RIRW – Chapter 157

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Zuo Hongjun no longer concerned himself with family matters, nor did he care about his daughter’s marriage. He just sat in the courtyard smoking in silence. When he heard someone knocking on the door, he continued puffing on his dry tobacco pipe as he got up to open it.

As soon as the door bolt was pulled back, the door was pushed open from the outside. Several people entered, led by his younger brother, Zuo Dacheng.

Zuo Hongjun knew that Zuo Dacheng was now the secretary of the commune. Feeling even more ashamed to face others, he opened the door and turned around to leave.

“Comrade Zuo Hongjun, wait a moment.”

Zuo Dacheng called after him, “Is Comrade Zuo Qing here? These comrades from the county public security bureau are here to investigate something.”

Upon hearing that people from the public security bureau had come, Zuo Hongjun’s expression changed. “What are they looking for Zuo Qing for?”

“They’re investigating the circumstances surrounding Comrade Su Dai’s college admission notice from your brigade. We need your cooperation,” one of the county public security officers said sternly.

Bang!

Just then, three women were coming out of the house. Upon hearing this, they panicked and tried to run back inside, but one of them banged her forehead right into the doorframe.

Zuo Dacheng immediately spotted Zuo Qing. With a stern face, he said, “Zuo Qing, come out.”

“Second Uncle, I… I’m busy right now,” Zuo Qing said nervously, her eyes full of pleading. She knew her second uncle and aunt had once pitied her.

“Doesn’t matter what you’re busy with—come here. Tell me, where’s Comrade Su Dai’s admission notice from last year? What did you do with it?”

“W-what notice?” Zuo Qing stammered in confusion.

The postman, Liu Xiaoshan, was infuriated when he heard this. “Still pretending? I have the records here—you signed for it yourself!”

He took out his logbook.

The county public security officers weren’t in the mood to argue with her. “Let’s go to the commune and continue this there. Comrade Su Dai should come too. These matters must be thoroughly investigated!”

The two officers moved in to detain her. Zuo Qing was so frightened that her legs went weak. She ran over and clutched Zuo Dacheng’s leg, crying, “Second Uncle, I swear I don’t know anything! Please help me, have pity on me. I’m about to get married—I’ve never had a good day in my life, but I was just about to start living a good life. Please, have mercy on me…”

“I did pity you,” Zuo Dacheng said, his face dark with anger. “But what you’ve done now is just despicable!”

He forcefully pulled his leg free from her grip.

The two public security officers apprehended her on the spot. There was already solid evidence—it was just a routine interrogation at this point.

Since Zuo Huan was Yang Wenxin’s lover, she too was taken to the commune for investigation. She felt so guilty that she didn’t even dare cry out in protest—her face turned pale and her teeth chattered as she crouched silently in the corner.

Xu Fengxia and Zuo Hongjun didn’t dare say a word either. Zuo Hongjun genuinely had no idea what had happened, while Xu Fengxia was guilty and afraid.

By the time the cadres and public security officers had escorted the two women onto the tractor, Su Dai and Gao Wei had also arrived. Gao Wei had heard someone was looking for Su Dai and followed along out of concern.

Seeing Zuo Qing and Zuo Huan being taken away, both Su Dai and Gao Wei were surprised.

Su Dai stared in confusion. “Qingqing, what’s going on?”

Zuo Dacheng sighed and stepped aside to speak, “Let’s talk at the commune. Comrade Su Dai, you’ve suffered injustice. We’ll make sure you get a proper explanation for all this.”

At the commune, Secretary Liu had already been taken under control as well.

Tampering with the very first round of the reinstated college entrance exams was practically a direct challenge to central policy. Although the investigation hadn’t concluded yet, the incident occurred under Secretary Liu’s jurisdiction, so he had to be held accountable. For the time being, he was barred from any involvement in the case.

Since Zuo Dacheng was the deputy secretary in charge of education, and he had discovered and reported the issue, he was authorized to assist in handling the matter. After bringing everyone to the commune meeting room, Zuo Dacheng was responsible for explaining the findings of the investigation to everyone.

Zuo Huan and Zuo Qing both turned pale with fear, their entire bodies trembling. They had no idea how something like this, which had been kept under wraps, was suddenly discovered.

Su Dai, on the other hand, looked utterly shocked and incredulous. He turned to Zuo Qing and asked, “Qingqing, is what they said true? Where’s my admission letter? You told me you didn’t receive it. You said I wasn’t accepted?”

“I don’t know anything, Su Dai. I don’t know anything at all,” Zuo Qing shook her head while crying. She truly knew nothing—she only wanted to keep Su Dai in Zuo Village and have him become a live-in son-in-law. That way, her parents would dote on her and value her more.

Now that Zuo Huan would no longer be around, their parents would only have her as a daughter. She just wanted to gain her mother’s love and praise. She was about to get married, and in the future, she’d care for her parents in their old age and even have her own room.

“How can you say you didn’t know? Here’s your signature—your own handwriting. You personally took the admission letter,” Liu Xiaoshan said angrily, thinking Zuo Qing was trying to dodge responsibility.

“Comrade Zuo Qing, it’s better to confess. Denying it is useless now. Besides, we’ve found that the admission letter ultimately ended up in Comrade Yang Wenxin’s hands,” said Captain Xiao of the county public security bureau.

Zuo Qing bit her lip and remained silent, pitifully staring at Su Dai.

Su Dai averted his gaze, no longer looking at her. In the past, whenever he saw that pitiful expression, he would feel sympathy for Zuo Qing, thinking her life must be hard. But now, he only felt fear.

The very person he thought was kind and pitiful despite her circumstances had extinguished his hopes.

If the authorities hadn’t investigated and uncovered the truth, he might never have known that his chance to attend university had been stolen and given away by Zuo Qing. He couldn’t understand how someone who seemed so nice on the surface could do something so cruel. She treated him well—yet she was willing to ruin his entire future.

Seeing Zuo Qing remain silent, Captain Xiao turned to Zuo Huan. “You tell us—what’s going on? It’s better to confess. The more you resist, the harsher the consequences. Do you know how this whole thing came to light? It’s because your partner, Comrade Yang Wenxin, was seen by someone he knew while dating another woman in the capital. That’s how the issue was discovered.”

Upon hearing that, Zuo Huan forgot her fear and exploded with anger. “You’re saying Yang Wenxin is seeing another woman? He already has a wife! How can he be dating someone else?!”

“That’s not the point. The point is—are you really willing to cover for a man like that and take the fall for him? If you keep quiet, Yang Wenxin will continue going to university and dating other women outside.”

“I won’t cover for him anymore! I’ll tell you everything,” Zuo Huan shouted. “It’s not my fault—I didn’t know anything. That day, Zuo Qing came to me herself and said she didn’t want Su Dai to go to university because she was afraid he wouldn’t want her anymore once he moved to another place. Yang Wenxin was there too. When he heard that, he said he’d help her hide the matter. He said he could keep Su Dai from ever finding out he’d been accepted. I really didn’t know anything about it. They did it all themselves. Yang Wenxin was the one who approached Secretary Liu to change the records. They were close since Yang Wenxin used to work at the commune primary school. He even gave Secretary Liu money and a lot of grain. I saw it all. You should hurry and go arrest Yang Wenxin!”

Now that she knew Yang Wenxin was seeing another woman, Zuo Huan didn’t care about anything else. All she wanted was for them to arrest Yang Wenxin immediately. She swore she’d never let him out again.

With Zuo Huan’s testimony confirming the truth, Su Dai broke down and screamed, “Ah—!” He rushed over to Zuo Qing and demanded, “Why would you do this to me? Why?! How could you do such a thing?!”

Zuo Qing hurriedly grabbed Su Dai’s hand. “Su Dai, listen to me. I didn’t mean to. I just couldn’t bear to see you go. I was afraid you wouldn’t want me anymore. Isn’t it nice for us to stay in Zuo Village? You can live with us, be a teacher, and I’ll farm. We can have a few kids. Life would be so good. My parents would be happy too. They always wanted a live-in son-in-law. They’ll treat us well. For our wedding, my mom even cleaned out Zuo Huan’s room for us.”

“When did I ever say I didn’t want you? I said once I got into university, we’d get married. I wanted to give you a better life. When did I ever agree to be a live-in son-in-law for your family?” Su Dai’s eyes were red from crying, and he was so emotional he could barely speak. “I… I actually thought you were a good person…”

“Su Dai, please don’t be mad. I’ll treat you even better in the future. I’ll listen to everything you say. You want to take the college entrance exam—fine, I won’t stop you anymore. Please don’t be angry. No one likes me, only you treat me well. If you’re angry at me, how can I live?” Zuo Qing cried as she pleaded.

Gao Wei couldn’t take it anymore. He pulled Su Dai away from her and snapped, “Are you stupid, woman? I’ve never seen anyone who deliberately holds back their own partner. Su Dai worked so hard just to get into university, and you went and gave his acceptance letter to someone else. And you still think he’d want to be with you? Dream on!”

“No, Su Dai will understand me. He knows I’m pitiful… Su Dai…” Zuo Qing cried as she looked at Su Dai.

But Su Dai wasn’t listening to anything anymore—he was just holding his head in pain.

The others didn’t care about the drama between them. What mattered was getting to the bottom of the incident. Now that everything was clear, the only thing left was to bring Yang Wenxin back. Once they returned to the county, they would contact the police in the capital to help locate and detain him, and then the local authorities would bring him back to finalize the case.

Captain Xiao said, “Comrade Zuo Qing, we need to take you back with us. And Comrade Zuo Huan, you also need to cooperate with our investigation. Comrade Dacheng, we’ll have to leave the matters of the commune in your hands.”

Zuo Dacheng nodded solemnly.

This matter was far-reaching. Even Secretary Liu, who had just been officially appointed, turned out to be a ringleader. Dahé Commune was about to be shaken to its core again.

When Zuo Qing heard she was being taken to the county public security bureau, she broke down, crying and screaming for Su Dai. When he ignored her, she turned to Zuo Dacheng.

But the police wouldn’t allow any nonsense—they dragged her away immediately. As for Zuo Huan, she couldn’t even care about herself anymore—she just kept asking when they were going to arrest Yang Wenxin.

After the police left with the suspects, Zuo Dacheng discussed Su Dai’s situation with the education bureau officials.

This year’s college entrance exam results had already come out, and Su Dai clearly hadn’t been admitted to a good university. At best, he might get into a technical school later, but that would be unfair to him. There were two options: either he retakes the exam next year, or they contact the Normal University (Shida) and see if they could reinstate him once Yang Wenxin was brought back, since Su Dai was the original admitted student and only got impersonated.

Su Dai’s mind was in chaos, but upon hearing the proposal, he choked up and said, “I just want to go to Shida. I still want to be a teacher. I know I can catch up—I’ll study hard and catch up with the rest.”

“We’ll do our best,” Zuo Dacheng comforted him, though he felt uncertain himself—after all, it was Shida.

After Su Dai and the education officials left, Zuo Dacheng and Li Hui began drafting a request, hoping to appeal to the provincial education bureau to get a favorable outcome.

While they were still busy in the office, Zuo Hongjun arrived.

After both his daughters were taken away, he hadn’t heard anything. Even when he asked Xu Fengxia, she couldn’t explain clearly—only that Yang Wenxin had used Su Dai’s name to go to school. But what did that have to do with his daughters?

Unable to sit still, he had come straight to the office.

When Zuo Dacheng heard what he came for, he got angry. “You don’t care at all about what your wife and daughters are doing, do you? Something this big—and you didn’t even know? Zuo Qing gave Su Dai’s acceptance letter to Yang Wenxin so he’d stay and be your live-in son-in-law. Yang Wenxin went off to college under a false identity and is now dating someone else. Zuo Hongjun, big brother! Can’t you wake up for once in your life?!”

After saying that, Zuo Dacheng stormed off angrily. There were too many messes to clean up, and he still didn’t know what punishment the higher-ups would hand down. For now, he couldn’t worry about anything else—his only hope was that Su Dai would be able to go to university. Otherwise, it would be an injustice too great to bear.