Chapter 443: Gossip Over Life

Chapter 443: Prioritizing Gossip Over Safety

After Su He returned home, the whole family crowded around and asked if Liu Jianjun was the murderer.

Su He nodded and said, "He did admit to it, but the details still need to be officially announced."

"If it's him, then that's good. At least Wen City can finally stop living in fear," Wen Qing patted her chest in relief.

"Yeah, we should finally be able to sleep well. Tinghua, don’t you think the windows on your side need fixing? It’s way too easy for someone to break in," Su Shiming remarked.

"They do need fixing," Fu Tinghua agreed.

"I can, uh, help you fix them," Yu Xu, who had been ignored until now, quickly spoke up.

"Right, let him do it. He’s skilled," Fu Yanju said, her face turning red again.

Funny enough, the guy being complimented blushed even harder than she did.

"Mm, Brother Yu, I was thinking of installing security bars on the second floor. Otherwise, it’s really too easy to climb in through the windows," Su He added.

"Sure, no problem. I’ll install them for you tomorrow," Yu Xu readily agreed.

"I’ll take care of the materials," Su He said.

"Great, that works."

No one knew where Su He got the materials from, but they seemed to be of better quality than anything sold in the city.

"Alright, alright, everyone should go back to their rooms and get some sleep. The sun’s already up," Su Shiming urged.

The whole family had been up all night, and this had been going on for two or three nights in a row. Everyone was exhausted by now.

"Let’s sleep, let’s sleep."

As everyone dispersed, Su He and Fu Tinghua went upstairs and saw Zai Zai and Niu Niu still sleeping soundly in bed, out cold and cozy.

"Let’s crash first. We can talk more when we wake up," Su He said as she took off her coat.

"Mhm."

Fu Tinghua couldn’t stay off work much longer either. Once things were settled, he’d have to return to his job.

Luckily, it was deep winter, so there wasn’t much going on.

But there was still Xia Chengan—after treating him, Fu Tinghua hadn’t visited him in the hospital.

Since he was a close friend, Fu Tinghua couldn’t help but feel a little worried.

The family happily turned in to catch up on sleep, even keeping their shop closed. What they didn’t know was that the police had announced early in the morning that the perpetrator of the recent notorious serial murders had been caught, and all of Liu Jianjun’s crimes were laid bare.

The report didn’t give the full backstory, as it involved the Wen family. The police had consulted them, and the Wens made it clear they didn’t want Wen Yuru to be associated with the incident in any way.

So, Liu Jianjun ended up shouldering all the blame.

Since the case didn’t mention Wen Yuru, Liu Jianjun was branded a deranged monster who had slaughtered his own family—a beast worse than an animal.

Outrage exploded, with everyone calling for his head.

In short, Liu Jianjun’s death sentence was already a done deal.

The police are likely still piecing together how the crime went down before setting Liu Jianjun's execution date.

Neighbors had gathered outside Su He's place, noticing that even by ten o'clock, the family hadn't opened their doors or come out to shovel the snow, which had piled up past their ankles.

"Oh dear, let's help them clear the snow."

"Let's help, let's help."

The neighbors were the same group who had taken shelter at Su He's home before and thought highly of the family.

With so many people helping out, the snow was quickly cleared.

Qin Fenghua, seeing everyone was curious about what might have happened to Su He's family, stepped forward and said, "They're resting now—probably didn't get a wink of sleep again last night."

"Huh? Why? Wasn’t the murderer already caught?" someone asked.

"Honestly, you all must’ve slept like the dead last night if you didn’t hear the commotion. Do you think the police caught him on their own? It was Su He’s family who caught him," Qin Fenghua said with a look that said, *How could you sleep through that?*

"Ah, well, we hadn’t slept the night before, so I was dead asleep last night. I can’t believe the murderer actually dared to come back! I mean, weren’t there police guarding their house?"

"Yeah, seriously! That guy had balls!"

"That kind of murderer is terrifying, really. Not scared of the cops one bit—crazy enough to break into a house even with a whole family on guard."

"Exactly. Thank God Dr. Fu and the others caught him."

The neighbors buzzed with chatter among themselves.

Just then, the door to Fu Tinghua’s house opened.

"Oh, they're awake!"

"Yeah, they're awake?"

Su Shiming had woken up earlier, meaning to open up the shop, but got spooked seeing a crowd outside, making him think something had happened again.

"What’s going on? Did someone else die?" Su Shiming instinctively asked.

"Oh no, no—the murderer was caught! The cops put out word," someone quickly replied.

"Ah, you had me worried."

Su Shiming was about to head to the shop when the crowd swarmed around him, hungry for details.

"Was it your family who caught the murderer last night?"

"Who caught him?"

"Did you see what the murderer looked like? Did he look like a monster?"

"Does your Su He know the murderer? Earlier, I was called to the police station to help with the investigation. At the time, I thought helping the police was an honor, so I went happily. But later, they said it was probably because Su He had seen the murderer, and they wanted her to identify him among us. Back then, I wondered why Su He was at the station—thought she was just there to help too."

To avoid resentment toward Su He, the police hadn’t disclosed why they had summoned those close to her.

"Ah, our Su He had no choice. That man had it out for her, and she was afraid more innocent people would get hurt, so she came clean to the police that the murderer might be someone she knew. The police had nothing to go on, so they wanted everyone around my daughter to come in for her to check. My daughter has a good memory—she’d never point the finger at an innocent person," Su Shiming quickly explained.

"Oh, we get it. Did you think we’d blame Su He?"

"Of course not, no blame at all. Your family’s something else—you caught the murderer!"

And so, Su Shiming, the little old man who loved gossiping in his later years, joined the neighbors in gossiping.

Wen Qing heard all the commotion outside. When she came out, she saw Su Shiming still hadn’t gone to open the shop.

Are we even running a business anymore?

It had been snowing constantly lately, and the sugar oranges hadn’t been delivered. No telling if they’ll even show up later.

Probably after picking the sugar oranges, they’d still have to rinse off the snowmelt before putting them out for sale again.

In this freezing weather, working with freezing water was brutal.