's expressions and body language.

Sometimes it conveys a person's true thoughts to the other person.

Just as Yi Zhonghai stood before Qin Huairu, he should have been as calm as someone sitting on a fishing terrace, but when Qin Huairu shouted about the letter, his panic was plainly visible on his face, all his previous composure gone, making him like an ant on a hot skillet.

He must have panicked.

Men are always a bit guilty about cheating; even if discovered, even if the other person wants to beat them to death, they still act cowardly and dare not fight back.

Women, on the other hand, often go to great lengths to find the woman their partner cheated with, then compare themselves to her.

As for Jia Dongxu's death.

Qin Huairu is more composed than Yi Zhonghai.

At most, she's merely an accomplice.

"Did you kill him?"

Five characters.

Every word hit like thunder, shaking Yi Zhonghai.

The hypocrite must have also noticed his own misconduct.

He didn't answer Qin Huairu's question, but instead changed the subject to the letter.

"Did Jia Dongxu leave a letter?"

It's no surprise Yi Zhonghai feels guilty; lately his mind has been in turmoil, as if something bad is about to strike him.

When Qin Huairu mentioned the letter, Yi Zhonghai instantly connected his recent uneasy feeling with the letter Jia Dongxu had left.

I'm not afraid of ten thousand.

But I fear the one possibility.

If Jia Dongxu had spilled the truth in the letter, and that letter ended up in the hands of someone with ulterior motives, Yi Zhonghai would have only one option left: to be drowned in a pig basket.

But unlike before, there is no evidence.

Now there is evidence proving that the child Qin Huairu carries is Yi Zhonghai's son.

This also contributes to the cause of Jia Dongxu's death.

It's definitely an unsolvable dilemma.

Unless they can get to that letter first.

"Where is the letter?"

Qin Huairu felt like she was being stared down by a venomous snake; the friendly look on Yi Zhonghai's face across from her sent a shiver of terror through her.

Someone who would even eliminate his own disciple to conceal a secret.

Qin Huairu has reason to be wary.

He's just feeling guilty.

What Yi Zhonghai wants is the Yi family's incense.

Not mentioning the deceased Jia Dongxu for now, just speaking of the living Qin Huairu and Jia Zhangshi; once they threaten Yi Zhonghai's plan to continue the family line, Yi Zhonghai will eliminate them from this world as if sweeping away trash.

To lead an ox, you must lead by its nose.

Upon learning that Jia Dongxu had died, and through the nurse learning that she had given birth to a daughter, Qin Huairu promptly asked the nurse for help, asking her to find a baby boy for her, to be called twins outwardly.

Everyone says Jia Zhangshi favors males over females, but Yi Zhonghai surpasses her in this regard.

Letter.

Even if the letter is in Qin Huairu's hands, she would not hand it over to Yi Zhonghai.

Protective Amulet.

Moreover, the letter is not in Qin Huairu's hands.

He opened his mouth.

Wanted to say something.

The sound of footsteps stepping on the ground came from beside the ear.

Fearing that walls have ears, Qin Huairu abruptly changed the topic, casually chatting a few sentences about those things at the Yagangchang, then left leisurely.

……

Three o'clock in the morning.

Inside the pitch-black Jia family house.

After Qin Huairu confirmed that Bangeng and Jia Zhangshi were asleep around her, she furtively sat up; her movements were very light, almost as if she were shifting herself bit by bit out of the Jia family.

Accompanied by a light closing-door sound.

Jia Zhangshi, lying beside Qin Huairu, eyes closed and sleeping soundly, opened her eyes in the darkness.

From beginning to end.

She had been pretending to sleep.

The reason for doing this was that a suspicion of Qin Huairu arose deep in her heart.

During the process of searching through chests and cabinets in the first half of the night for Jia Dongxu's last letter, Jia Zhangshi unexpectedly found a small bottle of sleeping pills!

She was quite certain.

This thing was neither bought by Jia Dongxu nor purchased by herself.

The Jia family only has these few people.

If it's not Jia Zhangshi, not Jia Dongxu, then naturally it's Qin Huairu's doing.

Why not suspect the Holy Thief Bangeng?

The banknote is the evidence.

In Jia Zhangshi's mind, she recalled those scattered scenes of the past year.

Every few days, Qin Huairu would give Jia Zhangshi a bowl of cool boiled water with a bit of sugar before bed, claiming it was an act of filial piety.

Both Bangeng and Xiao Dang had to look on eagerly.

Even if Jia Zhangshi were clueless, she'd realize the sleeping pills and sugar water are closely linked.

She remembers it clearly.

On the day Qin Huairu poured herself the sugar water, Jia Dongxu was working the night shift; drinking that sugar water would knock her out like a dead pig.

In other words, Qin Huairu had fed her sleeping pills.

Damn bastard.

Jia Zhangshi pressed her big face against the Jia family's glass, her narrow eyes fixed on the dark scene inside the courtyard.

Her eyes held a hint of hatred.

She kept watch until Qin Huairu walked toward the Jia household, then she pretended to be asleep again.

She's also quite scheming.

After returning outside, worried that Jia Zhangshi might have woken, he softly called her name a few times.

"Mom, are you asleep? Mom, can you hear me?"

Even when Qin Huairu anxiously called out, Jia Zhangshi kept pretending to be dead and never responded.

The painstakingly created scenario of darkness beneath the light.

But we can't let her easily destroy it.

In the ears.

As she listened to Qin Huairu undressing and getting into bed, her thoughts involuntarily drifted to Yi Zhonghai's house next door.

One oversight.

Yi Zhonghai and Qin Huairu missed a detail.

Jia Zhangshi heard the sounds of them each opening and closing their doors.

In the silent night, sounds that usually go unnoticed during the day are infinitely amplified, and it was under such circumstances that Jia Zhangshi happened to hear the sound of the door being closed next door in the Yi household.

She already had suspicions.

At that time she pointed her suspicions directly at Yi Zhonghai.

Otherwise, how could one explain that shortly after Qin Huairu returned, the Yi household opposite also heard the sound of someone coming home?

The footsteps carried a hint of heaviness.

Such heaviness could not be produced by an ordinary aunt.

Therefore, the person who met Qin Huairu late at night could only be Yi Zhonghai; besides him, there could be no one else.

Jia Zhangshi's heart.

It was a pain like a knife twisting; when Yi Zhonghai first introduced Qin Huairu to Jia Dongxu, Jia Zhangshi realized Qin Huairu was not a good match for Jia Dongxu and vehemently opposed it.

It's just a pity.

Jia Dongxu had fallen for Qin Huairu's charms and insisted on marrying her, while an elder nearby was mediating, so Jia Zhangshi gave up her insistence.

If she had persisted back then,

there wouldn't be this melodramatic situation now.

Her son died.

White-haired people sending off black-haired people.

The murderer was still Yi Zhonghai, Jia Dongxu's master!

Jia Zhangshi, lying on her side with her back to Qin Huairu, felt tears well up in her eyes.

……

A month passed in the blink of an eye.

After completing her month of postpartum confinement, Qin Huairu duly became a worker at the Yagangchang.

Thanks to the late Jia Dongxu's influence.

Moreover, Yi Zhonghai, a Level 8 Technician, pulled strings for her, allowing Qin Huairu, who had taken over Jia Dongxu's position, to skip the apprentice stage entirely and be promoted directly to Level 1 Technician, with a base salary plus various allowances totaling twenty-seven point five yuan per month, outearning many at the Yagangchang.

She indeed aroused boundless envy from everyone.

To her face.

Give Yi Zhonghai face.

Not say a word.

Behind the scenes.

But then there were no scruples about that.

They gave Qin Huairu the title of the Yagangchang's number one beautiful widow.

In the Yagangchang with tens of thousands of workers, you might not know who the factory manager or Deputy Factory Manager is, but you will certainly know the name of Qin Huairu, the beautiful widow.

Men are lustful.

Around Qin Huairu, who bore the reputation of the Yagangchang's beautiful widow, a group of married and unmarried bachelors quickly gathered.

The scheming vixen did not disappoint; in just a day she got hot and heavy with those smelly men in the workshop, either lending out her own work pieces under some pretext or, claiming she wasn't getting enough to eat, tricking those half‑fed bachelors into buying her meals.

Naturally gregarious.

Seeing people from her own workshop queuing up ahead, Qin Huairu walked over without a thought, flashed a smile, cut in line, and even got a free meal.

Dragons beget dragons.

Phoenixes beget phoenixes.

In the matter of using her looks to bleed people dry, Qin Huairu carries the genes innately.

Such is the situation.

Along with Jia Dongxu's cause of death, these people also wove it into salacious gossip, bluntly claiming that Jia Dongxu dozed off and slacked off in the Yagangchang workshop in broad daylight.

The grudge lies with Qin Huairu.

This caused Jia Dongxu to be listless every day.

Only then would he die.

Such rumors.

These rumors also flew into Shazhu's ears; he pretended not to hear them. As a member of the siheyuan, he knew far more than outsiders.

Just like Jia Dongxu's death.

It really isn't as simple as it appears on the surface.

Yi Zhonghai could very well be the mastermind.

……

This past month.

Shazhu also wasn't idle; in his spare time from work, he secretly wrote letters with his left hand, sending them to Yi Zhonghai; the letter contained just one sentence.

I know that you, Yi Zhonghai, killed Jia Dongxu.

That's a threat.

But it's even more like scaring the snake by beating the grass.

I don't want to deal with certain people, but those shameless folks brazenly come to bother Shazhu.

The primary candidate.

That's Yi Zhonghai.

The hypocrite didn't shy away from thickening his skin to get close to Shazhu; he also set his sights on Shazhu's bicycle, using the pretext that Qin Huairu still has two infants at home, hoping Shazhu would daily give Qin Huairu, the widow, a ride to and from work.

Shazhu refused.

Nevertheless, Yi Zhonghai's greedy heart never dies; in his mind, even if Shazhu marries, he's still the person Yi Zhonghai looks favorably upon to support. The hypocrite is now over forty; in twenty years, Huaihua and Bangeng will each marry or be married off, and by then Yi Zhonghai will be an old man on his last legs.

The dowry and bride price could overwhelm Yi Zhonghai.

Faced with Shazhu's imperviousness.

Yi Zhonghai came up with a devious plan for Qin Huairu; the scheming woman deliberately got up late a while, tears in her eyes, saying she would be late, and only by riding Shazhu's bicycle could she avoid being late.

Shazhu chuckled.

He really chuckled.

Without saying a word, he looked at Qin Huairu, who was blocking his path, and rudely scolded her with a sentence.

"Qin Huairu, what does your being late for work have to do with me?"

Qin Huairu's face changed.

Shazhu's reaction was different from what Qin Huairu had expected.

She cursed Shazhu's eight generations of ancestors in her heart.

She herself was the beautiful widow of Yagangchang; a glance from her would have those lecherous men rushing to help Qin Huairu process parts, but her infallible beauty tactic lost its effect on Shazhu.

Qin Huairu was somewhat unwilling.

"Shazhu, we live in the same compound, and now we both work at Yagangchang; we're neighbors and coworkers. If I had a way, I wouldn't have to ask you, Shazhu. Look what time it is—hurry and take me to Yagangchang for work."

"Qin Huairu, let's speak plainly about some things—I'm not deaf or blind. What exactly is your reputation at Yagangchang? If not, I'll have a good chat with the neighbors about it."

Yi Zhonghai saw that the situation was turning bad.

He hurriedly stepped in to smooth things over.

As long as Shazhu gives Qin Huairu a ride to Yagangchang for work, rumors will spread that Shazhu and Qin Huairu are carrying on an affair.

"Shazhu, we're all neighbors; just give Qin Huairu a ride to work—after all, your bike can seat two, and Qin Huairu still has two kids at home, so..."

"Elder, if you think Qin Huairu walking to and from work every day delays her nursing the kids, you might as well just buy her a bicycle—you're a Level 8 Technician at Yagangchang, and I've heard your monthly wages add up to over ninety; a bicycle would cost at most two months of your pay."

Shazhu was turning the moral blackmail tactic on Yi Zhonghai.

Who said you can't turn the tables on a hypocrite?

"Shazhu and Qin Huairu are just ordinary neighbors; she's a widow, and it's hardly proper for her to ride my bicycle. You wouldn't want to hear gossip about me and Qin Huairu, would you? You are Jia Dongxu's master; although Jia Dongxu is gone, his wife Qin Huairu has taken his position at the factory and works under you. Given that connection, you can't just stand by; you must support the Jia family."

Shazhu painstakingly advised Yi Zhonghai.

Let you try your tricks on me.

"It's perfect that the neighbors are all here; let them serve as witnesses as Jia Family's Bangeng, Xiao Dang, Huaihua, and the mallet recognize you, Elder, as their godfather; with this relationship, your family and the Jia Family are no longer outsiders."

The ever muddled Jia Zhangshi.

She surprisingly showed a bit of cleverness.

Regardless of whether Yi Zhonghai agreed or not, she had Xiao Dang stand in for the Jia family children and kowtow to Yi Zhonghai to acknowledge him as godfather.

The tides of fortune have turned.

Yi Zhonghai schemed to use Qin Huairu to calculate against Shazhu, but Shazhu employed a 'turning the stars' maneuver, placing the giant leech Jia Zhangshi squarely on Yi Zhonghai's head.

Bloodsucking.

Jia Zhangshi is a professional.

"Elder, from now on you are the godfather of Bangeng, Xiao Dang and their four people. You have no children; the duty of supporting you in your old age and seeing you through to the end I entrust to Bangeng; if he fails to support you in your old age, I, the old woman, will not forgive him."

Yi Zhonghai's heart.

chilly-chilly

What he cares about is his own bloodline, the mallet, and Huaihua.

As for Jia Dongxu's bloodline, it's come and gone.

"Elder, we're all one family now; you just said that Qin Huairu walking to and from work every day is inconvenient; Shazhu also said earlier that you earn over ninety a month; my wife's opinion is that we should follow Shazhu's suggestion: you pay for Qin Huairu to buy a bicycle, then when she rides it to work, coworkers will surely ask who bought the bike, and Qin Huairu will surely say it was you, Elder, which amounts to giving you fame, and the neighbors and coworkers will all praise you as a fine elder."