The next morning, Zhao Dahu actually brought his wife, Wu Xiaohua, to Huo Zhanting’s house to beg forgiveness!
The two of them really did have thorny branches strapped to their backs as they knelt firmly at the entrance to the Huo residence.
“Regiment Commander Huo, I failed to keep my mother in check and didn’t send Xiaomei away in time, which resulted in Xiao Jin being bitten by a venomous snake. It was all my fault. If you want to punish someone, punish me! Please forgive my mother!”
Zhao Dahu shouted loudly.
Political Commissar Sun had told him that he needed to make a big enough scene for Regiment Commander Huo to have any chance of forgiving his mother.
His shout brought all the surrounding neighbors out of their homes, and they hurried over to watch.
Huo Zhanting heard the commotion and came out with a dark expression. The moment he saw Zhao Dahu, he felt like kicking him across the courtyard.
“Regiment Commander Huo, please forgive my mother-in-law. Please forgive my mother-in-law…”
Wu Xiaohua frantically kowtowed to Huo Zhanting.
Wu Xiaohua normally had little presence. She had been beaten by Old Madam Zhao for years and was timid and cowardly.
But she was extremely obedient to Zhao Dahu. Whatever he told her to do, she did.
She wasn’t good at saying pretty words. All she knew how to do was kowtow and repeat the same sentence over and over.
Seeing her like this made her look especially pitiful and especially filial.
People naturally sympathized with the weak, and sure enough, some neighbors began speaking up for the couple.
“Regiment Commander Huo, why don’t you let it go? I’m sure they know they were wrong by now. There’s no need to report it to the police.”
“Dahu and his wife are good people. For their sake, why not just drive the old woman out of the compound and leave it at that?”
“Regiment Commander Huo, Xiao Jin is fine now anyway. Sometimes you should be willing to forgive and let things go. We all live in the same compound. There’s no need to take this all the way to the police station.”
Seeing people speak up for him, Zhao Dahu kowtowed even more earnestly.
“Regiment Commander Huo, my mother is already over sixty. She won’t be able to survive prison or hard labor. Please spare her!”
“Please!”
Huo Zhanting’s expression darkened even further.
People sympathized with the weak. If he refused to let Zhao Pozi and Zhao Xiaomei off today, others would think he was cold and heartless.
However, knowing Zhao Dahu as well as he did, Huo Zhanting couldn’t imagine that this whole act of wearing thorn branches and begging forgiveness had been his idea.
Sure enough, Huo Zhanting’s gaze shifted, and he spotted Political Commissar Sun among the crowd.
When Political Commissar Sun noticed Huo Zhanting looking at him, he guiltily turned his face away.
Don’t blame me. I’m doing this for the honor of the collective.
“Zhao Dahu, your mother and your cousin deliberately tried to harm my son. The evidence is conclusive. Your pleading won’t allow them to escape legal responsibility.
“If that were really how things worked, wouldn’t criminals think they could commit murder and arson and then simply kneel down and beg for forgiveness to escape punishment?”
Huo Zhanting spoke righteously.
The soldiers privately called him the Living Yama. Was he really going to worry about people thinking he was cold and heartless?
He would not compromise.
He would not forgive Zhao Pozi and Zhao Xiaomei!
Political Commissar Sun’s carefully laid plan was doomed to fail.
Zhao Dahu’s face filled with despair.
He had gone this far. How could Regiment Commander Huo still refuse to forgive his mother?
Just as Zhao Dahu was sinking into despair, Jiang Yan walked out with a world-weary expression.
“I can agree to forgive Zhao Pozi and Zhao Xiaomei and not pursue their legal responsibility…”
“Really?”
The moment Political Commissar Sun heard Jiang Yan, he excitedly pushed his way to the front.
The despair in Zhao Dahu’s eyes suddenly vanished, replaced by a brilliant spark of hope as he stared at Jiang Yan.
Huo Zhanting also looked at Jiang Yan.
His wife genuinely cared about the two children. There was no way she would let Zhao Pozi and Zhao Xiaomei off so easily.
Hadn’t even he himself been dragged into it and punished for nothing?
Huo Zhanting was rather curious about what Jiang Yan was planning.
Jiang Yan ignored him. Looking down at Zhao Dahu from above, she continued.
“As long as you agree to let me beat them up once, I’ll agree not to report them to the police!”
When Jiang Yan said she would “beat them up,” she meant it could be fatal.
At least going to prison or doing hard labor still left a person with a chance to live.
Being beaten by Jiang Yan meant dying on the spot!
Yet Zhao Dahu didn’t immediately reject Jiang Yan’s proposal.
For one fleeting moment, he even thought it might be better if Jiang Yan simply beat Old Madam Zhao to death!
If she died, then it would be Huo Zhanting and Jiang Yan’s turn to kneel down and beg him for forgiveness…
No, no, no!
Zhao Dahu, what are you thinking?
That was his own mother!
Zhao Dahu’s father had died when he was young. Old Madam Zhao had raised him practically single-handedly, feeding and caring for him from infancy. Mother and son had depended on each other for as long as he could remember, and they had always been extremely close.
Zhao Dahu was also exceptionally filial. He wouldn’t allow anyone in the family to disobey his mother—not even himself!
Yet this supposedly devoted son had actually hesitated just now.
And because he hesitated, Political Commissar Sun excitedly stepped forward.
“Comrade Jiang Yan, I agree to your proposal!”
Afraid that Jiang Yan might change her mind, Political Commissar Sun immediately added, “I’ll have someone bring Zhao Pozi and Zhao Xiaomei over right now so you can beat them!”
Political Commissar Sun still didn’t know that Jiang Yan could kill a wild boar with one punch. He simply hadn’t been there that day, and no one had told him.
He also didn’t know that Jiang Yan could grab one military wife in each hand and throw them around like sandbags.
He figured, how serious could it be if a young woman gave someone a beating?
Most of the spectators thought the same way as Political Commissar Sun.
Jiang Yan had been horribly slandered, and Xiao Jin had suffered so much. If she was angry and wanted to beat them up to vent her frustration, that seemed reasonable.
Only those who had been tossed around by Jiang Yan like sandbags—or who had personally witnessed her throwing people—silently sympathized with Zhao Pozi and Zhao Xiaomei.
Before long, Zhao Pozi and Zhao Xiaomei were brought over under guard.
The aunt and niece had been locked up in the military detention cell these past few days.
The dark, damp environment was filthy and foul-smelling, with rats running around. They hadn’t eaten well or slept well and had suffered terribly.
Old Madam Zhao in particular looked as if she had aged ten years. Her eyes were dull, and she looked half-dead.
She had been thrown around by Jiang Yan before and had even been slapped by her, so she knew better than anyone how much Jiang Yan’s blows hurt.
But compared with going to prison, she would rather be beaten by Jiang Yan.
When her son visited her, he had told her that Jiang Yan and Regiment Commander Huo both refused to settle the matter and insisted on sending them to prison!
She didn’t want to go to prison!
But remembering the pain of Jiang Yan’s beatings, Old Madam Zhao was still frightened. Her face was deathly pale, and she trembled uncontrollably.
Could her old bones and weak limbs withstand being thrown around by Jiang Yan?
She was already haggard and aged, and now that she was trembling in fear, she looked especially pitiful.
Zhao Dahu’s filial instincts surged again.
He wanted to take the beating in his mother’s place.
But when he remembered the ferocity with which Jiang Yan had killed a wild boar with one punch, the words died in his throat.
Jiang Yan saw his hesitation and kindly asked, “What? You want to take the beating for your mother? That can be arranged.”
“I’ll beat you instead, and then I won’t hit your mother!”
If Jiang Yan hadn’t said that, Zhao Dahu might not have been so afraid.
For the sake of proving his filial devotion, he really might have stepped forward and taken the beating for Old Madam Zhao.
But now that he heard Jiang Yan say this, he suddenly had the terrifying feeling that she was going to beat him half to death.
He was scared.
The words offering to take the beating for his mother simply wouldn’t come out.
With so many people watching, he couldn’t exactly tell his wife to take the beating for his mother, either.
His wife really was an idiot.
She was so slow and clueless that she didn’t even know to step forward on her own and take the beating for his mother.
That was his own mother!
Her mother-in-law!
His son’s own grandmother!
Zhao Dahu even began blaming his wife inwardly.
Jiang Yan saw straight through him. Disdain flashed in her eyes.
“Looks like you’re not as filial as you make yourself out to be!”
She stopped paying attention to Zhao Dahu and leisurely walked over to Zhao Pozi and Zhao Xiaomei.