Past
Song Yuhang shook her head and said, “It doesn’t hurt.”
Lin Yan lowered her gaze, not looking at her, and said, “Next time, if there’s a next time, don’t indulge me like this. I’ve never had a good temper to begin with…”
“From childhood to now, nobody ever taught me these things. My father only knows how to hold and console Lin Cheng, while for me, it’s either scolding or hitting. The servants always said strict discipline was good for me. According to them, hitting means love, and scolding means care; he still has a place for me in his heart.”
“I believed it, and I treated people around me the same way until I grew a little older…” She hesitated for a moment, her long eyelashes trembling. “Someone told me that it’s not right to do this, that love should be expressed in the right way, but I can’t change now.”
Lin Yan gave a bitter smile, saying, “So, please don’t indulge me. I tend to take things too far and exploit the situation.”
Song Yuhang stopped her movements, tilted her head slightly to look at her, and softly called her name, “Lin Yan.”
“What’s wrong?” Lin Yan wiped away the sweat that had slipped down her cheek.
Song Yuhang tightly held her hand and swallowed nervously, “I, I want to kiss you.”
Lin Yan’s expression changed rapidly, and she slapped a towel onto her face and simultaneously kicked her knee hard. Song Yuhang hopped in pain, and the wooden door that hadn’t been properly secured came crashing down on her head, creating a cloud of dust mixed with her cries.
Several people in the room exchanged glances and shook their heads in unison, saying, “Captain Song is in quite a miserable state because of a girl.”
Fang Xin had an annoyed expression and said, “I used to consider Captain Song as my role model when I first entered the municipal bureau. She was the pride of all the female police officers in Jiangcheng. And now, what is this, a Husky?”
Duan Cheng observed for a while and said, “It’s not a Husky; it’s a milk dog, the kind that only barks at Sister Lin.”
Zheng Chengrui adjusted his glasses and made a final judgment, “In life, be like Doctor Lin.”
Punch the bullies, kick your superiors, and still have money and influence at home.
All three of them nodded in agreement, saying, “I think you’re right.”
* * *
After having breakfast and fixing the door, Song Yuhang scooped some water from the well to wash her hands. She used a corner of her own clothes to wipe herself off and then went into the kitchen to assist the elderly woman with her blankets. At the same time, she took the opportunity to ask her about the matter.
There was no phone signal in the mountains, and they had lost contact with the outside world. The only way to make calls was with a satellite phone, and Zheng Chengrui was still busy with his computer.
(Originally translated on littlepandatranslations.com, let's go!)
The others all sat down around a brazier to keep warm.
Song Yuhang held the elderly woman’s hand and inquired, “Grandmother, do you have any other relatives? Why don’t you live in the city?”
At the mention of this, the elderly woman’s eyes welled up again. She wiped away a tear and unsteadily got off the kang, fetching a photo album from an old, worn-out chest. She opened it and began turning its pages one by one.
The album was quite worn on the outside, but inside, it was very clean, filled with black and white photographs.
After spending the night, the police officers had picked up some local dialect basics and could barely understand a few words, which they translated for the elderly woman.
“Grandmother says that her family is no longer here. This is her husband…” The police officer pointed to the photo of a man with a crew cut, and the elderly lady nodded, wiping away tears.
“This is her daughter…” The police officer paused again before continuing, “She got married and moved to the provincial capital, and she hasn’t come back since.”
Lin Yan coldly snorted and said, “Those heartless creatures might as well be dead outside, who knows.”
Song Yuhang pulled her to signal that she shouldn’t speak out of turn. Lin Yan was still unwilling, but the other party narrowed her eyes slightly, with a hint of threat in her gaze, and put her index finger to her lips.
“I…” Lin Yan clenched her teeth and swallowed her words.
Song Yuhang then pointed to a photo of a young boy in the pictures and asked, “What about this one?”
The elderly woman wiped her tears with her hand and shook her head. Fang Xin quickly handed her a piece of paper.
When it came to her son, the elderly woman was overcome with tears, saying, “He was seven or eight years old… He fell seriously ill, and we couldn’t get him to the hospital in time…”
The police officer looked at Song Yuhang and relayed the information to her.
Song Yuhang gently patted the elderly woman’s back to comfort her. Lin Yan took the photo album from the elderly womans lap and continued flipping through it, suddenly pausing.
She seemed almost in disbelief, took out her phone, opened the photo album, and looked again. Then she handed her phone and the album to Song Yuhang.
“Take a look. Is this the same person?”
Several people gathered around to look.
In the photo, three young men stood shoulder to shoulder, approximately in their early twenties. They were all wearing tank tops, T-shirts, and shorts, with straw hats on their heads, and the background was a vast expanse of golden farmland.
The two on the left and right looked remarkably similar, clearly brothers, while the one in the middle was holding a piece of dogtail grass, displaying a somewhat carefree and unrestrained expression. His facial features bore a striking resemblance to the picture on Lin Yan’s phone.
It was a young Yu Xinye from years ago.
The elderly woman looked at the photo on the phone, and with a hint of surprise, she exclaimed, “Ah, this is my nephew…”
Truly a case of finding something when you least expect it, and without much effort.
Song Yuhang was slightly excited as she asked, “Are you sure? Did your nephew also die in the mine disaster twenty years ago?”
The elderly woman, with hesitation, nodded and, looking at the people in uniforms in the room, she grabbed Song Yuhang’s hand and asked in the local dialect, “What happened to Ye Wazi?”
Several people exchanged glances, and Song Yuhang reassured her, “It’s nothing. We’re just conducting a routine inquiry. So, over these years, with no close relatives and limited income, how have you been managing your life?”
At this point, a hint of contentment appeared on the elderly woman’s face, “The government provides subsistence allowance, and the crops I grow are enough to eat. Besides… my daughter-in-law sends things to the town’s post office from time to time…”
Song Yuhang touched the blanket on the bed and asked, “Is this from her as well?”
(If you're not reading on littlepandatranslations.com, it means this has been stolen)
The elderly woman nodded and said, “Ah” a couple of times.
“Since Yu Xinye had a wife, why isn’t she listed in the household registration?” Lin Yan keenly noticed a discrepancy.
The elderly woman blushed slightly and replied, “They got married early, and at that time, in the countryside, marriage certificates weren’t common. They celebrated with a simple feast.”
Song Yuhang pointed to the remaining two young men in the photo and asked her, “What about these two?”
The elderly woman looked at the photo, her expression showing a hint of nostalgia.
Her son passed away early, and her daughter married young. They relied on her nephew and herself to manage their ten-plus acres of farmland, working from dawn till dusk, day in and day out.
This continued until those two educated youth arrived in Xiaohe Village.
During that time, they promoted the system of responsibility for contracted land and collective farming. As orphans and a widow, nobody was willing to help them.
“Auntie, once we finish plowing this acre, we can head back and rest.” With the moon high in the sky, Yu Xinye wiped the sweat from his forehead and continued digging with a spade.
“Hey! What would you like to eat when we get back? Auntie will cook for you.”
“Too much trouble, just have some noodles.”
As they were talking, laughter came from the field across the road.
Some locals were teasing the newly arrived educated youth.
“Look at this tender young one, are you a girl?”
“Oh my, look at you, you’re even blushing!”
“Get lost! Don’t touch my little brother!”
As the boy cried out in distress, the young woman, who was still in her prime, grabbed a sickle and rushed out, shouting, “Hey?! What’s going on here? You’re done with your work? Bullying city folks who have no shame, are you?!”
“Well, if it isn’t the old widow.” Several young people begrudgingly withdrew their hands. Yu Xinye also jumped up to the field and wiped the sweat from his forehead with a towel.
“Hurry up and leave, or I’ll report you to the village head.”
“Alright, we’ll count you as tough.” The leader of the troublemakers shoved the young man they were bothering, then spat on the ground a few times before swaggering away.
“Younger brother, are you okay?”
The boy lying on the ground had a big bruise on his forehead. He shook his head and, without a word, returned to his own field, just like the elderly woman and the young child.
“If you’re fine, then get up. We won’t have food tomorrow if we don’t finish our work today.” The older boy helped him up.
They worked until the moon gradually set, and as they were preparing to finish for the day, the other group was still busy in their field.
The young boy who had been beaten turned back to look, but the older one pulled him forward.
“Let’s go, let’s go, it’s time to go back to sleep.”
The younger boy stopped in his tracks, “Brother, let’s go help them.”
“Eh, you—” Before he could finish his sentence, the younger boy had already grabbed a hoe and jumped down.
(Support me at littlepandatranslations.com)
“Auntie, I’ve come to help you.”
And so, the two brothers tended to their assigned fields during the day, and at night, they secretly helped the others. Yu Xinye would step in to assist when he saw them being mistreated, and Auntie Yu, noticing they couldn’t cook and were getting thin from hunger, would share her limited food supply with them, often inviting them over for meals.
Over time, they became good friends with Yu Xinye. For the two young men, who were thousands of miles away from home, Yu Xinye was not only a friend but Auntie Yu was like family to them.
In that era, the connections between strangers were quite miraculous. Sometimes, it could be just a caring word, a bowl of warm porridge, or a helping hand in times of difficulty that formed the most significant warmth and concern in the hearts of two young people from the city.
As the elderly woman thought about this, she felt a bit sentimental and her eyes moistened. “They… they are all Ye Wazi’s friends… The three of them got along so well they could wear the same pants.”
Song Yuhang nodded and handed the elderly woman a piece of paper and a pen. “Grandmother, can you write?”
The elderly woman nodded, saying, “I can… a little.”
“Could you please write down the names of your nephew’s wife and the names of Yu Xinye’s two friends so that we can verify them?”
The elderly woman started feeling somewhat uneasy and hesitant. “What… What does this mean?”
Lin Yan was about to speak but hesitated. Song Yuhang spoke first, spreading a well-intentioned lie, “It’s nothing, we work in the county’s household registration department. We’re conducting a population census and, as a part of it, we’re also looking into the stories of the educated youth who went to the countryside back then for promotional purposes.”
The elderly woman didn’t quite understand, but she thought that promoting something was a good thing, so she took a pen and began writing.
Lin Yan signaled to her with her eyes, as if to say, “Can you tell a lie without feeling guilty?”
Song Yuhang gave a wry smile and said, “What if, instead, we tell her that her nephew’s wife and her nephew’s good friends might be involved in a series of murders?”
The elderly woman would have had a heart attack right then and there.
After she finished writing, they took a look. The elderly woman’s handwriting was quite messy, and it took a while for them to decipher it.
Song Yuhang asked, “Is your nephew’s wife named Wei Fengzhen?”
The elderly woman nodded repeatedly, saying, “Ah, ah.”
Song Yuhang pointed to the boy on the left and said, “The older brother is called…”
Her pupils suddenly constricted, and she said, “Li Hai.”
“And the younger brother is called… Li Yang?!”