False evidence

Chapter 264 The Poison of Words
The man looked to be under fifty years old, wearing a short black down jacket that looked very fitted and neat.

The reason I noticed him was because his eyes kept darting around from the moment he got on the bus.

"Cough cough!"

The man coughed twice, covering his mouth, and sat down in a seat.

Meng Chao had stopped playing the game and was now looking at the fashionable woman walking over with his eyes squinted, mouth slightly open, and face slightly flushed.

The woman smiled and nodded at him, sat down next to him, took out a pair of headphones, put them on, and then ignored everything else.

Pidan asked me with a smile, "Mengniu has never actually been in a relationship?"

"That's not the point," I said, trying to change the subject.

That's because Meng Chao's current appearance is just too embarrassing.

From the moment he saw the woman, his eyes kept shifting. No matter which angle they turned to, his eyes were either on the woman's chest or her thighs.

I could see the glistening drool coming out of his mouth.

"What's the key point?" Pidan easily saw through my little scheme.

I pointed at the man from before, "This guy has been looking around ever since he got on the bus. If I'm not mistaken, he's most likely a thief!"

Pidan was slightly taken aback: "Xie Xiaohuan said that Mengniu would meddle in other people's business on the train. Could she be referring to this thief?"

After another stop, as the next stop approached, many people who were about to get off the train began to prepare.

Meng Chao finally shifted his attention away from the woman and began tidying up the water cups and other items.

Suddenly, he looked up and shouted, "What are you doing!" At the same time, he tried to stand up.

He was so impulsive that he forgot there were people around him, and his left hand landed squarely on the fashionable woman's leg.

"What are you doing!" The woman, still wearing headphones, yelled like a cat whose tail had been stepped on: "You're being a pervert!"

Meng Chao was unable to stand up immediately, and before he could react, the woman slapped him hard across the face.

"I didn't...no...there's a thief! Catch the thief..." Meng Chao hurriedly tried to get up.

The woman slapped him across the face again, screaming that he was a pervert...

The commotion quickly attracted the attention of the train police.

At this moment, Meng Chao's face had been scratched with several bloody marks by the shrewish woman.

He hurriedly pointed out to the train police officer that the person in the black down jacket was the thief, and he had personally witnessed the man trying to steal something from the man next to him.

The woman had a much louder voice than him and was convinced that he was groping her.

The key point is that, apart from Meng Chao, no one else saw the black down jacket being stolen; however, the way he pressed the woman's thigh was seen by two roguish young men sitting opposite him and an older woman who didn't look very friendly.

The person Meng Chao pointed out as having been robbed did not lose any of their belongings.

This caused an uproar in half of the train carriage.

Some laughed, some cursed, and quite a few with "sharp eyes" came up to Meng Chao and pointed at him, saying: This kid is obviously no good!
The thief was eventually released, while Meng Chao and the woman were taken to the railway police station upon arrival at the station.

Witnessing the police's decision to detain Meng Chao for seven days, Pi Dan was furious.

"What the hell is this?! That woman is a shrew! A bastard!"

All I can do is remain silent.

I'm so glad that none of this has actually happened yet.

If it really happened, given Meng Chao's personality, being wronged like this would affect him for the rest of his life, and he wouldn't be able to have a good New Year.

Seven days have passed in the blink of an eye.

Meng Chao's father silently took him home.

Meng Chao's house is in a small town. It looks nice from the outside, but once you enter the yard, something feels off.

The yard was a mess, as if it had just been vandalized. In fact, Meng Chao's house had indeed been vandalized, and there were still seven or eight men and women inside the main house, arguing loudly.

Pidan and I quickly realized that Mengchao's father had lost money in business, and these people were creditors coming to collect debts at the end of the year.

Meng Chao's father was a real man; he could reason with people when necessary and stand firm when needed, and in the end, he managed to get rid of those people.

However, the family's current situation, coupled with Meng Chao's detention, has already made it clear that this family will not have an easy time during the Lunar New Year.

The scene shifts to three or five women gathered together, pointing and whispering at Meng Chao, who is putting up Spring Festival couplets with a sullen face.

"It was him, the son of the Meng family, who was arrested by the police for touching a woman's thigh on the train."

"It's not just about touching her; it's about cornering a woman in the toilet and doing *that* to her..."

"Pah! A college student, huh! Even if you educate him, he'll still be a scoundrel!"

"Hey, you guys know, the woman he was harassing is from our town too, she's the daughter of the Lin family from the west!"

"Oh my, it's her! She's no saint either. She claims to be working outside, but she's actually doing *that* kind of work..."

Shh, shh, stop talking!

The women stopped gossiping because three young men carrying sticks came from the west.

Upon seeing the three men, Meng Chao immediately grabbed the stool he had been using as a footrest.

"You son of a bitch, you dare to take advantage of my sister! I'll kill you today, you son of a bitch!"

The opponent started fighting right away.

Meng Chao went berserk, roaring as he swung a bench at one of them, only to be hit in the back as well…

Neither side was arrested this time, but rumors about the Meng family's children being indecent have spread throughout the entire town.

Moreover, the story got more and more outlandish, claiming that what was clearly just an unintentional press on the leg had become a "criminal act".

"Bastard, bastard, bastard!" Pi Dan was so angry he couldn't say anything else.

Seeing her trembling all over, I quickly pulled her to Meng Chao, who was standing in the yard in a daze, and slapped him across the face.

"Snapped!"

After a crisp sound, the two returned to reality.

Meng Chao covered his face, looking at me in astonishment: "Can't we talk things out? Why did you have to resort to violence?"

Xiao Shen rolled his eyes and asked me, "What did you see?"

I breathed a sigh of relief and decisively said to Meng Chao, "Let's cancel the train tickets."

Meng Chao paused for a moment, then said, "Oh, then I'll queue up online again. Who knows, maybe there will be some refunds a few days before the New Year..."

"Don't book tickets, don't go back this year."

I say this not only because I saw through the divination what would happen to Meng Chao according to the planned itinerary.

Also, at this moment, when I look at Meng Chao, I feel that his face is extremely gloomy.

I have a feeling that even if he changes his itinerary, something bad will still happen on his way home or when he gets home.

In the kitchen, Pidan whispered to me, "You're worried something might happen to him, so why don't you just tell him to go back another day? Given his family's current situation, wouldn't his parents be even more upset if he didn't go back?"

"Uncle Meng is a real man and can withstand pressure. If he goes back, who knows what might happen."

As I tidied up my things, I whispered, "You know Mengniu's temper. He doesn't know the situation at home yet. If he really goes back and the creditors come to collect debts, Uncle Meng can keep his temper in check, but can he? What if someone gets hurt, or even killed? Wouldn't that be even worse?"

Pidan came closer to me and said, "The diary that Jie Xiaohuan told me about is all true."

“It seems so at the moment.” I stopped and turned to look at her. “She suffered such a great injustice, and her family was in such a state. The key is those gossipy women… those bastards’ mouths were so vicious. We didn’t see the ending, but we all know what’s going on. Mengniu is straightforward and can’t handle such a blow.”

Pidan clenched his fists in anger again: "Sometimes killing doesn't necessarily require a knife; irresponsible words are even more terrifying."

(End of this chapter)