Chapter 1686 - Investigation

However, he remembered that Old Meng had indeed mentioned his son worked at the county brick and tile factory, "his heart has grown wild, let alone coming home, he doesn't even send word." Could it really be as Old Lady Cao said?

Yun Suji thought about it. Verifying whether Old Meng's son was alive would be easy—just ask at the factory. Unfortunately, the village had neither telephone nor telegraph, so someone would have to be sent.

Just as he was thinking, Old Lady Cao was crying and complaining again that Liu Yuanhu had taken her daughter-in-law.

"...My son hadn't been dead for two years when that bastard Liu Yuanhu snatched my Gai Feng away—after my son was gone, the two of us depended on each other for survival, closer than mother and daughter! Who knew Liu Yuanhu would just barge into my house in broad daylight and snatch her! Oh, my son—" Speaking to her grief, she threw herself to the ground, crying to heaven and earth, mumbling complaints in a rhythmic, melodic way.

Yun Suji thought: there's this too?! He felt things were getting complicated. He asked: "Don't cry, don't cry. If you have any other injustices, just say them all."

Old Lady Cao's wailing stopped the moment she wanted it to stop. While wiping her tears, she told many more stories of the "Gang of Three" mistreating and bullying her and her daughter-in-law as "widow and orphaned mother-in-law." She said Liu Yuanhu had long had improper thoughts about her daughter-in-law, often getting handsy with her. Once he even tried to rape her but failed because she came back just in time... Speaking to her emotional moments, there was inevitably another bout of wailing, extremely pitiful, which also moved Yun Suji.

She also exposed many more bad deeds of the village cadres: how cadres didn't participate in labor but assigned corvée laborers to farm on their behalf; how they arbitrarily assigned labor in the village; how old man Min in the village's north had said that Fan Twelve was "a ladle-shaker becoming an official, that's a thief holding the seal," and also said "if the cook doesn't steal, the five grains don't grow," and was seized by Liu Yuanhu and beaten forty strokes with a carrying pole. Not to mention being continuously assigned three months of corvée labor, which tormented old man Min so badly he couldn't farm for half a year and could only survive on pumpkins and sweet potatoes...

Seeing she had nothing new to say anymore, Yun Suji said: "I've noted everything you've said. Go back and rest for now. I will investigate the matter clearly and give you justice."

"Thank you, Chief, Blue Sky Grand Master!" Old Lady Cao threw herself to the ground with a thud and kowtowed several times, saying: "But I dare not go back—if I go home, tomorrow it will be a case of 'sudden illness and death'! Please, Blue Sky Grand Master, make a decision for me!"

Yun Suji thought this indeed needed to be guarded against. If the grassroots had completely rotted, they could do any desperate thing. He nodded and said: "Alright then, you can stay temporarily at this village office for one night. My guards are here, and we definitely won't let you come to any harm."

He got up and went outside, calling the guard captain over and ordering him to watch Old Lady Cao well tonight and not let her be harmed.

"She eats with you all. When it's time to sleep, you guard the door outside. Understand?"

"Yes, Chief!"

Yun Suji stepped outside and immediately ran into Fan Twelve. He saw him standing at the village office door somewhat absent-mindedly. Seeing him come out, he forced himself to appear nonchalant and came forward: "Chief..."

Yun Suji nodded: "I know what you want to say. You don't need to say it. I have a clear picture. The Senate's policy has always been 'don't let any bad person go, don't wrong any good person.' I can see all the work you do in the village."

Fan Twelve was pondering the meaning of the Chief's words when Yun Suji continued: "I'm going to eat dinner now. After dinner, I'll talk with you again."

Saying this, he went to Old Yang's house for dinner, leaving the somewhat bewildered Fan Twelve pacing at the village office door.

Hearing the Chief was coming to eat dinner, Old Yang's house also fell into a flurry. He felt Chief Yun was straightforward, a common man's own person, so he was very warm. His family was originally one of the better-off ones. He had his wife bring out the white flour saved for New Year's and rolled noodles. Following the trendy Australian style, he simmered a pot of "tomato and egg sauce."

As soon as Yun Suji entered, he smelled the fragrant aroma. The main room was steaming hot. On the center table were already laid out noodles and sauce, and Old Yang's wife had also mixed a few cold dishes.

Old Yang respectfully presented the meal box sent over earlier by the guards, filled with hand-rolled noodles. Yun Suji felt somewhat embarrassed when he saw it: local farmers rarely got to eat white flour; it was truly a "precious ingredient." This pot of noodles had undoubtedly used up all the flour saved for New Year.

"This is really too kind. I could just eat pancakes and porridge!"

"What are you saying," Old Yang was very pleased. "I'm happy to give it to you!"

Old Yang's wife also smiled: "There's no meat either, just making do with eggs."

Yun Suji saw their sincerity and didn't stand on ceremony. He sat down, ladled on the sauce, and started eating. Old Yang's wife served noodles for herself and Hei Ni and was taking her bowl to eat in the yard when Yun Suji said: "You can eat here too."

Old Yang's wife smiled apologetically: "I'm a woman. How can I sit at the same table as the Chief to eat!"

"We're all our own people eating. No need to be so formal." Yun Suji had specifically chosen to eat dinner at Old Yang's house for a reason. He had already noticed that Old Yang was a very straightforward person. Eating and talking with him would certainly yield a lot of truthful information about the village.

Old Yang's wife couldn't refuse, so she had Hei Ni go eat in the yard by herself and sat at the table too.

Old Yang liked to drink a little wine with dinner. He thought the sugarcane wine sold at the market was "too sweet," so he brewed some local wine with the yellow millet he grew himself and poured a cup for Yun Suji.

Yun Suji ate and chatted with the Yang couple, talking about harvests and life, and gradually asked about Old Lady Cao.

Old Yang sighed: "Old Lady Cao is also a pitiful person! I heard she was widowed young and struggled mightily to raise her son until he was grown and married. Her family fled here and settled, got land and a house. Originally, their little life was going quite well. Who knew her son would suddenly be gone! Didn't even leave behind a grandchild. No wonder her mind can't come around!"

"How did her son die?"

"Went to the coal mine for corvée labor. Wasn't careful while pushing the ore cart and got hit." Old Yang sighed. "It was truly terrible when they carried him back—the upper body was all bloody and mangled, couldn't even make out the head!"

"Without a son, who farms the land to support her?" Yun Suji asked. "I saw she looked presentable, not lacking food or clothing."

"The village, of course." Old Yang said. "Hers is an extinct household. The village has to support her. Of course, good food and drink are out of the question..."

"What about her family's land? I heard someone is farming it on her behalf."

"Of course, someone is." Old Yang was naturally talkative, and once the wine reached his belly, he really opened up. "Hers is extinct-household land; who wouldn't want to farm it? After paying public grain and giving thirty percent to the village, the rest is your own. Without some connection to Old Fan, you'd want to farm it but couldn't get the chance."

"I don't think that's a good deal." Yun Suji calculated. "Public grain is a bit more than fifteen percent. Another thirty percent to the village leaves about half for yourself. You still have to cover seeds, fertilizer, and labor..."

"The important thing isn't those five-tenths of grain; it's having a tax-paying household registration," Old Yang said, his face flushing from the wine. "The substitute farmers are all big grain households. Originally, with lots of land, they pay lots of taxes. Now with two tax-paying registrations, they can shift some grain produced on their own land to the substitute-farming account..."

Yun Suji understood now. So that's how it worked! He couldn't help but secretly admire the wisdom of the common people. He asked again:

"The harvested grain isn't given to her?"

"Old Lady Cao is now a lone old woman. The village counts her as a social security household, so food and clothing are provided by the village. The harvest from substitute farming is considered money for supporting her." Old Yang said. "As for how much actually gets used on her, everyone acts according to their conscience."

"But I heard her son died and the county gave compensation money."

"That, I don't know. Who can figure out county affairs?" Old Yang said. "Besides, money coming down from the county, layer by layer, who's to say every layer doesn't skim some off. Could Old Lady Cao get much of it? Doesn't she still have to depend on the village to support her!"

Yun Suji wasn't clear on the compensation disbursement process and couldn't discuss it further, so he asked: "Has Old Lady Cao never mentioned the compensation money?"

Old Yang shook his head. His wife said timidly: "I've heard something..." Then she looked at her husband.

Old Yang said: "Whatever you heard, just say it. Why look at me? Today the Chief allows you at the table to speak. Even if you say something wrong, he won't whip your bottom."

Only then did Old Yang's wife say she had once heard Old Lady Cao cursing her daughter-in-law for running off with her son's "blood money," saying she was "utterly heartless" and sooner or later "the adulterer and adulteress will both go to the execution ground together."

"...I thought this 'blood money' must be the compensation, right?"

Yun Suji nodded. What Old Yang's wife said was probably true. So the compensation was paid; it was just taken by her daughter-in-law... He asked again:

"What happened with Old Lady Cao's daughter-in-law? I heard she was snatched away. But then how is there an adulterer..."

"Snatched?" Old Yang smiled. "Ran off herself is more like it!"

"So Liu Yuanhu didn't snatch her?"

"Liu Yuanhu, that hotheaded kid, though he's overbearing and always causing trouble—snatching widows, something that would mean having sons born without rear ends, he wouldn't do." Old Yang had finished about a pot of wine. He ladled sauce onto noodles, held his bowl, and ate while talking. "Old Lady Cao didn't treat Gai Feng well—she was a child bride, raised from childhood to suffer and be beaten. After settling in the village, things were no better. Day in and day out, she egged her son on to beat his wife—beating a wife is nothing special—but beating like this, trying to beat her to death, was quite rare!"

Old Yang's wife chimed in: "Ai, truly sinful: taking a bamboo switch soaked in water and whipping; pressing her on a long bench and beating with a carrying pole! Beat until she couldn't get up or sit down, but still forced her to carry water and do chores. Both legs were all bruised..."

Yun Suji frowned: "However you look at it, she's still your own wife. What's the point of hitting so hard?"

Old Yang said: "That family's jealousy is something fierce! When they first came to the village, we didn't know. Only later did we realize: as long as it was a man, young, strong, or old, as long as he got close and said a few words to her, she'd get a good beating when she got home!"