My sister broke off her engagement to marry someone richer? My older sister married me and became in

Wei Biao was arrested.

The news spread like a cold wind throughout the underground circles of the provincial capital overnight.

But Lin Xiumei was the last to know.

She waited all night in the two-bedroom apartment that Wei Biao rented.

When I called the pager, there was no response.

When you call Bald Qiang, you always get a busy signal.

She felt a pang of panic; the fear of being thrown away like trash resurfaced, making her shiver with cold.

Around noon, a loud banging on the door startled her.

The door had barely been opened a crack when a henchman from Heilong Trading squeezed in.

"Sister-in-law! The sky has fallen!"

The henchman was covered in sweat, panting heavily, and his eyes were bloodshot.

"Brother Wei... Brother Wei went inside!"

Lin Xiumei's hand trembled, and the enamel cup smashed to pieces on the ground with a "crash".

Boiling water splashed onto the insteps of her feet, but she seemed oblivious to the heat, forcing herself to raise her voice:

"What nonsense are you spouting? Brother Wei has a high-ranking official backing him up! Which clueless cop would dare to mess with him?"

"Oh my dear sister-in-law! What time is it and you're still dreaming!"

The henchman was so anxious he kept slapping his thigh.

"Last night, the Municipal Bureau gave a direct order! Hundreds of fully armed armed police officers swept up our entire operation like dumplings being wrapped!"

Lin Xiumei's eyes widened: "Then...what about his connections? Nobody's protecting him?"

"Protect my ass! The higher-ups cut off the phone lines overnight, washing their hands of this more cleanly than anyone else!"

"Not a single one escaped! They've all been caught!"

"Don't just stand there, hurry up and pack your things and run!"

After yelling, the henchman darted downstairs without looking back and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Lin Xiumei slumped onto the sofa, her mind buzzing.

Run? Where to run?

Just as she was feeling completely lost, there was another knock on the door.

This time, it was the landlord with a mustache who came in.

"Wei Biao's house, right?"

The landlord leaned against the door frame, twirling a bunch of keys in his hand.

"Wei Biao went to jail, you heard? Who's going to pay this month's rent?"

Lin Xiumei swallowed hard, stubbornly sticking out her posture: "Brother Wei is just going in to cooperate with the investigation, he'll be out in a couple of days! Are you short of money for a couple of days?"

"Cooperate with the investigation?"

The landlord chuckled, looking at him like he was watching a joke.

"Even after their fortunes were confiscated, they're still pretending to be rich?"

The landlord looked her up and down, his gaze undisguisedly contemptuous.

"Besides, who are you to him? Do you think he'll pay your bills if he gets out?"

"I am him..."

Lin Xiumei gritted her teeth, her face turning bright red.

"I'm his woman!"

"Give me a break!"

The landlord waved his hand impatiently, his face full of disdain.

"Your name isn't on the rental agreement. I've seen so many women Wei Biao brings home, I can't even count them on my fingers."

"You're nothing more than a free bed partner. Get out of here! If you keep messing around with women, I'll report you!"

"I'm giving you three days to pack up your junk and get rid of it! I'll bring people to change the locks in three days, and I'll throw everything inside out on the street like trash!"

The landlord slammed the door and left.

Lin Xiumei went crazy and turned the whole house upside down.

Under the bed, in the cabinet, even in the toilet tank.

I have no money.

Aside from a few coins less than a hundred dollars, I couldn't even find a bankbook.

Wei Biao paid the water and electricity bills, and he also bought the meat in the refrigerator.

She's nobody in this family.

In the afternoon, wrapped in her mink coat, she steeled herself and went to the warehouse in the southern suburbs.

The door was sealed with glaring white tape, which rattled loudly in the cold wind.

At the alley entrance, a few swindlers who had escaped the net were squatting on the ground smoking and discussing breaking up.

Lin Xiumei leaned closer and forced a smile that looked more like a grimace.

"Xiao Wang, do you still recognize me?"

The henchman, nicknamed Xiao Wang, lifted his eyelids, glanced at her, and remained expressionless.

"Hey, isn't this your sister-in-law? Why isn't Mr. Wei waiting for you at home? What are you doing here?"

"I..." Lin Xiumei rubbed her hands together and said in a low voice, "I'm a little short on cash and wanted to borrow some money from you brothers to tide me over. I'll pay you back double when Brother Wei gets out."

As soon as he finished speaking, the henchmen burst into laughter.

"Borrow money? How will you pay it back?"

A crew-cut thug stood up, spat his cigarette butt at her feet, and looked at her with a mean expression.

"Lin Xiumei, have you lost your mind? Wei Biao is going to jail this time for a crime punishable by death. He's in danger himself, why would he care about you?"

Lin Xiumei's face was deathly pale, and her voice trembled: "He was at least... at least we were together for a time, he treated me..."

"Being good to you?"

The crew-cut thug stepped forward, pointed at her nose, and ruthlessly tore off the mask of civility.

"You really think you're some kind of bandit's wife? I'll make sure you die knowing why!"

"Brother Wei slept with you back then because you were Lu Qingshan's ex-sister-in-law! Do you understand?"

"He wants to deal with Lu Qingshan and try to get some information about Hongshi County out of you, so he brought you to the table to offer a toast and kept you around as a plaything!"

"A woman like you, you're a dime a dozen in the provincial capital! You think he's really interested in you?"

"You're nothing but a rag used to disgust people! Now that the rag's dirty and Brother Wei's broken, who do you think you are, daring to come to us for money?"

The group walked away, grumbling and swearing, their arms around each other's shoulders.

Lin Xiumei stood frozen in the wind, her hands and feet icy cold.

Those words were like knives, tearing her to shreds.

It turns out that her beauty, which she had always been so proud of, was a complete joke!

With nowhere else to turn, she wandered the streets.

Passing by a newspaper office with a sign that read "City Evening News," she rushed inside as if grasping at a last straw.

"Editor-in-chief! I have breaking news! The absolute inside story of Heilongjiang Trade!"

The chubby editor invited her into the house and poured her a glass of water.

"Tell me, what inside information do you know?"

Lin Xiumei's eyes lit up as she eagerly bargained: "I'm Wei Biao's closest woman! I know all the shameful things he's done! Give me two thousand... no, five thousand yuan, and I'll tell you everything!"

The editor-in-chief perked up and took out his notebook.

"Then tell me, through which channel did he smuggle the goods? And who was his supplier?"

Lin Xiumei was dumbfounded.

"I...I don't know about these things..."

"Then you must know where he hides his dirty money in the city, right? Where are the ledgers?"

Lin Xiumei was sweating profusely with anxiety: "I really haven't seen the account book! But I know that he goes to a teahouse in the southern suburbs every month to meet an old man in a long gown!"

The editor-in-chief's face darkened, and he slammed his notebook shut.

"That's it? Even the old man sweeping the streets knows Wei Biao loves tea! Are you kidding me?"

Just then, the office door was suddenly pushed open.

Two plainclothes police officers strode in and immediately showed their badges.

"From the Municipal Public Security Bureau!"

The lead police officer stared at Lin Xiumei: "Lin Xiumei, right? You've been asking around about the case outside. Come with us and assist with the investigation!"

Lin Xiumei's legs went weak and she almost couldn't stand up.

In the interrogation room, the bright incandescent light made it hard for her to open her eyes.

"Speak! Which account did Wei Biao transfer the 50,000 yuan to in another province to?" the policeman slammed his fist on the table and asked sternly.

"I don't know! I really don't know, officer!"

Lin Xiumei cried her eyes out.

"I knew he had money in his pocket. I usually just have meals with him and sleep with him. He never mentions a word about his business to me!"

"Don't play dumb!" Another policeman flipped through the statement. "On the 15th of last month, Wei Biao took you to meet a businessman from the south surnamed Zhang. What did you talk about?"

"They didn't talk about anything! I couldn't understand a word they were saying!"

Lin Xiumei's face was filled with despair. "Wei Biao just made me toast that boss, and then... then..."

"And then what?"

"Later, he made me sleep with that Boss Zhang for one night, saying it was to build connections..." Lin Xiumei covered her face and burst into tears.

The two policemen exchanged a glance, their faces full of disgust and helplessness.

I asked them for a full four hours.

The police finally realized that this was a brainless, unscrupulous idiot who was simply used by Wei Biao as a social butterfly and a tool.

She couldn't even provide a single punctuation mark regarding the core details of the case.

"What a piece of trash."

The police threw the guarantee in front of her.

"Sign here and promise not to disclose any details of the case, then you can get out."

It was already completely dark when Lin Xiumei walked out of the police station.

The cold wind blew into her neck, making her shiver.

……

the other side.

The backyard of Xiushan Industrial Store was brightly lit.

Lu Qingshan was sitting under the lamp, checking the inbound and outbound invoices on the table.

Scarface Liu lifted the curtain and came in, reporting in a low voice.

"Brother, a message has come from over there."

"That Lin Xiumei went to the newspaper office today trying to sell information about Wei Biao, but she was stopped by the police."

Lu Qingshan didn't even lift his eyelids, his pen scribbling rapidly on the paper.

"What did they find out?"

"They didn't get a single thing out of them!"

Scarface Liu couldn't help but sneer, his face full of disdain.

"That woman was crying and begging in the police station, but she knew nothing when asked. She didn't even know what kind of money Wei Biao was making; she was just a complete figurehead."

"Director Wang thought she was wasting his time, so he released her directly."

Lu Qingshan closed the ledger and hummed in agreement.

Scarface Liu leaned closer and tentatively asked, "Brother, she's homeless now. Should I take a few brothers over and give her a good beating..."

"Need not."

Lu Qingshan spoke in an extremely calm tone, as if he were talking about a pile of garbage on the side of the road.

"Don't waste even a second on her."

"A discarded pawn whose value has been completely exploited; I wouldn't even want to dirty my shoes by stepping on her. Let her be."

Behind the counter.

Lin Xiulan, who was working on the abacus, stopped what she was doing.

Listening to the conversation in the backyard and looking at the thousands of dollars in the account book, she let out a deep sigh.

The path you choose is your own, so you can't blame others.

The next morning.

Streets near the provincial capital's train station.

Lin Xiumei walked shivering on the curb, carrying a tattered cloth bag.

She only had 73.5 yuan left in her pocket.

Last night, she stayed in a shared dormitory room that cost five cents a night and was almost groped by a homeless man. She was so scared that she ran out in the middle of the night and spent the whole night squatting under a bridge.

The November winds are as sharp as knives.

It looked incredibly ridiculous as it scraped against her expensive mink coat.

"Meat buns! Hot, steaming meat buns!"

An enticing aroma wafted from a state-run breakfast stall by the roadside.

Lin Xiumei was so hungry that her vision blurred, and she swallowed hard as she took a step forward.

But when she touched her pocket, she pulled her hand back.

She dared not eat it. This little bit of money was her last hope for survival.

Just then, a deep car engine sound came from the street corner.

A brand-new Jiefang truck drove past her with an imposing presence.

The wheels kicked up a cloud of cold dust, which made Lin Xiumei cough.

She subconsciously looked up.

The four large characters painted in red on the truck bed felt like a slap in the face—

Xiushan Industry

Inside the carriage, piles of in-demand goods were stacked high.

The passenger window was rolled down halfway. One could vaguely see Lu Qingshan's workers eating steaming hot meat buns, chatting and laughing.

A new red cloth tied to the back of the car fluttered arrogantly in the cold wind as it drove further and further away.

Lin Xiumei stared intently at the departing truck.

She thought of the dilapidated Lu family home in Hongshitun, and how arrogantly she had broken off the engagement.

She thought she had gotten rid of a penniless man and climbed the social ladder.

But now?

The man she had discarded like trash had expanded his business to the provincial capital, driving a big truck and enjoying immense success.

She, dressed in a borrowed luxury coat, looked like a stray dog, unable to even afford a meat bun.

Lin Xiumei gasped for breath, her mouth agape, like a fish out of water.

Tears mixed with snot splattered onto her dirty feet.

She couldn't utter a single word.

Only endless regret gnawed at her heart, leaving nothing but crumbs.