746 Something Not Worth Talking About
The next day, just after dawn, Qiao Mei boiled a big pot full of water. The weather was gradually getting colder. In addition to having to light the fire every day for warmth, she also had to boil a lot of hot water.
She suddenly missed the water heater at Xia Fang’s house. It would be nice to have an automatic device. It was such a strenuous process now and one could freeze to death while taking a bath! The water would turn cold not long after it was put into the bathtub. Now that she was pregnant, she did not dare to touch the cold water at all. Every time she took a bath, she had to ask Li Gui for help.
There would be two big pots of hot water boiling outside. Once the bathwater turned cold, Li Gui would quickly hand her more hot water. It was already good enough that she could take a bath once a week.
They did not dare to install any sewerage pipes in the house. If rats entered the house through the pipes, their toes could get bitten off!
Auntie Wang was the one who told them about this when everyone gathered together for a casual chat. Although they did not know if it was true, the big rats in the countryside were really daring enough to bite humans.
Not long after, Chen Hu and Xiao Bei stopped the car in front of Qiao Qiang’s house and got out with a dark expression. They had gone up the mountain to collect evidence but found nothing, so they could not be sure that it was Qiao Fu who did it.
“Uncle Hu, Xiaobei, you’re here. Grandfather is in the house,” Qiao Mei said.
“I’m really sorry. I didn’t expect anyone to want to kill you in my territory. It’s my fault,” Chen Hu said with a solemn expression.
No one could predict the future. No one expected Qiao Fu to want to harm any of them. In her other life, Qiao Mei had come into contact with such cases often and knew all about such crimes like the back of her hand.
“Let’s talk inside, Uncle Hu. My grandfather is still in the house.” Qiao Mei led Chen Hu and Xiaobei into the house.
Qiao Qiang lay quietly on the bed. There was a thick round of bandage wrapped around his head and his waist was strapped between wooden planks to prevent him from moving around in his sleep.
When Chen Hu saw Qiao Qiang like this, he almost knelt down. It was not his fault for misunderstanding the situation. Qiao Mei had never had to deal with such a serious injury before. She went a little overboard with the bandages around his head and the splint also looked quite scary.
“Oh, Chen Hu is here. Sit down and talk. I’m fine. It’s Qiao Mei who’s making a mountain out of a molehill,” Qiao Qiang said nonchalantly.
“Uncle Hu, did you manage to find any clues?” Qiao Mei asked as she sat on the stool.
Chen Hu looked at Qiao Mei, then at Qiao Qiang and shook his head helplessly.
Qiao Mei already knew that this would be the outcome. In her other life, she had handled countless criminal cases and many of them were similar to what she was going through now. Moreover, the person lying in the hospital now was Qiao Fu. Even if Qiao Fu had wanted to kill Qiao Qiang, it was only considered an attempted murder. There were no witnesses and no accomplices. Even if they arrested Qiao Fu and sent him to jail, it would only take a few days before he was released.
“It’s alright, Uncle Hu. I’m making new arrangements for this matter. It’s been hard on you and Xiaobei to need to go to the mountains to look for clues.” Qiao Mei took out all the remaining foodstuffs from the storeroom and loaded them up for Chen Hu to bring back.
After Chen Hu put down the tonics and supplements he brought, he left Qiao Mei’s house. He reminded her repeatedly to call him no matter what happened in the future.
Qiao Mei was lying when she said that she had an idea about what to do. She had taken Zhao Liang’s words to heart. Qiao Fu had already paid a tragic price by losing his legs. If he dared to have any ill intentions again, she would have to teach Qiao Zhuang and his entire family a lesson.
“Why don’t you let Chen Hu take Qiao Fu away? Weren’t you bent on letting Qiao Fu spend the rest of his life in jail yesterday?” Qiao Qiang lay on the bed and said with a smile.
“I’m trying to accumulate merit! Although Qiao Fu wants to take our lives, we can’t really take his life in return. If we can’t afford to offend him, we can hide. If there’s really no other way, we can go to the capital immediately,” Qiao Mei said as she touched her stomach.
Qiao Qiang had thought about this matter for the entire night. He also felt like going to the capital immediately. He was not afraid of others calling him a coward or and saying that he left Foshan Village because he was scared of Qiao Zhuang’s family.
If he lost his life, what reputation would there be to care about? Now that Qiao Zhuang’s family wanted to take his life because of his house, who knew what other shocking things they could do in the future.
He did not have much assets at all. He only had a house, a thatched storeroom, his family’s private plot of land and a few mu of land in the village. As he and Qiao Mei could not farm, he had leased out all the land and collected rent every year. The rent was only two dollars a year.
For Qiao Qiang and Qiao Mei, these assets were too miniscule to even mention.
