Siheyuan: Relieve stress and relieve worries

Chapter 1097 The Truth
On a bright autumn afternoon, the sun shone brightly, shining down on the land. The leaves of the apricot tree in the front yard of No. 95 courtyard had turned golden, rustling in the wind. Some leaves drifted down with the wind. The people in the middle courtyard had no time to appreciate the scenery; everyone was focused on the gate of Liu Gen's house.

Liu Gen's family moved here later. They only got the opportunity to live in this large courtyard house after the Qi family left. This was thanks to Liu Gen's father, who sacrificed his life to save national supplies. In principle, he should have been a martyr, but the fire caused too many people to lose their lives. In the end, these people were only given treatment but not titles, so Liu Gen and his mother moved into this courtyard.

Liu Gen's father was a good man. In fact, apart from the bad traits of the old society, Liu Gen's mother was also a good person. She devoted herself to raising Liu Gen into a good person. The best food, drinks, clothes, and things were all given to Liu Gen. Liu Gen was a smart child. From coming to the compound to being assigned a job to becoming a third-level fitter, it only took him two years.

Unfortunately, he met Yi Zhonghai. Yi Zhonghai had initially compared him to Jia Dongxu and thought the two were very similar, so he casually took Liugen as his apprentice. But Liugen was a smart man, even smarter than Jia Dongxu. He only wanted to be filial to his mother, knowing that it was not easy for his mother to raise him alone. If it weren't for his mother, his family would have been eaten up.

Later, Yi Zhonghai deliberately stopped teaching Liu Gen the skills. Liu Gen, relying on his help to the Yi and Jia families, threatened Yi Zhonghai to be promoted to a fourth-level worker. Now he completely ignores Yi Zhonghai and is looking for other ways to make a living. Today, he went out to buy groceries for the workshop director's family and is not at home.

After what happened to Liu Gen's mother, she was also scared. Although she was just like Jia Zhangshi, skilled at throwing tantrums and making a scene, she was, after all, a person from the old society and was naturally afraid of people in uniform.

The door to Liu Gen's house finally opened, and Liu Gen's mother came out carrying four cabbages. She walked to Yan Bugui's side, put the cabbages on the ground, bowed, and said, "I'm sorry, Third Uncle, I was greedy. These are the cabbages I took. I'm returning them to you."

Everyone in the compound was surprised. Not only were the two policemen surprised, but all the neighbors were also surprised. This was the first time they had seen Liu Gen's mother readily admit her mistake. Liu Gen's mother had figured it out in the house. What she was most afraid of was causing trouble for Liu Gen. Last night, Liu Gen said that he was going out to run errands today, which was a preparation for his promotion to the fifth rank at the end of the year. She was so happy that she couldn't sleep for half the night.

Just now, inside the house, Liu Gen's mother's first thought was whether this matter would affect her son, whether it would affect his exam for the engineering grade. So she immediately decided to take the initiative to admit her mistake, saying that she couldn't let anything happen and couldn't let it affect her son.

Liu Gen Niang's actions left Yan Bugui at a loss. He was about to say forget it, but then he felt something was wrong. After thinking for a moment, he looked at the policeman and said, "This isn't right, this isn't right. I lost six trees, so Liu Gen Niang, did you take out two less?"

The older policeman was thoroughly enjoying the show. When he heard Yan Bugui speak, he walked directly to Liu Genniang and said, "Auntie, it's commendable that you confessed and returned the cabbages. A few cabbages aren't worth much, but you can't try to cheat or hide anything."

For her son, Liu Gen's mother was willing to risk everything. She turned to look at the crowd and saw Qin Huairu and Bang Geng, but not Jia Zhangshi. Liu Gen's mother guessed that the old woman had run away as soon as she realized something was wrong.

At this moment, Yi Zhonghai saw Liu Genniang looking in the direction where the Jia family members were standing, and immediately guessed that this matter also involved Jia Zhangshi. He was anxious and blurted out, "You've already stolen them, why did you hide two of them? Take them out quickly, don't say anything else."

The older policeman, Liu Weiguo, was the newly transferred security captain for this area. He was a retired company commander and, before being transferred, was the instructor of the criminal investigation detachment. He joined the public security force after retiring from the military and has extensive experience in handling cases.

When Liu Gen's mother turned to look at the crowd, Liu Weiguo guessed there was more to the story. He believed she would tell the truth; she had already confessed to the theft, so what else couldn't she say? Just as he was waiting for her to reveal the facts, Yi Zhonghai pulled this stunt. Liu Weiguo's sharp eyes immediately fell on Yi Zhonghai. Yi Zhonghai panicked for a moment, but quickly regained his composure. Liu Weiguo walked over and asked, "What's your name? What do you do? Why did you interrupt the police investigation? What's your purpose? Tell me, or we'll make you talk somewhere else."

Yi Zhonghai looked into Liu Weiguo's eyes, avoiding eye contact. He didn't know how to answer the barrage of questions. His usual answers would probably be useless against this old policeman. Yi Zhonghai panicked completely and said, "I, my name is Yi Zhonghai, and I'm the old man in charge of this compound."

After saying this, Yi Zhonghai fainted immediately. Liu Weiguo showed no intention of letting him off the hook. He sighed and rolled his eyes, confirming that the old man had indeed fainted.

Liu Weiguo turned to another young policeman and said, "Xiao Zhao, find this old man's family and get a few people to take him back."

Before Xiao Wang could make a move, Li Cuilan from the east wing rushed out. It turned out that after Yi Zhonghai fainted, Sha Zhu went to his house to report the news immediately. Li Cuilan was about to burst into tears when Liu Weiguo said, "Stop wailing. He's fine. He just fainted. He'll be fine after lying down for a while. Find two people to carry him back."

Li Cuilan didn't dare to say a word, and just like that, she found Liu Guangtian and Shazhu, and carried Yi Zhonghai home.

Liu Weiguo walked over to Liu Gen's mother and said, "I believe what you said is true, but you need to tell me the facts so that I can make a final judgment."

Liu Gen's mother nodded and said, "Actually, I took the vegetables from Uncle San's house on a whim. I saw that others had taken them too, and their families hadn't noticed yet, so I took them as well."

The neighbors present were in an uproar. There was a thief! Yan Bugui glared at the Yan brothers. These two didn't even know they had been robbed. Luckily, Yan Jiefang found out.

Liu Weiguo nodded and told Liu Gen's mother to tell him everything.

Liu Gen's mother hesitated for a moment and said, "It was Jia Zhangshi. She stole it first. Her husband even kept watch for her to see what was going on at the Jia family's place. The two of them worked together to steal two cabbages. I saw it and then I followed her example and stole two cabbages first. After I got home, I went out for a walk and found that the Yan brothers hadn't noticed. That's why I did it a second time. Officer, I know I was wrong. Please forgive me."

(End of this chapter)