The door was opened, and a woman in her thirties came out, in a pair of glasses and plain clothes, looking like Josh much.
“Miss Xu. Guests are coming to your home. Over there!” The kid pointed at Chase as he said to the woman.
The woman pushed up her glasses and peered at Chase and his fellows. They were not ordinary people and drove a luxurious car, the woman thought with caution.
“Hello, madam. Is there Josh Xu’s home?” Hale Song asked.
“You’re…” The woman was confused.
“We’re Josh’s colleagues. Is he at home?” Hale continued.
He could make sure that there was Josh’s home.
“Oh! You’re my brother’s colleagues. Please come in.” The women turned warm and welcomed them in the yard.
It was Josh’s second sister Rena Xu. Chase looked around the yard and found Josh’s family so poor. The house was broken and dangerous, made up of bricks and clay.
A pigpen made by thatch was in the corner of the yard, with two porkers in it, but so fleshless.
And also a chicken coop with only a few chooks in it.
A white-haired old man came out to the yard, thin and old enough, in a pair of reading glasses and an old-fashioned suit. He was holding a pen in his hand, looking like an old teacher.
It was Josh’s father, Justice Xu.
Justice used to be a teacher in this village’s school, and became the headmaster later because of the experience, but was slandered to be corrupt.
He had spent all family saving on proving his innocence, so Josh had to be enlisted because they were short of money to support his tuition.
But Josh was not a man of good temper. He had made enough mistakes to make his salary be taken out.
So they still lacked the money to repair the house.
Though Josh had been promoted to be the manager whose salary was more than fifteen thousand yuan per month, it was just two months passing.
“Father. They were Josh’s colleagues.” Rena said.
“Oh. Please come in.” Justice nodded and then welcomed them inside.
It was somehow bright inside, but still only a few old wooden furniture there, even without oil painting.
Chase and his fellows sat down without disdain.
Hale gave the gifts to Rena, making Rena excited. “Ah! You’re so polite.” Rena said.
“My old woman, come out to serve the honored guests!” Justice shouted to another room.
Josh’s mother was a rural woman in her fifties, who came out from the inner room, thin but spirited. She began to peer at Chase and his fellows as she saw the gifts in her daughter’s hands.
Soon Rena left to put the gifts. Chase found an indictment on the desk, half-written. He turned to look at the pen in Justice’s hand, curious. “Mr. Xu. You’re going to sue someone, right?”
“Yeah. My son has been slandered, so I have to sue those bastards.” Justice replied.
“Ah? Josh? Slandered? What’s going on?” Chase asked.
Justice was silent, so Chase had to move him. “I’m Josh’s boss. I come here because Josh has asked for a three-days leave but didn’t come back after one weak. I can’t contact him, so I come here to see what has happened. You have to trust me. As long as he was slandered, no matter how powerful a person he has offended, I can rescue him.”
Chase’s tone was firm. He could know from Justice’s word that Josh was already arrested.
“Boss? Can you really save my son?” Justice was hesitant, but Josh’s mother, Mae Du, couldn’t help but ask with expectation.
“I’m Chase Lu. You can call me Chase. As long as Josh was slandered, I can.” Chase nodded.
Mae and Justice were hesitant. At this time, Rena came out and pointed at the wall outside. “It was all because of this wall.”
Chase and his fellows turned to look outside. It was a new all made up by red bricks, inconsistent with Xu’s clay wall.
“You share the same wall with your neighbor, right?” Hale was also from the village, so he could finger out the problem right away.
It must be that two families shared the same wall, and the neighbor made a new wall cross the line, causing the argument between two families.
“Yes. Their new wall is beyond the mark. They are so unreasonable. We discuss it with them, but they beat my husband. My mother told Josh about this, so Josh came back to argue with them.
But they still wanted to beat Josh. Josh fought back, but it was a conspiracy set up by Tan’s family. Just as Tan’s two brothers fell down, the cops came in and took Josh.” Rena explained.
“They fought first, and Josh made a justifiable defense. And as soon as Josh was taken, the two brothers got up without any pain! It was totally a frame-up!” Mae said with worry.
She couldn’t feel more anger, but just worried about her son.
“So, where is Josh? In prison?” Hale asked.
“He is still in the local police station. He is wounded. I saw many wounds on his face yesterday.” Mae cried with worry.
Justice was also anxious. He took off the glasses as if he wanted to shouted, but finally, he sighed.
“Don’t worry. I’ll bring Josh back today, and then we handle this matter with Tan’s family.” Chase comforted them.