How I Tamed My Wolfish Husband Back in 80s-Chapter 154 - 156: Catching Turtles in a Jar_1

Around eleven in the morning, Du Xinxin came over to invite Li Qiao for lunch.

Li Qiao said, "Eating again? Didn’t we have a meal a few days ago?" The day before Wang Nannan and the other two left, their family of three had gone to eat. It was always embarrassing to eat at someone else’s place.

"There’s something I want to discuss with you alone," Du Xinxin whispered, with her back to others.

"Alright." After letting her grandparents know, Li Qiao followed Du Xinxin out.

After taking a few steps, Du Xinxin said, "Didn’t we have a meeting last night? A thief sneaked into the youth spot, and my room was turned upside down. The express package with the admission notice in it is gone. You’re a forensic professional; you’re good at investigating cases. I was hoping you could take a look."

"Ah? It was stolen? Then shouldn’t you apply for a replacement admission notice?"

Du Xinxin explained, "Here’s what happened: when I decided to leave with Han Ting, he asked me to give him the admission notice to keep it safe. I don’t know what I was thinking at the time, but I handed it over to him. The envelope that held the notice was stolen from my suitcase."

Li Qiao patted her chest, "You gave me a fright. Who would steal an admission notice?" A thought flashed through her mind, "Could it be Li Jinhua?"

There was no reason for her to go to the youth spot and talk nonsense with Du Xinxin.

It wasn’t impossible that she took the opportunity to confirm Du Xinxin’s room.

A few days ago, after work, Dong Lamei and Li Shengcai came looking for her together, complaining that Li Jianguo was practically beating Li Jinhua every day. Since she worked in forensic science and knew the police, they asked her to have Li Jianguo locked up.

She didn’t want to get involved, but her grandmother was wary of Dong Lamei. Concerned that ignoring the situation might tarnish her reputation, her grandmother hinted that she should intercede.

So she asked Qin Jin to take a look at Li Jianguo’s home.

It turned out Li Jianguo was injured too. According to Qin Jin, Li Jianguo swore that it was Li Jinhua who hit him first and even insulted his parents. Only then did he fight back.

It was a case of mutual assault.

Li Jianguo also revealed he no longer wanted Li Jinhua.

Anyway, they weren’t legally married, and he hadn’t even touched her. Li Jinhua could leave anytime.

But she was clinging to his family, spreading rumors that he beat his wife.

A big man bullied to the point of tears.

Qin Jin invited him to work with him. Now, he took over the deliveries for the family’s weaving business. His grandmother said he was very meticulous. Even though he was uneducated, he managed the accounts well and was honest. It was baffling why Li Jinhua would think otherwise.

Li Jianguo was clearly a decent match, hardworking and well-regarded. Yet that woman blindly dismissed him, not even bothering to look in the mirror at herself.

Du Xinxin was also a bit suspicious, "I haven’t seen the person, so I can’t say for sure. You have a look."

"Sure," Li Qiao replied. She added, "When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow."

"..."

The two chatted all the way to the youth spot.

Han Ting was busy preparing a chicken.

After greeting him, Li Qiao teased, "I never noticed you had a thing for Du Xinxin before."

Han Ting’s face turned red, and he changed the subject, "Do you prefer stewed or braised?"

Li Qiao smiled, "However you cook it, I’ll eat it."

After a bit of small talk, Li Qiao surveyed the surroundings. The wall wasn’t very high; she could climb over it with a little boost.

But no local thief would target the youth spot.

In village meetings, it was often said that those from out of town had it tough, and since they were all young, the community should look after them.

After inspecting the area, Li Qiao followed Du Xinxin inside.

Du Xinxin pointed to the suitcase, "The suitcase was locked. I don’t know how the thief opened it."

Li Qiao slapped her thigh, "It must have been Li Jinhua! She must have gotten hold of a master key from somewhere; she stole my admission notice before and my partner caught her red-handed." She could go on all day about the bad things Li Jinhua had done.

"But she shares your surname, and you have the same family address. Stealing from you would make sense; what good does it do stealing from me?"

Li Qiao explained, "The university probably doesn’t check the family address. Look at our admission notices. They mail it to whatever address is written at the time of filing. So, as long as the notice is intercepted, and if the person being replaced doesn’t know that the notice can be reissued, then the person with the notice can impersonate the real one."

That was terrifying.

Things are better decades later; the university admission system is networked.

As long as you enter the student’s information, you can find out if they were admitted or not.

There’s no possibility of someone else taking their place.

Du Xinxin sighed lightly, "It’s a pity there’s no evidence."

Li Qiao: "What could you do to her even if you had evidence?" It’s not a criminal case, and even if the police came, they could only verbally criticize and educate.

"..."

...

Li Qiao also had no good suggestions, stayed for a meal, listened to Du Xinxin talk about the village gossip, and learned a bit more about Han Ting’s family background. His parents were teachers at a city high school in the province, who had been framed and imprisoned early on, and only regained their freedom a year ago.

His sister was also a sent-down youth, who married the accountant of the local supply and marketing cooperative the year before last and returned to the city after getting into university last year.

This year, his brother-in-law also managed to transfer to the city relying on his family’s connections.

Li Qiao felt that Han Ting’s family was not bad, as both siblings were quite ambitious, and compared to Du Xinxin’s complex family situation, his family was much simpler.

Following him, Du Xinxin had indeed struck gold.

After dinner, Han Ting played storytelling on the radio. Li Qiao stayed to listen until it ended before saying goodbye.

On the way back, he ran into Li Jinhua, who was sneaking around and taking a shortcut this way. She immediately turned back to the youth point and casually closed the door.

"Why have you come back again?"

Li Qiao shushed her with a finger to his lips, signaling the two to go into the main room. "Han Ting, can we go into your room?"

"Sure, what for?"

"Come in, and you’ll know in a bit."

Han Ting’s room had a view of the courtyard, and just then, knocking sounds came from outside. Li Qiao whispered, "Don’t make a noise."

Soon after, the knocking stopped.

About five minutes later, the three of them saw Li Jinhua climb over the wall into the courtyard.

Du Xinxin covered her mouth in surprise; such a high wall, and Li Jinhua dared to jump over it. Was it all to steal the admission notice? She was really risking her life.

Once inside the courtyard, Li Jinhua headed straight for Du Xinxin’s room to search it.

She had taken the express delivery home only to find it empty. Out of options, she took the risk to come back another time.

As Li Jinhua was opening the chest, she heard the door behind her creak.

She turned back to see the door was shut.

Immediately, she went to pull it open, but she couldn’t. The door had been locked from the outside. "Open the door! Open the door!"

Du Xinxin: "Well, Li Jinhua, I politely invited you into the house, and you actually took the chance to steal my admission notice. Caught red-handed!"

"I, I... I came to apologize."

Li Qiao snorted a laugh, what nonsense.

Li Jinhua, recognizing Li Qiao’s voice, bitterly complained, "Li Qiao, it was you who had me locked up! Your grades were clearly good enough to reapply to another college, but you refused. You left me no choice but to target someone else’s admission notice."

Du Xinxin and Han Ting exchanged glances.

They had seen shameless justifications before, but never someone so unreasonable to claim a false entitlement.

Li Qiao couldn’t help laughing out loud, "Are you dumb? Where have you seen someone admitted to two universities at the same time? And there’s only one copy of a student’s file; the three preferences, if admitted to the first choice, the student’s information won’t be sent to another school. If you don’t know, you could have asked a teacher. Plus, if the admission notice is lost, it can be reissued; even if you managed to steal Du Xinxin’s admission notice, she could still go to university with evidence proving her identity."

Li Jinhua sat on the ground, crying in despair. Why was everything in her life so difficult?

Li Qiao could have lived a good life on his own merits, so why did he insist on sticking with Qin Jin?

If she could have married Qin Jin, would there have been any need for all this back and forth?

Du Xinxin pointed to the door lock, "It’s not a solution to keep her locked up here all the time."

Han Ting decided to explain the situation to the team leader, asking Li Qiao for his opinion since Li Jinhua was somewhat related to her.

Li Qiao: "You handle it however you see fit; don’t worry about me."