The commune required an official record of the arranged exchange of brides and sought Zhao Xing’er’s testimony once more.
The day before at the ancestral hall entrance she had admitted in panic to the veil and the back door plan. After returning home under Ma Guifen’s watch all night she had retracted every word the next morning.
“I was confused from fear” she told Comrade Chen. “The Cao family pressed for marriage. My mother never asked Sister Qinghe to take my place. And I took the veil by mistake.”
“What of the medicine?”
“I do not know.”
“Did you go to the Cao home last night?”
“No.”
Every answer grew shorter as though someone were tightening a rope inch by inch.
Ma Guifen sat behind her sniffling now and then. Zhao Chengliang did not appear publicly though he remained involved in the cooperative’s ledger review. Second Uncle Zhao spoke for the family repeating that it was natural for a frightened girl to contradict herself.
Comrade Chen questioned her for half an hour then closed his notebook. “Your words today will also be recorded. You will bear responsibility if untruths are later found.”
Zhao Xing’er’s shoulders trembled but she kept her head bowed.
Shen Qinghan sat quietly on the other side and did not urge her to speak.
Others might have expected her to feel urgent. Without Zhao Xing’er’s testimony the motive behind the poisoning would lack its clearest link. Shen Qinghan understood however that forcing someone long accustomed to control to stand up openly often only drove them deeper into the familiar cage.
Besides Zhao Xing’er was not purely a victim.
She feared her mother yes but she had also carried messages to the Cao family of her own accord. Her silence was born half from fear and half from self-preservation.
After the meeting Zhao Xing’er walked quickly away. Aunt Sun brought out a bowl of sugar water saying it was hot and she should drink before leaving. When the bowl was held out her face paled sharply and she clamped a hand over her mouth to retch.
Ma Guifen knocked the bowl aside. “Her stomach is delicate why do you force sweets on her!”
The liquid spilled across the ground.
Shen Qinghan noticed faint old scratch marks along the inside of Zhao Xing’er’s right wrist as though she had raked at her own skin while unwell.
A suspicion took shape.
In her past life Zhao Xing’er had suffered spells of dizziness and drowsiness after marrying. Ma Guifen called it weakness and brought packets of strengthening medicine every few days. Later when her husband sought a separation Zhao Xing’er stayed with the Zhao family growing increasingly unsteady yet never daring to oppose her mother.
Perhaps that bowl of drugged water was not the first time Ma Guifen had used such means.
That afternoon Shen Qinghan visited Doctor Bai. Checking the dispensary log he confirmed Ma Guifen had collected calming tablets three times in the past six months each time claiming her daughter was plagued by nightmares.
“The dosage was small. Taken as prescribed they would do no harm” he said. “But ground into sweetened water and given in larger amounts all at once…”
“Did Zhao Xing’er ever come on her own behalf?”
“Never. Only her mother.”
“When was the last time?”
“The eighteenth of last month. Six tablets were issued.”
The amount found in the water would have used two or three. The absence of leftover medicine at the Zhao home did not prove none had been obtained.
Doctor Bai sighed. “Family collecting on behalf is common enough. I cannot refuse simply because it is the mother.”
“May I have a copy of those entries?”
“Patient records are private. I cannot share them freely.”
Shen Qinghan did not press the point. “Then please pass this clue directly to Comrade Chen. I will not handle it myself.”
Leaving the clinic she found someone waiting outside the wall.
Zhao Xing’er crouched behind a pagoda tree checking left and right before stepping forward.
“Sister Qinghe.”
“You have something to say?”
“Must you send my mother away?”
“The decision is not mine.”
“If you say you will not press charges they will stop looking.”
“Who told you that?”
Zhao Xing’er stayed silent.
Shen Qinghan already knew. Zhao Chengliang preferred to remain behind the scenes letting his mother weep and his sister plead while presenting himself as the reasonable peacemaker.
“When your mother put medicine in my water did she ask whether I would pursue this?”
“She never meant true harm. Only to make you sleep.”
“Sleep where?”
Zhao Xing’er’s lips blanched.
“In Cao Yougen’s woodshed or in his bed?”
“Sister Qinghe please!”
“You come to me because you think I am easier to persuade” Shen Qinghan said evenly. “You dare not stop her drugging me yet you dare ask me to overlook it. Xing’er this is not helplessness. You are choosing to shift the cost onto me.”
Zhao Xing’er wept quietly.
“What can I do? If I disobey she gives me medicine and says I am ill and need rest. My brother even says strong temper is a sickness in women. Once you leave I must still live here.”
Shen Qinghan said nothing.
Having her suspicion confirmed brought no satisfaction. Would someone trapped in turn inflict kindness? Not necessarily. Suffering only proved pain had been felt not that one would not cause pain to others.
“You can tell all this to Comrade Chen.”
“I cannot.”
“Then do not speak yet.”
Zhao Xing’er stared at her in confusion.
“You will not force me to testify then?”
“I will not invent what you hide nor will I conceal what you know” Shen Qinghan met her gaze. “But if and when you choose to speak tell both what you have done and what has been done to you. Do not offer only the half that serves you best.”
She turned to leave.
Zhao Xing’er caught at her sleeve then let go as if burned.
“My brother keeps an iron box in the back storehouse at the supply cooperative” she whispered almost too softly to hear. “Receipts for the medicine may be inside.”
“How do you know?”
“I saw him put a paper away there.”
“When?”
“Three days ago.”
That was the day before the poisoning. Blossoms drifted between them their sweet scent mingling with the faint smell of medicine. Zhao Xing’er covered her mouth and gagged again.
“Will you write that down for me?”
Zhao Xing’er shook her head backed away and ran.
Shen Qinghan did not chase her.
That evening she found a crumpled receipt tucked beneath her basket. Issued by the commune clinic it named Ma Guifen as purchaser. The medicine name was partially smudged by water but the date remained clear.
April thirtieth.
It was easy to guess who had left it.
Yet the receipt carried risks. Passed secretly it could not be proven genuine. In an official inquiry the Zhao family would claim forgery or accuse her of theft. Shen Qinghan did not treat it as conclusive proof. She noted the time and place of discovery on a separate sheet had Aunt Sun sign as witness to where the basket had stood and sealed the original away. Her next step was not to confront Ma Guifen but to ask the clinic to cross reference the log number with their permanent records. Only when stubs dispensary books and payment records aligned would the paper hold firm.
It was still not formal testimony.
But it was a hand reaching quietly through the bars.
Shen Qinghan slipped the receipt into her ledger. She forgave no one because of it nor did she push the offering away.