Xu Peiling stepped forward, lowering her voice to whisper conspiratorially to Lin Chaohai.
They both kept an eye on the Western Zhou era scenes, looking extremely cautious.
The riverbank was pitch black, seemingly empty, but Qiao Qingqing was nearby, hearing everything clearly.
From Xu Peiling’s explanation, Qiao Qingqing pieced together the whole story.
Lin Chaohai had a good future in their village, but his family had heavy financial burdens and were very stingy with the bride price. At the same time, the Xu family had found a better match, so things with Xu Peiling fell through.
A few days later, Xu Peiling married a man named Cui Haiqing, only eighteen years old, who was simple-minded.
Cui Haiqing’s father had died early, and when he was six, he suffered a head injury. His mother, Wu Xia, raised him alone.
When Wu Xia married into the Cui family, she was illiterate, but she had a natural talent for medicine. Learning from her late husband, she picked up most of his skills. However, the Cui family’s medical knowledge was only passed to men, and Wu Xia was never allowed to practice under the Cui family name. Occasionally, when villagers sought her help, she could only dispense common herbs as a barefoot doctor.
Cui Haiqing grew up, and the Cui family wanted to find him a wife. Once he had a son, they could pass on the family’s medical skills, ensuring that they wouldn’t all fall into the hands of Wu Xia, an outsider.
Then Xu Peiling entered the picture.
Two months after marrying into the Cui family, Xu Peiling had not had her period. Recently, she felt nauseated in the mornings. Remembering her past intimacy with Lin Chaohai, she began to worry.
A couple of days later, Wu Xia took her pulse and confirmed she was pregnant.
Xu Peiling noticed Wu Xia’s expression was not pleased, and her gaze held suspicion. Xu Peiling naturally felt guilty and extremely frightened.
At that point, the only solution she could think of was to go to Lin Chaohai.
She learned that Lin Chaohai hadn’t returned to the army. His family had gone to the city to help his father with a leg problem. So, claiming she was going to her family to visit her sister, she went to the city hospital to find the Lin family and waited several days until she finally met Lin Chaohai in person.
The favor she wanted from Lin Chaohai was simple: report Wu Xia.
She had been away for five days without returning home. There was no way to hide the pregnancy from the simple-minded Cui Haiqing, and Wu Xia probably suspected her son hadn’t been with Xu Peiling—but hadn’t yet found evidence.
Xu Peiling’s best plan was to have Wu Xia arrested.
“The Cui family used to be wealthy landlords, and even now they have some valuables. Wu Xia has been selling medicine for years, collecting payment, and mostly tending herbs rather than farming. Her mindset is problematic—she’s a classic ‘black five-category’ element,” Xu Peiling said seriously, her expression full of malice. “Lately there’s been a crackdown. Once Wu Xia is gone, I can handle Cui Haiqing myself.”
Lin Chaohai didn’t immediately agree, thinking it over. “I need to ask around, but for this to work, you’ll need more evidence.”
“Easy,” Xu Peiling said quickly. “You just have to act fast. The Cui family has hidden lots of herbs. Wu Xia treats them like her life; they must be valuable.”
At this point, Lin Chaohai realized he couldn’t avoid getting involved.
He asked, “Where have you been staying these past few days?”
“I secretly got a letter of introduction from the brigade and stayed at the Garden Guesthouse on Yankou Street,” Xu Peiling replied. “I need to go back tomorrow—who knows what kind of mood Wu Xia will be in?”
Whenever she mentioned her mother-in-law, she spat out the name Wu Xia with obvious resentment, clearly holding a grudge. “I drafted a report listing the evidence—take a look.”
She pulled two sheets of paper from her pocket.
Lin Chaohai glanced at them, frowning. “Since when did you learn to write these things?”
Xu Peiling hesitated. “Learned from someone else… not very good, many characters I don’t know.”
Lin Chaohai crumpled the papers and tossed them into the river. “This is useless. People in the village don’t write like this. If you want things done quickly, you need to find the right person—I’ll handle it. You should go back first.”
Seeing the joy on Xu Peiling’s face, he added seriously, “I’m not doing this for you. Wu Xia really has problems—she’s a common enemy of the people. I’m just doing what’s right.”
Xu Peiling looked aggrieved. “Why do you keep distancing yourself from me?”
“I have someone, so I have to keep distance from other women,” Lin Chaohai said.
Xu Peiling felt bitter. “Is it that woman? When I waited, I saw her. Besides being beautiful, what’s so good? I heard her whole family is of bad background. She’ll drag you down.”
Lin Chaohai immediately became displeased.
He was suspicious and thought Xu Peiling knew too much about his affairs—a very uncomfortable feeling.
He stared at her. “What else do you know?”
Xu Peiling noticed his displeasure and shook her head hurriedly. “Nothing else.”
Nearby, Qiao Qingqing hadn’t expected that the Cui family’s medical skills had fallen into Lin Chaohai’s hands this way. A bride price paid, an illegitimate pregnancy, and now a report threat—it was pure misfortune for this pair.
Earlier, she had seen Lin Chaohai crumple the paper and toss it into the river. It floated downstream and got caught on some aquatic plants.
Qiao Qingqing approached, crouched in the darkness, retrieved the papers, and quietly left.
Returning to the Lin household before Lin Chaohai, she wasted no time and knocked loudly on the door. Li Xiulian opened it, furious:
“Where have you been? Why are you making such a racket?!”
Qiao Qingqing ignored her, entered, then slammed and bolted the door behind her.
With Li Xiulian outside, cursing, Qiao Qingqing took out the retrieved papers and examined them.
The two sheets were soaked, stuck together, and the ink had blurred.
But it was still evident that they had been written with an old-fashioned dip pen on paper torn from a notebook.
Earlier, to use up her coupons at the supply store, she had bought various small items. Looking through them, she found similar ink.
As for the paper, she tore out a page from a similar notebook and began to write.
Imitating Xu Peiling’s handwriting wasn’t hard—it was extremely ugly, lacking any flair. Even writing the same character twice, it could look completely different. By capturing a few key features, she could mimic it about seventy to eighty percent.
Qiao Qingqing roughly rewrote the letter reporting Lin Chaohai from memory. She didn’t finish fully, scratched out some sentences, and kept a few errors—so that even she felt it was a rough draft for reporting him.
She folded the papers several times and put them away.
Shortly after, Lin Chaohai returned. Li Xiulian, still angry, immediately complained:
“Where have you been? Didn’t even come home for dinner or say a word!”
Lin Chaohai asked, “Qingqing also went out?”
Qiao Qingqing quickly opened the door and said to him, “I went looking for you. Just now at the alley entrance, I saw you rush off toward the river. Where were you going? I couldn’t catch up.”
Lin Chaohai felt guilty and avoided the topic. “I… I just returned from a mission. Went to see Brother Jianjun. He said your family was cooperative during all the investigation and questioning, which exceeded their expectations.”
Qiao Qingqing raised her brows—this seemed credible. Lin Chaohai had indeed gone to see Lin Jianjun.