The mediation was moved to the front of the ancestral hall.
The Zhao courtyard was too small. Luo Youtian had the militiamen carry benches and evidence outside. The sun blazed bright and the grey bricks baked pale beneath a dense crowd standing all around.
Shen Qinghe kept her red dress. It was not she who should feel ashamed.
Representing the commune were an official named Chen and Doctor Liu from the health clinic. The glass jar could not be tested for exact ingredients yet Doctor Liu confirmed the liquid contained non-edible medication capable of causing drowsiness and dizziness. The blue stamp on the medicine paper belonged to the commune clinic and records would be checked to see who had collected such medication.
Official Chen turned first to the Zhao family. “Who prepared the water?”
Ma Guifen said it was her.
“Who put medicine in it?”
“No one! Perhaps the pot was not washed properly. Every household boils herbs.”
“What herbs have been boiled here recently?”
“I do not recall.”
“Which pot was used?”
“The small one.”
Doctor Bai spoke up. “I saw that pot this morning. It smelled only of brown sugar. No trace of medicine. If both mugs were filled from the same pot and only the full one was tainted the pot itself is not at fault.”
Ma Guifen paled and suggested someone might have added it unseen.
“Who?”
Her gaze settled finally on Shen Qinghe.
“She did it herself.”
Official Chen did not follow the accusation. “Give reasons and evidence.”
“She wanted to break the engagement! She has been meeting someone!”
“Who?”
Ma Guifen pointed straight at Zhou Yanchuan. “Him!”
Zhou Yanchuan had stood at the edge of the crowd. Called upon he stepped forward and presented his letter of introduction.
“I arrived at the Zhao home around nine this morning. I had never met Comrade Shen before. She had already preserved the liquid and Zhao Chengliang was trying to take the jar away. Later Second Uncle Zhao tried to force her indoors and I stopped him.”
“Had you met before then?”
“I had not.”
“Can anyone confirm your movements?”
Both the guide and commune staff confirmed his account. He stepped back to his place when finished.
When it was Zhao Chengliang’s turn he still insisted he had only thought there was too much sugar.
“What did you say after you knocked the mug over?” Official Chen asked.
“I said Mother put too much sugar.”
“Exact words?”
“Exactly that.”
Aunt Sun stood up. “I heard Mother was being careless putting so much in. I did not hear the word sugar. Aunt San was there too.”
Aunt San looked deeply troubled. She was related to the Zhao family and did not want to harm her nephew yet she had promised to watch for the truth and everyone knew she had been standing at the door.
“I did not hear sugar either.”
“What did Shen Qinghe say at that moment?”
“She asked what had been put in too much and only then did Chengliang speak of sugar.”
Zhao Chengliang’s jaw tightened. “People do not speak perfectly clearly when startled. That does not mean I knew there was medicine.”
“Why would you not drink it?”
“I do not like sweet things.”
“How did you know the mug offered to you was the one with medicine?” Shen Qinghe asked.
“I did not.”
“You said that is not yours. The mugs are identical. Even your mother did not notice they had been swapped yet you knew.”
Zhao Chengliang’s eyes turned cold.
He lowered his voice. “Qinghe you go too far. How will you face anyone afterwards?”
“I do not need you to decide that for me.”
She turned to Official Chen. “Please write that down too.”
The scribe paused then wrote it exactly. Zhao Chengliang looked even more displeased.
The Cao family’s betrothal list was verified item by item. No matching purchase records existed at the cooperative and the matchmaker confirmed the wedding date had been set for the first day of the fifth month. Zhao Xing’er however changed her story and claimed the Cao family had misunderstood everything.
Cao Daqing struck the table. “Did we also misunderstand the blister on the back of your hand?”
She tucked her hand into her sleeve and shook her head weeping.
Ma Guifen pulled her daughter close. “You see? Even she says there was no betrothal. They are just strong arming us!”
The situation threatened to slide into confusion again.
Shen Qinghe walked to the steps of the ancestral hall and picked up the red veil resting on a bench.
“Whose is this?”
“Yours of course,” Ma Guifen answered quickly.
“For me to wear today?”
“Who else would wear a wedding veil?”
“Why was it in Zhao Xing’er’s room last night?”
Ma Guifen hesitated. “She was keeping it safe for you.”
“When my mother sewed my veil she used black thread in the inner corner. She said she had run out of red thread and no one would see it hidden inside.”
Shen Qinghe held the veil open for all to see.
There was no black thread.
The crowd leaned forward.
“This is not mine,” she said. “Where is the one that belongs to me?”
Zhao Xing’er’s face drained of colour.
Shen Qinghe stood before her. “You took my veil last night. You planned to let the Cao family identify the bride by clothing not face. You feared I would struggle at the back gate with so many people about so you drugged me first.”
“No…”
“Where is my veil?”
Zhao Xing’er could only shake her head.
“If you will not tell I will ask the women to search your room. When it is found it will prove not only that the veils were swapped but that you have given false testimony.”
“I did not!”
“Search then.”
Official Chen nodded and two women turned to go.
Zhao Xing’er collapsed to the ground as if all strength had left her.
“It is beneath the chest,” she sobbed aloud. “Mother told me to exchange them! She said Sister Qinghe would only be kept for one night. When the Cao family realised their mistake we would say it was all a misunderstanding. Cao Yougen would not dare make a fuss if he could not get his money back…”
The threshing ground fell silent.
Ma Guifen rushed to cover her daughter’s mouth. “Stop lying you foolish girl!”
“Mother I will not marry Cao Yougen! I will not go!” Zhao Xing’er pulled away. “You said Sister Qinghe is quick and would run even if she woke up. You said Brother Chengliang would come for her…”
One sentence after another laid every scheme bare.
The respectable mask fell from Zhao Chengliang’s face. He blamed his mother’s foolishness and his sister’s loose tongue.
Shen Qinghe understood clearly.
He had known all along.
“Chengliang,” she said. “Will you still claim you knew nothing?”
Zhao Chengliang was quiet for a long time then stepped toward her.
“It was Mother’s mistake,” he said his voice rough. “I will apologise on her behalf. We can still go through with the marriage. I promise no one will ever harm you again.”
Even now he believed offering to marry her was an act of grace.
Some sighed and others murmured. “He has admitted his fault Qinghe. Life must go on…”
Shen Qinghe laughed.
It was not bitter or triumphant. It was simply the realisation that words she had heard repeated for forty one years sounded so absurd.
She lifted the red veil and tore it down the centre.
The sharp clean sound cut through every plea for reconciliation.
Half fell at Zhao Chengliang’s feet. The other half stayed in her hand.
“The marriage will not take place.”
She spoke clearly before the official the villagers the Cao family and all Zhao relatives.
“I Shen Qinghe end this engagement today. Everything the Zhao family received from me will be returned in full. Everything I received from the Zhao family will be paid back to the last cent. Those responsible for the medicine and the deception will answer for their actions.”
“From this day forward whether Zhao Chengliang is rich or poor whether he stands in high office or falls into the mud matters nothing to me at all.”
The wind caught the fallen half and pressed it against the hall steps.
Zhao Chengliang stared at her and for the first time true fear showed in his eyes.
Not fear of disgrace.
He saw finally that the person who had always turned back to him would not reach out this time. She had truly let go.