Chapter 519: The Truth Comes Out
“After all that, no one is poisoned.” Someone sneered on the spot.
“If he wasn’t poisoned, why are you making all these fusses?”
“It’s late to take back your words now!”
Voices emerged from the crowd one after another.
When the police officer heard this, he frowned.
Zeng Qinghua continued, “Officer, this lady came early in the morning and accused us of selling poisonous vegetables. Her husband was hospitalized. She was crying, scolding, and demanding compensation from us.
“However, this requires evidence. We can’t just compensate her for her words. There’s no other way, so we had to call the police and ask for your help to investigate the truth!
“And this lady also said that she would sue us at first. She kept telling us to compensate her!”
The officer had handled countless cases. It was obvious that this was a premeditated slander. When the ‘victim’ saw the police, she panicked.
“What’s going on?” The slightly older police station’s sharp gaze directly swept over Lin Xiufang and asked in a stern voice.
At this moment, Xiao Lingyu walked over and said, “Officer, this lady said that our vegetables were poisoned, and her husband was admitted to the hospital because of it. To express my sincerest apology, I want to give this victim the best treatment, so I wanted to contact a friend to transfer him to a VIP ward.
“However, this lady doesn’t seem to be willing to cooperate. I asked her a few times, but she refused to tell us which hospital and ward her husband is staying in.”
Xiao Lingyu was very sincere. However, they could also sense her brilliance behind it. If the poisoning was fake, her sincere offer was basically a direct test. No wonder the other party was unwilling to cooperate.
By now, the officers had differentiated the truth. They could immediately tell which side was telling the truth and which side was lying.
Of course, they couldn’t do things without evidence. The older officer said, “We’ll have to investigate this clearly. Please take us to the hospital to see the victim first, and we’ll make a statement at the same time!”
Lin Xiufang was already scared when Xiao Lingyu mentioned she’d go to jail for slander. When the officer told her to take them to the hospital to find her husband, she was so scared that she knelt down on the spot.
She cried out in fear, “I’m… I’m sorry, my husband wasn’t poisoned.”
The police officer’s face darkened as he asked sharply, “Your husband isn’t poisoned, so where is he now? And why did you come here to slander the shop’s boss, saying that his food is poisonous?
“Do you know how serious the consequences are? If the victim wants to sue you, it’s enough to send you to prison.”
Lin Xiufang’s heart trembled. This time, she apologized very honestly, “I… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. Please don’t sue me!” She said the last sentence to Zeng Qinghua and his wife.
Xiao Lingyu’s expression turned cold, and she asked in a stern voice, “What do you mean by you didn’t mean to? Because you like it, you can go around ruining people’s reputations? Do you know how much damage you’ve caused with your words?
“Let me tell you. I can sue you for this. Even if you don’t go to jail, you won’t be able to escape from detention and supervision.”
Lin Xiufang’s expression immediately changed. She shouted, “No, don’t sue me! I have parents and children to support. I don’t want to go to jail…”
Xiao Lingyu, “…”
Everyone, “…”
Why was this scene so familiar? They felt like they had seen it on tv before.
Xiao Lingyu and the police’s mouths twitched.
At this moment, Zeng Qinghua angrily questioned, “That’s a grand excuse, but don’t I have parents and children to support too? I have no grudges against you, so why are you accusing us for no reason?”
Although the lady boss was also very angry, she pulled Zeng Qinghua back, telling him not to be so impulsive.
They had the upper hand now, so they had to deal with this step by step.
The lady boss questioned, “One moment you said you came to my shop every day to buy vegetables, and over time, it got your family poisoned, but the next moment, you said you only came once yesterday, and your husband was poisoned instantly. Since the police are here, can you tell them the truth?”
They had circled back to this. This was the most direct question to clarify Zeng’s Family Vegetable Shop’s name.
At this time, Lin Xiufang had to tell the truth, “I… I only came here to buy vegetables once yesterday.”
“Did your whole family eat these vegetables?”
“Yes, we ate them all!” Lin Xiufang seemed to be reminiscing, “These vegetables are really delicious. After eating these vegetables, our family is in good spirits!”
Everyone, “…”
The Lady Boss’ face darkened, and she asked sharply, “If that’s the case, why do you have to go against your conscience and accuse us?” The Lady Boss was also full of anger. She was really angry that they were framed.
Lin Xiufang gritted her teeth and said, “I took money from others to slander you… I was wrong. Please don’t sue me, okay?”
If she had known that doing this might lead to her going to jail, she would not have agreed. It was not worth 3000 RMB!
Xiao Lingyu asked coldly, “You took their money, so you ruined people’s reputation. Who paid you?”
Lin Xiufang hesitated, “This… this…”
The police officer saw this and immediately warned, “If you confess, we’ll be lenient. As long as you tell the truth, you’ll be able to redeem yourself and be given a lighter sentence!”
Hearing that, Lin Xiufang immediately pointed in Qiao Shiliang’s direction.
Qiao Shiliang sensed the situation turning, and he was about to sneak away. He was immediately stopped by someone. Qiao Shiliang’s face changed slightly, and his expression froze.
Lin Xiufang immediately betrayed him and said, “It’s him. Boss Qiao gave me 3,000 RMB to come to Zeng’s vegetable shop and make a big fuss and defame the shop’s reputation.”
At this time, the lady boss scolded Qiao Shiliang, “Qiao Shiliang, you usually look friendly and smiling, but you’re trying to bring us down all this while!”
Qiao Shiliang had been betrayed by this woman. Everyone looked at him with a strange expression. How despicable was this man to do something like this?
The Lady Boss thought of something and said angrily at Qiao Shiliang, “I said you were flirting with the woman openly. It was wrong. It was actually two villains who were in cahoots with each other.
“Qiao Shiliang, you’re a businessman yourself. Why can’t you compete with us normally but have to resort to this despicable method?”
Qiao Shiliang was scolded by the Lady Boss until his face turned red. He was embarrassed and angry, but he still defended himself, “I don’t know this woman at all.”
As he said that, his sharp eyes stared at her fiercely. He angrily questioned, “Woman, I have no grudge against you. Why did you frame me like this?”
Lin Xiufang heard Qiao Shiliang, and she understood that he wanted to throw her under the bus. She wasn’t going to take that. “Boss Qiao, like you said, I have no grudge against you, so why would I frame you? Why would I point the finger at you when there are so many other people here? The reason is that you’re the one who hired me!”
Everyone, “…” Have the culprits turned on each other?
When Boss Li and Boss Zhang saw this, their mouths were wide open in shock. Then, they took out handkerchiefs to wipe the cold sweat off their foreheads.
Fortunately, they weren’t involved in this matter.
Otherwise, their reputation would probably plummet too.
Lin Xiufang continued, “Some time ago, Boss Qiao found me through a friend and told me to put on a show with my husband. The acting fee is three thousand.
“We don’t have to do anything. We just have to pretend to be sick, go to the hospital, and pretend to have food poisoning. He knows someone in the hospital. He will arrange for my husband to stay in the hospital for two or three days. He will pay for the hospitalization fees.
“Then, I have to make a scene at Zeng Family’s vegetable store and insist that it was their vegetables that poisoned my husband. I was to make a scene and tarnish their reputation. He told us it didn’t matter whether we succeeded or not. He would give us three thousand RMB.”
Everyone, “…” So that’s the truth. No wonder other people had no problem eating the vegetables from this shop daily but this woman’s husband did. It was all about money.
“You’re spouting nonsense!” Qiao Shiliang said in shock and anger, “Don’t slander me! I don’t even know you!”
Qiao Shiliang would never admit such a thing.
Once he admitted it, not only would his reputation be tarnished, but he might also have to bear legal responsibility.
As long as he didn’t admit it and the other party had no evidence, even if the police were present, they wouldn’t be able to do anything to him.
Lin Xiufang immediately said, “I didn’t frame him. He’s the culprit.” She told the police, “My husband is still in the hospital. It was Boss Qiao who arranged for the doctors to fake my husband’s case.”
Without the police intervention, Zeng Qinghua and his wife probably wouldn’t solve this issue so quickly.
At first, they didn’t call the police because they thought they could settle this civilly. However, things got out of hand. In the midst of things, they forgot to call the police. Sometimes, the law was required to settle certain matters.
They were quite impressed by Boss Xiao. She called the police as soon as she arrived and solved everything easily. She flustered the woman with a few words and made the woman surrender when the police arrived.
Lin Xiufang gave up Qiao Shiliang.
Even if Qiao Shiliang didn’t admit it, this matter had to be investigated. Both Qiao Shiliang and Lin Xiufang were taken away by the police.
Zeng Qinghua also followed them to the station to give a statement.
After the instigator left, a few old customers laughed and said, “Haha, I told you that you could trust Ol Zeng’s character. If he knew these vegetables are poisonous, he wouldn’t sell them.”
“The Boss of Qiao Family’s vegetable shop is really sinister. He smiles to everyone, but he will stab you once you turn around.”
“So this is all a frame job.”
“Eh! It’s already so late! I still need to buy some vegetables for my grandson. My grandson loves this shop’s organic vegetables. He won’t eat the meal without them!”
“My granddaughter too!”
Everyone was so engrossed in watching the show that they forgot to buy vegetables. Now that they snapped out of it, they swarmed into the shop.
…
This was the first time Boss Zeng’s wife saw Xiao Lingyu. She walked up to Xiao Lingyu and said with a smile, “Boss Xiao, it’s all thanks to you that the matter was resolved so quickly!”
Xiao Lingyu shook her head with a smile and said, “Lady Boss, the woman was clearly here to cause trouble. There’s no need to waste time talking to people like her. We should just call the police.
“The more we argue with them, the more they’ll get motivated. Therefore, if there’s a next time, call the police directly. The police will discover the truth.”
The lady boss nodded. “Boss Xiao is right.”
Xiao Lingyu looked at the crowd in the shop and said, “Lady Boss, How’s the business recently?”
The lady boss beamed with joy. “It’s not bad. Even though there are some rumors swirling around and we’ve lost some common customers, the purchasing managers from the big hotels came and bought out most of the vegetables in an instant.” As she said this, the lady boss carefully observed the expression on Xiao Lingyu’s face.
Xiao Lingyu nodded and said, “Okay, that’s good!” Xiao Lingyu set the price of the crops, but she never specified whom they could sell to.
When the lady boss saw that Xiao Lingyu didn’t care that Zeng Family’s vegetable shop had sold their crops to hotels other than Jun Hao Hotel, she sighed in relief.
Zeng Family’s vegetable shop was a sales retailer, but Xiao Lingyu gave them a wholesale price for these goods.
For example, Xiao Lingyu sold the tomatoes to them for three RMB each. The tomatoes were sold at the shop for 6 RMB each. However, the profit was split down the middle between Boss Zeng and Xiao Lingyu.
Why?
First, the shop expansion was sponsored by Xiao Lingyu. It was now triple their original size. Plus, Xiao Lingyu also paid the rent. So, Xiao Lingyu took 50 percent of the profit.
Even so, Zeng Qinghua and his wife’s daily net income could reach tens of thousands. This was a month’s worth of their shop’s income in the past.
Therefore, Zeng Qinghua and his wife did not have any objections to the price set by Xiao Lingyu.
Even if Xiao Lingyu opened a separate shop in the future, as long as they still had the sales right, they would be able to earn money.
Of course, they wouldn’t do anything against their conscience to earn money.