Chapter 149: Chapter 148: Are You Trying to Get Us Killed?

A month later, the people sent to Black Province returned. They had thoroughly investigated Xue Xingzhou, Xue Yue, and everything about the Xue family.

“Zhou Lin— it’s him!!!”

Li Wanqing stared at Xue Changlin’s photo, stunned for a long time. Although he looked much older in the picture and his appearance had changed somewhat, Li Wanqing recognized him at a glance. It was her family’s former servant, Zhou Lin. Back when Li Wan Yi had her accident, the Li Family was in such chaos that no one noticed Zhou Lin’s absence. Thinking back now, Zhou Lin had practically watched her and her sister grow up. ’So he had feelings for my sister even back then.’

Looking at the photo, Li Wanqing then started laughing to herself.

“Oh, sister, dear sister. So it was our family’s servant who saved you. And you even followed him to such a faraway place to live your quaint little life. Poor Brother Zheng, still waiting for you with such longing.”

Her words were filled with an indescribable smugness, but when she saw the information about Xue Xingzhou, she was in disbelief. A man who had only a few years of schooling had actually become a police officer—and not only that, he had distinguished himself and now had been accepted into Beijing City’s Public Security University. As for Xue Yue, she was at the Foreign Language University.

Li Wanqing sneered, “Hah. How very successful of them. My dear sister, how remarkable that your two children are so capable. What a pity. They should have stayed hidden in that poor, remote backwater. How dare they come to my territory? In that case, how could I possibly let them have an easy time? Whether Xue Xingzhou is your son with Brother Zheng or not, I won’t let him off easily.”

One day, Xue Xingzhou had just left the university and hadn’t walked far when he sensed someone following him. A thought flickered in his mind. Instead of going to meet Zhang Qian, he calmly led the men into a small alley.

Soon after, the sounds of punches, kicks, and pained wails echoed from the alley. It sounded quite terrifying from the outside.

When he was done, Xue Xingzhou ambled out of the alley, rolling down his previously raised sleeves. Then he turned to go meet Zhang Qian.

In the alley behind him, five men lay on the ground, groaning and clutching various parts of their bodies. Knives and clubs were scattered beside them.

Meanwhile, Li Wanqing had just received the news and was throwing a tantrum in her room.

“Useless! A bunch of good-for-nothings! Five men couldn’t even take down one!”

Just then, Wang Tianzhu kicked open the door and strode in.

“What kind of shady business did you order my men to do for you this time? Don’t you know things are tense right now? My entire department is under investigation, and everyone’s on edge. And you pull something like this at a time like this? Are you trying to get us killed?”

Li Wanqing was unfazed. “What’s so scary about an investigation? Haven’t we been investigated before? Why are you so nervous?”

Wang Tianzhu looked at Li Wanqing and sat down dejectedly on the edge of the bed. “This time is different. I have a bad feeling that we might be done for. How much cash do we have at home?”

Li Wanqing turned to look at Wang Tianzhu. “Why are you asking that? Has it really gotten that bad?”

Wang Tianzhu nodded. “I don’t know for sure, but it’s just in case. Call Qiming tomorrow and tell him he should apply for a transfer far away from here. Getting away from Beijing City might keep him safe.”

Hearing this, Li Wanqing instantly grew serious. “How could this be? Is it so bad that even Qiming could be implicated? Aren’t you just being overly nervous? I haven’t heard any of the other wives mention anything!”

Wang Tianzhu gave a bitter smile. “Mention anything? Everyone can barely fend for themselves right now, who has the mind to gossip? Don’t worry about others. Just gather up all the cash in the house. And don’t spend extravagantly for a while. I suspect we won’t be able to touch the money in the bank. Try to make a withdrawal tomorrow and see if you can get anything out.”

Now Li Wanqing began to panic. “What money? We don’t have much cash at home. The bulk of it is in the passbook.” Li Wanqing had never worried about money; Wang Tianzhu had kept her very well-provided for, and she spent lavishly.

Wang Tianzhu took Li Wanqing’s hand, his thumb rubbing the back of it. His eyes were filled with a complex mix of emotions. “Don’t panic yet. I’m just giving you a warning. We haven’t reached the final step, and no one knows for sure what will happen. If something does happen, just push all the blame onto me. You don’t know anything.”

Li Wanqing looked into Wang Tianzhu’s eyes and nodded blankly.

The situation was far more serious than Li Wanqing had imagined. The next day, she called Wang Qiming, who was in the army, and relayed Wang Tianzhu’s message. Wang Qiming’s heart clenched. Without asking any more questions, he hung up and immediately went to write his transfer application. However, though the report was submitted, there was no response for a long time.

Of course, Li Wanqing knew nothing about this. She was in a hurry to withdraw money from the bank, but as soon as the clerk saw the name on the passbook, she was told that no withdrawals could be made for another six months.

Li Wanqing almost started a fight, but it was useless no matter how much she argued. The clerk was just following orders from their superiors.

Back home, Li Wanqing began to gather all the cash in the house, but it only added up to about two thousand yuan. Staring at her closets full of high-end clothes, shoes, bags, and jewelry, she felt a pang of regret. ’Why didn’t I keep more cash at home?’

It wasn’t that she didn’t save any; it was that she couldn’t keep it from being spent.

Meanwhile, Zheng Guofeng had also learned some details about the situation. Without the slightest hesitation, he went home, took out some information he had previously collected from his study, and mailed it out anonymously.

One could only say that good is rewarded and evil is punished. The time for reckoning had finally come.

「July」

The 1978 college entrance exam arrived. This time, the policy was not as lenient as the previous year; only high school graduates were eligible to participate.

In Da Liushu Village, all the educated youth who hadn’t passed the exam last year signed up to try again.

Gu Yuwei was full of confidence this time. After failing the exam last year, she had spent the entire past six months doing nothing but studying at home.

Sure enough, not long after the exam, Gu Yuwei finally received her long-awaited acceptance letter from Beijing University. She danced with joy, feeling that her efforts had finally paid off. ’I can go back now.’

But when He Ze found out, he looked at their two-year-old daughter on the floor and couldn’t bring himself to say congratulations.

Gu Yuwei, lost in her happiness, didn’t notice He Ze’s mood.

The news of Gu Yuwei getting into university was no secret and spread quickly through Da Liushu Village. Someone even came to Mrs. He’s door to congratulate her. “Aiyo, I heard your second daughter-in-law got into university too! Your family must have good feng shui. How did one, two, three of them all get into university? Tsk tsk, we’re so envious. You’ll just get to relax and enjoy life with your daughters-in-law from now on.”

Mrs. He was so annoyed she didn’t even want to leave her house. Setting aside whether Gu Yuwei was truly her daughter-in-law, if Gu Yuwei returned to the city, He Ze certainly couldn’t quit his job and follow her like He Lang did. At that point, their family would fall apart. Their child was still so young. The mere thought of it all vexed Mrs. He to no end.

In the second family’s rooms, Xiao Yang said angrily, “That woman actually got into university too. Heaven must be blind.” After speaking, he quickly covered his mouth and turned to look at his mother.

Gao Cuiyun sat on the edge of the kang, mending clothes. Her movements didn’t pause in the slightest, making it unclear if she had heard him or not.

A dark undercurrent flashed through Little Chen’s eyes, and a scornful smile touched his lips.

’Get into university?’

’It won’t be that easy—’

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep