Catching sight of the group approaching from a distance in his peripheral vision, Chen Yaozu’s eyes gleamed even brighter.
The brigade party secretary was scheduled to visit the health center today to offer condolences to the elderly—a piece of information he had worked hard to obtain.
The secretary valued filial piety above all and harbored a deep disdain for those who mistreated or abandoned their elders.
As long as his mother’s performance could move the secretary and prompt him to speak up, Su Nian would have no choice but to obediently hand over the money for the sake of her own future, no matter how unwilling she might be.
Chen Yaozu gave Chen Pozi a push and was the first to rise, charging toward Su Nian.
“Xiao Su, it’s my fault you didn’t get to drink the fish soup. I’m useless, but my mother is old and can’t afford to delay her illness,” Chen Yaozu stood before Su Nian, shoulders slumped, his broad face etched with despair as he pleaded. “I’m begging you, please give us some money for my mother’s treatment first. I promise you, once she’s settled, even if I freeze to death, I’ll make sure you get that fish soup.”
Chen Yaozu lowered himself, using just a few words to paint Su Nian as someone greedy for comfort, unreasonable and domineering.
Chen Pozi was even more ruthless. To get her hands on the gold bars, she shoved Chen Yaozu aside and knelt before Su Nian with a loud thud.
“Daughter-in-law, I know I was wrong. If you’re still angry, hit me again, hit me hard!”
She clung to Su Nian’s legs, weeping bitterly. “You can take out your anger on me however you like, just please give me some money for my treatment…”
“Mother, get up,” Chen Yaozu knelt beside Chen Pozi, looking up at Su Nian with reddened eyes filled with an insatiable greed. “Xiao Su, I’m begging you. Have some pity on my mother.”
Su Nian lowered her gaze, staring coldly at the disgraceful display put on by Chen Yaozu and his mother. “Chen Yaozu, you and your mother have truly opened my eyes.”
To swindle the money from her hands, the two of them had truly abandoned all sense of decency.
Since they wanted to kneel, let them kneel a while longer.
The louder they cried now, the harder they’d be slapped in the face later.
[Uncle said Mommy’s room was turned upside down, and Aunt Xiang was furious.]
[Uncle also said Branch Secretary Grandpa plans to take the militia himself to catch the thief.]
[Mommy is so good. Why does Branch Secretary Grandpa dislike Mommy? Baby doesn’t understand. Head hurts.]
Fubao, like a diligent little telegraph machine, chattered away, broadcasting everything she had heard.
The brigade party secretary didn’t dislike her specifically—
he disliked every educated youth from the city equally.
Su Nian glanced toward the corridor, where Li Xiuhe was holding Fubao and arguing with some villagers, her expression grim.
The conflict between the brigade party secretary and the educated youth had been simmering for a long time.
The secretary, accustomed to his role as clan leader, always saw himself as the local emperor of the village, believing he should have the final say on all people and matters in the village.
The villagers were used to it and saw nothing wrong with the secretary’s ways.
But the educated youth who had come to the countryside refused to indulge him.
The new society advocated equality for all and clear division of responsibilities. Although the brigade party secretary was a cadre, he couldn’t interfere in everything and force everyone to follow his will. After several clashes, relations between the two sides had frozen over.
She understood the secretary’s preference for avoiding trouble,
but not this time.
She intended to use the theft incident to add fuel to the fire, divorce Chen Yaozu, and send him to prison.
Su Nian lowered her gaze, a cold glint flashing in her eyes. “My refusal to argue with you doesn’t mean I’m in the wrong. Once the public security arrives, we’ll take our time sorting through every single matter, one by one.”
“Xiao Su…”
Su Nian’s mocking expression made Chen Yaozu’s eyelids twitch. He had just opened his mouth to speak when a shout rang out from behind the crowd.
“Please make way.”
The crowd of onlookers parted as a young man with a crew cut escorted a middle-aged man in a white shirt into the center of the circle. The young man spoke sternly, “What are you all doing gathered here? Don’t you know this is the entrance to the health center? Blocking it like this—how are people supposed to come and go?”
“Let me tell you, young comrade, that young wife is simply inhuman,” an enthusiastic older woman pointed at Su Nian and the other two, briefly describing what had happened.
“That older sister was abused until she fell ill, and her daughter-in-law won’t even pay for her treatment. See, she’s kneeling here begging for a way out! Young comrade, the person behind you is a leader, right? Are you here to uphold justice for that older sister?”
Chen Pozi, hearing this, immediately got up and rushed over to the middle-aged man. She tilted the side of her face that Su Nian had slapped upward, crying and pleading as she knelt on the ground.
“Please, leader, have mercy and help this old woman persuade my daughter-in-law… I haven’t lived enough yet, I don’t want to go home and wait to die…”
“It’s almost the New Year, don’t say such unlucky things. Let the elderly see a doctor first; we’ll discuss the rest later.”
Lu Xiangyang quickly stepped forward to support Chen Pozi, turning to the crew-cut young man and saying, “Xiao Yang, take this elderly woman to see a doctor first. Cover the medical expenses for now.”
He frowned slightly. “Disputes are one thing, but you can’t play with someone’s life, and you certainly can’t lay hands on the elderly—slapping them.”
“That’s right, you can’t hit the elderly.”
Chen Yaozu chimed in, shifting the blame toward Su Nian. “Xiao Su, it was wrong of Mother not to catch the fish as you demanded, but that was because she was unwell and passed out from the cold. If you’re angry, take it out on me, but you can’t just hit Mother whenever you feel like it.”
“Comrade, are you saying this elderly woman fell ill because her daughter-in-law forced her to catch fish in winter and she froze? And because she didn’t catch any fish, her daughter-in-law hit her?”
Lu Xiangyang could hardly believe his ears. Seeing Chen Yaozu nod, his expression darkened immediately.
Under the directive to strengthen ideological education, there were still incidents of elderly abuse!
“This is utterly outrageous!”
Lu Xiangyang turned to Su Nian, his gaze scrutinizing. “Comrade, I’m asking you—is what they said true?”
Not allowing Chen Yaozu’s words to lead him astray or pin the blame directly on her, Su Nian’s impression of Lu Xiangyang improved slightly.
“Leader, the slap mark on her face was indeed from me.”
She pointed at the red mark on Chen Pozi’s face.
“But she deserved it!”