Chapter 31: The Investigation

However, he recalled that Old Meng had indeed said his son was working at the county brick and tile factory. “He’s become wild. He doesn’t even come home, let alone send a message.” Could it be true what Old Mrs. Cao was saying?

Yun Suji thought for a moment. It would be easy to find out if Old Meng’s son was alive; he just needed to ask at the factory. Unfortunately, the village had neither a telephone nor a telegraph, so he would have to send someone.

Just as he was thinking, Old Mrs. Cao began to cry again, accusing Liu Yuanhu of taking her daughter-in-law.

“…My son hasn’t even been dead for two years, and that bastard Liu Yuanhu has already snatched my Gaifeng away—since my son passed, the two of us have depended on each other. Even a mother and daughter couldn’t be closer! I never thought Liu Yuanhu would just barge into my house in broad daylight and steal her! Oh, my son—” Overcome with grief, she threw herself on the ground, wailing and lamenting, her cries both mournful and theatrical.

There’s more to it? Yun Suji thought. He felt things were getting complicated. He asked again, “Don’t cry, don’t cry. If you have any other grievances, just tell me.”

Old Mrs. Cao’s wailing stopped as quickly as it had started. Wiping her tears, she went on to recount many instances of the “gang of three” abusing and bullying her and her “widowed daughter-in-law.” She also said that Liu Yuanhu had long had improper designs on her daughter-in-law, often touching her inappropriately, and had even once tried to rape her, but was thwarted by her timely return… As she became more emotional, she broke into another round of heart-wrenching sobs, so pitiful that even Yun Suji was moved.

She then exposed many other misdeeds of the village cadres: how they didn’t participate in labor themselves but assigned others to cultivate their land during their labor levies; how they randomly assigned tasks in the village; how Old Man Min from the north of the village was beaten with a carrying pole forty times by Liu Yuanhu for saying that Fan Shier was “a cook becoming an official, that’s a thief holding the seal,” and that “if the cook doesn’t steal, the five grains won’t be harvested.” On top of that, he was assigned three consecutive months of labor duty. Old Man Min was so tormented that he couldn’t farm for half a year and had to survive on pumpkins and sweet potatoes…

Seeing that she had nothing new to add, Yun Suji said, “I have heard everything you’ve said. You may go back and rest. I will investigate the matter thoroughly and give you justice.”

“Thank you, Chief, you are a just official!” Old Mrs. Cao knelt on the ground with a thud and kowtowed several times. “But I dare not go back—if I go home, tomorrow I will ‘die of a sudden illness’! I beg the just official to make a decision for me!”

Yun Suji thought, I can’t rule that out. If the grassroots were thoroughly rotten, they were capable of anything. He nodded immediately. “Alright, you can stay at the village office for the night. My guards are here. You will not be harmed.”

He got up and went out, called for the captain of the guards, and instructed him to look after Old Mrs. Cao at night and ensure her safety.

“She will eat and drink with you. When she sleeps, you will guard the door. Understand?”

“Yes, Chief!”

As Yun Suji stepped out, he ran into Fan Shier, who was standing at the entrance of the village office, looking somewhat lost. Seeing him come out, he forced a nonchalant expression and greeted him, “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 ‘not to let a single bad person go, nor to wrong a single good person.’ I have seen all the work you have done in the village.”

Fan Shier was trying to decipher the meaning of the Chief’s words when Yun Suji added, “I’m going to have dinner now. I’ll talk to you after dinner.”

With that, he went to Old Yang’s house for dinner, leaving a somewhat dejected Fan Shier to pace at the entrance of the village office.

When Old Yang’s family heard the Chief was coming for dinner, they were also thrown into a flurry of activity. He felt that Chief Yun was a straightforward person, one of their own, so he was very enthusiastic. His family was already relatively well-off. He told his wife to take out the white flour they had been saving for the New Year and make noodles. He also, in the new Australian fashion, made a pot of “tomato and egg sauce.”

As soon as Yun Suji entered the house, he smelled the fragrant aroma. The main room was steaming hot, and a table in the center was already set with noodles and sauce. Old Yang’s wife had also prepared a few cold dishes.

Old Yang respectfully brought out the lunchbox his guard had delivered earlier, which was filled with hand-pulled noodles. Yun Suji felt a little embarrassed: 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 they had saved for the New Year.

“You’re being too kind. I’m fine with just some pancakes and porridge!”

“Not at all,” Old Yang said happily. “I’m happy to cook for you!”

Old Yang’s wife also smiled. “There’s no meat, just eggs to make do.”

Seeing their sincerity, Yun Suji didn’t stand on ceremony. He sat down, poured the sauce over his noodles, and began to eat. Old Yang’s wife served noodles for herself and Hei Ni and was about to take her bowl to eat in the courtyard when Yun Suji said, “You can eat here too.”

Old Yang’s wife smiled apologetically. “I’m just a woman, how can I eat at the same table as the Chief!”

“We’re among our own people, no need to be so formal.” Yun Suji had chosen to have dinner at Old Yang’s house for a reason. He had already sensed that Old Yang was a very straightforward person, and by eating and talking with him, he was sure to get a lot of true information about the village.

Old Yang’s wife couldn’t refuse, so she told Hei Ni to eat in the courtyard herself and joined the table.

Old Yang liked to have a little wine with his dinner. He found the sugarcane wine sold in the market town too “sweet” and had brewed some homemade wine with the millet he grew himself. He brought it out and poured a cup for Yun Suji.

Yun Suji chatted with Old Yang and his wife as they ate, talking about the harvest and their lives. The conversation eventually turned to Old Mrs. Cao.

Old Yang sighed. “Old Mrs. Cao is a pitiful person! I heard she was widowed at a young age and had a hard time raising her son and getting him a wife. Her family fled here and settled down, got land and a house. They were living a good life, but then her son was suddenly gone! He didn’t even leave behind a grandchild. No wonder she can’t get over it!”

“How did her son die?”

“He was on labor duty at the coal mine. He wasn’t paying attention while pushing a mine cart and got hit.” Old Yang sighed. “It was a terrible sight when they brought him back. His upper body was a mess of flesh and blood, you couldn’t even make out his head!”

“With her son gone, who farms the land to support her?” Yun Suji asked. “She looks well-kept, not like she’s lacking food or clothing.”

“The village, of course,” Old Yang said. “She’s a family without heirs, so the village has to support her. Of course, she can’t expect fine food and drink…”

“What about her family’s land? I heard someone is cultivating it for her.”

“Of course there is someone.” Old Yang was already talkative, and with wine in his belly, his mouth opened even wider. “That’s heirless land, who wouldn’t want to farm it? After paying the grain tax, you give the village thirty percent, and the rest is yours. If you don’t have some connection with Old Fan, you wouldn’t even get the chance.”

“I don’t think that’s a good deal,” Yun Suji calculated. “The public grain tax is a little over fifteen percent. Then you give the village another thirty percent, so you only get about half. And you still have to pay for seeds, fertilizer, and labor…”

“The important thing isn’t the fifty percent of the grain, it’s the household tax quota,” Old Yang said, his face flushing from the wine. “The sharecroppers are all big landowners. They already have a lot of land and pay a lot of tax. Now, with two tax quotas, they can shift some of the grain produced on their own land to the sharecropped household…”

Yun Suji now understood. So that’s how it was done! He couldn’t help but admire the wisdom of the masses. He asked again, “Don’t they give her any of the harvested grain?”

“Old Mrs. Cao is a lone widow now. The village has put her on social security. Her food and clothing are all provided by the village. The harvest paid by the sharecropper is considered the money to support her,” Old Yang said. “As for how much of it is actually spent on her, that depends on each person’s conscience.”

“But I heard that when her son died, the county gave a pension.”

“That, I don’t know. Who can be clear about the county’s affairs,” Old Yang said. “Besides, by the time the money comes down from the county, through all the layers, it’s bound to be skimmed at each level. How much money could Old Mrs. Cao actually get? She still has to rely on the village for support!”

Yun Suji wasn’t clear about the pension distribution process, so he couldn’t discuss it further. He asked, “Has Old Mrs. Cao never mentioned the pension?”

Old Yang shook his head. His wife timidly said, “I have heard something about it…” She glanced at her husband.

Old Yang said, “Just say what you heard. What are you looking at me for? The Chief has allowed you to speak at the table today. Even if you say something wrong, I won’t spank you.”

Only then did Old Yang’s wife say that she had once heard Old Mrs. Cao cursing her daughter-in-law for running off with her son’s “life-exchange money,” calling her “utterly devoid of conscience” and saying that sooner or later the “adulterous couple would be sent to the execution ground.”

“…I think this ‘life-exchange money’ must be the pension, right?”

Yun Suji nodded. What Old Yang’s wife said was probably true. So the pension had been issued, but it had been taken by her daughter-in-law… He asked again, “What’s the story with Old Mrs. Cao’s daughter-in-law? I heard she was abducted, so how could there be an adulterer…”

“Abducted?” Old Yang laughed. “It’s more like she ran away herself!”

“So it wasn’t Liu Yuanhu who took her?”

“That blockhead Liu Yuanhu, although he’s a bit domineering and always getting into trouble, he wouldn’t do something as despicable as kidnapping a widow, something that would curse his own sons to be born without anuses.” Old Yang had almost finished his pot of wine. He poured sauce over his noodles, and as he ate, he said, “Old Mrs. Cao was not good to Gaifeng—she was a child bride, a poor soul who had suffered and been beaten since she was young. After settling in the village, she had no peace. She would incite her son to beat his wife all day long—beating one’s wife is not a big deal—but to beat her so viciously is rare!”

Old Yang’s wife chimed in, “Ai, it’s a real sin: soaking bamboo strips in water to whip her; pressing her down on a long bench and beating her with a carrying pole! Beating her so she couldn’t get up or sit down, and still forcing her to carry water and do chores. Her legs were covered in bruises…”

Yun Suji frowned. “No matter what, she’s his own wife. What’s the point of being so heavy-handed?”

Old Yang said, “Her family is extremely jealous! When they first arrived in the village, we didn’t know. Later, we found out that if any man, whether young, able-bodied, or old, got close to her and said a few words, she would get a good beating when she got home!”