Lin Jingwan’s eyes darkened with coldness, her fingertips trembling faintly.
Though she had already guessed the truth, hearing it spoken aloud still tore at her heart!
She knew clearly: this wasn’t her own emotion, but the lingering obsession of the original soul who had inhabited this body.
Beside her, Zhao Dafen stood stunned. What a vicious old woman!
She had framed innocent people, twisted the truth until black became white, driven Lin Dalang to his death in anger, forced his wife to drown herself in the river and then sold Lin Jingwan! Her cruelty was simply unspeakable.
Looking at Lin Jingwan clutching her chest in apparent pain, Zhao Dafen’s gaze brimmed with pure sympathy.
The courtyard fell deathly silent; a pin drop could have been heard.
Lin Jingwan let out a long, slow breath, steadying her emotions.
She suddenly turned toward the outer wall and called out clearly, “Did you hear that, Comrade Public Security Officer?”
Her voice was soft, yet carried undeniable weight.
Lin Dayong’s face turned ashen.
For he saw two upright figures in uniform stepping solemnly through the gate, their bearing stern and righteous.
With every step they took, it became clearer: he was going to prison.
Zhao Dafen froze completely, bewildered.
When had these two officers arrived? How had she not noticed?
In that moment, the two officers stepped into the yard. They had indeed only just arrived a short while before and were astonished by how sharp Comrade Lin’s senses were!
The lead officer, Hu Jian, swept a cold gaze over the unconscious Old Madam Lin on the ground, then to Lin Dayong huddled trembling uncontrollably on the earth. Indignation simmered beneath his gaze.
People like this were truly abhorrent.
He pulled out his logbook and spoke in a firm, impartial tone. “We have full witness testimony and a clear account of events. The facts are plain. Take all those involved into custody immediately.”
With those words, the matter was settled shattering every last hope of escape.
Lin Laosan and his wife, who had been clinging secretly to the wall watching and dared not show themselves, now panicked. They scrambled over the wall and fell into the yard.
Without a word, Lin Laosan dropped to his knees before Lin Jingwan. “Wanwan! My dear niece! I only just learned all this! I was completely deceived by my mother I knew nothing of it at all!”
His wife hastily knelt beside him, weeping copiously. “Wanwan, please! Spare your aunt! Have you forgotten? Your mother and I were once the dearest of friends we sat together every day, knitting and chatting! I truly had no idea your grandmother was such a wicked, black-hearted soul! We were deceived just as much as anyone!”
Lin Jingwan looked coldly upon the pair groveling for mercy at her feet. Her eyes remained utterly calm, untouched.
“Save your explanations for the Public Security officers.”
Then she turned to the officers. “Comrades the grave back on the hillside should have been opened by now. Surely that is enough to convict her?”
“What grave?” Lin Laosan stared at her in shock. “You dug up my second brother’s resting place?”
“Blame your mother for speaking nothing but lies!” Lin Jingwan retorted. “Arrests are made on the basis of evidence. It was she who would not let her own son rest in peace!”
She paid Lin Laosan no further mind, turning to await the officers’ reply.
The officer nodded. “Yes. The chain of evidence is complete. More than sufficient to secure a conviction.”
What followed was swift and decisive. The Public Security officers took every member of the Lin family into custody: the dying Old Madam Lin, the unconscious Lin Daqiang, the broken Lin Dayong, and the groveling Lin Laosan and his wife.
Word traveled fast. Within half an hour, every villager had laid down their work and gathered along the lanes and at the village entrance to watch.
“Good heavens! I’ve lived long enough to see it all! Who would’ve guessed that Old Madam Lin plain as she looks could be so utterly inhuman behind closed doors!”
“Hardly surprising. She was never a decent woman, not even in her youth!”
“Tell us, Great-Grandmother what else do you know?”
“Back then, Old Man Lin married her only because she offered to care for little Lin Dalang. Otherwise, she’d never have set foot in this house!”
“There’s that side to it too?”
“I know a bit of the story myself,” said an elderly man in the crowd, speaking slowly. “Lin Dalang’s birth mother was Zhao Cuilian. Her father was our village’s barefoot doctor. Back in those difficult years this would be around 1934 Zhao Cuilian went off to tend to the wounded. Winter it was, and she marched out with the support column. Three years she was gone. Lin Dalang was barely two years old!”
“Aye and never a word from her. Everyone said she’d perished far from home. That’s when Old Madam Lin pressed herself upon Old Man Lin. Day after day tending to the boy. So seeing her diligence, Old Man Lin took her as his second wife!”
“Old Man Lin was a fine figure of a man, skilled with herbs he and Zhao Cuilian were truly matched. Who but for Lin Dalang’s sake would’ve looked twice at that squint-eyed harpy?”
“Exactly! And there’s more!”
“From the day she entered this house, she abused Lin Dalang. All sweet words to his face, claiming she was ‘hardening his spirit’ but in truth she loaded him with the heaviest, meanest toil. Worked him to bone, and starved him too! Until at last he could bear it no longer, and ran away to join the army. When he came home wounded, every copper of his pension went straight into her grasping hands!”
“When Old Man Lin lay dying, he divided the household three separate dwellings, three separate lives. But after he was gone? She never mended her ways. She hid behind the word ‘filial piety’ and shamelessly extorted Lin Dalang for every coin of his keep!”
“True! Every word! And Lin Dalang’s brothers and their wives greedy, lazy, earning barely enough to feed themselves their whole household lived off Lin Dalang!”
“Lived off him, spent his earnings, depended on him for everything… and then repaid kindness with betrayal, and tried to destroy him! A heart as black as sin!”
At the edge of the crowd, Lin Jingwan listened in silence. She had never imagined her own grandmother had such a past!
Gone to give aid in 1934… no word for three years… and the place was Daba Village. She made sure to remember the name Zhao Cuilian!
She stopped listening to the rest. It was time to seize their property!!
“Come!”
Lin Jingwan took Hanhan and Luoluo by the hand and headed straight for Lin Laosan’s house.
When the village chief arrived, he twitched at the sight before him. Lin Laosan’s home was in utter disarray as if ransacked by bandits. He looked at Lin Jingwan, who was still rummaging through the woodpile, and spoke.
“Wanwan, there’s something I’d like to discuss with you.”
“Go ahead.”
“Now that your second uncle’s entire family has passed away, and Lin Laosan’s household has been taken away by the authorities… and you intend to leave the village with Comrade Li soon. The new group of educated youth will be arriving shortly, and housing is terribly tight. Would you be willing to lend your and your second uncle’s residences to the village temporarily, to house them?”
Lin Jingwan paused and asked seriously, “Since my second uncle’s line has no surviving heirs, do I have the right to inherit his house?”
“Certainly!” The village chief thought: as long as she agrees to lend it, the house can be signed over to her. She won’t be staying here anyway. “You are family of the Lin clan inheritance is only right. I raise no objection.”
“Then this is simple. Tomorrow I’ll tear down the dividing wall and merge both into one courtyard. From now on, it all belongs to me, Lin Jingwan. As for Lin Laosan’s place leave it exactly as it is. I don’t care what becomes of it.”
“Agreed.” The chief knew Lin Laosan’s family wouldn’t face capital punishment they’d be back eventually.
“Shall I send men to help you tomorrow?”
“That would be wonderful thank you, Chief. But there’s one more thing…”
“What is it?”
“When I leave… I’d like to lend my courtyard to the people staying in the cattle shed.”
“Pardon? Lend them your house?”
“The educated youth will be assigned housing by the village. Putting them in a private residence wouldn’t be proper procedure anyway. Besides, these houses are old and in poor condition. Meanwhile, over at the cattle shed dozens of people crammed into two tiny huts. Winter is nearly here, with wind and snow. Those drafty, doorless huts… half of them could freeze to death! If lives are lost, I doubt you’ll be able to explain it to your superiors.”
“Absolutely not! They’re sent-down personnel! It’s mercy enough I haven’t had them struggled against every day why on earth would we give them proper courtyards to live in!”
“Chief it is I who will be lending it to them.”
Lin Jingwan knew that in the years to come, these people would become influential figures across all fields. A small kindness now might well prove invaluable to her future!
She invited the chief to sit, then glanced gently at Hanhan.
Hanhan understood instantly, and poured the chief a bowl of warm brown sugar water.