Early in the morning, Song Wanying was dragged out of the detention cell. A wooden board was strapped to her back, and with half her head shaved, she was paraded through the streets.
Public parades had become a common occurrence over the years. People had shifted from initial fear to indifference.
Out of habit, they spat at the paraded prisoner, threw rotten vegetable leaves, mud…
Before long, Song Wanying was covered in filth, utterly disheveled.
She had screamed, she had shrieked, but all she received in return were punches and kicks.
Song Wanying walked in a daze when suddenly her gaze sharpened. Without a second thought, she charged forward, startling the street office director who was on his way to work.
He shoved Song Wanying away and cursed, “Where did this madwoman come from?”
Still not satisfied, he kicked her several more times.
Song Wanying hadn’t eaten since being locked up yesterday, and her spirit had been thoroughly crushed. Thrown to the ground, she was completely dazed.
The staff member behind her witnessed the scene, his pupils contracting sharply. He rushed forward immediately, bowing and scraping to Wang Meng.
“Director, my apologies. We didn’t manage her properly. I’m sorry she bumped into you.”
“Unrepentant and violent in public—this kind of bad element with problematic thinking must be strictly educated.” Wang Meng said with an air of righteousness.
Understanding his implication, the lead officer flattered him, “Don’t worry, Director. We’ll make an example of her—three days of public parading.”
“One month.” Wang Meng made the final call.
“The Director is wise.” The lead officer toadied.
As soon as Wang Meng walked away, the lead officer raised his hand, and immediately someone grabbed Song Wanying’s arms and lifted her chin.
Smack, smack, smack.
“I’ll teach you to stay in line.”
The pain jolted Song Wanying back to clarity. She realized that if she let Wang Meng leave today, her life would be over.
She bit down hard on the lead officer’s hand, and the grip on her arms loosened instantly.
Ignoring the pain from the kicks, she shouted with all her might, “Director Wang Meng! It’s me! I’m Song Wanying!”
Song Wanying? Who’s that?
Wang Meng ran through his memory but drew a blank.
Watching Wang Meng walk away, Song Wanying let out a desperate scream.
“Wang Meng! Come back! Come back!”
“Damn it, you bitch bit me.” The bitten lead officer cursed under his breath, then turned to the onlookers gathered around and announced, “Song Wanying, as a bad element who refuses to actively accept re-education, will serve as an example—one month of public parading.”
With that, he signaled his subordinates.
The two men understood immediately. They forced Song Wanying down and made her crawl on her knees, leaving a trail of blood behind her.
Back at the street office, Wang Meng asked his subordinate.
“Has Su Zhichen come in today?”
“Director.” The subordinate scratched his head. “Su Zhichen? He left for the Northwest yesterday—”
“What?”
Hadn’t he told Su Zhichen to come find him once he’d thought it over?
That man—what Wang Meng wanted was the medicinal formula in Su Zhichen’s hands. He’d also noticed that Su Wantang was pretty, so he’d planned to take another wife on top of that. But he hadn’t expected Su Zhichen to be so ungrateful—not only claiming he had no formula, but also preferring to be sent down rather than give Su Wantang to him in marriage.
Wang Meng had been so furious that he’d blurted out, “Tomorrow, your whole family will be sent down.”
But he’d only been trying to scare them.
“Who authorized the paperwork? Did I approve this?” Wang Meng’s spittle sprayed onto his subordinate’s face.
The subordinate looked aggrieved. “Director, when we went to the Su family that day, didn’t you say, ‘Don’t even think about taking any back doors. Begging anyone won’t help. Just wait to be sent down’?”
Hearing this, Wang Meng grew even more furious.
That matter couldn’t be heard by others, so he’d discussed it with Su Zhichen in the study. He’d deliberately said those words to scare Su Wantang, hoping that the young and naive girl would offer herself up to him for Su Zhichen’s sake.
Who would have thought Su Zhichen would take it seriously and actually go to be sent down!
And Wang Meng couldn’t even blame anyone for it. He was fuming with pent-up frustration when the subordinate, sensing he’d made a mistake, began trying to make amends by explaining everything that had happened yesterday in full detail.
“What?”
“You’re saying only Su Zhichen himself went to be sent down?”
“Yes, Director.”
Wang Meng suddenly remembered something and asked hurriedly, “What about his wife?”
In Shanghai, everyone knew how much Su Zhichen doted on his wife. Back when he married Song Wanying, he’d waited devotedly for three years and paid an astronomical bride price. After bringing her home, he cherished her like the apple of his eye.
Even though Song Wanying had given birth to a worthless girl—a “money-losing good”—Su Zhichen still treasured her, preferring to leave the Su family without an heir rather than put her through the pain of childbirth again.
With these rumors circulating, Wang Meng had also assumed that Song Wanying and Su Zhichen shared a deep bond.
But he never expected that the moment he left the Lu family yesterday, that slutty woman had chased after him.
Wang Meng naturally wouldn’t pass up goods that came to his door, especially since Song Wanying, though older, had lived a life of leisure as a pampered wife for years—she didn’t look her age and carried an extra touch of mature charm.
To eat that piece of meat and avoid getting into trouble, Wang Meng coaxed Song Wanying into not divorcing, even making up an excuse, saying, “As long as she can pry out the Su family’s treasured medicinal formulas from Su Zhichen, even if she’s sent to the countryside, he won’t let her suffer, and will pull her back to live an even better life than now.”
That foolish woman actually believed him.
The voice of his subordinate pulled Wang Meng’s wandering thoughts back.
“Before being sent down, he published a notice in the newspaper divorcing his wife, but his wife refused to return to the countryside to suffer, and insisted on staying in the Su family’s foreign-style house. She was reported for having improper thoughts and is being paraded through the streets today.”
Paraded through the streets?
Something flashed through Wang Meng’s mind, and he asked, “Paraded today?”
“Yes, Director, how did you know?” The subordinate asked in confusion.
How did he know?
He had seen it with his own eyes.
It was just that she looked too much like a ghost, so he hadn’t recognized her.
“What about his daughter?” Wang Meng asked again.
The subordinate thought he was asking about Liu Cuicui, since she had been arrested along with Song Wanying yesterday.
He said, “She’s signed up to go to the countryside. Afternoon train.”
“Hold her first, wait for my further instructions.”
“Yes, Director.”
After getting the full story, Wang Meng hurried back to his office, embellished what had happened, and reported it to the mysterious person.
As expected, he got scolded.
“You said Su Zhichen divorced before being sent down?”
“Yes.”
“Go arrange for his wife to be sent to the same place as him, and get the formulas through her hands. If you fail this time…”
The other side gave a cold snort and hung up.
Only when the dial tone came through did Wang Meng breathe a sigh of relief. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and hurriedly called for someone to bring Song Wanying back.
Who the mysterious person on the phone was, Wang Meng didn’t know, but the evidence of him beating two wives to death and framing the previous street office director was in that person’s hands, so Wang Meng had no choice but to do his bidding.
Half an hour later, Song Wanying was brought into Wang Meng’s office.
Her eyes were vacant, her hair disheveled, her body covered in filth, and her clothes stained with blood. She looked truly pitiful.
Wang Meng’s brows furrowed so tightly they could crush a fly. It wasn’t that he felt sorry for Song Wanying; he was just worried she might have gone mad.
He took out a handkerchief to cover his nose, extended a finger, and poked her at a relatively clean spot.
“Song Wanying, Song Wanying, do you still recognize me? I’m Wang Meng.”
Her dull eyes suddenly burst with startling brightness.
Song Wanying grabbed Wang Meng’s arm tightly: “Save my daughter! Save my daughter!”
Wang Meng thought she was talking about Su Wantang, but Song Wanying was actually talking about Liu Cuicui. However, due to his subordinate’s negligence, the matter was mistakenly settled.
“The rural placement has already been reported, and I don’t have that much power, but I can arrange a good place for your daughter.”
“Victory Brigade, Changping County, Jing City.”
“Fine, but you have to promise me one thing.”
“Okay, I’ll promise anything.”
Later, when the subordinate went to relay the instructions to the Educated Youth Office, he caught a glimpse of the name “Liu Cuicui” — neither following the father’s surname Su nor the mother’s surname Song — and couldn’t help muttering about it, but adhering to the principle of “the less trouble, the better,” he didn’t report it up.
……
That morning, there happened to be a batch of Educated Youth being sent to Jing City. Liu Cuicui happened to catch it and was directly put on the train.
Therefore, she missed the meeting with Song Wanying and thus missed out on a lot of information.
After getting off the train, Liu Cuicui didn’t look for the brigade secretary who was supposed to pick people up. She ran straight toward the military compound.
When she reached the gate, she was stopped by a guard.
“Who are you?”
“I’m Lu Huaian’s cousin.”
“Nonsense.”
“Political Commissar Lu’s wife’s family only has one daughter, who is Battalion Commander Lu’s biological mother.”
The guard’s expression immediately turned hostile.
He took Liu Cuicui for a crazy woman trying to claim false kinship and barked, “Leave now, or I’ll arrest you.”
Seeing that the guard didn’t believe her, Liu Cuicui grew anxious.
She didn’t want to go to the countryside as an Educated Youth. She was going to be an officer’s wife, not dig in the dirt.
She shouted, “I’m not lying! Lu Huaian married my cousin, so I’m his cousin-in-law.”
Lu Huaian and Su Wantang’s marriage was sudden, and apart from a few close people in the compound, no one knew about it.
So the guard was even more convinced that Liu Cuicui was crazy.
Everyone knew that Battalion Commander Lu was the compound’s famous golden bachelor. Every family with an unmarried daughter of similar age was waiting to become Mrs. Lu, but unfortunately, Battalion Commander Lu had a heart of stone and rejected them all.
So the guard decisively acted, grabbing Liu Cuicui and preparing to send her to the public security bureau for handling.
“Why are you grabbing me?”
“Let me go! I really am the cousin of Lu Huaian’s wife!”
The guard was annoyed by Liu Cuicui’s noise and was about to cover her mouth when Gu Huai, who happened to be off work and overheard the commotion, stopped him.
He said to the guard, “This is true. Huaian did just marry a new wife. She might really be Huaian’s wife’s cousin.”
In her previous life, Liu Cuicui had suffered losses at the hands of the Gu sisters and had crossed paths with Gu Huai once or twice.
Seeing him help her, she immediately hid behind him.
“Gu Instructor, you believe me, I really am Su Wantang’s cousin.”
How did she know he was the political instructor? And that his surname was Gu? Did Lu Huaian tell her?
Su Wantang? That seemed to be the name of Lu Huaian’s wife.
Gu Huai suppressed his suspicion and thought for a moment before saying, “Alright, register her name first. I’ll take her to see Old Master Lu.”
“Instructor, why don’t I call Old Master Lu first?”
Gu Huai wanted to extract information from Liu Cuicui, so he said, “No need to bother. It’s on my way.”
“But what if—”
“If anything goes wrong, I’ll take responsibility.”
With Gu Huai’s assurance, the guard didn’t press further. He had Liu Cuicui register and let her through.
On the way, Gu Huai casually probed for information.
“Cousin of Huaian’s wife, your cousin is truly fortunate to have married the most sought-after man in the compound. Countless young women must envy her.”
What good was envy?
Even if she married him, she’d still be living like a widow.
Lu Huaian’s real love was your eldest daughter, Gu Nanzhi.
Liu Cuicui wasn’t foolish enough to say such things in front of Gu Nanzhi’s father.
She went along with it instead, saying, “Indeed. I’ve come to seek refuge with my cousin.”
“Seek refuge?”
“Yes. My husband and Cousin Wantang’s husband happen to be stationed in the same military district. It’s unsafe for me to be alone out there, so I thought I’d join the military accompaniment together with Cousin Wantang.”
Gu Huai’s brow furrowed. “Are you and your cousin very close?”
Liu Cuicui said without a hint of guilt, “Of course. We grew up together.”
But that statement made Gu Huai take notice of her.
If they were truly close, how could she not know that Lu Huaian and his wife had already boarded the train back to the army unit at noon?
Gu Huai suddenly felt he shouldn’t have rashly gotten involved in this matter because of his earlier frustration.
But by the time their conversation ended, they had already reached the Lu family’s doorstep.
Gu Huai could only watch helplessly as Liu Cuicui barged into the courtyard.
He steeled himself and followed her in.
Lu Yuanyang had also gone to work, so only Lu Zhentian and Aunt Wang were at home.
After hearing Gu Huai’s explanation and glancing at Liu Cuicui, who was helping herself to food and drink as if the place were her own home, Lu Zhentian’s brows knitted tightly.
Would Wantang have a cousin like this?
Unlikely.
To be safe, Lu Zhentian still didn’t kick her out directly.
He walked over to where the landline phone was installed and made a call.