Chapter 26: It Is All Your Doing

"You don't think that once a scene is made, only I will be held responsible and you'll get off scot-free, do you? Do you think the police in this country are just sitting around doing nothing? If a problem like this really occurred, they would dig three feet into the ground to unearth the true culprit."

"But I suspect that this drug of yours isn't just a laxative at all. After all, you can't buy prescription drugs on the street."

In an instant, alarm bells rang in the officer's mind. They, too, were belatedly realizing the severity of the situation. It was true that Lin Wei had exaggerated things, but when it came to food safety in Jiangcheng, who could truly afford to ignore it?

"Mr. Wang, please come with us."

Wang Changzhi finally panicked. "No, that's not it. I didn't—this is just a laxative. I really only intended to put it in their food; I didn't mean to harm anyone else."

The officer couldn't be bothered to listen to his nonsense anymore. "Regardless of who you intended to give this drug to, your actions are wrong. We will send this for testing, and if there are any issues, you should know the consequences yourself."

And just like that, Wang Changzhi was forcibly taken away. The parents naturally took their children home as well.

Just as they reached the entrance of the alley, Zhang Min slapped her thigh hard. "Oh no! The rice, the tricycle—I just left them on the side of the road. I'm afraid they're all gone now."

Upon hearing this, Uncle Li called them over. "When I saw you leave earlier, I pushed the tricycle over to my side. But when I moved it, the watermelons and the rice were already gone. I'm afraid someone must have taken them."

"Weiwei, check quickly to see if anything else is missing."

Lin Wei stepped forward to take a look. "The six buckets and their lids are all here, but the disposable lunch boxes and everything else are gone." The large sums of cash had been deposited in the bank upon their return, and only a small amount of cash was kept on their persons. The buckets were likely left behind only because they weren't washed and were too dirty, and the tricycle itself was too conspicuous to move easily.

Zhang Min resigned herself to the situation. "Forget it, forget it. We've been tired all day; let's just go back and rest. It was only a few bags of rice and some watermelons. As long as the people are fine, that's what matters."

***

At the Lin household, Lin Xiaomeng looked at them, wanting to speak but hesitating. Finally, she couldn't help but say, "I never realized it before, but you've got quite a lot of nerve."

"Aunt, it's not my fault," Lin Yuan immediately explained. "It wasn't Sister's fault. After we got back, Uncle Wang beat all of us up. When Sister and Aunt Zhang found us, we were all lying on the ground."

"And then you started a scene? You're a young woman, aren't you afraid of getting the short end of the stick by picking a fight with him? I saw it just now—even Aunt Zhang, who is usually so sharp-tongued and aggressive, fell behind when you were there."

"More than that!" Zhang Min laughed for a while before adding, "Weiwei truly deserves to be a university student; her mind works so fast. When I saw Xiao Wang lying on the ground, I thought to myself, 'It's over, we're definitely going to have to pay damages.' That man is the biggest rascal; no one can do a thing with him."

"Who knew that Weiwei would wink at the children? The kids were smart, too—they followed suit and lay down on the ground as well. Xiao Wang is older and thick-skinned, so the doctor's checkup showed he was fine, but our children have delicate skin. They didn't have any serious injuries, but the scrapes and bruises made our case much more convincing."

Su Mulin was startled. "Whose idea was that?"

Su Sijin immediately hopped over to Su Mulin. "Me! Me! When Sister Weiwei winked at us, I understood immediately. I saw her smiling at me, and I knew I was doing the right thing. How about that? My acting was pretty good, right?"

"It was pretty good, but I wasn't bad either," Su Si'an chimed in, refusing to be outdone.

Su Mulin, however, grew worried. "That Xiao Wang is a piece of work, and it's right to deal with him, but I'm worried the kids will learn bad habits from this. Children are like blank sheets of paper; they become whatever you teach them to be. Of course, I'm not saying Weiwei is bad, but she's an adult—she has the ability to discern right from wrong, but the kids don't. What if..."

Zhang Min didn't think there was a problem, but she understood Su Mulin's concern. After thinking for a moment, she made a decision. "Well, I'll just give them a beating first. If I scare them, they won't imitate such things again."

In an instant, heart-wrenching wails of grief erupted from the Su household.

***

Over at the Gao household, the atmosphere was no better. Grandma Gao blamed herself. "If I weren't bedridden, I wouldn't have let the children suffer such grievances. It's all my fault."

Wu Hongye comforted her. "No, Grandma, we didn't suffer. Sister Weiwei already took revenge for us."

Gao Huifang quickly asked, "What exactly happened? Tell me in detail, and what about the hospital? Tell me everything."

The situation was essentially what had been learned at the hospital; no amount of detail could change the facts. Gao Huifang looked at Wu Hongye. "Didn't I warn you not to get into a conflict with Xiao Wang? Why didn't you listen? Listen to the wailing from the Su house—this whole mess today was caused by you."

Seeing Gao Huifang blaming him, Wu Hongye stubbornly remained silent.

Wu Xiaoling quickly shielded her younger brother. "Mom, Hongye was trying to protect me. I just wanted to go out to buy some salt, and I ran into Uncle Wang climbing over the courtyard wall. I was so scared I screamed, which startled him and made him fall. When he got back up, he wanted to hit me. Since my clothes were thin, they tore as soon as he grabbed me. When Hongye came out and saw my clothes torn, he thought he had done something to me, and that's why he fought him."

"I know Hongye was trying to protect you, but... Wang Changzhi has connections in Jiangcheng. Whether he gets convicted or not, we've offended a person in power. There's a whole family to feed here. If we've offended someone in power, what do you expect me to do? If we lose our jobs, are we all going to starve?"

Grandma Gao began to sob. "It's all my fault, all my fault."

"No, it's my fault. Why did I have to go buy salt at that exact moment?" Wu Xiaoling wept helplessly.

***

"Sister Meng, Sister Meng." After disciplining her children, Zhang Min quickly took her husband and children to knock on Lin Xiaomeng's door.

"You're here. Done with the kids?" Lin Xiaomeng teased.

"Yes. I've handled mine, but your two children are so well-behaved, there's no need to discipline them. I came to see you about the Gao family. Xiao Gao has always been fearful of everything, and this time she's offended Xiao Wang. I'm worried she might overthink things and blame the children for what happened—that would be terrible."

"Exactly. You couldn't hear it while you were disciplining your kids, but the Gao children were crying, and what Xiao Fang said... I'm really worried that Xiao Fang might blame my children for this."

"Why would she blame your kids? It has nothing to do with them." But thinking about the Gao family's situation, Zhang Min asked, "How about we go over together and check on them?"

Just as the Gao family was in a state of tearful distress, the Lin and Su families arrived with their children. Seeing that the atmosphere was indeed tense, Lin Xiaomeng quickly offered comfort. "Xiao Gao, thank you so much to your children this time. Otherwise, if that medicine had really been put into our seasonings, who knows what kind of chaos it would have caused?"

"I've brought some things over. The two children suffered because of our situation, so you mustn't refuse this."

"Don't..." At that, Gao Huifang couldn't hold back her tears any longer.