Chapter 52

Tch. Hearing the answer he wanted, the man finally seemed satisfied and released him.
The village secretary was already past fifty. After being choked like that, he nearly lost half his life. His breathing wheezed like a bellows as he coughed for a long while. He didn’t dare ask who the man was, only that he had a grudge against the Qin family’s boy.
“I’ll stay here for a while.”
“Yes, yes.”
“So the village secretary just gets away with it?”
Under the blazing midsummer sun, Bai Xinmei cradled a watermelon, eating happily as she asked. She felt that although it was the village secretary’s wife who had falsely collected and embezzled the pension, there was no way the village secretary himself knew nothing about it.
She recalled that day when the village secretary carried big bags to the Qin household, crying with snot and tears, saying he truly hadn’t known his wife would do something so immoral. He pitifully asked how much money his wife had taken from the Qin family, he would repay it.
As he spoke, he dug out a wad of large-denomination bills from the pockets of his worn Zhongshan suit, riddled with holes.
It looked sincere enough. But compared to four years’ worth of pension money, it was barely a drop in the bucket.
He’d thought it through nicely, first pretending innocence to absolve himself, then blaming his wife’s greed while claiming she had no bad intentions. After all, the money had ultimately gone toward village construction, and his own family only kept that little wad of cash.
Mixed in with the bills were quite a few one-mao and five-fen notes, making him seem unbearably guilty, as if he wanted to empty his entire household to make amends to the Qin family.
And when the village secretary mentioned that the money had mostly been used for village construction, the villagers who had come just to watch the drama immediately changed their expressions.
Thinking about it, it made sense. The village secretary really did hand out meat coupons and grain coupons on a regular basis. Whenever a household was in trouble, he’d lend a helping hand. He was a warm-hearted “good man” through and through, and the villagers trusted him deeply.
So it turned out he’d used Qin Yuanzheng’s compensation money. Once that realization hit, everyone’s expressions became hard to read, because if you really counted it up, it meant every single one of them had, in some way, spent Qin Yuanzheng’s compensation.
Now that the village secretary’s wife had been arrested by the police, what about the others who had used that compensation money… how were they supposed to deal with that?
Faces all around darkened. They saw the village secretary bowing and scraping before Qin Yuanzheng, even pulling out such a thick stack of cash, yet Qin Yuanzheng still hadn’t given a clear word that the matter was over.
A few quick-witted ones stepped forward first.
“Brother Yuanzheng, this is just a small token from me. I really didn’t know there was something like this behind it.”
“Yes, yes, this is mine too.”
“And mine…”
Qin Yuanzheng swept them with a cold glance. He noticed that although most people were saying they wanted to offer compensation, there was an undercurrent of resentment beneath it all. They were probably already harboring grudges against his family. He himself would return to the army sooner or later, but his parents, his two older brothers… they would still have to keep living in Lotus Village. This place was their root.
He hadn’t expected the matter to stir up public anger like this, much less that the village secretary’s methods would be so ruthless, pushing him onto the opposite side of the masses, roasting him over an open fire.
How could he possibly accept this money? Bai Xinmei was also completely stunned by the scene. How had things suddenly turned into everyone pulling out money for her husband?
Her beautiful eyes, carrying the same innocent confusion as her daughter’s, blinked as she looked at Qin Yuanzheng, clearly asking: What is going on?
Especially since a few people had already stuffed money into her hands.
Song Jinping stood not far away beneath a leafy elm tree, arms crossed, watching the commotion with tightly furrowed brows. These villagers had been used. The masses were kind-hearted, but also easily swayed and incited.
He couldn’t help sneering inwardly, how could Qin Yuanzheng be this useless, letting people bully him right to his doorstep?
Still, this was for the best. It would let Meimei see clearly what kind of man this was, flashy on the outside, useless on the inside.
The tall man hurriedly stepped in front of his wife, blocking her, and put on a polite, official smile.
“What are you saying? I, Qin Yuanzheng, am a soldier. These past few years, my disappearance was due to carrying out a secret mission. The reason I pursued this matter is that the compensation money originally belonged to the state and should never have been claimed. But since it’s already been used for rural construction, then it was put to good use.”
“Since that’s the case, I’ll submit a report stating that this money was used to develop Lotus Village.”
At these words, quite a few people showed looks of relief. These were hard times to begin with, food and clothing were scarce. Some of those who had received help from the village secretary were already barely holding their households together. Forcing out money now meant that when spring came next year, they might not even have money left to buy seeds.
So when Qin Yuanzheng promised not to recover the money that had already been distributed, the villagers, who had been on the verge of turning hostile, suddenly became agreeable again.
Seeing that stirring up the crowd hadn’t worked, and that he couldn’t walk away with nothing, the village secretary tried to take advantage of the moment and stuff the pile of cash he’d taken out back into his pocket.
Qin Yuanzheng didn’t miss the move.
“Uncle Li, actually, part of my own wages were mixed into that compensation and distributed together. Meimei hasn’t had it easy these past few years. I know you didn’t know about what Auntie did, but she did take that money, and spent a large portion of it on your own household…”
With Qin Yuanzheng putting it like that, how could the village secretary still have the nerve to take the money back? He gave an awkward laugh.
“Oh my, this old uncle really got muddled. I’ve only been thinking about how tight things have been at home lately and forgot that woman did buy quite a bit of food and drink.”
“Milk candies, peach pastries, rice cakes, they aren’t cheap, Uncle Li. I’ve looked at the supply store’s account records. Auntie bought them often enough that even the clerks recognize her.”
Seeing Qin Yuanzheng still pressing step by step, the village secretary knew there was no easy way out. He said that even if he had to sell off all the chickens and ducks at home, he’d scrape together the money and asked Qin Yuanzheng to rest assured.
Bai Xinmei felt this made their family look excessively harsh. She tugged at Qin Yuanzheng’s sleeve, signaling him to stop, it was enough for today.
Who couldn’t see it? The third son of the Qin family was clearly avenging his wife. And when you thought about it, if the village secretary’s family hadn’t falsely claimed that compensation money over the past few years, his wife’s life would’ve been fairly comfortable.
Qin Yuanzheng patted the back of her fair hand, telling her not to worry, he could handle it.
“Forget it, Uncle Li. This amount is enough. Consider the rest a bit of filial respect from me, your nephew.”
With that single word, filial respect, he left the village secretary humiliated, stripped of both face and substance.
With this exchange, Qin Yuanzheng had preserved righteousness while punishing the village secretary. After today, his prestige in Lotus Village was bound to plummet.
What a pity… he hadn’t ended up like his wife, going straight to prison.
The village secretary was a ruthless one. Even after being handled like this, he still smiled warmly. Anyone with a bit of sense watching the scene felt a chill down their spine.
He was like a smiling tiger.
After all the commotion, the village secretary waved his hand and said he’d head back first, even declaring he’d write a self-criticism to reflect on his dereliction of duty.
Since he loved putting on a show, Qin Yuanzheng naturally played along.
“Uncle Li, you’re being too strict with yourself. You were only kept in the dark, it’s really not necessary to make a public self-criticism in the village.”
Those words made the village secretary’s departing figure stumble. That Qin family’s third brat!
The face no one could see was twisted with malice, inverted triangular eyes flashing with vicious light.
Brat, thinking that just because you did well in the army you can come swaggering in front of Li Fuquan. Looks like the one who showed up at his house wasn’t some unlucky disaster star after all, it was a blade heaven sent to kill Qin Yuanzheng.
Let’s see how many days he can stay arrogant.
Seeing the farce come to an end, Song Jinping didn’t linger either.
Bai Xinmei spotted that familiar back among the crowd again, he was still paying attention to her… and she couldn’t help feeling lost.
Song Jinping must be disappointed in her. But she really had planned to divorce Yuanzheng.
That night, Bai Xinmei tossed and turned, unable to sleep. For the first time in her life, she felt deeply guilty, as if she couldn’t do anything right.
No, she had to go tell Song Jinping. She had already made her choice. She had already told Yuanzheng that she wanted a divorce.
Perhaps it was because she’d thought too much in the middle of the night, but she ended up completely sleepless.
The next day, with dark circles under her eyes, she ran to the educated youth compound to find Song Jinping, wanting to explain everything, only to be told he wasn’t there.
“Then where did he go?”
Educated Youth Zhang, who lived with him, shook his head. Another educated youth said they’d seen him go out with a female educated youth.
A female educated youth? Bai Xinmei’s first reaction was disbelief, how could Song Jinping treat her like this, that flirtatious man! A sour, indescribable feeling welled up in her heart. It was such a strange sensation.
Fuming, she ran toward the address the educated youth had mentioned.
In the end, she found Song Jinping on a muddy path. He was wearing a white shirt and gray slacks, looking spirited and handsome, sitting on a grain stack by the road, gazing out at the golden wheat fields in the distance.
Without thinking, Bai Xinmei blurted out,
“Song Jinping, what are you doing here?”
“Enjoying the scenery.”
He lowered his head to look at her, phoenix eyes smiling, like a worldly romantic.
“Who knows who you’re having a moonlit rendezvous with. Why not wait until the moon rises over the willow branches? Wouldn’t that be more elegant?”
“Meimei…”
“What?!”
“I’m starting to think you’re jealous.”
Song Jinping suddenly withdrew his gaze from her and leaned back lazily, utterly carefree.
Right, what was she doing, looking so full of jealousy? Bai Xinmei snapped back to her senses and began examining herself.
But then she thought of that educated youth from earlier. This guy had gone off on an outing with that female educated youth who’d liked him for ages, how comfortable.
Even if she liked him, she wouldn’t admit it now! Like a civet whose tail had been stepped on, she bared her claws to cover her panic.
“Hah, you’re overthinking it. I wouldn’t be jealous of you. If I were going to be jealous, it’d be of Yuanzheng.”
Song Jinping laughed and suddenly asked,
“Do you know why I like coming here?”
“Why?”
He tilted his head, looking at her seriously, word by word.
“The first time I met you was right here. You may have forgotten, but I haven’t. Back then, you didn’t have a husband.”