“Xingxing stole my household register and used my name to register a marriage. When I confronted her, she denied it, and we ended up fighting. After that, she tricked me into the courtyard and pushed me into the well. At least seven or eight people outside saw it—if you don’t believe me, ask around. I remember Auntie is there too.”
Not stupid at all—clear and logical.
Captain Liang had already asked the onlookers before, and Ruoruo was indeed telling the truth, no exaggeration.
“Bring Xingxing here.”
Before Ruoruo woke up, Xingxing was the prime suspect, and Captain Liang had the militia tie her up.
Since the victim was awake now, it was time for a face-to-face confrontation.
Two militiamen shoved Xingxing forward.
Captain Liang asked, “Xingxing, why did you push Ruoruo into the well?”
“I didn’t push her—she jumped herself. And registering the marriage was her own idea, she begged me to help.”
“I needed your help to register my marriage? What a joke!”
Ruoruo was furious. If she weren’t so weak all over, she’d have jumped up and slapped that little bitch Xingxing to vent on behalf of the original owner.
Captain Liang told Ruoruo to hold off and take it one at a time.
“Why did she ask you to help?”
“The man was good-looking, and she was afraid he’d look down on her for being simple.”
As she spoke, Xingxing shot Ruoruo a contemptuous glance. A confrontation? How could she lose to a fool?
The villagers listening no longer sympathized with Ruoruo unconditionally—because it was true that whenever a decent-looking man came to the village, she’d follow him around. She was a total little flirt.
Xingxing had seized on this weakness that everyone in the village knew about to say that.
The marriage registration target was a handsome guy? That was exactly the kind of “reliable” thing Ruoruo would do.
For the moment, it was hard to tell who was telling the truth.
“The man’s good-looking, but he’s not stupid—how did you manage to get the marriage registered?” Captain Liang asked again.
Xingxing gave her answer.
“The man’s family said he was sick to the point of death. What normal person would marry him? They said they wanted to bring someone home to ward off bad luck, and a simpleton wouldn’t mind.”
So the man was handsome but sick—the kind of sickness that couldn’t be cured. It sounded somewhat plausible.
If it weren’t for the original owner’s memories, Ruoruo would have believed it too.
The truth was that Xingxing was jealous because the original owner was prettier than her—so pretty that even as a simple girl, so many young men liked to look at her and ask about her. Jealousy took root, and she decided to destroy the fool.
So Xingxing took Ruoruo’s household register and married her off to a dying man.
A fool marrying a sickly man—a perfect match, wasn’t it?
After Xingxing finished speaking, she kept crying. With that crying, the whole Wu family dared to shout and curse at Ruoruo right in front of Captain Liang, and the scene descended into chaos.
“Quiet! If you keep shouting, I’ll send you all to the police station!” Captain Liang gestured to Ruoruo. “Your turn. What do you have to say?”
“I don’t know that family. Never even heard of them. She’s lying.”
“I’m not lying!”
At that moment, Captain Liang wished he had a lie detector.
“You said Ruoruo asked you to help register the marriage. If you did it, she should be grateful, not fighting with you over it. And fighting all the way to the well?”
Auntie was quick-tongued—she knew the reason. She’d overheard the whole argument between Ruoruo and Xingxing, and before Captain Liang could ask further, she cut in and hit the nail on the head.
Before Ruoruo fell into the well, she and Xingxing had been arguing, and Auntie Wu Caifeng and other villagers had heard it. If Ruoruo hadn’t brought up the sugarcane field, Xingxing wouldn’t have gone for the kill—after all, it was a human life, and a sixteen-year-old girl couldn’t possibly not know it was a crime.
With Auntie’s nudge, Ruoruo realized how clever that move was—her mind had been clogged and she hadn’t made the connection yet.
The moment Xingxing thought of the sugarcane field, she sobbed even more pitifully. If crying could drown out the fact that Ruoruo had caught her with a married man in the sugarcane field, she’d cry until the end of time.
“Ruoruo, you tell me—why did Xingxing push you?”
Finally, it came to this. Ruoruo was observing Captain Liang and found him to be decent enough. She was definitely going to say it—besides the forced marriage, Xingxing owed her a life. What she owed the original owner was what she owed her.
If someone dared to take her life, why should Ruoruo spare their reputation? She wasn’t some saint!
“It slipped out by accident. The day before the Dragon Boat Festival, when the village let out early for the market, I saw Xingxing in the sugarcane field with Lin Datong…”
“You stupid fool, what are you saying?! I’ll beat you to death! Go die!”
Xingxing suddenly went berserk, breaking free from the two militiamen’s grip, grabbing a stool nearby and swinging it straight at Ruoruo’s head.
No one could die on her watch!
Captain Liang almost simultaneously grabbed another stool and blocked the blow, knocking both Xingxing and the stool to the side.
Caught off guard by someone swinging a stool at her, Ruoruo instinctively raised her hands to protect her head. Even though Captain Liang had taken Xingxing down, it was a close call—her little head nearly got split open.
As it was, the back of Ruoruo’s hand got scraped raw from blocking the stool, blood slowly dripping down her hand, staining the ring on her middle finger red.
“What are you two standing there for? Tie her up and take her away!”
By the time the two militiamen reacted and moved to stop Xingxing from hitting anyone, Captain Liang was already faster—he was a veteran, after all, with real skill.
Ruoruo had been worried that bringing up the sugarcane field out of nowhere, with nothing but words and no solid proof, would convince no one. But now, with Xingxing’s outburst, it was as clear as day—protesting too much only gave her away.
There was still no hard evidence, but the villagers weren’t blind. Xingxing had always been hovering around Lin Datong. In the past, Ruoruo and Xingxing had fought viciously too, but never with intent to kill. Now, with that stool hurled, everyone had their own suspicions about who pushed whom into the well.
And more importantly, Lin Datong’s wife would believe it. From now on, would Xingxing have an easy life? The gossip alone would drown her!
“Xingguo! What a fine granddaughter you’ve raised! This is the upbringing of your Xing family! Do you realize this is attempted murder in public?”
Captain Liang, furious, slammed the stool hard in front of Xingguo and jabbed a finger at his nose as he cursed.
Xingguo was Ruoruo’s eldest uncle and Xingxing’s biological grandfather. Five years ago, Ruoruo’s father had left money and entrusted his daughter to Xingguo’s family for care.
“My apologies, Captain Liang.”
Xingguo’s face burned with shame under Captain Liang’s scolding. Who didn’t value their dignity? Being pointed at and questioned about their family’s upbringing—his old face was ruined. He swung his hand and delivered a heavy slap to the bound Xingxing.
The slap was vicious. Blood seeped from the corner of Xingxing’s mouth.
“Grandpa, you hit me? Waaah…”
“You deserve it!”
Xingguo shot his granddaughter a fierce glare. This one was always causing him trouble.
The whole Xing family, seeing the old man truly enraged, dared not plead for her.
Now it was one word against another, with no one holding solid proof, and they were all close kin who ate from the same pot—no one would actually try to kill another.
That said, after something like this, surely they could no longer eat from the same pot, right?
Liang Yirong deeply felt the burden of being a captain; this case was hard to judge.
“Ruoruo, how do you want to resolve this?”
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