Chapter 637 Might as Well Benefit Us

Chapter 637: Might as Well Let Us Benefit

The next day, Jiang Yu had time to stop by Yao Xiangling's house.

Unfortunately, she arrived just in time to see Old Lady Zhao sneakily trying to break the lock.

Jiang Yu’s sudden appearance nearly gave Old Lady Zhao a heart attack.

"Old lady, what are you doing? Right out in the open, do you think the law is just for show?"

Old Lady Zhao stammered, "I... I... wasn’t up to anything."

Jiang Yu glanced at the damaged lock and snorted derisively.

"Old lady, this is my great-aunt’s house. What are you doing picking the lock for no reason? Playing burglar?"

Old Lady Zhao was quick to deny it, "No, no! I just heard some noise inside and wanted to open it to check!"

Jiang Yu’s expression turned stormy. "My great-aunt and sister have already moved out. No one lives here—what noise could there be? Ghosts? Breaking and entering for no reason—if I report this to the police, it’s a crime."

Old Lady Zhao repeatedly denied it, "I really wasn’t trying to steal anything!"

Jiang Yu gave her the side-eye and took out her key to open the door.

But the lock was so badly damaged that the key was useless now.

"You’ll have to replace this lock—you broke it!"

Old Lady Zhao, not about to take the blame, immediately retorted, "Why should I? I didn’t steal anything!"

Jiang Yu rapped on the door and pointed at the lock. "Why? If you don’t want to pay, fine. I’ll just call the police to settle this. For all I know, this isn’t your first rodeo picking locks. If I find anything missing later, I’ll blame it all on you."

Old Lady Zhao was left gaping, knowing she was in the wrong, and had to cough up for a new lock.

The more she thought about it, the angrier she got—she hadn’t even managed to get inside before Jiang Yu caught her in the act.

After entering the house, Jiang Yu first looked the place over to confirm there were no signs of disturbance before she could relax.

She knew Yao Xiangling usually kept valuables in the cabinets, so she cleared them out.

She also didn’t forget the fabrics Yao Xiangling had mentioned and took those out as well.

All sorts of things, large and small, filled the bag before she knew it, and she left with them.

Old Lady Zhao had been peeking from the doorway the whole time. Seeing Jiang Yu take so many things, she muttered under her breath.

"Acting like we’re thieves!"

Her husband turned red with shame—because, well, they *were* being treated like thieves.

"Come back inside. Quit eyeballing other people’s things."

Old Lady Zhao snorted. "That Yao Xiangling has no one. If she dies, who knows who’ll get their hands on her things. Might as well let us benefit instead of someone else."

As she spoke, she fished a key from her pocket.

"When they changed the lock earlier, I sneakily pocketed a copy."

With that, she used the key to open the door.

Despite her age, she moved with surprising agility.

Once inside, she immediately began ransacking the place.

The dresser contained only some half-used malt extract and powdered milk, which she promptly took home.

Then she went back and entered the kitchen, making off with all the eggs and flour from the cupboard.

On her third run, she finally entered Ya Xiangling's bedroom.

Opening the wardrobe, she saw neatly hung clothes inside.

Ya Xiangling was a classy, well-off woman who never wore patched clothes.

Old Lady Zhao muttered, "At her age, still dressing like that—what a disgrace."

Despite her words, she couldn't help but try on Ya Xiangling's clothes.

Her gaze fell on a quilted coat in the corner, and she couldn't help slipping it on.

"Not half bad—nice and warm."

The padding was still fluffy, meaning the jacket had barely been worn.

As she shoved her hands in the pockets, she suddenly froze, pulling out a gold bracelet.

Old Lady Zhao gaped, her eyes gleaming at the sight of the gold bracelet in her hand.

She couldn't resist biting it—"Real gold!"

Who knew Ya Xiangling was sitting on such loot?

Old Lady Zhao chuckled, trying it on and admiring it more and more.

After another thorough search, she also found a thousand yuan and scooped it up quick.

She didn’t take all the clothes, only the sweaters and the quilted coat—she could rip them apart later to make new ones.

Pleased with her haul, she took off.

No sooner had Old Lady Zhao stepped out of the bedroom than she ran straight into Jiang Yu, who had returned with two police officers. Scared stiff, her knees buckled, and she collapsed to the floor.

"Officers, it's her! She was jimmying the lock when I first saw her. I thought she’d stop after being caught, but instead, she came back and stole even more!"

Jiang Yu had genuinely left earlier but remembered she’d forgotten Ya Xiangling’s quilted coat and decided to return.

From the street, she saw shadows moving in the window. She'd given her one free pass, but Old Lady Zhao dared to come back—this time, she wouldn’t tolerate it.

She immediately pedaled off to the nearby police station to report the theft.

And that was how the greedy Old Lady Zhao was nabbed in the act.

"The clothes she’s wearing right now are my great-aunt's, not to mention all the other things she’s taken from her house."

Back against the wall, Old Lady Zhao knew she couldn’t deny it anymore and begged for mercy, "Jiang Yu, I was wrong! I’ll return everything, just give me one more chance!"

Jiang Yu snapped, "If you truly regretted it, you wouldn’t have held onto a copy and come back to steal after I caught you the first time! This time, no matter what, I’m making sure you do some time to think about what you've done!"

Old Lady Zhao’s husband finally realized something was wrong and came running out.

"Please don't! Go easy on us! Jiang Yu, for the sake of our many years as neighbors with your great-aunt, let us off this time."

Jiang Yu looked at them with disdain. "How hypocritical of you. Now you remember the bond of being neighbors? When the old lady was stealing from my great-aunt, why didn’t you think about your years of neighborly ties?"

With neighbors like these, anyone would be cursed with bad luck.

"Officers, don’t just stand there—do your job!"

The two stunned officers snapped out of it. One of them spoke up, "Comrade Jiang, this old lady is elderly and didn’t do it on purpose. Let’s just drop the matter."

Jiang Yu barked a laugh. "Drop the matter? She tore through my great-aunt’s home and stole things, and you want me to let it go? Do we look like a charity to you?"

She glanced at the officer’s badge. "Comrade Ceng Anping, is it? If you don’t handle this properly today, I’ll have no choice but to file a complaint against you. Shielding criminals—I’d like to see if all the officers at your station are as blind to justice as you are."

Ceng Anping, a pretty-boy, turned beet-red at her words.

Though furious, he didn’t think he was in the wrong.

Instead, he shot back self-righteously at Jiang Yu, "Have you no compassion? As a young person, don’t you have elders in your family? If your own elderly relatives were treated like this, how would you feel?"

He lifted his chin arrogantly.

"Frankly, just let it go. What’s the point of picking on an old lady?"

The other officer beside him looked uncomfortable, clearly disagreeing but staying silent.

The absurdity of his logic made Jiang Yu laugh.

"My elders don’t go around stealing. Do yours make stealing their hobby? Maybe your family’s so used to theft that you don’t even see it as a crime. I’m the wronged party here, yet somehow, in your words, I’m the aggressor."

Jiang Yu said with icy contempt. "I question your competence as an officer, and I doubt your integrity. If you’re so generous, why don’t you empty your bank account to help this old lady?"