NFBE Chapter 424 "Infecting the World" - Male Mother (35)
Chapter 424 "Infecting the World" - Male Mother (35)
"Do you think the mother and son are already at home?" Lu Liruan sighed.
Liao Tingyuan stood up, telling Lu Liruan to stay there, and then he crept along the wall into the courtyard.
Two minutes later, he returned and squatted down next to Lu Liruan again.
Where did you go?
"Their lights aren't on." Liao Tingyuan pointed in the direction of Unit 2: "They probably haven't come back yet."
Lu Liruan found their behavior extremely suspicious!
"How about... we go back first?" Lu Liruan's legs were numb from squatting, so she stood up and stomped her feet.
Then, with a sudden "whoosh," he squatted down again.
Liao Tingyuan was startled by her and looked at her questioningly, asking what was wrong.
"came back!"
Lu Liruan raised her index finger to her lips, bent over and stuck out her buttocks as she stood up, trying to shrink herself as small as possible: "Hurry up! Hurry up and go inside!"
She shoved Liao Tingyuan.
They almost pushed Liao Tingyuan to the ground, but luckily Liao Tingyuan had good balance and held onto the wall. The two of them, like secret agents, quickly sneaked back into the yard.
Fortunately, by this time, the elderly women in the courtyard had already finished their walk and gone home.
Lu Liruan rushed onto the exercise equipment, taking three steps at a time, and to show that she wasn't guilty, she played with her chest out and head held high.
Liao Tingyuan: ...
“You…” He tugged at Lu Liruan’s clothes.
"What's wrong?" Lu Liruan asked her in a husky voice.
"Ruan Ruan, act naturally." Liao Tingyuan sighed and turned to speak to Lu Liruan as the mother and son entered the courtyard.
It partially obscured Lu Liruan's exceptionally upright and dignified figure.
But the two of them were overthinking it.
Because after the woman entered the yard with her child, she didn't even glance in their direction.
She was still on the phone.
Lu Liruan saw that the woman was dressed in a business suit, carrying a bag, and had exquisite makeup on her face. It seemed that she was going to pick up her child after work.
But her brows were furrowed, revealing a hint of irritation.
"Mom...can I go play for a while?" the little boy tugged at his mother's arm.
There were a few other parents with their children playing in the yard. Now that it was getting dark, the children were probably playing hide-and-seek, and the child playing hide-and-seek was loudly counting down.
The woman glanced at the time on her phone, thought for a moment, and then waved her hand.
The little boy ran over.
"We've already started this round, so next time you'll be 'it'!" the little girl who was in charge of the group of children arranged.
The little boy obediently nodded and stood aside waiting.
good chance!
Lu Liruan and Liao Tingyuan exchanged a glance, and then he walked towards the child.
Lu Liruan glanced at the woman, watching her movements.
The woman was probably suppressing her anger in front of her child, but as soon as the child left, her voice quickly became louder.
"Mom! If I can't find him again, I'm going to call the police! No matter what, you have to give me an explanation!"
Lu Liruan secretly switched to a fitness machine closer to women, only to find out after sitting down that the machine was for sit-ups.
Lu Liruan is not very athletic; when it comes to sit-ups, she can only do the supine position and cannot do sit-ups.
So Lu Liruan lay down and secretly listened.
He pretended to be relaxed while playing on his phone.
The woman tugged at Li Ruan's bag strap in frustration: "This problem isn't something I can solve just because I want to! You wouldn't even take care of Xiaomi when I asked you to! Besides pressuring me, what other help can you offer?"
"Mom, you called me right when I got home from work, just to fuss over something like this. This is my life, and I can't let Xiaomi get into any danger, do you understand?"
"Will it be that one day, after Xiaomi and I are both dead, you'll come crying and say: 'I shouldn't have forced them back then!'"
She seemed to suddenly break down. After shouting, she turned to look around. Lu Liruan quickly turned over, pretending that she wasn't there.
The woman didn't notice Lu Liruan in the shadows. She sniffed and lowered her voice, "I don't care what happens to me. If anyone tries to hurt Xiaomi, I'll kill them and go to jail myself!"
Her voice carried a resolute tone.
When Lu Liruan heard what she said, she had a feeling that the knife under the pillow must have been prepared by her herself.
The purpose was to be on guard against anyone she felt might harm her child.
Lu Liruan watched as her hand clenched into a fist nervously, then relaxed, then clenched again...
"Leave me alone... I may embarrass myself, but I won't embarrass you. Besides, is it even a question of whether I want to lose face or not?"
The woman finally managed to calm herself down: "Since you're unwilling to help, then don't call me again. Next time something comes up, have my dad contact me."
Then, she abruptly hung up the phone.
The moment she hung up, her eyes began searching for the child.
Lu Liruan was afraid that she would see Liao Tingyuan talking to that child, so her mind raced. Then she took a deep breath, got up, and went forward.
"Hello..." Lu Liruan tentatively greeted.
Then the woman's wary gaze swept over him, as if she couldn't help but look him up and down twice.
Lu Liruan let her watch, maintaining a shy and harmless expression on her face.
Perhaps because Lu Liruan was a young girl, the woman wasn't too nervous, but asked somewhat stiffly, "Hello, is there anything I can help you with?"
"Oh, it's like this, I spoke with my little brother a few days ago," Lu Liruan confessed.
"What are you doing with him?"
Sure enough, the woman tensed up immediately when her child was mentioned, and in that instant, Lu Liruan felt that she even unconsciously became hostile towards her.
"Oh, it's nothing, my little brother just told me his cat got lost," Lu Liruan said gently.
She deliberately mentioned the word "cat" in front of women, just to see if the word "cat" would trigger a stress response in them.
really!
Upon hearing Lu Liruan mention cats, the woman's expression immediately turned sour. Even though it was now completely dark, Lu Liruan could still see clearly that her face had turned pale, and her lips were trembling slightly as she tried to speak.
"Ah...is that so?" She seemed unable to even maintain her wary attitude towards Lu Liruan. She didn't even know what she was saying, stammering and incoherent.
“The little boy told me that he lost a tabby cat,” Lu Liruan continued.
The woman seemed increasingly uncomfortable; she looked like she wanted to stop Lu Liruan from continuing, but didn't know how to start.
"What do you want to say?" she could only ask in a cold voice.
"Here's what happened. When I went out yesterday, I saw a tabby cat running around in the yard, right over the flower bed that the little boy said he was looking for." Lu Liruan pointed to the flower bed where she first saw the little boy.
“I was thinking, could that just be the little brother’s cat? He can go look for it over there again. If I see it next time, I’ll try to take a picture so the little brother can identify it,” Lu Liruan suggested with a smile, appearing very enthusiastic as a neighbor.
"Otherwise, you could add me on WeChat and I can send you the photos if I take them..." Lu Liruan suggested.
"That cat... no need! There's no need to add me on WeChat!"
Lu Liruan didn't miss the fleeting look of extreme fear that crossed the woman's face. It seemed that every time Lu Liruan mentioned the cat, her fear would intensify.
Just like... she's allergic to the word "cat".
Although Lu Liruan wasn't as good at reading people as Liao Tingyuan, she knew that this was the best opportunity to test the waters.
Lu Liruan feigned surprise: "What if it really is your cat? The little boy looks very sad. Don't you want to find him?"
These words actually went beyond what a stranger like her should say, but Lu Liruan decided to play along.
Anyway, it doesn't matter if I say the wrong thing. The woman's mind is clearly not on me. She seems to be on the verge of a mental breakdown, so she probably won't think carefully about what she said.
The woman was taken aback by Lu Liruan's question, then she retorted angrily, "This is our family matter! What does it have to do with you!"
"I was just looking at the little brother..."
"That cat is gone! He'll probably forget about it after a while! Don't mention that cat in front of him again!"
The woman's voice was shrill, and she glared angrily at Lu Liruan. She was wearing high heels and was more than half a head taller than Lu Liruan, making her look like an adult scolding a child.
Lu Liruan didn't really want to provoke him. She had also gleaned some information from the woman's words, so she took a step back.
She apologized very apologetically: "I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything by it, I just saw the little brother was sad, I'm so sorry!" Lu Liruan's apology was sincere.
The woman had calmed down a bit by now. Seeing Lu Liruan like this, she turned her head and coughed, "It's alright. I've been getting on in a bad mood these past few days because of that child's constant nagging. Thank you anyway, but this is a family matter..."
"Yes, yes, it was my fault!" Having worked in the service industry, apologizing was a daily routine for Lu Liruan. She was already very skilled at making just the right amount of sincere apologies to people.
The woman didn't seem like the sharp-tongued type, and she looked a little embarrassed when Lu Liruan apologized.
But not knowing what to say, he turned his head away and stopped talking to Lu Liruan.
Lu Liruan let out a long sigh and glanced to the other side.
She had already captured the mistress's attention for a while, but she didn't know if Liao Tingyuan was done yet!
Judging from the woman's vigilance, if she discovers the two of them, one talking to her here while the other takes the opportunity to talk to her son, they'll be working together.
Don't pull a knife out of your bag and stab them both...
Fortunately, when Lu Liruan looked over, Liao Tingyuan was already walking back.
The two exchanged a glance and, with perfect understanding, walked one after the other towards the fifth unit's stairwell.
The woman looked up at Lu Liruan, then looked down again.
Once inside the building, Lu Liruan quickly took a few steps and sidled up to Liao Tingyuan, exclaiming, "Oh my god, I was so nervous!"
"Weren't you just chatting with the lady of the house?" Liao Tingyuan asked softly with a hint of a smile, twirling the key between his fingers.
He had just seen Lu Liruan's back and felt uneasy, as if he was about to bow to her at any moment, so he made a teasing remark.
"I gave her a real fright!" Lu Liruan exclaimed dramatically, "As a model citizen, I've experienced firsthand the tension of being a human trafficker today!"
"What did you say?" Liao Tingyuan raised his hand and patted her head.
He didn't say it aloud, but Lu Liruan already knew his trick: just pat his fur, it won't scare him.
“I mentioned their kitten to her.” At this point, Lu Liruan’s expression turned serious: “I think the lady of the house already knew about the kitten’s death.”
"She didn't find out when the child was looking for the kitten, but... she knew the kitten was dead, but she still pretended to look for it with the child so that the child wouldn't know."
Lu Liruan briefly recounted to Liao Tingyuan what the hostess had said that revealed her weakness.
Liao Tingyuan nodded: "She should have known the kitten was dead when it went missing. So what... could have made her know the kitten was dead as soon as it disappeared?"
Lu Liruan had been thinking about this question just now, but as she thought about it, she felt a chill run down her spine.
At this moment, she waited for Liao Tingyuan to give his answer.
Liao Tingyuan glanced at Lu Liruan, stood at the door, and said softly, "There's a possibility that she saw the kitten die, and there's another possibility... that she killed the kitten."
"Come inside quickly! Why is there such a chilly feeling in this corridor!" Lu Liruan rubbed her arms and urged Liao Tingyuan, "Open the door! Open the door!"
Pushing her way into the house, Lu Liruan glanced back instinctively and saw that the corridor was empty before turning around and closing the door.
"What are you looking at?"
Liao Tingyuan saw her sneaking in, her eyes darting around.
"Let me see if the woman of the house has followed us! If what you're saying is true, then if she killed the kitten, then she's not just someone with mental problems!"
It's not impossible that the woman in question is already in a state of mental breakdown.
At this moment, if anything were to provoke her, she would kill not only the kitten, but even a person!
The knife under the pillow is the best proof...
Although Lu Liruan was reluctant to speculate in this way, if that were the case, wouldn't the woman be the most dangerous factor when she was with the child?
Lu Liruan felt a chill run down her spine.
"Is the child in any danger?" Lu Liruan was genuinely worried about the little boy.
Based on our brief interactions, the little boy appears to be the kind of child who listens to his mother very much.
"It's just a guess, let's not jump to conclusions now." Liao Tingyuan shook his head, signaling Lu Liruan not to be prejudiced.
"Did you find out anything from the child?" Lu Liruan sighed and asked him.
“I found out where the male homeowner works.” He raised an eyebrow.
Lu Liruan: ...?
Is it your skill at getting information out of me that's so good, or is the child just too careless?
"Where is it?"
"Anxin Pet Hospital." Liao Tingyuan opened the memo and showed it to Lu Liruan.