Chapter 4: Severing Relations

Thinking about the famine, the villagers’ gazes toward He Jingshu changed. To treat the mother who raised her like this—how ungrateful and disloyal.

“Village Chief, our family doesn’t have a single grain of food left. As soon as my mother came, she headed straight to the kitchen. When she didn’t see any food, she accused me of hiding it and even tried to hit my child. Sob sob…” He Jingshu knew people sympathized with the weak, so she quickly dropped her aggressive demeanor and let the tears fall.

Seeing the captain and villagers start to soften, she continued, “There is food, but it’s not at home. Lingling and I are just a widow and child. My mother often comes over with my nephew to take food from my house. If I refuse, she uses the excuse of filial duty. She says she raised me, but everyone knows I was treated like a beast of burden in that house. Now there’s nothing left, and Lingling and I are going to starve to death. We might as well just die.” As she said this, she held little Zhong Ling and cried pitifully. Zhong Ling joined in with loud sobs.

Everyone watching felt a sting in their noses.

The captain knew if this wasn’t handled properly, it would be a disservice to Zhong Youliang, who was serving the country in the military. While he defended the nation, his wife and daughter were suffering at home—unacceptable.

“You’re spouting nonsense! We only came a couple of days ago to get some things—we haven’t been back since!” said Tiedan, blurting it out when he saw his family looking panicked.

Now the villagers felt even more sympathy toward He Jingshu and her daughter.

“Youliang’s wife, how do you want to handle this?” The captain looked deeply at He Jingshu. He couldn’t believe someone could change so quickly.

“I want to sever ties with the Zhang family,” He Jingshu wiped her tears, saying something that left everyone in shock.

“No way! I raised you all these years, and you think you can just cut ties like that? Not so easy!” Zhang Daya was the first to shout. If that girl stopped caring for them, they’d starve.

He Jingshu pulled out a piece of paper and began reading aloud in front of everyone.

“September 1, 1961—Mother took 50 jin of cornmeal, 2 jin of eggs, 10 jin of sweet potatoes…”

“October 5, 1961—Took 10 jin of sweet potatoes, 10 eggs, and a piece of meat…”

“July 1, 1962—Took pig’s feet for milk production, malted milk, and brown sugar…”

“March 8, 1964—Took 20 jin of sweet potatoes, 30 jin of cornmeal, and all the canned goods Youliang brought home…”

With every entry she read, the villagers’ eyes toward the Zhang family grew more suspicious, and the captain’s face turned dark with anger. No wonder Youliang’s daughter looked so small for her age—the food was being taken away.

“Captain, not even counting the years I was treated like a slave in that household, don’t these things count as having repaid them?” He Jingshu asked, eyes red.

“Zhang Fugui’s family is a bottomless pit! No wonder they never earn full work points and still manage to feed their kids so well,” a villager muttered.

“Zhang family—what’s your take?” Even the captain couldn’t make a unilateral decision on severing family ties. They needed to ask.

“No! I absolutely refuse!” Zhang Daya thick-skinnedly ignored the looks from others—she simply couldn’t lose her family’s long-term food source.

“Fine then. I’ll just go to the county and report you for forcibly taking military rations. Bullying civilians with numbers—your family will be very famous then,” He Jingshu said coldly.

“You bitch!” Zhang Daya cursed furiously.

“Enough! If it really comes to that, you know what kind of consequences await. I’ll take charge here—this relationship is severed.” The captain pulled a pen from his pocket and drafted a formal Severance of Kinship Letter on the spot.

Though the Zhang family was reluctant, they could see from He Jingshu’s fierce expression that she really would report them. They had no choice but to agree.

With the villagers as witnesses, He Jingshu and the Zhang family signed the Severance of Kinship Letter. Only then did she finally feel relieved. Now, even if they tried to cause trouble later, it would be easier to handle. As for the past supplies—those were given by her original self; she didn’t plan to take them back.