Everyone burst out laughing.
“No, no. Nobody saw anything.”
While everyone was making a commotion, Chen Guangyao emptied Zhang Zhuzi’s bag.
There was another 1,000 yuan inside, along with a tape recorder.
Chen Guangze and Hu Yan exchanged a glance.
They had really guessed correctly.
In 1987, tape recorders were still bulky, the kind that used cassette tapes.
Carrying one around made it very easy to get caught.
Chen Guangze took the recorder from Chen Guangyao and asked,
“Zhang Zhuzi, you’re pretty clever this time.
“Trying to pull a fast one and turn the tables on us?”
Chen Guangze pressed a few buttons, and the conversation Zhang Zhuzi had just recorded began playing.
It was the entire conversation from the hospital ward.
Chen Guangze grabbed Zhang Zhuzi by the ear.
“Looks like you still haven’t learned your lesson.
“Want me to refresh your memory?”
Zhang Zhuzi shrank back.
He had suffered plenty of losses at the hands of the Chen brothers.
How could he have forgotten that Chen Guangze, the fifth brother, was absolutely ruthless when provoked?
“Hehe, Fifth Brother, Fifth Brother, please let go of my ear first.”
Chen Guangze shoved Zhang Zhuzi toward Chen Guangming.
Chen Guangming grabbed Zhang Zhuzi by both shoulders with both hands.
He squeezed hard, and Zhang Zhuzi could hear his bones crack.
Zhang Zhuzi nearly cried.
The Chen brothers were truly his worst nightmare.
From now on, he would take a detour whenever he saw them.
“Second Brother, Second Brother, easy! Easy! My shoulders are going to pop out!”
Chen Guangze’s eyes turned cold.
He smashed the tape recorder onto the floor.
The recorder shattered into pieces.
The Chen family quickly used their blankets to shield themselves.
Zhang Zhuzi had nowhere to hide.
Several pieces of the broken recorder embedded themselves in his arm.
“Tell us. Who gave you this idea?”
There was no way Zhang Zhuzi’s simple brain had come up with such a scheme on its own.
Terrified by what had just happened, Zhang Zhuzi confessed everything.
“My sister came up with it. I really didn’t mean any harm.
“I just wanted to save some money. She said that if everything worked out, I could keep whatever was left.”
Chen Guangze folded his arms, his voice icy.
“Keep going.”
“She said that as long as I recorded you demanding money from us, they could use the recording as evidence against you.
“Then we’d have to spend nothing and could get out of the police station.”
The Chen family fell silent.
Lin Xiulan and Guan Guiying were especially embarrassed.
The ones who had always been the most considerate toward Zhang Qiulian were Chen Guangming and Chen Guanghui.
The two women glared fiercely at their husbands.
Then they mocked them sarcastically.
“See? Poor and helpless? A widow with three children? Doing it all for the sake of the kids?”
Lin Xiulan curled her lips.
She had always looked down on the way Chen Guangming had treated Zhang Qiulian in the past.
“How is she pitiful?
“She isn’t pitiful at all. She’s clearly a venomous snake with its fangs bared.”
Chen Guangming and Chen Guanghui lowered their heads, silently becoming wary.
A woman’s heart can be truly vicious.
Chen Guangze nudged Zhang Zhuzi with his foot.
“Whose men were those thugs?”
Zhang Zhuzi immediately lowered his head and answered obsequiously,
“Fifth Brother, they belong to Zhou Ye from the city. Everyone calls him ‘Brother Ye.’
“He operates around the train station. I don’t know much more than that.”
Chen Guangze thought for a moment.
He didn’t remember anyone named Zhou Ye.
Apparently, this guy had only risen to prominence in the past few years.
Zhang Zhuzi looked as though he was about to cry.
“Fifth Brother, I’ve told you everything I know. Please let me go.”
Chen Guangze looked at Hu Yan.
Hu Yan nodded, then glanced at the money scattered across the floor.
“Pick up your money and get lost.”
The moment Zhang Zhuzi heard that, he practically jumped for joy.
“Sure, sure! Thank you, Fifth Brother! Thank you!
“I’ll leave right away.”
Zhang Zhuzi quickly gathered the money and stuffed it haphazardly back into his bag.
He ran as though a pack of dogs were chasing him.
In no time, he disappeared from sight.
Chen Guangyao laughed wickedly.
“Hehe, that bastard. Looks like all those beatings we gave him weren’t wasted.”
Chen Guanghui, however, was thinking about Zhang Qiulian.
“How the hell does Zhang Qiulian’s brain work?
“She actually came up with a scheme like that.”
Lin Xiulan looked relieved.
“No wonder she had us completely fooled all this time.”
“Exactly. We were already raising her son for her, and she still wanted our houses.”
Guan Guiying felt that they had been unbelievably stupid.
Tang Lijuan lay on the bed staring at the ceiling.
“Fortunately, Fifth Brother and his wife are smart.
“They saw through Zhang Zhuzi’s scheme immediately.
“We should stay away from Zhang Qiulian from now on.
“Otherwise, we might not even know how we died.”
Everyone agreed.
No one wanted to talk about Zhang Qiulian anymore.
After an exhausting day, everyone soon fell asleep.
Only Chen Guangze and Hu Yan remained awake.
Chen Guangze slipped out of his own bed and climbed into Hu Yan’s.
Hu Yan was still thinking about Zhang Qiulian when Chen Guangze wrapped his arms around her from behind.
“Stop fooling around. Go back to your own bed.”
Chen Guangze put an arm around her shoulders and said lazily,
“It’s fine. Everyone’s asleep.
“Let me hold you for a while.”
Hu Yan couldn’t sleep either, so she let him.
“Can you handle that ‘Brother Ye’?”
Chen Guangze leaned close to her ear and lowered his voice so only the two of them could hear.
“Yeah. That ‘Brother Ye’ isn’t a problem.
“Zhang Qiulian also has a lover who works for the demolition office.
“We need to get him out before they come to the village.
“Otherwise, our houses could very well end up in Zhang Qiulian’s hands.”
Hu Yan slapped the back of his hand.
“Watch what you’re saying. What do you mean, ‘get him out’?”
He chuckled.
“I mean get him fired. What did you think I meant?”
Hu Yan rolled her eyes.
She didn’t want to argue with this shameless man.
Instead, she asked seriously,
“Can you handle it?
“This person really can’t be allowed to come to the village.
“The demolition compensation will be a huge amount of money.
“The two of them might take a desperate gamble and work together from the inside and outside.
“They could swallow our compensation money.”
Chen Guangze spoke casually and kissed his wife’s fair neck.
“Let’s deal with ‘Brother Ye’ first.
“Then I’ll find someone to investigate this demolition-office guy.”
Hu Yan thought that made sense.
By then, Chen Guangze was already snoring.
She eventually fell asleep in his arms as well.
The next day, Teacher Bai contacted the lawyer using the business card Chen Guangze had given her.
The moment the other side heard Chen Guangze’s name, he readily agreed.
He said he would go directly to the hospital the following day.
Teacher Bai immediately gave him the ward number.
Meanwhile, Teacher Bai and Old Man Chen were walking home.
Both looked utterly exhausted.
How had a simple division of the family turned into such a huge mess?
Teacher Bai sighed.
“Old Chen, the money has already been divided, and each family has its own house.
“Let’s go directly to the village Party secretary and file the family-separation agreement.
“Then we’ll separate everyone’s household registrations.”
Old Man Chen took a long drag from his cigarette.
“Yeah.
“As for the eldest family’s money and houses, let’s keep them under our names for now.
“We’ll give them to the children when they’re older.”
Teacher Bai led Old Man Chen toward the village committee again.
“Put the sons’ names on the homestead documents as well.
“Zhang Qiulian was desperately trying to get those houses. There must be something fishy going on.
“While she’s still at the police station, let’s divide everything that needs to be divided.”
Old Man Chen nodded.
“I really did make things too simple this time.
“I thought we’d give the three grandchildren a little more, but look what happened.
“As a woman who’s about to remarry, she really has no right to take anything from our family.
“Let’s do as you said.”
Teacher Bai and Old Man Chen moved quickly.
They finished everything in just half a day.
By the time they returned to the hospital that afternoon, all the paperwork had been completed.