Fake Divorce Turns into Murder Case (18)

Chapter 70

Watching over the reservoir was indeed a good way to make a living.

However, Huixiang still didn’t quite dare to go out. She was worried that if someone saw her, they would tell the Yang family. She was terrified that if the Yang family found out she was still alive, they would come looking for trouble.

Grandma Yuan found it a bit strange. “Did the Yang family beat you?”

Huixiang froze for a moment, then shook her head.

She wasn’t stupid; she had always found ways to avoid Yang Laowu’s temper. It was a trick she had learned as a child. She would observe Yang Laowu, and if his temper flared up, she simply wouldn’t confront him head-on.

“Then why are you so afraid of them?” Honestly, Grandma Yuan couldn’t understand why Huixiang had agreed to the fake divorce and fake marriage in the first place.

She hadn’t had the chance to ask before, but now that they were here, Grandma Yuan asked, “Why did you agree to their fake divorce and fake marriage?”

“I didn’t have a choice. If I didn’t agree to the fake marriage with Yang Laosan, he was going to find someone else from outside to do it. Then he would have put my daughters’ Hukou under someone else’s name.”

Grandma Yuan said, “And what if you had just refused? Even if he found someone else, you could have just said no.”

Huixiang paused, then said, “Even if I didn’t agree, there was nothing I could do… You don’t know what kind of person Yang Laowu is…”

“He’s just a man, not the King of Hell. If he insists on doing something, you just insist on refusing. If he tries to hit you, you run into the village, put your hands on your hips, and start shouting for everyone to come look, that someone is selling his wife! If he hits you, you hit back. I see you doing farm work; you’ve got plenty of strength in you…”

Huixiang was stunned. “But… that would be so bad for my reputation.”

“Reputation can’t put food on the table. Why care about that nonsense?” Grandma Yuan looked at Huixiang’s two daughters.

At that moment, Huixiang’s eldest daughter was skillfully changing her younger sister’s diaper. Presumably, while Huixiang was busy with farm work, this was how she took care of her sister.

Grandma Yuan felt a pang of bitterness in her heart and stopped trying to persuade her to go to the reservoir.

She left the house alone and walked toward the reservoir, her heart heavy as she thought about Huixiang’s personality and her two children. It was a real headache.

Huixiang didn’t go to the reservoir, but she felt bad staying in someone else’s house without doing anything. When she had a free moment, she chopped all of Grandma Yuan’s firewood.

In the afternoon, the police returned. By the time they arrived, Huixiang was already preparing dinner.

Yun Song told Huixiang about the plan for the land distribution.

“The people in the village have already agreed to help us, and the Village Party Secretary has given his word. Next, we need you to step forward.”

As Huixiang listened to the police officer describe what the villagers had said, she still found it hard to believe. How could this be? They were all strangers; why would they speak up for her and risk offending the Yang family?

Perhaps it was just to give the police face.

Seeing her hesitation, Yun Song changed the subject. “Grandma Yuan said she actually wants you to come help guard the reservoir. What do you think?”

“I… I want to work here too.” Of course she liked the idea. It was quiet at the reservoir with few people around. “But I have two children, and living at the reservoir isn’t very convenient.”

Not only that, the reservoir job paid monthly, but it wasn’t much. It would be very difficult to raise two children on that alone.

Yun Song looked at her and said, “If you trust me, you can listen to my thoughts.”

“Officer, of course I trust you…”

Yun Song said, “You married the third Yang brother. You have a certificate. Now that Yang Laosan is dead, according to the law, you can inherit his land contract rights…”

“But how could the Yang family ever agree to that?”

“They certainly won’t be willing. That’s why you have to go and seize it yourself. What we can do is stand behind you, but the act of taking it back must be done by you.”

Huixiang was dazed. She had to go to the Yang family and seize it herself? How could she possibly win that fight?

Yun Song didn’t say more, instead giving her time to think it through.

That night, Huixiang tossed and turned, thinking about Yun Song’s words. She had to step forward herself, find the Yang family, and demand her land.

The mere thought of it filled her heart with terror. This was something everything in her past experience told her to avoid.

Huixiang’s mind was filled with the survival lessons she had gathered over the years. Her childhood had been like this; during those years of being beaten and scolded with no one to protect her, all her cleverness had been spent on figuring out how to deal with adults. In the end, she had concluded one rule.

Do not offend anyone.

That was how she had lived her life. She didn’t get into conflicts and didn’t want to. When life became truly unbearable, she would rather take her two daughters and run into the mountains to live. To her, that was safety.

But now, she had to go and seize something, to face the Yang family, and “fight” them head-on.

How could she? How could she possibly do it?

At first, there was only fear. She couldn’t sleep, worrying about what the Yang family would do…

Then she began to ask herself: what could the Yang family actually do to her?

The police certainly wouldn’t let them hit her. Besides, she wasn’t a punching bag. If they tried to hit her, she… she could scream and make a scene…

In the middle of the night, her heart began to beat very fast, as if it were excited for that moment.

Early the next morning, Huixiang told Yun Song that she was willing to go find the Yang family.

Yun Song wasn’t surprised.

So, she took Huixiang to the village. They first went to find the Village Party Secretary and the Village Chief to ask them to preside over the matter and see justice done.

Because everything had been discussed in advance, it was now purely a matter of following procedure, so it went very smoothly.

Standing to the side, Huixiang could hardly believe how easy it was.

With the Village Party Secretary and the Village Chief present, along with a group of villagers who looked like they were just there to watch the excitement but were actually there to ensure justice was served.

“Huixiang, don’t be afraid. Regardless of whether they agree or not, we’ll call them over and divide the land first.”

It was only then that Huixiang noticed everyone seemed to truly want to help her, rather than just humoring the police.

When Yang Laowu saw that Huixiang was still alive, he actually breathed a sigh of relief and quickly called out to her, “Huixiang!”

But then he heard the reason why Huixiang had come.

Yang Laowu couldn’t believe his ears. “What are you talking about? Huixiang and my third brother weren’t actually married!”

Yun Song glanced at Huixiang, signaling for her to push back.

Huixiang swallowed hard and said, “I still have the marriage certificate for me and Yang Laosan. How can you say it wasn’t a real marriage?”

“That thing is a fake.”

“The marriage certificate is real, so the marriage is real,” Huixiang countered.

“You little bitch!” Yang Laowu shouted, unable to contain his anger as he began spewing profanities.

Old Man Yang soon emerged as well, his mouth filled with curses. However, the scene Huixiang had originally imagined, where the Yang family would rush out to beat her, did not happen.

It was only then that Huixiang realized they were only capable of shouting insults.

Consequently, Huixiang gave up on trying to convince them to hand over the land. She declared, “Regardless, I am just here to inform you that from now on, all of Yang Laosan’s fields belong to me. If you plant anything in my fields, I will harvest it myself when the time comes. If I plant something and you try to take it, I will go and harvest the crops from your own fields.”

“I am putting my words out there. The Village Party Secretary and the Village Chief have both heard me, and everyone else here can act as a witness.”

The Village Chief and the Village Party Secretary quickly hurried over to try and talk some sense into Old Man Yang.

The other onlookers chimed in, saying, “We only came here to be witnesses.”

Yang Laowu stared fixedly at Huixiang. Huixiang knew he didn’t dare lift a finger right now because the police were present.

At that moment, Huixiang realized that Yang Laowu was just a man. In the past, she had… she had seemingly felt that he was a terrifying existence that she could never afford to provoke.

In reality, he was just a human being.

As Huixiang looked at Yang Laowu, she suddenly realized how foolish she had been.

She clearly held information that could stab Yang Laowu like a knife, yet she had never used it.

Huixiang leaned closer to Yun Song and whispered, “Officer, I want to report a crime. Yang Laowu killed Yang Laosan. Old Man Yang, Yang Laowu, and Yang Lao’er all carried Yang Laosan to the reservoir together.”