Fake Divorce Turns into Murder Case (15)

Chapter 67

It was only medicine to make someone sleep; Huixiang felt a wave of relief in her heart.

She hadn’t told anyone about this before because, at the time, she didn’t know what the situation really was.

Wait, nothing bad happens from taking that medicine, right?

She hadn’t had much schooling and didn’t know much about the outside world, so naturally, she didn’t know if there was a kind of medicine that, once taken, would prevent a person from ever waking up again.

“That medicine only makes you sleep, it won’t kill you, right?”

“No, his cause of death was drowning.”

The police had questioned the pharmacy. At the time, only a three-day supply had been dispensed. Although no more medicine was found in Yang Laosan’s house, that dosage wouldn’t be fatal.

Only then did Huixiang recount what had happened that night.

“I was worried all that day about whether something had happened to him,” Huixiang said. “But Yang Laowu came back soon after.”

“Before the fake divorce, all Yang Laowu thought about all day long was having a son. After Yang Laosan and I got fake married, he started getting suspicious, thinking there was something indecent going on between me and Yang Laosan.”

Huixiang still felt her face burn with shame speaking of such things, and she didn’t dare look anyone in the eye. In truth, she was a bit afraid they would ask if anything really had happened.

The whole situation was a mess. To say nothing happened wouldn’t be entirely true; after Yang Laosan registered the marriage with her, he often said crude and filthy things.

Even her mother-in-law had spoken to her privately, saying that Yang Laosan would surely never be able to marry a wife of his own, and wanting her to help by bearing a child for Yang Laosan as well.

Sometimes, looking at this family, she had thought to herself that if Yang Laosan were an honest, good man, she might as well just live out her days with him.

But Yang Laosan wasn’t. Huixiang didn’t think she was smart, but there was one type of man she had understood her entire life.

And that was a man like Yang Laosan.

Because her father was exactly that kind of person.

Her grandmother also had several sons and no daughters. Her father was the least favored one, and he had almost been unable to find a wife. Later he married her mother, who was a widow with a poor reputation.

Her mother had originally thought that by marrying her father, the two of them could live a good life together.

Her mother often said later: “He was a pitiful soul too. His parents didn’t treat him like a human being. I was someone who had lived a hard life myself; I saw him as pitiful and honest, and I thought that as long as neither of us looked down on the other, we could make a good life if we worked hard.”

Her mother couldn’t understand. She couldn’t understand why, after they were married, she became the one he despised.

In reality, Huixiang’s father had tried to live properly for a few days at the start. But after the marriage, his parents also looked down on this daughter-in-law and frequently found new ways to insult her.

At that point, Huixiang’s father also began to look down on Huixiang’s mother, and he started hitting and cursing her.

It was as if he had waited a long time, finally finding an outlet – an outlet where he could vent all the resentment and hatred that had built up in his body since childhood.

Huixiang’s grandfather could break bamboo poles while beating her father, and her father was the same when he beat them. He could beat a bamboo pole into thin strips.

Every time Huixiang saw Yang Laosan being looked down upon by his brothers without saying a word, she felt that he was a terrifying person. Because a person is a human being, not a reservoir; you can’t keep throwing things inside forever without something happening.

This was why she had felt there might be a problem with the noodles he gave her.

In her mind, Yang Laosan was never an honest, good man, but someone who could go mad and turn violent at any moment.

She couldn’t explain why she felt something was wrong at the time, yet she still wanted to eat.

Huixiang had thought about this over and over later. She felt it wasn’t just because she was hungry then, but more because she was like Yang Laosan and the others – she had gone a bit mad herself. So when Yang Laosan gave her that bowl of noodles, wanting to vent the hatred in his heart on her, her own heart was filled with hatred as well.

Hatred for Yang Laowu, hatred for Yang Laosan.

Her hatred likewise had nowhere to go.

In that moment, looking at Yang Laosan who was plotting against her, she wanted to eat the noodles, and she also wanted to see Yang Laosan eat the very thing he had prepared.

But emotions eventually recede. When something actually happened later, she became afraid again.

She didn’t tell the police that she had also harbored dark thoughts at that time.

Facing the police now, recalling the events of that night, she simply said: “I was really scared that night. I was afraid he had eaten something he shouldn’t have and died. I tossed and turned, unable to sleep. Once everyone was asleep, I got up secretly and went to Yang Laosan’s place under the cover of night, wanting to see if he was alive.”

When she arrived, he hadn’t gone into the inner bedroom but was still sleeping in the main hall. In the dead of winter, sleeping on the floor of the main hall like that made him look very much like he was already dead.

She was truly terrified. If Yang Laosan was fine, he should have gone back to bed in such cold weather.

She was afraid he was dead. If he was dead, would the police come looking for her?

The main hall had only faint light and was very quiet. Huixiang could hear her own heartbeat.

She walked forward step by step until she was nearly in front of Yang Laosan.

Huixiang looked at the person lying on the floor. Then she became afraid that he wasn’t dead. If he was alive and she had come over in the middle of the night, she would be asking for trouble.

So, she crept around, trying to find a stick for self-defense.

“Are you alive?” She poked him with the stick. There was no movement, but at that moment, she heard the sound of his breathing.

When Huixiang reached this point in her story, she glanced at Yun Song.

She didn’t continue further, but asked cautiously: “He was still alive then. I don’t know what happened after that. If someone is caught, will I have to go to court…”

The previous mobile court had made an impression.

Yun Song knew her difficulties, but she couldn’t give any guarantees, so she could only say: “We will try our best to find a way.”

This wasn’t the answer Huixiang wanted. Thus, wearing her usual honest and dutiful expression, Huixiang said: “I found out he was still alive, so I went back to my own room.”

“But I think it was Yang Laowu who killed him,” Huixiang added.

Yun Song said, “We will definitely continue to investigate the case, but do you plan to keep living here from now on?”

Huixiang did not know much about the police. She hesitated and did not speak.

Yun Song understood Huixiang’s reservations and did not press her on the matter. Instead, she returned to the issue she had been concerned about from the beginning.

“It is fine to live here in the summer,” Yun Song said, “but the weather gets cold in the winter. There is running water here, and the humidity is very high. If you stay here with two children, it will be easy to catch a cold.”

Huixiang had two children, and the younger one still needed care. Currently, the eldest daughter was mostly looking after the little one, but what about later?

Yun Song saw the situation differently than Huixiang did. Living in a cave with no fields, no food, and a single mother raising two children made it truly difficult to survive.

Yun Song had been thinking about these problems all along the way here.

“You and Yang Laosan were married. After his death, a portion of his house and land should legally belong to you. The law will not recognize what they call a fake divorce or a fake marriage.”

The family did not treat Huixiang like a human being, orchestrating those fake divorces and marriages, but in the eyes of the law, Huixiang was a person.

“They definitely won’t give them up,” Huixiang said. She knew that family all too well.

Yun Song did not expect the Yang family to just hand them over, but there were methods within the village that could be used.

So, Yun Song said, “We will figure out a way with you.” Previously, Yun Song had to consider that Huixiang might be unwilling to have a falling out or might still have feelings for the Yang family.

But now that she had fled to live in the mountains, Yun Song no longer needed to ask about her stance.

To be honest, Huixiang was somewhat tempted.

Yun Song continued, “This place is too far from the village, which makes it inconvenient to discuss things. Why don’t we head back first?”

“We won’t go back to the Yang family’s house. We can stay at Grandma Yuan’s place by the reservoir for a couple of days first.”

Yun Song’s goal was still to bring her back. A cave in winter was both cold and unsafe.