CH 41

Chen Lan wasn’t a bad person. The only problem with her was that she didn’t care about her child. Other than that, there was nothing to criticize.

Although she often ignored Fang Jingzhou, she didn’t beat him up or scolded him. She just didn’t give him the love and attention he deserved. She didn’t fulfill her responsibilities as a mother. 

Because of this, Luo Bei didn’t comment on Chen Lan. Chen Lan didn’t love her child as much as she did. She just loved him more. This wasn’t a big mistake, and it wasn’t worth discussing.

Fang Jingzhou had a more sensitive intuition than children of the same age, so when Chen Lan asked him to go home, he shook his head in fear and moved closer to Lou Bei.

However, it was useless. It was reality and not some television drama. Even though Luo Bei sensed that Chen Lan was wrong, she wasn’t Fang Jingzhou’s mother, and she wasn’t his family. She didn’t have the right to stop Chen Lan from bringing the child home. In the end, she could only watch Chen Lan pull Fang Jingzhou back to the next room.

Grandma Luo sat on the wooden sofa and sighed.” What a sin!”

Zhao Pianpian also realized that Chen Lan was very strange today. She tried to guess,

“Previously, she happily went home with her boyfriend to celebrate the new year. Could it be that the two of them encountered a problem?”

This was a reasonable guess. After all, Chen Lan was indeed very happy during the new year. However, it had only been a few days, and she had suddenly changed. Thinking about it, she guessed that something went wrong in her relationship.

Lou Bei looked at the neighboring door worriedly and shook his head.

“I’m not too sure about that either.”

Not long after, sounds of Fang Jingzhou crying came from the room. The three of them were stunned. It was Luo Bei who was the fastest. She rushed to the next room and knocked on the door.

” Chen Lan, what’s wrong? Open the door. Tell us what happened and see if everyone can help!”

The cries of the child inside were getting louder and louder, it was almost heart-wrenching.

The people outside were extremely anxious. Even Grandma Luo came forward and knocked on the door a few times. In the end, Chen Lan opened the door, but Fang Jingzhou was nowhere to be seen in the living room. It was likely that she had locked him in the bedroom.

Luo Bei suppressed her temper and asked,

” Even if there’s a problem, you can’t blame your temper on the child. Can we talk about  it and try to solve it together?”

Chen Lan leaned against the door and smiled coldly.” It’s really strange, can’t I educate him as his mother?”

“That’s not how children are educated.”Grandma Luo said earnestly.

“Oh, Grandma Luo, why don’t you tell me about education? Wait, didn’t I hear that your son ran away with money and left a mess for you orphans and widows?”

Grandma Luo didn’t say anything, but she was already trembling with anger.

“Chen Lan, it’s true that Fang Jingzhou is your child, but he’s also a person. We can’t let you scold him. If this happens again, we’ll call the police.” Luo Bei said in a deep voice.

“Luo Bei, don’t scare me. I know what the law is now, but if you have the ability to call the police to take a look, I have nothing to say if they find a wound on his body.”Chen Lan continued to sneer.

After saying that, she slammed the door shut.

Luo Bei’s heart sank when she heard this. If Chen Lan were to scold Fang Jingzhou, she could still stop her and call the police to intimidate her. But what did Chen Lan mean by that?

She didn’t hit Fang Jingzhou, so why was he crying so hard?

Could it be a crueler way than beating and cursing?

Fang Jingzhou hadn’t come out for a few days. Chen Lan had ordered take-out several times and went out a few times, but she returned soon.

Luo Bei was getting more and more worried about Fang Jingzhou, but he was still too young and didn’t have a cell phone on him. Chen Lan locked the door and she couldn’t communicate with Fang Jingzhou. However, in the past few days, Fang Jingzhou had been crying from the start to the end. She was very worried about the child.

However, there was nothing she could do about it. There were a few times when she wanted to break the landlord’s rules and open the rental room next door to see what was going on. However, Chen Lan spent most of her time at home. Even if she went out, she would return very soon. She couldn’t find a chance.

Several times in the evening, Lou Bei even felt that she had heard Fang Jingzhou calling her, but when she woke up, there was no sound. It was as if everything was just her imagination.

Luo Bei couldn’t use her own key to open Chen Lan’s door. It was illegal. Furthermore, Chen Lan had found someone to change the lock a few days later. She couldn’t just break-in. Luo Bei was even more worried about Chen Lan’s behavior. She hadn’t thought about changing the lock after staying here for so long. Now that she had changed the lock, it was inevitable that she would be worried.

Just as Lou Bei was having a hard time sleeping about this and even wanted the police to take a look, all of this finally turned around.

Luo Bei had also occasionally chatted with her friends in the past. They visited many fast-food restaurants. She didn’t comment on their hygiene, but the price was cheaper than the chain fast-food restaurants outside, so they were still very popular. What she didn’t expect was that the new tenant, Zhou Jianguo, was also delivering takeout.

The reason why he had attracted the attention of her friends in the past was purely that Zhou Jianguo’s face still had the looks to be the most handsome takeout guy on Weibo.

However, from what she knew, wasn’t Zhou Jianguo working at a construction site? Wasn’t his main job to work as a porter there, commonly known as a brick-moving worker? There were a lot of such migrant workers in the Slums. Usually, some of the workers were living on the construction site, but some of their wives and children were by their side. Therefore, the family decided to rent a cheap house. Luo Bei had heard before that the daily wage for moving bricks on the construction site was not low. At least, it was much higher than hers. After all, it was physical work, and it was exhausting after a day. 

When Luo Bei arrived at Zhou Jianguo’s room, he was cooking.

Even though he was wearing an apron and holding a spatula, Zhou Jianguo’s noble aura was still there. He was surprised to see Luo Bei come over.

Luo Bei was also very surprised. First, he actually cooked his own meal. Second, it was not even five o’clock yet. Why was he eating dinner so early?

Zhou Jianguo had already placed the dishes on the table. Luo Bei took a look. There were small stir-fried green vegetables and a green pepper minced meat.

“Do you want some?”Zhou Jianguo was a 1.85-meter tall man. He looked especially tall inside the small room.

Lou Bei shook her head.” I’m not hungry yet. Are you eating dinner so early?”

‘Or was it lunch?’

Zhou Jianguo wasn’t constrained either. He simply sat on the top of the bench and started eating. As he ate, he chatted with Luo Bei.

” I’m going to deliver takeout food. If I don’t eat now, I won’t have time. I’ll be busy until around 10.”

“Didn’t you say you were working at the construction site?”

“The weather wasn’t good these few days, so I didn’t go. I found some part-time jobs.”

‘This meant that it wasn’t just a delivery job?’

“Oh, it’s like this. There’s something I need your help with. Is it convenient?”

Zhou Jianguo said, “what’s up?”

Luo Bei told him what caused her to worry over the last couple of days. Zhou Jianguo listened with a serious expression to her.

“Are you talking about the tenant next door?” Zhou Jianguo asked solemnly.”That’s good. The water store called me just now and it was the tenant next to you who wanted to get it delivered to him. I’ll deliver it after dinner.”

“You even took a part-time job delivering water?”Luo Bei was surprised.

Zhou Jianguo nodded.

“How many part-time jobs do you have?” Lou Bei asked out of curiosity. “Are you busy?”

Zhou Jianguo nodded confidently.” From 5:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., I deliver take-out food during this time. Fresh milk is delivered from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. The rest of the time, I go to the supermarket to deliver the food.”

“My daily expenses are also huge.”Zhou Jianguo’s reason was quite reliable and convincing to outsiders, but Robby guessed that his monthly expenses shouldn’t be much.

After all, the total amount of rent, water, and electricity didn’t exceed 700. The construction site was filled with food, but there was no work on the construction site. He would just cook for himself. He wouldn’t be able to spend much money this month.

Perhaps he wanted to save more money. It was as good a reason as any.

After Lou Bei left, Zhou Jianguo hurriedly finished his meal and washed the dishes. He opened the wardrobe and found a brown paper folder at the bottom of the wardrobe. He opened it and saw that it was full of money.

His identity cards were all fake. His name, place of birth, and date of birth were all fake, so he didn’t dare to apply for a card at the bank.

Zhou Jianguo was a man who didn’t exist in the past. To him, the only thing that gave him a sense of security was money. He liked the feeling of counting money and the feeling of saving money.

Little by little, he became satisfied.

He had no other interests and only liked to make money.

After putting the money away, he went to the water store to carry the water and deliver the goods.

Riding a tricycle he went to a few homes, he came to the door of Chen Lan’s house. Zhou Jianguo didn’t forget what Luo Bei had asked him.

He knocked on the door and soon, Chen Lan opened it.

Zhou Jianguo was the kind of man that people would not be able to shift their attention away from. Although Chen Lan had been in a bad mood recently, she couldn’t help but be distracted when she saw such a man.

“Hello, I’m here to deliver water.”

Chen Lan quickly let Zhou Jianguo in.

Zhou Jianguo took the empty bucket from the water dispenser and looked at the sink. He said,

” This is a little dirty. I’ll wash it for you. Where’s the kitchen?”

Chen Lan quickly pointed in the direction of the kitchen. Zhou Jianguo went over to clean it.

He noticed that there were two rooms in the apartment. One of the doors was closed, while the other was open. He took glances when he passed by. There was no one inside. There were no children in the kitchen and bathroom. The child that Luo Bei said was probably in the room with the door closed.

However, it was very strange. It was getting dark very early, and the buildings in the city were next to each other. The light was not good in the first place. At this moment, the living room had lights on, and the open bedroom had lights on. However, one could tell from the crack under the door that the closed room did not have lights on.

‘What was going on?’