Chapter 1687 - Investigation Continued

"That much jealousy?"

"She couldn't bear a son—couldn't even manage a daughter!" Old Yang threw his head back and drained the last dregs of gravy from his bowl, then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Wouldn't that mother and son be frantic?"

"And beating a wife somehow makes her fertile?" Yun Suji wondered at the twisted logic.

Old Yang's wife spoke up hesitantly: "The women say that Gaifeng's man was... incapable. That's why she couldn't conceive..."

"What nonsense!" Old Yang snapped. "Wagging your tongue without proof—is your backside itching for a whipping?"

His wife fell silent immediately.

"That's not right, Old Yang," Yun Suji interjected. "You just claimed you never beat your wife. Are you going back on your word already? What kind of man does that make you?"

Old Yang hastened to retreat: "Yes, yes, Chief—I misspoke!"

Yun Suji reflected that this meal had proven rather fruitful. What Old Yang's wife said was likely the truth; women knew women's affairs best. He turned to her again: "What else do you know?"

She didn't dare speak. Yun Suji reassured her: "Don't worry. I'll make the decisions here. I absolutely won't let your husband whip your bare backside—otherwise I'll have my guards take a carrying pole to his."

Old Yang forced a laugh: "Go on, go on. I'll pretend I didn't hear."

Only then did his wife continue: "...They say it was an illness left over from fleeing the famine. When you think about it, it's pitiful too."

"Did he never seek medicine?" Yun Suji thought of Runshitang, that venerable establishment specializing in tonics for masculine vigor.

"Listen to yourself, Chief. Farm folk like us endure when we get sick. And how could he speak of that kind of ailment to anyone?"

Old Yang's wife went on: "Pitiful as he was, isn't Gaifeng even more so? We women talk amongst ourselves: Gaifeng was a living widow. And on top of everything, her mother-in-law is a shrew. When Gaifeng's dead wretch of a husband was away on corvée labor and she went alone to the fields during the day, Old Lady Cao would give her, give her..."

She stopped. Yun Suji frowned in confusion. "Give her what?"

She smiled awkwardly. "Women's matters. It would soil your ears to hear it."

"It doesn't matter. Tell me."

"She would sew her trousers shut with needle and thread. If a few threads were broken when Gaifeng came home at night, she'd be pressed onto a bench and beaten. Gaifeng was so terrified she didn't dare drink an extra mouthful of water. Every evening she came home with her face blue from holding it in. A few times she even wet herself right there in her trousers." She sighed heavily. "Truly a sin against heaven..."

This was monstrous cruelty. Yun Suji sat stunned—a peasant's version of a chastity belt? He had thought only European nobles played such games.

"Old Lady Cao came from poverty herself, didn't she? How could she treat a daughter-in-law so viciously?"

"If not a poor family, where would there be child brides? A child bride in a destitute household has a life more bitter than goldthread root! Truly worse off than a rough servant girl in a petty landlord's home." Old Yang sighed. "Back in our hometown, during the spring famine when we couldn't go on, someone proposed marrying off Blackie as a child bride. I said I'd rather watch her starve at home than be tormented to death by strangers. At least now the world has changed."

His wife continued: "...After Gaifeng's husband passed away, the old woman was terrified she'd remarry and watched her even more closely. Not only did she sew her trousers shut when going out, she even followed her while eating and to the latrine, and made Gaifeng sleep on the inside of the bed at night."

After dinner, Old Yang's wife cleared away the dishes and brewed a pot of sour jujube leaf tea. Yun Suji asked: "With her son gone, what use is a daughter-in-law? Why guard her so closely?"

"A young widow is valuable," Old Yang chuckled. "These days, marrying one costs a hefty betrothal gift. Someone like Gaifeng—young, no children to drag along—she'd fetch at least three cows."

"If she's after the betrothal gifts, why not hurry up and find a match? Can holding onto her produce a grandson?"

"How long can three cows last?" Old Yang said. "She's thinking long-term."

"What long-term plan? Recruiting a husband to support her in her old age?"

Old Yang slapped his thigh: "Chief, you predict things like a god! Old Lady Cao wanted to bring in a distant nephew from her maiden family—no sense letting good water flow to outsiders' fields."

Yun Suji smiled. "Since she wanted to recruit, how come it never happened?"

"The man is serving as a soldier on Jeju Island—who knows when he'll return?" Old Yang said. "And that's when Liu Yuanhu took a fancy to Gaifeng..."

"Wait—didn't you say Liu Yuanhu didn't snatch the widow?"

"He truly didn't snatch her. Gaifeng went to him willingly." Old Yang's wife cut in. "Liu Yuanhu has no in-laws to answer to, he's a cadre himself, and a strong young buck besides—how could Gaifeng not be pleased?"

She then launched into enthusiastic gossip: how the two had caught each other's eye, their secret meetings, stolen kisses hidden in the woods—"dry wood and raging fire," she called it—as if she'd witnessed every moment herself. Yun Suji thought: women's capacity for gossip was truly extraordinary.

"...Last month, I think, Gaifeng gathered her belongings and slipped away while Old Lady Cao wasn't watching, running straight to Liu Yuanhu's house. By the time the old woman realized what had happened, the two had already gone to town for a marriage certificate and returned. Made it official, out in the open."

Liu Yuanhu's political instincts aren't bad, Yun Suji mused. Rural areas had always been indifferent to registration; even in the 21st century, plenty of couples simply held a banquet without filing papers. By obtaining a marriage certificate immediately, Liu Yuanhu had solidified the legal relationship. He hadn't served as a village cadre for nothing.

"Old Lady Cao must have been furious."

"Naturally. With anyone else, this affair would never have succeeded—Old Lady Cao is a master of making scenes. But Liu Yuanhu is a bachelor with no kin, a rash fellow accustomed to throwing his weight around as a village cadre. Never mind a lonely old woman; I think he'd dare beat his own parents. What good could Old Lady Cao gain by making trouble? After suffering losses a few times, she didn't dare confront Liu Yuanhu anymore. She went to Fan Twelve to complain—but think about it, Chief: Liu Yuanhu and Fan Twelve are practically joined at the hip. Would he help her? Besides, back during the foot-binding business with Gaifeng, Fan Twelve and Old Lady Cao had plenty of disputes. So not only did she fail to recover her daughter-in-law, she ended up with smaller shoes to wear—sent off to the Thousand Women Embankment construction site for several months. Old Lady Cao couldn't swallow this insult, so she went directly to the township to lodge a complaint..."

"Oh? She took it to the township as well?" Yun Suji thought: so there are petitioners in this timeline too.

"She went several times. The township said since her daughter-in-law's husband had died, she could marry whomever she pleased—nothing they could control." Compared to Old Yang, his wife was far better informed. "When she couldn't get satisfaction at the township, she went to the county, and the county ignored her too. This time she was dizzy with fury. Now she goes around the village every day saying the village swallowed her pension money, snatched her daughter-in-law, and she drags out things Fan Twelve has done and broadcasts them all over the street..."

Old Yang felt this wasn't quite appropriate and winked at his wife. Yun Suji caught the gesture. "What, still worried about something?"

Old Yang looked embarrassed: "Truth be told, Fan Twelve and his lot—sometimes they do things unethically, act rashly. But we're still fellow villagers, and he's accomplished a great deal for everyone. Some things, when they first happened, nobody saw the point and everyone cursed. But afterward we realized they were truly useful—our vision just wasn't far-sighted. If we really raised a fuss and sent him to the labor reform team, I wouldn't feel right about it either..."

Yun Suji said: "So Fan Twelve has done good for the village after all?"

Old Yang nodded: "If you asked whether he has no selfish motives and is wholeheartedly devoted to everyone—he's no saint. He has selfish motives, eats more and takes more, that's inevitable. Playing the tyrant, tying people up and beating them—that happens too. But our village can't do without someone like him. Just take the roads inside and outside the village, the water channels, the biogas digestting pits for collecting fertilizer... without him worrying over it all, none of that would exist. Surrounding villages all envy us for having a capable village head."

Yun Suji asked: "What's this about Old Lady Cao claiming the village swallowed her pension money?"

"Only she and Fan Twelve would know the truth," Old Yang said. "The pension money was indeed collected by Liu Yuanhu from the township and handed over to the village office. As for whether Old Lady Cao received it, or how much she received—she says one thing, they say another. I can't make heads or tails of it."

"Did Gaifeng ever receive any pension money?"

"How could she touch a single copper coin?" Old Yang sneered. "Gaifeng was just a slave in her husband's family—worse than a slave, really. Masters still give slaves monthly rations and pocket money. For her, getting a few full meals was considered fortunate."

Old Yang's wife added: "Since marrying Liu Yuanhu, her complexion has improved quite a lot. She even has a smile when working alongside everyone."

Yun Suji had come to understand the full picture. This was entirely different from his original assumptions. Listening to only one side clearly wouldn't suffice; "bitter suffering and deep hatred" did not necessarily make someone just. Though Fan Twelve, Liu Yuanhu, and their circle could hardly be called clean and honest, neither was Old Lady Cao some innocent victim of persecution. The truth was always more complex than appearances.

Feeling he had gained much at Old Yang's house, he stayed to chat further. Seeing his keen interest in conversation, Old Yang added another wick to the oil lamp, unaware that the night had grown deep.

Suddenly, rapid footsteps—thump, thump, thump—sounded outside. A guard rushed in drenched in sweat. Upon seeing Yun Suji, he didn't even salute properly, gasping for breath: "Re... Report, Chief... Cao... Cao..."

Yun Suji's heart clenched. "Old Lady Cao?"

The guard nodded frantically: "Hanged... hanged herself!"

Yun Suji shot to his feet. "Let's go—quickly!"

When he arrived at the village office, a crowd had already gathered at the entrance, craning their necks and making noise as they jostled to see. Liu Yuanhu and several young men were trying to maintain order. Fan Twelve's face was ashen; he stood at the door looking utterly lost. Seeing Yun Suji approach, he spoke in an almost pleading tone: "Chief! Chief! It truly has nothing to do with me..."

"If it has nothing to do with you, what are you panicking for?" Yun Suji said. "Come. Let's go inside and see."

(End of Chapter)