Chapter 2: Letter of Severance

As soon as he walked into the courtyard, Old Lady Wang rushed over and blocked him.

“I say, boy from the Ling family, didn’t we agree on money for the person? You haven’t paid yet, so where are you planning to take her?” Old Lady Wang stopped Ling Yu and said.

“You beat her up like this—how am I supposed to take her away?” Ling Yu was worried about the life of the person in his arms, so his tone wasn’t very pleasant.

“Hmph, if you had said earlier that you’d take responsibility, she wouldn’t have ended up like this. If you hadn’t ruined her purity, why would I have ordered people to beat her? So today, whether you like it or not, you’re handing over this 300 yuan.” Old Lady Wang spoke unreasonably.

The commotion at the Wang household quickly drew in the surrounding neighbors. Everyone already knew about the Wang family’s situation. Previously, this boy from the Ling family had ruined the girl’s purity down by the river and refused to take responsibility. The village chief even sided with him, and later it was supposedly settled with ten eggs. But now he showed up again holding the girl—what was that about?

The crowd whispered among themselves, criticizing the boy from the Ling family for not behaving properly. First, he wronged the girl and wouldn’t take responsibility, and now he was carrying her around—what was that supposed to mean?

“How did this girl get beaten like this? Her head’s even split open.” Finally, someone in the crowd noticed Ye Wuyou’s condition, and everyone’s attention shifted to her.

When they saw the bruises on the back of her hand, one after another they turned to the Ye family and said: “Auntie Wang, the girl may have lost her purity, but it wasn’t her choice. How could you beat her like this? Look at her head—it’s split open. If things go badly, she could lose her life.” A well-dressed young man in the crowd said.

“None of your business. Her aunt is getting married next month. If we didn’t beat her harshly, others would think our family is corrupt.” Old Lady Wang retorted. She then turned back to Ling Yu and said, “And this is all your fault. If you had agreed to take responsibility in the first place, everything would’ve been settled. Instead, you kept insisting it was ‘artificial respiration.’ But now that you’re willing to be responsible, hurry up and bring the money.”

“What’s going on here? Why’s everyone at their house—aren’t you all supposed to be working today?” Suddenly, the village chief’s voice came from the crowd. Everyone turned to look.

It turned out someone had gone to inform the chief, so he rushed over. He squeezed through the crowd and saw Ling Yu holding Ye Wuyou. His brows furrowed deeply as he asked, “What’s going on?”

“Chief, you came just in time. Otherwise, people might say we’re bullying the Ling family.” Old Lady Wang quickly jumped in and then added, “Chief, you know what happened at the river before. That time, the eldest son of the Ling family did that to our girl and ruined her purity. He called it artificial respiration, and we let it go. But this morning he came to my house saying he wanted to take responsibility. Then when he saw the girl, he tried to take her away without saying a word about the money. Chief, tell me, how can something like that be reasonable?”

The village chief looked at Ling Yu, asking with his eyes for an explanation.

Ling Yu explained helplessly, “I really did come to take responsibility. But they’ve beaten her like this.”

“She’s only like this because of you. If you had agreed to be responsible from the start, none of this would’ve happened.” Old Lady Wang butted in again.

The chief pressed his cane into the ground and asked Ling Yu, “Are you sure you want to take responsibility for this girl?” While speaking, he also gave Ling Yu a look, signaling him not to get involved.

“Yes.” Ling Yu replied firmly.

Hearing that, the chief nearly fainted with anger. Couldn’t this guy read people’s signals? Wasn’t Old Lady Wang right—if he wanted to take responsibility, why didn’t he say so before? Now the girl was beaten like this, and here he was stepping in again. If it weren’t for Ling Yu’s father having once helped him, the chief wouldn’t want anything to do with this mess.

The chief then turned to ask Old Lady Wang, “How much money will it take for you to let her go?”

“300 yuan, not a cent less. Even if she dies, I won’t let her go otherwise.” Old Lady Wang raised her head proudly.

The people around gasped. They all thought she was ruthless. Clearly, she’d found out how much retirement money Ling Yu had. In this area, marrying a wife for seventy or eighty yuan was already considered good. Opening her mouth to demand 300 was outrageous.

The chief looked at Ling Yu with difficulty.

Ling Yu’s thin lips parted as he said, “200—that’s my absolute limit. If you don’t accept, then I won’t care anymore. Besides, you beat her like this—whether she lives or dies is still uncertain.”

Hearing that, Old Lady Wang looked at Ye Wuyou’s forehead and hesitated. Her son had hit too hard this time. If the girl really died, they wouldn’t get anything. Finally, feeling distressed, she nodded and said, “Fine, 200 it is. But, Chief, you must write a severance agreement. From now on, whether this wretched girl lives or dies has nothing to do with us.”

She had this idea because she was afraid that if the girl died, they’d be forced to return the money.