Zhang Caihong quickly adjusted her expression, forcing a smile. “Le-ni, I have an appointment, and I’m running late. Let’s chat privately when we have time.”
“Heh.” Yu Zhile let out a cold sneer and walked directly up to her, ripping the red string from around her neck.
A perfectly round, pinkish-white pearl glistened brilliantly in the sunlight. At a single glance, many could tell it was of immense value.
Zhang Caihong reached out to grab it. “Yu Zhile, are you a bandit? Give me back my pearl!”
“Say that one more time—whose pearl is it?” Yu Zhile countered.
Without a hint of shame or hesitation, Zhang Caihong shouted back, “Mine! It’s mine! Give it back to me!”
“That day, in order to steal this pearl, you pushed me into the sea, and my forehead struck the reef. Did you think I had forgotten everything?” Yu Zhile stared into Zhang Caihong’s eyes, her gaze sharp and piercing.
Her words were like drops of oil falling into a hot pan, causing an immediate uproar among the crowd.
The Old Party Secretary frowned deeply. “Le-ni, explain yourself clearly.”
“On March 29, 1970, at Xiaodonghai in Haiyu Village, Zhang Caihong was moved by greed. She tried to steal my pearl, pushed me into the sea where I hit a reef, and committed attempted murder.” Yu Zhile recounted the events word by word. “That day, you were wearing a pink blouse.”
The onlookers began to whisper fervently. In the entire village, she was the only one with a pink garment; Tang Guihua had even bragged about it for days back then.
Zhang Caihong stammered her rebuttal, “You… you… who saw it? Don’t you slander me.”
Seeing her reaction, the Old Party Secretary knew Yu Zhile was telling the truth. He turned to Second Uncle Yu and said, “Old Second, go get the ox cart. Le-ni, Zhang Caihong, and I are going to the town police station to report this.”
His tone already showed clear favoritism, making Zhang Caihong even more panicked.
Second Uncle Yu nodded and turned to leave.
At this, Zhang Caihong’s face turned deathly pale. “Grandpa Zhang, I didn’t do it! I’m not going to the police station!”
“The police will not wrong an innocent person,” the Old Party Secretary declared firmly.
Several village officials looked grave; after exchanging looks, they shook their heads helplessly.
Tang Guihua frantically signaled to someone she knew in the crowd.
That person spoke up boldly: “Secretary, this is just Le-ni’s one-sided story. If we make a scene at the police station, it’s all of us in Haiyu Village who will lose face.”
“That’s right. Our village had a poor harvest; we only just finished paying off our debt to the commune this year. If this gets out, what will the commune leaders think of us?” a village official surnamed Zhang stood up to echo the sentiment.
Yu Haiyao put on a show of being magnanimous and said, “I see that Le-ni is fine now. Why don’t we turn big matters into small ones and small ones into nothing? Let’s just treat it as a joke between children.”
“Fine. Tonight, I’ll go play a ‘childish joke’ on Yu Fu as well,” Yu Zhile replied, her tone as flat as if she were describing what she had for lunch.
“Le-ni, can’t you think about the villagers? If we lose face in front of the leaders, how will our village develop in the future?” Yu Haiyao assumed the stance of an elder, trying to grill Yu Zhile over the fire of public opinion.
The crowd’s sentiment began to shift under his influence. Many people reacted just as he expected, starting to advise Yu Zhile not to blow things out of proportion.
“Ignorant! This is a case of attempted murder for profit!” Zhang Wenxin countered angrily.
Normally, everyone gave her face because she was the Secretary’s granddaughter. Now that their own interests were involved, they dropped the act, rolling their eyes and pouting.
“What do you mean ‘ignorant’? Filling our bellies is the top priority.”
“Xin-ni, I’m not just saying this, but you really are someone who talks big because you don’t have to work the fields.”
“Exactly. What kind of girl is old enough to marry but has never even stepped into the soil like you?”
The spearhead suddenly turned toward Zhang Wenxin, leaving her flushed with embarrassment.
“My daughter has three older brothers to back her up; she can do whatever she pleases!” Zhang Wenxin’s mother, a woman with a stout build and a booming voice, stepped forward. “I want to see which blind fool dares to badmouth my daughter! Say it to my face!”
Wen Rou was a famously fierce woman within a ten-mile radius, and the crowd immediately fell silent.
The Old Party Secretary took a hard drag from his pipe, which emitted a gurgling sound as thick tobacco smoke spread. He tapped the pipe against the wall and said, “This case must be reported. I will absolutely not allow attempted murder for profit to occur in Haiyu Village.”
The villagers looked at each other and stopped speaking; the Secretary’s words still held great weight.
“Uncle Zhang, this—”
Yu Haiyao only managed to start before being cut off by the Secretary’s profound, heavy gaze.
“The commune leaders have always been fair and strict. They will not have a bad impression of our village because of this, nor will it affect our development. Everyone can rest easy,” the Brigade Leader added reassuringly.
Zhang Caihong’s face was ash-gray, her body devoid of strength. She had to lean on Tang Guihua just to keep from collapsing to the ground.
“Cai-ni, I’ll have your brother go to the shipyard to find Liu Mingcong.”
Tang Guihua’s voice was as faint as a mosquito’s buzz, but the dazed Zhang Caihong caught the name. It was like a shot of adrenaline; her complexion gradually returned to normal.
The Secretary scanned the disheveled Mother Huang and her group, saying coldly, “For those who came here to cause trouble today, every family will have one hundred work points deducted to compensate Le-ni.”
As soon as he said this, Mother Huang’s group exploded. They were all lazy workers; it took an entire family four or five days of hard labor to earn a hundred points. Losing them all at once to Yu Zhile was unacceptable to them.
“On what grounds are you deducting my family’s points?”
“Exactly! It’s unfair! we didn’t take anything from her!”
Facing the indignant group, the Secretary raised his eyes slightly. “If you won’t pay, that’s fine. I’ll use my own points to hire people to go to your houses and cause a scene—day and night—so you can taste what this feels like.”
“Grandpa Feng, I’m the first to sign up!” a child sitting on the Yu family wall with his legs crossed raised his hand enthusiastically.
A group of brats followed suit, and some even started wailing on the spot to demonstrate. The “demonic music” hit their ears, causing everyone to wince. The children’s parents scolded them with a laugh, telling them to shut up.
The most vocal protesters were defeated. After some shoving, they sent Old Barehead forward to negotiate with the Secretary.
Old Barehead stammered, “Brother Feng, one hundred points is a bit much. Can we pay less? Fifty?”
“One hundred and fifty,” the Secretary raised the compensation calmly.
Old Barehead continued to struggle, “Brother Feng, look, none of us have it easy. How about eighty?”
“Two hundred,” the Secretary took another puff of his pipe.
Why was the price going up the more they talked?
The others panicked, pushed Old Barehead aside, and frantically agreed to the original proposal of one hundred work points. The group had “lost the lady and the soldiers,” hanging their heads in defeat.
Yu Zhile found it amusing. When she caught the Secretary’s eye, she saw a faint trace of a smile in the depths of his gaze.
With that, the farce officially ended.
The shouting of Second Uncle Yu as he drove the ox cart drew near.
Yu Zhile turned around, intending to give Yu Yue some instructions. She found him with a dark expression, gripping the wheelchair armrests so hard his knuckles were white.
She placed a warm palm over the back of Yu Yue’s hand.
“Xiao Yue, stay home and take good care of Xiao Bao,” Yu Zhile said softly.
Yu Yue forced a smile and replied, “Okay.”
Suddenly, a commotion erupted outside the courtyard.
Yu Zhile looked out and saw a tall girl storming toward the courtyard, followed by several others.
“Zhaodi, Songdi, hurry up! We can’t let the person who bullied Yaozong get away!” The girl’s voice was so loud everyone could hear her.
Hearing her voice, some people trembled and instinctively covered their noses and mouths. Zhang Yaozong was panting as he jogged behind her, trying to keep up.
“Zhang Zhaodi is here! Comrades, retreat! Retreat!” the kid sitting on the wall yelled at the top of his lungs.
In an instant, the sound of bodies hitting the ground echoed everywhere as the children perched on the wall vanished.