Chapter 10 Chapter 10 The Chen Family's Retribution

The twenty-eighth day of the twelfth lunar month.

As the Chinese New Year was approaching, the market and night school were closed, and Qingmei concentrated on sewing shoe soles with her grandmother at home.

Yesterday afternoon, Mrs. Wang came over and asked out of nowhere, "Are you telling the truth?"

At that time, Aunt Wu came to our house to propose marriage to Qingmei.

Aunt Wu didn't understand what Aunt Wang said, but Qingmei understood what Aunt Wang meant and nodded, saying, "Not at all."

After Mrs. Wang left, Aunt Wu asked curiously, "What is she doing here?" Maybe she also wants to be a matchmaker, which would make her a competitor.

Aunt Wu hurried on, "Although Zhou Wu is a cripple, his family lacks nothing. He has two brothers who help each other, and their lives are much better than you and your mother's. How many girls want to marry him—"

Qingmei's face turned dark. She didn't expect that even after she separated from the Li family, she still couldn't get rid of Zhou Wu.

Who is Zhou Wu?

He was the domestic violence man who forced her to marry him in her previous life!

It was his two brothers who locked her in the camphorwood box!

"Then get married? Who's stopping you?" Qingmei said with a stern face, sniffing coldly, "Such a good family, but he has a lame leg. Why hasn't he married yet when he's nearly thirty? Is it because he can't get married or did he run away?"

In some impoverished and remote areas, beating one's wife is not illegal and is commonplace. If a man beats his wife to death, he will bury her in a remote mountain area and then tell others that she ran away with someone else.

Aunt Wu's face froze. She felt that she had wasted a lot of time talking to a widow, but she refused to listen.

The reason why Zhou Wu couldn’t find a wife in his village was naturally because the men in his family were tough and their ancestors never thought beating their wives was wrong.

Moreover, Zhou Wu had a wife in the past, and it was said that she ran away with someone else. Everyone knew whether she ran away or died.

In the original book, Qingmei was also beaten to death by Zhou Wu. It was thanks to the matchmaker's words that the place was a hellish place where people were eaten without leaving any bones.

"You can come visit me later, but don't come here to propose marriage." Qingmei went down to the ground, holding a broom as if to sweep the floor, which also meant to send the guest away.

Aunt Wu said embarrassedly, "You don't want such a good family, do you really expect to marry into the army?" Her words inevitably implied that she was criticizing Qingmei for being ungrateful.

Qingmei whispered, "Such a good family, why don't you marry your daughter to them?"

Aunt Wu paused as she bent down to put on her shoes. She looked up and saw Qingmei's dimples when she smiled. She couldn't tell whether Qingmei was joking or serious.

"Then you think about it. I'm leaving first."

"Don't even think about it, it's impossible." Qingmei frowned in disgust and walked Aunt Wu to the door.

Aunt Wu chuckled and said, "I didn't expect the threshold for a widow's family is quite high."

Qingmei retorted, "For those without any threshold, it's naturally high."

"You?! You really take my kindness for granted." Aunt Wu left without looking back.

Qingmei closed the door and thought to herself that it was bad luck that she would never be allowed to come again.

She was about to go into the house when she heard a noise coming from the other side of the wall.

Captain Jin persuaded Chen Han kindly, "I asked the accounting teacher to help with the calculations. There's absolutely no mistake. Just fill the hole and quit your accounting job. Just pretend this never happened."

Didn't happen?

fortunately!

Qingmei clenched her fists. She knew Captain Jin was soft-hearted, but she hadn't expected him to be so soft-hearted! She had embezzled two bags of stolen money, and she actually let Chen Han return it without a care!

Fortunately, she had found the stolen money and handed it over to the army, so Chen Han could not fill the hole no matter what.

Sure enough, Chen Han started to cry foul, then slapped himself in the face and said tearfully, "Captain, I betrayed your trust! I'm not worthy of being a human being. I, I will definitely pay you back tomorrow. I won't owe you a single cent."

"Then I'll trust you one last time and give you time to make amends."

Captain Jin left two secretaries to guard outside the house to prevent Chen Han and his family from absconding with the money. Although a letter of introduction is required to escape now, who knows if Chen Han has any other plans?

Chen Han waited until Captain Jin left, then turned and went into the house.

For the rest of the day, no one from their family came out. They must have been discussing something.

At night, Qingmei heard rustling sounds next door. She curled her lips, turned over and slept soundly on the warm kang.

Captain Jin is soft-hearted, but she is not.

Do you see the warm kang under you?

Humph, just as hard.

*** ***

Before dawn, pots and pans were smashed in Chen Qiaoxiang's house.

They no longer avoided people, opened the door wide and threw hoes at the door.

Chen Han scolded Chen Qiaoxiang's mother, saying that she had secretly transferred the money to her parents' home.

Chen Qiaoxiang's mother scolded Chen Han, saying that he was having an affair with an old woman outside, and who knew whether the money was cheated away by that woman.

Chen Qiaoxiang tried to persuade both sides, but both sides were blaming each other.

Chen Qiaoxiang was only in her early twenties at the time and did not realize how big the trouble was at home. She thought it was just a small amount of money and was still thinking about borrowing from someone to make up the difference.

Chen Han, a grown man, sat in the courtyard and cried, "I didn't spend a penny, how could it be gone? How could it be gone?"

Captain Jin stayed up for several sleepless nights. His old classmates in the accounting class not only calculated this year's accounts, but also found a hole of more than one thousand yuan, which was no small amount.

As a result, after digging out the old account books, I was even more shocked.

If this matter gets out, her previous team leader will be held accountable. Captain Jin could only pray to God in his heart that Chen Han would quickly make up the money.

It was dawn, and it was another sleepless night.

Captain Jin brought his men to Chen Han's home and saw that Chen Han's home was in a mess.

She thought Chen Han would not dare to touch that huge sum of money, but Chen Han had the audacity to lie to her and said that he had not spent a penny.

"Hurry up and ask the public security comrades to come and handle it." Captain Jin no longer dared to hide it. He asked someone to make a phone call and report it to everyone from top to bottom.

However, around ten o'clock in the afternoon, two police officers from the police station arrived.

Qingmei stood in front of Chen Qiaoxiang's house with the onlookers and ate melons.

The public security comrades immediately handcuffed Chen Han and took him away for interrogation.

Chen Qiaoxiang was so frightened that she was shaking all over. Her father shouted at her, "Go! Find someone to save me! You must do everything you can to save me!"

After he finished shouting heartbreakingly, he turned around and said to Captain Jin: "I am innocent, I really didn't spend a penny!"

The public security officer, not used to being indecisive, pushed and said, "So you mean the money just ran away? That's fine. We'll have plenty of time to ask you about it when we get back."

Chen Qiaoxiang felt that everyone around her was pointing fingers at her, and she wished she could find a hole in the ground to crawl into!

According to her father, the person who could save people was none other than Zhao Wuhe.

The mother of the two officers is the one with the most influence in the village and she also has influence in the county.

Chen Qiaoxiang hurried to the Gu family's ancestral home, where Zhao Wuhe was sulking with Gu Qingzhou.

She felt sad for her son's sacrifice in her previous life, and angry that he didn't know what was good for him in this life. She also had to figure out how to make him understand the danger of that mission.

She couldn't sit still at home, so she just moved the soy sauce jar around.

Chen Qiaoxiang banged on the door frantically, almost causing Zhao Wuhe to drop the soy sauce jar.

"You're killing me." Zhao Wuhe impatiently put down the soy sauce jar and walked over to open the door. "Why are you here?"

As soon as she saw Chen Qiaoxiang, she thought of her past life and angrily said, "I'm annoyed just seeing you. Stay away from me."

Chen Qiaoxiang ignored the people following her and said anxiously, "Auntie, please save my father. Please, you are the only one who can save him."

Zhao Wuhe didn't go up the mountain to collect firewood in the first few days. His purpose was the same as Qingmei's, which was to take revenge on Chen Qiaoxiang.

From what Chen Qiaoxiang said, her father's corruption was exposed?

It's really satisfying.

Zhao Wuhe immediately thought of Qingmei. Could it be her? Could she have memories from her past life? Otherwise, how could they have met in the mountains so late at night?

Zhao Wuhe suppressed the thoughts in her heart and said coldly: "Oh, I don't owe your family anything, why should I help you?"

Chen Qiaoxiang cried breathlessly and said: "Just consider it as an advance payment for my betrothal gift——"

When a nosy person heard this, he couldn't help but say, "Dowry? Is he going to marry you? Look at this, folks. She's already thinking about the bride price before anything else. She's worthy of being the daughter of an embezzler!"

Zhao Wuhe said with a forced smile, "I'm telling you, as long as I'm alive, you can't even think of entering my house. Don't think I'm joking with you! Get out of here right now!"

Chen Qiaoxiang knew that Zhao Wuhe was her only hope. The Chen family had no relatives who were officials in the city, and it was all her father's bragging.

In front of a group of onlookers, she knelt down in front of Zhao Wuhe and began to kowtow.

Zhao Wuhe watched coldly, this was what Chen Qiaoxiang owed her!

Chen Qiaoxiang's forehead was bleeding. She straightened up dizzy and her face was covered with tears and snot. "Auntie, I'll work like a slave for your family. As long as you save my father, I'm willing to do anything!"

Zhao Wuhe crossed his arms over his chest and sneered, "It's useless to kowtow. I'm telling you, your dignity is worthless! We're not related in the slightest, and your father broke the law knowingly. He deserves to be shot!"

Chen Qiaoxiang was pulled up by someone. It was Zhao Wuhe's second aunt, who had a good relationship with her. She advised Chen Qiaoxiang, "You need to quickly find the money your father embezzled. No matter how many people you ask, they can't save him without money."

Chen Qiaoxiang cried and said, "But the money is gone, we really can't find it." Their whole family went up the mountain and dug up the ruined temple, but they didn't find any money, not even a piece of paper.

Someone watching the fun said, "Oh, so you want both money and people? Is there such a good thing in the world?"

Zhao Wuhe could guess what was going on. She sneered and said, "That's right. If you can't pay the money, don't even think about your father coming back. Even the Jade Emperor can't stop him."

Seeing her firm attitude, Chen Qiaoxiang had no choice but to leave.

When I got home, I saw four or five police officers still at home, searching inside and outside the house, even lifting up the big iron pot used for cooking to see if there was any money hidden in the stove.

Chen Qiaoxiang's mother sat by the door listlessly, muttering, "Why are they suddenly checking the accounts? Everything has been fine these years...why is everything going wrong now?"

Chen Qiaoxiang also thought, yes, ever since Zhao Wuhe refused to propose marriage, everything has gone wrong in their family.

How much she wanted to be an officer's wife. Who else in Donghe Village could be better than her?

Zhao Wuhe was able to take charge because she had a son who was an officer. Zhao Wuhe was ruthless, so she went directly to the army to find Captain Gu!

Yes, go find Captain Gu!

A strange light appeared in Chen Qiaoxiang's eyes. She rushed out of the house and walked madly towards the 014th unit. When she arrived at the gate, she didn't even go in and was chased away by the soldiers on guard.

As luck would have it, it was the new recruit who had been criticized by the leader for not being vigilant. Now, no matter how Chen Qiaoxiang wailed and begged, he would not let her get close to the gate.

The soldier on duty even called the office building, and coincidentally, it was Gu Qingzhou who answered the phone. He said bluntly, "I don't recognize him. If you make trouble again, I'll send you to the police station."

The new recruit told Chen Qiaoxiang honestly, "You're causing trouble in front of the barracks. I'm warning you once. If you do it again, I'll deal with you according to the law."

"Don't, don't arrest me. I can't become a labor camp prisoner."

Chen Qiaoxiang crawled away from the military gate. This heavily guarded military camp was the place she had dreamed of entering countless times.

God knows she heard how good the lives of military wives were, how they had no worries about food and drink and were respected. She was really envious.

Last year, when Gu Qingzhou was on vacation, Chen Qiaoxiang had seen him from a distance. She was so overjoyed that she couldn't sleep that night, thinking that he was her groom.

Zhao Wuhe was also very nice to her at that time. He told her a lot about Gu Qingzhou and said that Gu Qingzhou was praised by senior leaders in Beijing and would have a bright future.

Chen Qiaoxiang didn't know why everything suddenly changed, and her smooth days were over.

Chen Qiaoxiang went to Donghe Village in a daze, and her house was in a mess.

She met many people along the way, and they all looked at her with inquiring and curious eyes.

In Chen Qiaoxiang's eyes, when she was rumored to be an officer's wife, everyone around her was fawning over her. But when something happened at home, those people showed their ugly faces.

Chen Qiaoxiang kept imagining how the unmarried young women who were jealous of her would laugh at her and slander her behind her back.

He didn't even think about the fact that she was already putting on airs before she even entered the Gu family, talking to people in a pretentious tone and feeling superior.

When she reached the pond, someone suddenly blocked her way.

Huang Wenbi called out to Chen Qiaoxiang mysteriously, "Didn't you find your father's money?"

Chen Qiaoxiang glanced at him with her scarlet eyes and said hoarsely, "Does it have anything to do with you?"

Huang Wenbi, enjoying the show, said without hesitation, "Of course it matters. I came here to help you."

Chen Qiaoxiang looked down on Huang Wenbi, a man who was lazy, cunning, and incompetent. So she sneered and said, "How can you help me?"

Huang Wenbi said, "Let me ask you, is your father's money hidden in the mountains?"

Chen Qiaoxiang only found out last night that her father had hidden the stolen money in the mountains. She had no idea how Huang Wenbi knew about it. She pursed her lips and said, "So what if it's true? So what if it's not?"

Huang Wenbi had just been turned away from Qingmei's house and was determined to teach Qingmei a lesson. He curled his lips and said, "If so, I can tell you who took your father's dirty money."