Chapter 79: Inciting Wu Lingyu to Commit Perjury

Jiang An’an briefly recounted what happened the night before last.

Gao Xiuhua clapped her hands and thought to herself: No wonder the county magistrate sent someone to relay the message; he wouldn’t take sides or interfere in the conflict between the two departments until the matter is cleared up.

“Do a good job with this matter, and call me anytime if you encounter difficulties. Is that Wu Lingyu?”

Wu Lingyu had been confined indoors for years, her skin an unhealthy pale, with bruises on her wrists likely caused by being forcefully dragged.

Noticing her gaze, Wu Lingyu didn’t even lift her eyelids, her expression numb like a lifeless tree.

Gao Xiuhua took out a stack of documents and handed them to Jiang An’an, lowering her voice: “These are methods for handling similar incidents from years ago; the key is to prove that Wu Lingyu did not engage in adulterous relations without a matchmaker.

Remember, that man is supposed to take her to the town to report to the police, not elope.”

Adultery without a matchmaker and elopement—if the Xinghua Brigade really resorted to private punishment, Wu Lingyu would still be sent for re-education.

Jiang An’an’s eyelids twitched.

Director Gao meant for her to teach Wu Lingyu to commit perjury!

But the crucial point wasn’t what Wu Lingyu said, but rather what that so-called childhood sweetheart wanted—did he want Wu Lingyu dead or alive?

–

Although Wu Lingyu was grateful to Jiang An’an for saving her from danger, she did not fully trust her.

To be precise, she viewed everyone with suspicion and hostility, especially men, and even resisted treatment from male doctors.

Unable to extract any information about that man from her, Jiang An’an planned to return to the Nanxi Brigade to find her sister.

Before heading home, she first stopped by the commune.

Upon hearing her intentions, Chen Xingtong was not surprised at all and even had everything prepared in advance: “These clans are not under the commune’s jurisdiction; they are directly managed by the Ministry of Culture. The documents were compiled from the past; I don’t know if anything has changed now.”

In the past two months, the Women’s Federation and the commune had worked closely together, and Chen Xingtong was willing to provide Jiang An’an with assistance.

Jiang An’an smiled brightly: “Thank you, Director Chen.”

Chen Xingtong cleared his throat: “Director Dong has informed the commune that we cannot intervene or assist. These documents are ones you found in the archives; they have nothing to do with me.”

Jiang An’an nodded to indicate she understood.

She shifted her eyes and quietly inquired: “Does Director Dong have any private relations with Clan Leader Wu?”

Otherwise, why would he take on such a thankless task?

Chen Xingtong glanced at her appreciatively: “That Dong has a strong background; it’s said that a couple of years ago, his nephew married Clan Leader Wu’s granddaughter. I have a relative who works at the distillery and has delivered wine to the Dong family.”

Got it!

In-law relationship!

“Is the tea produced by the Wu family well-known in Yunzhou County?” Jiang An’an asked again.

Chen Xingtong scoffed, “It’s only become famous in recent years, mainly as holiday gifts for cadres and workers.”

Jiang An’an suddenly realized.

So it turns out they became a supplier of official gifts, relying on Director Dong’s connections to get selected.

With the money made from the tea, the clan used it to establish schools for girls, which ultimately became tools for the oppression of women. It would be better to solve the problem at its root.

What if they switched suppliers…

Jiang An’an excitedly clenched her fists.

The situation needs to change!

Good things come in cycles; only then will the lower brigade become united and work together to contribute to the construction of the country!

She was really clever!

“In fact, the tea from the Ma clan has the best quality.”

Chen Xingtong stopped there; he hadn’t been the commune director for all these years without reason. He was well aware of each brigade and casually handed her a personnel file from the commune.

Jiang An’an opened the document.

Oh wow!

The first page was about the young Gao cadre.

The file clearly stated that the young Gao cadre’s maternal family name was Ma, and his mother had voluntarily left the clan to marry his father.

This matter required the young Gao cadre’s help, and the young Gao cadre was also a trusted confidant of Chen Xingtong…

Seeing this, Jiang An’an understood that Chen Xingtong was not entirely selfless.

If they could leverage this matter to pry open other clans and cut off some of the Ministry of Culture’s extended claws, it would allow the commune to smoothly manage and take over all subordinate brigades.

Because Chen Xingtong was someone who placed immense importance on power, as seen from his ongoing battles with Secretary Yang over the years, he had likely long been dissatisfied with the Ministry of Culture’s interference.

“The list of advanced brigades from last year has already been released. Although the Ministry of Culture strongly recommended the Xinghua Brigade, the commune and most leaders above still favor the Nanxi Brigade,” Chen Xingtong continued to raise the stakes, aligning the two of them on the same side.

Leaving the director’s office, the smile on Jiang An’an’s face faded. These old foxes had more schemes than a sieve; dealing with them was more exhausting than fighting.

However, good things about promotions shouldn’t lack Secretary Yang’s involvement.

Cadres from the county should support each other.

She turned on her heel and knocked on the door at the other end of the corridor.

“Secretary Yang, do you want to seize that part of the clan brigades to counter Director Chen?”

Secretary Yang: !!!

Jiang An’an handed over the task of winning over the Ma clan to the ambitious Secretary Yang, deciding not to get involved in the power struggles of the big shots.

Having resolved a major headache, she happily took Dayi back to her hometown.

The county was in chaos, and the village was equally lively.

The villagers, instead of staying home during the cold winter, crowded in the large square to watch the excitement.

From a distance, they could hear the sharp, piercing cries of the big fat pig. The more miserable the pig sounded, the happier the villagers were.

The pig was a treasure; a big iron basin was set aside with some salt to collect the pig’s blood, which would make the cooked blood smoother and more tender.

Lin Meiru and her husband stood at the end of the line, dejected. Every year, they only regretted not working harder when it came time to divide the pork.

According to Luo Jiawang’s count, the Jiang family’s share indeed ranked second to last.

As for the last place, that was naturally the widow’s house at the end of the village…

Old Lady Jiang was embarrassed and glared at the couple: “If it weren’t for marrying a lazy woman, De Gui wouldn’t have been led astray by you. Year after year, second to last. When I get to the afterlife, how will I explain this to your father?”

Jiang De Gui climbed up the pole: “Dad loves me the most; he will definitely let Mom give me a piece of pork from our share.”

As soon as he finished speaking, his aunt, who was watching from the sidelines, jumped in anger: “Dream on! We’ve already split the family; there are two households now.”

Jiang De Gui blinked in confusion: “But didn’t my older brother say these past few days that we are family, connected by bones and tendons? Why should we split what belongs to the family?”

Lin Meiru chimed in: “Yeah, my An’an likes lean meat, so we’ll take the leanest piece, okay? You can have the fatty ones, right?”

The expression and tone made it seem like they had suffered a great loss.

“Shut your mouth! Whoever dares to snatch my family’s pork, I’ll fight them to the death. Your brother has lost his mind; don’t listen to his nonsense.” The aunt, fearing that the two would really fight over the meat, quickly pulled her mother-in-law away to escape.

Lin Meiru felt quite regretful upon seeing this.

Her sister-in-law, Wang Hehua, seemed to have become smarter lately; otherwise, she wouldn’t have used the excuse of a fight to get a piece of pork.

“An’an, you’re back?” Lin Meiru looked up and saw her little girl, whom she hadn’t seen for a few days, her face lighting up with joy, instantly forgetting about the pork.

Then she noticed a timid little girl following her daughter, who trembled in fear when their eyes met.

The smile that Lin Meiru had raised instantly fell.