Reborn in the 80s: Divorced and Spoiled by the Military Man - Chapter 158

Chapter 158: She Didn’t Do Anything Wrong

Going to the Police Station to file a complaint?

Old Zhang frowned. “What is your relationship with Li Shenggen and Li Dayong?”

Li Fenlan unconsciously lowered her head again and tucked in her neck. She was a little afraid and didn’t dare meet Old Zhang’s eyes. “I… I’m Li Shenggen’s daughter…”

What? A daughter reporting her own father?

Old Zhang’s interest was piqued. He quickly scooted the stool under him forward, looking as if all he needed was a handful of sunflower seeds to snack on while he watched the drama unfold. Even his voice became a little gentler. “Don’t be afraid. Tell me carefully what you want to report. This is the Police Station. Just speak freely.”

That old man Li Shenggen had been driving him mad. Ever since he had been brought in, he’d been taking advantage of his age, complaining about his arm hurting one moment and his leg hurting the next, all while spewing filthy curses. If it hadn’t been against the rules, Old Zhang would have wanted to give him a beating himself!

Li Fenlan had hardly slept the night before. She didn’t understand laws or regulations, nor did she have much cunning. But whenever she thought of how her daughter had finally escaped such a painful marriage, worked from dawn to dusk to contract the Construction Site canteen, and had only just begun to see a little hope in life-only for these people to come and try to ruin everything-she trembled all over with anger.

It wasn’t that she was unfilial. On the contrary, she had once been almost foolishly filial. But Yunshu and Mingcheng were flesh that had fallen from her own body. No one could step over her to hurt her children!

At that thought, Li Fenlan gritted her teeth and raised her voice a little. “When Li Shenggen was young, he once broke someone’s leg. A few years ago, when the state was building the power grid in the village, he stole electric wires. He also stole other people’s chickens! Li Dayong stole things too. They went stealing together… Oh, right, the tractor in the village-he stole the iron lump on it too…”

Her words came out in a jumble, with no real order or logic, but Old Zhang understood well enough. So this Old Li father-and-son pair were thieves too!

Li Fenlan didn’t know whether what she said would be of any use. In any case, she had thought about it all night and told him every bad thing she knew Li Shenggen and his son had done. Most of it was petty theft, the sort of thing that was actually quite common in the village.

But it was different once someone came forward to report it. If someone filed a report, they had to accept it and investigate. Things from too many years ago might be impossible to handle, but incidents from the past couple of years would be easy to look into. Stealing was also an illegal offense. Why couldn’t they be sentenced for it?

Old Zhang filled an entire page of his notebook with dense notes. In the end, seeing that Li Fenlan was still racking her brains, he said, “No rush. Sit here and take your time thinking.”

But Li Fenlan still had to go sell meals at the Construction Site later. She swallowed and asked cautiously, “Comrade, will these things be enough to put them in prison? If not, I’ll go back and think some more, then come again tomorrow.”

Old Zhang smacked his lips. It seemed Li Shenggen really wasn’t anything good. His own daughter had come overnight, determined to send him in!

“Once the thefts are verified, it’ll be at least three months no matter what.” Old Zhang clicked his tongue, feeling that while the middle-aged woman before him looked timid, what she was doing was truly no small matter-personally sending her own old father and younger brother to prison.

After all, detention and prison were two completely different things!

When Li Fenlan heard “at least three months,” she bit her lip again. As his daughter, was she going too far by doing this? But when they bullied Yunshu, had they ever remembered that they were her grandfather and uncle?

“No… there’s nothing else…” Li Fenlan hurriedly stood up and bowed to Old Zhang. “Sorry to trouble you, Comrade.”

Old Zhang pinched the densely written page full of chicken-stealing and dog-snatching misdeeds, then waved enthusiastically. “No trouble at all. Serving the people!”

When Li Fenlan returned from the Police Station, her mind was heavy. Before she went, she had indeed been thinking of making Li Shenggen spend a few extra days behind bars. But now that she had heard they might be sentenced to more than three months, unease crept into her heart again.

She had grown up being beaten down. At home, she was used to swallowing every grievance, and from the time she was little, the words drilled into her ears were that anyone who wasn’t filial would go to hell one day. So every time, she endured it. Enduring, again and again, had almost become a habit. She could tolerate being bullied herself, but not her children. Even if retribution was waiting for her, she had to protect them first.

Though truthfully, she didn’t have much ability to protect her son and daughter.

When they arrived at the Construction Site canteen, the back kitchen was bustling. When Xie Yunshu saw Li Fenlan, she smiled and said, “Mom, sit down and have some water first. There’s no rush to start working.”

Aside from Song Shanchuan and his mother, there were two older women helping out, both built like Auntie Zhao and very quick with their hands. In this era, it was far too hard for women to find a place where they could earn money, let alone someone like Xie Yunshu, who was willing to pay forty yuan a month. So everyone worked with all their might.

Li Fenlan looked at her daughter’s flower-bright, jade-pretty smiling face, and the anxiety in her heart gradually settled. She hadn’t done anything wrong.

Meanwhile, Yingzi had been waiting for Yunshu to go plead for mercy and get her father-in-law, mother-in-law, and husband released. After waiting for ages, what she got instead were the Comrade officers from the Police Station. They said someone had reported Li Shenggen and Li Dayong for theft, and they had come to investigate what had happened.

After gathering evidence and questioning the people involved, the final result was that Li Shenggen was sentenced to four and a half months, Li Dayong to five months, and Li Xiuzhi got off a little easier-she would be out in one month.

Yingzi’s vision went black, and she nearly fainted dead away. There were six people in the family, and now three of them had been locked up all at once. How was she supposed to go on living?

Xiaoshuang was a sensible child. She held her mother’s hand and comforted her. “Mom, it’s okay. I can help with the chores at home.”

But Li Wengang simply held out his hand for money. “I’m going into town with some buddies. Give me five yuan.”

“I don’t have any money.” Yingzi sat weakly in the main room. On the table were pickles and flatbread. Back when her in-laws were home, she hadn’t even been allowed to sit at the table to eat. Now, at least, she could sit right in the middle.

With his grandparents backing him up all the time, Li Wengang had no respect for this mother of his. He spoke as if it were only natural. “If you don’t give me money, when my dad comes back, I’ll have him beat you to death!”

Xiaoshuang shielded her mother. “Brother, what are you doing?”

Li Wengang shoved her aside. “You still dare talk back to me? When Grandpa comes back, I’ll have him use his cane to break your legs!”

With that shove, Xiaoshuang’s forehead struck the door, and a red, swollen patch rose up at once. But Li Wengang felt no guilt at all. He was still impatiently holding out his hand for money. “Grandma said all the family’s money will be left to me from now on. Hurry up and hand it over! Otherwise, I’ll sell that wretched girl Xiaoshuang to the old widower in the village right now. The bride price will be just right for me to spend!”

Yingzi held Xiaoshuang in her arms and stared at this son of hers as if she were seeing him for the first time. She sat there in a daze, grief welling up from the depths of her heart. She had lived in this family like livestock. They couldn’t beat her away or curse her away-and what had she stayed for? For these two children.

But now, what was her son saying? That he wanted to sell his own little sister?

Li Wengang grew even angrier when she said nothing. “Are you stupid? I’m talking to you!”

Yingzi lifted her head. All at once, she exploded. She grabbed a chair and, imitating what Xie Yunshu had done that day, smashed it straight at him. “You rotten bastard! I’m your mother, and Xiaoshuang is your own sister! Saying things like that is what will send you to hell! Anyway, your grandparents aren’t here. Today, I’ll beat you to death, you dog! The Li family’s evil is in your bones. You’re all dogs!”

Li Wengang was scared stupid. Had his mother gone mad? She even dared hit him!