Chapter 93: A Farce
“Lin Mancang! You heartless beast!”
A sharp, angry cry came from outside the main door. Lin Mancang, who had been lying on the bed, sat up with a jolt.
Yesterday morning, he had originally planned to go to the city to see if he could make some more money. But who knew that as soon as he had left, he had been caught in a trap that someone had left by the roadside, and his toes were caught. He had no choice but to rest at home for two days.
As for Ma Guihua, he had been very happy these two days and had long since forgotten about her.
But he didn’t expect that this stinky woman’s voice would suddenly explode outside the door. How could he not be startled?
Outside the door, Ma Guihua, with her three burly brothers, kicked open the Lin family’s main door.
Her hair was disheveled, and her eyes were red and swollen like two rotten peaches. Her coarse cloth clothes were still stained with soot. It was clear that she had just rushed over from her parents’ village, crying and cursing all the way.
Lin Mancang now had a little more money in his pocket and was a little more confident than before. He put on his shoes and went out the door.
But as soon as he poked his head out, he saw Ma Guihua pick up the broom under the eaves and beat him over the head with it. “You’re using my hard-earned money to keep a woman? I’ll let you keep her! Let you keep her!”
“You madwoman! What are you talking about—” Lin Mancang held his head and ran, but was tripped by Ma’s second brother.
Ma Guihua kicked him in the chest and said through gritted teeth, “What did I say? You’re still pretending to be stupid with me. Look who she is!”
Ma’s second brother pulled out a woman with disheveled hair. It was the mistress that Lin Mancang was keeping in the city.
The outside of the door was soon surrounded by onlookers, and the sound of pointing and gossiping rose and fell.
“Stop!” Lin Mancang stood up, clutching his stomach, his face turning green and white. “Ma Guihua! If it weren’t for you insisting on selling Shuang’er, would I have to be so secretive now?”
Hearing this, Ma Guihua was stunned for a moment, then she became furious. “You’re talking nonsense! When the Jiang family went to transfer the household registration, you were the one who went with the village chief! And the deed of sale at the yamen, you were the one who put your handprint on it! And now you’re saying I forced you? Did I hold a knife to your neck and force you to sell your niece? Did you not use the eight taels of silver from the sale?”
With that, she abruptly tore open her collar, revealing the bruises on her neck and the scabs under her hair. “You’re pretending to be a good person now? Why didn’t you say that when you hit me the day before yesterday?”
The crowd was in an uproar.
Lin Mancang couldn’t keep a straight face and suddenly picked up a broom and swung it at Ma Guihua. “You shrew! I’m going to—”
“You dare!” Ma’s second brother snatched the broom and kneed him hard in the waist.
Lin Mancang howled in pain and knelt on the ground, just in time to meet the mistress’s terrified eyes.
He gritted his teeth.
At this point, he could only take a gamble and divorce this venomous woman!
“When you sold Shuang’er to a brothel, it was your Ma family who made the connection!” he said through gritted teeth. “That madam is your village’s Wang Mazi’s cousin. That can’t be fake, can it!”
Ma Guihua was instantly startled.
Seeing this, Lin Mancang became proud.
“Now that Shuang’er has saved so many people in that flood, and even the officials in the yamen are familiar with her, if this matter is pursued, your Ma family will not be able to escape!”
Having been in contact with so many people during this period, he had also learned some of the skills of a dog who relies on its master’s power, speaking to people as people and to ghosts as ghosts.
As soon as these words were spoken, the Ma brothers’ faces all changed.
Ma’s eldest brother’s bull-like eyes widened, and he said to him, “Then what do you want?”
Lin Mancang snorted coldly. “I want a divorce!”
“You—”
Lin Mancang: “If you don’t agree, I’ll go to the county yamen and report your Ma family for selling a ‘flood relief hero’! At that time, we’ll see if Shuang’er sides with me or with you. And, will the officials at the yamen listen to you or to Shuang’er!”
Ma Guihua’s face was pale, and her lips trembled, unable to speak.
Lin Mancang pressed his advantage. “Anyway, I know that madam. When we confront her, I’m afraid you’ll have to go to prison!”
Although the three Ma brothers were usually bullies in the village, as soon as they heard that they had to see an official, they were immediately cowed. Ma Tiezhu gritted his teeth, exchanged a look with Ma Guihua, and said with a stiff neck, “If you’re determined to get a divorce, you can. But the family property has to be divided in half. Otherwise, there’s no way!”
Lin Mancang’s eyes rolled, and he began to calculate in his head.
“The house and the fields were left by my ancestors. You can’t fight with me for those, can you?”
“Nonsense!” Ma Guihua screamed. “You want me to leave with nothing? Then I’ll take Lin Guo and Lin Xia with me!”
The family had saved some silver over the years, but most of it had been used for Lin Guo’s studies. If she didn’t even have a share of the family property and the fields, and the silver had to be divided in half, wouldn’t she be at a great loss?
Hearing that she wanted to take her son, Lin Mancang’s face instantly darkened. “Don’t even think about my son!”
“Then you can just give me the cash!” Ma Guihua snorted. “The house and the fields can’t be taken away, so you can just give me the silver!”
Lin Mancang said, “There’s only so much money in the family. You can’t just take it all, can you?”
“Then you mean you don’t want a divorce?” Ma Guihua sneered.
She had not not thought about a divorce. After being beaten, she had grown to hate this man even more.
Instead of living a miserable life together, watching him use the family’s money to support another woman, it was better to take the silver and leave early.
For so many years, Lin Mancang had hated her, and she had also hated this good-for-nothing man.
Especially in the past two months, this good-for-nothing had been running next door to drink every day, and all the farm work in the fields was on her.
And there was the matter of Lin Shuang. The villagers were pointing and gossiping about her, and she had had enough. Why not just take the silver and buy two mu of land near her parents’ house, and then ask her parents for some subsidies to build a couple of houses and start a new life? It was better than living with such a good-for-nothing man.
Other than being reluctant to part with her two children.
But now that the children were all grown up, and seeing Lin Mancang live like this, without any other income, he would definitely be poor. If the children couldn’t live with him, wouldn’t they just turn to her, their mother?
Thinking of this, she felt that a divorce seemed to be a good thing.
But she didn’t expect that Lin Mancang would compromise without a second thought.
Ma Guihua’s eyes were red, and she glared at Lin Mancang, then turned and went into the room to pack her things.
Before long, she came out with a bundle, which was clinking. It was clear that it contained a lot of silver.
“Let’s go!” Ma’s eldest brother waved his hand, and the three brothers pulled Ma Guihua out.
Before she left, Ma Guihua suddenly turned her head and spat at Lin Mancang. “Lin Mancang, you will not die a good death!”
The onlookers automatically made way, watching the Ma family leave with dejected expressions, and they began to gossip.
The beautiful mistress had already fled to who knows where. Lin Mancang stood in the courtyard, looking at the mess on the ground, and was suddenly in a daze.
…
Lin Shuang did not go to see this farce.
But Old Madam Jiang did.
Hearing Lin Mancang call out “Shuang’er” one after another, she was disgusted. Thinking that this shameless old thing was going to come and curry favor with Lin Shuang, she was even more upset.
When she returned to the valley, she told Lin Shuang what had happened at the Lin residence.
“You don’t know how shameless he is. He pushed all the blame on Ma Guihua. I’m not saying that Ma Guihua is not at fault, but is Lin Mancang not at fault? Shuang’er, tell me, when you were at the Lin residence, how did this uncle of yours treat you?”
Lin Shuang said with a blank expression, “He is no longer my uncle. After he took that eight taels of silver, I have had no more relationship with them.”
Old Madam Jiang was still unhappy. “They don’t think so. They still call you ‘my niece’ outside. Pah, just you wait. He’ll come and find you. He’ll say, ‘Look, Ma Guihua sold you back then. I’m so good. I divorced her for you. Come back with me…'”
Just the thought of that scene was disgusting.
Lin Shuang was already angry about Lin Mancang amassing wealth in her name. Now, hearing the old woman say this, she finally couldn’t suppress the anger in her heart and said to Jiang Huaizhen, “Go and find out tomorrow when the new county magistrate will take office. We have to settle this. The longer we delay, the more variables there will be. If it really doesn’t work out, I won’t report it to the authorities. I’ll just deal with it myself.”
The village chief and Matron Yan came.
The matter of Lin Mancang and Ma Guihua had caused such a big scene, and they were afraid that it would involve Lin Shuang, so they came to see.
Lin Shuang took the opportunity to inform the two of them about Lin Mancang’s amassing of wealth.
“I had Dongzhi and the others keep an eye on him. They put a trap at his door, and he caught his big toe. He won’t be able to go out for the next two days.”
Only then did the village chief know that Lin Mancang had done such a heartless thing, and he was so angry he was trembling all over. He had participated in the rescue this time, and his two sons had also participated. The reputation of Whitewater Village had also been spread because of this. Every time he went out, when others heard that he was the village chief of Whitewater Village, they were extremely impressed.
Now, a pot of porridge had been ruined by a rat’s dropping. He wished he could go and arrest Lin Mancang right now and cut him into a thousand pieces.
Matron Yan quickly advised, “This is not a matter of one or two people suffering. There are disaster victims in every village who have been deceived by him, and there are also some in the city. If we clarify it ourselves, it’s not as good as the yamen doing it. It would be best if they could issue another notice.”
“Besides, if you go and deal with him yourselves, how will you deal with him? Can you kill him?”
Lin Shuang was silent.
Lin Mancang’s matter had a bad influence. It was true that they might not be able to handle it properly on their own. If he deliberately concealed who he had received the thank-you money from, she might not be able to find out everything.
If one or two were missed, it would only make things worse.
They still had to go to the yamen.
To find out the truth and to issue a clarification.
And, to punish the evil!
For now, they could only wait, wait for the new county magistrate to take office.
But she was also unwilling to let Lin Mancang get away with it.
It wasn’t until it was dark that Jiang Huaizhen was about to take a bath, but she was stopped by her.
“What’s wrong?”
“Will you do something with me?”
“What is it?”
“Go and dig up Lin Mancang’s money. He’s received those people’s thank-you gifts. We have to get the money. Otherwise, if he spends it, what will we use to pay back the disaster victims?”
Jiang Huaizhen: “But we don’t know where he’s hidden the silver.”
“I know,” Lin Shuang could find things by just touching the ground. How could she not know? “Before, when he and Ma Guihua were hiding money, I saw them. It should be in the old place.”
Jiang Huaizhen put down the water ladle. “Alright. Then let’s go.”
With such a cooperative and proactive sweetheart, Lin Shuang was relieved and led her out in the night.
It was now autumn, and the moon in the sky was very bright. The two of them had almost no trouble finding their way to the vicinity of Lin Mancang’s house.
In the east room, Lin Xia was crying in her quilt because of her mother.
And in the main hall, Lin Mancang and Wasong were drinking. Their tongues were already thick, so they must have had a lot to drink.
Lin Shuang squatted at the base of the old house’s back wall, her palm on the ground, a cold smile on her lips.
Lin Mancang had not hidden the money in his own bedroom, because the bedroom was Ma Guihua’s territory. How could he be willing to let Ma Guihua know about the silver he had scraped together outside?
He had hidden it in Lin Guo’s room.
Lin Guo had been sent to school by Ma Guihua and might not come back even once a month. Few people went into his room, so Lin Mancang thought that it was the safest place.
Coincidentally, Lin Guo’s room was Lin Shuang’s old room.
Lin Shuang said to Jiang Huaizhen in a low voice, “I think my previous judgment was wrong.”
“Where was it wrong? Is Lin Mancang’s money not in the old place you thought it was?”
“That’s right. The old place was his and Ma Guihua’s old place. He’s been fighting with Ma Guihua so fiercely these few days. How could he put it there?”
“Then…”
“I think he would have hidden the silver in Lin Guo’s room.”
“Where is Lin Guo’s room?”
“Lin Guo’s room is my old room.”
Jiang Huaizhen snorted lightly. “A cuckoo in the nest.”
But she had climbed into this room once before when she was looking for the shoe soles, so she was familiar with the way.
Lin Shuang had already confirmed the location of the silver and said to her, “Lin Xia is crying in the east room. She definitely won’t stop for a while, and she won’t go to Lin Guo’s room for no reason. Lin Mancang and Wasong look like they’ll be drunk soon. It’s the perfect time to make a move. Let’s go. Let’s go to my old room. You can pry open the window, and we’ll climb in through the window.”
The two of them, like cats, stuck to the base of the wall and found their way to the window of the old house.
Jiang Huaizhen took out a dagger from her waist, inserted the tip into the crack of the window, and with a light flick, the latch opened with a “click.”
The window was slowly pushed open, revealing the dark room.
The two of them had been in the dark for a long time and could vaguely make out the outlines of the bed and the cabinet. Jiang Huaizhen supported herself on the windowsill with one hand, nimbly flipped in, and turned to extend her hand to Lin Shuang.
Lin Shuang first stepped onto the windowsill, then reached out and hugged her neck, and was pulled in by her.
After a soft landing, they began to search for things.
Lin Shuang was too lazy to put on a show and went straight to the place where Lin Mancang had buried the silver.
He had dug a hole under the bed, and a box was pressed on top of it. After moving the box and lifting the wooden board on top, a dirt hole was revealed, and a coarse ceramic jar was hidden inside.
“Catch,” she handed the heavy jar to Jiang Huaizhen and carefully put the wooden board back.
Jiang Huaizhen lifted the lid of the jar, and her fingertips touched the cold silver pieces. She knew that she had gotten the right thing and nodded at Lin Shuang in the darkness.
The two of them found their way back to the window, and Jiang Huaizhen flipped out first to receive her.
Unexpectedly, just as she had carried her out, the person in her arms took advantage of the darkness and licked her on the lips.
“You—” Jiang Huaizhen’s hand trembled, and she almost dropped her on the ground.
A low chuckle came from Lin Shuang in the darkness. She put the person on the ground, picked up the jar on the ground, and said softly, “Let’s go home.”
The two of them tiptoed back the way they had come. When they reached the main road, they finally let out a sigh of relief.
Jiang Huaizhen said, “I can’t wait to see Lin Mancang’s expression when he finds out that the silver is gone.”
Lin Shuang, having gotten the silver, was in a very good mood. “We’ll see it tomorrow.”
Kekeke… Serve him right.