Lin Jianxue's clear eyes quietly looked at her mother's slightly flustered profile, "Mom, today... is the day for the trial and sentencing of Jiang Yubai and Jiang Yuning, right?"
Chen Wu stammered a few times before responding softly, "It seems...it seems...I heard your father mention it..."
Looking at her mother like this, Lin Jianxue smiled gently.
"Mom, I'm fine." She reached out and gently patted the back of Shen Wu's hand, which was tightly gripping the steering wheel. "Really, we've passed the time. Let's go home."
Chen Wu stared blankly at the smile on her daughter's face.
That smile didn't seem forced; it showed genuine calmness, a sign of having truly let go.
Her heart finally settled down slowly into her stomach, and she breathed a long sigh of relief.
However, immediately afterwards, an indescribable sadness welled up in my heart.
If... if nothing happened, how great would that be?
Sigh... Chen Wu sighed silently in his heart, looked at his daughter with pity, and started the car again.
Outside the car window, the woman's wailing, the onlookers' discussions, and the noisy and chaotic sounds were gradually left behind as the car moved forward, becoming farther and farther away, increasingly blurred, until they could no longer be heard.
Lin Jianxue raised her head slightly and looked at the asphalt road stretching ahead.
The clamor behind her was the nightmare that haunted her until her death in her previous life.
At this moment, she was sitting steadily in the car, driving forward.
It’s so nice to have a second life.
Let those dirty, disgusting and painful pasts be completely obliterated behind us.
This time, she wants to live well for herself and for the one who loves her.
***
A few days later, the city's newspaper published the final verdict in the case of Jiang Yubai and Jiang Yuning.
The front page, a rather large space, carried a stern headline: "Severely punish criminals who disrupt social order and are morally corrupt!"
The content goes straight to the heart of the matter: [Jiang Yubai, guilty of fraud, forgery of official seals of state organs, and hooliganism (including adultery), multiple crimes, the circumstances are extremely egregious, and the impact is extremely bad, he is sentenced to death and will be executed immediately!]
Jiang Yuning, convicted of fraud and hooliganism (including adultery), was sentenced to life imprisonment and deprived of political rights for life.
In this era, the penalties for promiscuous relationships and fraud involving state agencies have always been severe.
Jiang Yubai forged the letter of introduction signed by Lin Yuefeng, which was an even greater crime and directly touched the high-voltage line.
The court obviously wanted to use this case to serve as a warning to others, so it imposed a severe sentence swiftly.
Lin Jianxue sat by the window, holding the newspaper in her hand, her eyes calmly scanning the few short words.
Death penalty, life sentence.
These two names that once made her hate them to the core and grit her teeth in her dreams at night, but now, seeing their final endings, her heart didn't even stir up the slightest ripple.
It seemed as if this was just the final destination of two unrelated strangers.
She gently put down the newspaper, picked up the cool boiled water next to her and took a sip.
If it's over, let it be completely over.
She quickly secured a job position in the art troupe.
This kind of iron rice bowl is a hot commodity these days.
She didn't look for anyone else, but directly sold it through her father's connections to the son of a cadre who was in urgent need of a job. The other party's family was also very generous and gave him 1,000 yuan as a "thank you fee".
This amount of money was a huge sum of money in 1976, but Lin Jianxue did not hold it all in her hands.
She always planned things, especially after experiencing hardship in her previous life.
She took out most of her money and asked her father to help her exchange it for various nationally recognized bills, including food coupons, cloth coupons, meat coupons, etc.
These are the most practical things after going to the countryside.
She also kept a small amount of cash for emergencies, and the remaining 40,000 yuan, which she deposited into a bank account and opened a current account passbook, which she kept safely.
That afternoon, there was only one day left before departure to Heilongjiang Province.
Lin Jianxue made a special trip to the newly opened musical instrument store next to the Friendship Store, and used the ticket and a considerable amount of money to buy a violin case with exquisite workmanship and high-quality materials.
Afterwards, she took the brand new violin case to the practice hall of the Municipal Art Troupe.
The afternoon sun shines through the glass windows, onto the floor, and tiny dust particles float in the air.
The melodious sound of a violin came from one of the practice rooms. The piece being played was an etude of rather complex technique.
Lin Jianxue recognized the sound of the piano and the person playing it.
She walked to the door with the sign "Practice Room No. 3" and knocked gently.
The piano music stopped abruptly.
After a moment, the door was opened a crack, revealing a pretty fair face.
It’s Shen Youshan.
Shen Youshan saw that it was Lin Jianxue standing outside the door. The fingers holding the door handle curled up almost imperceptibly, and a complex emotion flashed across her eyes.
Ever since the affair between Jiang Yubai and Jiang Yuning was completely exposed and they were arrested by the Public Security Bureau, Shen Youshan returned home and sat facing the wall for several days, thinking about it. The more she thought about it, the more she felt something was wrong, as if there was a thorn in her heart.
How could such a thing happen in the world?
It just so happened that she was watching a movie that day, and she happened to run into Jiang Yubai and that "cousin" sitting in the front row in front of her, being affectionate with each other?
Not to mention, the movie tickets for her and Liu Wei were given to her by Lin Jianxue herself!
It felt bad to be schemed against, even though she herself didn't suffer any loss. But no one would be happy if they found out that they were being used as a tool.
*
The hero and heroine should be able to meet in the future.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
