After hearing the entire story, Lan Sisi felt that the term “scumbag” was no longer sufficient to describe Zhao Fugui. He was practically the ultimate fighter jet among scumbags. This man was shameless to the extreme, completely refreshing her understanding of how low someone could go.
While they were still talking, Lan Sinian returned with an ox cart. Lin Ruihai stepped forward, carried Hong Xiulian onto his back, and placed her onto the tractor. A thick layer of cotton quilts had already been laid out on it in advance.
They quickly arrived at the town, and Hong Xiulian was sent into the town hospital. The fever had lasted too long, and her lungs had already developed serious complications. If they had delayed any longer, she might truly not have survived.
The doctor asked the family to pay the fees. Zhao Laidi showed a look of embarrassment, but Lan Sisi directly took out one hundred yuan and told her to go pay. Zhao Laidi hesitated for a moment, but in the end, she still went.
After emergency treatment, Hong Xiulian was no longer in danger. Zhao Laidi collapsed onto the ground and finally burst into loud sobs.
Lan Sisi’s eyes reddened as well. No matter how mature she was, Zhao Laidi was still just a fourteen-year-old child. Zhao Fugui had truly committed a grave wrongdoing.
Hong Xiulian was transferred into a ward. Zhao Laidi sat beside her, holding her hand, her eyes swollen badly.
Lan Sisi took out another ten yuan and handed it to Lan Sinian, asking him to buy some food. Since it was the first day of the New Year, many shops in town were not open. Lan Sinian only managed to buy a dozen or so large meat buns, wrapped in an oil paper bag, and brought them back.
Lan Sisi handed two buns to Zhao Laidi. “Eat. You still have to keep watch tonight. Without food, you will not have the strength.”
“Thank you, Sister Sisi,” Zhao Laidi said. At this point, she no longer struggled with it. The favor had already been accepted, and she would repay it with all her effort in the future.
Seeing that Hong Xiulian had been settled, Lan Sisi and the others prepared to leave and return the next day. Just in case, she left another one hundred yuan with Zhao Laidi. Zhao Laidi clutched the money tightly and watched them leave.
“Old Li, help me think of something. The factory needs delivery on the sixth day of the New Year. Tell me, where am I supposed to get so many vegetables during the holiday? One thousand jin of each kind. They are clearly trying to pull me down from my position as head of procurement. I am so worried I am falling ill,” a middle-aged man said near the hospital entrance, his IV needle freshly removed, speaking to another man.
“There is nothing I can do either. This is already everything I could gather. Who is selling vegetables at a time like this? Everyone is saving them for the New Year. You know how scarce vegetables are right now,” the other man replied.
Hearing this, Lan Sisi’s eyes lit up. She had vegetables, and plenty of them.
The middle-aged man sighed, said goodbye to his friend, and walked off alone.
Lan Sisi made an excuse to leave the group. She wrapped half her face with a scarf, then went into a deserted alley and took out small portions of each type of vegetable from her storage, placing them into a basket.
After quickly finishing, she hurried to catch up with the middle-aged man.
“Big brother, big brother,” Lan Sisi called out, deliberately altering her voice. It now sounded like that of a woman in her twenties.
The man turned around and pointed at himself in confusion. “You are calling me? What is it?”
“Big brother, I just went to visit a relative at the hospital. When I came out, I heard you were looking for vegetables. Do you still need them?” She revealed a corner of her basket, which contained fresh, vibrant vegetables.
The man looked around before replying, “Little sister, this is too little. I need a large quantity.”
“There is more, big brother. As much as you want. My husband does long-distance transport. He collected one or two thousand jin of each type from outside. Originally, we had an agreement with another factory, but they backed out. If we keep the vegetables too long, they might spoil, and we would have to bear the losses ourselves. So when I heard you needed vegetables, I hurried over. Please do not mind,” Lan Sisi said, fabricating her story vividly. The worry in her eyes looked completely genuine.
Only then did the man become pleased, though he still retained a trace of caution, which Lan Sisi naturally noticed.
“Big brother, how about this, three days from now, at the abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of the city. You can come inspect the goods. If they are good, you can take them. If not, we will forget it,” Lan Sisi said.
“Alright,” the man agreed. “By the way, my name is Sun Dafa. I am the head of procurement at the town’s Grain Bureau. Little sister, do not worry. If the goods are good, I will take them all.”
“That would be a great help,” Lan Sisi said with a smile. “My surname is Lan, just call me Xiao Lan. As for this transaction…”
“Little sister, rest assured. I keep my mouth shut,” Sun Dafa said, patting his chest.
After agreeing on a time, Lan Sisi returned to the hospital entrance, where Lin Ruihai and Lan Sinian were waiting. Only after seeing her return did they relax.
“Why were you gone so long?” Lin Ruihai asked.
“I ran into an acquaintance,” Lan Sisi replied.
An acquaintance? What kind of acquaintance? A man or a woman? Countless thoughts flashed through Lin Ruihai’s mind.
After returning to the village, they returned the tractor. The Village Chief asked a few questions, and Lan Sisi answered truthfully without exaggeration.
Both the Village Chief and his wife were furious.
“This Zhao Fugui is truly despicable, doing something like this. He is a disgrace to our Chaoyang Village!” the Village Chief scolded.
“Hong Xiulian is pitiful, ending up with such a man,” the Village Chief’s wife said, viewing the matter from a woman’s perspective.
“Doesn’t our village have a women’s association? Can they step in? At least help them fight for some compensation,” Lan Sisi asked.
“You are right. I will go over there shortly,” the Village Chief’s wife said, already preparing to leave.
“Lan girl, we will have to rely on you to take care of Hong Xiulian for the time being,” the Village Chief said.
“I understand, Village Chief.”
The next morning, Lan Sisi heard that the women’s association had stormed into Zhao Fugui’s house the previous evening. A group of formidable women had fiercely reprimanded him and his mother, scolding them for disregarding human life and lacking any sense of loyalty, calling them worse than animals. They also scolded the young widow for being involved with a married man, accusing her of shamelessness. They helped Hong Xiulian and her daughter retrieve their belongings and demanded one hundred yuan in compensation. The old woman nearly collapsed, wailing inside the house, but the women’s association was not swayed. If she refused to pay, they would report it to the police station.
Knowing that Lan Sisi was going to the hospital, one of the women from the association handed her the money and asked her to pass it on.
When they arrived at the hospital, Hong Xiulian was already awake. Zhao Laidi had told her everything. She held Lan Sisi’s hand. “Lan girl, it is all thanks to you this time.”
“What are you planning to do next, Aunt Hong?” Lan Sisi asked. If she still refused to divorce after all this, there would be nothing more to say.
“I am going to divorce that bastard and live on my own with Laidi. Lan girl, do not worry, I will definitely repay the money,” Hong Xiulian said. She had completely given up on Zhao Fugui. After decades of marriage, he had not even cared whether she lived or died.
Lan Sisi nodded and handed her the money obtained by the women’s association. “There is no rush to repay me. This is the money the women’s association helped you get. They have also moved your clothes to your current place. Aunt Hong, in this world, no one cannot live without someone else. You still have Laidi.”
Tears slid down the corners of Hong Xiulian’s eyes as she nodded, gripping Zhao Laidi’s hand tightly.
On the day of her appointment with Sun Dafa, Lan Sisi went alone to the outskirts of town. There was still some time before the agreed hour, so she found an abandoned factory and took out various vegetables from her storage. In an instant, the empty factory was filled.
Sun Dafa arrived on time and saw only Lan Sisi standing there. He felt uneasy. Could he have been tricked? Was she planning to lure him here, throw a sack over his head, and beat him, or even rob him?
It had to be said, his imagination was quite active.
Lan Sisi, unaware of his thoughts, led him into the factory filled with vegetables. Seeing the abundance, Sun Dafa was so moved he nearly cried. He had thought he was doomed this time, yet he had encountered such an opportunity. Lan Sisi was truly his benefactor.
“I had them delivered early this morning. Big brother Sun, you can check them,” Lan Sisi explained.
Sun Dafa felt ashamed of his earlier suspicions.
Not only was the quantity large, but the quality of each vegetable was excellent, still covered with droplets of water. Just looking at them made one want to take a bite.
Cabbages, corn, radishes, and more were piled together, each type weighing nearly two thousand jin. It could be said they had exceeded the bureau’s quota.
However, as he continued looking, something felt off…
“Little sister, why are your beans so long? And these cabbages have so many leaves. These cucumbers are huge. What kind of new variety is this?” Sun Dafa finally noticed the issue.
“My husband passed through a village, I do not remember the name. I heard they were experimenting with some kind of high-tech agricultural products. Since high-tech items sell well, he bought them. They are just bigger and longer, but it does not affect the taste at all,” Lan Sisi explained.
Sun Dafa took a bite of a cucumber. Sure enough, it tasted even better than before.
In the end, they negotiated a mutually satisfactory price. Sun Dafa then had a truck brought over and transported the goods in several batches.
After everything was weighed and accounted for, Sun Dafa counted out the money on the spot and handed it to Lan Sisi. She earned over eight thousand yuan. Combined with what she already had, she was now a bona fide “ten-thousand-yuan household.”
“Little sister, you have helped me greatly. If you ever need anything, come to the Grain Bureau and find me. I may not be a big official, but I know quite a lot of people,” Sun Dafa said.
Lan Sisi nodded. “If you need vegetables again in the future, you can contact me. I will give you the lowest price.”
Since she said this, she clearly had her own supply channel, and Sun Dafa was happy to make this connection.
They exchanged addresses and parted ways.
Hong Xiulian stayed in the hospital for three days of IV treatment, then insisted on leaving. After examination, the doctor prescribed medicine and allowed her to be discharged. Out of the two hundred yuan that had been set aside, only ten yuan had been spent. The remaining amount was returned to Lan Sisi. She initially did not want to accept it, but Hong Xiulian and her daughter had their own principles and only kept the one hundred yuan obtained from the Zhao family.
After returning to Chaoyang Village, Hong Xiulian divorced Zhao Fugui. Since they had never officially registered their marriage and had only held a wedding banquet, their separation was simply formalized with a written agreement stating that they would have no further ties and that their daughter would belong to Hong Xiulian. Their household registration was also moved out.