The idea that the Li family would actually have Xu Manjiang imprisoned after holding a wedding feast together was plainly absurd.
Fang Yao spoke up at once, voicing her doubt to Old Madam Xu. The old woman sighed heavily.
“The wedding feast was held, yes but they have not yet gone to register their marriage! If the Li family insists on pressing this, we are helpless! Wang Hua, Yao Yao I know you have been wronged. But we have been driven into a corner. I ask only this: go with us, appear to agree, and soothe them for now. Once tempers cool, I shall find a way to make the compensation right, I swear it!”
Fang Yao saw the old woman’s distress and could not bear to add to it. “Very well,” she said firmly.
She turned to Wang Hua. “Mother go ahead with Grandmother first. I do not have enough cash on hand; I must go to the savings office to withdraw the deposit.”
Wang Hua yielded reluctantly, her face dark with misgiving but since Fang Yao had given her word, she went with Old Madam Xu.
“Take care going into town, Yao Yao.”
“Never fear, Mother I shall be careful.”
The ride into town took barely half an hour. Fearing Wang Hua would be bullied alone, Fang Yao rode as fast as she could, legs pumping furiously.
When she reached Old Madam Xu’s courtyard, she found no shouting evidently Wang Cuilian and the Li family, hearing she had agreed, had called a truce of their own accord.
A faint smile touched Fang Yao’s lips. She leaned her bicycle against the wall and walked calmly inside.
Li Xuemiao sat beside her parents in the place of honour, radiating the haughty dignity befitting a village chief’s household. Wang Cuilian and her husband sat opposite, Xu Manjiang beside them. Old Madam Xu, dwarfed by the Li family’s imposing manner, sat humbly at the foot of the bed alongside Wang Hua.
At Fang Yao’s entrance, Old Madam Xu brightened as though salvation had arrived. She hurried forward and clasped Fang Yao’s hand. “Yao Yao you have returned. We have all been waiting for you before eating.”
Fang Yao’s gaze swept calmly over the three Li family members united in perfect unison, putting on every bit of grandeur they possessed. Meanwhile Wang Cuilian and her family sat nursing imagined grievances, waiting for Fang Yao to humble herself before them. Xu Manjiang in particular slammed his palm upon the table and stood up, glowering.
“I have said all along I will not bear this burden alone! Withdraw the money and return it to Xuemiao at once! Then all four of us shall be even! No more bickering, no more score-settling!”
“Were we not even long ago?” Fang Yao gently freed her hand from Old Madam Xu’s grasp and stepped forward. “I said I would go for money I never said I would hand it over to you.”
At those words, every face in the room changed in unison.
Old Madam Xu struck her cane hard against the floor with a loud thud. The Li parents rose slowly, their expressions dark and knowing. Xu Manjiang, his forehead throbbing with angry veins, lunged forward ready to strike.
“What do you mean? You gave your word to Grandmother! Do you dare go back on it? I’ll ”
Before his hand could touch her, Fang Yao stepped swiftly back. At that very moment, two men in uniform appeared at the door. She turned and cried out clearly:
“Comrades officers! The rapist is here! Come arrest him at once!”
The two public security officers rushed inside. They seized Xu Manjiang by both arms and pressed him face-down across the table.
Every person in the room stood frozen in utter shock!
Wang Cuilian and Xu Jianshu moved to intervene only to be met with a sharp, stern warning. “Stand back! This is official business! Anyone who interferes will be charged as an accomplice!”
Terrified, they halted in their tracks, not daring to move.
Xu Manjiang, pinned and terrified out of his wits, began to wail.
“Let me go! I have done nothing! Mother help me! I don’t want to go to prison!”
“Fang Yao you called the authorities?” Old Madam Xu wept and shook her hand, her eyes filled with reproach. “You gave your word! Why go back on your promise?”
Wang Hua stepped forward and gently drew Fang Yao aside. “Mother please do not be so distraught. Your health comes first.”
Fang Yao drew a deep breath. She forced herself to meet the old woman’s gaze and spoke firmly. “They were the ones who broke faith first. Since the Li family wanted to report a crime I simply helped them do it. After all, it was not I who was wronged. Whether they choose to press charges or withdraw the choice belongs to them!”
Fang Yao turned to the Li family. Li Xuemiao stared back at her, her eyes blazing with shock and fury, looking as though she could devour Fang Yao whole.
Then one of the officers spoke. “Which of you is the victim, Li Xuemiao? Come with us to the station to give your statement.”
Li Xuemiao trembled from head to toe at being called by name. She forgot all about glaring at Fang Yao and turned frantically to her parents.
“Father… Mother! If this goes on record, my reputation will be ruined! I cannot go with them!”
Li Bonian, who had served as village chief for twenty years, kept his composure. He stepped before his wife and daughter, walked up to the officers, looked at Xu Manjiang pinned to the table, and sighed helplessly.
“Comrades this is all a misunderstanding. The man you are holding is my son-in-law. He did not force himself upon my daughter.”
Emboldened by his father-in-law’s defence, Xu Manjiang struggled against the officers’ grip.
But the officers would not release him. They pressed his head down firmly and looked at Li Bonian. “Your word is not enough. Let the victim speak for herself!”
“Xuemiao! Save me!” Xu Manjiang cried out in desperation.
Wang Cuilian and Xu Jianshu fell to their knees before Li Xuemiao, weeping and begging. “Xuemiao please! Tell them Manjiang is innocent! We beg you speak up!”
Li Xuemiao bit her lip until it bled. There was no way out. She spoke at last, her voice tight and bitter.
“Comrades… Xu Manjiang and I are husband and wife. We have not yet registered formally but both families have held the wedding feast. There was no such thing as rape.”
“And you called us out here on false pretences?” The officer rebuked them sharply as he released Xu Manjiang. “Do you take our time and authority for a game?”
Xu Manjiang scrambled away and hid behind his parents. The room fell into a brief, uneasy silence.
Li Xuemiao, stinging from the officer’s rebuke and hating Fang Yao with every fibre of her being, explained through pale, tight lips. “This is merely a family dispute. We hoped the police might help mediate. We did not expect her to file a formal charge.”
Her mother stepped quickly to support her. “Exactly! If we had truly wished to file a report, we should have come ourselves we would never have sent someone else! Ask the person who made this call!”
The officers turned their scrutiny upon Fang Yao. “You claimed rape when it is a family dispute. Do you realize this is a false report?”
Fang Yao had anticipated this outcome from the very start. She had achieved her purpose. She bowed her head, speaking meekly and contritely.
“I acted rashly. I accept the criticism.”
“See that you remember it!” the officer warned. Then he turned to the others. “If you have a dispute state it plainly now. We shall mediate it here.”
Silence fell over the room. Every person present suddenly found themselves thinking only of how to shift blame, deny responsibility, and reclaim what they had lost.
Only Old Madam Xu, overwhelmed by the tumult, leaned heavily against Wang Hua and spoke with a trembling, final breath. “Go on then… tear this family apart until I am dead. See how you shall face our ancestors with such shame…”