Chapter 8 Seeking a divorce from Fatty, but Fatty is dead?
Zeng Xiuzhu was startled when she saw Xie Zhongming.
I thought I was seeing things.
Upon closer inspection, it was indeed the unfortunate platoon leader she had drugged with a packet of veterinary medicine five years ago.
Good heavens, what's this man doing in their village?
Feeling guilty, Zeng Xiuzhu was so frightened that the load on her shoulders slipped.
Two buckets of manure were dumped onto the field in an instant.
The stinky and filthy excrement splashed up, covering Zeng Xiuzhu and Xie Zhongming's trouser legs.
But neither of them noticed.
Zeng Xiuzhu had a guilty conscience and didn't care that she was covered in excrement.
Xie Zhongming, filled with doubt, anxiously asked Zeng Xiuzhu, "Mom, where's Pangya? I heard from Aunt Liu that she died. How could Pangya be dead? When did she die?"
Zeng Xiuzhu dared not lie anymore.
Adding to the intimidating aura Xie Zhongming exuded, she was quite frightened.
She suddenly started stammering, "Fatty, she, she... Fatty is indeed dead."
"But didn't the village chief send a telegram to the army yesterday, saying that Fatty had stolen eight hundred yuan from a fellow villager's family, which was meant for his son's wedding, and that he was going to be sent to the security brigade?"
"..." Zeng Xiuzhu couldn't answer that.
Over the past five years, she bribed the village chief and, using the name of Fatty Girl, swindled Xie Zhongming out of an unknown amount of money.
Xie Zhongming started by sending back 38 yuan a month, and later his entire salary of 100 yuan went into her pocket.
Moreover, he often used the excuse that Fatty was causing trouble to make Xie Zhongming pay all sorts of money.
This time, she lied to Xie Zhongming, saying that Fatty had stolen eight hundred yuan from the villagers and spent it all at the provincial capital's department store because Zeng Xiuzhu's son was getting married.
Therefore, Xie Zhongming became their cash cow.
Who would have thought that Xie Zhongming, who hadn't visited Chadian Village for five years, would come to Chadian Village right before his son's wedding.
Zeng Xiuzhu's palms were sweaty, and she stammered for a long time, unable to speak.
"Mom, when exactly did Fatty have the accident? And how did it happen?"
"Just these past few days, she, she, she stole money from the villagers, fell into the river and drowned."
Xie Zhongming couldn't believe that Fatty was really dead.
Moreover, the mother-in-law's eyes darted around when she spoke, and her statements were contradictory.
The sweat on his forehead was hard to tell whether it was from farm work or from feeling guilty.
His sharp, keen eyes were fixed on Zeng Xiuzhu.
With his keen insight, he immediately sensed that she was lying.
"Mom, I'm asking you, did Fatty really steal money from the villagers?"
"Yes, he stole eight hundred yuan from the villagers, and fearing a beating, he fell into the river and drowned."
"Did they really drown?"
"Of course, why would I lie to you?"
"Has the funeral been held? Has the burial taken?"
"He has been buried."
To cover up her guilty conscience, Zeng Xiuzhu answered very confidently this time.
Xie Zhongming listened, but found the flaws to be numerous.
"Fatty fell into the river and drowned, why didn't you send me a telegram?"
Why didn't they wait for me to come back before burying me?
As she was relentlessly questioned, Zeng Xiuzhu's palms became increasingly sweaty.
Xie Zhongming sensed something was very wrong and coldly warned:
"What exactly happened to Fatty? If you don't explain it clearly, I'll go find out myself."
"Once I find out what's going on, if there's anything fishy going on, you won't be able to escape responsibility so easily."
Seeing how guilty Zeng Xiuzhu was.
The less you let him know the truth, the better.
The more suspicious the truth is, the more likely there is something fishy going on.
After being intimidated, Zeng Xiuzhu dared not make up anything too outrageous.
She looked at Xie Zhongming's tall figure, his cold, hard brow bone exuding a chilling aura.
Even the surrounding air seemed to be covered with a layer of ice.
But she still didn't tell the truth. "Zhongming, Fatty is really dead. She died out there. I heard it from someone else. Anyway, she never came back."
He is clearly lying.
"It seems you still won't tell the truth."
Next, Xie Zhongming stayed at Aunt Liu's house.
It took two and a half days to go to the local police station in the township.
He could not find Fatty's death registration or household registration cancellation registration.
He also visited the villagers on both sides.
Only then did he learn that Zeng Xiuzhu had kicked Pangya out not long after he and Pangya got their marriage certificate.
Someone saw Fatty in a nearby village.
I haven't seen her since.
I don't know if they're dead or missing.
Xie Zhongming felt very guilty after finding out about this information.
For five years, he hadn't visited Chadian Village, and because he disliked Pangya, he never considered bringing her to the army to live with him. He thought that as long as he sent money to Pangya in Chadian Village, he would have fulfilled his responsibility.
So even during his family visit leave in those five years, he never came to Chadian Village once.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have only found out now that Fatty was in trouble.
He returned to Fatty's mother's house.
Just a second ago, Zeng Xiuzhu and Fatty's brother Liu Dazhu were discussing what to do.
"Mom, will Fatty's husband, who's in the army, ask for the money he's sent to Fatty over the years back?"
“I don’t have any money left, I’ve spent it all. How could I possibly pay him back? If he asks for it, I’ll just collapse on the ground and cry.”
"But Fatty was always kicked out by us."
"It's just kicking them out, they didn't kill or set fires, it's not illegal, don't worry."
The next second, Xie Zhongming stepped over the threshold and entered the main room.
The actions of this family are utterly outrageous.
Those eyes, like steel blades tempered with ice, carried a furious intensity like thunder.
“You did not kill or set fire to anything. But you kicked Fatty out, and Fatty’s fate is unknown. This is disrupting a military marriage.”
"Breaking up military marriages is illegal. If I pursue this matter, you'll be in deep trouble."
Even if Zeng Xiuzhu is uneducated, she still understands the meaning of the words "breaking up a military marriage".
These words carried a powerful force, causing Zeng Xiuzhu's attitude to soften immediately.
She walked up to Xie Zhongming and said, "Son-in-law, that fat girl is really too lazy and gluttonous. She does no work all day and only knows how to eat, sleep, and eat. Otherwise, how could she have gotten so fat that she weighs over 200 pounds? As her mother, I couldn't stand it anymore, so I kicked her out."
Xie Zhongming snorted, "A mother can educate her children, but you kicked Fatty out and she's been missing for years without telling me. You even colluded with the village chief to swindle money from me. This is extortion and deception of soldiers. You, your son, and that village chief are going to jail."
The intimidating power of the phrase "reform from prison to a meal" almost made Zeng Xiuzhu's legs go weak.
Liu Dazhu, who was standing next to him, also kept pleading for leniency.
Xie Zhongming insisted that Zeng Xiuzhu repay the money.
In those five years, he sent 38 yuan back every month for the first two years and 100 yuan back every month for the next three years.
In addition to the money I was scammed out of.
The total amount is over six thousand yuan.
Zeng Xiuzhu collapsed to the ground, crying and wailing.
They say life is hard, but the money was used to buy food and pay for medical treatment.
I have no money, but you can take my life.
Seeing that the money they had saved over the years had probably been spent by the mother and son, and knowing that it was impossible to get it back, Xie Zhongming was helpless.
Besides, even if we were to pursue this further, that would be a matter for later.
Now is not the time to deal with this vicious mother and son.
He should find Fatty's whereabouts as soon as possible.
He went to the local police station to register the missing person case and filed a report, hoping to find Fatty as soon as possible.
He then thought of returning to the army and using his and his father's connections in the military to see if he could find Fatty's whereabouts.
That same day, he bought a train ticket back to Jincheng.
When Xie Zhongming returned to the compound, he happened to run into Yang's mother from Jiangbei—Zhang Hongmei.
"Aunt Mei!"
"Isn't this Zhongming? Didn't my Beiyang say you went to Chadian Village to see your wife? Zhongming, why didn't you bring your wife back?"
Zhang Hongmei is a woman with a loud voice and a forthright personality; you can hear her speaking from a great distance.
So much so that Qiao Xingyue, who went out early in the morning, heard it from a great distance.
What did that woman say?
Comrade Xie's wife is from Chadian Village. What a coincidence that she's from the same village as Fatty.
Qiao Xingyue carried two and a half jin of pork belly tied with hemp rope, along with some eggs, cabbage, and potatoes in a net bag, and walked towards Xie Zhongming and Jiangbei Yang's mother.
On a March morning in Jincheng, the fog had not yet dissipated.
Plus, it rained last night, so the ground is wet and the air is chilly.
Even colder than the air was Xie Zhongming's expression. Whenever someone asked about Pangya, he would deliberately avoid the question, saying, "My wife can't come to the compound. Aunt Mei, I'll head back now."
"Okay, I'm going to buy groceries too." Zhang Hongmei nodded awkwardly.
Remembering her son Jiang Beiyang's warning not to keep asking about Xie Zhongming's wife, as it was a topic Xie Zhongming disliked discussing with others, Zhang Hongmei stopped asking and felt she shouldn't have said that.
The cement ground was full of potholes. Qiao Xingyue, wearing cloth shoes, walked around the potholes and reached Zhang Hongmei. By then, Xie Zhongming had already walked more than ten meters away.
Jincheng is a huge basin. Fog rises in the mornings and evenings during spring, autumn and winter, and the fog lingers for a long time.
In the hazy fog, Xie Zhongming's silhouette was exceptionally clear.
With each step he took, his shoulders and back stood straight as a firmly rooted pine tree, but soon his figure disappeared from sight.
Seeing that Zhang Hongmei was leaving in a hurry, Qiao Xingyue quickly greeted her, "Aunt Mei, good morning."
“This is…” Zhang Hongmei stopped and looked her over, “The nanny of Commander Xie’s family?”
This girl doesn't look like a widow at all. She's fair-skinned, tall, and thin, more like a fresh-faced college student.
"Aunt Mei, I'm Qiao Xingyue, the new nanny at Commander Xie's house. I think I just heard Comrade Xie say that he just returned from Chadian Village?"
"You didn't know he went to Chadian Village?" Aunt Mei not only had a loud voice, but was also a lively and enthusiastic aunt who loved to chat with others. "He went to Chadian Village to see his wife."
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