Fake Divorce Turns into Murder Case (4)

Chapter 56

Yang Laowu was in a state of high excitement from the alcohol. As he lay there, his mind remained fixed on the days of the past.

Having a son was truly the best. Life in the village back then had been so good; it was nothing like the stifling, frustrated existence he led now.

He turned his head. His clumsy wife was sewing clothes, her movements awkward and bumbling. She was always pricking her fingers until they bled. How could anyone be so stupid!

His heart felt heavy with resentment. How had he ended up marrying a woman like this?

This woman had a terrible personality. She didn’t know how to go out and talk to people. Even after being married into the family for so long, she still acted as if she didn’t know anyone.

More importantly, her womb was useless. She hadn’t produced a single son.

The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He was especially incensed when he saw that the woman didn’t even have the sense to come over and pour him some hot water.

He stood up, intending to find trouble with her, but to his surprise, the moment he moved, she picked up a hoe. “I’m going out to weed,” she said.

Huixiang knew her man was in a foul mood, so she headed into the mountains to weed. This was a habit she had developed at her parents’ house; she had often used this method to escape the brutal beatings from her father and mother.

Carrying her hoe, she had only walked a short distance when she encountered the group from the Mobile Court.

Those people were now heading back to town. A large crowd was walking down the path in high spirits. Besides the police, there were people from the village with them.

Huixiang watched them from the side. She knew they were returning to the town’s junior high school; they all stayed in the dormitories at the Tonglin Town Junior High.

Envy stirred in her heart. These people had such good lives. Even though they had to come into the mountains, they could return to town soon after. They didn’t have to stay here for a lifetime.

“Why weren’t those two murder cases tried in town?” At first, when word spread that the Mobile Court was coming, everyone had been looking forward to hearing about the murder cases.

“Those two cases probably won’t go to trial until February next year. Besides, murder cases are complicated and aren’t suitable for this kind of Mobile Court.”

Someone joked, “Before the police came, there wasn’t a single murder case in our town. Now that the police are here, murder cases are popping up everywhere.”

“Listen to yourself. It’s more likely that in the past, when someone died, they just died, and nobody looked into it.”

Huixiang heard everything from the side. She was particularly interested in what they said about the murder cases; she actually wanted to know what had happened with those two.

Any bit of news in the village would be spread far and wide. Even though she wasn’t close to anyone, she would hear people discussing these things while she was washing clothes by the river.

Murder cases… killing…

Her impression of such things came from the outdoor movies she had seen in the past. In those films, murderers usually had hideous, ferocious faces.

She had actually seen the man from the Mei family who had committed the murder once. He looked just like anyone else in the village; you couldn’t tell at all that he was capable of killing someone.

As for the school life teacher¹ who had killed someone, she looked even less like a murderer.

Huixiang had gone to the town’s primary school once. At the time, she wanted to ask if the children from their village could be sent to town for school. She was originally from Baihe Town, and many people in the villages there sent their children to the town’s primary school because the teachers there were better.

But she didn’t know if there were any requirements.

It was during class hours when she went. There was no one on the school playground, and every classroom was filled with students in lessons. As she walked through the grounds, she didn’t know who to look for.

It was then that a young woman called out to her, “Big Sister? Who are you looking for? I’m the life teacher here.”

“I… I came to ask if children from the village can be sent down here for school?”

“As long as they have a Hukou,” the other woman replied. “Many villages close to town send their children down, but they must have a household registration.”

“That’s good then. Both children in our family have a Hukou.” She had been very happy, feeling that her previous insistence on getting both children registered had been the right move.

At the time, she only remembered that this life teacher was very easy to talk to and not at all mean-spirited.

Later, she heard that the woman had accidentally killed someone.

She reached the mountain and began weeding. There were many weeds in the potato field. Initially, she pulled them by hand. Once the large patch of land was cleared, she sat on the hillside, watching the clouds on the horizon.

In her mind, she thought back to the words her man had said.

“I’ll go find someone else to discuss it with.”

Huixiang knew that Yang Laowu must have first gone to discuss it with his third brother. He wasn’t married and was family; there was no one more suitable.

She didn’t have much of an impression of this third brother. Ransacking her memory, she could only remember that he was a man of very few words.

Perhaps he wouldn’t tell anyone.

But what about others?

Among the unmarried men in the village, who could he find who wouldn’t go around talking?

How would people look at her then? What would they say about her? What would they say about her daughters? If she really did give birth to another child later, what would be said then?

Just thinking about that scenario caused her heart to tighten with sharp pangs of pain.

By the time she snapped back to her senses, the sky was already dark. She followed the path back, and from a distance, she spotted someone.

Yang Laosan.

In the past, when the two of them met, she would call out “Third Brother,” and he would give a brief acknowledgment. That was the extent of their greeting.

Meeting him now, Huixiang felt a very uncomfortable sensation. She hated this feeling.

She had hated it in the past when her parents were looked down upon by everyone in the village. It was as if she had been born to accept the same cold stares as her parents.

And now, because her husband was acting like a madman and doing something ridiculous, she seemed to automatically share this shame with him.

She gripped her hoe tightly and walked forward slowly.

She even thought to herself that if this man… if this man dared to mock her, she would hit him with the hoe.

But he didn’t. As she walked forward, he turned and headed in another direction.

Huixiang noted the spot where he had just been standing and discovered a slaughtered chicken placed on the ground, kept in a basket.

Huixiang found it strange. Why leave it here? Was it an offering to the gods?

She continued walking. After about a dozen meters, it suddenly clicked. Could that chicken have been meant for her?

It would have been better to leave it there as an offering to the gods.

She was no longer some young girl in her teens or twenties. Having seen much of the world, she tended to overthink things.

If someone wanted to give their family a chicken, they should have brought it directly to the house. At least then, they would owe that person a favor.

But this? What was this supposed to be?

Especially after Yang Laowu had been talking to people today about that fake divorce and fake marriage business. At a time like this, any decent person would know to avoid even the appearance of impropriety²!

Huixiang felt a surge of anger and quickened her pace. When she reached the front door, she saw her husband lying on the ground.

The man who had been sitting in the chair was now sprawled on the floor.

He was motionless, looking like a dead pig.

“Yang Laowu?”

There was no response.

Huixiang set down her back basket and walked toward him. Under the stark white moonlight, he truly looked like a corpse.

She reached out her hand to check his breathing.

He was still breathing.

He was alive.

Translator’s Notes