Su Wan lifted her gaze, a mocking smile curling at the corners of her lips.
“Bai Wei, if I had not given the points recorder post to you back then, do you honestly think with your delicate frail bodies you could have lived such a stable decent life these past five years?”
“How is it that your lives and your futures combined are not even worth three thousand yuan? Or are your lives naturally cheap? You have survived entirely on the charity of others and deep down you are nothing but lowly creatures unfit to show your faces in proper company!”
Bai Wei turned pale and flushed by turns under the stinging rebuke and could not utter a single word.
Lin Wenchuan looked dark and furious. He had never imagined the woman who had always been so gentle and yielding toward him could be so sharp tongued and cutting.
“Su Wan you certainly know how to drive a hard bargain. You have created this entire scene and now you demand three thousand yuan as compensation. You walk away completely clean and unharmed. When did you become so calculating!”
Calculating?
Su Wan gave a cold sneer. This was merely the beginning.
She had not even begun to settle the score over what he had done with her child four years ago!
If she had not been determined to proceed with caution she would never have let this shameless pair off so easily.
“Spare me your complaints. Will you agree or will you not? If you refuse I shall go to your workplace tomorrow and lay the whole matter before your superiors. Think of your bright future and think of Bai Wei’s unborn child. You had better consider this carefully before you answer!”
Lin Wenchuan’s eyes grew darker and more menacing. He was utterly opposed to this.
Three thousand yuan represented five or six years of his wages saved without spending a single cent on himself.
He had only just managed through some connections to put together a modest savings.
Su Wan was demanding he surrender everything and return to having nothing at all!
Yet he had no way out right now.
Refusal would only cost him far more.
Lin Wenchuan ground his teeth together. “Su Wan you win this round!”
Su Wan showed no emotion whatsoever as he finally gave in.
“Tomorrow I shall draw up a divorce agreement that includes all our guarantees and undertakings. You are to come with me to finalize the divorce proceedings the moment you receive the official introduction letter from your work unit. Now get out of my house both of you!”
Her house?
Lin Wenchuan was already seething with indignation and this remark made his anger boil over completely.
“Su Wan this house was allocated as resettlement housing for married educated youth and was approved in our names as a couple. I have as much right to this home as you do. On what grounds do you order me to leave?”
Su Wan gave a cold laugh. She stood up walked into the main room and picked up a large broom which she began swinging at both of them.
“Lin Wenchuan you do not work in the fields or earn work points for the production team. Your eligibility for resettlement housing was automatically revoked long ago!”
“And now you have disgraced yourself through adultery yet you still expect to stay here? You have a thicker hide than the bricks of the city wall! Will you leave or must I show you the door in a way you will regret!”
Bai Wei shrieked repeatedly as both of them were beaten steadily backward.
They retreated in pain and deep embarrassment.
Finally they fled the house shouting curses and looking thoroughly dishevelled.
Su Wan let out a long breath set the broom aside and went into the inner room.
She looked at the disordered bed and stripped off the sheets and covers carried them outside and set them alight.
The flickering flames illuminated her pale face and the faint reflection of her figure in the puddles nearby.
“I wasted five years of my life on someone who did not deserve it. They have gotten off far too lightly!”
Her voice was hoarse carrying both relief and deep hatred.
“There is no need to rush their downfall. The most urgent matter now is finding my child.”
Su Wan asked urgently. “You know where he is?”
“I do not!” The woman’s voice was thick with tears. “All I know is that when Bai Wei came to visit me in prison she taunted me on purpose. She told me the baby boy I gave birth to back then did not die. He was sold away!”
Su Wan felt as though a sharp blade had cut straight through her heart and blood flowed freely.
She remembered how the baby had been born prematurely.
Lin Wenchuan had made a special trip to another city saying he would buy supplies for her and the child.
The next day Bai Wei had come rushing to tell her Lin Wenchuan had been injured and was in hospital there.
She had been frantic with worry and persuaded by Bai Wei had set off for that other city even though she was heavily pregnant carrying a letter of introduction from the village committee.
Lin Wenchuan was fine yet she had been jostled in the crowd and gone into premature labour.
Looking back she felt certain this had all been carefully planned by Lin Wenchuan and Bai Wei.
They had arranged for her to give birth away from home.
With no family members by her side her child would have been entirely at their mercy!
Her poor baby had been so tiny and fragile at birth.
She had only caught a glimpse of him before he was taken away and sold!
“Su Wan you must go to that nurse who was there back then. She was Lin Wenchuan’s cousin. She must know where the child is now!”
The nurse from all those years ago!
Yes. If Lin Wenchuan had arranged the sale of the child that nurse must have been his accomplice!
A glimmer of hope shone in Su Wan’s eyes.
She was about to speak when a deep man’s voice came from behind her.
“Comrade Su Wan are you quite all right?”
Su Wan jumped at the sudden sound.
She spun around so quickly her footing slipped and she stumbled toward the fire.
“Watch out!”
Lu Lizhou reached out with his long arm and caught her firmly around the waist.
Su Wan found herself pressed against his strong solid chest.
She smelled the clean scent of pine and the unmistakable vigorous masculinity of a man.
Her heart beat wildly and she could not tell whether it was from fright or something else entirely.
“Are you unhurt?” Lu Lizhou asked with genuine concern.
“Commander Lu why do you walk so quietly?” Su Wan could not help chiding him.
“I apologize if I startled you.” Lu Lizhou released her without explaining he had actually called her twice.
She had been so lost in her own thoughts and muttering to herself she had not heard him.
“What brings you here?” Su Wan took a small step back keeping a proper respectful distance between them.
“I came to inform you those two thugs have broken out in severe red rashes all over their bodies and are in terrible agony. They have been taken to the brigade clinic.” Lu Lizhou studied her and noticed a faint smile touch the corners of her lips. He felt a quiet stir of admiration.
“Was this your doing?”
“They brought it entirely upon themselves.” Su Wan did not deny it.
Lu Lizhou continued watching her with growing respect in his eyes.
On his way there he had met several villagers and heard everything that had happened between her and Lin Wenchuan.
No wonder she had hidden in the reed marsh instead of showing herself immediately. She had been holding something back all along.
Most women would have crumbled in tears and despair betrayed by their own husband yet she had remained calm and struck back with devastating precision.
Lin Wenchuan was clearly not worthy of such an intelligent courageous and resourceful woman.
“Commander Lu I am going to the clinic now.” Su Wan locked her door swung onto her bicycle and rode off.
Lu Lizhou gave a quiet reply mounted his sturdy military bicycle and followed behind her.
They arrived at the clinic one after the other.
From inside they could hear the two men wailing in pain.
They were held firmly by two security patrol officers scratching frantically at their faces necks and arms until the skin was raw and bleeding.
Su Wan looked at them coldly without the slightest trace of pity.
She walked up to the taller of the two men and spoke. “If you want the itching to stop tell me who paid you to harm me tonight.”
“No one sent us. We were just passing through and made a terrible mistake.” The man was in unbearable pain yet he refused to speak.
He had been paid a large sum of money and promised he would never name anyone even if they were caught.
Besides Su Wan had come to no harm. They would be detained for a few days at most and could return to collect more money once released.
Su Wan looked at him with cold knowing eyes. She understood exactly what he was hoping for.
She did not press him further instead asking a different question.
“Then answer me this. Who was the man that saved me five years ago!”