Love Apartment: Yifei is my junior aunt

Chapter 597 Trial Results

Zhanbo took the phone with a suspicious look on his face and opened the Taobao order. Nanfeng and Zhang Wei also curiously craned their necks to get closer.

"Tiffany Heart Necklace - Valentine's Day Special Edition?!"

Zhanbo's eyes widened in excitement, and he exclaimed, "You bought this necklace?"

Ziqiao nodded: "That's right."

"This is outrageous!"

Zhanbo angrily picked up the bag of instant noodles and slammed it against the table like a gavel: "You audacious Ziqiao, you not only stole my coat, but you also plagiarized my gift-giving idea!"

"Hello!"

Ziqiao explained, half-laughing and half-crying, "Could you please look at my purchase time? I bought the necklace earlier than when you came to ask us about choosing between the two, okay?"

"That's true."

Zhang Wei looked closely and confirmed Zi Qiao's innocence.

He then looked at Ziqiao with a grin: "Now I understand. The reason you tricked Zhanbo into buying a coat was because you had already bought a necklace and were afraid Zhanbo would buy the same one as you, right?"

"Forehead……"

Ziqiao smiled awkwardly. Actually, he had noticed Meijia staring at the fashion magazine in Wanyu's hand a few days ago. Her longing gaze lingered on the coat and necklace. Only a fool wouldn't see that she liked those two items.

He originally wanted to buy a coat for Meijia, which is why he found this coat store on Taobao.

However, based on his understanding of Mika's figure, he knew at a glance that the coat was too big and ugly for her, so he had no choice but to give up the low price and buy the necklace instead.

As for asking Zhanbo to buy the coat... he simply wanted to earn some kickbacks from Zhanbo to make ends meet, otherwise he would soon be starving.

Nanfeng asked curiously, "Ziqiao, where did you get the money to buy the necklace?"

Ziqiao snorted and said stubbornly, "Do I need to inform you if I spend my own money?"

"Yo ho!"

Nanfeng immediately looked at Zhang Wei: "Attorney Zhang, someone is showing contempt of court and refusing to answer questions. Their behavior is extremely egregious. What do you suggest we do?"

Zhang Wei coughed heavily and said in a deep voice, "Since that's the case, we have no choice but to explain the truth of the matter to everyone."

"Especially Meijia and Wanyu, as victims, they should have the right to know."

"No, no, no!"

Seeing that Nanfeng and Zhang Wei, those two bastards, were actually threatening him with this, Ziqiao quickly gritted his teeth and said, "Your Honors, I'll confess and be lenient; I'll definitely tell the truth!"

"Tch, I had to scare you a bit before you'd behave. Why didn't you do this sooner?" Nanfeng rolled her eyes at him. "Speak up."

"I, I..."

Ziqiao stammered, "Do you guys still remember my godmother Elizabeth? She gave me a super thick red envelope before."

"Remember."

Zhanbo thought for a moment and said, "The red envelope probably costs more than ten thousand yuan."

Ziqiao sighed, his face full of pain: "Yes, I didn't spend a single penny of this money myself."

"Before, when I was tied to Mika because of the side effects, she swindled me out of several months' rent. I put all the rest into this necklace."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Wei slightly rose and reached out to touch Zi Qiao's forehead: "You don't have a fever?"

"What are you doing? What are you doing?!"

Ziqiao patted Zhang Wei irritably: "Can't I just give Meijia a decent birthday present?"

"Don't be ridiculous, you're Lu Ziqiao."

Zhang Wei sat down, crossed his arms, and asked in surprise, "I can understand Zhanbo spending money to buy such an expensive gift, but Ziqiao, what is it for?"

"Could it be... that you want to get back together with Mika?"

"Her? Chen Meijia?"

Without thinking, Ziqiao said, "As the saying goes, a good horse doesn't eat the grass it has already grazed, not to mention that it was so long ago that Meijia and I met."

"What kind of trauma do you think I would have suffered to consider getting back together with Mika?"

"Then why do you save your money to buy Mika a birthday gift instead of spending it on yourself?"

Zhang Wei asked, "Did you really take the wrong medicine?"

Ziqiao fell silent.

In fact, he himself still doesn't understand why he did it.

It might be because of what his godfather and Elizabeth said to him the night they left, or it might be because he saw Mika crying her eyes out at the wedding the next day.

Perhaps it was because he was forced to be tied to Mika and witnessed firsthand the sacrifices she made that he had overlooked, or perhaps it was because even Mika was planning to find a new job, seek advancement, and want to change, so perhaps he should also take a step forward.

Of course, it's also possible that he was touched when he saw Mika staring intently at the coat and necklace in the magazine.

Why, why, why... There aren't that many whys in this world!

Surely I can't be trying to make up for that belated realization and the guilt I deserve?

Nanfeng glanced at Ziqiao indifferently, then gently tapped the table, changing the subject for Ziqiao: "In any case, if Ziqiao has already bought the necklace, then things will be much easier than we expected."

"Anyway, the necklace and the coat are about the same price. Meijia obviously likes the coat very much, and Wanyu happens to like both. Why don't you just switch them up?"

"I suggest we just go with the flow and give the coat to Meijia, and then Zhanbo, you give the necklace to Wanyu. You two can then make up the difference in price between the coat and the necklace. Wouldn't that solve the problem perfectly?"

"yes!"

Zhanbo, who had initially thought his Valentine's Day was rather lackluster, instantly came back to life. He looked intently at Ziqiao and asked, "Ziqiao, what do you think?"

Although Zhanbo seemed to be asking for his opinion, Ziqiao felt that if he dared not agree, Zhanbo would be willing to die with him.

Ziqiao nodded repeatedly: "I think it's fine, let's do it this way."

Since Mika likes this coat so much, and it's cheaper than the necklace, he has no reason not to exchange it.

"Very well, now there's only one question left."

Nanfeng glanced at the logistics information and immediately frowned deeply: "Can your package arrive on Valentine's Day?"

"Let me calculate."

Zhanbo carefully examined the logistics information. He closed his eyes and frantically calculated all the possibilities with his genius mind, which could simulate an atomic bomb explosion.

Soon, Zhanbo excitedly opened his eyes and said, "As long as there are no car accidents, typhoons, earthquakes, fires, alien invasions, spiritual energy resurgence, Planet of the Apes awakening... or other unpredictable variables tomorrow, the necklace will definitely arrive tomorrow night!"

"That'll do."

Upon hearing this, Ziqiao stretched and said with a sigh of relief, "Since that's the case, the problem is solved. Let's all go back to our rooms and get ready to sleep."

"Oh, right."

Ziqiao then reminded him, "The matter of the overcoat and necklace is known only to heaven, earth, you, and me. Let's not let a fifth person know."

Nanfeng and the other two nodded; of course, they wouldn't go around talking about this for no reason.

Moreover, from a certain perspective, Meijia's joy tonight wasn't entirely fake; at least Ziqiao had genuinely prepared an expensive birthday gift for her, it's just that the delivery hadn't arrived yet.

In that case, they have even less reason to reveal the truth.

Just as Ziqiao was about to take back his phone and leave, Nanfeng suddenly snatched the phone from Zhanbo's hand.

"It's too early to leave now. There's still one thing we haven't settled yet."

Ziqiao was taken aback: "What is it?"

Nanfeng chuckled: "You seemed to enjoy hearing everyone praise you tonight, didn't you? But you made us all feel disgusted all night. How are we going to settle this?"

"besides……"

He smiled and opened the shopping list for the coat: "You only spent seven thousand yuan on this coat, right?"

Nanfeng slammed his hand on the table: "I knew you'd taken a kickback!"

"Depend on!"

Ziqiao's pupils dilated instantly.

He was only thinking about surviving Zhanbo's clutches, never expecting that Nanfeng, this wicked guy, would puncture his tires at the last minute.

"What?!"

Upon hearing this, Zhanbo instantly became furious and said, "Ziqiao, I consider you a good brother, and you actually took a kickback from me!"

Seeing this, Ziqiao smiled ingratiatingly at Zhanbo and said, "Zhanbo, taking kickbacks is actually quite normal."

"Besides, no matter how much of a kickback I took, at least I really saved you two thousand yuan, didn't I?"

"Forehead……"

Zhanbo was stunned for a moment. He suddenly felt that what Ziqiao said made sense. He had indeed bought a cheap coat, and it didn't seem wrong for Ziqiao to make some money as the middleman.

If it were just Zhanbo and Ziqiao now, he would probably have been fooled by Ziqiao's lies.

Unfortunately, at this very moment, there is also a righteous, kind, and principled legal pioneer here who is extremely sensitive to money.

Zhang Wei said directly, "Zhanbo, don't listen to him. This is just a Taobao store, not some exclusive channel of his."

"I just don't believe that if you go to Taobao to buy a coat, you can't find this coat store!"

"He's taking advantage of information asymmetry to help you close the deal first, so he can get a kickback."

"Ziqiao's behavior is what's known as 'profiteering from close ties'!"

"Oh~~~"

Zhanbo suddenly understood, and he turned to glare at Ziqiao with a hostile expression: "So you're still trying to trick me!"

"I, I..."

Ziqiao was almost in tears. He never expected that one problem would be solved only to be solved by another. He was invincible in the martial arts world and had survived the previous deadly situation, but now he had actually capsized in a ditch.

So why did he suddenly become so crazy as to volunteer to buy a coat for Zhanbo?

If it weren't for this brain-dead behavior, none of this would have happened tonight!

Seeing that Zhanbo and the other two were looking at them with increasing hostility, Ziqiao wisely raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.

"Your Honors, I confess my guilt and plead for leniency."

"Is that so?"

The three of them, Nanfeng and his companions, exchanged glances, seemingly already having an idea in mind.

The three of them ran to the living room, shoulder to shoulder, whispered something to each other, and then returned under Ziqiao's watchful gaze.

Zhang Wei cleared his throat and said in a rather formal tone, "Since the suspect Lü Ziqiao has confessed to his actions, the verdict after the joint trial is as follows."

"Lu Ziqiao, the crimes you have committed are too numerous to count. You should have been paraded through the streets and scorned and insulted by everyone in the apartment."

Upon hearing this, Ziqiao exclaimed in surprise: "No way! I only took a thousand yuan in kickbacks and then accidentally put my coat on the coffee table. How is that such a serious offense that I have to be paraded through the streets?"

"The three of you are simply making arbitrary judgments and treating human life like dirt!"

"Don't interrupt! You've ruined the atmosphere I've been working so hard to build!"

Zhang Wei rolled his eyes at Zi Qiao: "However, considering that you didn't intentionally give the coat to Mei Jia, and that there was a reason for it, and you actively cooperated with the investigation throughout, we've decided..."

Ziqiao raised an eyebrow: "Acquitted?"

Nanfeng chuckled upon hearing this: "You haven't even closed your eyes yet, how come you're already dreaming?"

"cut,"

Ziqiao pursed his lips.

Zhang Wei continued, "Therefore, we have decided not to publicly pronounce judgment on your crimes, and this crime will not be recorded in your scumbag file."

"However, you must return the kickback to Zhanbo, and besides that..."

He tapped the table and said seriously, "We will deprive you of all your freedom on Valentine's Day until Zhanbo's Valentine's Day confession plan is successfully completed."

"In this process, you must act as Zhanbo's technical consultant and redeem yourself through meritorious service, so that we will consider forgiving you."

"What?!"

Ziqiao was completely dumbfounded: "No way, you guys won't let me pick up girls on Valentine's Day, and now you want me to help others pick up girls?"

"That's right."

Nanfeng and the other two nodded emphatically.

"I……"

Ziqiao instinctively wanted to quit.

To make him do nothing on Valentine's Day but help others pick up girls is like making Curry Sauce not eat anything herself but have to feed others; or making Youyou not act but have to run errands for others to get roles.

This is simply bullying!

"Um?"

Nanfeng and his group rubbed their hands together, eager to fight, and said, "You yourself said you pleaded guilty and accepted punishment, now you have any objections?"

Seeing the three tall men, each over 1.8 meters tall, grinning at him, Ziqiao could only force a smile no matter how unwilling he was.

"No, how could that be?"

He patted his chest and assured him, "Zhanbo is my good brother, it's only right that I help him."

"So it's only right that you silently take my thousand-dollar kickback?" Zhanbo asked abruptly.

Ziqiao chuckled and said, "Brothers are brothers, but these are two different things."

"cut."

The three of them, Nanfeng and his companions, said disdainfully.

I'm coming

(End of this chapter)