Chapter 49

When Qin Yuanzheng’s punch came flying, Song Jinping initially planned to dodge. Then he reconsidered, so many people were watching, and Meimei was nearby. Better to take the punch and prove that Qin Yuanzheng was nothing but a violent brute.
Sure enough, Qin Yuanzheng, enraged beyond restraint, landed a heavy blow to Song Jinping’s face. After a brief spell of dizziness, Song Jinping collapsed into the rice field.
Bai Xinmei, who had been waiting nearby, saw the commotion and frowned deeply. What madness had seized Qin Yuanzheng?
She hurried over and stopped his next move, supporting Song Jinping instead.
“Jinping, are you alright?”
Song Jinping leaned weakly against her shoulder, shaking his head.
“I’m fine… just a little dizzy. My vision’s going dark. I might need to rest for a while.”
He didn’t mention Qin Yuanzheng laying hands on him at all. Instead, he chose to retreat in order to advance, quietly talking about which parts of his body felt unwell. Bai Xinmei frowned with worry.
“Is there really nothing that can’t be talked through properly? Why resort to violence?”
Qin Yuanzheng, a career soldier who had spent years in the army, had never encountered such petty tricks. His face darkened as he let out a cold snort, thinking to himself: No wonder Meimei was tempted by him, this man truly has a slippery, calculating heart.
“You, forget it. I’ll take Comrade Song back to rest first.”
After taking a few steps, Bai Xinmei seemed to recall something. She turned back and said in a low, heavy voice,
“If you have too much energy to spare, you can go back to the army.”
For the first time, Qin Yuanzheng experienced what it meant to have anger with nowhere to vent.
Bai Xinmei escorted Song Jinping back to the educated youth compound to rest. Along the way, Song Jinping spoke in a gentle, tea-scented tone.
“This isn’t Brother Qin’s fault. I just happened to fall for someone I shouldn’t have. It’s a pity… she may not even like me. After all this entanglement, maybe you’ve grown tired of me too.”
With that, his expression dimmed, every inch the man trapped by love. Bai Xinmei felt an oppressive heaviness in her chest and even a twinge of pity. After all, from the very beginning, she had intended to use him. She had never imagined that, even knowing he was being used, he would still sink deeper and deeper.
That realization annoyed her to no end.
Her father had been a businessman. From childhood, she had been steeped in the belief that profit came first. After the Bai family fell, she had relied on past favors and her looks to keep Qin Yuanzheng firmly in hand.
As for Song Jinping… whether his feelings were real or false, she couldn’t tell. If not for the system, she might have already believed that this man was hopelessly devoted to her.
Unfortunately, the system had yet to announce a result. She couldn’t help but speculate, how much more was missing?
She silently helped Song Jinping tidy up his things, then returned to the Qin household. Qin Yuanzheng stood waiting at the gate, he had something to say. Bai Xinmei, however, showed clear signs of fatigue.
“Meimei, is there really nothing left for us to talk about except a divorce certificate? Why won’t you turn back and look at me?”
Qin Yuanzheng forced a bitter smile, helpless in the face of her coldness. Clearly husband and wife, yet four missing years had turned them into strangers.
Bai Xinmei sighed. “Yuanzheng, let’s get a divorce.”
She lowered her head and walked into the courtyard, only to be suddenly grabbed. Turning back, she saw Qin Yuanzheng’s face pale as paper, as if struck by a devastating blow. A flicker of reluctance rose in her heart. She sniffed softly.
“Yuanzheng, there’s no going back. I originally thought we could resolve this peacefully, but today you hit Jinping. That made me realize the problem is right here, dragging it out isn’t a solution.”
One mountain cannot hold two tigers. She had to decide quickly. Qin Yuanzheng, this prematurely dead cannon fodder who had inexplicably returned to life, needed to exit the stage as soon as possible.
“Actually, for the past four years, my salary has been issued together with the martyr’s compensation every month. I didn’t expect you to have lived so hard.”
Qin Yuanzheng explained through clenched restraint, holding back tears. He had thought of forcing her to stay, but in the end, he lost. He simply couldn’t bear the desolation in her eyes.
Compensation funds?
Those words made Bai Xinmei stop in her tracks. She narrowed her eyes, thinking hard, had she ever received compensation funds? No. Never. Back then, the town had only given some condolence money along with meat, grain, and ration tickets. After that, there had been nothing.
“Yuanzheng. Say that again.”
She asked again, seeking confirmation. Seeing her expression shift, Qin Yuanzheng realized that some of his suspicions might indeed be true. His face grew serious.
“I’ve never received any compensation money!”
Both of them were shocked.
Qin Yuanzheng had his guesses, but he hadn’t dared to think in this direction, the martyr’s compensation had never been issued? Bai Xinmei, unfamiliar with the inner workings, had simply assumed the condolence money had been the end of it.
Now, learning that compensation should have existed, she thought of the bitter, cabbage-like life she’d endured all these years, and anger surged instantly.
“After a soldier sacrifices himself, their family can receive a fixed amount of compensation each month. Because I knew you couldn’t endure hardship, I had my entire monthly salary included in that compensation. I… didn’t keep a single cent for myself.”
He hadn’t wanted to mention how tightly he’d lived, but after being schemed against by that Song fellow earlier that day, Qin Yuanzheng felt as if something had snapped open. He added a few strokes about his own hardships over the years.
If what Qin Yuanzheng said was true… then she truly couldn’t blame him.
Bai Xinmei looked at her scar-covered husband again, her heart aching slightly.
“Yuanzheng, I’m sorry. I didn’t know any of this…”
“It’s not your fault, Meimei.”
Qin Yuanzheng was gentle and considerate, not pressing the matter further.
“I was told it would be issued, yet you never received it. That means someone in the middle skimmed it.”
As he spoke, a sharp, dangerous glint flashed in his eyes. Toward his wife, he was endlessly accommodating, tender as water. Toward enemies, however, he never showed mercy, his methods were nothing short of thunderous.
Skimmed it?
“You’re saying someone took the money?”
The town government? It didn’t seem likely. The department head in charge visited often to offer condolences and seemed genuinely warm-hearted.
Had she misjudged him?
Seeing his wife deep in thought, Qin Yuanzheng felt a subtle sense of relief. If something else could occupy Meimei’s attention, that was a good thing, as long as she stopped bringing up divorce.
Still, he didn’t want her worrying too much. Qin Yuanzheng casually draped an arm over Bai Xinmei’s shoulders, pulling her into his embrace.
“I’ll have someone confirm things at the town office. I thought I’d arranged everything properly before I left, looks like I overestimated things…”
Bai Xinmei’s heart descended into chaos once more. At first, she’d thought it was Yuanzheng’s fault and had lashed out in resentment. Now, he was telling her that everything he’d done had been for her sake, he’d even planned her future and tried to clear her class background.
Only because of some lurking petty villain had she lived in such hardship.
She felt suffocated with grievance. She couldn’t blame Yuanzheng. Jinping… Jinping had been innocent to begin with. Could she blame herself? Impossible. She could never be wrong. She was simply pursuing a beautiful, happy life.
Bai Xinmei was utterly confused, completely unaware that Qin Yuanzheng had wrapped her in a possessive, domineering embrace.
The other Qin family members assumed the two had reconciled and that the ungrateful Song educated youth had been cleanly struck out.
About half a month later, Qin Yuanzheng uncovered some information.
The town government had indeed issued the compensation funds. That puzzled him greatly. There were even records showing that Bai Xinmei had gone to collect the money in that specific year and month.
Bai Xinmei had no memory of this whatsoever. Qin Yuanzheng respectfully brought her to check in person. Seeing her own name in the ledger, Bai Xinmei fumed.
“That’s not my handwriting at all!”
Qin Yuanzheng was already a field-grade officer, a senior military official. The town immediately took the matter seriously.
They re-examined the personnel involved. One clerk, with poor psychological resilience, cracked after several rounds of questioning and confessed what he knew.
Once a crack was opened, the rest followed easily.
“She never came. The one who collected the money was a middle-aged woman from Lotus Village, the village party secretary’s wife. She said this military wife was illiterate and asked her to collect it on her behalf, claiming she would hand it over after returning to the village.”
Of course, that was just the explanation. No one was stupid, this woman had come every single time. The clerks had noticed something was off long ago, but she was good at greasing palms, so they’d turned a blind eye.
As for why they turned a blind eye, there was nothing left to explain, it was money.
Qin Yuanzheng only requested that the department head handle the matter impartially. As for the village party secretary, he instructed them not to alert him yet.
Ever since hearing that Qin Yuanzheng had returned, Secretary Li’s family had been living in constant fear. For years, they had used Qin Yuanzheng’s compensation money to buy a house in the city and live an enviable life.
All of it had been built by sucking blood from Qin Yuanzheng’s “corpse.”
They even occasionally brought gifts to the Qin household, making the Qin family grateful, after all, the Qin family had been living in hardship.
Secretary Li’s reputation in the village was excellent. Whenever a household faced difficulties, he was always willing to lend a “helping hand.” In truth, it was all for appearances, part of his effort to be transferred to a town-level post. Otherwise, how could Lotus Village still be so poor after all these years?
The Li family hid at home, refusing to move, planning to deny everything if Qin Yuanzheng came knocking. After all, what proof existed that they’d taken the compensation? If it came down to his wife, they could always claim the clerks had mistaken her identity.
After hearing that Qin Yuanzheng had gone to town, they hid for another one or two months, yet no confrontation ever came. Could it be that the clerks hadn’t exposed them?
When the next compensation payout date arrived, the party secretary’s wife began to waver.
“He’s never come asking before. Qin Third is a big official now, maybe he doesn’t even care about such a small amount of money.”