"Where is the money?"
"Stop playing dumb! Where is that stuff I hid in the study?!"
"Shi Jingye, have you lost your mind? How would I know where the things you hid went? And wait—are you saying you were hiding money behind my back?"
"Keep playing! Just keep playing!"
Shi Lanlan pushed the door open to find her parents fighting, and she suddenly felt a surge of irritation.
"Mom, Dad, what are you arguing about? The neighbors are already gawking at us again."
She knew her father was obsessed with appearances, so she said this deliberately. Sure enough, Shi Jingye hesitated, then viciously released his grip on Wang Meifang’s collar.
"I’m telling you, if you don't produce that money and those coupons, I’m not finished with you!"
Wang Meifang was both aggrieved and furious. "I have no idea what you’re talking about! You were hiding money from me, and if you hadn't blurted it out today, I wouldn't even have known!"
"Dad, where did you hide the money before?" Shi Lanlan asked, frowning.
Shi Jingye pointed toward the study. "Behind the bookshelf in that room. It must have been your mother who took it on the sly. She’s been home all week instead of going to work—I bet she just wanted to steal my money and coupons to get back at me!"
The last part was directed at Wang Meifang.
Because of the baby swap and the abuse of Qiao Qingqing, Wang Meifang had been mocked and gossiped about by factory workers every day. She had become distracted, accidentally injured herself, and seized the chance to take leave to avoid the heat.
Shi Jingye had also been affected by the public opinion and summoned by his superiors for a reprimand. Realizing the danger, he had begun cleaning up the loose ends from his past corruption and extramarital affairs. He had already warned those involved, and they were all behaving themselves now. As for the female employees he had harassed, they were too terrified that their husbands would beat them to death if the news got out, so they naturally denied everything.
Shi Jingye felt he had resolved the issue of human witnesses and needed to deal with the material evidence—the money and coupons he had gained through corruption and bribery. He had rushed into the study as soon as he got home from work today, only to be terrified out of his wits.
The hole in the wall was empty. Everything was gone!
Once it dawned on him, he stormed out to confront his wife, Wang Meifang.
If they hadn't forced Qiao Qingqing to let them check her luggage the day she left, Shi Jingye would have suspected her first. But having seen with his own eyes that she had taken nothing, and having changed the locks that very afternoon, he could not bring himself to link Qiao Qingqing to the theft.
Wang Meifang already knew he was having affairs and hated him to the bone; with her personality, she would certainly try to get revenge. Stealing his secret stash would be the first step.
And so, the two began to scream and brawl. Shi Jingye was convinced Wang Meifang had taken the contents of the study, while Wang Meifang, on top of her indignation, felt a fresh surge of old and new hatred. Neither would yield.
Shi Lanlan refused to watch her parents carry on like this. "Dad, we can't let people make a joke out of us like this! I only let Zhou Hongjun walk me to the downstairs entrance. If he had come up with me and seen you two like this, how embarrassing would that be for me?"
Shi Jingye, his mind consumed by his missing money, replied impatiently, "That Zhou Hongjun is just a poor village boy. You’re the daughter of a factory director; what right does he have to laugh at you? I think your brain is muddled. That match with the Qiao family was perfect—if you had married into the Lu family, you would have had a bright future, and your father could have shared in the glory. Instead, you insisted on swapping places to marry that penniless Zhou Hongjun!"
They knew the situation of the Zhou family better than anyone. They had agreed to the marriage initially only because the bride price offered by the Zhou family was high. Wang Meifang hadn't been satisfied at first—she had wanted "the three items and a radio"—but anyone with that kind of capital required the bride price to be brought back to the groom's family, and those who didn't have that requirement didn't have the money. In the end, only the Zhou family was willing to spend: even without the big items, they provided two large pork legs, a basket of eggs, and 180 yuan. Considering that marrying into Heyu Village meant their daughter would be close by to help the family, they had agreed.
But in their hearts, they looked down on the Zhou family, feeling the family was reaching above their station. Wang Meifang hadn't cared before, since it wasn't her own daughter marrying into the Zhou family, but now she was dissatisfied with them at every turn.
Shi Jingye had his own calculations, too. If his biological daughter hadn't been so stubborn and insisted on the swap, would he have needed to cater to Qiao Qingqing’s whims? If his own daughter were the daughter-in-law of a high-ranking official's family, wouldn't the whole family have risen to prominence?
"You only see the glory the Lu family has now, but you don't know they are about to face a great disaster," Shi Lanlan said sharply. "I’m not a fool. If the Lu family were truly as good as they appear, why would I have swapped with Qiao Qingqing?"
Shi Jingye frowned. "Lanlan, do you know something?"
Shi Lanlan waved a hand. "You don't need to ask so much. In short, I am your biological daughter, and I won't hurt you. Dad, don't look at Hongjun as a poor boy now; one day, he will make a fortune and bring our whole family into the upper class. So, you had better treat him well. If he gets rich later and refuses to look after you, don't come begging me. I'm not that fool Qiao Qingqing."
Seeing how confident their daughter sounded, their initial skepticism turned into doubt.
Shi Jingye snorted. "I’d like to treat him well, but now that your mother has stolen the money I’ve saved for so many years, I don't have a single cent left for your dowry when you get married. Go ask your mother for it."
Wang Meifang stamped her foot in a panic. "I already told you, it wasn't me! I didn't know you were hiding money in that godforsaken place! If I had known, do you think I would have waited until today to take it?!"
Seeing her reaction, Shi Jingye began to waver. He demanded with a straight face, "Wang Meifang, do you dare swear it wasn't you?"
Wang Meifang swore immediately, "If I took that money, may I die a horrible death!"
Given his years of experience with his wife, her performance made him think he really had accused the wrong person. Shi Jingye suddenly grew even more frantic. "If it wasn't you, then where did my money go? That was over a thousand yuan! And all those coupons—everything I saved with such hard work!"
"You hid over a thousand yuan? You heaven-damned Shi Jingye, you kept that well-hidden!" Wang Meifang was shocked and furious. She had originally thought he had two or three hundred at most, since she had her own secret stash as well.
Shi Lanlan remained calm. She was about to marry into the Zhou family and live a life of luxury; the money at the Shi house, while significant now, was nothing compared to the future assets of the Zhou family. She didn't act hysterical like her parents, but asked coolly, "Dad, are you certain it’s missing? When did it go missing? If you just think about who has been in the study during this time, it should be obvious who took it."
Shi Jingye’s eyes widened, and he gritted his teeth as he spat out a name: "Qiao... Qing... qing!"