Chapter 262: Knowing She Was Deceived, Jia Zhangshi Collapsed

According to the neighbors' understanding, Jia Zhangshi, having suffered such a big loss, would inevitably cause a commotion in the siheyuan, scolding the neighbors and venting her anger.

At night, no sound of Jia Zhangshi scolding the streets was heard.

The Jia family's electric light.

It was said to have stayed on all night.

This is what Liu Haizhong said, saying he was worried the Jia family would cause trouble, so he crouched in the courtyard, staring unblinkingly at the Jia family all night, only returning home when the sky began to lighten.

Such a thing.

If you weren't a lunatic, you wouldn't do something like that at all.

Liu Haizhong not only did it, but also proudly recounted it.

That brain.

It's truly not ordinary big.

Saying he must conscientiously carry out the Huaihua assistance plan assigned by the street office, constantly surveilling Jia Zhangshi to prevent her from spending Huaihua's money herself.

I don't know if it's because Liu Haizhong was surveilling her, but after the incident Jia Zhangshi seemed like a different person, going out early and returning late every day for several days, not knowing what she was doing.

Anyway, someone saw Jia Zhangshi leave early in the morning and return at dusk.

Everyone felt doubtful.

Is this still the Jia Zhangshi they knew?

What is Jia Zhangshi's byword?

Fond of eating, averse to work.

The sort who can't be bothered to move even while sitting at home.

For several days straight she ran around outside.

Could she be looking for work!

……

"Ah!"

A shrill wail rang out, like a broken gong, spreading from the backyard outward in all directions.

The lights came on immediately.

The neighbors appeared one by one, wrapped in their clothes.

They saw Jia Zhangshi collapsed like mud at her own doorstep, her face streaked with tears.

Standing beside her was Qin Huairu with a frosty expression.

A thought crossed her mind.

Is the Jia household about to undergo a change?

Jia Zhangshi, who had always been the head of the household, was overturned by Qin Huairu, who had always drudged like an ox and horse; Jia Zhangshi refused to accept it, burst into tears and tantrums, using a scene to pressure the neighbors into helping her deal with Qin Huairu.

But when Qin Huairu told everyone the truth.

The neighbors then realized there was more to the matter.

According to Qin Huairu's account, Jia Zhangshi was deceived, handing over the Jia family's savings of 1,500 yuan in full to the scammer; today she went to the scammer's place to withdraw the money, only to find the scammer gone.

The neighbors' heads were about to explode.

This matter.

How could they not believe it.

Earlier, Yi Zhonghai gave the Jia family two thousand yuan; after he died, an elder aunt wanted five hundred yuan back, and the remaining fifteen hundred yuan was set aside as Huaihua's upkeep expenses, to be supervised by the neighbors.

A few days passed.

The money disappeared.

It was said to have been swindled away by a con artist.

This matter seems too much of a coincidence.

What kind of character do you Jia family people have.

Could the neighbors not know?

Surely they wanted to greedily take that 1,500 yuan; the two widows devised a scheme of feigning being swindled, one playing the red face, the other the white face.

As long as the neighbors believed it, the money would quietly end up in the Jia family's pockets.

Nice thought.

Among the twenty-five or twenty-six households in the courtyard, aside from Shazhu and Xu Daming's families, the remaining neighbors were all members of the group tasked with surveilling Jia Zhangshi to oversee Huaihua.

In their own words.

This is the affair of all the neighbors in the entire siheyuan.

You Jia family say you lost the money, and just lost it.

Even if the sky fell, there would be a tall person to hold it up.

Liu Haizhong is nevertheless the group leader.

Guanmi squeezed through the crowd, came to the middle, sized up the weeping Jia Zhangshi and the indignant Qin Huairu from head to toe, and said something the two widows absolutely did not want to hear.

"Jia Zhangshi, Qin Huairu, don't put on an act for me, Liu Haizhong; your trick may fool others, but it won't fool me, Liu Haizhong—tell me, where did you hide the money?"

The expression on Qin Huairu's face was mostly theatrical.

Having searched the house these past few days without finding where Jia Zhangshi hid the money, she heard Jia Zhangshi tell her that she had been taken in by a scammer and lost the money.

Her first thought was that Jia Zhangshi wanted to embezzle that money.

She went along with her own intention, cooperating with Jia Zhangshi in this act, intending afterward to use it as leverage to demand money from Jia Zhangshi—if not given, fine; in the Jia family, Qin Huairu's word would be law.

She wasn't afraid Jia Zhangshi would disagree; worst case, she would report to the street office that Jia Zhangshi was falsely pretending to lose money while actually being greedy.

Inside and out, she would profit.

The only thing I didn't expect was that Jia Zhangshi really lost money, and at this time Jia Zhangshi was in a depressed mood as if she had swallowed a dead fly.

I clearly lost money, but you all refuse to believe it and even say my wife deceived you.

In the world.

How could there be such a principle? Railings.

"His elder uncle, when has my wife ever lied? My money really was lost; I really lost 1,500."

"Lost?" Yan Fugui interjected, "You just said your money was taken by a swindler; being cheated and being stolen are two different concepts. So was it lost? Or were you cheated? Give us a definite answer."

"Cheated."

"Who cheated you? How did they cheat you? Speak clearly so we can report to the Jiēdào and the police station."

Jia Zhangshi's heart skipped a beat.

Her ugly complexion became even more miserable.

Yan Fugui's words. Railings.

This amounted to giving her a heads-up.

Some things cannot see the light, just as Jia Zhangshi sought out ghost-catchers to help herself exorcise ghosts, which is currently expressly prohibited.

If outsiders find out, the consequences won't be merely serious; if things go badly, one might have to eat peanuts, and Bangeng would also be implicated.

Just thinking about that consequence.

His liver trembled.

Bangeng hasn't married yet, and Qin Huairu's work hasn't been handed over to Bangeng.

Jia Zhangshi said she couldn't die no matter what. Railings.

She shivered slightly.

She changed her tone.

"I remember now, this money was lost, stolen by someone, not cheated."

The stone in Jia Zhangshi's heart.

It fell to the ground.

Mistakenly thinking that she had bitten the money to death, someone stole it; this matter could then be made big or small.

The money was lost. Railings.

It is heartache.

But it's still better than her losing her life, right?

If life is gone, then nothing is left.

"Jia Zhangshi, I warn you, we are the Jiēdào-appointed heads responsible for specific affairs within the courtyard; minor matters are handled internally, major matters are investigated and reported to the Jiēdào. One thousand five hundred is not a small sum. Your money—was it lost or cheated? You must make it clear. Finally, I ask you one last time: was your money lost or cheated?"

Yan Fugui's voice.

Carrying a hint of coercion.

Because of Yan Jiecheng's self-destructive act. Railings.

The relationship between the Yan Family and the Jia Family is truly like water and fire.

Yan Fugui's greatest wish is to drive the Jia Family out of the Siheyuan, out of sight, out of mind; given time, Yan Jiecheng also gave up the idea of marrying Qin Huairu.

This is undoubtedly the opportunity he has been looking forward to; regardless of whether the money was truly lost or falsely lost, to Yan Fugui it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

False loss.

This solidified the charge that the Jia Family was greedy for Huaihua's support fees.

One thousand five hundred.

The Yan Family could also support Huaihua. Railings.

Even a real loss is not feared.

Looking at the expressions of the neighbors in the courtyard, they all show disbelief that Jia Zhangshi lost money.

"Cheated."

"Cheated?"

"No, it was lost, truly lost."