Chapter 27: He Didn’t Lie

Su Tangxue raised an eyebrow slightly. “If you really weren’t lying, then why wouldn’t you wait just one more day? Unless… you have something to hide?”

She said the last sentence while sweeping her gaze over everyone present.

Wei Xiaoyue hadn’t expected Su Tangxue to look her way. She instinctively avoided her gaze, feeling guilty.

She knew Zhang Yunlan was lying. Before they went to find the team leader, Zhang Yunlan had pulled her aside and told her to stay silent. If they won, she’d demand compensation from Su Tangxue and then give Wei Xiaoyue a share.

Unlike other educated youths, Wei Xiaoyue’s family didn’t have connections. When her parents sent her to the countryside, they only gave her 50 yuan. While others in the educated youth dorm enjoyed good food, she could only watch enviously from the side.

When Su Tangxue walked in earlier, Wei Xiaoyue immediately noticed her leather shoes — obviously from a family with money. That envy buried the impulse to speak the truth.

Still, Su Tangxue’s piercing gaze just now truly frightened her. She feared things might fall apart.

“It’s fine,” she told herself. “As long as that brat doesn’t show up, I’ll be fine.”

“What do you want, then?” someone asked.

This whole affair was giving the team leader a headache. Everyone had their own version of events, and Zhang Yunlan refused to back down, insisting on a judgment against the others.

“Lock them all up and make them each pay us five yuan,” Zhang Yunlan declared crisply, her tone full of confidence and a sense of inevitability.

“Qinglin, what do you think?” the team leader asked, trying to find a solution.

It really was difficult to mediate.

Lu Qinglin thought for a moment and was just about to say he could go up the mountain when a knock at the door interrupted him.

At the gate, Gouwa’s mother was holding his hand, with another man following behind — Liu Gouzi, the one who had gone to fetch Gouwa.

Wu Laidi, afraid her son would get in trouble, had tagged along. Now, seeing the crowd in the courtyard, she was a bit stunned.

“Team leader, what did my son do wrong? I’ll make sure to discipline him properly when we get home,” Wu Laidi said worriedly, her tired eyes filled with concern.

Earlier that evening, after returning from work, Gouwa pulled out two pieces of candy from his pocket and gave them to her. Wu Laidi saw they were milk candies — not cheap — and assumed he had stolen them. She hadn’t had time to ask before Liu Gouzi arrived, saying the team leader was looking for Gouwa.

“Gouwa’s mother, I just need to ask him a few questions. The child is fine — he hasn’t done anything wrong. Don’t worry,” the team leader reassured her.

Wu Laidi breathed a little easier.

The team leader looked past her to the boy. “Gouwa, Uncle has a few questions for you. Be honest, okay?”

“Go ahead, Uncle. I’ll tell you everything truthfully.”

“Do you remember what happened this afternoon at the pig grass field?”

Gouwa looked around at the people in the courtyard. “I know everything. This afternoon, Brother Lushan brought Big Sis to catch rabbits at the field. Zhang the educated youth argued with them and took their rabbit. Big Sis got mad and stepped up to argue with her. Only then did Zhang reluctantly give the rabbit back. Then Zhao the educated youth got angry and left with a wooden stick.”

Hearing this, a small smile crept up Su Tangxue’s lips. She knew Heaven wouldn’t let an innocent person be wronged.

She hadn’t expected Zhang Yunlan’s act with the wooden stick to be seen by this little kid.

“You’re lying! Su Tangxue told you to say this, didn’t she?” Zhang Yunlan suddenly rushed forward, pointing at Gouwa and yelling. Thankfully, Wu Laidi was quick and scooped him up before Zhang Yunlan could hit him.

“Zhang Yunlan! What’s your problem? You’re scaring the child!” the team leader said angrily, pulling her away.

“I… this brat is lying!”

“Uncle Ling, I’m not lying! I saw it all with my own eyes!” Gouwa said firmly.

The team leader saw Zhang Yunlan’s overreaction and sensed something was fishy.

“Gouwa, tell Uncle the truth. Did you really see Zhang with a wooden stick?”

Gouwa wriggled out of his mother’s arms, took two steps forward, glanced at the four swollen-faced educated youths, and finally pointed at Wei Xiaoyue.

“Uncle Ling, not only did I see it — she saw it too. I told her that Zhao had a stick!”

“Comrade Wei, did you see Zhang with a stick?”

Wei Xiaoyue froze as soon as she was pointed out. She had no way out now and had to continue the lie.

“Team leader, I didn’t see anything. This brat is lying.”

Gouwa’s face turned red with frustration. He jumped out and shouted, “I’m not lying! I really saw her with the stick. And I know where she hid it! If you don’t believe me, I can take you there!”

Zhang Yunlan began to feel a twinge of panic. Could the cripple have been discovered?

But the next moment, she convinced herself it was just a trick by Su Tangxue, using the brat as bait.

“Fine! Go find it then! If you can’t, that proves you’re lying!”

The team leader crouched next to Gouwa and asked gently, “You really saw her holding the stick?”

“Yes, I saw it.”

“Then how do you know where it was hidden?”

“Because I saw the village cripple go up the mountain. After the educated youths ran off, he went up there, took the stick Zhang dropped, then took the wasp nest from under the tree. He got stung so badly he was hopping around. If you don’t believe me, go search his house.”

The team leader now felt he was starting to get the full picture.

“Zhang Yunlan, anything else you want to say?”

Zhang Yunlan was visibly panicking and couldn’t meet the team leader’s eyes. Who would’ve thought that cripple would be so careless and get spotted by a brat?

“The kid said the wasp nest was taken by the cripple. What’s that got to do with me?” she argued.

The team leader glared at her. “Zhang Yunlan, if you won’t admit your fault, I’ll send you to the labor farm for re-education.”

“As for your accomplice, Wei Xiaoyue…”

Upon hearing that she would also be punished, Wei Xiaoyue rushed out, begging for mercy, saying she’d been threatened by Zhang Yunlan.

The team leader was furious and declared: both would lose 10 work points. Zhang Yunlan would be sent to the farm for a month, and Wei Xiaoyue would clean pigsties for a month.

In addition, both had to compensate each of the victims five yuan — Lu Qinglin included.

Once it was over, Su Tangxue finally let out a sigh of relief. She looked at Gouwa with sincere gratitude.

Before leaving, she gave him all the milk candies in her pocket.

By the time Gouwa chased after her holding the candy, Su Tangxue had already walked far away.

He looked down at the candies in his hand, then up at his mother beside him.

“If she gave them to you, just keep them,” Wu Laidi said, patting his head.

It was the first time Gouwa felt the joy that comes from telling the truth.

Meanwhile, Lu Qinglin had long returned home with his mother — just to avoid being recognized by Su Tangxue.