“Did you get that money or not?”
The moment Gu Beizheng entered the gate, he heard a sharp, acerbic voice coming from the courtyard and couldn’t help but furrow his brow.
“Regarding the compensation money, my younger brother went to handle it. I’m not clear on the current situation either.” Ding Lan lowered her head as she chopped firewood.
“What? For such a big matter, you let an outsider handle it? I said let Xiaojun go, but you made all sorts of excuses and let your own brother handle it instead. What are your intentions?” Ding Lan’s mother-in-law, Wu Xiuhua, stood with her hands on her hips, baring her teeth as she glared at Ding Lan.
“Exactly, Mom. She definitely plans to embezzle the money with that brother of hers.”
Zhao Xiaojun, standing to the side, egged his mother on.
“Whether she embezzles it or not, that money won’t end up in your hands.”
Gu Beizheng walked into the courtyard, his voice stern and sharp.
“Beizheng? You’re back?” Ding Lan quickly put down the axe in her hand and went to greet him, taking the things from his hands.
Seeing Gu Beizheng, the old woman’s arrogance instantly diminished by half. Zhao Xiaojun also shrank timidly behind his mother, not daring to show his face. “I… I don’t want the money, but that money… my mom should at least get a share.”
The old woman stiffened her neck. “That’s right. I’m his mother; I should get a share.”
“Fine. The fine is two thousand yuan. Will you take a share of that?” Gu Beizheng looked coldly at the mother and son.
The mother and son looked at each other in dismay. “What two thousand? What do you mean?”
“Zhao Daming caused the accident that led to his death because he violated regulations. There is no compensation money. Instead, there’s a fine of two thousand. Speak up—how much of it will you cover?”
Gu Beizheng looked down at them with a dark expression.
“Two thousand? Oh mother! We don’t have any money.” Zhao Xiaojun tugged at his mother’s clothes from behind. The little money the family had wasn’t even enough for him to get a wife. He had been counting on his brother’s compensation money, but who knew there was no compensation, and a fine instead? Are you kidding me?
“What does the fine have to do with us? That disaster was Daming’s own doing. I told him, why go to the mines when everything was fine? It must have been you, a woman obsessed with money, who forced him to go. Now look, he’s gone, and there’s a fine to pay. Good heavens! Where is the justice?” The old woman pointed at Ding Lan and started wailing immediately.
Ding Lan looked at the old woman throwing a tantrum, feeling both angry and speechless.
“Mother, do you have a conscience saying such things? Don’t you know why Daming went to work in the mines? Wasn’t it because you came every day forcing him for money to get Xiaojun a wife that he had no choice but to go to the mines to earn money?”
“His bones aren’t even cold yet, and you’re already thinking about his compensation money. Now that you know there’s a fine, you shrink back. You are too heartless. Is Daming really your own son?”
Ding Lan tearfully denounced the old woman. Sometimes she really felt aggrieved for Daming. The family raised him for ten years, and he supported the family for twenty. His father didn’t care for him, his mother didn’t love him; they only knew how to strangle him and suck his blood. Now that he was dead, they still wanted to pounce and take a bite. Were these really his biological parents?
The old woman stopped wailing and blinked.
“Right, he isn’t my son. I picked him up; I found him. Me raising him was already a great kindness. It’s not my place to pay his fine. You caused this disaster yourselves; figure it out yourselves.”
Saying this, she tried to pull Zhao Xiaojun to leave. Zhao Xiaojun held his mother back and hurriedly reminded her, “Mom, the bicycle, the bicycle.”
The old woman said “Oh,” and turned back around. “Daming is dead. That bicycle is useless to you anyway. It’s perfect for Xiaojun to ride. Xiaojun, go ride it over.”
“Okay!” Zhao Xiaojun giggled and went to push the bicycle.
“I dare you to move it.” A shout scared Zhao Xiaojun into trembling. He turned timidly to look at the furious Gu Beizheng. “I… I… Mom!”
“This is my family’s business. What the hell does it have to do with you?” the old woman screamed shrilly at Gu Beizheng. “Xiaojun, push the bike.”
Gu Beizheng took a large stride over and grabbed Zhao Xiaojun’s wrist.
“Ow, ow!” Zhao Xiaojun felt as if his stick-thin wrist was about to be crushed.
“Didn’t you pick up Zhao Daming? Didn’t you disown this son? Then what the hell does anything in this house have to do with you, old woman?”
“You… you let go! You’re a soldier; how can you bully the common people?” The old woman rushed up, tugging at Gu Beizheng’s arm to rescue her son, but found the man’s arm was as hard as rock; she couldn’t budge it an inch.
Gu Beizheng shot her a cold sidelong glance.
“Since you know I’m a soldier, you should know I don’t always know my own strength.”
With a sudden exertion of force, Zhao Xiaojun let out a wailing screech like a ghost or wolf.
“Mom! Mom! It’s breaking, it’s breaking!”
“You… what do you want?” the old woman shouted, her heart aching for her son.
“Are you going to pay the fine or not?” Gu Beizheng asked coldly.
The old woman’s mouth twitched. “No money.”
“Mom, we can’t pay. Big Brother is dead. In the future… in the future, you’ll have to rely on me.” Zhao Xiaojun, his arm still in a vice grip, grimaced in pain while winking frantically at his mother. If the money goes to Big Brother’s fine, don’t count on me to support you in your old age.
How could the old woman not understand her son’s meaning? “I have no money. I told you, he… he isn’t my son. It’s not my place to pay for him.”
“When you were eating his food and drinking his earnings, why didn’t you say he wasn’t your biological son then? Was your conscience eaten by dogs?” Ding Lan felt a chill in her heart as she remembered how Daming worked from dawn till dusk, wholeheartedly devoted to his parents, only to end up like this.
“I raised him; shouldn’t he be filial to me?” The old woman rolled her slanted eyes, her face full of acrimony.
“Fine. Since that’s the case, let’s get a witness. You will sever ties with Zhao Daming, and from now on, have no involvement with Ding Lan. Ding Lan will take on the fine herself. Whether she remarries, gets rich, or falls into ruin in the future, it will have nothing to do with you. How about that?”
Gu Beizheng flicked his hand lightly, tossing Zhao Xiaojun aside. “If you’re not willing, then pay half the fine.”
“We just won’t pay. What can you do to me?”
The old woman scoffed, playing the rogue.
“I can’t do anything to you, but the court will come to confiscate your family property and fields to offset the fine. That’s national policy—enforced execution. Do you understand?”
Hearing Gu Beizheng’s words, Ding Lan felt a chill in her heart too. She looked at Gu Beizheng with worry. “Is that true, Beizheng?”
Gu Beizheng nodded slightly to Ding Lan.
The light in Ding Lan’s eyes instantly dimmed into desolation. Two thousand yuan—she couldn’t pay that off in a lifetime. What was she to do?
She sighed deeply. “If it really is Daming’s responsibility, I accept it. I’ll pay the fine even if I have to sell everything I own or go out begging and scavenging.”
“You idiot, if you want to pay, go pay it yourself.” The old woman certainly didn’t want to lose her family fortune over a dead son.
“Fine, get your witness. I’ll cut ties with them.”
Saddled with massive debt, and she talks of getting rich? Or remarrying? Keep dreaming. The old woman just wanted to wash her hands of them as quickly as possible.
“Good. Xiaotao, go get Grandpa Village Head.”
“Okay, Uncle.” Xiaotao, who had been standing behind her mother the whole time, immediately ran out upon hearing her uncle’s words.
Before long, Xiaotao returned dragging the Village Head along. Even Zhao Ying and Wang Guihua had tagged along.
Gu Beizheng explained the situation briefly.
Upon hearing it, the Village Head’s face turned dark. “Wangsheng’s wife, your daughter-in-law is a widow with a child, saddled with debt. You want to cut ties with her at a time like this? Isn’t that a bit too cruel?”
The old woman pursed her lips. “Who’s being cruel? If she wasn’t cruel, would she make me share the debt with her? At my age, if I lose my land and my home, am I supposed to go beg for food?”
“Exactly. Just because she can’t make a living, she won’t let us live either?” Zhao Xiaojun chimed in from the side.
“Uncle, don’t say anymore. I accept the debt Daming left behind; I won’t beg anyone else. If she wants to cut ties, then let’s do it. Please serve as a witness.”
Ding Lan’s face was pale and lackluster, but her eyes revealed a steadfast determination.