Chapter 333

Qin Huairu simply wanted to live.

In her view, as long as she stood on the Jia family's side of interests, Jia Zhangshi would not reveal the secret.

Better to live a shameless life than to die nobly.

Knowing full well that the Jia family was a pit of fire, she still jumped in without hesitation.

Suffering is better than losing her life.

Qin Huairu clearly knew one thing: as long as Jia Zhangshi lived one more day, she would face a threat each day.

The only solution.

Was for Jia Zhangshi to die.

The plump Jia Zhangshi did not seem like someone who would meet an early demise in the Yellow Springs, unless she followed in Jia Dongxu's footsteps of death and disappearance.

The depressed Qin Huairu flashed a hint of ferocity on her face, which quickly turned to terror.

Yi Zhonghai's handling of Jia Dongxu had a hypocrite taking the blame.

If she dealt with Jia Zhangshi, who would take the blame for Qin Huairu after the incident?

An even more important point.

Yi Zhonghai had the convenient conditions to deal with Jia Dongxu; using an accident to kill him, in a steel plant of over ten thousand workers, not a single clue was detected—unless Yi Zhonghai himself confessed, only then did the plant's higher-ups realize Jia Dongxu's death had another story.

During this period, Jia Zhangshi made a living by picking up odd jobs on the street.

One can imagine that.

Once Qin Huairu became the Jia family's beast of burden as before, Jia Zhangshi would likely, in a short time, revert to her previous lazy, parasitic ways—doing nothing all day, using shoe-making as a pretext, and chatting idly with a group of old women about east and west.

Under such circumstances.

How could Qin Huairu go about killing Jia Zhangshi!

Directly administer poison, imitating Pan Jinlian—holding a bowl of medicine, she would call out sweetly to Wu Dalong lying in bed.

"Sir, take your medicine!"

If she really did that, Qin Huairu estimated she wouldn't even know how to write the word "death."

Without Yi Zhonghai always favoring the Jia family in the courtyard, and with a uniformed law enforcer added, if she really poisoned Jia Zhangshi, she'd likely be arrested before she could finish.

Even smothering Laoqianpo with a pillow wouldn't work.

There would be a giveaway.

Jia Zhangshi hadn't told Qin Huairu that Liu Jianguo had concluded, during this period, that Jia Dongxu's death had accomplices still at large, and he was watching Jia Zhangshi and Qin Huairu.

Let alone that she wouldn't dare to act.

Even if she dared to act.

Surely, the moment she reached out, a pair of shiny handcuffs would appear on her wrist.

Unless Jia Zhangshi's brain went haywire and she sought her own death.

Knowing Jia Zhangshi's character well, Qin Huairu knew Jia Zhangshi actually did not want to die; she had said more than once that she wanted to watch Bangeng grow up, see him marry and have children, and help him raise his kids.

Forcing Jia Zhangshi to seek death also wouldn't work.

Jia Zhangshi's and Qin Huairu's physical conditions are not on the same level; to put it bluntly, even if two Qin Huairus were tied together, they'd probably still not be a match for Jia Zhangshi.

The reason Qin Huairu beat Jia Zhangshi severely last night was entirely because Jia Zhangshi was caught off guard and fell victim to Qin Huairu's sneak attack.

Moreover, there was Liu Jianguo, a public security officer who kept watch on Qin Huairu's every move.

In every respect, she was at a disadvantage.

To say something that shouldn't be said.

Even if Jia Zhangshi lay before Qin Huairu, begging her to do it, Qin Huairu still wouldn't dare to reach out.

Fate hangs by a thread.

A helpless sigh escaped from Qin Huairu's mouth.

Her face also showed a bitter expression.

She shook her head hard, trying to squeeze out the thought of killing Jia Zhangshi as much as possible, then dragged her weary body toward the siheyuan, returning to that deep pit of water and fire, to live a life Qin Huairu never wanted.

Before she even entered the courtyard.

The sounds of bustling household life inside the courtyard rushed into her ears first.

"Xiaogouzi, school's out—why aren't you home doing homework, just playing around? Do you think a swat with the feather duster will make you happy? What do you have to play with Bangeng? Bangeng finished his homework! You haven't written a single character, yet you want to play with Bangeng? Do you think we're helpless without the feather duster? Bangeng can grow up to work at the steel plant; will you grow up to be a street loafer? Rather than let you become a street loafer, I'll break your legs first."

"Er yatou, go back inside—who let you play with Xiao Dang? Don't you know Xiao Dang follows his brother around stealing things all over the courtyard? Do you really want to go in? Looks like I should treat you like Xiaogouzi's father does, give you a good whack with the feather duster—three days without beating, you'd dare to play with Xiao Dang. We don't have a feather duster, but we have a broom; I'll beat you to death, you bad girl, playing with Xiao Dang—what are you playing? Learning how to steal from neighbors?"

The shouts of the parents calling their own children turned into an invisible big slap that landed hard on Qin Huairu's face.

This made Qin Huairu, who was already forced into the pit by Jia Zhangshi's manipulation, feel ever worse, a gloom spreading from inside out.

Xiaogouzi's father gave the Jia family face, not saying anything unpleasant.

Er yatou's mother gave Qin Huairu no face, her tone very impolite.

Qin Huairu would not praise them just because Xiaogouzi's father gave the Jia family face, nor would she criticize them just because Er yatou's mother denied her face.

It's all thanks to Jia Zhangshi; her indulgent upbringing led Bangeng to steal from the west family for the east family, earning the neighbors' various disdain.

Including not letting their own children play with Bangeng, fearing he'd lead them astray, and consequently looking down on Xiao Dang and Huaihua as well.

In the courtyard.

The isolated ones are not only the Jia family adults, but also the Jia family's three little white-eyed wolves.

Bangeng is in his rebellious phase.

The more the neighbors forbid their children from playing with Bangeng, the more he wants to give them a harsh lesson, relying on his skills to wreak havoc—today it's the east family missing half a basket of cabbage, tomorrow the west family losing a potato.

It amounts to a vicious cycle: the more Bangeng steals, the less the neighbors like him, the more they despise him, the more he wants to cause trouble.

The only households in the courtyard that haven't been robbed are, besides Xu Daming in the rear courtyard, Shazhu and Liu Jianguo in the central courtyard.

They are people Bangeng dare not provoke.

Even if Bangeng hadn't stolen their things, they still wouldn't welcome him.

Such a situation.

Stimulated, Qin Huairu again had the idea of messing with Jia Zhangshi.

All kinds of mistakes are Jia Zhangshi's fault; if it weren't for Jia Zhangshi's instigation leading him astray, Bangeng wouldn't have become a detested figure that people dislike and dogs find annoying.

At the courtyard gate.

They calmed their mind a little.

Qin Huairu strode into the Siheyuan.

Under the neighbors' doubtful gazes, they returned home.

Jia Zhangshi, who was in the Hou Yuan, apparently heard the sound of Qin Huairu returning, holding in hand a piece of pork weighing two liang, saying she wanted to help Qin Huairu nourish her body.

A bizarre scene appeared.

The former mother-in-law and daughter-in-law of the Jia Family, who had been quarreling in the Siheyuan for nearly three months, miraculously reconciled.

What exactly happened.

No one knows.

Except Liu Jianguo!

Listening to the noisy sounds from next door, Liu Jianguo concluded that Qin Huairu's and Jia Dongxu's deaths were closely related.