696 Hand Over the Money
“How can you say that, Third Brother! If not for your second sister-in-law, would your work points be so high! Don’t just keep saying that my wife is not good, why don’t you talk about how she has helped you!” Qiao Gui said angrily.
The two brothers started arguing with each other. Seeing that a fight was about to break out, Qiao Zhuang picked up the tea jar and threw it on the ground. The loud noise made the two brothers shut up.
“What are you doing! Do you think I’m dead! Do you think you have the final say in the family now!” Qiao Zhuang roared.
The two brothers, Qiao Gui and Qiao Wang, shook their heads cautiously, afraid that they would anger Qiao Zhuang again.
“Wang Qin, I heard that your family recently took in two outsiders who came to the village. Is that true?” Qiao Zhuang asked as he stared at Wang Qin.
Wang Qin had already expected such a day to come. She gripped the corners of her shirt tightly and said nervously, “That’s right… I did take them in.”
“Don’t they pay you?” Qiao Zhuang asked as he shook his tobacco bag, pretending like he did not care.
“No! I’m the village accountant. Since these outsiders come to the village, I should help out, so I didn’t ask them to pay,” Wang Qin said with a smile.
There was no such thing as a secret in the village. If Wang Qin did not receive any money, why would Wang Wu, who sold pigs on the east side of the village, tell others that she had bought a lot of pork. Why would Old Madam Dong, the loudspeaker in the village, go around saying that those two people were people Qiao Mei knew in the capital.
If these two people did not pay, then where did they get the money to buy meat!
“I’ll give you another chance. Tell the story properly,” Qiao Zhuang said.
At this moment, Wang Qin started to feel nervous. Could it be that she had done something wrong and let Qiao Zhuang realize what happened?
When she took the money, she always made sure that there was no one around. Even Qiao Gui did not know how much money He Ning was paying Wang Qin, so how could Qiao Zhuang know?
Could it be that He Ning told Qiao Zhuang? However, they did not know each other at all, so how could they have met?
Qiao Zhuang must have said this to get information out of her. As long as she refused to admit it, Qiao Zhuang had no evidence to refute her.
“No! I swear! We definitely didn’t take any money from them!” Wang Qin said firmly.
Qiao Zhuang stood up with a whoosh and raised his walking stick to point at Wang Qin as he said, “You still deny it! If you didn’t receive any money, where would you get the money to buy meat from Wang Wu! If you didn’t receive any money, then you must have hidden some money away! How can a stingy person like you let two strangers take advantage of you?”
Wang Qin was so frightened that she fell and sat on the ground. Qiao Gui also knelt on the ground and begged for mercy. Wang Qin said shakily, “Father… I did receive some money for this, but it’s all proper! It’s not much, just a few dollars! The meat was bought with food stamps and money that I received from others! I really didn’t do much!”
The two strangers indeed looked like rich people. Moreover, they had clearly said that they were from the capital, so they should not be too poor.
Qiao Zhuang sat down slowly and thought for a long time before saying, “Give me all the money you have left tomorrow. You can’t hide away money on your own, do you understand?”
Wang Qin quickly agreed to this matter and pulled Qiao Gui along as she ran home. Along the way, she did not give Qiao Gui a kind face. As a man, he actually could not protect his wife and children. What a good-for-nothing!
“Honey! Honey, walk slowly! Wait for me!” Qiao Gui shouted as he smiled.
Wang Qin said unhappily, “Don’t you know to protect me in front of your father! I have to worry about everything at home. Why don’t you care about anything? You never say anything whenever your father bullies us! Back then, if I knew that your father is such a person, I definitely wouldn’t have married into your family!”
In those days, there were many people who wanted to marry Wang Qin. If not for the fact that Qiao Gui knew how to sweettalk her and had good culinary skills, she would not have taken a fancy to him!
“Who would dare to say no to someone like my father? Honey, just bear with it. We can go to the county city once we save more money!” Qiao Gui said ingratiatingly.
He still dared to say he wanted to go to the county city! Qiao Zhuang did not allow them to save money at all. They had to hand over all their money to Qiao Zhuang, otherwise he would beat and scold them.
If not for the fact that she stole money from the village office and falsified the accounts all these years, they would have starved to death long ago! They would not even be alive now!
However, this was not a long-term solution. It would be over if He Ning and the other man let it slip about the truth.
