Chapter 112: Why?

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As for peeking at someone’s letters, how should one put it? It could be treated as either a serious or a minor matter.

The real question was whether Hu Changming’s affair could be reduced to something minor. They were worried that he might have a hidden identity. If he turned out to be a spy, then there would be no way to downplay it.

In that case, they would have to treat it as a major matter.

For a while, Wang Facai and the old village chief could not make up their minds. In the end, they decided that the safest course was to report it to the Enforcement Bureau.

Whether Hu Changming had done anything wrong would be left to the Enforcement Bureau to investigate. Without an investigation, no one had the right to speak, after all.

So Wang Facai invited Xu Lin and several representatives of the educated youths to go with him to the commune and report the matter first.

The group hurried to the commune. Seeing the brigade chief bringing people to the Enforcement Bureau, Hu Changming felt the world spin around him.

He knew he was finished. There was probably no way to settle this peacefully.

He had intended to think of a way out once he reached the hospital, but Wang Facai had already made arrangements. The militia captain brought two militiamen and kept watch over him the entire time.

A crippled Hu Changming could never escape the eyes of three men.

At the Enforcement Bureau, Xu Lin presented her two letters. The officer on duty examined them carefully and recorded the details.

Since they were evidence of a crime, the envelopes had to be kept. However, as the letters might contain urgent personal matters, Xu Lin was allowed to take the letters themselves.

The officer had no intention of reading their contents.

Xu Lin was very satisfied by that. Once she had finished giving her statement, Wu Siyu was the first to step forward and make her record.

While Wu Siyu was giving her statement, Fu Yaqin’s expression was extremely grim. She was torn inside, with no idea how she should answer when her turn came.

Should she admit that Hu Changming had her under his thumb and that she had given him a great deal of money, or should she deny it?

If she denied everything, what would happen if Hu Changming exposed her? And what if that letter fell into the hands of the Enforcement Bureau?

Consumed by anxiety and unable to sit still, Fu Yaqin unconsciously slipped one hand into her trouser pocket. Her expression froze instantly.

Why was there a letter in her pocket?

She was certain she had not put one there. So where had it come from?

Fu Yaqin’s heart pounded wildly. She struggled to calm herself and controlled her expression, making sure she did not appear too unusual.

After quietly taking several deep breaths, she used the excuse of needing to go to the bathroom and slipped out of the office.

She hurried to the bathroom at the Enforcement Bureau. Holding the letter beneath the beam of a flashlight, she nearly burst into tears.

It was the very letter her mother had written to her, originally meant to remind her to stay safe and remain quietly in the countryside.

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No one had expected it to nearly become the evidence that would destroy her and her entire family.

Inside the interrogation room, Wu Siyu said that she had known for a long time that her letters had been opened and had already grown suspicious.

She had even warned Hu Changming not to take her letters, but Hu Changming, relying on his position as captain, had refused to listen.

Taking advantage of Wu Siyu’s reluctance to make the matter public, he had gone too far. The two of them had fallen out badly over it and rarely spoke anymore.

Now Wu Siyu was telling the truth about everything. She had no intention of covering for Hu Changming.

While the others were giving their statements, Xu Lin sat to one side and read her letters. She began with the one Aunt Osmanthus had written to her.

In it, Aunt Osmanthus told her what had happened to the Xu family afterward. Old Madam Xu and the others had been driven out of the machinery factory’s residential compound, and the entire family was now living in rented rooms.

Because of Xu Chenglin’s identity as a spy, Xu Lin’s mother had also been dismissed from the textile mill and was now unemployed.

The whole family had lost its source of income, and their lives had fallen into dire straits.

Xu Lin’s mother had originally intended to ask Qin Fang for some living expenses, but Qin Fang had been sent to the countryside, and she had been unable to find out where.

It seemed that Xu Lin’s mother would never be able to track Qin Fang down and demand money from her.

With no money, her attitude toward Old Madam Xu changed sharply. She was no longer respectful as she had once been; instead, she beat and cursed the old woman at every turn.

Xu Kun and Xu Nuan had also dropped out of school. It was not that they did not want to study. They simply had no face to return to class.

Their schoolmates would call them the son and daughter of a spy and throw mud at them.

Besides, neither of them had good grades, and the family had no money left. Xu Lin’s mother therefore wanted them to help shoulder the burden of supporting the household.

But in the past, all the housework had been done by Xu Lin. Xu Nuan had never lifted a finger. Aside from eating, she knew how to do nothing.

Xu Nuan went from being a princess to a Cinderella, while her mother transformed from a loving parent into a cruel stepmother. Every day, Xu Lin’s mother pointed at Xu Nuan’s nose and cursed her.

The abuse filled Xu Nuan with resentment, steadily consuming the little affection she still had for her mother.

Arguments of every size began to erupt between mother and daughter. Xu Nuan was not Xu Lin; she was not the sort of person who would take abuse without answering back or endure a beating without resisting.

The girl had too much pride for that.

But she was only one person. Xu Lin’s mother could not defeat her alone—but she still had a son.

Old Madam Xu was also deeply prejudiced in favor of boys. In the past, with Xu Lin standing in front of her, Old Madam Xu had treated Xu Nuan reasonably well.

Once Xu Nuan was the only one left to bear the brunt of things, the entire family’s fury was directed at her.

Under the repeated blows dealt by her family, Xu Nuan’s spirit gradually died. In its place grew a deep and bitter hatred.

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Xu Nuan hated Old Madam Xu and her mother for favoring boys. She hated them for saving all the good things for Xu Kun.

She also hated Xu Kun for doing absolutely nothing while remaining the tyrant of the household.

Most of all, she hated her father, Xu Chenglin. Why had he not simply lived as an ordinary man? Why had he insisted on becoming a spy?

At the same time, Xu Nuan hated Xu Lin. Why had Xu Lin gone to the countryside?

Her parents had clearly planned to break Xu Lin’s legs, turn her into a criminal who refused to go down to the countryside, and trap her at home for the rest of her life.

So why had Xu Lin suddenly become so formidable? Why had it not been Xu Nuan who became so formidable?

Why?

The more Xu Nuan thought about it, the more unwilling she became to accept her fate. The resentment in her heart grew day by day, until she looked at everyone as though they were an enemy.

When Aunt Osmanthus mentioned Xu Nuan, she offered Xu Lin some advice:

“Linlin, you must keep your distance from that family. Whatever you do, don’t go softhearted on them.”

She also reminded Xu Lin not to contact them, lest they latch on to her. There was not a single good person in that family.

After reading the letter, Xu Lin was in excellent spirits. In her previous life, although Xu Nuan had not lived as brilliantly as Qin Fang, she had hardly suffered.

Though she had not been capable of getting into university through her own efforts, she had used connections to buy herself a place.

As for the unfortunate girl whose life Xu Nuan had stolen, she had died without ever knowing that she herself had once been admitted to university.

After graduating, Xu Nuan had married through a matchmaking arrangement. Her husband had possessed excellent prospects and later risen smoothly through the ranks until he became a deputy provincial official.

Xu Nuan had truly spent her whole life winning without lifting a finger, living the kind of life others could only envy.

As for Xu Kun, though he was useless at everything except eating, he had been born at the right time. He had caught the rising tide, ridden the wave, and become a famous entrepreneur.

He had never suffered much in his entire life, and his family’s wealth had grown so immense that money was nothing more than a string of numbers.

But now, looking at Xu Kun again—ha! He was merely a domineering little tyrant at home. Xu Lin would like to see how he could still ride the wave and take flight.

Xu Lin knew that Old Madam Xu could still make trouble because she had not yet gone to look for the treasure mentioned by Xu Lin’s father. Once she discovered that the treasure had been carried away—

Heh. Xu Lin could already imagine the expression on Old Madam Xu’s face when she realized everything was gone.

Besides, Xu Lin had beaten Old Madam Xu several times already, thoroughly rearranging every bone in her body. In less than a month, Old Madam Xu would be completely paralyzed.

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