Chapter 96

How is that possible?

Aunt would never be that kind of person?

Feng Shishi looked at Shen Guixiang with a confused expression.

Shen Guixiang wiped her tears with her sleeve.

“Being a good person is hard. I never expected my daughter-in-law would be scheming against me like this.”

Shen Guixiang clutched her chest, feeling distressed: “And my second son-in-law… last time Jiaojiao was hospitalized, I asked him for two pounds of meat coupons to help Jiaojiao recover. I gave the meat to Jiaojiao to help her body heal.”

“Does he hate me that much? Throwing dirt on me and Zhihe, wishing we were dead?”

“I’m so unlucky, to have ended up with such a second son-in-law…”

Shen Guixiang cried pitifully.

Feng Shishi hesitantly asked, “Is there some misunderstanding? Aunt, her second son-in-law is indeed a very fierce person.”

The police and Women’s Federation comrades: “…”

Comrade Qian had said that the placement of young intellectuals would be the commune’s top priority.

The comrades from the police department, seeing that Feng Shishi didn’t understand, patiently explained a few things.

At that moment, a head poked out from the Yin family’s doorway: “Are there so many people here?”

“I’m looking for Feng Shishi. Does she live here?”

“I went to the Xiangyang Brigade’s young intellectuals’ point. They said Shishi just arrived at the brigade and moved into a local family.”

It was Liu Cuifang.

Feng Shishi had come to the Xiangyang Brigade to work, but due to some reasons, she hadn’t planned on visiting her good friend Liu Cuifang in the neighboring brigade so soon.

She had just started working in the fields and was exhausted. Her hands and feet were covered in blisters.

She was so tired that she wanted to wait until she had adjusted to the rural labor before going to the neighboring brigade to catch up with Liu Cuifang, ensuring that no gossip about her had reached her friend.

However, Liu Cuifang had heard the news about her arrival in the countryside and came to the Xiangyang Brigade!

Feng Shishi had many things to ask Liu Cuifang. She was too busy with her own matters to deal with the Yin family’s issues. She walked over and grabbed Liu Cuifang’s hand.

Seeing how many people were in the house, she said to Liu Cuifang, “Fangfang, let’s talk outside.”

The others didn’t recognize Liu Cuifang, but the police comrades found her familiar.

Because Zhao Yongsen was still being detained at the commune, and he had been in charge of investigating the case of young intellectuals being assaulted in Hongqi Brigade. He had interacted with Liu Cuifang during the investigation.

Liu Cuifang had initially insisted on reporting Zhao Yongsen for allegedly drugging her soup and attempting to force himself on her with the help of others from the brigade, nearly forcing her into a compromised situation.

Liu Cuifang had initially insisted on reporting Zhao Yongsen, claiming that Zhao Yongsen’s mother, Zhou Xiaohong, had drugged her soup and then deliberately brought people from the brigade to her home, almost forcing her into a compromising situation with Zhao Yongsen.

She had been schemed against and wanted to report Zhao Yongsen and his mother.

However, the Party Secretary of Hongqi Brigade, Yang, had suppressed the matter and even threatened her not to report it to the commune. He warned that if she tried to return to the city, he would hold up her request to do so.

Considering she hadn’t suffered any actual harm, Liu Cuifang had no choice but to swallow her anger.

Later, Comrade Qian from the commune, upon hearing about the incident in Hongqi Brigade, instructed the police to investigate the situation. Zhao Yongsen was temporarily detained at the commune, with plans to charge him with hooliganism.

However, the girl, for reasons unknown, had initially been determined to report Zhao Yongsen but later regretted it. She said she was willing to forgive him and even marry him.

Coincidentally, Zhou Xiaohong’s drugging of her could not be proven.

As a result, the matter fizzled out.

Since the parties involved didn’t pursue the case, and the drugging couldn’t be verified, even though Comrade Qian had insisted that the matter was severe and needed to be dealt with harshly, they still followed the law, and Zhao Yongsen was released back to Hongqi Brigade yesterday.

It turned out that Liu Cuifang, who couldn’t think clearly, was friends with Feng Shishi, who lived at the Yin family’s house.

The police finally understood why Feng Shishi had spoken up for Shen Guixiang.

“Birds of a feather flock together,” they thought.

People who were equally confused in their thinking would naturally become good friends.

Once those who had stirred up the situation and spoken for Shen Guixiang and Yin Zhihe had left, the police moved forward with the legal process and planned to arrest Yin Zhihe and take him to the commune.

But then Lu Jiaojiao stepped forward to stop them: “Comrades from the police and the Women’s Federation, thank you for standing up for me.”

“But… could I make a request?”

Lu Jiaojiao spoke very quietly, almost pleading with them: “I don’t want to divorce Yin Zhihe. Can you make my husband and mother-in-law promise that they will never hit me again?”

What was this about suddenly changing her mind?

The Women’s Federation and police were all stunned!

They had worked so hard, and now Lu Jiaojiao was backing out at the last minute.

The Women’s Federation had even intended to use this case as a model, which is why they had taken it seriously and made the effort to help her despite her bypassing the regular channels.

One of the female members of the Women’s Federation was furious: “Lu Jiaojiao, what do you mean by this?”

“I… I don’t want to divorce my husband.”

As someone who had lived a full life before being reborn, Lu Jiaojiao understood a little about the law.

She quietly explained: “My husband and I have marital issues. We’ve been married, and there is a bond between us. Even though he has wronged me, I don’t want him to be sentenced to prison.”

The members of the Women’s Federation were laughing in disbelief.

She had been beaten so severely that her uterus was damaged and she could no longer have children, had her head cracked open and spent half a month in the hospital, and yet she still claimed there was a bond of a hundred days of marriage?

She was beaten so badly that her uterus was damaged, and she couldn’t get pregnant anymore. She was also hit on the head, spent half a month in the hospital, and still, they’re talking about the bond of a married couple?

Indeed, if the person involved doesn’t want to pursue it, this can only be defined as a family dispute.

The Women’s Federation members were angry and frustrated: “So you mean you’re not pursuing this anymore?”

“I’m not pursuing it anymore!”

Lu Jiaojiao demanded: “But I want him to write a guarantee, stating that if he does this again in the future, you’ll arrest him.”

They wanted them to arrest him whenever they pleased, but now that she didn’t want to pursue the matter, it wasn’t being pursued.

What were the police and the Women’s Federation even there for?

Fine then!

The case that could have been a typical story for the newspaper was now gone.

They had thought that Lu Jiaojiao was a woman of courage who had awakened her sense of female rights.

But now, she was backing out at the last minute.

One of the Women’s Federation members sneered: “Lu Jiaojiao, don’t go back on your word.”

“I won’t regret it,” Lu Jiaojiao replied. “My request is for Yin Zhihe to write a guarantee, ensuring that he won’t beat me again and promising that he won’t divorce me…”

The Women’s Federation had already done so much for her, even planning to help her find a job.

But now, she herself couldn’t take a stand and insisted on treating this as a family matter.

It’s hard to convince a stubborn person.

Since the parties involved weren’t pursuing the issue, it could only be categorized as a family dispute.

The Women’s Federation members were disheartened, feeling that their efforts had been in vain.

Together with the police, they made Shen Guixiang and Yin Zhihe write the guarantee letter.

Shen Guixiang was unwilling at first, saying she couldn’t write, but in the end, a member of the Women’s Federation wrote it for her, and they both signed and placed their fingerprints.

It was just a formality, and they had done what they needed to do. Whether the guarantee would be effective, only time would tell…

The Yin household wasn’t the place to discuss things. Feng Shishi pulled Liu Cuifang aside, and they walked out to the creek outside the Yin house.

They found a place by the stone washbasin and sat down.

“Shishi, I received a letter from Li Ruicai. He asked me to take care of you. That’s when I found out that you had also gone to the countryside and were assigned to our commune.”

Liu Cuifang told Feng Shishi: “I specially went to the commune to inquire about the recent assignments for the youth sent to the countryside, and that’s how I found out you came to Xiangyang Brigade.”

“Shishi, with everything that happened at your house, why didn’t you tell me you were coming to the countryside?”