MAC’60s Chapter 50.2

With Li Chunjuan enraged, there was a good chance she would spill more secrets once they were apart.

Wang Yongshun’s face turned ashen—he knew this was the beginning of the end.

Li Chunjuan was foolish, and now that she also knew the family’s money came from Wang Ying’s mother, it wouldn’t be long before someone used her words against him. The authorities would soon come to settle accounts.

Just as he opened his mouth to speak, a crisp voice rang out from the doorway.

“Comrade, that bracelet should belong to my mother. May I trouble you to let me see it?”

Wang Ying stood gracefully in the doorway, her voice calm and clear. “I’m Wang Yongshun’s niece. Before she passed, my mother left behind money and belongings, which he must’ve taken.”

She had overheard everything from the room next door, and quickly pieced things together.

Why hadn’t Wang Yongshun dared to spend the gold? Was it because spending it would alert her that something was wrong? As for the hand-piece—Wang Ying vaguely recalled that her mother had once owned a small jade-colored medicine pestle. After her death, it had mysteriously vanished.

The Revolutionary Committee member frowned. “You’re Wang Yongshun’s niece. You should recuse yourself from this matter.”

He assumed Wang Ying was here to defend her uncle.

But Wang Ying said, “I’m not here to speak on Wang Yongshun’s behalf. I am here to accuse him of stealing my inheritance. My mother was the barefoot doctor of the commune, and she died protecting a grain transport for the collective. Back then, Wang Yongshun took the 500 yuan and personal effects she left me, and mistreated me ever since. It wasn’t until I married last year that things began to improve.”

“So, please let me inspect the items. If I can confirm they were my mother’s, I want to file an official complaint—against Wang Yongshun for misappropriating a martyr’s child’s inheritance and for willful abuse.”

At her words, Wang Yongshun felt the blood drain from his body.

He never imagined Wang Ying actually knew everything. Even the 500 yuan—she knew about that, too!

Li Chunjuan was trembling violently, hiding in the corner without saying a word.

She was terrified.

She had been the one who treated Wang Ying the worst. Now she feared Wang Ying would drag her down as well.

The Revolutionary Committee member’s brow remained furrowed.

“How do you know he took your mother’s 500 yuan?”

They had only just arrived a short time ago. If Wang Ying had known earlier, why hadn’t she reported it before?

Wang Ying replied calmly: “Because I’ve already found evidence and witnesses.”

She didn’t flinch. “When my mother passed, there were other patients in the ward. Some people even came back and overheard what happened. They can testify.”

Even though she hadn’t yet confirmed things with Yao Huijuan, Wang Ying didn’t want to miss this opportunity.

If the Committee took the bracelet and hand-piece now, getting them back later would be near impossible.

These were her mother’s belongings. She couldn’t let them be taken away.

Sure enough, her explanation made them soften a bit. They let her approach to examine the bracelet.

Wang Ying carefully looked over the bracelet until she found a small cherry blossom engraved on the inner side.

That discovery filled her with joy.

And for Wang Yongshun—it struck like a bolt of lightning.

Wang Yongshun collapsed onto the ground in defeat. He never imagined that Wang Ying could seize this opportunity and expose everything that had happened in the past all at once.

Wang Ying said, “Since all the leaders are here, I’d like to ask you to help me revisit the events of the past. My mother was a martyr, and my father was a soldier. I was mistreated for years, and now I finally have the chance to clear my name. I hope you can help me retrieve my mother’s belongings.”

Just then, Tian Youfu arrived.

Gritting his teeth, Tian Youfu thought to himself that Wang Yongshun’s entire family had truly crossed the line. He realized this was an opportunity.

Wang Ying was seizing the moment to revisit past injustices, and Tian Youfu knew he had to take her side in order to redeem himself. It would also show that the village leadership stood by the children of martyrs and didn’t turn a blind eye.

Tian Youfu introduced himself and then said, “I think Wang Ying is right. Her mother, Comrade Su Mei, wasn’t just our brigade’s doctor—saving lives and helping the sick—she also gave her life for our village. This matter should be investigated thoroughly. I ask that you comrades stay a bit longer and help resolve this case.”

The Revolutionary Committee members had originally come to search Wang Yaozong’s home in hopes of uncovering a major issue. Now, there was no major case, and it seemed the spoils of the investigation couldn’t be claimed either. However, Wang Yongshun’s situation was serious enough in nature—if handled well, it would still count as an achievement.

The team leader thought for a moment and agreed.

After suffering a huge emotional blow, Wang Yongshun responded “yes” to whatever the Revolutionary Committee asked.

However, he refused to admit he had taken Su Mei’s 500 yuan. Or rather, he didn’t want to admit to taking that much.

He knew full well that, with Tian Youfu’s temperament, he’d be forced to return the full amount once the truth came out.

And 500 yuan? Even if he and Li Chunjuan were sold by the pound, they couldn’t pay it back.

Wang Ying quickly sent someone to fetch Old Dog and asked another to find Xu Shuang at the state-run restaurant and have him go to the city to question Yao Huijuan.

At this point, a witness was necessary to force Wang Yongshun to confess.

Old Dog was dragged over, shivering in fear, nearly wetting himself.

After several rounds of questioning, Old Dog revealed that it had only been Wang Yongshun who sent Su Mei away that night.

“I found it strange too. It should’ve been Li Chunjuan—after all, they were sisters-in-law. What was her brother-in-law doing there alone?”

He couldn’t recall anything else.

Wang Yongshun let out a sigh of relief. As long as they couldn’t pin it on him, he wouldn’t have to pay!

But his relief didn’t last long. Xu Shuang arrived on a bicycle, carrying a young man with broad brows and deep eyes on the back seat.

As soon as Xu Shuang arrived, he stood by Wang Ying and held her hand tightly.

Wang Ying gave him a reassuring look, then anxiously turned her attention to the young man.

The young man’s name was Yao Ming.

Yao Ming clearly recalled the night in question: “My sister was giving birth at the county hospital that day, and things got really chaotic. I suggested switching her to a different room.”

“After the switch, my sister gave birth. During the delivery, we realized we’d left the baby blankets in Room 305. So I went back to get them.”

“I remember clearly—when I entered, there was a scruffy man sleeping on the bed my sister had used. On the other bed was a woman.”

“She was muttering to herself, crying out in pain, saying something about 500 yuan and a gold bracelet.”

“I realized something was wrong—there was no one with her—so I rang for the nurse.”

Wang Ying unconsciously clenched her hands. Was this how her mother had died?

Her chest ached painfully, as though the original owner’s memories were stuck there, suffocating her and making her want to cry.

Yao Ming’s testimony was powerful and immediately jogged Old Dog’s memory.

Old Dog added, “Right, right! I remember someone saying something about gold. I was wondering who was talking.”

With the witnesses now lined up, Wang Yongshun had no more room to deny it.

He burst into tears and tried to throw himself at Wang Ying’s feet to beg for mercy.

“San’ya! San’ya, save your uncle! Your uncle was wrong! I wasn’t thinking straight when I took what your mother left for you. San’ya! I didn’t mean to—I was just scared of being poor. At first, I was going to keep it safe for you, not take it. But later I…”

Wang Ying stepped back in disgust.

“Uncle, save those words to comfort yourself.”

She showed no sympathy.

“Your so-called ‘moment of confusion’ and ‘helping manage things for me’—they’re just excuses. The truth is you planned this from the start. You wanted to trap me, have Auntie mistreat me, while you played the nice guy so I’d willingly work for your family. When I was no longer useful, you were ready to marry me off to some chaotic, overcrowded household—ideally one that would bind me down so I could never return.”

“You took the money long ago and spent it all over the years. You kept the valuables as your retirement fund. At first, you had enough cash to not sell them. Later, you realized I was no longer submissive, and you didn’t dare sell them—afraid I’d catch on and demand the money.”

“Too bad, Uncle. You always had these petty schemes and thought everyone else was a fool.”

Wang Ying brushed the dust off her pants leg. “Don’t beg me. I won’t plead for leniency on your behalf. You remember that Zhao family you tried to marry me into?”

Although Wang Lingling had jumped at the chance to marry in, Wang Ying knew very well—being a stepmother was never an easy job.

Raising a child that’s not your own? No matter how you do it, it’s wrong. Raise them well, and people will say it’s thanks to their birth mother’s good genes. Raise them poorly, and you’ll be accused of being malicious and ruining them on purpose.

If you have your own child, even a small matter can trigger resentment.

If you don’t have your own, you could give everything and still be seen as overstepping—people might even say you’re trying to replace the real mother.

Wang Lingling perhaps had some impression from a previous life that made her think marrying Zhao Jun would be a good idea, but Wang Ying felt that it was a complete loss.

The original host had only graduated from high school and was good-looking—why should she have to give up all her assets and marry a man who was divorced?

Just because Zhao’s family had an unreasonable old lady? And the groom didn’t even show up at the wedding?

Wang Ying spoke her mind clearly, and Tian Youfu also understood that it was time to resolve the issue regarding Wang Yongshun.

“Wang Yongshun, you owe Wang Ying five hundred yuan—let’s hear how you plan to repay it.”

Li Chunjuan burst into loud sobs, “Repay it? I’ll give her my life, would that be enough? What else does our family have to repay with? She’s already rich, why does she still need to take our money?”

Wang Ying replied, “It has nothing to do with how much I have. The problem is that you already spent it. I’m just curious—how did you manage to squander five hundred yuan in two years?”

At first, the surrounding villagers were a bit swayed by Li Chunjuan’s crying. After all, Wang Ying’s family lived well, arguably the best in the whole brigade.

Under such circumstances, insisting on collecting debt from her uncle’s family did seem a bit heartless.

But Wang Ying’s one sentence woke everyone up. She wanted the money, but she hadn’t even gotten it yet.

And as for Wang Yongshun, how did a family of three spend five hundred yuan in just two years?

Wow—even people living in the county town couldn’t spend that much.

They still got food rations from the brigade. They didn’t need to buy it themselves, so how could they have spent that much?

“I heard Wang Yaozong used to eat white buns and meat every meal at school…”

“That’s right. A couple of years ago, Li Chunjuan had new clothes every season.”

“Wang Yongshun was the same back then…”

…

Now, no one felt sorry for Wang Yongshun anymore. That five hundred yuan wasn’t even their own, and they spent it like water?

That’s just shameless.

Tian Youfu was completely fed up with dealing with Wang Yongshun.

“If you can’t pay back the five hundred yuan, that’s easy—hand over this house to Wang Ying.”

Wang Yongshun’s house had been built a long time ago. Compared to Wang Ying’s place, it was much more rundown—one room of rammed earth, one of brick, and the total construction cost wasn’t much. Even if sold, it would be worth at most three hundred yuan.

Li Chunjuan was stunned. When she realized what was happening, she began to wail again, “How can you take our house! Where will we live if it’s gone!”

The Revolutionary Committee had seen enough drama and, now that there was a conclusion, didn’t want to stay any longer.

They returned two of Wang Ying’s belongings to her.

One of them picked up the hand ornament and asked Wang Ying, “What is this?”

Wang Ying answered calmly, “It’s just a stone. My family uses it as a mortar for grinding medicine.”

She firmly insisted that it was just a stone—not some jade artifact.

The Revolutionary Committee member pondered for a moment and let it go.

Strictly speaking, Wang Ying’s gold bracelet could be returned, but the hand ornament should’ve been confiscated. However, considering that Wang Ying was the daughter of a martyr and kept insisting it was a tool rather than a luxury item…

The Revolutionary Committee couldn’t very well insist it was a relic and take it, right?

Besides, if they wanted to verify whether it was jade, they’d have to send it up for appraisal—a big hassle.

More importantly, one of the people present was an expert. At a glance, he saw that the “mortar” wasn’t anything valuable. The material wasn’t even good-quality jade.

Weighing all that, it just wasn’t worth the trouble.

Better not to make things more complicated.

“We’re taking Wang Yongshun with us. The nature of this case is serious—we need to bring him back for further investigation.”

Wang Yaozong’s charges included tomb robbing, fighting, theft, and attempted robbery.

As for Wang Yongshun, the charges were embezzling someone else’s property and oppressing a martyr’s child.

These were not light offenses.

Although Li Chunjuan also had plenty of problems, ultimately she wasn’t directly involved in either issue, so she wasn’t arrested.

Li Chunjuan was still clinging to the house matter, but when she saw her husband being taken away, she panicked.

Even if she and Wang Yongshun were practically estranged, she didn’t want to lose her man. Besides, if both Wang Yongshun and Wang Yaozong were taken away, would she be left alone in the brigade?

Tian Youfu escorted the people out of the brigade and came back to give Li Chunjuan two choices:

One, give the house to Wang Ying as compensation, and some of the household belongings too. In return, Wang Ying would compromise a little—the money didn’t have to be paid in full, and the account would be settled.

Two, let the brigade pay Wang Ying using work points. But since Wang Yongshun and Wang Yaozong were both gone and no one knew when they’d return, the work points would have to be deducted from Li Chunjuan alone.

Li Chunjuan had initially decided not to give up the house, but when faced with these two choices, she immediately hesitated.

In the end, she chose, in tears, to hand the house over to Wang Ying.

While Wang Ying was pleased, she was also confused—why would Li Chunjuan be willing to give up the house? Once she gave it up, she’d have to live in the brigade’s rundown communal housing.

Xu Shuang explained, “If Wang Yongshun and Wang Yaozong are both sentenced and don’t come back, she’s bound to remarry eventually.”

Rather than wear herself out repaying debt through work points, it made more sense to give up the house and walk away.

Wang Ying suddenly understood.

That’s right—the punishments for Wang Yongshun and Wang Yaozong definitely wouldn’t be light. The only question was how many years.

If it was just a short sentence, fine. But if it was longer, her aunt was definitely going to bolt.

But what surprised everyone was that Li Chunjuan didn’t just run—after handing over the house to Wang Ying, she didn’t even hesitate for a second. She was gone.

Wang Ying stood in the now empty house, speechless.

“She really just ran off like that? Not even waiting to see what happens to Wang Yaozong?!”

Xu Shuang replied, “Wait for what? He’s getting at least seven or eight years.”

News of Wang Yaozong’s tomb-robbing spread, and while people were shocked, they also heard that quite a bit was stolen. It wasn’t just those few bronze items from that night—Brother Dao’s crew was bold, and after a search, each of their homes was found to be hiding plenty of loot.

Wang Ying was unusually a bit nervous: “Then what about these things…”

Were they going to be destroyed?

If so, what was the point of arresting Wang Yaozong and the others?

At least Yaozong’s group hadn’t destroyed the artifacts—they had kept them, hoping to get rich in the future.

Xu Shuang patted her on the head: “I heard someone came from Beijing. They said this batch of items is going to be taken back.”

In fact, starting from the year before last, after two years of political fervor, things had begun to relax a bit at the start of this year. It was said that some places were no longer enforcing the rules as strictly as before.

Wang Ying let out a long breath of relief: “Hopefully.”

She hoped the people who came could safely take these cultural relics back and store them properly.

Pulling Xu Shuang’s hand excitedly, Wang Ying said, “Let’s tear down the courtyard wall. We can also demolish and rebuild this side of the house.”

She now had a large amount of money in her hands and wasn’t the least bit hesitant to spend it.

“Just right for Mom to live in these two rooms later.”

Right now, the three of them were managing in two rooms, but sometimes Xu Shuang got a little handsy at night, which wasn’t very convenient…

Since Old Lady Xu moved in, the two of them had to sneak around.

Wang Ying gestured as she planned out their courtyard.

“We’ll build a shower room over here, then open up a small section in the back to grow some grapes, maybe let some pumpkins and loofahs climb the wall, and this little patch here can be for chili peppers…”

The more she talked, the more excited she became. Xu Shuang watched her with a smile on her lips.

Without Wang Yongshun’s family around, Wang Ying and Xu Shuang enjoyed a peaceful few days.

Then, the verdicts for Wang Yongshun and Wang Yaozong were announced.