Chapter 262 - "I am a man who had died a few times already; this can't be worse." (2)
“What are you talking about?” The manager at a shop walked in and said, “I was there as well the day Yingying came back and I am also one of the witnesses. Yingying only took with her the 50,000 yuan and she had turned them all into the police. Those who went inside your place to witness the event were all advanced workers at the factory and one of them was a nationwide modeled worker. You really think they would compromise their integrity for that amount? Wu Ailan, don’t accuse others without proof.”
The shop manager pulled out a receipt and a household register. “Yingying made a trip to my place that night and left these with me. She received the receipt from the police station. I trust that the money had already been returned to Li Weiguo. This is your household register. I understand that you are panicking because your money was gone but you can’t just go around accusing people. Do you agree with me, Lao Xu?”
Yingying’s father walked out of their unit and quickly walked over and handed cigarettes to the shop manager and the cops. Smiling at them, he said, “Ailan was just frantic right now because so much money had gone missing. I apologize for her. She has always been one who speaks her mind. I will come to your houses and apologize again later on.”
Now that he had stepped up to apologize, many of the others had let it go. That being said, the uncle who had spoken earlier let out a particular displeased grunt. “You should look around yourself before rushing out to blame us. I saw your son leaving the house nervous two days ago while clutching a black bag to his chest.”
“No, it wasn’t me. I… I didn’t take it.” Xu Bao, Yingying’s brother, took a few steps back nervously.
The two cops exchanged a look. One of them stepped up and asked, “Why are you so anxious if it wasn’t you? Here, make a trip with us to the station.”
“Why are you arresting my son? He wasn’t the one who stole it,” said Wu Ailan emotionally.
“I am not arresting him. I just want him to come with us to file a report. 30,000 yuan is not a small amount. It will involve a few years of jail time. We must look into it properly,” said the cop solemnly.
“I didn’t steal it! That money belongs to my family. Why do I have to go to jail for taking our own money?” Xu Bao blurted it all out when threatened by the cop.
The two cops exchanged another look. Alright, what an useless person.
Lao Xu widened his eyes. “You really took it? That’s 30,000 yuan. What did you use it for?”
“I didn’t have a choice. Lili said they needed the money now in order to buy the house, so I took the money for her to buy it.” Xu Bao shrank his neck back a little. As much as his parents doted on him, he was still intimidated when Lao Xu was angry.
“Oh, you bought a house with it.” The two of them let out a sigh of relief. Wu Ailan asked immediately, “Where’s the title then? Where did you put it?”
“Lili has the title,” said Xu Bao, stumped.
“Whose name is on it? Tell me. Whose name did you put it under?” Wu Ailan grabbed his arm and asked emotionally.
“Lili’s, of course,” said Xu Bao matter-of-factly.
“I am going to kill you,” said Lao Xu as he slapped his son across his face. “How could you put the house under her name when you are not even married yet?”
Covering his face, Xu Bao said, “Lili is for sure going to marry me, so why does it matter whose name is it under?”
Lao Xu was going to beat him up more but was stopped by the crying and fussing Wu Ailan.
“Alright, alright. Now that we know who stole the money, come with me to the police station then.”
“Comrade Officer, we don’t want to file a report anymore,” said Wu Ailan immediately.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. We don’t want to file a report anymore. I am sorry for having you come all the way out here. Would you like to come inside for some tea? Ailan, go make a few dishes for our two comrades,” said Lao Xu immediately.
“You better get the facts straight first before calling the cops next time. We will be making an arrest next time this happens.” Naturally, the two weren’t going to go inside for food. They left after giving their verbal warnings.