Chapter 97: The Tenants of Taoyang Who Unconditionally Trust Boss Su
Ma Ying instantly sobered up, her guard up. “What are you all doing?”
A tenant retorted unceremoniously, “What else? Catching a thief!”
Ma Ying was completely confused at first but quickly realized what they meant and snapped back, “What nonsense are you accusing me of?”
Just as she finished speaking, Grandma Cen huffed and squeezed into the house, rushing toward the balcony. Sure enough, hanging from a hook on Ma Ying’s balcony was the missing slab of pork ribs.
Caught red-handed! Irrefutable evidence!
Right then, their temporary cleaner, Aunt Ren, was standing nearby.
Grandma Cen, fuming, demanded, “Tell us, where did these pork ribs come from?”
Looking honest and simple, Aunt Ren blushed and lowered her head. “The homeowners brought it back. I don’t know anything about it.”
This statement only solidified the accusations against Ma Ying and her husband. The crowd erupted in anger, many tenants ready to storm into her home to search for their missing belongings.
Ma Ying, still standing at the doorway, was initially shocked. She glanced around, suddenly realizing the situation. Her emotions turned to fury and desperation as she tried to explain loudly, “I didn’t take your stuff! It was all Ren Shan!”
Immediately, Ren Shan put on a pitiful, wronged expression, looking as if she was about to cry.
“Miss Ma, we’ve had a working relationship, but you can’t throw dirt on me like this! Tell me, ever since I started working here, have you ever lost anything?”
How would Ma Ying know?
She was always tossing things around randomly—if she found them, she used them; if she didn’t, she just moved on. Otherwise, her home wouldn’t have become such a mess.
For a moment, she was speechless, unable to come up with a response.
This reaction only made Ren Shan’s words seem even more convincing. The tenants now firmly believed that Ma Ying was bullying the honest cleaning lady, trying to shift the blame onto someone else to clear her name.
Wiping away tears, Ren Shan sniffled, “Miss Ma, if you can’t tolerate me, I’ll leave today.”
She slung her bag over her shoulder and prepared to leave.
Ma Ying was so furious that her lips trembled, unable to speak.
Su Tao strode forward in two steps, grabbed Ren Shan’s backpack, and coldly said, “Who said you could leave?”
Ren Shan recognized Su Tao and was startled. Guilt flashed in her eyes, but she quickly twisted the narrative.
“Boss Su doesn’t want me to leave? Do you believe what Miss Ma said? Well, it makes sense—you’d naturally side with the tenants since I’m not one of them…”
Su Tao impatiently cut her off, “Save me the nonsense. You have two minutes to decide: either compensate for everything you stole at equal value, or return all of it. I’m starting the countdown now.”
Her words caused an uproar.
So Ma Ying wasn’t the thief? The supposedly honest-looking cleaning lady was?
The tenants immediately surrounded them. Grandma Cen, who unconditionally trusted Su Tao, switched sides without hesitation and apologized to Ma Ying on the spot.
“Little sister, I’m so sorry! It was my fault for jumping to conclusions. I’ll make you braised pork ribs tonight as an apology!”
The other tenants also apologized.
Boss Su was a reliable person—she never made baseless accusations. If she said it, it had to be true.
The thief had to be Ren Shan.
Ma Ying, still in shock, gave a stiff nod. When she looked at Su Tao again, her gaze was filled with gratitude.
Ren Shan was stunned for a moment, then suddenly burst into loud sobs.
“You people from Taoyang are so unfair to outsiders! I’ve never stolen anything! If you don’t believe me, look!”
She unzipped her bag and dumped everything out.
Cleaning supplies. Nothing that belonged to the tenants.
But Grandma Cen, having already decided Ren Shan was the thief, was suspicious of her every move. She scoffed, “Only an idiot would put stolen goods in their own bag! Who knows where you hid them? Besides, when I rushed onto the balcony just now, you were standing right there! Miss Ma had clearly just woken up. If it wasn’t you, then who?”
Su Tao checked the time and gestured to two tall tenants.
“Time’s up. You two, help me tie her up and take her to my office.”
Ren Shan panicked and tried to run, but she was quickly caught and dragged away.
Su Tao connected her computer and pulled up the surveillance footage of Ren Shan stealing the pork ribs. She played it in front of her three times.
“See clearly now? Still think you can talk your way out of this?”
Ren Shan was terrified into silence. At the same time, she was puzzled—wasn’t Taoyang supposed to have no security cameras? When did they get installed?
If she’d known, she never would have stolen anything!
She was doomed.
Su Tao said coolly, “I gave you a choice earlier, but you didn’t take it.”
Ren Shan panicked. “I’ll return everything! Except for the food—I already ate it. The rest is under Ma Ying’s bed. If you don’t believe me, check!”
She had originally planned to sell the stolen goods, but she hadn’t had the chance before getting caught.
Su Tao ignored her and turned to Zhuang Wan.
“Hand her over to Aunt Qi. Make her deep-clean every tenant’s bathroom for free. No food, no water, no sleep—she works nonstop until she’s about to collapse. Then, and only then, she can go.”
Ren Shan was stunned. This was even an option?!
Aunt Qi arrived quickly and, without a word, dragged Ren Shan away.
She also brought three more cleaning ladies to Ma Ying’s apartment to retrieve the stolen goods and return them to their rightful owners.
After everything settled down, Zhuang Wan crossed her arms and said, “If it weren’t for the security cameras, she would’ve kept denying everything. Ma Ying is so clueless—if someone stole her entire house, she wouldn’t notice until she woke up and realized there was no ceiling above her head.”
Su Tao rubbed her forehead. “Both she and her husband are hopeless. We’ll have Aunt Qi find them a trustworthy housekeeper.”
Zhuang Wan leaned in. “By the way, when did you install the cameras? Perfect timing—any later, and Aunt Cen’s entire pantry would’ve been emptied. Ren Shan had no conscience at all, stealing from the same person over and over.”
Su Tao chuckled. “Last night. Covered almost every blind spot. Didn’t expect she’d be bold enough to steal again the very next day.”
Zhuang Wan exhaled in relief. “At least now we don’t have to worry about thieves anymore. This whole thing was such a headache.”
For the entire day, Ren Shan went from apartment to apartment, apologizing and scrubbing toilets under Aunt Qi’s watchful eye. She didn’t dare slack off—not even for a second. She even cleaned the tiniest corners of the toilets spotless.
Taoyang’s official photographer, Fan Chuanhui, found the whole ordeal amusing and documented everything, ensuring that Ren Shan’s embarrassment was immortalized.
The tenants got their belongings back and free deep-cleaned bathrooms. Any lingering resentment vanished, and they all came to thank Su Tao. Some even wrote apology letters and slipped them under Ma Ying’s door.
Of course, Ma Ying never saw them.
She probably mistook them for random scraps of paper she had tossed aside and never gave them a second glance.
She was so absentminded that once the misunderstanding was cleared up, she went straight to sleep, forgetting about the entire ordeal.
Su Tao was also about to rest when her communicator suddenly rang.
Seeing the annoying number on the screen, she hesitated before answering.
“Boss Gu, it’s late at night, and your business partner is trying to sleep. Can this wait until tomorrow?”
The person on the other end paused, as if actually checking the time. After a moment, they said, “Then I’ll call you tomorrow.”
