Chen Qilan’s brow furrowed slightly, his gaze turning faintly cold. Qin Shuyao pulled him toward the door.
“Let’s go to the Geng house and check the situation again. Regardless of any previous misunderstandings, the Geng family did take care of Huzi and his sister diligently for a long time!”
As they reached the Geng house entrance, they heard Geng Sa cursing. “Gao Jinliang, let go of me! You bastard, are you crazy…” Qin Shuyao pushed the door open and saw Gao Jinliang pinning Geng Sa against the wall, her clothes mostly ripped open.
Upon seeing Qin Shuyao enter, Gao Jinliang didn’t stop his actions. Instead, he stared fixedly at the woman stuck in the doorway, his eyes full of nauseating lust, as if he were imagining Geng Sa was her.
For a moment, Qin Shuyao wanted to turn and run, but she looked around and didn’t see the tractor or Lei Shuhui, and her heart sank. “Geng Sa, where is your mother…” Geng Sa’s face was covered in tears. She turned to Qin Shuyao. “Help me!”
Qin Shuyao shouted “Qilan!” and Chen Qilan, who had been standing at the door, rushed in and kicked Gao Jinliang directly in the mouth. Almost simultaneously, Qin Shuyao ran over, took off her own jacket, and wrapped it around Geng Sa’s trembling body.
“You damn trespasser? You hit me? I’ll report you to your military unit!” Gao Jinliang had a mouthful of blood. When he spoke, two of his teeth fell onto the ground, mixing with the blood, leaving him utterly pathetic. Ignoring the rabid Gao Jinliang, Qin Shuyao urgently asked, “Geng Sa, where is your mother?”
Geng Sa replied hoarsely: “She was extremely agitated and insisted on going to the county. I tried to stop her, but this bastard Gao Jinliang…” Just then, the rumble of a military vehicle was heard outside.
Chen Qilan ran out; it was the Eighth Company returning from a mission. “Lao Ba, hurry, head to the county!” Chen Qilan shouted, stopping the military vehicle.
Qin Shuyao and Geng Sa chased after them and climbed onto the military vehicle together. Hu Jiangnan, the Eighth Company Commander, grasped the situation but thought Chen Qilan was making a mountain out of a molehill. “Ah, she’s a provincial tractor expert. Even if she’s agitated, nothing serious would happen. You guys are making too big a deal out of this!”
Despite his words, he ordered the driver to speed up and see if they could catch Lei Shuhui. Geng Sa had regained her composure. She wore Qin Shuyao’s clothes, while Qin Shuyao was draped in Chen Qilan’s Military Uniform. Neither woman spoke, but there was an unspoken understanding between them.
The road to the county was not good; it required crossing a ravine and included nearly three kilometers of sharp turns and steep slopes. The military vehicle rounded a corner, and they saw the waist-high mugwort weeds by the roadside flattened and strewn about, as if crushed by something heavy. On a wild jujube tree near the cliff edge, a strip of peach-pink satin was caught.
Geng Sa shrieked. That satin had been tied to the tractor yesterday for her wedding; since they didn’t have enough bright red fabric, she had used the peach-pink piece to add to the festive atmosphere. The military vehicle stopped, and dozens of people poured out, swarming the roadside to investigate. “Hey, I see it!” someone shouted. “There’s definitely a tractor in the ditch!”
Hearing this, Geng Sa’s vision went black, and she collapsed onto the ground. “Quick, get the gear and rescue them!” Hu Jiangnan commanded. The soldiers began their work in an orderly fashion, some grabbing ropes, others spades and hoes, and still others taking out first-aid kits.
Qin Shuyao knew she couldn’t help with the physical rescue, so she stayed with Geng Sa, waiting for news. In the face of life and death, all words were powerless. “I told her from the start that Gao Jinliang was a malicious piece of trash, but my mother said I judged people by their appearance. She… she just wouldn’t accept it!” Geng Sa rambled incoherently.
“Chen Qilan absolutely refused to marry me, and she was so spiteful about it that she wanted to find a better man, just to make Chen Qilan regret it bitterly. But how could that ever happen?”… But saying this was useless now. If fate refused to spare Lei Shuhui, her end would still be death!
After an unknown amount of time, shouts came from the bottom of the ravine.
“Hurry! Get her out! She’s still breathing!” Hearing this, Geng Sa abruptly stood up and scrambled frantically toward the bottom of the ditch. She fell and got up, got up and fell again. By the time she reached the ravine and saw her barely conscious mother, Geng Sa’s face was covered in blood from her own falls.
Lei Shuhui was conscious. She looked at her daughter, then at Qin Shuyao who stood beside her. She opened her mouth as if to speak, but in the end, only two streams of clear tears ran down her face. Soon, Lei Shuhui was rushed to the county hospital for emergency treatment. Fortunately, her injuries were not fatal, and she quickly passed out of danger.
“The old woman is truly blessed by fate. When she fell off the cliff, she snagged on a cypress tree, which is how she managed to survive. If she had hit the ground directly, well…” Hu Jiangnan sighed, shuddering with lingering fear. The tractor had been smashed into pieces, let alone a body of flesh and blood.
“And our timing was just right. If we had delayed, the old woman probably wouldn’t have made it. She was hanging upside down on the tree like this…” Hu Jiangnan demonstrated Lei Shuhui’s critical position, causing Qin Shuyao to involuntarily tremble.
As he spoke, Hu Jiangnan looked toward Chen Qilan. “Lao Qi, your foresight… that was truly divine planning. You saved a life just like that!” “Three lives! It was three lives!” Geng Sa said hoarsely. “If you hadn’t insisted on taking Huzi and Xiaojiao away, my mother wouldn’t have been the only one in danger today; the siblings would have been with her!”
Imagining that scene, Geng Sa felt as if she had plunged into an ice cave, chilled from the soles of her feet to the crown of her head. Qin Shuyao hesitated to speak, and ultimately, under Chen Qilan’s gaze, she swallowed the words she was about to say. There were too many prying eyes here, and the Geng mother and daughter cared about saving face; it wasn’t the right time to talk. Besides, someone as intelligent as Geng Sa—how could she not see the clues?
In the afternoon, Qin Shuyao and Chen Qilan returned to the town first to look after the children, while Hu Jiangnan left two men to assist at the hospital.
Once Lei Shuhui regained consciousness, the mother and daughter shared another round of tearful embraces. Geng Sa then found an excuse to dismiss the two soldiers, leaving only the two of them in the ward.
“Mom, someone tampered with the tractor, didn’t they?” Geng Sa asked, her voice trembling. Lei Shuhui pursed her lips and remained silent, clearly confirming it by default.
Geng Sa pressed on, “Was it the brakes that were damaged?” Her mother responded with silence again, and Geng Sa knew she was right. “You must know who the culprit is, right? The person we both suspect—it’s the same person, isn’t it?”
After a moment of silence, Lei Shuhui opened her eyes. “We cannot call the police! Otherwise, the whole town will laugh at us, and Chen Qilan and that woman will laugh their heads off!” “I know why he did it. It’s because we refused to let his mother move in with us. He was angry and did something foolish in a moment of impulse!”
Geng Sa was shaking with rage. “Is this just ‘something foolish in a moment of impulse’? Mom, this is murder! This is a crime! Not only are you refusing to call the police and send him to prison, but you’re making excuses for him?”
“You care about face, but I don’t! I don’t care if people laugh at me. I’m going to call the police right now, and I’m going to have this bastard arrested!”
She turned to leave, but Lei Shuhui’s angry threat rang out behind her. “If you dare call the police and publicize this family scandal, I will die right here for you to see!” Geng Sa’s steps ground to an immediate halt. Behind her came her mother’s non-negotiable command.
“Bring his family here and treat them well. People aren’t made of stone; if we treat him well, he will naturally treat us well too. Even if it kills you, you are not allowed to divorce. Our Geng family cannot afford to lose face!”