The old lady got up, intending to go deliver the keys.
Baldie signaled to Liao Xianghe with a look, and Liao Xianghe followed the old lady to prevent her from opening the door to the other person.
Su Xiaofeng stood at the door, dressed today in a sky-blue puff-sleeved top and a black skirt.
She was now slightly showing, and had no suitable trousers to wear; she could probably only wear skirts and dungarees.
Unlike today, where there are maternity pants and maternity clothes, which are so convenient.
The old lady stood at the door, "Miss, I’m feeling a bit unwell, so I won’t invite you in to sit. I’ll slide the key through the crack in the door for you to grab."
Su Xiaofeng was very accommodating, "That’s fine, Auntie. You can just pass it through. How are you feeling, Auntie? Nothing serious, I hope."
"It’s nothing serious. Xianghe had a doctor come see me; it’s nothing major. He’s only off work because I’m not in good health, and I really feel embarrassed. You can deduct whatever needs to be deducted from the salary." The old lady shoved the key through the door crack, "Miss, catch it."
Xiaofeng saw just the head of the key and reached out to catch it.
Whether it was her hands being too slippery, or the old lady letting go too quickly, Xiaofeng had barely touched the key when it was let go, and then it naturally fell down.
Just by bad luck, it got stuck in the door crack; unless the door was opened, it would be very difficult to retrieve.
Xiaofeng said from outside, embarrassed, "Granny, I’m really sorry, I didn’t catch it and it’s stuck in the door crack. Could you open the door for me to pick it up?"
The old lady stood still and glanced at Baldie.
Baldie signaled the others with a look, indicating for everyone to go into the room. It was just an old lady, after all; they didn’t believe she would dare do anything.
Seeing everyone had gone inside, the old lady reached out to unbolt the door, "All right, I’ll open it now. And Xianghe, he should’ve remembered to return the keys to you instead of making you come all this way."
With a creak, the door was only half-opened.
Xiaofeng squatted down as if to pick up the key on the ground.
The old lady maintained her position: "Miss, it’s getting dark, so I won’t keep you any longer. Next time you have a chance, come over and I’ll prepare a table full of delicious food for you."
Xiaofeng picked up the key and stood up: "Sure, Granny. Definitely."
As she said this, she winked at the old lady.
The old lady moved sideways, standing aside.
Then, with another creak, the door was suddenly pushed open by someone, and several figures quickly entered. Then, someone kicked open the door of a room and shouted, "Police operation, nobody move!"
Baldie and the others were looking outside, trying to see when Su Xiaofeng would leave, when the sudden noise took them by surprise.
Before Baldie could react, the rest of the brothers covered their heads and crouched on the floor.
Captain Hong entered from outside and glanced at the group of thugs in the room. He said softly, "We received a report that there was an old lady being kidnapped here."
Baldie immediately thought of Liao Xianghe. That bastard, he dared to call the police.
"Comrade, this is all a misunderstanding," Baldie raised both hands, beads of a smile on his face, "We’re all friends of Xianghe. We heard Granny was sick, and we all came to see her together."
Baldie then looked at the old lady, "Granny, we’re here to see you, right? We’re all friends; how could there be any kidnapping?"
Xiaofeng glanced around the room, noting the empty table. She smiled coyly, "Captain Hong, if I were visiting an elderly person, I’d definitely not go empty-handed. Look at this room, there’s nothing here. Could it be that so many of them came to visit a sick person without bringing anything?"
Liao Xianghe glared at Su Xiaofeng, a meddlesome woman.
Baldie kept up his apologetic smile, "Comrade, we’re honestly here just to see Granny. Everyone’s close, so we came as we are without bringing anything."
When the old Mrs. Liao heard Baldie’s words, she became displeased: "Comrade, you’ve come at just the right time. They just said that if I dared to open the door, they would give me trouble. I’m an old lady past my prime, and they have so many people; you have no idea how frightened I was."
As she spoke, tears began to flow from the old lady’s eyes.
She inwardly sighed at the old lady’s performance, thinking that if this acting were in modern times, she would definitely be considered an accomplished veteran actress; her tears were on cue.
"Did you hear that? The old lady said you’re the kidnappers. Whether you’ve kidnapped someone or not, we’ll discuss it back at the station." Captain Hong waved his hand, "Granny, you’ll come with us. There are some matters we need to confirm with you."
The old lady nodded, "Comrade, don’t worry, I’ll tell the truth and won’t dare fabricate anything."
No matter how much of a ruckus Baldie and his gang caused in the county, they wouldn’t dare mess with the police, especially since it was Captain Hong himself leading the way; no one dared not to follow.
Little did Baldie and his people expect that what they were waiting for wasn’t news of Xianghe confessing to the crime, but the arrival of Captain Hong and his team.
"Miss Su." At the doorway, Captain Hong smiled at Su Xiaofeng, "What a coincidence, running into you again."
Xiaofeng smiled: "Yes, I’ve been seeing Captain Hong quite frequently lately. By the way, have those three confessed? Who did they sell my real bracelet to, and for how much?"
"They claim they sold it for only nine thousand five hundred yuan. You’ll need to find time to go to the police station to claim it."
"Okay, I’ll come by tomorrow morning." Xiaofeng didn’t know how the others had explained it to Captain Hong, but if he said so, it only meant that they indeed admitted to selling the real bracelet and then giving her the fake one.
Why they admitted it wasn’t her concern.
She was only focused on one thing: whether or not she should go claim the money tomorrow.
To go, of course she must. Right?