Chapter 228 Revenge
Lin Qi's side was bustling with activity, but Cao's family was deserted. This morning, Cao Zheng returned home and told Grandma Cao about Zhao Hanshuang's pregnancy and miscarriage.
Zhao Hanshuang and Cao Zheng had been married for several years but had not gotten pregnant. Zhao Hanshuang had always thought it was her own problem. In addition, her menstrual period was irregular, so she did not think about pregnancy after not having her period for two consecutive months. In Zhao Hanshuang's heart, she had even lost hope of having a child.
Until yesterday, those people were having a snowball fight, with snowballs falling on her one after another... In the end, they just competed to see who could hit her the most times -
The winner was overjoyed, while the loser was furious. Several people rushed towards her, punched and kicked her, and blamed her for hiding.
In the chaos, someone kicked her in the stomach with great force. When warm liquid flowed out from under her body, she realized something was wrong...
Zhao Hanshuang hated those people!
Grandma Cao hated and resented. She hated those who hurt her granddaughter-in-law; she resented her granddaughter-in-law for not only saying she was pregnant, but also because if she had said she was pregnant, she and her grandson would never allow her to go out to sweep snow in such a cold weather; later, she even resented her grandson, blaming him for why he liked the daughter of a capitalist, and why he was so stubborn and stubborn that he lost his job, but at the age of 30 he didn't even have a child!
Is her Cao family going to be extinct?
On New Year's Eve, the laughter and chatter of other families made the Cao family seem even more quiet and lonely. Grandma Cao ate a few dumplings, but she didn't want to waste electricity, so she turned off the lights and prepared to go to bed.
However, she tossed and turned, and could not fall asleep. Grandma Cao tossed and turned in bed for four hours. At twelve o'clock, Grandma Cao got out of bed and wanted to go to the bathroom. She groped in the dark to find a flashlight, but couldn't find one. There was a distance from her bed to the light switch, so she held on to the wall and slowly walked towards the door.
She was moving slowly enough, but when she stepped on two small beans scattered on the ground, she still fell. She fell forward and her head hit the ground heavily with a loud thud.
When she first fell to the ground, Grandma Cao was conscious, but she couldn't get up, move, or even make a sound. The coat she was wearing fell off, and Grandma Cao felt the cold eroding her body bit by bit. She knew that she would soon freeze to death, or even turn into an ice sculpture.
She wanted to speak, wanted to leave some last words, but she used all her strength and could only move her body.
Lin Qi only found out that Grandma Cao had passed away on the tenth day of the first lunar month.
She looked at Cao Zheng, who was unrecognizable and had a stubbled face, and felt powerless. She asked softly, "Wasn't Grandma Cao in good health? How did she pass away?"
"I fell down on New Year's Eve, and no one was home." Cao Zheng couldn't help choking up when he mentioned this incident. "If, if no one was home, grandma wouldn't have, wouldn't have........."
Cao Zheng suppressed his tears and started crying.
Lin Qi's heart ached. She didn't know how to comfort Cao Zheng. He had just lost his unborn child, and now he had lost his only blood relative.
She sat aside, saying nothing. When Cao Zheng finally stopped crying, she handed him a handkerchief soaked in warm water, which was steaming, and said, "Wipe it off."
Cao Zheng took it, washed his face, then took the cold cream from Lin Qi's hand and rubbed it on randomly.
"My grandma passed away, and I borrowed some money. Han Shuang has just been discharged from the hospital. She is weak and needs some nourishment. I plan to work for the black market again." He already owed Lin Qi and Xu Hexiao too much money. If he continued to paste the envelopes, he would never be able to pay it back.
Cao Zheng had promised Lin Qi that he would not go to the black market, but now he was going to go. For some reason, he felt that he should tell Lin Qi. After saying this, he did not dare to ignore Lin Qi's eyes. He was afraid that she would think he was going back on his word and that she would be unhappy with him for doing something illegal.
However, Lin Qi did not persuade him, nor did she show disappointment. She just reminded him, "Be careful."
When Xu Hexiao came back in the evening, Lin Qi told him about this matter.
"Everyone has his own way of living. Brother Cao has been forced to this point. He probably has no other choice." Xu Hexiao said. If he put himself in Cao Zheng's shoes, he might not be as good as Cao Zheng. Cao Zheng can still cheer up and think about making money to pay off his debts. If it were him, he would take a knife that night and kill all the people who bullied Qiqi one by one.
Xu Hexiao thought of the director of the Revolutionary Committee who had imprisoned Qiqi. He always remembered that it is never too late for a gentleman to take revenge. One day, he would pay it back tenfold.
Lin Qi hummed and couldn't help but hug Xu Hexiao, "When will this kind of life end? It's too depressing."
"Soon. I feel it won't be long." Xu Hexiao said.
Lin Qi looked up, "Why?"
"Intuition." Xu Hexiao rubbed her head.
In February of 1974, the snow in the capital began to melt slowly, and the roads were slippery. On a pitch-dark night, a serious car accident occurred on the main road in the city. An out-of-control truck hit a group of young people, killing two people on the spot, two on the way to the hospital, and one seriously injured.
When Xu Hexiao heard others mention this car accident at the machinery factory, he didn't take it seriously.
One night half a month after the accident, Zhao Hanshuang knocked on Lin Qi's door in a hurry. When she saw Xu Hexiao opening the door, she said, "Cao Zheng has been arrested."
Xu Hexiao was startled, thinking that Cao Zheng was a lookout for the black market people and was arrested. But Zhao Hanshuang said, "The police said he was involved in a car accident. Four people died in the car accident and one was seriously injured and turned into a vegetable."
"Wasn't that done by a driver?" Xu Hexiao said.
"The brakes of that car were damaged. The driver said that when he returned to the capital, the brakes were still working, but he got off the car to go to the toilet, and when he got back in, the car couldn't stop." Zhao Hanshuang said.
"Is there any evidence to prove that Brother Cao did it?" Xu Hexiao asked.
"No. The driver also said that it was too dark and he couldn't see anything. The police suspected him because the driver said that he had no enemies and no one would want to harm him. And those dead people were the ones who had been making things difficult for me over the past few years and kicked away the baby in my belly -" Zhao Hanshuang felt happy, but she cared more about Cao Zheng than the lost child.
She didn't want Cao Zheng to do this.
"Do you think it was Brother Cao who did it?" Lin Qi asked.
"Brother Cao has a strong motive." Xu Hexiao said.
"I know that Fang Lixue, and I also know a few of her classmates. One year, I saw them beating a man to death in the street, and nothing happened in the end." Lin Qi thought of the thief. His crime did not deserve the death penalty, but he died nonetheless.
"So they are not innocent." Xu Hexiao had no pity for those people. "I just wonder if the police will convict Brother Cao without evidence."
"Ordinary people rarely have the opportunity to touch cars, and they don't know how to damage brake pads and the like. Now the police should investigate whether Brother Cao knows anything about cars." Xu Hexiao said. He was somewhat thankful that every time he went to Cao's house, he went at night and avoided people. And Brother Cao also avoided people when he came to their house.
The only time they appeared was in the hospital. But the hospital was crowded with people, and they didn't stay there for long, so no one should know that they knew each other.
Otherwise, he had worked as a driver in a machinery factory and knew how to repair cars. If the police knew that Brother Cao had a friend like him, Brother Cao’s situation would become very dangerous.
Cao Zheng had few friends and very simple connections. The police interrogated him but could not find anything. Cao Zheng was detained for a few days, but was released because there was no evidence to prove that he had any connection with the car accident.
"Those students' enemies are not just Cao Zheng. Try targeting others."
"Those students beat to death didn't amount to seven or eight people, but at least four or five. They deserved their death."
"Be careful with your words!"
"Even if they have committed a crime and deserve to die, they should be tried by judicial authorities. Seeking revenge in private is not an option!"
"Then start by investigating the enemies of these students."
After Cao Zheng came out of the police station, he never went to Lin Qi's house, nor did he let Zhao Hanshuang go. It seemed that the two families had cut off contact. It was not until more than half a year later that the case came to an end.
Cao Zhengcai came to the door carrying a bag of dried squid and a bag of dried hairtail.
"I know the murderer. He used to come from a well-off family and had driven for other people, so he was quite familiar with cars. After he was labeled as one of the "five black categories", Fang Lixue, Ma Jun and others bullied his children, one big and one small. They poured water on them and locked them up in a prison. It was winter then, with lights on in every house and other people celebrating the New Year, but his two children were frozen into popsicles in the prison. His wife was so grief-stricken that she died of illness the following year. He was a lonely man, and the belief that kept him alive was revenge." Cao Zheng's tone was calm, as if he had already turned the page on the matter.
Xu Hexiao patted his shoulder and said, "They got what they deserved."
"Yes, God has eyes." Cao Zheng laughed at himself. He did not tell Xu Hexiao that it was he who led those people from the black market to the road and to where the truck passed by.
The snow was melting that night and the water washed away their footprints, so no one knew that he was at the scene and witnessed the tragic car accident.
No one knew how happy he felt in his heart at that moment!
"This incident caused a big stir. Later, this year, the criticism and denunciation stopped, and no one bothered Han Shuang anymore. I went to help Han Shuang sweep the floor during the day, and no one jumped out to say anything." Cao Zheng's smile became more sincere. "Hanshuang pastes envelopes at home during the day. It's not tiring work, and her health has gradually improved. I sweep the streets during the day and do some small business in the black market at night. Now I have saved some money, and I will pay you back part of it first."
Cao Zheng counted out fifty yuan and gave it to Xu Hexiao.
"We don't lack money." Xu Hexiao didn't answer.
Cao Zheng put the money on the table and said, "I know you don't need it, but I owe you money and I feel burdened."
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