Chapter 156: Having done all sorts of bad things
Zhang Yanfei seemed to have all her strength drained away, and collapsed to the ground.
He gripped his hair tightly with both hands, his knuckles snapping from the force.
He roared like a wild beast, his voice hoarse and barely audible: "Vile woman! Ning Xin, that vile woman! I must have been blind to marry her!"
He remembered the banknotes he had hidden in the cracks of the wall at home. They were the savings he had accumulated by withholding wages and accepting bribes, and also the money he had left for his elderly mother in the countryside to live out her retirement.
Ning was determined to keep those banknotes in her hands.
He remembered that she was pregnant with two sons and that they would be family in the future, so he relented and let her keep it.
But he never expected that this woman would be so ruthless!
Not only did they hand over the evidence of his crimes, but they also absconded with all the money and banknotes!
"My money! My banknotes!"
Zhang Yanfei scrambled to her feet, lunged at the iron bars, and screamed madly at the interrogators, "That's what I left for my mother! It's her retirement money! Where did that vicious woman Ning Xin put the money and notes? Go and arrest her! Go and get the money and notes back!"
The interrogator stared at him coldly, his eyes devoid of any emotion.
“Zhang Yanfei, even now, you’re still thinking about that dirty money? That money wasn’t yours to begin with; it belonged to the country and the people! As for Ning Xin, she ran off with all the money you’d hidden away long ago, and now you probably can’t even find a trace of her.”
"They ran away?"
Zhang Yanfei trembled all over, as if struck by a thunderbolt.
He staggered back a few steps and fell to the ground with a thud, his eyes frighteningly empty.
"She actually ran away? How dare she run away?"
Zhang Yanfei thought of his elderly mother in the countryside, how she had raised him as a widow without ever enjoying a single day of happiness in her life.
He originally planned that once he climbed a higher career path, he would bring his mother to the city so she could enjoy a comfortable retirement with him.
But now, not only is he a prisoner, but Ning Xin has also taken away his mother's retirement money.
"My mother... my poor mother..."
Zhang Yanfei covered her face, letting out suppressed sobs, crocodile tears seeping through her fingers. "She's still waiting for me in the countryside, she doesn't know I'm in trouble... Without that money, how will she survive..."
The interrogator looked at him, but his face remained expressionless.
In the 1970s, embezzlement and bribery were serious crimes, not to mention that Zhang Yanfei was involved in a huge amount of money and had also withheld the wages of frontline soldiers. Each and every one of these acts was an unforgivable crime.
He pulled a document from the files and threw it in front of Zhang Yanfei, his voice as cold as ice.
“Crying won’t help. Look at everything you’ve done over the years, it’s all written down clearly. You’ve embezzled over five thousand yuan in wages and accepted over three thousand yuan in bribes. In this day and age, do you know what kind of crime that is?”
Zhang Yanfei picked up the document with trembling hands.
The handwriting was clear and glaring, piercing his heart.
Looking at the numbers, he felt dizzy and his vision blurred.
A salary of over five thousand yuan is undoubtedly an astronomical figure in an era when a month's salary is only a few dozen yuan.
"No...it's impossible..." Zhang Yanfei muttered to herself, repeatedly saying, "I didn't take that much...I didn't..."
"No?" The interrogator sneered, pulling out another stack of receipts from the file. "These are all accounts you handled, every single one has your signature. You still want to deny it?"
The receipts were scattered on the ground, and the signature on them was clearly Zhang Yanfei's handwriting.
He looked at the receipts and couldn't say another word.
The interrogator, seeing his distraught state, spoke slowly, his voice carrying a hint of resolve.
“Zhang Yanfei, the crimes you committed in the past would have cost you your head. Now it’s a new society and the policies are more lenient, but your embezzlement of wages and acceptance of bribes are huge in amount and extremely heinous in nature. You will face the most severe trial.”
Zhang Yanfei suddenly raised her head, a glint of survival flashing in her eyes.
He threw himself against the iron bars and pleaded with the interrogators, "I was wrong! I really know I was wrong! Please, give me a chance to reform! I have elderly parents and young children to support, I can't die!"
"Are there elderly people above you?"
The interrogator raised an eyebrow, his tone full of sarcasm.
"The money you ran off with could have allowed your old mother to live out her remaining years in peace, but you insisted on going down the wrong path. And what about your children? Your two sons were already gone because of your wife's meddling! Zhang Yanfei, you brought this upon yourself!"
These words were like a bucket of cold water, completely extinguishing the last glimmer of hope in Zhang Yanfei's heart.
He slumped to the ground, staring blankly at the cold earth, muttering repeatedly, "It's my own fault... It's all my own fault..."
Seeing his appearance, the interrogator said nothing more, but simply waved his hand, signaling the guard next to him to take him back.
Just as Zhang Yanfei was being dragged towards his cell by the guards, the interrogator suddenly remembered something and coldly added a sentence to his back.
"I forgot to tell you, based on the crimes you committed and the current policies and regulations, you will most likely be executed. Just stay in jail and wait for the final verdict."
"Execution?"
These two words struck Zhang Yanfei like a thunderbolt.
He stopped abruptly, turned around in disbelief to look at the interrogator, his lips trembling, unable to utter a single word for a long time.
He originally thought that at worst he would just have to serve a few years in prison, and after he was released, he could go out and settle scores with Ning Xin, and go back to take care of his mother.
But he never expected that what awaited him was execution!
In the 1970s, the word "execution" meant utter death, meaning there was no chance of ever turning things around.
"No! I don't want to be shot! I don't want to!" Zhang Yanfei struggled frantically, punching and kicking the guards. "Let me go! Let me go! I'm innocent! I shouldn't be shot!"
The guards were all strong young men; why would they be afraid of a prisoner like him?
The two men held him down and dragged him back to his cell.
With a bang, the cell door slammed shut, the cold iron bars cutting off everything outside.
Zhang Yanfei was thrown onto the cold ground. He looked at the dim light above him and then at the tightly closed cell door, and finally broke down completely.
He huddled in the corner, letting out a desperate wail: "Ning Xin! I'll haunt you even as a ghost!"
The wails echoed in the empty cell, lingering for a long time.
At that moment, on a small road far from the county town, Ning Xin was carrying a heavy bundle on her back and walking hurriedly.
The bundle contained the money and banknotes she had taken from Zhang Yanfei, as well as a few changes of clothes.
She dared not walk on the main road, and could only choose to walk on the secluded side paths.
She was afraid of being recognized and taken back to the police station.
She touched her still slightly aching lower abdomen, a glint of ruthlessness flashing in her eyes.
With her child gone, Zhang Yanfei is finished; she has nothing left.
But she couldn't just let it go like that.
She is a reborn person; she doesn't deserve to end up like this.
Ning Tang! Xu Qiaofeng!
She'll settle this score with them sooner or later!
Ning Xin was afraid something bad would happen, so she ran away almost the afternoon after the miscarriage. She went to the countryside to find Zhang Yanfei's mother.
The money she had taken from Zhang Yanfei was far from enough to support her future life.
Ning thought to herself, "Zhang Yanfei is so filial, he must have given his mother money before. She can just find a reason to swindle that money away."
As the sun began to set, Ning Xin reached the entrance to Zhang Yanfei's hometown village.
The village was small, with potholed dirt roads and roadside weeds growing up to waist height. A few mud-brick houses stood crookedly, with wisps of smoke rising from their chimneys, carrying the aroma of firewood-cooked meals.
Ning Xin pulled her faded white shirt tighter around her waist and tightened the bundle on her back, a calculating glint in her eyes.
She had inquired and learned that Zhang Yanfei's mother lived in the most dilapidated mud house at the east end of the village.
The old lady had been a widow for many years and was not in good health. She made a living by farming a few acres of meager land.
Although Zhang Yanfei was a scoundrel, he was a filial son who would secretly send money and food to his mother every now and then.
All this money should belong to her now.
Ning Xin took a deep breath, forced a pitiful expression, and slowly moved to the door of the mud house.
The wooden door was ajar, and coughing sounds and the old woman's low murmurs could be heard from inside. Ning Xin raised her hand and gently knocked on the door.
"Who is it?" The aged voice carried a hint of wariness.
Ning Xin lowered her voice, her throat tightening, and said, "Auntie, it's me, I'm Yanfei's wife."
The door creaked open.
An old woman with a full head of white hair stood at the door, her face deeply lined with wrinkles, clutching a half-finished shoe sole in her hand.
The old lady looked Ning Xin up and down, her cloudy eyes full of doubt: "You're Yan Fei's wife? I've never heard him mention you?"
Seeing this, Ning Xin's eyes reddened, and tears streamed down her face. She knelt on the ground with a thud, weeping uncontrollably.
"Auntie, I know I've come abruptly, but I really have no other choice. Yan Fei... he's in trouble!"
"Something happened?" The old lady's face turned pale instantly, and the shoe sole in her hand fell to the ground with a thud. She hurriedly went to help Ningxin up.
"Girl, get up quickly and tell me slowly, what happened to Yanfei?"
Ning Xin was helped up by the old lady and cried so hard she could barely breathe, making up lies as she cried.
“Auntie, Yanfei got into trouble in the city and was arrested. I was pregnant with his two children, and I was planning to come see you after the babies were born, but who knew... who knew I would fall and lose the babies, and then Yanfei got into trouble too? I have nowhere else to turn, so I came to you for help!”
As she spoke, she clutched her lower abdomen, her face showing a pained expression. Anyone who saw her would feel sorry for her.
The old lady already felt sorry for her son, and upon hearing this, her eyes immediately welled up with tears. She quickly ushered Ningxin into the house.
"Poor child, come in quickly, come in quickly."
The mud house was very simple, with a kang (a heated brick bed), a table with a missing leg, a few sweet potatoes piled in the corner, and not even a decent stool.
Ning Xin sat on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), secretly glancing at the furnishings in the room, inwardly cursing Zhang Yanfei for being so stingy and making his mother live such a meager life.
The old lady busied herself pouring water for Ningxin, then went to the kitchen and pulled out two roasted sweet potatoes, stuffing them into Ningxin's hands: "Girl, don't mind, this is all we have at home. Yanfei, that child, why is he so insensible? How could he get into trouble like this?"
Ning Xin took a bite of the sweet potato, but felt nothing. She put the sweet potato down and started wiping away her tears again.
“Auntie, Yanfei was just confused for a moment. He’s a cadre in the city, and he has a lot of things under his control, so it’s inevitable that he would make mistakes. Now that he’s been arrested, I’m a woman all alone, penniless, and I don’t even have the money to go back to the city.”
As she spoke, she secretly glanced at the old woman's expression. Seeing the old woman's reluctance, she continued.
“I heard from Yanfei that he left you a lot of money, saying it was for your retirement. Auntie, I know I shouldn’t ask, but I really have no other choice. Could you lend me some? We’ll definitely pay you back double when Yanfei gets out!”
Upon hearing this, the old lady paused for a moment, then sighed and turned to walk to the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed).
He groped around and pulled a small package wrapped in oilcloth from the stove hole.
She carefully opened the package, inside which was a stack of crumpled banknotes and a few silver dollars.
“This is what Yanfei has given me over the years, and I haven’t been able to bear spending it.” The old lady handed the package to Ningxin. “Daughter, take this. Use this money first, and I’ll find a way if it’s not enough. Yanfei is my only son. I can’t abandon him now that he’s in trouble.”
Ning Xin's eyes lit up when she saw the stack of banknotes.
She quickly took the package, clutching it tightly in her hand, afraid the old lady would change her mind. She pretended to refuse.
"Auntie, I can't accept this, this is your retirement money!"
"Take it!" The old lady patted her hand. "It's not easy for you, a woman all alone. Once Yanfei is out, you two can live a good life, and I'll be at ease."
Ning Xin was overjoyed, but her face still showed a pitiful expression. She said many nice things to the old lady, coaxing her to her heart's content.
As it was getting dark, Ningxin, fearing that things might change if she stayed out too long, got up to say goodbye.
"Auntie, it's getting late, I have to hurry or I'll miss the bus back to the city. Don't worry, I'll definitely find a way to save Yanfei!"
The old lady reluctantly saw her off to the village entrance, not forgetting to tell her, "Girl, be careful on the road. Send me a message when you have time and tell me about Yanfei's situation."
"I understand, Auntie!" Ning Xin turned around and waved, but her pace quickened, and she almost ran away from the village.
As soon as she stepped out of the village, Ning Xin's sorrow vanished instantly, replaced by a smug smile.
She opened the package, counted the money inside, and found there were over two hundred bills and three silver dollars.
In this day and age, this is no small sum.
Ning Xin carefully stuffed the money notes and silver dollars into her bundle, patted the bundle, and a ruthless smile curled at the corner of her mouth.
Zhang Yanfei, you deserve it!
Ning Tang, Xu Qiaofeng, you wait and see. I'll come back for you sooner or later with this money!
However, Ning Xin has more important things to do right now.
She remembered that around this time in her past life, Ning Tang's biological parents seemed to have come looking for her...
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