The paper was passed from one hand to the other, a petition hundreds of meters long, covered with countless names.
Some were written with a brush, some were traced with a pencil, and some were crooked fingerprints.
That was the heartfelt wish of the island's young and old, the hope they brought by boat overnight.
The onlookers in the city were stunned; their hands, which had been throwing things, froze in mid-air, and no one uttered a sound.
Under the sunlight, the island villagers' dark faces were full of stubbornness. They stood in front of Ling Huanwu as if protecting their own family.
Even when faced with a surging crowd and cold sticks, not a single person retreated.
Ling Huanwu looked at the "wall of people" and the marks on their bodies from being hit, and tears suddenly welled up in her eyes.
She thought she had long been abandoned by the whole world.
But they forgot.
On that remote island, there is a group of people who remember her kindness and are willing to travel thousands of miles to stand in front of her and shield her from all the storms.
*
The petition signed by a thousand people in the village was circulated from the county to the city within a few days.
It was quickly passed up the chain of command, awaiting a decision from higher-ups.
This shocking news spread like wildfire throughout the streets and alleys within days.
At that moment, Chu Mei was sitting in the courtyard, holding Zhou Jiuzhen and Zhao Jingxiang's childhood clothes and lost in thought.
When her neighbor spoke meaningfully about her daughter-in-law, Chu Mei's face instantly broke into a gloating smile.
After seeing her neighbor off, she turned around and shouted into the house, "Old Zhao, come out quickly!"
Zhao Tingguo had just returned from outside, wiping his sweat as he walked out, when Chu Mei approached him, her voice filled with urgency, "Have you heard? Ling Huanwu is finally going to fall!"
“We couldn’t do anything to her when she was taken away by the Song family. Fortunately, heaven has eyes and retribution has come. I heard that the higher-ups are investigating her!”
"You should hurry up and find that old acquaintance you know in the city, and tell them about her 'crimes.' It would be best if the higher-ups determined that she was wrong, locked up for three to five years, and then sent to a remote mountain area for reform!"
Chu Mei became more and more agitated as she spoke, as if she could already see Ling Huanwu's miserable end. She didn't notice that the expression on Zhao Tingguo's face was gradually darkening.
Zhao Tingguo stood there, listening to his wife's sarcastic remarks, as if frozen in place.
He had also happened to be on that street earlier and witnessed that magnificent and awe-inspiring scene.
The image of the petition with a thousand signatures, delivered by the villagers, flashed through my mind.
Thinking back on all the good deeds Ling Huanwu has done in the village over the years.
She invested in and supported the breeding farm, taught the women to sew and established a handicraft cooperative, and even opened a literacy class for the village children who couldn't afford to go to school despite the pressure.
Thinking back to how he listened to Chu Mei and constantly looked down on his daughter-in-law, feeling that she was not good enough for his son, he felt a pang of pain in his heart, filled with self-blame and guilt.
"Enough!"
Zhao Tingguo suddenly raised his voice, his tone filled with unprecedented anger, "Stop making things worse. Don't you know what Ling Huanwu has done?"
"Can Big Dog blame her for his own mistakes? And Second Dog, did she want the bomb to explode? Did she want to be a widow?"
"Actually, you just don't want to admit that your parenting was a failure when you were a child, which ruined your two children. You just have to find an innocent person to take the blame!"
"Chu Mei, when will you wake up?!"
Chu Mei was startled by the sudden barrage of reprimands.
Her eyes were wide open, filled with disbelief.
In all their decades of marriage, Zhao Tingguo had never spoken to her so loudly, let alone yelled at her angrily.
And what he said was so hurtful.
He knew perfectly well what she feared most, yet he precisely and painfully exposed her wounds.
Chu Mei's eyes instantly reddened, her voice trembling with tears, "You actually yelled at me? You yelled at me for that woman? Hasn't she harmed our two sons enough? You're still protecting her?"
Looking at his wife's stubborn and unrepentant attitude, Zhao Tingguo felt helpless and disappointed.
“Over the years, if you hadn’t always disliked Ling Huanwu and targeted her at every turn, would there still be just the two of us left at home? I would have been holding my granddaughter long ago.”
"And if you hadn't been suppressing Da Gou at every turn, would Er Gou have been taken away and abandoned by Da Gou back then? Would he have suffered so much outside?"
"You, as the mother, deserve a lot of blame for the eldest son going astray by trying to steal his younger brother's wife!"
With each word he spoke, his heart felt like it was being pricked by a needle. These words, which had been bottled up inside him for years, finally burst forth today.
Chu Mei looked as if she had been slapped hard several times, her face turning pale and then red.
She was trembling with agitation, pointing at Zhao Tingguo and yelling, "Fine, Zhao Tingguo! Now that something's happened, you're blaming it all on me! I can't live like this anymore, divorce! I'm divorcing you!"
After saying that, she smashed a family photo that her two children had taken when they were little, turned around and rushed out the door, even causing the door curtain to shake violently a few times.
As Zhao Tingguo watched his wife's departing figure, his legs went weak, and he slowly sat down on the stone bench in the courtyard.
He buried his face in his hands, tears streaming uncontrollably through his fingers, muttering to himself, "Why did it take me so long to wake up... If I had seen things sooner, if I had stopped you sooner, this family wouldn't have ended up like this..."
Regret overwhelmed him like a tidal wave; Zhao Tingguo felt a tightness in his chest and could hardly breathe.
*
Three days later.
The prison gates slowly opened.
When Ling Huanwu walked out wearing faded white clothes, she immediately bumped into the dense crowd.
Surprisingly, all the able-bodied villagers from the island came.
They held eggs in their hands and tucked in newly sewn cloth shirts.
Upon seeing her emerge, the crowd fell silent instantly, followed by a chorus of quiet concern.
"Xiao Ling, you've finally come out!" Aunt Liu was the first to squeeze forward, holding the sleeping Xiao Nianjiu in her arms, and carefully handed the child to her. "The child is very good, she's been looking forward to her mother every day."
The moment Ling Huanwu's fingers touched the child's soft face, tears streamed down her face.
She held Xiao Nianjiu tightly, her cheek pressed against the child's warm forehead, and the sobs she had suppressed for so long finally escaped her throat.
Amidst the villagers' murmurs of "You've lost so much weight" and "Go home and replenish yourself," my heart felt as if it had been warmed by lukewarm water.
At this moment, the crowd suddenly parted to both sides, and Zhao Tingguo walked in, leaning on his cane.
His hair seemed to have turned a little whiter, and he was clutching a red cloth bag in his hand.
When he reached Ling Huanwu, he first bowed deeply, his voice trembling almost imperceptibly, "Little Ling, I was confused before, I misunderstood you, I'm sorry."
As he spoke, he opened the red cloth bag, inside which was a first-class merit medal that had been polished to a shine.
He gently handed it to Xiao Nianjiu, saying, "This is what Grandpa got from fighting back then. I'm giving it to Xiao Nianjiu as a way for Grandpa to apologize to the child."
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