Xia Mian explained, “I’m going to give the Huang family another call. I need them to handle Zhang Qiming’s dirty schemes, but using the landline might make them suspicious, so I want to borrow your mobile phone.”
Ning Shaobai handed her the phone, “Are you planning to release Huang Xiaojuan?”
“Do you think I want to?” Xia Mian sighed. “But we need to make a deal. Right now, the most important thing is to transfer Xiao Feng’s household registration.” Immediately, she added with a sly smile, “If the theft charge doesn’t stick, there is still the abuse. That one hasn’t been formally filed. One way or another, she won’t stay free for long.”
Considering Xia Mian’s temperament, Ning Shaobai did think that she wouldn’t easily let Huang Xiaojuan off the hook, but…
“Even if the household registration is transferred, Zhang Qiming is still Xiao Feng’s guardian,” he reminded her.
“But can he actually be a guardian?” Xia Mian grinned mischievously. “If we can get Xiao Feng’s household registration, we’ll go to Yan City. He won’t be able to reach us for at least three to five years, and by then I’ll be an adult. I’ll have more options to deal with the guardianship problem.”
“Yan City…” Ning Shaobai repeated. “Why Yan City?”
“Mingxi County is too close. He could find us easily,” Xia Mian explained. “And you and Sister Ning are in Yan City, aren’t you? It’s time for you to repay your debt.”
Ning Shaobai was speechless at her straightforwardness. “How exactly do you expect me to repay this debt?”
“It’s not much trouble,” Xia Mian said. “Just help us find a place to live and a school.”
“Don’t worry about the rest,” Xia Mian glanced around and lowered her voice mysteriously. “We have plenty of money. Problems that can be solved with money aren’t really problems. So don’t worry.”
“…” Ning Shaobai didn’t know what to say. Relying on just over thirty thousand in the savings account? This girl was too naïve.
But in fact, it was Ning Shaobai who underestimated her. Xia Mian’s plan was even more meticulous. “If we buy a house in Yan City, we can get a household registration there, right? Xiao Feng and I can get registered and change our names. Once Xiao Feng grew up and became famous, maybe only then will Zhang Qiming finally find us.”
Seeing Ning Shaobai’s speechless expression, Xia Mian thought that he was concerned about how she didn’t thoroughly handle the Zhang family. “Of course I won’t just wait passively. Xiao Feng is at a crucial stage of his growth, so the priority is to provide him with a stable environment.”
“Once our lives settle down, I’ll definitely find a way to deal with Zhang Qiming once and for all.” She paused, “Do you know any good lawyers? Introduce one to me.”
“You plan to start with the abuse.”
“Yes,” Xia Mian said. “Abusive parents can lose custody rights over their children. Zhang Qiming might try to shift the blame to Huang Xiaojuan, but they live under the same roof. How could he not know? Parents who severely neglect their children and allow them to be harmed are also abusers.”
Xia Mian suddenly grinned wickedly. “I even made him write a guarantee this time, which is indirect evidence of his abuse! Combined with Huang Xiaojuan’s criminal record, it’s enough to make a case.”
“At least, even if we can’t win the lawsuit quickly, having such a case on record will be a deterrent for them.”
Knowing Xia Mian had thought of everything, Ning Shaobai raised an eyebrow in surprise.
Xia Mian snorted coldly, “Think they can do evil and get away unscathed? Once Xiao Feng’s registration is transferred, they’ll face more consequences!”
You’d think she was reckless, but she had considered everything—truly an unusual girl. Ning Shaobai thought for a moment and reminded her, “You could also start with your sister’s compensation.”
“Huh?” Xia Mian was stunned.？”
Ning Shaobai asked, “Is the 40,000 to 50,000 yuan compensation you mentioned real?”
Xia Mian nodded, “It’s undoubtedly real.”
Ning Shaobai’s next words sent a chill down Xia Mian’s spine: “Ordinary car accidents don’t result in such high compensation. By Ming City’s standards, 10,000 to 20,000 yuan would be the maximum. Four years ago, there was only one possibility of huge compensation exceeding 30,000 yuan.”
Xia Mian blurted out, “Accidental insurance!”
Ning Shaobai realized this girl indeed knew a lot. In the 1990s, insurance was still in a difficult phase of promotion, and ordinary people had no concept of buying insurance. Ning Shaobai knew about it because he had returned from abroad, and wealthy people generally had a slightly better awareness of insurance.
As for Xia Mian, she knew about it because she was from the future, and her understanding of insurance was ahead of even the rich in this era. Within the next couple of decades, insurance would become a common thing, leading to a simultaneous increase in insurance fraud.
In numerous insurance fraud cases, accidental insurance often played a role, because accidental insurance had a short term but offered substantial compensation. If Zhang Qiming was indeed committing insurance fraud, then Xia Chun…
Xia Mian felt a chill run down her spine.
Ning Shaobai originally intended to just remind her to pay attention to Zhang Qiming’s usual behavior, but he didn’t expect Xia Mian to immediately hit the key point. Although he was a bit surprised, seeing her somewhat scared, Ning Shaobai spoke in an uncharacteristically gentle tone, “This is just a hypothesis and a possible breakthrough point. You can observe his behavior for any abnormalities.”
“No, this might be real.” Xia Mian’s voice trembled. She was not afraid of ordinary fights, but ultimately, even a little angel was just an ordinary girl. Knowing she might be living under the same roof as a cold-blooded murderer made her understandably terrified.
She had never thought in this direction because she hadn’t yet adapted to the financial concepts of this era. To her, forty to fifty thousand yuan seemed like two months’ pocket money. So even though others were amazed, she didn’t consider the number to be significant.
After Ning Shaobai’s reminder, however, Xia Mian started to connect the dots of many strange things about Zhang Qiming and Huang Xiaojuan. “Whenever compensation was mentioned, they would vehemently deny it. At first, I thought they just didn’t want to show off their wealth… but Huang Xiaojuan was clearly desperate to avoid the topic.”
“And Zhang Qiming, I was always puzzled by his attitude towards Xiao Feng. Although there is a saying that fathers become stepfathers when there are stepmothers, that’s when the father wants to avoid a conflict with the stepmother. But Zhang Qiming is clearly in charge at home.”
“Zhang Qiming clearly knows Xiao Feng is his son, so why did he tolerate Huang Xiaojuan’s abuse? From what I see, he seems to want the boy dead.”
“If he is responsible for my sister’s death, then for Xiao Feng, he becomes an enemy who took away his mother’s life. Of course Zhang Qiming couldn’t tolerate the child. In that case, everything makes sense…” Xia Mian’s mind raced, trying to connect as many clues as possible: “His close friend Gao Yongfeng sells insurance. Now that I think about it, their relationship got closer around the time he married my sister…”
Xia Mian grabbed Ning Shaobai’s wrist and asked, “If he bought insurance for my sister, it must be years ago. Can we still find the records?” During this period, computers were not yet prevalent, so records generally were kept as paper documents that were frequently misplaced or discarded.
Ning Shaobai had lost count of how many times he was surprised today. The cool touch and slight trembling of the small hand on his wrist indicated the fear of the girl in front of him. Yet, her first thought wasn’t to flee, but to seek the truth.
“Not sure,” He answered honestly. “I’ll find someone to check it for you.”
“Thank you.” Xia Mian took a deep breath. “I’m sure that Huang Xiaojuan knows about this.”
“So, let her out first!” Xia Mian exhaled slowly to calm herself and her gaze became resolute. “She’s more likely to slip up than Zhang Qiming!”
“As for Zhang Qiming,” Xia Mian clenched her fists and gritted her teeth, “no matter how deep his scheming, when the things he values most are destroyed, I don’t believe he can keep his facade!!”
“What do you plan to do?” Ning Shaobai pondered. If necessary, he wouldn’t mind helping.
But Xia Mian crossed her arms and said in a scared tone, “I’ll leave that to others. I’ll just observe from the shadows. After all, I’m still a child.”
Ning Shaobai: “…”
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