Chapter 82: Hush Money

Liu Zhaodi put down the knife she’d been using to gut fish and washed her hands thoroughly.

She unconsciously patted her pants pocket, making sure the money was still there, before following Chu Xuan into the bedroom.

Everything Chu Xuan had brought back from the county, including the new scale, was piled up on the table against the wall.

She pulled out a chair.

“Zhaodi, have a seat.”

Liu Zhaodi sat down, looking a little nervous. “Sister Xuan, I’m really scared.”

Chu Xuan smiled and handed her a piece of sachima. “Here, have some to calm your nerves.”

Obediently, Liu Zhaodi took it and started eating.

It was her first time tasting sachima—sweet, soft, and fragrant, leaving a pleasant aftertaste.

Her nerves eased quite a bit.

After finishing, she spoke in a low voice, barely above a whisper. “Feng Chunhua wanted to pay me a thousand yuan to go after you. I pretended to agree because I wanted to see what she was up to. I didn’t expect she’d actually ask me to poison your family’s grilled fish jerky. She lied and said it was just something to give people diarrhea. I tested it on a rat at home—the rat ate a steamed bun with the powder on it and died. She gave me a five-hundred-yuan deposit and said I’d get the other five hundred after it was done.”

As she spoke, she pulled a thick wad of bills—all in ten-yuan notes—out of her pocket and placed it on the table.

She continued, “Whether we report her or not, Sister Xuan, you decide. If you want to report her, I’ll be the witness and we’ll send her to jail! If not, however you want to get back at her, I’ll do it!”

Chu Xuan felt ashamed for almost having doubted Liu Zhaodi.

“Zhaodi, thank you! Actually, I saw Feng Chunhua come to you this morning. I thought you’d talk to me about it this morning or at lunch, but I didn’t expect you’d hold onto this bombshell until now. I don’t plan to report her. Don’t forget, she’s been locked up before, and people have testified against her, but she still got released. Do you really believe she has no connections?”

Until she could figure out who was backing Feng Chunhua, Chu Xuan was worried that reporting her would only drag Liu Zhaodi down as well.

Liu Zhaodi had thought of this too. “I don’t believe it. But are we just going to let her off the hook?”

“Of course not. Take this money and use it to get your mom a full check-up at the hospital.”

As she spoke, Chu Xuan gently pushed the five hundred yuan back into Liu Zhaodi’s hands.

Liu Zhaodi looked up, surprised. “I didn’t actually put the poison on the fish jerky. She’s not going to let me keep this five hundred.”

Chu Xuan smiled meaningfully. “Just tell her that right after you sprinkled the powder on the fish jerky, I gave that batch to you as a reward and told you to take it home for your family. You got scared and burned it in the stove as soon as you got home. To make it more convincing, I’ll give you two jin of fish jerky to take home later. Trust me, from what I know about her, she won’t ask for the money back. She’s very good at paying hush money. At most, she just won’t give you the remaining five hundred. If you can’t get a thousand out of her, five hundred is still something, right?”

With Chu Xuan’s encouragement, Liu Zhaodi felt more confident. “Right! I’ll do as you say! She’s got more money than she knows what to do with, always trying to buy me off. What can I do?”

Chu Xuan burst out laughing. “Exactly! That’s the spirit!”

After laughing, she reminded Liu Zhaodi to communicate in advance if anything like this happened again, to avoid danger.

Liu Zhaodi nodded seriously, put the money back in her pocket, and went out to continue gutting fish.

Not long after, Widow Niu came to see Chu Xuan. They chatted for half an hour before Widow Niu went out to chop firewood.

Widow Niu’s attitude toward Liu Zhaodi changed from wary to deeply impressed.

Such a clever kid, only in her early teens, able to play along and pretend to switch sides.

Compared to her, Widow Niu felt she’d wasted all these years—she’d always been too blunt with Feng Chunhua and didn’t know how to adapt.

After eight o’clock that evening, Liu Zhaodi quietly went to Feng Chunhua’s house.

Feng Chunhua had already sent Chu Zhi and Chu Dashan to stay at the house in town, just so she could wait for Liu Zhaodi’s news.

She yanked Liu Zhaodi inside and whispered, “Let’s talk in the house.”

Liu Zhaodi nodded.

Once inside, Feng Chunhua couldn’t wait to ask, “Well? Did it work?”

“It did. But Chu Xuan gave me the batch of fish jerky I’d sprinkled the powder on—two whole jin! She said it was a reward for a job well done and told me to take it home for my family. I don’t know if she suspects me or if she really just wanted to give us a treat.”

“Did anyone see you when you put on the powder?”

“No one.”

“And the fish jerky she gave you?”

“I got scared and burned it as soon as I got home.”

“What a pity! All right, I’ll give you another packet of powder in a few days, and you can try again.”

“I’m afraid that won’t work. She said starting tomorrow, I don’t need to come anymore.”

Liu Zhaodi said this on purpose, because tomorrow she’d be taking her mother to the county hospital for a check-up. The day after that, the fish jerky workshop would be closed for holiday, and she didn’t know when it would reopen.

Feng Chunhua started to get paranoid. “Maybe she already found out you put powder on the jerky, and since you’re just a kid, she let you off the hook and gave you the jerky as a warning. From now on, don’t come looking for me. Let’s pretend this deal never happened. If you dare rat me out, I’ll hire someone to make sure your two little brothers die horribly! And no one will ever trace it back to me, understand?”

Liu Zhaodi acted terrified. “I—I understand. Please don’t hurt my brothers. I’ll do as you say. If anyone asks, I’ll say you never asked me to do anything.”

“That’s more like it. Now get out of here! Go on, or I might just ask for that five hundred back.”

“Don’t! I’m leaving! I’m leaving right now!”

Liu Zhaodi put on a show of fleeing in panic.

In her heart, she was full of admiration for Chu Xuan.

Feng Chunhua really didn’t ask for the five hundred back.

Liu Zhaodi was good at analyzing people—if Feng Chunhua could solve something with money, she would. If she couldn’t, then she’d resort to murder.

When she got home, Liu Zhaodi didn’t mention the five hundred to her family—she just warned them to stay far away from Feng Chunhua.

Er Leng and San Leng were already afraid of Feng Chunhua, so they listened.

Only her mother, Mou Xing, sensed something was off.

After Er Leng and San Leng fell asleep, Liu Zhaodi put the five hundred yuan in Mou Xing’s hand and told her everything.

After hearing it all, Mou Xing was shaken. “You’re only thirteen, how could you dare get mixed up with someone as ruthless as Feng Chunhua? The only reason you got out of this unharmed and even made some money is thanks to Chu Xuan. You must remember her kindness!”

“I will, Mom. Tomorrow I’ll take you to the county hospital for a full check-up.”

“Good! If I’m sick, I’ll get treated and recover soon, so I can help you with the family burdens.”

Meanwhile, Mu Chenze had arrived at Chu Xuan’s house—one, to pick up three hundred jin of fish jerky, and two, to check on Chu Feng’s shirt-mending progress.

More than thirty short-sleeved shirts had already been mended so well you couldn’t see the seams, each with its own unique touch, almost like embroidery.

Mu Chenze planned to take them to the city to sell—who knew, maybe they’d fetch a good price.

He casually mentioned that on his way over, he’d seen a woman knocking on Accountant Wen’s door.

Chu Xuan slapped her forehead. Oh no! She’d been so busy these past two days, she’d forgotten all about Accountant Wen’s “surprise fatherhood” from her previous life.

She had to hurry over and stop it—hopefully, she wasn’t too late...

(There will be another update at noon.)"