The Reborn Sidekick Rejected The Male Lead-Chapter 416 - 405: Shocking Explosion

Zhuang Chen and Zhuang Yan stayed here for a few days to cooperate with the local police investigation.

Xia Lin also couldn’t leave West City during this time. The moment she returned home, Gao Shu hugged her and said, "It’s good that nothing happened, it’s good that nothing happened. I asked clearly, Zhuang Yan came here to threaten you, why didn’t you tell me?"

"How could I tell you? Tell you that I was previously colluding with him in speculation and profiteering, when you’ve always been against it? If I told you, it would just lead to another endless bout of self-blame and arguments."

Gao Shu furrowed his brow, "Is this really how you see me now?"

Xia Lin didn’t avoid the question and confidently said, "Yes, you’ve always opposed anything related to my business dealings. If it’s something that can be settled with money, to me, it’s not a problem."

Off to the side, Mother Xia said with heartache, "This isn’t just a small sum of money; it’s tens of thousands. Your father and I couldn’t earn that much in our entire lives.

That Zhuang Yan is just a scoundrel. Why did you even get involved with him in the first place?"

Xia Lin’s heart was heavy with frustration right now, and she didn’t want to listen to her mother fretting over money.

In any case, she should be praying that the police couldn’t find anyone.

Even if they did find someone, it wasn’t certain they would recognize her.

These past few days, Liang Zhuo visited every street and alley, even deliberately going to the tube building rented by Zhuang Yan to ask around if anyone had seen two people driving a car.

Given that not many people in West City owned cars, within two to three days, they actually caught someone in a village on the outskirts.

The whereabouts of the other person were still unknown.

However, this man claimed ignorance to everything; he didn’t even know whether the person who hired them was male or female. He also mentioned that his accomplice gave him one thousand yuan, only saying that the person they targeted had offended him and that he wanted to teach them a lesson.

To pay one thousand yuan just for a ’lesson,’ that’s not a small sum—clearly, there was deception involved.

But this was all the man would say.

As for the other person, they had been staking out his home and hadn’t seen anyone for several days.

With the situation like this, unable to find the instigator, Zhuang Yan’s accusations were also useless.

This loss was a dumb one; they asked if he wanted to go with civil litigation or criminal charges.

Zhuang Yan for sure wanted money; he couldn’t let his blood be spilled in vain.

But Zhuang Chen insisted on handling the matter according to the law.

Zhuang Yan, seeing Xia Lin’s husband and child sitting warmly by the fire, couldn’t swallow his resentment.

When it was time to leave, everyone gathered at Lu Jingqiu’s house for a meal.

Zhuang Yan didn’t join the men’s table this time but kept glancing now and then at Xue Jianian and at Lu Jingqiu.

Shen Manman, seeing him acting improperly, pushed him and said, "Hey, hey, what are you staring at?"

Zhuang Yan, considering that she had saved him before, didn’t retort and turned his head to Xue Jianian, "Comrade Xue, actually I heard your name a few years ago. Right in our Ten-miles Village."

Xue Jianian’s hand, picking up food, suddenly paused, and with narrowed eyes, he asked, "Where did you hear that from?"

Without answering, Zhuang Yan turned to Lu Jingqiu and said, "Comrade Lu, didn’t you once go up the mountain during a summer harvest, in the middle of the night, and run into someone?"

Lu Jingqiu’s hand, holding the chopsticks, trembled, and in fright, the chopsticks fell onto the table.

She thought this was something only she knew about.

Lu Jingqiu’s reaction caused everyone present to be taken aback, feeling puzzled and as if thinking of some unpleasant possibilities.

Shen Manman said, "Sister, who did you run into?"

Lu Jingqiu picked up the chopsticks from the table and calmly countered, "How do you know about this?... Did Xia Lin tell you?"

Xia Lin had been reborn, so she should know what happened that night.

Off to the side, Xue Jianian, recalling the words of the person who had come to harm her earlier, said, "Zhuang Yan, regarding you knowing my name, it wasn’t Xia Lin who told you, was it?"

"Yes, it is. The person you encountered in the village before was my younger brother, but he’s scared now, still hiding in the gully and hasn’t come out. Also, Comrade Lu, that night, Gao Shu from the neighboring village was actually sent up the mountain by Xia Lin. She told him there was a centennial date tree and even gave him the location."

"Originally, Gao Shu knew about that tree; he was planning to go after the summer harvest, but I warned him that someone was eyeing the tree, so he went that very night. At the time, I was quite puzzled; I didn’t understand how Xia Lin, who had never even met Gao Shu, suddenly helped him steal the tree."

"Only later did I find out that on that day you had argued with Xia Lin, and you ran up the mountain yourself."

"Tsk, tsk, you’re lucky to be alive; you’re fine, but you left him crippled. However, I won’t speak a word of this. But I could use it to threaten Xia Lin."

Zhuang Yan suddenly dropped such a bombshell that Lu Jingqiu was quite surprised. She had lived two lifetimes and always thought that her encounter with Gao Shu that night was a coincidence, an accident, just bad luck on her part.

She never expected that all of this was manipulated by Xia Lin behind the scenes.

She always thought that she was just being lovesick, stupid, unlucky, and a poor judge of character.

She even thought of it as her own doing, so when she came back to life, she didn’t actively provoke or seek revenge but instead chose to stay away.

But to think that the one who hurt her the most was Xia Lin, and it was no accident, but deliberately orchestrated.

"I’m going to sue Xia Lin. Is Gao Shu still alive?"

Zhuang Yan furrowed his brows and scratched his head: "This..."

"Speak up."

"Actually, he died last month. I..."

Luo Xinyue cut in: "He’s dead?"

Lu Jingqiu nearly had a fit of anger and suddenly stood up.

Without saying a word, she got on her bike and started heading out.

"Hey, Jingqiu, don’t be impulsive."

Xue Jianian and Manman both chased after her.

Zhuang Yan was stunned.

On the other side, Luo Xinyue, seeing the men at their table still looking confused, hurriedly said, "Quick, Jingqiu is going to the police to report Xia Lin."

They hadn’t heard their conversation at the table just now.

They were still in the dark.

Grandpa Jiang spoke calmly amidst the crisis: "What’s going on?"

Zhuang Yan also knew what he had let slip and hastily stumbled through the explanation.

Everyone was quite shocked, including Wei Jincheng. He had thought Xia Lin framing his wife was unthinkable, as the two seemingly didn’t know each other, separated by miles apart, and he regarded it as a slander.

It turned out to be true.

The men didn’t have time to analyze the situation and hurriedly ran after Lu Jingqiu.

But, unbeknownst to them, Lu Jingqiu didn’t go to the police station but instead went straight into Gao Shu’s house.

The door was opened by Mrs. Xia, who was seeing Lu Jingqiu for the first time in many years.

Now a university graduate with a job, she was no longer the ’educated youth’ from Ten-miles Village: "Oh, it’s Comrade Lu. Long time no see."

It was Sunday, and Gao Shu was also at home; seeing Lu Jingqiu come over on her own was quite a surprise.

Just as he was about to step forward to speak, he saw Lu Jingqiu push past Mrs. Xia and walk straight up to Xia Lin, who was next to Gao Shu.

Without a word, she slapped Xia Lin across the face, the sound echoing sharply.

The slap was fierce and took everyone by surprise.

Everyone was shocked on the spot.