Rebirth 1983: Building My Business Empire-Chapter 60 - 56 No Evidence
Chapter 60: Chapter 56 No Evidence
At dinner that evening, Big Aunt mentioned Zao Hua’s situation. Hearing Lu Jiaxin’s advice, the girl went to lie down on her bed. She didn’t eat anything for lunch or dinner and declared that she would rather die than marry an idiot.
With some pity, Big Aunt said, “I don’t understand what Da Gen’s wife was thinking. Is a son a treasure but a daughter not flesh from one’s own body? How could she have the heart to let her daughter marry an idiot for the sake of her son?”
Second Sister-in-law Lu had also heard some talk in the village, “I heard he’s not an idiot; he even works at the second machinery factory. It’s just that his mind is a bit slow, and he’s a beat behind others in his work.”
But Big Aunt didn’t believe such nonsense, “If he’s only a beat slower in reaction and even works at the second machinery factory, why should he worry about finding a wife?”
“They say this family wants to find a clever daughter-in-law for their son, so that the children born later would be smarter.”
When it comes to being clever, not a single girl in the neighboring villages could match Zao Hua. Hmm, their family’s Xinxin could.
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The following afternoon, Big Uncle Lu received a call from Captain Sun, who was in charge of the case. He came back and told Lu Jiaxin, “There’s news from Jin City. Second Sister Hu indeed returned to Ancient Capital over two months ago. She went to visit her eldest grandson who is studying there. After seeing her grandson, she returned.”
The Public Security Bureau sided with Lu Jiaxin, for she had no reason to slander Elder Lady Hu. However, the problem was that, aside from her statement, there was no other solid evidence, which made the case difficult to handle. Although he didn’t say it directly, Captain Sun subtly conveyed this to Big Uncle Lu.
“Is that all?”
Big Uncle Lu, frowning, said, “She claims she did encounter a young girl on the train, but since they didn’t know each other and never spoke, they went their separate ways after getting off the train.”
The colleagues of Yang Jun in Jin City and many people in the family courtyard knew he had bought a ticket for Elder Lady Hu to return to her hometown and had even put her on the train. If she were to claim she didn’t return to Ancient Capital, it would easily give her away.
Elder Lady Hu would deny everything, which was expected by Lu Jiaxin, “When is she coming back?”
Big Uncle Lu said, “She’s on today’s train and will arrive in three days. Don’t worry, I’ll accompany you to see her once she arrives in Feng County.”
Lu Jiaxin said, “Has the Public Security in Jin City interrogated her?”
Big Uncle Lu, tapping his pipe, shook his head and said, “They called her in for questioning but didn’t get anything out of her. But as long as she did it, there are plenty of capable people in Public Security who can break her silence.”
Lu Jiaxin, however, was not so optimistic, “Big Uncle, her youngest son Yang Jun is a cadre, and her eldest grandson is a college student with a promising future. Unless they find my lost watch with her and have irrefutable evidence, prying open her mouth would be as hard as reaching the heavens.”
Once she confesses, her youngest son can forget about climbing up the ranks, and her eldest grandson won’t even be assigned a job after graduating from college. Just for the sake of her youngest son and eldest grandson, the old lady would not confess.
Big Uncle Lu fell silent. If it were him, he would rather die than impede his children and grandchildren’s future. It was for this reason that Big Uncle Lu had been worried that Elder Lady Hu might commit suicide to evade accountability. However, an old Public Security officer said that if Elder Lady Hu did that, it would be a cowardly suicide due to guilt. Without evidence, such a move would be foolish.
Big Uncle Lu tried to reassure her, “I’ll discuss this with your father and older brother. Don’t worry, we will make sure she confesses and faces the law.”
The Lu family members soon found out about the matter. Everyone was righteously indignant, but they couldn’t come up with a good solution.
Seeing Lu Jiaxin looking disheartened, Big Aunt comforted her, “Xinxin, don’t worry. The heavens will surely punish the wicked.”
Many people in the flower-growing family believe that good will be rewarded with good and evil with evil, that there’s no debt in the world that goes unpaid—just give it time. However, Lu Jiaxin had no belief in such things. If the heavens truly had eyes, there wouldn’t be so much injustice in the world.
Seeing that she remained silent, Big Aunt said, “When I was young, there was an old hag in the village next door who was particularly vicious, constantly beating and scolding her daughter-in-law. After a while, the daughter-in-law couldn’t take it anymore and drowned herself in the river. Not long after, the old woman fell and broke both her legs. The daughter-in-law who came after didn’t care for her, and she eventually starved to death in her bed.”
“Xinxin, that old hag nearly took your life. Even if the Public Security Bureau can’t punish her crimes, the Almighty won’t let her off.”
As Big Aunt spoke, her demeanor was extremely devout.
Lu Jiaxin didn’t want to worry her and agreed insincerely.
At bedtime, Xiao Qiu saw that she was distracted and reassured her, “Young Mistress, the elders in the village often say that those who haven’t committed wrongdoings aren’t afraid of ghosts knocking on their doors. That old woman has done such a deed, and even if the Public Security Bureau can’t punish her, she’ll definitely be haunted by ghosts in the future.”
All day long, Lu Jiaxin pondered over how to pry open Elder Lady Hu’s mouth. Normal methods definitely wouldn’t work, but too extreme a method would be illegal. Now, hearing Xiao Qiu’s words, she had a flash of inspiration.
The next morning, Lu Jiaxin approached Big Uncle Lu, “Big Uncle, could you find out if that Elder Lady Hu is superstitious?”
Not only did Big Aunt believe the other party would be haunted by evil spirits later, but even Xiao Qiu said the same, indicating that people here were quite superstitious. Perhaps, it could be said that the people in the countryside at this time were generally superstitious.
“What?”
“Like, afraid of ghosts.”
Big Uncle Lu, with a stern face, said, “Jiaxin, you’re a high school student, an intellectual now. Why would you believe in such things?”
Lu Jiaxin waved her hand, “I don’t believe in these things, but Big Aunt and Xiao Qiu both say she’ll get her retribution. So, I want to know if Elder Lady Hu is afraid of ghosts too.”
Big Uncle Lu didn’t have a clue, but based on his years of experience as the party secretary, there were hardly any old women who weren’t afraid of ghosts.
“Big Uncle, I have an idea. What do you think?”
Lu Jiaxin’s plan was to scare Elder Lady Hu by pretending to be a ghost. As long as she was afraid of ghosts, Lu Jiaxin could just make herself look like she did on the rainy night when she woke up, and seeing her miserable appearance would definitely scare the daylights out of Elder Lady Hu. People can’t stay rational when they’re terrified; that’s when she would be able to break her silence.
Big Uncle Lu didn’t think the plan would work, “She knows you’re not dead, so why would she be afraid?”
Lu Jiaxin said, “Big Uncle, I still had my watch on before I held my breath. When I woke up, the watch was gone. She must have been sure that I was truly breathless before she took the watch. She’s got to be uncertain before she sees me.”
She leveraged what Xiao Qiu had said about the ghost knocking at midnight, “She stole my life and my wealth, so when I appear before her in the middle of the night, do you think she’ll be scared?”
After some thought, Big Uncle Lu figured, not just Elder Lady Hu, even he himself might be scared by that. The idea wasn’t bad, but it was infeasible, “This is promoting feudal superstition, and the Public Security Bureau won’t agree to it.”
Without hesitation, Lu Jiaxin retorted, “If they don’t agree, you call my dad and let him take care of it. If he’s unwilling to even do this much, then I might as well not have a dad at all.”
