Chapter 85

After the town official left, Zhang Zao turned pale. She stood in the courtyard in a daze, her hands and feet cold.

“Dear… what did he mean by ‘buy a good coffin’?” Zhang Zao was trembling all over.

The two children’s things had already been packed. Aunt Feng brought the two kids over to Fu Qingshan and asked, “Didn’t you change your train tickets to tomorrow noon? What’s the plan for tonight?”

“I’ll have to trouble Uncle Feng to take the two kids on his bicycle and accompany us to the county. Once we get to the county, we’ll go to the guesthouse first. I’ll need Uncle Feng’s help looking after the children there while I take my partner to the police station.”

Upon hearing this, Aunt Feng said directly, “Alright. If there’s anything we can help with, just say the word. Once everything’s sorted, your uncle will come back. Don’t feel bad about it—we’ve been neighbors for decades. Helping each other is only right.”

Fu Qingshan thanked her. Once everything was packed, he locked up both rooms’ doors and windows, then walked toward the gate with the others, passing right by the dazed couple still standing there.

“Stop right there!” Zheng Youliang caught up and grabbed Fu Qingshan’s arm. “You and your partner—do you already know that if the police took Dajiang, he’s going to die? Do you know?!”

One of them was from the provincial capital, smart enough to earn three diplomas in a single day. The other had years of experience in the military and had seen it all. Judging by the expressions on their faces, it didn’t look like either Fu Qingshan or Qiao Xinyi was unaware of the implications of what the town official had just said.

“He committed a crime, and the police are going to punish him. However the police sentence him, he deserves it,” Fu Qingshan said as he shook Zheng Youliang’s hand off. “When you were encouraging Zheng Dajiang to do this, did you never think it was a crime?”

Zheng Youliang glared at Zhang Zao. “You put him up to it?”

“It wasn’t me!” Zhang Zao shouted. “I just didn’t like the idea of Qiao Xinyi as my daughter-in-law. Why would I want Dajiang to marry her?!”

She had a vision for her biological son’s wife—someone like Liu Yun: good family background, good job. But even better than Liu Yun—she had to be from a first marriage, soft-tempered, hard-working, a proper good girl.

Even if Qiao Xinyi was from the provincial capital, Zhang Zao didn’t like her one bit. She had been planning to use Liu Yun as a stepping stone, waiting for the day when Zheng Dajiang became a permanent employee at the canning factory. Then, with a decent job under his belt, she’d push him to marry the daughter of one of the factory leaders.

“If it wasn’t you, then who was it? You think Dajiang, with his pig brain, could’ve come up with a plan like that on his own?” Zheng Youliang didn’t believe her at all.

Even though he was his own son, Zheng Youliang had to admit that Zheng Dajiang wasn’t smart. There was no way he could have come up with such a scheme to break up Fu Qingshan and Qiao Xinyi on his own. Even if Zhang Zao denied it, Zheng Youliang was now convinced she had been the one to instigate it.

Zheng Youliang asked again, “What will the police do to him?”

“You’ll know once the verdict’s out,” Fu Qingshan replied.

But this time, Qiao Xinyi spoke. Just two words:
“He’ll die.”

Then, after thinking for a moment, she added,
“If he doesn’t die, I’ll hang myself in front of the police station.”

With a cold snort, she lifted her chin and walked off.

“How could she say that?! How could she be like this?!” Zhang Zao cried out, stomping her feet on the spot in desperation. She grabbed Zheng Youliang’s arm and shook it repeatedly. “Quick, think of a way to save Dajiang!”

“Qingshan, Dad is begging you,” Zheng Youliang was weeping bitterly. “No matter how many mistakes Third made, please give him a chance to make things right. Go to the police and tell them you’re not pressing charges. Bring Third back home.”

Tears streamed down Zheng Youliang’s face. “I’m begging you. I’ll get down on my knees, alright?”

Seeing this, Zhang Zao also dropped to her knees with a thud. “Qingshan, look—your partner’s fine, isn’t she? Third just ran his mouth, said some awful things. But your partner is clearly fine—does she look like someone who’s been through something terrible? Just let Third off the hook, please. He’s your own little brother after all!”

“If you want to kneel, then kneel. After all, that beast Third is your son. I took the pain for my partner—and she can bear it!” Fu Qingshan didn’t even bend his back the slightest bit.

Trying to force him with this kind of tactic? Dream on.

Uncle Feng and Aunt Feng came over pushing two bicycles—one their own, the other borrowed from someone else. Uncle Feng picked up the two kids and sat them on the bike, one in front and one behind. Fu Qingshan took the bike and secured their belongings, then called Qiao Xinyi to get on. Without so much as a glance at the kneeling couple at the gate, the group left straight away.

“Peh! Better if they kneel to death!” Aunt Feng spat in the direction of the couple. Living next to the Zheng family was truly an eye-opener every day.

Thank goodness Qiao Xinyi got lucky and made it out okay—otherwise Fu Qingshan would’ve probably killed everyone in the Zheng family tonight. Even as an outsider, Aunt Feng could see how deeply Fu Qingshan cared about Qiao Xinyi. His eyes, his heart—he was full of her.

Only Zheng Youliang, the boy’s own father, had eyes only for his two younger sons. Always scheming to get something out of Fu Qingshan for their benefit. Always trying to split Fu Qingshan and Qiao Xinyi up—one moment trying to push Zhang Mengdi on him, the next trying to force Liu Yun into his life.

Peh! The whole Zheng family—not one decent person among them!

When they arrived in the county, Fu Qingshan and the others went to the guesthouse first. After getting the rooms, he took Qiao Xinyi to the police station.

After waiting a few minutes inside, the two officers from before finally came over.

“We’ve finished questioning Zheng Dajiang,” one officer said. “The idea came from a friend of his, nicknamed Lu Dan. A group of them were drinking together last night, got riled up egging each other on. They didn’t split up until they were nearly at the Zhengs’ gate.”

The officer glanced at Fu Qingshan. “Zheng Dajiang said he was drunk and acted in a daze—that’s why he did what he did.”

“Being drunk isn’t a valid excuse for committing a crime,” Qiao Xinyi shot back. “I can’t just get drunk one day, kill someone, and then tell them it was because I drank too much and lost my senses.”

Fu Qingshan was even more direct: “Can the county handle this case impartially? My partner is from the provincial capital, and my household registration is there too. If it’s inconvenient for you, no problem—we can have the case transferred to the provincial police. We won’t make things difficult for you.”

He paused and added, “I’ve already submitted our marriage report. My partner is now considered half a military spouse. If needed, I can also have the military take this up.”

“Oh, no, no need for that,” the officer waved his hands quickly. “We were just saying he had been drinking, that’s all. We didn’t mean anything else. Please don’t misunderstand.”

“Yes, yes,” the other officer chimed in. “Zheng Dajiang really did drink a lot. Once he sobered up at the station, he was rolling on the floor crying and screaming in pain during the interrogation. But we still conducted it as required.”

Earlier, in the yard, Zheng Dajiang could still move and speak—mostly because the alcohol had numbed his nerves, like a local anesthetic, dulling the pain. But once he got to the station, felt the breeze, lay down, peed, and sobered up, then he truly realized what real pain was from the beating he had taken.

The two officers completed the official statements with Qiao Xinyi and Fu Qingshan, and ran them through the process. By the time the couple walked out of the police station, it was already close to 8 a.m. The sun was fully up.