Chapter 6
Edward Quan ·
“If you don’t leave, are you going to stay and pay off your mother’s debt?”
“I’m your mother-in-law!”
“That doesn’t mean you can make me pay one hundred and eighty thousand yuan for you.”
My cousin-in-law left.
In the blink of an eye, my aunt looked ten years older.
But she wasn’t the sort of person who knew how to reflect on her actions.
She only felt that everyone else had wronged her.
A few days later, I saw her outside a gold shop.
She took off an old gold bracelet and placed it on the counter.
The employee weighed it.
“Sixty-two grams. Eight hundred and fifty yuan per gram.”
“That comes to fifty-two thousand seven hundred yuan.”
My aunt’s expression darkened. “That’s all?”
“That’s the current gold price,” the employee said.
My aunt lowered her voice. “Couldn’t you offer a little more? I bought this bracelet when I got married.”
The employee smiled. “We buy by weight. We don’t pay for sentimental value.”
When my aunt walked out of the shop, she happened to run into Lili, a niece from her side of the family.
“Auntie, what are you doing here?”
My aunt immediately hid her hand behind her back. “Nothing. I was just passing by.”
Lili saw that something was wrong. “Why do you look so upset?”
My aunt’s eyes shifted. “It’s nothing. I just need to ask you for a favor.”
“What is it?”
“Get in the car first. I’ll take you somewhere.”
I later learned she had set her sights on Lili next.
She went to Lili’s home and opened with, “One hundred and eighty thousand yuan for your dowry.”
“Lili, marry into this family. He has three shops, and the debt will be paid off.”
Lili went pale with fear. “Auntie, I…”
My aunt grabbed her. “What are you afraid of?”
“He has three shops. You can marry him and pay off the debt. What a great deal!”
When I heard about it, I was so angry I laughed.
“Auntie, what do you take her for?”
My aunt spoke as though she were completely justified. “I’m doing this for her own good.”
Lili burst into tears and ran away.
My aunt called after her, “Lili, come back!”
Only then did I finally understand.
There was no point hoping someone like this would change.
She saw everyone around her as a stepping-stone.
That very night, I reconnected all three security cameras in the shop.
One of the employees didn’t understand. “Boss, do we really need to go that far?”
I said, “We can’t afford not to be careful.”
“Do you think she’ll come make trouble again?”
I shook my head. “She won’t come to make trouble.”
“She’ll come to destroy things.”
The employee’s expression changed. “Should we call the police?”
“Wait until she acts.”
“There’s no point calling the police before she does anything.”
“But what if she wears a hat and mask?”
I looked at the security monitor.
“Then we’ll have it on camera.”
“She’s not someone who accepts defeat easily.”
Less than two days later, rumors began circulating through the market.
“I heard the Lin Ji roast-meat shop uses bad meat.”
“Someone said they haven’t changed the brine in half a month.”
“Is that true?”
“Who knows? Either way, no one’s been buying there lately.”
My mother was so worried her eyes turned red.
“But we change the brine every day!”
I put the inspection report up outside the shop.
“Don’t worry, Mom.”
“We get an inspection report every quarter.”
“An honest man has nothing to fear.”
But rumors are frightening when someone keeps spreading them.
When my mother went out to buy vegetables, she even tried to explain the banquet incident to our regular customers.
“Zhang Guilan was the one who signed the bill at the seafood restaurant. Xiaoyuan had nothing to do with it.”
“Don’t listen to her lies.”
“It’s true. Why would I deceive you?”
The customer wasn’t entirely convinced. “I’ll wait and see.”
I knew Zhang Guilan was sure to make another move.
Sure enough.
At two in the morning on the third day, my phone rang.
The security system sent an alert.
On the screen, a person in a red jacket, wearing a hat and mask, was prying open the back door of our shop.
The person held a packet of white powder and poured it into the vat of braising broth.