52

52

"What a terrible thing! Old Mrs. Zhang makes the two little ones work under the scorching sun again, without even suggesting they go to a shady spot."

Seeing this, someone couldn't help but speak up.

“If I hadn’t seen her two daughters-in-law with their own eyes, I would have doubted that the children were even hers. She’s treating them so badly. She’s eating herself to the bone, eating chicken, duck and pork every day, while her two children are often hungry.”

They could only talk about it outside the courtyard. They had said a few words to Old Lady Zhang before because they couldn't stand it, and as a result, Old Lady Zhang made the two children go hungry for several meals that day and also gave them a few beatings.

The more they talked, the more Zhang's wife abused them, until they dared not say anything more.

No matter how reluctant I was, I learned to keep quiet.

Old Mrs. Zhang was so smug, it made everyone's teeth itch with envy.

How can there be such a cruel grandmother in the world?

Inside the main room of the courtyard, Butcher Zhang lay on the bed, his legs clamped between wooden boards, resting.

Unlike half a month ago, when he was strong and muscular, he had lost a lot of weight and was sickly. He was uncomfortable lying down, harbored resentment, and was emotionally distressed, making him look very unpleasant.

Especially those eyes, sinister and venomous, like fangs piercing flesh when they slash at someone.

Zheng Dahu, standing in front of Butcher Zhang, kept his head down and didn't dare to meet his gaze.

He was filled with regret.

Where did he get the audacity to provoke Butcher Zhang?

Zheng Dahu is a petty character with a bit of cleverness, who only dares to be ruthless to his family, while Zhang the Butcher is a big character who dares to be ruthless to everyone, having killed many people over the years.

So when Zheng Dahu got scared, he wanted to back down, but Zhang the Butcher wouldn't. The more scared he got, the more destitute he became, and the more unwilling he was to accept it. He just wanted everyone to suffer.

“Your Er Ya is still alive and well, right in front of the police.” Butcher Zhang’s eyes widened, as if they were about to burst.

“Er Ya, she doesn’t care what people say, she’s crazy, she might really arrest me and put me in jail, she has no family affection at all.”

When other families have a scandal, they're too busy trying to cover it up, but Er Ya really knows how to publicize it in a big way.

She just wished the Zheng family would be pointed at and gossiped about every day.

Zheng Dahu didn't dare to go out in the village. Every time he went out, he felt that everyone was looking at him with contempt and mockery, mocking him for being a fool and for making a fool of himself.

He hasn't developed the thick skin of Old Man Zheng yet; he's still young and really can't handle this.

Therefore, moral blackmail works on others, but not on Er Ya.

"Put this copy in Er Ya's room, then go and report it." Butcher Zhang tossed a few sheets of paper to Zheng Dahu.

Zheng Dahu took it and glanced at it.

English.

I don't know him.

Zheng Dahu held the documents, his face grim and uncertain.

Butcher Zhang stared at Zheng Dahu's leg and asked in a gloomy tone, "How's your leg?"

Zheng Dahu shuddered.

Butcher Zhang definitely didn't care about him.

He was warning him that he could break his legs or take his life.

He packed up the documents and hurriedly left the Zhang family's house.

Zheng Nanle followed at a leisurely pace. When Zheng Dahu boarded the bus, she followed him on. As they passed each other, the copy fell into her hands.

It's Shakespeare's *The Merchant of Venice*.

Zheng Nanle glanced at it from beginning to end. There were no hidden items or secret codes; it was just a pure copy.

She put the copy back into Zheng Dahu's arms, got off at the next stop, returned to the police station, reported to Hua Chang that there were new leads on human traffickers, and applied to go out to investigate.

Last time, although we caught them red-handed, those human traffickers didn't know much. They were managed in a hierarchical system, and the only people who knew were their superiors.

The driver was the superior of that group.

The driver was a truck driver for a livestock farm, who specialized in transporting abducted children along with customers' poultry and livestock.

The child was hidden inside, drugged, while piglets and sows were kept outside. With these domestic animals as cover, no one would go deep inside to check.

Using this method, human traffickers and abducted children could be easily transported out of the city.

However, this driver committed suicide by taking rat poison after being arrested, and the trail ended with him. The bureau investigated his social background afterwards, but after checking everything, they could not find any suspicious suppliers.

This man's father was a martyr, and he was a martyr's family member. It was through this connection that he was able to get into the transportation team.

In those days, truck drivers were highly sought after. There was a saying that "if you turn the steering wheel, even the county magistrate won't stand up for you." Without such connections, he would never have gotten this job.

When they learned that he was a family member of a martyr, everyone in the bureau had mixed feelings.

The father is a hero, but the son is a scoundrel.

With no leads remaining, the case was closed. Now, Zheng Nanle said he had found something new, and Hua Chang quickly asked, "What lead is it?"

Zheng Nanle shook his head. "It's just a guess, there's no evidence. Of course, this guess is also very far-fetched. No one would believe it if I said it out loud, so I won't say it. Please cover for me in the bureau."

Hua Chang didn't press further; matters cannot be accomplished without secrecy.

He nodded.

After leaving the bureau, Zheng Nanle went to Zhang the butcher's place. She looked at the two children sweeping the yard with brooms under the blazing sun, and her eyes darkened.

Unlike this era, where all sorts of outrageous abuse are considered normal, Zheng Nanle comes from a modern world with a wildly imaginative mind. Behind every outrageous form of abuse, there is a novel that has been written about it.

When she first saw this scene, her first thought was that this wasn't a child from the Zhang family; perhaps it had been abducted.

Later, he heard from a neighbor that Zhang the butcher's daughter-in-law was pregnant, and he guessed that the child was his daughter-in-law's, and not necessarily Zhang the butcher's.

Whichever it is, just ask and you'll find out.

Zheng Nanle had a strange intuition that the two children had been brought here by someone else, and were not Zhang's children.

When it got dark, Zheng Nanle went into the house and walked up to Butcher Zhang.

At other times, Butcher Zhang might not be so alert, but at this moment, Butcher Zhang was crouching with his legs together, weak and frail, and he didn't move when Zheng Nanle walked to the bedside.

Zheng Nanle extended his spiritual power and asked directly, "Are your two children yours?"

"No," Butcher Zhang answered directly from his sleep.

That's not true at all.

"Whose is that?"

"have no idea."

Could it be that his wife cheated on him with another man, and he doesn't know who the other man is? Both of his wives were beaten to death by him because of this?

impossible.

Zheng Nanle immediately denied the speculation.

Every deed leaves a trace. Both of his wives came from ordinary working-class families. Given the influence of Zhang the butcher's uncle in the county town, finding the adulterer wouldn't be difficult.

Another guess surfaced in her mind: "Is the child your wife gave birth to yours?"

"no."

"Whose is that?"

"It belongs to my cousin."

As his suspicions came true, Zheng Nanle heard an outrageous story from Butcher Zhang.

Zhang the butcher was infertile, a fact his family had known for a long time. To avoid gossip, they still arranged a marriage for him.

Meanwhile, his older cousin's wife was physically weak and unsuitable for having children, but unfortunately, her family was well-off. The Zhang family was unwilling to divorce her and dared not have a mistress.

The two families put their heads together and came up with a plan to use a donor to conceive a child. This way, outsiders wouldn't gossip about Butcher Zhang, and his older cousin would also have descendants, so the bloodline wouldn't be cut off.

The original plan was that the first child would be raised by Zhang the butcher, and any subsequent children would be adopted by the eldest cousin. However, the child was born to be a boy, and the eldest cousin regretted it. He felt that his son should be raised by himself, so he persuaded his wife to adopt a friend's child and took his son with her.

Zhang the butcher's son just happened to be born, so he can't just disappear into thin air, can he?

The Zhang family brought home another child.

It's unclear whether Butcher Zhang's wife was aware of anything, but she didn't pay much attention to the child she brought home, instead frequently visiting her older cousin's house to see the child.

Seeing that the child's features resembled hers, and knowing that the more often she visited, the more likely things would go wrong, Zhang the butcher began to beat his wife.

Every time she went there, Butcher Zhang would beat her and accuse her of having a crush on his older cousin.

Even so, his wife would seize any opportunity to see the children, and fearing she would find out the truth, Zhang the butcher simply beat her to death.

Soon, Butcher Zhang married his second wife.

Zhang the butcher's second wife was sold by his family. The dowry he offered was high, and there were always families who didn't care about their daughters who were greedy for the dowry. As for Zhang the butcher beating his wife?

In this day and age, how many men don't beat their wives? If you are obedient, do everything he says, and fulfill your duties as a wife, he won't beat you.

Zhang the butcher's second wife was gentle and obedient. She took good care of the children from his previous marriage, managed everything at home and outside, and was very obedient to Zhang the butcher. She was beautiful, with a timid and pitiful appearance, and Zhang the butcher treated her quite well.

Just when she thought she could get by and life was going well, Zhang the butcher's older cousin took a liking to her.

My older cousin brought up the matter of borrowing sperm again.

Butcher Zhang, understanding the unspoken meaning, agreed.

First, his family was dependent on his uncle's family and had no means of refusing. Second, his wife could not bear him children, so she was just a bed warmer to him and was not treated as family or as an equal. He could send her out to sleep with him without any problem.

He gave away his first wife to sleep with, so the second one was no different.

Compared to the first wife, who would at least drug her and pull down a fig leaf to cover her shame, the second wife simply locked her up with her older cousin.

After that, whenever my older cousin felt like it, he would come over, and the Zhang butcher's family would cover for him.

His second wife became pregnant and gave birth to a girl. As usual, his older cousin took the baby back with him, and the Zhang family found another baby girl to give to her.

His second wife was timid and silently accepted his fate.

She had no right to resist.

She stayed quietly at Zhang the butcher's house and didn't try to visit her cousin's house to see her daughter. The Zhang family was very satisfied with her understanding. However, despite this, fate did not favor this poor woman. After beating his first wife, Zhang the butcher developed a bad habit of getting drunk and beating people. If he didn't get drunk, he was afraid that the woman would get pregnant in the early stages and he would beat her and cause her to miscarry, which would be difficult to explain to his cousin.

In another drunken episode, staring at his wife's protruding belly, he couldn't suppress his pent-up frustration and resentment at being cuckolded, and accidentally beat her to death.

This girl, who received little love in her life, listened to her father, her husband, and everyone who could control her, and only wished for a slightly better life, died so hastily.

After hearing Zhang the butcher's explanation, Zheng Nanle's fist hardened.

She used all her mental energy to weave an illusion, so that whenever Butcher Zhang fell asleep, he would dream of his two wives seeking his life.

Zheng Nanle staggered away from the Zhang family's courtyard, rubbing his forehead to relieve his headache.

Using level one mental strength to weave an illusion is still too much of a stretch.

But she doesn't regret it.

After resting in the back mountains for half a day, Zheng Nanle's splitting headache subsided, and he got up and returned to Zhengjia Village.

After returning to Zhengjia Village, she did not rush to show herself, but instead hid in the shadows.

When Butcher Zhang explained the matter of borrowing sperm, Zheng Nanle noticed that they brought back two children in a row.

Where did this child come from?

They were taken from a human trafficking den.

Butcher Zhang was the supplier for the transport team's drivers.

Besides transporting piglets, the farms also transport meat. They transport adult pigs, chickens, ducks, etc. to the slaughterhouse, slaughter them, and then deliver them to customers. Therefore, the staff of the farms and the slaughterhouses are actually familiar with each other. The two don't need to be very familiar with each other in front of outsiders. They can exchange information by simply greeting each other and exchanging a few words when they meet, without attracting attention or suspicion.

Butcher Zhang still has an online friend, but he doesn't know who that friend is. When there's a mission, that person will leave a string of numbers on the back door of his house, and the corresponding book is □□.

Recently, his superior asked him to take that copybook to the police station. He didn't know the specific reason. Directly sending an English copybook would definitely not work, so Zhang the butcher thought about it and came up with a more subtle way.

First, they framed Zheng Nanle and had him arrested. Then the police would definitely try to bail him out. Once the police knew about this, those who were interested would see the handwritten copy.

As for Zhao Dahu, he was useless after Zheng Nanle was arrested, so naturally an accident happened.

Zheng Nanle prepared to see who had come into contact with the handwritten copy.

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