Wu Mingwei’s brow furrowed even tighter. The muscles in his jaw stood out in hard knots.
“Come on. Let’s go take a look!”
When they got there, they found that this so-called “strange business” was actually an astonishing surprise.
The other missing child had been found. He was under his own bed.
The family had turned the house upside down yesterday, searching beneath the bed three times with a flashlight, but hadn’t found him.
Yet early this morning, there he was, curled up in the straw beneath the bed, fast asleep.
No wonder the villagers were calling it strange. The missing child had appeared out of nowhere.
Wu Mingwei immediately sent several of his men from house to house, asking if anyone had seen how Zhou Xiaomei had been swept away.
The villagers all shook their heads and said they hadn’t seen anything. But Huang Meili insisted that Shi Yanhua had pushed Zhou Xiaomei down.
The police had no other evidence, so they could only follow that lead.
Zhou Dana was the village Party secretary. A death in the village, with the women’s director involved, left his thoughts in a hopeless tangle.
He forced himself to stay calm and cooperated with the police questioning, steering the conversation toward Huang Meili at every turn.
“Shi Yanhua’s the women’s director. She’s always enforcing family-planning rules, and Huang Meili’s been scolded by her plenty of times for having too many children. They’ve got a grudge between them.
“She’s petty and holds a grudge over everything. Maybe she’s angry at Shi Yanhua and made this up to frame her.”
Huang Meili kept accusing Shi Yanhua, but Shi Yanhua had done nothing wrong and feared no scrutiny. When the police questioned her, she flatly denied going to the riverbank and said Huang Meili was framing her.
Huang Meili wouldn’t back down, and Shi Yanhua wouldn’t admit to anything. Wu Mingwei had no choice but to take her to the station for questioning.
Shi Yanhua swore she hadn’t gone to the riverbank, but nobody could vouch for her. The case had reached a deadlock.
It wasn’t that she had no witness. She just didn’t dare name him.
That day, all the villagers had rushed to the riverbank to catch fish, but Zhao Qingyun had cornered her on her own bed. She couldn’t tell the police that.
But when Zhao Qingyun heard that Huang Meili had accused Shi Yanhua and the police had taken her away, he went straight to the station to testify.
“Officer, Shi Yanhua never went to the riverbank that day! Huang Meili’s framing her!”
The officer’s sharp gaze swept over him and fixed there for a long moment. Zhao Qingyun’s back broke out in a cold sweat.
“How do you know she didn’t go to the riverbank?”
“Because I was with her!”
“What were you doing together?”
The question made Zhao Qingyun’s face burn. He gritted his teeth and decided to lay it all on the line.
“Officer, I won’t hide it from you. I’m a bachelor, and she’s a widow. We were having an affair!”
The moment the words left his mouth, the interview room fell so silent you could have heard a pin drop.
Shi Yanhua jerked her head up, her face instantly turning crimson.
In those days, even if both people were single, sneaking around together without being married was considered shameful and immoral.
But Zhao Qingyun was willing to throw caution to the wind to save her.
Wu Mingwei raised an eyebrow and exchanged a glance with the young policeman beside him. He immediately understood what was going on.
He turned back to Zhao Qingyun, his voice heavy as stone. “Zhao Qingyun, you’re legally responsible for every word you say. If you give false testimony, you’ll be punished.”
“I swear to God, not a single word of it is a lie!” Zhao Qingyun declared, thumping his chest.
Wu Mingwei nodded and turned to Shi Yanhua. “Shi Yanhua, we have a witness who can confirm you weren’t at the riverbank that day, so you’re no longer under suspicion. We’re done questioning you. You can go.”
“What happened just now was a matter of personal conduct. It wasn’t against the law. But as the village women’s director, you should be all the more mindful of the village’s customs and decency.”
Shi Yanhua’s face turned blotchy with shame. She wished the ground would open up and swallow her.
Afraid she might run into someone she knew, she kept her head down and fled the township government compound.
Zhao Qingyun followed behind her, cursing under his breath. “Huang Meili, that damn Xiuzi! What a piece of work!”
Shi Yanhua ignored him and hurried on.
“Why’re you walking so fast? It’s noon already. Let’s stop at a restaurant for a bowl of stewed noodles before we head back!” Zhao Qingyun caught up in a few strides and reached for her sleeve.
Shi Yanhua stopped short and spun around to glare at him, her eyes blazing. She forced out a few icy words: “Zhao Qingyun, quit following me! Get out of my sight. Now!”
“I testified to save you, and you can’t even thank me? Instead, you turn on me. Have you got no conscience?” Zhao Qingyun snapped, raising his voice.
People streamed along the street. Shi Yanhua cared about her reputation, so she shot him a furious look and walked off.
Zhao Qingyun followed at a short distance.
They turned onto a narrow lane, with fields on either side.
The drought was so bad that no autumn crops had been planted. Bare yellow earth stretched in every direction.
The midday sun beat down fiercely, heating the ground until it seemed to scorch. There wasn’t another soul in the fields.
When they reached a ditch, Shi Yanhua suddenly stopped.
Seeing this, Zhao Qingyun hurried up to her, a smile spreading across his face. “Yanhua, it’s scorching out here. Come on, let’s cool off under that tree before we go back.”
He reached for her sleeve, trying to pull her toward the shade of a nearby locust tree.
“Let go! I have something to say to you!” Shi Yanhua jerked her arm free.
“It’s too hot to talk out here. Come sit in the shade and take your time!” Zhao Qingyun didn’t try to grab her again. He went to the tree first, sat down on the grass, and beckoned her over.
Shi Yanhua strode up to him, her face dark with anger. Her voice trembled. “Zhao Qingyun, what are you trying to do?”
“I’m not trying to do anything. Didn’t you say you had something to tell me?” Zhao Qingyun looked baffled by how furiously she was shaking.
Shi Yanhua clenched her teeth so hard they ground together. Her chest rose and fell. “Zhao Qingyun, you... are you trying to get me killed?”
“I was trying to save you! How can you say I’m trying to get you killed? You’re like a dog biting Lü Dongbin, unable to recognize a good deed!” Zhao Qingyun flared up too, his voice rising.
“Save me? If you hadn’t come, I’d have been fine! You showing up only made everything blow up. Everyone in Wangjiazhai is watching, waiting for a laugh! If word gets back that there’s something between us, the gossip will drown me! Do you understand?” Shi Yanhua grew angrier with every word, her eyes filling with tears.
Zhao Qingyun, though, couldn’t have cared less. He spat on the ground. “A personal conduct issue isn’t against the law! If you’re willing, we can go get our marriage license today. Then it won’t even be a matter of personal conduct anymore!”
“Shi Yanhua, get this through your head, will you? I’m not marrying you. No chance!” Shi Yanhua was so furious that she kicked him in the leg.
“Why not? Our child is already in high school! We should’ve gotten our marriage license years ago!” Zhao Qingyun shouted anxiously.
Shi Yanhua kicked him again, her voice sharp and urgent. “Zhao Qingyun, I’m warning you! We don’t have a child!”
Zhao Qingyun sprang to his feet, his face flushed and his neck bulging with anger. “Jinzhu is my son, but he’s been calling Zhou Dana ‘Dad’ for more than ten years. You think that doesn’t hurt?”
“But can you support him? Can you afford to send him to school? If you can’t, then stop talking nonsense!
“From now on, we’ll stay out of each other’s way and go our separate paths. That’s the only way to keep Jinzhu safe.
“I lied to Zhou Dana back then so the child could have a better life.
“It’s been more than a decade now. If he finds out the truth, Jinzhu’s life will be ruined.
“For Jinzhu’s sake, stop causing trouble for me, all right?”
Shi Yanhua’s anger gradually faded, and by the end, she was pleading with him.
Zhao Qingyun was silent for a long while. Then his shoulders slumped, and he answered in a muffled voice, “All right. I’ll acknowledge him once our son starts working.”
To keep their relationship hidden, Shi Yanhua told Zhao Qingyun to wander around town first. She would return to the village on her own, and he could come back after dark.
But there was no wall that could keep every secret in. Before half a day had passed, word had spread throughout Wang Family Village that Zhao Qingyun had gone to the police station to testify.
The villagers had long suspected that Shi Yanhua refused to remarry despite living alone because she must have a lover hidden somewhere. But no one had imagined that the man was Zhao Qingyun.
Zhao Qingyun was plain-looking, and his family was so poor they could barely keep a pot boiling. How had proud, high-minded Shi Yanhua ever taken a liking to him?
News of the two of them reached Huang Meili as well.
She grabbed the enamel mug from the table and smashed it onto the floor.
“If you won’t let me live in peace, then none of you will either!”
