Zhang Shuanzhu and Liu Cuilan’s group were panting heavily from exhaustion. When they crawled up onto the main road, they were instantly dumbfounded.
The truck that had brought them was nowhere in sight. Only a police car was parked by the roadside, waiting for Yang Weiming.
Zhang Shuanzhu hurried over and knocked on the police car’s window. “Director Wu, have you seen the grain station’s truck?”
Wu Mingwei pretended not to hear, not even raising his eyelids.
As soon as Yang Weiming quickly got into the car, the police car let out a “woop” and sped off in a cloud of dust.
The dust kicked up by the wheels made the group quickly cover their mouths and noses.
“Damn it!” Zhang Shuanzhu stomped his foot on the ground and cursed fiercely.
Liu Cuilan’s face fell, and she raised her voice sharply. “How could the truck just leave without a word? It’s over a hundred li back—how are we supposed to get home without a ride?”
The others from the Family Planning Office also looked gloomy. A tall, thin man sighed and said, “That driver was reluctant from the start when he came. He took off on purpose!”
This place was remote, with no scheduled bus service. If they didn’t happen to catch a passing donkey cart or tractor, they’d have to rely on their own two legs to trudge back.
None of them had slept a wink the entire night before. By now it was almost noon, and they hadn’t had a sip of water. They were exhausted, sleepy, and their stomachs were growling with hunger. They simply couldn’t walk any further.
But the truck had already driven off, and there was no other choice. They could only curse under their breath as they dragged themselves forward.
Elsewhere, Zhou Xiaowei pedaled his bicycle furiously into the village and headed straight for Aunt Zhou’s house.
“Grandma! It’s bad! Baldy Zhang and Liu Cuilan have taken the Family Planning Office people to… to arrest Sister-in-law Chuntao!” He gasped for breath as he shouted the moment he entered the yard.
“What?” The coarse porcelain bowl in Aunt Zhou’s hand crashed to the ground with a clatter, breaking in two.
Her vision went dark, and her body swayed as she started to collapse. Zhou Xiaowei reacted quickly, reaching out to steady her.
He helped Aunt Zhou sit down on a nearby chair.
“Grandma, don’t panic. The police are already on their way! Director Wu went too!”
Wu Mingwei and Zhou Zhijun were brothers-in-arms who had shared life-and-death experiences. That knowledge allowed Aunt Zhou’s pounding heart to ease just a little.
“Who… who reported it to the police?” Aunt Zhou pressed her throbbing temples and frowned as she asked.
“Grandma, don’t worry—nothing’s going to go wrong!” Zhou Xiaowei caught his breath and explained the whole story clearly.
As it turned out, the truck driver from the grain station was named Zhao Yunlong. He had been Zhou Xiaowei’s deskmate in middle school, and back then the two had been as close as brothers.
When Zhao Yunlong “tied up” Zhou Xiaowei mid-journey, he had actually recognized him but hadn’t dared to say anything aloud.
After all, with Zhang Shuanzhu and his crew watching closely, he couldn’t openly help.
When the truck reached its destination and Zhang Shuanzhu and the others got off, Zhao Yunlong quickly untied the ropes around Zhou Xiaowei.
“Yunlong, is it you?” Zhou Xiaowei was both surprised and delighted, though his mind was burning with worry for Chuntao.
“Those bastards are no good—I’ve got to stop them!” Zhou Xiaowei took a step to chase after them but then stopped.
On his own, he couldn’t hold back the Family Planning Office people. It would be better to hurry back and find Wu Mingwei.
Director Wu was close with Second Uncle and definitely wouldn’t refuse to help.
“Yunlong, drive me back right now. I need to find someone to save Sister-in-law Chuntao!” Zhou Xiaowei shouted urgently.
Zhao Yunlong hadn’t wanted to make this trip in the first place. He had been nursing a fuming anger inside all along.
Hearing Zhou Xiaowei’s plea, he nodded immediately. “Get in! Let’s leave those scumbags stranded here to fend for themselves!”
The truck sped along until, at a fork in the road halfway back, it came face to face with a police car—the one from Qingshan Commune Police Station.
“Yunlong, stop the car!” Zhou Xiaowei’s eyes lit up. He pushed open the door and jumped out.
Wu Mingwei, in the police car, spotted him and stepped out. “Xiaowei? What are you doing here?”
“Director Wu! I was looking for you!”
Zhou Xiaowei’s voice trembled with excitement. “Zhang Shuanzhu and Liu Cuilan have taken the Family Planning Office people to Xia Liu Jiagou to arrest my Sister-in-law Chuntao! She’s frail—she can’t take that kind of rough treatment. You have to go save her!”
Zhao Yunlong also got out of the truck, and the two of them, talking over each other, quickly recounted the whole series of events.
Wu Mingwei was startled after hearing it all. He knew that Zhou Zhijun had always taken special care of Li Chun Tao.
There had been plenty of gossip in the village, but he had never taken it seriously. Could it actually be true?
He chuckled to himself. That Zhou Zhijun—he sure knew how to keep a secret.
Yang Weiming was also in the police car, along with two officers from the station. They had originally been heading out to conduct a crackdown propaganda campaign.
But that task could wait. The matter of Li Chun Tao couldn’t be delayed.
Wu Mingwei had also heard that Yang Weiming and Li Chun Tao were from neighboring households in the same village, and the two had a good relationship.
“Captain Yang, this is urgent. Let’s head to Xia Liu Jiagou first!”
Wu Mingwei said to Yang Weiming as he got into the car. “The commune’s Family Planning Office went to Dongshan Liu Jiagou to arrest Li Chun Tao…”
Upon hearing that Chuntao was in danger, Yang Weiming became even more anxious than Wu Mingwei.
If Chuntao was really pregnant as Zhou Xiaowei had said, with a belly already showing, her fragile body definitely couldn’t withstand being yanked around by the Family Planning Office people.
“Quick! Turn around! Get to Liu Jiagou now!” Yang Weiming slapped the driver’s seat in his urgency. The police car immediately reversed direction and sped off toward Liu Jiagou.
Watching the police car disappear into the distance, Zhou Xiaowei’s anxious heart eased just a little.
He didn’t go along with them. Instead, he returned to the village to report to Aunt Zhou and, on the way, send the telegram from the woman that night.
“Grandma, Director Wu and the others have already gone there. Nothing too serious should happen. You stay here—I’ll go check on things over there!” Zhou Xiaowei said, preparing to leave again.
Aunt Zhou couldn’t bear to just wait. “I’m coming too!”
She hastily wrapped a couple of change of clothes in a bundle and stuffed a few dry flatbreads into it before leaving with Zhou Xiaowei.
Not far away, at the base of a wall, a group of villagers were sunning themselves and gossiping.
They had seen Zhou Xiaowei rushing into the village on his bicycle earlier. Now that he was about to leave again, with a bundle hanging from the front of his bike and Aunt Zhou riding on the back, they lowered their voices and began to murmur among themselves.
“Is Aunt Zhou going to see her daughter-in-law again?” said a woman in a blue cotton jacket, her gaze glancing over at Huang Meili.
Another woman deliberately raised her voice. “Aunt Zhou has two daughters-in-law in Wangjia Village. Rushing off like this—which one is she going to see?”
“Which one do you think?” The first woman turned to look at Huang Meili, her tone teasing. “Huang Meili, where did your mother-in-law hide Li Chun Tao? She hasn’t shown her face in days.”
Huang Meili curled her lip, her tone sour. “Tucked away safe and warm in his pants—that’s how precious she is!”
A woman in a black cotton jacket looked around cautiously and lowered her voice. “Li Chun Tao and Wang Jieshi aren’t a couple anymore. Since she left Wangjia, Liu Cuilan has no say. Why are Zhou Zhijun and Aunt Zhou hiding her?”
“Hiding her to pop out some bastard—what else?” Zhou Zhaodi said slowly as she approached, her big belly protruding, a handful of melon seeds in her hand.
She spit a melon seed shell onto the ground and drawled, "Thinking she could sneak and have it... huh, not that easy!"
The crowd perked up at her words and gathered around. "Zhaodi, what do you mean by that? How do you know?"
"What's not easy about it? Tell us!"
Zhou Zhaodi leisurely cracked melon seeds, keeping everyone in suspense for a good while before finally saying, "That bastard child of hers, I'm afraid it won't be born."
"Liu Cuilan and Baldy Zhang have already led the family planning officials to catch her!"
"No wonder Zhou Xiaowei hurried off with Aunt Zhou just now—so that's what it was about!"
"So, that thing between Li Chun Tao and Zhou Zhijun, it's true?"
"What else could it be! They've been sleeping together for a long time!" Zhou Zhaodi said with a sinister smirk.
An old woman with graying hair sighed and shook her head. "I never would have thought it. Li Chun Tao usually seems so shy and proper—how could she do something like this? And Zhou Zhijun, always walking around with that stiff face, acting so upright—how could he be this kind of person?"
"Hmph, that's why you can't judge a book by its cover!" Zhou Zhaodi rubbed her own swollen belly, looking smug.
"If you're going to have a child, you do it openly and honestly. Sneaking around like that deserves to be aborted!"
Huang Mei Li crouched nearby, listening to the gossip, and cursed in her heart, "You old hag, aren't you supposed to dote on Li Chun Tao? Let's see how you protect her now!"
Just then, a woman suddenly pointed toward the small dirt path at East Ditch and shouted, "Look! Isn't that..."
Hearing the woman's cry, the group all widened their eyes and stared toward East Ditch.
