Su Cui told Xiao He to wait outside in a coffee shop.
Then she carried her grocery basket and walked into the complex.
It was an old complex from about the same era as the one Su Cui lived in. The facilities were quite outdated, but there were many children in the complex. There was a large elephant-shaped slide. Su Cui looked around and felt something was off.
Su Cui's intuition was very sharp now.
She had discovered earlier that she could vaguely sense Su Baixue's direction no matter how far apart they were. At the same time, her physical evolution had also sharpened her five senses.
She walked slowly, seeing from a distance He Li talking with a pregnant woman. The woman showed He Li something in a baby stroller, and they chatted and laughed normally. Then He Li reached out and put something into the stroller. A child ran over and asked He Li to hold them. He Li laughed, picked them up, and patted them.
The child handed He Li a doll. He Li accepted it and put it into his backpack. Then, looking normal, he said goodbye and left.
Su Cui watched with an awkward expression.
Someone who didn't know He Li might think the scene was friendly and normal, but Su Cui knew He Li's true nature well.
The children nearby were practically staring at He Li's limp leg, yet he could still smile?
Su Cui was almost certain.
He Li's connection to the gang's supply chain was this pregnant woman.
After He Li left.
Su Cui walked over near the slide. Under the pregnant woman's intermittent, watchful gaze, she sat down on a bench nearby and greeted the woman.
"Taking the kids out to play?"
The pregnant woman nodded kindly and asked her, "Where are you from?"
Su Cui said arrogantly, "I just moved nearby. Just taking a stroll. There are so many kids here, and the slide is nice. I'll bring my grandson over to play another day."
Among the children, one little girl's features closely resembled the pregnant woman's, and her laughter was more carefree than the other kids'. She even threw toys at some boys. Strangely, the boys let her get away with it and didn't fight back. But because they were young, their seemingly cheerful eyes clearly showed unhappiness.
It was as if the area around the elephant slide was a stage for the children.
Everything felt out of sync.
Su Cui looked at the pregnant woman's belly and asked, "How many months along? Is this your second?"
The pregnant woman touched her belly and said with a smile, "Second."
"Is the first one a boy or a girl?"
"A girl." The pregnant woman smiled warmly, with a very kind appearance.
"A girl's no good! You have to have a son this time. Luckily, you've got the face of someone who can bear sons." Su Cui put on a stern expression and looked the pregnant woman up and down as if appraising goods. "Your pelvis is good too, can bear sons."
Playing the role of an old woman who favored boys over girls, Su Cui reached out to touch the pregnant woman's belly.
She had accompanied her close friend during pregnancy and felt that the belly before her looked suspicious. The woman's face and legs also didn't seem right; she didn't walk like a normal pregnant woman.
"I can read bellies. Want me to feel yours?"
The pregnant woman stood up, displeased. "No need."
"Haha, then I won't touch. But trust me, the shape of your belly is good—pointed. It clearly looks like a boy." Su Cui continued rambling. "My daughter-in-law's belly was very pointed, so she gave me a grandson. She's pregnant again now, and it's sure to be another grandson!"
She pointed at the little girl who looked like the pregnant woman and deliberately said loudly, "Girls like this—money-losing goods—you can't have another!" She glanced at the stroller, which had some lollipops, and said pityingly, "Why do you buy so many goodies for your daughter? These little brats don't deserve it!"
The pregnant woman clearly loved her daughter very much, and immediately became angry at Su Cui's words.
Su Cui saw her give a signal to a little boy in the group. The boy looked scared and ran out of the crowd.
Su Cui stopped while she was ahead.
"Oh, by the way, I wanted to ask, where's the vegetable market around here? I came looking for it and walked this whole way without seeing it."
The pregnant woman put on a smiling face: "The vegetable market isn't here. You have to leave the complex and go the other way."
So Su Cui pretended to leave. But before she had taken two steps, the pregnant woman called her back.
The pregnant woman handed Su Cui a lollipop and said sincerely, "Sister, take this lollipop back for your grandson to eat. Come play with the kid when you have time."
"How can I accept that?" Su Cui made a show of refusing, but her hand had already taken the lollipop, perfectly performing the role of a greedy old woman who favored boys over girls.
No choice. Su Cui had seen too many such old women in her old community, and she was thoroughly disgusted by them. She knew well how this kind of disgusting attitude could hurt a woman who loved her daughter.
Looking at the lollipop in her hand, which likely contained drugs, Su Cui sighed inwardly.
Although she had succeeded in angering the pregnant woman, she didn't like the method she used.
The woman in front of her loved her daughter and couldn't bear to hear a single bad word. In fact, because of Su Cui's words, she wanted to lure Su Cui's nonexistent grandson into drug use.
Why make things so complicated?
Su Cui looked at the pregnant woman. She had thought that if the woman straightforwardly rebuked her for being wrong, she would apologize. Pretending to be a character she despised was unpleasant for her too.
But the pregnant woman had endured.
Perhaps from the moment they started dealing drugs, they had been like rats in the gutter, living a precarious existence, with twisted playmates and false words. They were used to luring people into depravity with sinister methods, instead of openly seeking justice.
Love that is illegal and criminal is ultimately a path of no return.
While harming others, they also buried their own children's bright and upright future.
Su Cui steadied herself. Precisely because of this, she would never feel pity for drug dealers.
*
After returning, Su Cui immediately went to the hospital and handed over the lollipop to the old doctor for ingredient analysis.
She felt that the pregnant woman He Li had contacted was probably not pregnant at all—just a middle-aged woman with a big belly. When people get older, a potbelly is no joke.
The entire complex He Li had visited was very strange.
The "pregnant woman," the child who delivered messages, and the gang leader who would be exposed by the hacker and forced to flee abroad.
Su Cui frowned.
On the other hand, she kept an eye on He Li's situation. She found that after visiting the pregnant woman, He Li indeed had new supplies, and his relationship with the thugs grew even closer.
So Su Cui chose a time after school, knocked He Li out directly, and took him to the riverside.