Chapter 84

Zheng Youliang was dumbfounded after hearing what had happened. He truly hadn’t expected Zheng Dajiang to have the guts to do something like this. No wonder Fu Qingshan had looked like he wanted to kill him—Zheng Dajiang had seriously crossed the line, trying to take Fu Qingshan’s woman.

“You want to marry her?” Fu Qingshan sneered coldly. “In this life, in your next life, in *any* life—you’ll never be that lucky! You don’t have that kind of fate!”

Zhang Zao was stunned too. She wiped her face with her sleeve and then broke into a smile.

“Since Dajiang’s already done this,” she said, “we’re not unreasonable people. Whatever our Dajiang does, we take responsibility. We’ll let Dajiang marry you.”

She stood up with the help of the ground and patted the dirt off her clothes. Immediately, she put on the air of a mother-in-law.

“But you did date our second son before, so your reputation’s not exactly spotless anymore. Once you marry in, you’d better tone down that spoiled temper of yours from the provincial capital. Liu Yun will be your second sister-in-law, and you’ll have to stay away from your second brother and show some respect to Liu Yun.”

“Zhang Zao, you’ve got some nerve saying stuff like that!” Aunt Feng was furious on Qiao Xinyi’s behalf. “First of all, Zheng Dajiang didn’t succeed in doing anything. And second, this is between Fu Qingshan and Qiao Xinyi—it’s *their* marriage. What right do you have to stick your nose in? Has Fu Qingshan ever treated you like someone who matters?”

Fu Qingshan, of course, knew exactly what Zheng Dajiang was trying to pull.

“Big talk means nothing right now,” he said. “Let’s see if you can talk this big once the police get here.”

He walked over to Qiao Xinyi.

“My fiancée—forget beating you up—if there were *two* Zheng Dajiangs, she’d still knock them down like they were stray dogs!”

“Just look at this girl—proper and decent. And then look at *you.* Don’t think that smearing her reputation with a few words will force her to marry you. When the police get here, they’ll investigate thoroughly. Your nonsense won’t become fact just because you said it.”

“You’re like a toad dreaming of eating a swan. Disgusting. There’s no shameless trick you wouldn’t try.” Aunt Feng had just finished speaking when the town official and the police arrived.

What a coincidence—two officers had just come to town after work to visit relatives, and they never expected to be woken up in the middle of the night to handle a case.

As soon as the official entered and saw the blood all over the floor and Zheng Dajiang lying there—his face swollen like a pig’s head, covered in blood, wearing a white shirt now stained with blood and dirt, and only underwear on his lower half, with not a single patch of uninjured skin on his legs—he asked:

“What’s going on here?”

He looked at Fu Qingshan, then introduced the two plainclothes men beside him. “These two are officers from the county.”

“Officers, I want to report Zheng Dajiang for attempted sexual assault!” said Qiao Xinyi. “I was asleep in my room when he climbed in through the window. His pants are still inside.”

“Just now, Aunt Feng and the others heard it too—Zheng Dajiang tried to ruin my reputation to force me to marry him. Officers, someone like him *must* be punished severely!”

The townspeople might not yet be fully aware of how strict the authorities had become, but the two officers knew very well. As soon as they heard “sexual assault,” their expressions grew serious.

They sighed inwardly—attempted rape was a serious criminal charge. Their department had just held a meeting yesterday about tightening up on public safety.

“What’s your relationship to her?” one officer asked.

“She’s my fiancée. Tonight, she was sleeping in my room. I was sleeping with my two nephews,” Fu Qingshan said, pointing toward the boys’ room.

The two children, still in their underwear, were peeking from behind the officers out of curiosity. Fu Qingshan immediately gave them a look, signaling them to go back and put on proper clothes.

The officer nodded. “Alright. We’ll take him back to the station.”

One of the officers went into Fu Qingshan’s room, picked up Zheng Dajiang’s pants from the floor, then walked to the window and looked around. He saw footprints and also the chair beneath the window—confirming that Zheng Dajiang had indeed climbed in through it.

After the officer picked up the pants, he threw them directly at Zheng Dajiang.
“Put your pants on and get up. You’re coming with us.”

Zheng Dajiang didn’t know if it was from pain or being drunk, but he fumbled around on the ground and still couldn’t get his pants on. He swayed back and forth and couldn’t even stand up.

Zhang Zao and Zheng Youliang panicked when they saw this.

“Officer, this is a family matter. We can handle it ourselves,” Zheng Youliang said anxiously.

“What family matter?” Qiao Xinyi retorted. “Zheng Dajiang committed a criminal offense—attempted sexual assault. What’s that got to do with your so-called family matter?”

She wasn’t about to let anyone off easy. If Fu Qingshan hadn’t already laid into Zheng Dajiang, she would’ve done it herself—beaten him until he looked like a pig’s head.

“Dad! Mom! Don’t beg anyone!” Zheng Dajiang slurred, wobbling as he clutched Zhang Zao’s hand and barely managed to stand up. “Just tell everyone that I slept with Qiao Xinyi. Her reputation will be ruined, and she’ll have no choice but to marry me. Then she’ll be begging me to come out of the police station!”

“I always say, dumb people need to study more, and idiots should drink less,” Qiao Xinyi said, spreading her hands.

The two officers took Zheng Dajiang away first, then told Fu Qingshan to get dressed and come with them, along with Qiao Xinyi, since she was the victim and needed to make a statement at the county police station.

The town official personally walked the officers out and then returned to the Zheng house, where he exploded at Zheng Youliang and Zhang Zao.

“You’ve raised such a great son! Do you have any idea how big a mess you’ve caused our town tonight?!”

Zheng Youliang and Zhang Zao both looked indignant.

“Fu Qingshan was right there. This whole thing happened because of him and his fiancée. If you’re going to yell, yell at him, not us!” Zhang Zao said. “I’m just a stepmother, and being a stepmother is no easy job. No matter how good I am to him, he’s still an ungrateful brat. You think I can control him?”

“What’s it got to do with Fu Qingshan or his fiancée? That young lady was the victim. Why would I scold her?” the town official snapped, practically steaming with rage. “I’m scolding you two, because all you know how to do is give birth, not raise a child properly. That’s how you ended up with a little beast like Zheng Dajiang!”

“He’s got some nerve, I’ll give him that! Drinks a few shots of that cat piss you call liquor and thinks he’s invincible. A few sips and he thinks he’s king of the world? And then he has the guts to sneak into a young woman’s room in the middle of the night and try to assault her?!”

“I’m telling you this—once you walk out of this house tonight, if anyone dares spread Zheng Dajiang’s nonsense, don’t bother staying in this town. Whichever commune can afford to take in your family’s ‘great Buddha,’ you can go live there instead!”

He glared at Zheng Youliang.

“I’ve told you again and again to keep that boy under control. Don’t let him hang out with those street thugs—he was bound to get himself into trouble. If you’d listened even once, we wouldn’t be dealing with this disgusting mess tonight!”

The town official’s anger was so intense that Zhang Zao didn’t dare talk back, even though she thought he was meddling too much. But Zheng Youliang was starting to realize that things might not be as simple as he’d thought.

That plan Zheng Dajiang had mentioned before being taken away—it clearly wouldn’t work. There had to be more to this than he had realized, or else the town official wouldn’t be this furious.

Now he was getting nervous. He quickly asked, “Now that Dajiang’s been taken by the police, when will he be back? Or… do we need to prepare money to bail him out?”

“Back? You think Zheng Dajiang is coming back?” The town official, still fuming, snapped, “If you’ve got that kind of money, better spend it on a nice coffin for him!”

With that, the official stormed off, face dark with rage.

Meanwhile, Fu Qingshan planned to leave town that very night with Qiao Xinyi and the kids. Aunt Feng and Uncle Feng helped the two children pack, while Fu Qingshan helped Qiao Xinyi gather her things.