Who Stole My Pressure Cooker (8)

Chapter 28

Regarding the murder of Sun Er.

Changgui and her husband only managed three sentences from beginning to end; they couldn’t say anything else.

Chunfeng was slightly better, but not by much.

She had walked the whole way up, her face flushed red and her hair matted to her forehead, looking quite disheveled.

“I don’t know why, but he just started acting crazy.” She truly didn’t understand what had happened.

Confused and muddled, she had killed someone and become a murderer.

“I wasn’t feeling well those few days, so I went to the pharmacy. The doctor said I was pregnant. I was so happy. It just so happened my husband had few classes that day and could help me steam rice and sell soup, so I thought I’d come back to tell my mom the good news.”

Even now, speaking to the police, Chunfeng still didn’t know how it had all come to pass.

“To get to our house, you have to pass the Sun house. As I was walking by, Sun Er called out to me. I thought it was a bit strange because I’d never spoken to him before.”

Chunfeng was twenty-two and Sun Er was thirty-three. They weren’t of the same generation, and their only connection was being from the same village.

Her impression of Sun Er wasn’t good, but since he called her name, and they were from the same village, and since she and her brother lived in town while only her parents remained at home, she gave a polite response.

Fortunately, he only called out to her and didn’t say much else.

Instead, Mother Sun came out from inside and said with a smile, “Chunfeng, back at your parents’ place again?”

“Why don’t you come in and sit for a while? Your parents don’t seem to be home; they’re probably up in the mountains.”

For some reason, the woman was exceptionally warm, her face piled with smiles.

“If you go home now, you won’t be able to get in. You might as well sit at your auntie’s house for a bit.” In the village, one called elders either “Auntie” or “Great-Aunt” regardless of whether there was an actual blood relation.

Chunfeng replied, “I have a key, I can get in.”

Mother Sun said, “Well, it’s no fun being home alone. Sit at your auntie’s for a while. I’ll boil some brown sugar eggs for you and make a little snack.”

So kind? Even brown sugar eggs!

Chunfeng felt something was off. Her family’s relationship with the Sun family wasn’t good, mainly because back when the fields were being divided, the Sun family had their eyes on Lier Field. That field was in an excellent location and had a large pear tree on the slope.

As it turned out, when they drew lots for the distribution, Chunfeng drew that one.

The field was allocated to her family under Chunfeng’s name, and the Sun family had been bitter about it ever since.

Later, after she got married, the Sun family kept demanding that Lier Field be redistributed.

There was only so much land in Tonglin Town. Once it was divided, any children born afterward had to wait for the previous landowners to relinquish their plots.

The Sun family’s eldest son was married and had children, but his children didn’t have any land yet. They were still in line waiting. Generally, land only became available if someone died or if a daughter married and moved her household registration¹ out of the village. Only then would the land under her name be surrendered for the next person in line.

Chunfeng’s husband had an urban household registration and no land. Although he was a primary school teacher and it seemed they wouldn’t go hungry, a farmer like Changgui felt that, at the end of the day, the teacher’s job belonged to the son-in-law, not her daughter.

Thus, Changgui had made a decision: Chunfeng was not to move her household registration after marriage. Her registration remained with her parents’ house, so naturally, the land could not be taken back.

The Sun family had made a scene with them back then. In the end, the Village Chief had to step in and scold the Sun family, saying that the rules were the rules – if the registration hadn’t moved, she was still a person of the village.

Behind the Village Chief’s back, the Sun family claimed he only said that because he had daughters of his own and wanted to do the same thing. Regardless, the village had been in an uproar two or three times over this issue.

Because of this, Chunfeng viewed everyone in the Sun family as enemies who were out to steal her Lier Field!

Now that they were being so uncharacteristically attentive, Chunfeng worried they were trying to pressure her into giving up the land again.

The Sun family had done this before. Back then, the auntie had waited until her mother wasn’t home to find her and demand she hand over the field.

“The land was given by the state for people to farm. You aren’t even in the village anymore and you aren’t farming it, so how can the land be yours?”

Chunfeng was slow-witted and couldn’t win an argument against her.

Luckily, her mother had returned in time.

“That’s a laugh! What, if this field is moved to your eldest grandson’s name, is your grandson going to plow it? Is your grandson going to plant the seedlings? My daughter at least comes back to help plant and harvest. By your logic, your second son isn’t usually home either and has never farmed a day in his life. The fields and land under his name should be surrendered too!” There were plenty of people from the village working in the city; had the land under their names been taken back? No, their families still farmed it. Why was it only a problem when it came to her daughter?

The auntie couldn’t win that argument and left.

Afterward, her mother had repeatedly warned her that no matter who came asking, she must not give up the land.

“This field was meant to provide for you. With this land, you won’t have to buy much rice throughout the year.”

“You’re in town and have no land. If something happens, you’ll starve. Only with land do you have a guaranteed meal.”

At this moment, sensing something was wrong, Chunfeng quickly said, “My mom and the others are in the mountains. I should go back and cook so they can eat as soon as they get home.”

She hurried away as she spoke, the auntie’s voice drifting after her: “Chunfeng is such a filial daughter.”

Praising her for no reason? How terrifying.

They really were eyeing her land! It was very likely they even had their eyes on that patch of land in Boji Bay that could only grow a few meager stalks of corn.

Those Sun family people! They were too much!

She returned home, and the more she thought about it, the more convinced she became that they were after her Lier Field.

This year, her Lier Field – that hardworking Lier Field – had yielded over six hundred catties of grain. Even after paying the state grain tax², there would be over four hundred catties left.

Who wouldn’t want that!

She took out her iron pot and prepared to cook. When her parents got back, she would have to complain to them.

In her basket was a piece of fresh pork. It was the perfect treat for her parents.

She looked at the fatty cut of pork belly, feeling a sense of satisfaction. She had a bit of money now and could afford to let her parents eat well.

She would make red-braised pork with this piece.

“Chunfeng…”

Someone suddenly called her name from outside. Chunfeng recognized the voice as Sun Er’s.

“Wait until my mom gets back to talk about this,” Chunfeng said immediately.

“I have something I need to tell you.” Chunfeng saw the man walk inside, holding several… red bills³ in his hand?

Money? What was he doing with money? Did he want to use money to make her give up the field?

“I can’t make the decisions. If there’s something, tell my mom.” Even though she had a baby in her belly, she felt that for this kind of matter, she should let her mother handle it.

“You can’t let your mother decide everything,” Sun Er said. “This is money I earned mining coal in Xiangjin Town. It wasn’t stolen.”

Chunfeng asked, “Why are you telling me this?”

“I want to say that I can provide for you. I know that when my mother came to talk to you before, you actually wanted to agree, but your mother refused.”

Chunfeng replied, “I refused too!”

That was her precious Lier Field.

Chunfeng noticed the man seemed to have suffered a massive blow. He kept muttering, “You… how could you! You were clearly willing before! You’ve changed. Do you know how hard I worked to earn this money?”

Chunfeng found it baffling and immediately said, “I wasn’t willing. I’m not an idiot. Why would I give you a field with such good conditions?”

Hearing this, Sun Er just stared at her fixedly.

An inexplicable fear rose in Chunfeng’s heart.

Fortunately, a second later, he turned around and left.

Chunfeng breathed a sigh of relief.

Regarding these events, Chunfeng told the police the absolute truth: “Sun Er came to my house wanting to trade money for the field. I refused, and he walked out. I thought it was over.”

After Sun Er left, Chunfeng started washing chili peppers.

As she was washing, a dark shadow appeared in front of her. She looked up, and Sun Er reached out and grabbed her by the throat.

“You lied to me! You lied to me! Do you know how hard I worked for you?”

“Die! Just die!”

Chunfeng felt like she couldn’t breathe. Her hands groped around and quickly found the whetstone nearby!

Chunfeng used every ounce of her strength and slammed it down hard.

In the next second, blood sprayed out. Sun Er’s grip loosened, and he collapsed beside her.

Chunfeng was terrified. “Are you okay? Oh my god! Why is there so much blood!”

Chunfeng hadn’t had much schooling and knew nothing of the law; she only knew she had killed someone.

“Don’t die! Please don’t die!”

She tried to plug the bloody hole, but it was completely useless.

Only then did Chunfeng realize that her strength was much greater than before.

It was over, he was dead. If she said he tried to kill her… would anyone believe her?

As Chunfeng reached this point in her story, she began to cry.

If the person hadn’t died, she would be in the right, but once someone dies, you lose your moral standing. In Tonglin Town, they believed the dead should be respected above all. Having grown up here, Chunfeng was more or less inclined toward that mindset.

The village already had people who were unhappy about their family not moving their household registration out after the daughters married, fearing others would follow suit.

Now that this had happened, her family was even more in the wrong. She was surely doomed.

Yun Song understood roughly what had happened after hearing this, but she still needed to ask one more thing.

“Why were there so many spiders in Sun Qiang’s wound?” Yun Song had been a medical student before becoming a police officer. She knew the reason, but the people at the procuratorate and the court might not. Therefore, she needed the woman to say it so it could become part of the official statement.

“He kept bleeding. Spider webs⁴ can stop bleeding, so I looked all over the house for spider nests. There isn’t a single spider left in our house now…” Chunfeng said.

Chunfeng had now fully disclosed everything she knew.

The three of them prepared to go look at the witness testimonies collected by the other investigators.

On the way, Tong Jin couldn’t help but speak up. “This should count as Justifiable Defense⁵, right? Sun Er was going to kill her, and there were no other wounds on the body, just that one. Plus, all those spider nests show that Chunfeng didn’t intend to kill him,” Tong Jin said.

“That depends on the court. There was a case like this before where the verdict was Justifiable Defense.” Tang Chao sighed. “The problem now is that the procedure is complicated. Tonglin Town doesn’t have a detention center, so she has to go to the city.”

The road from Tonglin Town to Xiangjin Town was entirely dirt, with eighteen mountain switchbacks. Even people with good physical stamina like them would vomit for half the day riding in a vehicle. For a pregnant woman to go there…

“She’s pregnant, she should be eligible for release on bail pending trial⁶,” Tong Jin said.

“The bail bond is at least 4,000 yuan,” Tang Chao noted.

“Residential surveillance⁷? You don’t have to pay a bond for that,” Tong Jin suggested.

“It’s unlikely to be approved. The nearest police station is the Xiangjin Town station, with Baihe Town in between. Residential surveillance requires a local police station to take over the case, and Xiangjin Town is too far from here.” Tang Chao sighed.

It was truly an uncomfortable situation. The poverty of Tonglin Town meant that the people here could not enjoy the same rights as city dwellers.

Translator’s Notes