Chapter 64

Chapter 64

But what if it was Yang Sanshu who did it?

Xu Meng couldn’t answer that question and could only comfort Zhao Xing, "Don’t you trust your mom?"

Zhao Xing pouted—of course he trusted his mom.

But with everyone convinced she was the killer, what could he do? All he could do was pray it wasn’t her and that she’d be let out soon.

That night, Zhao Xing stayed over, and it wasn’t until very late that there was any movement next door. Upon asking, it turned out Zhao Yang and Zhao Yue had returned. The brothers saw the kitchen door wide open and figured they’d been robbed. But upon checking, nothing was missing. They fired up the stove outside, boiled some noodles, and came back way late.

Zhao Shan didn’t roll in till dawn.

Feng Yanwen whispered to Xu Meng privately, "I never thought Zhao Shan would be like this."

He blew off his wife and kids, and the next day, he even dressed neatly and went to work as if nothing had happened, chatting up the neighbors like nothing was wrong.

Even Sister Liu, who came to check on the kids, looked both helpless and shocked.

The next day turned even colder. Feng Yanwen sent someone to inquire at the police station—the lab results still hadn’t come out, but Yang Sanshu was still the top suspect.

Zhao Yang and Zhao Yue also returned, bringing supplies to take Zhao Xing back home.

But Zhao Xing, loving it there, dug in his heels and even had a fight with his two brothers.

They held out till the third day when Zhao Yang brought new news from the police station—the lab results were finally in.

"Wait—he died from a disulfiram reaction?" Xu Meng asked.

Now, Granny Chen had become the suspect.

The news was brought by Sister Liu from the block association, who thought it best to let the mother and daughter know early to ease their minds.

The harder Granny Chen had pushed earlier, the more suspicious she seemed now. The cause of Zhao Sanjin’s poisoning had been identified—acetaldehyde poisoning.

The component analysis was complex and took several days longer than the initial poisoning result. It turned out to be caused by consuming alcohol and anti-inflammatory drugs together. With this conclusion, Yang Sanshu’s suspicion was cleared—first, she hadn’t delivered the medicine, and second, she had no access to the liquor.

Later, Granny Chen herself admitted that she had given Zhao Sanjin liquor to take with his medicine.

No one had expected the truth behind Zhao Sanjin’s poisoning to be this—the liquor he had craved all his life ended up killing him.

Liquor mixed with anti-inflammatory drugs—a deadly combination.

For most people, it would just cause vomiting and difficulty breathing, and a timely stomach pump at the hospital would suffice.

But Zhao Sanjin’s body had long been ravaged by alcohol and tobacco. Though only in his sixties, he was as frail as someone in their seventies or eighties. The poisoning hit him way harder than most. When he fell ill, Granny Chen was outside arguing with her daughter-in-law.

No one knew Zhao Sanjin was suffering—he vomited, choked, and struggled for a long time before dying.

He cried for help inside, but no one heard him. The heavy bedroom curtain smothered his cries, and Yang Sanshu wasn’t the type to barge into her in-laws’ room for no reason. The old man likely screamed himself hoarse, but no one in the house knew.

Doctors and cops pieced this together, deeply reconstructing Zhao Sanjin’s symptoms, cries for help, and the sequence of events before his death.

Zhao Sanjin surely suffered like hell before he died, and Granny Chen, who caused it all, became the prime suspect.

She’d shoved the booze and pills into the old man’s hands herself. Even if she claimed ignorance, who would believe her? The thick curtain was her idea too. No one could swear she wasn’t in on it. After he died, her freak-out just made her look guiltier. She’d even cooked up evidence, dumping all the blame on Xu Meng.

Now everything pointed to her setting up Zhao Sanjin’s death.

Xu Meng was dumbfounded after hearing this: "So what happened in the end?"

Sister Liu said, "It hinges on whether the prosecutor files charges with intentional homicide or involuntary manslaughter."

In any case, a murder charge is unavoidable.

Sister Liu shook her head, sighing.

"Actually, the old man was in decent health when he first came to the city, but over the years, booze and cigarettes wrecked him. The old couple was set in their ways. The doctors had warned them to cut back on drinking and smoking, but they refused to listen." Sister Liu sighed. Back when the old lady used to complain to the neighborhood officials, she’d probably held some bias against Yang Sanshu. But the doctor later confirmed that Zhao Sanjin’s health had deteriorated severely—even without this incident, he was living on borrowed time.

The tests revealed that his lung cancer had reached stage four, and his liver cirrhosis was also very advanced.

When he lived in the countryside, he had a long-standing habit of drinking cheap liquor. His alcohol addiction was severe—he downed at least two pounds daily, sometimes even chugging liquor like water.

Nobody could tell if Granny Chen truly believed alcohol and tobacco were good for him or if she had simply spent her whole life indulging him. Whether it was their children or the doctor urging him to drink and smoke less, the stubborn Granny Chen would shout them down.

Yang Sanshu was in a tougher spot. If she dared say a word more, the old couple would take it as her resenting their spending—accusing her of being unfilial!

Old folks always get the benefit of the doubt.

Feng Yanwen asked, "When will Yang Sanshu be released?"

Before anyone could ask around, Yang Sanshu was set free.

As for the chaos in the Zhao household next door, that was behind closed doors. Xu Meng, living next door, naturally had no idea.

Xu Meng rested at home for a day before returning to school.

The school gossip mill was quickly suppressed by her swift return.

Before a new wave of gossip could take hold, another busy period arrived. The students, having just finished several mock exams, now had to dive into finals cramming. During this time, Xu Meng had to juggle classes and weekend shifts at the shop, leaving her swamped.

She had no time to overthink things.

Only occasionally would she recall catching a glimpse of Han Jiming at the police station that day—but he never reappeared afterward.

Xu Meng asked Xiao Bai about him, but Xiao Bai said she didn’t know him.

She felt a twinge of disappointment but also accepted it as normal.

In the following days, she didn’t even see him on Sundays. At first, Xu Meng felt a little down, but she gradually realized this was to be expected—they were just ordinary friends, and Han Jiming had already done more than enough in that capacity.

Zhang Mingqing had gone to Sichuan Province and only learned about Xu Meng’s ordeal after returning.

She had been fuming herself, having just finalized her divorce with the Li family, when she discovered that the shop across the street was run by that homewrecker.

"Are you okay?" Zhang Mingqing asked, still looking dead tired.

She had just spent a day and two nights on a train. Even with a soft sleeper, the trip had knocked her out. She had been unreachable by phone during the trip—Song Xia had tried calling multiple times—and only saw the messages after disembarking. It wasn’t until she reached the shop and heard Song Xia’s detailed account that she learned Feng Yanwen had left a message.

At first, Zhang Mingqing didn’t go into detail, but later she heard about Xu Meng’s situation.

By then, Xu Meng had already been released.

Zhang Mingqing rushed to Changchun Street herself to check for herself.

Making money inevitably came with messy complications. You can’t make money without some headaches. Earning two thousand yuan a month meant Xu Meng could soon fulfill her dream of buying her own house. There was no way she’d quit over something like this.

Xu Meng was sorting through newly purchased spices, picking out what she needed for the day, when she glanced at Zhang Mingqing and gasped, "You look exhausted—everything okay?"

Zhang Mingqing was bundled haphazardly in a dusty gray coat, her hair carelessly piled on top of her head as she stood on a stool to fetch something.

She was nothing like her old self. In the past, she would have worn a stylish cashmere coat, well-groomed and elegant, standing at the shop entrance to greet customers with ease.

Zhang Mingqing waved her hand dismissively. "Whatever, as long as it's comfortable."

After decades of faking it, she was done wearing a mask.

She used to care about her image, but as her husband gradually rose in status and started smelling like other women, she realized that no matter how refined or beautiful she was, men would always chase after someone new.

At first, Zhang Mingqing hadn’t considered divorce. Working a government job at the Railway Bureau, divorce would undoubtedly affect her.

Even when the other woman threw it in her face, she still didn’t consider leaving.

The idea of divorce grew stronger as her own career progressed bit by bit, as she found something she loved doing. One day, Zhang Mingqing suddenly realized she hadn’t seen her husband in a long time—she felt neither longing nor anger. That was when she knew the marriage was dead to her.

The only remaining issue was custody of her daughter.

Did the Li family value Tuan Tuan? Of course they did—she was their only daughter.

The custody fight dragged on for a long time, and it was only recently that the divorce was finalized. Zhang Mingqing swiftly took Tuan Tuan and moved to a new place. Then, due to the hotpot shop’s business, she made another trip to Sichuan for supplies. With her schedule packed, she stopped caring about appearances.

"Whatever’s comfortable," she told herself.

"I’ve been busy lately. When you had that incident, I was on the train," Zhang Mingqing said, her gaze drifting outside the shop. "Just wait—they won’t end well. In business, we should be upright. Underhanded tricks won’t get you far."

Xu Meng followed her gaze and spotted a long-haired young man standing at the entrance of Xiang Xiang Stir-Fry Restaurant.

He stuck out like a sore thumb against the vibe of the street that students passing by kept staring.

This was Xiang Xiang’s newly hired manager.

The owner of Xiang Xiang, a woman named Qin Huan, was Zhang Mingqing’s ex-husband’s current lover—formerly the finance officer at his company.

Zhang Mingqing had met her a few times before and thought she was an ambitious girl. Back then, Qin Huan was just a new hire in the company’s operations department.

Qin Huan was known to be shrewd. She deliberately filled the office with financial magazines, stayed late after hours to work, and made sure to catch the boss’s attention. She acted all book-smart, and before long, she was transferred to the finance department.

Later, when Zhang Mingqing went to the company to ask her husband for money, Qin Huan no longer treated her with the same respect.

Every time Zhang Mingqing requested a transfer, Qin Huan gave her trouble most of the time.

Perhaps from that point on, Qin Huan had already begun treating the company’s assets as her own. Every cent Zhang Mingqing took was one less for her in the future. But once Zhang Mingqing caught on, she made sure Qin Huan wouldn’t have an easy time either—the more uncomfortable Qin Huan was, the more Zhang Mingqing visited the company to demand money under various pretexts.

Qin Huan had long seen her as an enemy.

She went after Zhang Mingqing like a rabid dog.

This time, with the divorce, Zhang Mingqing walked off with a good chunk of money. As the company’s finance officer, Qin Huan knew exactly how much—just imagining her frustration gave Zhang Mingqing immense satisfaction.

Compared to its former glory, Xiang Xiang Stir-Fry Restaurant’s business had tanked.

The new manager, surnamed Qin, was the owner’s cousin. After the Fat Manager was arrested, he took over.

Unlike the slick Fat Manager, Manager Qin was far less capable.

As soon as he arrived, he started slashing prices, trying to wage a price war against the competition. Business boomed briefly, but as prices dropped, so did the quality at Xiang Xiang. When business tanked, trouble followed—then the chef walked out.

Now, the restaurant had to scramble for a new chef.

After all that back-and-forth, not only did they fail to make any money, but they even lost their whole investment.

The boss lady moved on to a new scheme and instructed him to keep the shop running—just keeping the doors open was all that mattered.

Although the boss lady didn’t care whether the shop made money or not, Manager Qin had his own calculations. The boss lady only paid him a fixed salary, but he wasn’t out here just to earn that one paycheck. After standing in the shop for a while, Manager Qin met up with a young guy with a buzz cut.

They used to hang out together at dance halls. Now, Manager Qin had "gone straight" and found this "legitimate" job, while the buzz-cut guy was still working as a bouncer at a dance hall. The buzz-cut guy had a mistress who worked as a dancer there, and they’d been doing pretty well these past few years.

Manager Qin handed him a cigarette, and the guy glanced at it before saying, "Not bad, kid. You’re smoking Chunghwa now."

"Eh, just riding my sister's coattails."

The buzz-cut guy took a look inside the shop, curled his lip, and said disdainfully, "This kind of business is only good for mooching. How’s the cash flow in your shop? Want me to put you onto something on the side to make some extra cash?"

Manager Qin raised his eyebrows. "Nah, this is my sister’s shop. I can’t go playing fast and loose."

"Since when did you grow a conscience?"

"Eh, if this were my own operation, I wouldn’t care if you messed with it."

"Just tell me—if business is this bad, what’s the point of keeping it open?" the buzz-cut guy scoffed. "Bet you’ve turned plenty of dirty money clean here. If the boss lady can do it, why can’t you? You’re the one taking the risks anyway. Might as well do it for yourself. So, what do you say? Wanna think about it?"

Manager Qin hesitated, chuckled darkly, and didn’t immediately agree—but his mind was already turning.

Restaurants have high cash flow, and many people use them to launder money. His sister used to work in finance, so she knew a lot about this and had plenty of connections. That’s why this shop made money whether business was good or bad.

Thinking about it, since the money had to pass through his hands anyway, he might as well pocket a little extra for himself.

Manager Qin warmed to the idea. "What kind of business? Tell me more. It’s not illegal, is it?"

The buzz-cut guy let out a sharp laugh. "If it weren’t illegal but still made you rich, you think that kind of sweet deal would land in your lap?"

Hearing this, Manager Qin was practically salivating.

When there's easy money on the table, who cares if it’s illegal?

Hell, they'd broken worse laws before.