Chapter 33: The Green Hemp (Part 2)

From within the crowd, someone else chimed in, “Back then, wasn’t it Commander Xu who pulled Han Chao out of juvenile detention? What does that mean?”

Indeed, years ago, Commander Xu had personally taken Han Chao, handcuffed, out of juvenile detention and mentored him.

But now? Had he unknowingly raised the child of his enemy?

Han Chao, unwavering in his belief that he could prove the truth, made Chen Yufeng suspect that he must have some kind of evidence—perhaps Wang Guoguo’s labor records from the Guihua Town fields or her archived personnel file.

It was clear that he came empty-handed—aside from that piece of jade, he had nothing.

This was an event from thirty years ago, and the man had no tangible proof. With so many leaders present in the courtyard, he was at a disadvantage. Without evidence, he couldn’t turn the situation around in one go, and worse, he might even leave a negative impression on the leadership.

Chen Yufeng stepped forward and gently shook her husband’s arm, her eyes signaling to him: if you don’t have proof, maybe it’s best to hold off for now.

Han Chao was never one to consider the feelings of his superiors when he spoke, but now that they were all siding with Zhang Yanli, if he insisted without evidence, Commander Luo would be the first to take offense.

However, Commander Xu spoke in a calm voice, “Han Chao, say whatever you need to say. This is about my daughter—I will make my own judgment.”

“The child was not harmed by anyone,” Han Chao began.

Standing in the center of the crowd, his buzz-cut head gleamed under the streetlights. His expression was steady, his demeanor composed, and he spoke with quiet confidence.

Chen Yufeng was curious—this man had come here empty-handed, so what was he relying on?

Before anyone could question him, Han Chao continued, “Deputy Director Ma has a weak constitution, as you all know. She’s allergic to dust, so it’s likely that her daughter inherited the same condition. It was Qinghuoma—the child must have crawled into a patch of Qinghuoma and suffered a fatal allergic reaction.”

Commander Xu remained composed, but Ma Lin was visibly shaken. She clutched Zhang Yanli’s hand, took a deep breath, and quietly listened.

Zhang Yanli immediately snapped, “What nonsense! Qinghuoma? I’ve never even heard of it.”

“You spent two years in Mengzi as part of the re-education program and don’t even know what Qinghuoma is? That proves you never did a single day of real farm work.” Han Chao retorted without hesitation. “If you don’t believe me, ask Commander Luo or Commander Ma—they definitely know.”

Qinghuoma, a plant native to the southwest, was also used in traditional Chinese medicine. However, it could not be touched with bare hands.

The locals described it as something that could ‘bite’—contact with it could cause anything from mild redness and itching to severe swelling and pain. For individuals with a weak constitution, it could trigger a full-body allergic reaction, difficulty breathing, and even death.

Han Chao had only mentioned it briefly, but Chen Yufeng immediately recalled something—Wang Guoguo used to talk about it often, always warning that Qinghuoma should never be touched. But since there was no Qinghuoma in Guihua Town, she had never seen it for herself.

And Ma Lin did have a weak constitution—she was highly prone to allergies.

Just earlier today, they had only gone to a restaurant, and the dust alone had made the tip of her nose turn red.

No wonder Han Chao had come here empty-handed. This explanation made sense.

After all, no one is born inherently evil—why would someone deliberately target a newborn child?

It was just as Han Chao had said—an accident.

And he… had probably already suspected this for a long time.

But would the leaders believe him?

Would they be willing to accept that they had wrongfully accused Wang Guoguo for so many years?

Chen Yufeng’s heart was in her throat as she looked around.

She feared that they wouldn’t believe it. That they would find any excuse not to believe it.

Commander Xu remained silent, but he was a reserved man—his stance was steady.

Ma Lin, on the other hand, simply slumped down onto the garden wall.

Commander Luo also slowly reached out to steady himself on Han Chao’s arm and then sat down on the garden steps.

Mimi was still playing with her “little train,” but when she saw the old military officer about to sit, she immediately reached out and wiped that section clean, smiling up at him.

“Qinghuoma is untouchable,” Commander Luo murmured, as if recalling something deeply unsettling.

He remembered the pain of being stung by Qinghuoma while working in the fields, and the sight of it covering the landscape in Mengzi.

Han Chao said, “But the child was too young—she didn’t understand.”

“When Xiao A’mi left, the villagers cut ties with us. If we had just asked them about the child’s cause of death, we might have learned the truth. But there was no one left to ask,” Commander Luo added.

“My mother arrived in Guihua Town in ’61 and never left. If you want, I can personally go find proof for you,” Han Chao said firmly.

In reality, if they hadn’t made enemies of the villagers, if they hadn’t turned them into adversaries, they could have simply asked and learned the truth.

But they had been too young, too impulsive, too reckless.

Because of their struggle sessions, they had turned the villagers against them.

And in doing so, they had cut themselves off from the truth.

“This was our fault,” Commander Luo sat there in silence for a long while before finally admitting, “We wronged Xiao A’mi.”

“She is my mother,” Han Chao said, his tone unwavering.

The crowd around them was large, and everyone had heard about Ma Lin’s daughter’s tragic fate.

Regardless of Ma Lin’s feelings, Commander Luo’s attitude spoke volumes.

They had believed Xiao A’mi was the murderer, so they had only seen what they wanted to see.

But the truth had been right there, waiting to be acknowledged.

Someone in the crowd finally spoke, “Qinghuoma… I accidentally touched it once, and my hand went numb for half a day.”

Another person added, “No one told us when we first arrived. I grabbed it with my hands, and my whole arm swelled up.”

A newborn child. A child with allergies.

If she had crawled into a patch of Qinghuoma and no one had noticed…

An allergic reaction, a swollen throat—it would have taken her life in an instant.

The red marks on her body were simply from scratching at the itch.

Under the glow of the streetlights, no one spoke.

Commander Xu, who had held out for so long, finally slumped down onto the garden wall.

Mimi had been waiting. She and Tiantian had used their small hands to carefully wipe the garden’s tiled walls until they gleamed.

Now, seeing one soldier after another sitting down, the two little girls exchanged glances, filled with a sense of accomplishment.

At that moment, everyone could feel the grief weighing down on Commander Xu and Ma Lin.

And at that moment, everyone also felt the absurdity of it all—the years they had spent throwing baseless accusations at an innocent person.

The streetlights illuminated the courtyard, casting long shadows of shame and regret.

Han Chao turned to look at Chen Yufeng, signaling that it was late and time to go home.

Of course, Commander Luo immediately said, “As long as the truth is clear, that’s what matters. Han Chao, if your mother ever comes, you must let me know. I must apologize to her in person. Ma Lin needs to as well. In fact, many of us here owe her an apology.”

There had even been people in the past who, wanting to avoid work, fabricated lies that Xiao A’mi had injured them, using it as an excuse to skip their duties.

Some, upon losing their belongings, would also falsely claim that Xiao A’mi had stolen them.

The reform-through-labor school was vast, and aside from the leading figures—who later became the military district’s top officials—not everyone had truly been driven by ideals and dedication.

That was why they had all been misled.

And that was precisely why Commander Luo was so emotionally shaken at this moment.

Chen Yufeng was surprised by Commander Luo’s straightforwardness. She even felt a faint sense of guilt. The last time she had met him, she thought he was a rigid and stubborn man. Yet now, he was admitting his mistakes so openly.

To Han Chao, as long as he could clarify the situation and prove his mother’s innocence before she arrived, that was enough.

That was his sole objective.

But for Chen Yufeng, that wasn’t nearly enough.

This wasn’t a matter that could be resolved with a mere apology.

Ma Lin often said that the world wasn’t simply black and white—there were many shades of gray.

But when it came to Zhang Yanli, Chen Yufeng had to make sure the truth was laid out in black and white.

She wasn’t familiar with the military officials and couldn’t approach them directly, so she got straight to the point with Zhang Yanli. “Aunt Zhang, didn’t you say you personally saw my mother carrying the child away?”

In reality, it was her own negligence that had caused the child to crawl into the nettle patch, triggering a fatal allergic reaction.

She had likely been afraid—afraid of being blamed—so she had told a lie.

Whether it was her or her sister, one of them had taken the child up the mountain and falsely claimed that Xiao A’mi had abducted her. Of course, this wasn’t a crime—it was just a lie.

But despite being “just” a lie, the benefits she had reaped from it were far from insignificant.

The military officials probably understood this too, but there was a difference between acknowledging something privately and addressing it publicly.

After all, they had once been comrades-in-arms. If Zhang Yanli pleaded in private, shed a few tears, would Ma Lin still pursue the matter?

And would the officials, in turn, choose to forgive her?

Would thirty years of wrongly branding Wang Guoguo a murderer be brushed off with nothing more than a sigh?

That was why this had to be confronted here and now.

“I… I must have been mistaken,” Zhang Yanli quickly said.

But Chen Yufeng pressed on. “The child was so little—she couldn’t have crawled far. Yet she was found on the mountain. Wasn’t it you who carried her up there and then framed my mother?”

Zhang Yanli was caught off guard and instinctively blurted out, “I was scared at the time! Besides, I wasn’t the one who carried her—it was my sister.”

That revelation left not only Chen Yufeng stunned but also the bystanders, some of whom had been about to leave but now turned back in astonishment.

Was Zhang Yanli really throwing her own sister under the bus?

Had she taken full responsibility herself, her sister might have been spared. But she just had to drag her sister into it.

Ma Lin, who had been holding onto Zhang Yanli, slowly let go. She lifted her head, looking at her in disbelief.

Chen Yufeng continued, “You and your sister both have children—you’re mothers yourselves. A child so small, gone just like that. When you took her up the mountain, how much cold did she endure? How much suffering? And how much did her mother agonize over her disappearance? A child is a life. Even if she had already stopped breathing, she was still a person. When you abandoned her in the mountains, did it never cross your mind that wild animals might have torn her apart?”

Ma Lin was visibly shaken by those words, her eyes bulging as she clutched her chest, struggling to breathe.

Mimi, standing beside her, pulled out her small handkerchief, wanting to offer it. But seeing her grandmother so agitated, she hesitated, withdrawing her hand and instead looking up at her with concern.

Zhang Yanli hurriedly patted Ma Lin’s back and said, “Chen Yufeng, you’re still young. You don’t understand, so I won’t blame you. But I did it for Lin Jie’s sake. She was already devastated. Without something to hold onto, how could she have survived? Yes, I lied, but it was a well-intentioned lie. She needed a goal—something to keep her going.”

She had finally realized something—her success in the military district all these years had been thanks to Ma Lin.

No matter what she did, as long as she invoked Ma Lin’s name, she could get away with anything.

Like today, when she was arranging for someone’s retirement benefits.

Ma Lin hadn’t actually agreed, but tomorrow, if she went to the finance office and casually said, “Ma Lin asked me to put in a word,” they would accommodate her, out of respect for Ma Lin.

So long as she claimed to be acting in Ma Lin’s interest, she could do whatever she pleased.

Chen Yufeng thought to herself—just as she expected.

The most terrifying thing in the world is when someone tells you, “I’m doing this for your own good.”

If she hadn’t confronted Zhang Yanli in public, what would she have said to Ma Lin in private?

“I did it for you, so you wouldn’t be sad.”

With that explanation, wouldn’t Ma Lin soften and choose not to pursue the matter?

And if Ma Lin chose not to pursue it, then how could the military officials be expected to?

But before Chen Yufeng could say anything else, Madam Wang spoke in a calm voice, “Yanli, you did this for yourself. Back then, using ‘taking care of Ma Lin’ as an excuse, you never worked a single day. The rest of us—constantly bitten by leeches, our already-thin bodies drained of blood, our arms and hands swollen from nettle stings, unable to sleep at night from the pain. Yet you spent two years in Mengzi and still don’t even recognize Qinghuoma. And let’s not forget—your academic performance wasn’t up to standard. So how did you land a job? And not just any job, but a position at the most lucrative special supply store, where everyone had to curry favor with you just to buy something. You really don’t know how that happened?”

That was it. Did she really think people were blind?

This was already enough to shake Ma Lin. But Chen Yufeng still had one final, crucial point to make.

“If Zhang Yanli and her sister were both cooking, then logically, one of them should have stayed behind to watch the child while the other delivered the food. Why did they both go together? Wasn’t it just to make their contribution seem more significant?”

They never intended to harm the child, but they wanted recognition, to show off, to impress others.

Even though they knew the child would wake up and look for their mother, they still insisted on delivering the meal together, just to leave a good impression on their old comrades.

So, they left the child alone. When the child woke up and crawled out to find their mother, they ended up crawling into the poisonous Qinghuoma bushes—and never came back.

To put it bluntly, they were the ones who caused the child’s death!

It was their vanity that took the child’s life!