Chapter 1736 — The Supermarket Thief

"With the little courage he has..." An Jianwen curled his lip. "Fine, so he's a coward — but he's not much for brains either. I can't imagine why the Fire Wolf Gang even agreed to take him back."

"He did make no small contribution to the Fire Wolf Gang in the past — though naturally, far less than yours," An Mingyue said. "Of course they're only letting him come back to work so as not to bruise his feelings. As for assistants, they certainly won't assign him anyone formidable."

"I think he means to contest my position as the future head of the An family," An Jianwen said, as though he had seen clean through An Jiande's mind.

"He's the elder brother, so it's hardly surprising he'd harbor such ideas," An Mingyue said. "But you needn't concern yourself with him. Just see to your own affairs. The Fire Wolf Gang are no fools — they know who the more capable man is."

"I understand." An Jianwen nodded. "I was only speaking offhandedly. Let him make what he will of it."

Wei Zhao drove to the supermarket. In the parking lot he spotted Gu Mengyao's Audi S5 and pulled in beside it, then went inside.

Wei Zhao had a gift for finding people, so it took him no time at all to locate Tang Yun and the others in the supermarket, busy selecting Erguotou.

"Yunyun, you don't need to buy this much, do you?" Seeing two cases of Erguotou in the shopping cart, Wei Zhao was caught between laughter and tears. "They sell it in the village too, you know. This is just a token of your regard — one case is plenty!"

As he spoke, he put one case back.

"Is that so? I thought I'd buy a little extra..." Tang Yun said, a touch embarrassed.

"Have you finished your shopping?" Wei Zhao asked.

"Mm, more or less!" Gu Mengyao gestured toward Wu Chengtian, who was pushing two fully laden carts behind her. "We've bought everything we need..."

Wei Zhao glanced over. Wu Chengtian was pushing a cart with each hand — thank goodness the man was a cultivator; an ordinary person would have struggled with even one. How Gu Mengyao and the others had stacked it all, he couldn't imagine; the goods in those carts were piled up like small mountains.

"It's only a trip, no need to be so extravagant, is there?" Wei Zhao said, somewhat helplessly. "Come on, let's go pay..."

"Thief! There's a thief!" Just as Wei Zhao and the others were about to head for the checkout, Shen Yushu suddenly pointed at a young pregnant woman not far away and cried out, "She's a thief — she stole two bottles of red wine!"

Wei Zhao frowned. This was the sort of business he had no wish to meddle in; the supermarket's security guards could deal with it. Besides, Yu Xiaoke was a thief herself, and who knew what unspeakable hardship this pregnant woman might be facing. So Wei Zhao was content to leave such trifles alone.

But with Shen Yushu crying out as she had, the matter could no longer be ignored — for the shoppers all around had turned to look where Shen Yushu was pointing, and the supermarket's guards, hearing the shout, came running over as well.

"Xiaoshu, is she really a thief? Are you sure you saw it clearly?" Gu Mengyao was a righteous sort herself, but seeing that the thief was a pregnant woman, she hesitated. A pregnant woman reduced to stealing — might she not be in some difficulty?

"Where's the thief? Who's the thief?" By now the mall's guards had hurried over as well, demanding of the onlookers.

No one answered, but every eye turned toward the young pregnant woman standing near the wine racks. They were all here for the spectacle, and none of them had witnessed the theft itself, so naturally none would speak out of turn.

"It's her — I saw her steal two bottles of liquor!" Shen Yushu said, pointing at the pregnant woman.

The guard frowned. Thieves who were pregnant women were the biggest headache of all, and the ones they least knew how to handle. If by some carelessness something went wrong, the whole thing would blow up — and at worst they'd not only lose their jobs but have to pay compensation as well.

So the guard in charge was cautious. He said to the others, "Don't let her leave. I'll call the police at once!"

But before his subordinates could even reply, the pregnant woman turned to go!

"Ma'am... you can't leave yet... please wait a moment, just until the ** arrive and sort this out, all right?" one of the guards said, stepping carefully into her path.

"And why shouldn't I leave? Why? Just because she says I'm a thief?" The pregnant woman grew angry and pointed at Shen Yushu. "Then I say she's the thief! Look at me — all I've got on me is this one little handbag. Where would I even hide stolen goods?"

"That..." The guard was left speechless by her retort, at a loss for what to do.

"Ow — my belly hurts!" The pregnant woman suddenly clutched her abdomen. "Is this how your supermarket treats a pregnant woman? I need to get to the hospital — out of my way, quickly!"

"That..." The guard looked helplessly at the chief of security.

The chief, equally at a loss, looked toward Shen Yushu. If goods really had gone missing from this supermarket and he let the suspect walk, the boss would certainly hold him to account; but if he kept her here and something happened, that would be trouble too.

And then there were the price tags on the fine liquors on the racks behind her — all reckoned in the tens of thousands. If she really had made off with them, he couldn't answer for the loss either.

"She's pregnant, all right — pregnant with two bottles of liquor!" Shen Yushu said, pointing at the woman.

"Pfft..." Everyone present nearly burst out laughing at Shen Yushu's words. So the pregnancy was a sham — she'd hidden the liquor in her belly! No wonder she'd been so confident that she had nothing on her but a little handbag. Now it all made sense!

"Ma'am, would you open your clothes and let us have a look?" Hearing Shen Yushu's words, the chief of security actually calmed down. An ordinary person, unless certain, wouldn't have sworn to it so confidently.

"Ah — my belly, it's killing me..." The pregnant woman dropped to the floor at once, both hands pressed to her abdomen, and began to scream.

"Wife! Wife, what's wrong?" At that moment a man with a scarred face came pushing through the crowd, shoved the chief of security aside, and caught up the woman lying on the floor. Then he turned and bellowed at the chief, "My wife needs to be taken to the hospital this instant! I'll sue your supermarket! If anything happens to my wife, I'll have you charged with murder!"

"What?" The chief of security hadn't expected the pregnant woman's husband to appear, still less to hear such threats, and he hesitated again. His was no easy job — caught between the boss and the customers, squeezed from both sides — so when he heard the man carry on like that, he began to back down.

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