“Liu Mingxiang, if you’ve got the guts to report people, then come out! Don’t just hide inside and stay silent. I know you’re at home.”

“I was just helping Aunt Li pick vegetables to earn a little money. Look at how jealous you are—so jealous that you even went to the neighborhood office to report Aunt Li for exploiting me. Why can’t you stand to see others doing well?”

Qin Ye stood at the door of House No. 6, shouting loudly.

The other residents in the yard all craned their necks to watch.

When they learned that Liu Mingxiang had reported Li Shuping, everyone showed an expression as if they were watching a good show.

Liu Mingxiang pressed her back against the door, afraid Qin Ye would break it down and beat her.

“You shameless, cunning little villain. Instead of spending every day being jealous of others and scheming behind their backs, why don’t you think about how to get your man to beat you less? Your man beats you so often that everyone can hear your screams—it’s really annoying.”

“Everyone should beware of this treacherous Liu Mingxiang,” Qin Ye said, looking at the crowd. “Today she’s jealous of me, jealous of Aunt Li, so she went to report them. Tomorrow, she might be jealous of you all and report you.”

Cui Juanzi’s face changed when she heard this, reminded of something that happened last month.

Last month, her man got about a dozen pairs of defective sneakers from the shoe factory. She wanted to secretly sell them on the black market, so she left before dawn.

But just as she arrived at the black market, the police came to catch people. She ran three blocks to lose the police chasing her.

Normally, when she goes to the black market to buy things, she never encounters the police. Why did the police show up exactly that day she went to sell shoes?

Their home was right next to Liu Mingxiang’s. Could it be that Liu Mingxiang eavesdropped and reported her?

Cui Juanzi thought it was quite possible.

The others also thought Qin Ye made sense.

Although they had also reported people behind their backs before, it didn’t stop them from being wary of treacherous Liu Mingxiang in the future.

Liu Mingxiang hated Qin Ye with a passion. Her reputation in Yard No. 23 was ruined—who would dare to get close to her anymore?

“Did her report succeed?” Aunt Yuan asked, curious.

This was the question everyone cared about most.

“Of course not,” Qin Ye said. “Aunt Li just asked me to help her a little. She gave me a small thank-you fee once but never officially hired me.”

“How much did she give you as a thank-you?” Huang Qionghua asked.

Qin Ye glanced at her, “Want to know?”

Huang Qionghua nodded.

“Not telling you.”

Huang Qionghua: “…”

Qin Ye turned and went home.

Cui Juanzi looked at Qin Ye’s back and said, “She just sent him to the countryside to pick up some goods, at most gave him three mao.”

Aunt Yuan nodded, thinking that sounded about right.

After work, Lin Yongnian was walking home holding his eldest grandson. Just as they reached the alley entrance, his steps faltered.

Li Shuping had set up her stall again!

Not only that, she had gotten a perm!

“Dad, Mom’s set up a stall again,” Lin Guodong said.

They said she was just stubborn, that she wouldn’t be able to run a dumpling stall and would ask to come home in a few days.

Lin Yongnian grunted, “I saw it myself.”

He didn’t like being proven wrong.

“She even got a perm.”

I saw that too! Lin Yongnian roared inside.

“Hmph, at her age, still getting a perm? Who is she trying to impress? So shameless, so embarrassing!”

After saying that, Lin Yongnian quickly passed the alley entrance holding his grandson.

Lin Guodong thought his dad was right. At that age, still trying to act young with a perm was shameless and a waste of money.

He glanced at Li Shuping chatting and smiling with others, frowned, and walked away.

Lin Xiaoyu was a bit happy today because Zhang Tiejun had dropped out of school. That meant she wouldn’t have to see him at school anymore, and he wouldn’t bother her.

Although she didn’t know if Zhang Tiejun dropped out because Qin Ye scared him, she was still thankful to Qin Ye.

“Mom, I’m here to help you.”

“Why are you later than usual?” Li Shuping frowned, worried it was that little loser Zhang Tiejun bothering her again.

“I was on duty today, so I cleaned up before coming back. That’s why I’m late,” Lin Xiaoyu said.

“Oh,” Li Shuping nodded, relieved.

“Huh, why are there police cars here?”

Someone said this, and everyone turned to look toward the main road, seeing two police cars driving past the alley entrance, stopping at the entrance to Fengshou Lane. Six or seven officers got out and ran quickly into the alley.

Li Shuping saw Captain Gu among the police.

“Hey, could they be here to arrest someone?”

“So many police running so fast, it does look like they’re arresting someone.”

“The quilt factory’s staff housing is right in Fengshou Lane. Could it be that they’re here to arrest the deputy director’s daughter?”

“Maybe.”

“If the murderer is in Fengshou Lane, then it must be someone they know.”

Many people left the dumpling stall to go see what was happening in Fengshou Lane.

As the one who found the body, Li Shuping wanted to see the murderer caught and was curious about who it was.

But she had to guard the dumpling stall and couldn’t leave, so she cooked dumplings while looking toward the road.

About twenty minutes later, crying and shouting came from that direction.

“Are you even human? Kexin grew up under your watch! I’ll beat you to death, you beast!”

“Let my husband go! My husband’s not the murderer, he’s not—”

“Son, my son, please release my son…”

Zhang Kexin’s family shouted angrily at the arrested murderer, while the murderer’s family tried to stop the police from taking him away.

The murderer was about to be taken onto the police vehicle when his mother clung to his legs, refusing to let go.

His wife grabbed the police officers holding him, also refusing to let go.

“He’s innocent! He definitely didn’t kill anyone!”

Zhang’s mother angrily tore at the murderer’s wife’s hair. “Your man didn’t even deny it himself, yet you say he didn’t kill my Kexin and block the police from arresting him? Have you no conscience?”

The deputy director Zhang jumped up and punched the murderer’s head.

“Qi Dajian, I treated you like a brother. I helped you so much at the factory. Last month, you were on night duty, smoking in the warehouse, almost setting the whole warehouse on fire, burning thousands of yuan worth of goods.”

“The factory wanted to fire you and make you compensate for the losses. If you couldn’t pay, you would go to jail. I begged for you so they wouldn’t make you pay, just fired you. That was me!”

“But you killed my daughter! You actually killed my daughter!” Zhang the deputy director shouted loudly as police pulled him away.

He regretted it—why did he help this beast? He should have just let the factory make him pay or go to jail.

If that beast had gone to jail, his Kexin wouldn’t have died.

His heart-wrenching roar stirred pity and anger in all who heard it.

“Such a heartless person—how can someone be so cruel in this world?”

“So hateful! Such a person deserves to be executed a hundred times over.”

“He was helped to avoid paying and jail time, and yet he killed the daughter of those who raised him. How could he do such a thing?”

“Jian Shou is inhuman…”