Chapter 70: Revenge (3)

Fan Xiaojun was awakened by a bucket of cold water. Before she could recover, her hair was yanked violently, and she was dragged off the bed. Her mind went numb; she wanted to scream for whoever was pulling her to stop, but her mouth wouldn’t open.

“Bang, bang, bang!” The blows landed on her flesh. Fan Xiaojun howled in pain; the sharp agony finally snapped her awake. Her eyes widened as she took in her surroundings. Her husband’s face was twisted into a murderous glare as he wielded a club as thick as a calf’s leg, looking as if he intended to devour her. At the bedroom doorway, a group of women chattered, pointing at her.

Fan Xiaojun was utterly confused. She had been in the living room, cracking peanuts to cook salted peanuts for the old man’s evening drinks. How had she ended up lying in the bedroom, surrounded by so many people?

“You vile woman! Who’s this traitor? Shameless already remarried and still daring to cuckold my father!” Her eldest daughter-in-law lunged from the crowd, yanking Fan Xiaojun’s hair and forcing her head toward the bed.

“Aahh” The friction of her skin against the rough stone floor sent searing pain through her body. She screamed, realizing she was completely exposed.

Desperately, she tried to cover herself her chest and lower body aware that the men outside were leering at her naked form.

Her mind went blank. This was over.

“Who is this man?” the old man asked, holding a club, his tone ominous.

Fan Xiaojun’s scalp felt as if it were being torn off as her hair was yanked, and she opened her eyes to look at the bed.

Wang Shanshui lay sprawled, still asleep despite having been doused with cold water. He was soaked, shivering blue in the winter air, with doors and windows wide open but there was no sign of him waking.

Seeing him like that, Fan Xiaojun’s heart sank. It looked exactly like she had been caught in the act. She had imagined this scenario countless times, yet the female lead was never supposed to be her.

Clenching her teeth, she tried to recall what had happened before she lost consciousness, but nothing came to mind. She had been sitting in the room, hadn’t drunk tea, and showed no sign of being knocked out. And no one knew of her private contact with Wang Shanshui not even Yin Hong.

Could it have been Wang Shanshui?

She recalled his lecherous glances yesterday. Yes this had to be it.

“Old Yu, it was him! He forced me! I’m innocent! I was just cracking peanuts in the living room, and then someone knocked me out. This is what I woke up to, Old Yu you have to believe me!” Fan Xiaojun cried, tears streaming, clutching the old man’s leg, ignoring her nakedness.

For a moment, the old man hesitated. The woman tugging her hair panicked.

“Dad, don’t believe this old hag! There were no peanuts in the hall. She must have tried to seduce someone while you were away, and when caught, is lying to cover herself.”

The eldest daughter-in-law had long disliked this young stepmother, only a few years her senior. Her husband’s brothers had been distant due to prior family tensions. The old man likely sensed this and had married a young wife to have more children.

A joke, he cared more about money, not kin. He could marry whoever he pleased. But the money? That couldn’t go to this woman. The daughter-in-law recalled the hefty dowry from the Fan family and felt a pang of possessiveness. Now, finally, they could drive this woman out and reclaim the dowry intact.

“Dad, this man hasn’t woken up. Wake him up first, see what he says,” she instructed.

She didn’t believe Fan Xiaojun’s story. That man wouldn’t have come by chance; judging by his appearance, he didn’t belong to the here.

The women exchanged a glance and together yanked the half-frozen Wang Shanshui from the bed, flinging him to the floor.

His teeth chattered; he felt as if frozen in ice, then landed with a thud atop Fan Xiaojun.

Fan Xiaojun, shivering and semi-frozen, sensed their malicious intent but could do nothing. The weight of a grown man pressed down, and she cried out.

“Xiaojun, Xiaojun, your gege is here,” Wang Shanshui mumbled, groggy, groping her body, murmuring indistinct words that implied improper intentions.

“Ha, so they really are an adulterous couple,” one woman outside remarked.

“Exactly. She claims she was forced, yet calls him ‘gege'? She must have been involved with him before marrying Old Yu.”

“Yes, and didn’t her previous man break his leg stealing grain for her and the kids, only to be reported by her? What a heartless woman.”

“Where did you hear that?”

“My third aunt’s second uncle’s eldest cousin…”

The crowd outside gawked at the naked pair. The old man’s daughters-in-law were delighted with the chaos, seeing the old man’s face pale and hands trembling with anger.

Fan Xiaojun confirmed her earlier suspicion: Wang Shanshui had knocked her out while she was unaware. She cursed herself for approaching him in the first place.

“Someone here’s committing adultery!”

A group of young men in green military uniforms with red armbands entered, disgust and excitement in their eyes.

Everyone stepped back, letting them through, afraid of being accused of disrespect. Even the old man and his daughters-in-law moved aside.

“Public adultery is a disgrace to the people. Such scum must face a thorough criticism. Comrades, take them away.”

The leader raised his arm; the youths cheered and moved in, lifting the dazed Wang Shanshui and Fan Xiaojun, who had begun to resist.

“Comrade, put some clothes on her. She can’t go outside naked our Party’s exemplary youth might be compromised.”

Anticipating Fan Xiaojun would be paraded for criticism, the neighbor woman handed a discarded coat to the young man holding her.

The leader agreed; Fan Xiaojun was dressed, and they escorted her out. Wang Shanshui, equally exposed, was ignored.

Once the protagonists were gone, only Old Yu and his daughters-in-law remained. The rest drifted off, excited this would be the gossip for the next few months. Those absent would surely come asking for updates.

Without television or the internet, gossip was the only pastime for women.

The neighbor, seeing the shattered glass outside, remembered her original purpose. She wondered if Fan Xiaojun was having an affair, then who had smashed the window? Realizing it must have been Old Yu’s daughters-in-law, who were too shy to confront her, she felt satisfied.

She swept the glass, noticing a stone hiding a corner of bluish-gray paper. Kneeling, she moved the stone aside and found a two-yuan note underneath a piece of glass.

Happily, she pocketed the money, deciding to keep the secret for the daughters-in-law, since the real fault lay with Fan Xiaojun.

“What’s happening up ahead?”

Jiang Dani curiously watched the growing crowd.

“Seems a miner’s wife was caught committing adultery, being disciplined publicly,” an elderly woman passing by explained.

“Big sister, Grandma Cu is waiting for us to eat,” Jiang Yiliu reminded her.

He knew who was being disciplined and wanted to spare his sister the sight. Jiang Dani, uninterested in gossip, let him guide her away.

“By the way, big sister… do you know anyone named Yin Hong?”

Jiang Yiliu asked directly, still puzzled over why this Yin Hong would conspire with Fan Xiaojun to harm his sister.

“Yin Hong?” Jiang Dani thought carefully, shaking her head. “No one by that name works at our factory. Why are you asking?”

Not knowing her made it stranger.

Jiang Yiliu adopted an innocent look. “I heard the name outside the factory today. Just curious it sounded unusual.”

“Oh, I see. Then it’s probably someone at the factory I don’t know,” Jiang Dani said.

Jiang Yiliu frowned. Yin Hong was an unpredictable factor he needed to locate her quickly.

TN:
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