CHAPTER 557: CHAPTER 541: LIANG WEIXIANG AND HER DAUGHTER FLEE IN PANIC

"Lin Wan, don’t try to scare my mom. The notebook is gone, and I won’t admit to anything. What can you do to me?" Zhang Dandan said, having dealt with situations before. Recently, she’s become quite familiar with the police after yesterday’s encounter, where she was told she’d be taken to the police station, yet nothing happened in the end.

"Zhang Dandan, you said it yourself. When the police arrive, don’t chicken out." Lin Wan said, turning around to leave the courtyard, pulling another notebook from her bag. "See this? I wouldn’t be stupid enough to flaunt the evidence in front of you. This is the real one."

"You... vile Lin Wan, despicable and shameless. Watch me beat you half-dead." Feeling infuriated by the repugnant smile on Lin Wan’s face, Zhang Dandan wanted to stab her.

As she looked around for something to use, she saw Lin Wan suddenly step forward, quickly shutting the main gate, securing it with an iron bar through the latch.

Zhang Dandan and Liang Weixiang rushed to the gate from inside to pull it open.

"You shameless Lin Wan, open the gate for me right now. Your head is full of schemes. You’ve seduced Han Yi and now Wu Liu too. Truly a whore..."

Listening to the crude and extreme words from Zhang Dandan, Lin Wan smiled calmly outside the gate, unfazed.

"You’re the one without shame, full of dirty thoughts. You’re in no position to speak. Instead of wasting energy on insults, you should think about how to handle things when the police arrive."

"There’s nothing I need to handle. You broke into my home and forcibly locked us in here. Watch me counter-sue you."

"Two against one, I’m the weaker side, of course, I need to defend myself. Do you expect me to foolishly leave the door open for you to come beat me?" Lin Wan said, checking the time and estimating that Su Ling should be back soon.

Ignoring the shouting Zhang Dandan, she found a shaded spot and sat down.

Looking up at Ye Qing’s home, the door outside wasn’t locked; there must be someone inside.

Yesterday during the fight, Liang Weixiang and her daughter had clear injuries on their faces; Ye Qing was surely hurt too. With her pride and vanity, she wouldn’t go to work like that, probably staying home right now. Making such a commotion at Liang Weixiang’s home, several curious neighbors opened their doors to watch. Ye Qing must have heard it. She’s likely hiding in a corner at home watching the drama unfold.

"Mom, what are you doing with the bundles?" Zhang Dandan was shouting at the doorway when Liang Weixiang quickly came out carrying two bags.

"You’re foolish, waiting for the police to come and arrest us?"

"Mom, what are you scared of? The police can’t do anything to us."

"Your mother has some sense after all these years. Didn’t you see Lin Wan’s confident look, waiting outside for the police? If she really has your signed paper, we definitely can’t escape paying the eight hundred yuan. If we don’t pay, we’ll face imprisonment, or at least forced labor. But paying it leaves us with no money. Besides, it can’t be wasted on eight hundred yuan. Let’s hurry and climb over the wall now."

Zhang Dandan was starting to get nervous as Liang Weixiang spoke, remembering that Lin Wan did indeed ask her to sign something. She hardly paid attention at the time.

Had she known Lin Wan was so cunning, she wouldn’t have signed it.

"Mom, where are we taking the bundles? We don’t have much money now." Over these days of business, Ye Qing only gave them eighty yuan or so, and with such reckless spending, they hardly have anything left.

"Back to our hometown. That brat Lin Wan reported to the police, and staying here will only wait for our arrest." As Liang Weixiang spoke, she disregarded her daughter’s dawdling, found a tall stool, and prepared to climb over to the neighboring house. If not for Ye Qing building up her half of the courtyard wall, they could have simply climbed over and left.

Now they had to jump down from the top of the wall at the corner.

After being frightened by Han Yi and Lin Wan once before, Liang Weixiang had filled the wall’s edge with broken glass. Ignoring it now, she took a hammer and shattered the row of glass shards.

The two quickly climbed on top, jumping down from the rooftop.

A drop of three to four meters. Liang Weixiang almost broke her leg as she landed.

She yelped in pain but immediately stood up, afraid Lin Wan would catch her under the tree shade.

The mother and daughter limped quickly step by step out of the alley.

"Mom, what about our bicycle and sewing machine?" Zhang Dandan was reluctant.

"Let’s find a place to hide for now. Once the police leave, we’ll return to grab them."

"Alright."

As they were talking, they ran into Su Ling and the police. "Officer, it’s these two who took twenty pounds of clothes from us and breached the contract without delivering a single piece."

Ignoring the police’s reaction, both of them hurried off despite their pain.

Behind them, Lin Wan looked at the absurd mother-daughter pair, stifling a laugh, hurriedly ran to the officers, and exaggeratedly said, "Officer, they took clothes from my house without paying, selling them on their own, totaling about eight hundred. You certainly can’t let them getaway."

Hearing such a large amount, the two officers quickly ran to chase them.

"Xiao Wan, why did you let them escape?" Su Ling asked in confusion.

"I’m letting them go this time to teach them a lesson. Hopefully, they’ll be scared enough not to return, and also, they’ll leave a criminal record for themselves. For such an amount, even if they run back home, the police will come knocking."

"Then won’t we lose our money?"

Lin Wan grinned slyly, pointing inside, "The good stuff is inside. Just one sewing machine is worth those twenty pieces of clothes. Besides, there are so many dirty clothes too."

"The clothes are all dirty; what use do we have for them? Besides, their clothes can’t be worn anyway."

Lin Wan shrugged, not saying more, knowing that Ye Qing is likely watching them from her doorway now, not wanting her to overhear. She dragged Su Ling into the courtyard, picking up the pile of "scrap" at the door. "I have a way to clean the ink stains off. The fabric of these messed-up clothes is actually decent; they just need an overlock machine. There are over two hundred items here; it’d be a shame to throw them out. We’ll find someone to see where we can buy an overlock machine and make the purchase. It’ll be as if we’re using the money from selling two hundred pieces to buy an overlock machine. It’s quite worth it."

"Alright, we’ll haul them back later. You’re resourceful." Su Ling didn’t expect these spoiled clothes could still be sold.

"Quickly, before the police return, I’ll help you pack everything up. The sewing machine from home and the bicycle my mom gave Zhang Dandan should be taken back."

Soon, when the police fail to catch them, they’ll definitely return and take her to the station for questioning. Predicting this in advance, she specifically rode a tricycle here.

"With so much stuff, should I take a load first?"

"Okay, take the sewing machine and bicycle first, and come back for the clothes later."

After discussing, the two began loading the sewing machine and bicycle onto the vehicle.

...

"Ah Qing, why does Liang Weixiang owe Xiao Wan so much money, and she even brought the police along?" Qiu Hualan asked in Ye Qing’s courtyard, puzzled after seeing Lin Wan and Liang Weixiang gone.

"Not partnering with them for money. The mother and daughter took twenty items from Lin Wan, selling them for their own profit, pocketing the money. Lin Wan wouldn’t lose out; she tricked them from behind. Twenty items, asking them for eight hundred. Hmph... Lin Wan isn’t as harmless and kind as she looks. A cunning vixen indeed."

"Serves them right for being shady, secretly selling someone else’s things. I always said Liang Weixiang was unreliable, and you stopped me from getting close to them. Now you’re in the mess alone, losing so much money; what are we going to do?" Having grown accustomed to penniless days back home, Qiu Hualan, now with money, couldn’t bear to spend it, urging her daughter to save it quickly. But just days later, it’s all gone.

"Mom, I’m not that stupid. I only initially invested a bit over two hundred. Even delivering to Director Wang twice, I kept the profit aside, over two hundred. And didn’t I give you a hundred of that? Later, the money for goods was from the first batch’s earnings. The recent profits, I’ve kept them all, didn’t share any with them."

Qiu Hualan sighed in relief, patting her chest, "That’s good, how much do you have left?"

"Over seven hundred. Didn’t I say I brought over the remaining hundred plus items yesterday? I’ll find some buyers quickly over the next few days."

"Ah Qing, these clothes have quality issues. If you sell them, wouldn’t you have to accept returns after they’re discovered?"

"Mom, don’t worry. I’ll find an unfamiliar person to sell."