Thinking it over, they had already hidden the kitchen knives—were four people really going to be afraid of just her?
Wang Meifang hardened her tone again: "You cheap piece of trash! Shameless wretch! I never would have taken you for such a good actress..."
"Director Shi, it seems Comrade Wang Meifang is trying to send you to jail. Fine by me, I'll just detour to the Revolutionary Committee right now and have a chat with them about Director Shi's little stories of illicit affairs and taking bribes."
As soon as Qiao Qingqing said this, Shi Jingye slammed his chopsticks down onto the table with a loud *thack*.
"Wang Meifang, shut your damn mouth!"
Wang Meifang met her husband's gaze, which was as gloomy as if he meant to murder her.
Instantly, her spirit collapsed. She pulled a long face and said no more.
As for Shi Lanlan and Shi Wang, both tried hard to make themselves as inconspicuous as possible.
Neither sister nor brother wanted to become a target for that lunatic Qiao Qingqing!
With the room quieted down, Qiao Qingqing felt a measure of satisfaction and swaggered toward the study.
"Director Shi, I've worked myself to the bone playing the beast of burden for your family of three for over ten years. Tonight, I think I deserve a proper room just like Shi Lanlan's. You shouldn't mind, right?"
The moment Shi Jingye saw her heading toward the study, his heart leaped straight into his throat.
Yet, thinking it over, he remembered that no one else had ever been allowed into that room. Not even Wang Meifang knew he hid his money in the study, so there was no way Qiao Qingqing could know either.
Besides, his hiding spot was extremely discreet; even if Qiao Qingqing searched, she wouldn't find a thing.
Qiao Qingqing held his leverage in her hands, and now she was also a daughter-in-law of the Lu Family. Shi Jingye had no choice but to swallow his anger.
"Very well. You can stay in it if you like."
Just like that, Qiao Qingqing successfully moved into the study.
The moment she went inside, she bolted the door from the inside. Seeing this, Shi Jingye immediately sprang up in tension.
"Qiao Qingqing, why are you locking the door?"
Qiao Qingqing's voice drifted out from inside the study: "I'm afraid that crazy woman Wang Meifang might try something while I'm asleep... Director Shi, why are you so nervous?"
In that final sentence, Qiao Qingqing's tone held a mix of astonishment and mild suspicion.
Hearing this actually caused Shi Jingye to let his guard down.
He said in a deep voice: "There are a lot of my official documents in that room. Make sure you don't damage them!"
"Seeing as Director Shi is being so cooperative, I'll agree to your terms—haaaah!"
At the tail end, Qiao Qingqing let out a massive yawn.
After that, all sound from inside the study ceased.
Shi Jingye pressed his ear against the door for a long time, and only after confirming that Qiao Qingqing wasn't rummaging around inside did he finally set his mind entirely at ease.
Naturally, Qiao Qingqing had no intention of making her move at this hour.
She had been busy all day and was tired.
She would get a good night's sleep first, and wait until the dead of night when the Shi family were fast asleep before taking the money.
Because she went to sleep early, Qiao Qingqing woke up in the dead of night.
At this hour, the Shi family living room was dead silent.
Qiao Qingqing retrieved a candle and matches from her spatial dimension, lit them, and headed straight for the spot where Shi Jingye hid his money and ration coupons.
That was a wall cavity located behind the bookshelf.
Its surface was a movable brick, usually shielded from view by the bookshelf, newspapers, and Little Red Books, making it completely invisible.
That she knew about it wasn't due to her rebirth, but rather because she had stumbled upon it as a child while cleaning.
That had been the only time, however; afterwards, Shi Jingye never allowed her inside the study again.
Shi Jingye likely never imagined that a mere accidental entry into the study by a child could expose his secret.
Still, Qiao Qingqing's luck had always been quite good when she was young—perhaps because even the heavens could not bear to witness her enduring such cruel abuse within the Qiao Family!
That was why, after she once out of the goodness of her heart helped up an elderly woman who had fallen, she happened to pick up a crescent-shaped piece of jade and discovered the spatial dimension hidden within it.
That year, she had just graduated from junior high school.
Having fortuitously obtained the jade spatial dimension, Qiao Qingqing secretly grew vegetables inside it. She discovered that if she watered the crops with Spiritual Spring Water, their growth cycle was shortened by half; if she used water from the ordinary pond, they grew at a normal rate.
Thus, Qiao Qingqing used the Spiritual Spring Water to cultivate her vegetables, ensuring she always had a steady, endless supply of fresh produce.
Since Shi Jingye had declared he would not provide money for her to attend high school, she began sneaking off to the black market to sell vegetables.
Every time, she smeared her face with grime and deliberately messed up her hair.
Even the clothes on her back were altered from discarded rags thrown away by Wang Meifang.
Whenever she encountered the security patrol rounding up speculators and profiteers, Qiao Qingqing would dart into a corner and slip into the spatial dimension before anyone noticed.
At first, she had almost been caught a couple of times, but later on, she grew entirely accustomed to it.
It was with the money earned from selling vegetables that she paid her miscellaneous school fees and managed to attend high school.
That was why she had been able to speak with such upright confidence at the hospital, stating that she had earned the money for high school through her own labor.
She had thought the powers of the spiritual spring were already immensely powerful.
Little did she expect that after marrying and moving to Heyu Village in her past life, she would discover yet another miraculous use for the spiritual spring!
It was precisely this capability that allowed Qiao Qingqing to rise from humble beginnings in her previous life and become a globally renowned billionaire entrepreneur!
...Pulling her thoughts back to the present, Qiao Qingqing looked at the stash of cash and coupons filling the wall cavity, and with a single mental thought, swept them all into the spatial dimension.
Afterward, she meticulously restored the wall cavity to its original state.
She made certain there wasn't the slightest trace from the outside to suggest anyone had tampered with it.
The next morning, Shi Jingye came knocking on the door with unbearable impatience.
After Qiao Qingqing opened the door while stretching lazily, he immediately seized the opportunity to step into the study, casting a casual, nonchalant glance at his money-stashing spot.
Seeing that everything looked just as it always had, with no signs of having been touched, Shi Jingye silently let out a breath of relief.
"Director Shi, what's the big idea?"
Qiao Qingqing's displeased voice rang out from behind him.
Shi Jingye instantly reined in his wandering thoughts, turned around to face this aggravating little wretch, and forced a smile: "After all, the study isn't a proper bedroom. I was worried you wouldn't sleep well in here."
He immediately pivoted to another topic: "Your mother—"
Catching sight of Qiao Qingqing's face instantly turning dark, Shi Jingye corrected himself: "Your Aunt Wang has breakfast ready, hurry on out and eat."
After breakfast, Qiao Qingqing picked up a cloth bundle and walked out of the Shi household.
Just past the doorway, Qiao Qingqing abruptly halted, turned around, and asked Shi Jingye, who was staring fixedly at her bundle: "Director Shi, care to inspect my luggage?"
Upon hearing this, Shi Jingye was a hundred times willing!
He was dying to know where Qiao Qingqing had hidden those three hundred and ninety-two yuan and twenty-five ration coupons!
Yet this was precisely the hour people went to work, and the hallway was bustling with traffic, with Zhang Ru right among them.
While Shi Jingye still harbored misgivings, Zhang Ru had no intention of letting this family dump any more blame onto Qingqing.
"Right, you'd better check it, just to save any trouble later with loose talk."
As Zhang Ru spoke, she took the bundle right out of Qiao Qingqing's hands and opened it up for everyone to see.
Inside were nothing more than a few worn-out garments, along with several textbooks and a letter of introduction.
Qiao Qingqing even displayed the clothes she was wearing to the crowd, proving there were no hidden pockets capable of stashing anything.
Failing to spot any money or coupons, both Shi Jingye and Wang Meifang felt a wave of disappointment—which meant their nearly four hundred yuan and twenty-five coupons had truly vanished into thin air!
At the same time, however, a sense of covert relief and joy stirred deep within Shi Jingye's heart.
At the very least, this also proved that Qiao Qingqing had not discovered the items he kept hidden in the study.
With the neighbors serving as witnesses to her innocence, Qiao Qingqing cheerfully took her leave.
Outside the Heqin Town People's Commune, Lu Heng was waiting with furrowed brows.
Comrade Qiao Qingqing had only said they would meet at the commune yesterday, without specifying what they needed to do...
"Comrade Lu Heng, here so early?"