Chapter 1 Evidence
"What? You can't have children?"
Lin Qingqing talked at length, but Li Chunlian only noticed that Lin Ying couldn't have children, and when she asked, she couldn't help but smile.
Her sister-in-law had always been arrogant and haughty, and even though she was her sister-in-law, she rarely spoke kindly to her. Now that she knew the truth, Li Chunlian couldn't help but gloat. What did a man marry for? Wasn't it to continue the family line? If Lin Ying couldn't have children, she was like a hen that couldn't lay eggs; would her in-laws tolerate her?
No wonder she lost her mind and actually came up with the idea of surrogacy!
Li Chunlian was gloating, while Zhao Liye was genuinely shocked.
Lin Ying did tell him that he should find someone else to have a child with, but that was said during an argument between the two of them. Ever since his mother found out that Lin Ying was infertile, there hasn't been a peaceful day at home, and both he and Lin Ying are under a lot of pressure, which is why they had a fight a couple of days ago.
When Zhao Liye heard his wife say those words, he was stunned. He loved Lin Ying, so he didn't want a divorce, nor did he want to have a child with another woman. He told her his thoughts at that moment, and his wife was deeply moved, crying for a long time.
She hadn't mentioned it these past two days, so Zhao Liye assumed it was just a momentary impulse. Little did he know that she had actually started making preparations in private, and the person she had chosen was her sister-in-law.
Zhao Liye couldn't accept it for a moment, and the way he looked at Lin Ying changed.
On one side was her sister-in-law's gloating, and on the other was her husband's suspicion and shock. Looking at Lin Qingqing, whose eyes were lowered and who appeared gentle and docile, but whose lips were actually curled into a malicious smile, Lin Ying thought of her mother who had been taken away. She trembled with anger, but as always, she remained calm and didn't cry or make a scene. She only wiped away her tears and said, "Qingqing, why did you do this?"
Zhao Liye couldn't stand his wife crying. Whenever he saw her wiping away tears, he would be at a loss and would hug his wife to comfort her, saying, "Aying, don't cry."
"Liye, I really never thought of having Qingqing have my child, and my mother never forced her!" Lin Ying cried out.
Li Chunlian also thought of her mother-in-law and said, "That's right, if it weren't for our Lin family, you would have died long ago. How can you slander your mother like this!"
"Whether it's slander or not, Third Sister knows perfectly well," Lin Qingqing said with a sneer.
Lin Ying cried even louder, “I know you’ve always felt resentful that I can study while you can only stay home and work, and that you don’t like me. But how could you slander me like this? Yes, I can’t have children, but that’s my pain. I thought we were sisters, and that you would feel sorry for me, so I told you! But how could you use my pain to fabricate lies and say that my mother and I forced you to have children?”
It was lunchtime, and people from the brigade were returning one after another. Those passing by the Lin family stopped in their tracks when they saw the commotion in the Lin family's courtyard, and began to discuss it amongst themselves after hearing Lin Ying's accusations.
Some people believed Lin Qingqing, saying, "Old Mrs. Lin is too cruel! No matter she's an adopted daughter, she's still a living, breathing person! How could she even think of having her own daughter bear a child? Her heart is completely black!"
Some people believed Lin Ying, saying, "Qingqing usually seems quiet and reserved, but I didn't expect her to be so ruthless! In my opinion, Lin Youfu shouldn't have saved her in the first place; he should have let her starve to death instead."
Some were just watching the show, saying, "Old Mrs. Lin always brags about how smart and successful her daughter is, how she not only married into the commune but also got a good job. But... well, her daughter can't have children, and it's not certain whether she can keep the marriage."
Hearing the gossip, Lin Ying clenched her hands, but cried even more miserably. "You said I wanted you to have my child? Go ask around, which woman can tolerate her sister having her husband's child! Every time Liye comes home, you flirt with him. I know you're thinking about him, but no matter what, you can't frame me like this just to marry Liye! Even if you hate me, your mother is innocent!"
Upon hearing this, those who believed Lin Ying straightened their backs and said, "So that's why Qingqing suddenly said such things. She's got her eye on her brother-in-law."
Even those who initially believed Lin Qingqing began to have doubts: "Could it be that Qingqing really slandered Old Madam Lin?"
Those watching the scene commented, "Lin Ying is so pitiful. Not only can she not have children, but her sister also wants to steal her man."
Lin Qingqing had anticipated this outcome, which was why she sought help from Xie Wei. Therefore, listening to Lin Ying's accusations and the others' gossip, she remained unmoved, saying, "Do you think I was arrested because I slandered Mother in front of Secretary Zhou?"
"Otherwise what!" Li Chunlian cursed, "You heartless slut! If I had known you were this kind of person, I should have killed you in the first place when I married you!"
"Of course not," Lin Qingqing said calmly in the face of Li Chunlian's angry scolding, and asked Zhao Liye, "Third brother-in-law, you don't agree to surrogacy, do you?"
Zhao Liye usually took good care of his sister-in-law, Lin Qingqing, but after hearing his wife's words, he felt dissatisfied with her and said with disgust, "Of course."
“You don’t want to, but your mother forced your third sister to do it,” Lin Qingqing said slowly. “So she came back yesterday and hid in the room to discuss it with your mother for a long time, preparing to make it a fait accompli, so that you would have to agree whether you wanted to or not. But your mother was worried that things wouldn’t work out, so she tried to persuade me to agree. But this morning you came, and your mother was afraid that you would hear her talking about it at home, so she went out to talk to me about it after she found out I was doing laundry.”
"You're talking nonsense!" Lin Ying glared at Lin Qingqing angrily.
Lin Qingqing wasn't afraid of her staring and continued, "I happened to go to the stream at the foot of the back mountain. There aren't many people there usually, and my mother discussed this matter with me there. But he's my brother-in-law, how could I agree to have a child with him? Of course, I refused outright. But my mother said that the Lin family saved my life, and it's just about having a child for me. If I don't agree to such a small thing, I'm an ingrate. She also said that if I agree, she can find me a good family to marry into after I give birth to a son, but if I don't agree, she'll sell me to the deep mountains."
Upon hearing this, the onlookers outside erupted in an uproar. "Old Mrs. Lin really said that?"
"Old Mrs. Lin has always doted on her daughter, so it's not surprising that she would do something like this!"
"You're lying! How could your mother do such a thing!" Lin Ying shouted. "You're just jealous of me. You want to ruin your mother and me. Without us, you can marry Liye!"
Zhao Liye, holding his wife, frowned and said to Lin Qingqing, "These are just your words."
“It’s not just one person’s story,” Xie Wei said. “This morning, Secretary Zhou and I went to the countryside for a visit. When we got to the stream behind the mountain, we saw Comrade Lin’s adoptive mother coercing her to have a child for her adoptive sister. Secretary Zhou saw this and felt that the world was going downhill. He said that he would punish her severely to set an example for others.”
At this point, Xie Wei paused slightly and added, "Comrade Lin Hongwei, the secretary of the Linjiazu Brigade, was also present at the time."
Upon hearing Xie Wei speak, someone in the crowd asked, "Who is this person?"
"You don't even know him?" someone who knew Xie Wei asked, feigning surprise. Only after being urged did they explain, "He's Xie Wei, the son of Secretary Xie from Xingfeng Brigade next door. He joined the army when he was a teenager, and at only twenty-eight this year, he's already a regimental commander."
Hearing that Xie Wei was the regimental commander, no one was surprised that he was able to go to the countryside with Secretary Zhou. Even those who didn't believe Lin Qingqing initially found her words more credible. After all, Comrade Xie Wei had said that the commune secretary and the brigade secretary had witnessed Old Lady Lin forcing Lin Qingqing, and now that Old Lady Lin had been arrested, the matter was definitely true.
Once everyone believed Lin Qingqing, the way they looked at Lin Ying changed. Even Zhao Liye's grip on his wife's hand loosened, and he seemed about to back down.
Lin Ying was shocked to find the commune secretary had caught her in the act, and her face turned pale with fright. Feeling her husband's grip on her shoulder loosen, Lin Ying quickly turned and grabbed his hand, saying with tears in her eyes, "I didn't! She's slandering me... Liye, you have to believe me!"
"Whether I'm slandering you or you're slandering me, it's easy to prove. Just open Old Madam Lin's cabinet and you'll see, right?" Lin Qingqing saw Lin Ying's pupils widen and panic flash across her eyes when she heard the word "cabinet," and she knew she had guessed correctly. She said, "Mother was afraid that Third Brother-in-law wouldn't be able to do it if he was sober, so she prepared a lot of alcohol?"
Although Lin Ying hadn't seen it, she knew what Old Lady Lin had prepared, and she trembled with guilt after being told what had happened.
Lin Qingqing, seemingly oblivious to her trembling, continued, "Mother was worried something might go wrong, so she probably prepared some medicine. Oh, and this morning she also told my second brother to find someone to buy a soft-shelled turtle."
Li Chunlian, thinking of the turtle's aphrodisiac properties, couldn't help but feel suspicious. She looked at Lin Ying and asked, "Third Sister, could what Qingqing said be true?"
"Of course not!" Lin Ying said angrily upon hearing this. "How could you believe her, sister-in-law! She is... she is..." With Xie Wei as a witness, she didn't have the confidence to tell the lies she had made up before, so she could only say, "Anyway, they are false."
"Whether it's true or not, we'll know once we open the cabinet," Xie Wei said with a stern face.
The onlookers chimed in, "That's right! Just open the cabinet and you'll see!"
People rushed into the courtyard, shouting, and someone told Xie Wei, "Old Lady Lin lives in this room!"
Seeing this, Lin Ying quickly went to the door of the main room and stopped everyone, saying, "You're trespassing! I'm going to report you to the commune!"
Having experienced the Great Movement, no one was afraid of such bluffing. Didn't you hear Comrade Xie Wei say that Secretary Zhou said this matter would be severely punished? Old Lady Lin might even be sent to a farm for re-education. What kind of people are re-educationed on farms? They're all bad elements of capitalists! They get criticized and struggled against every few days!
Old Mrs. Lin was about to be criticized, so what was breaking into the Lin family's house? To be honest, they were just searching for evidence to prevent the Lin family from destroying the body.
Someone else said, "I think she's just feeling guilty, that's why she won't let us search her!"
"How can we not feel guilty? Doing something like this will ruin the reputation of our Linjiazui!"
Zhao Liye stared at Lin Ying with a pained expression, asking incredulously, "Aying, tell me this isn't true."
"Whether it's true or not, we'll know once we open the cabinet," Lin Qingqing said to Lin Ying.
Lin Ying's lips trembled as she glared at Lin Qingqing with hatred. But Xie Wei seemed to have lost his patience and said to the bewildered Li Chunlian, "Do you want to open the cabinet yourself, or should we do it?"
"No..." Li Chunlian wasn't stupid. Seeing Lin Ying's attitude, she could easily guess what was going on. There must be something in the cabinet!
"Open the cabinet, I'll take the evidence, nothing else. I'll open the cabinet, and I won't care what they take," Xie Wei said calmly.
"I'll open the cabinet!" Li Chunlian instantly understood Xie Wei's meaning. The Cultural Revolution wasn't over yet; she knew very well what those people with questionable thoughts were doing when they were arrested and a group of people rushed in. All the Lin family's money and valuables were in Old Madam Lin's room. What would happen if these people went in!
Li Chunlian rolled up her sleeves, stormed to the doorway of the main room, and shoved Lin Ying to the ground. If it weren't for this troublemaker, her mother-in-law wouldn't have been arrested. And if her mother-in-law had really been sent to a reformatory, wouldn't people gossip about the Lin family from now on?!
We must draw a clear line!
Thinking it over, Li Chunlian strode into the main room where Old Lady Lin lived, found the cabinet, and used a stone to break the lock on it.
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