Fake Divorce Turns into Murder Case (19)

Chapter 71

Huixiang had witnessed Yang Laosan’s death with her own eyes.

But at the time, her only thought was that this secret had to rot in her stomach. She could never speak of it, nor could she let the Yang family know she had seen anything.

She felt that if she spoke out, or if the Yang family knew she had seen it, they would surely kill her.

In her imagination, she was like a target standing still while everyone took shots at her.

Whenever she encountered danger, her first reaction was always a sense of personal peril.

But now, her thinking had taken a turn, as if she were experiencing a long-overdue realization.

She was an adult. She had strength, and she had a mouth. If others cursed her, she could curse back; if others hit her, she had to find a way to hit back.

From the moment she realized this, a crack seemed to open in her world, and the outside reality began to pour in.

When she looked back on witnessing Yang Laosan’s death, the nature of the event completely transformed in her mind.

“It was Yang Laowu who killed Yang Laosan. I saw it with my own eyes. Yang Laowu pushed Yang Laosan’s head into the water vat¹.”

Yun Song had not expected Huixiang to have actually witnessed it. Primarily, Huixiang’s initial behavior had merely suggested she was avoiding the police; she hadn’t shown the typical panic or terror of someone harboring a dark secret.

Yun Song naturally didn’t know that Huixiang had grown up in such an environment, making her exceptionally skilled at concealing her fear and alarm.

Regardless, they were still in the middle of a land dispute, and this wasn’t the right place to discuss such matters.

Yun Song brought her back to the reservoir to ask for the specific details.

“That night, the night Yang Laosan took the sleeping pills… I sneaked over to see him in the middle of the night and found he was still alive. It was so cold out, and I was worried that if he slept on the floor of the main hall and froze to death, I wouldn’t be able to explain it.”

After all, Yang Laosan had intended to give those pills to her. If he ended up taking them himself and then froze to death, the Yang family might have caused trouble for her.

She had always been afraid of trouble. At the time, she wanted to drag him into the inner room, but she was afraid he might wake up halfway through. So, she chose a compromise: she went inside to grab a quilt.

At this point in the story, Huixiang was a bit afraid the police would find her long-winded, so she added, “I’ve thought back on this many times. The fact that I went to get the quilt is very important, so I have to mention it.”

“It’s fine,” Yun Song replied. “Go at your own pace. Tell me whatever comes to mind.”

“I covered him with the quilt, left the house, closed the door, and went back to my side.”

“When I lay down, I felt cold air all around me. It was the middle of winter, and Yang Laowu was supposed to be sleeping inside. It shouldn’t have been cold, but the bedding was freezing. I guessed then that he might have followed me out.”

“But he didn’t say a word, acting as if he were asleep. I knew he wasn’t, though, because he snores when he sleeps. I was terrified then, so I didn’t dare speak and pretended to be asleep too.”

In reality, Huixiang couldn’t sleep at all. She felt certain Yang Laowu had seen her covering Yang Laosan with the quilt.

Yang Laowu already knew what his mother had said to her about having a child with Yang Laosan. Coupled with the fact that Yang Laosan had been stalling on the divorce, Yang Laowu had been suppressing a lot of anger.

Huixiang knew he had been reaching his breaking point lately.

She was terrified that if she fell asleep, Yang Laowu would kill her later.

She kept her eyes shut tight, pretending to be deep in slumber.

She didn’t know how much time passed before the person beside her suddenly moved.

Huixiang’s entire body tensed up, but he didn’t lay a hand on her.

At the time, Huixiang thought it was because Yang Laowu still wanted a son and needed her to bear one.

Soon, Yang Laowu got up and went outside.

Only then did Huixiang dare to open her eyes. She had a very bad feeling in her heart.

Having lived with Yang Laowu for so long, she understood his temperament well.

Normally, if something was bothering him, he would make a scene and lose his temper.

In this situation, the fact that he hadn’t shouted but had quietly gotten up and left was wrong.

Huixiang was afraid, but she also wanted to know what he was doing.

Looking back now, she couldn’t understand how she had been so bold; at the time, she was simply acting on instinct.

She climbed out of bed and, under the moonlight, walked into the courtyard of Yang Laosan’s house.

Under the eaves of every house in the village, there was a large stone water vat. Usually, everyone used reservoir water treated by the water plant, which was supplied in the mornings and cut off in the afternoons. Even if the vat was filled in the morning, there was usually little water left by nightfall.

But things were different lately. The Yang family had seen the Zhang family digging their own water pit and thought it was a good idea, so they had dug one themselves and connected pipes. Consequently, the water vat was full at that hour.

When Huixiang arrived, the two brothers were fighting.

Yang Laosan was taller and broader than Yang Laowu, but he had taken a lot of sleeping pills. The effects hadn’t fully worn off, leaving him dazed and sluggish.

Yang Laowu was cursing him, calling him a bad brother for trying to steal someone else’s wife just because he couldn’t get one of his own.

Huixiang didn’t dare step forward. She was afraid that if she went out, she would get beaten too. She didn’t believe she could break them apart.

She hid to the side and heard Yang Laosan start shouting back, “Is it because I can’t get a wife? It’s clearly because Mom and Dad are biased!”

As he spoke of these things, his heart was full of resentment.

“That daughter from the Zhang family… when the matchmaker went to talk about Eldest Brother, her family originally wanted to match her with me because they said I was more honest. And what happened?”

“Back then, they said because I was the younger brother, the older brother had to be matched first. But in the end, both you and Fourth Brother got married before me! Is it my fault I don’t have a wife?”

“Of course it’s your own fault!” Yang Laowu cursed as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “That’s just your fate.”

Yang Laosan punched him hard. By what right!

Yang Laowu was already furious, and being hit only fanned the flames of his rage. Looking left and right, his eyes landed on that vat of water.

Yang Laowu didn’t understand why Yang Laosan had so little strength. He simply assumed he had always been that way, and continued dragging him until he forced his head into the water vat.

Huixiang was already paralyzed with fear. She stood there frozen, and by the time she snapped out of it, Yang Laosan was dead.

Yang Laowu went to find Old Man Yang on the other side.

Huixiang’s legs were like jelly. She didn’t dare go over to see if Yang Laosan was truly dead.

Soon, Old Man Yang and the others returned.

Old Man Yang looked at Yang Laosan slumped on the ground. Once he confirmed the man was dead, his first reaction was to kick Yang Laowu hard.

He was so furious he couldn’t speak.

Yang Laowu said, “I didn’t do it on purpose. I didn’t know he would die, I just lost my temper.”

“Dad… what do we do now?” Yang Lao’er asked.

“Why don’t you just call the police and have them take me away? Let them take me out and shoot me,” Yang Laowu said petulantly.

“Fifth Brother, stop talking nonsense.”

“It’s not like I meant to do it. Besides, Laosan was the one who tried to steal my wife first. I only fought him because I couldn’t take it anymore.” As he spoke, he started shoving his own head toward the water vat, acting as if he were going to drown himself in it.

Old Man Yang had already lost one son; he couldn’t actually let this son die too.

“Forget it, forget it.”

But there were police in town now. If everyone saw a man drowned like this tomorrow morning, they certainly wouldn’t believe he had just fallen into a water vat and died.

If the police were called and they investigated, what then?

The man had drowned.

And so, the three of them had no choice but to carry the corpse up toward the Reservoir.

Huixiang witnessed all of this, but she didn’t follow them. Her legs were weak, and she practically had to lean against the walls to stumble back to her own house. When she lay down on the bed, her hair was soaking wet, drenched in sweat from pure terror.

Her body was shaking and she couldn’t close her eyes. Someone was dead. Yang Laosan was dead.

She felt that she had to keep this secret for the rest of her life. She could never let anyone know.

Translator’s Notes