area51novel Chapter 60 He can even disregard the life and death of his own sister.
Chapter 60 He can even disregard the life and death of his own sister.
Outside the commune compound, the crimson sun had long since set behind the western mountains, leaving only a lingering glow like congealed blood, hanging forlornly on the horizon.
Zhao Gang walked extremely fast, rushing ahead with his head down, kicking up pebbles with every step.
Those black leather shoes, which were polished to a shine when I left home this morning, are now covered in yellow mud and dust, and have several unsightly scratches on their surface.
He didn't care about any of that; all he wanted was to get away from this humiliating place as quickly as possible, as far away as possible.
"Gangzi! Gangzi, slow down! Wait for Mom!"
Aunt Zhao chased after them, panting heavily.
The blue cotton jacket she had specially changed into for the trip to the city was soaked with cold sweat on her back, clinging damply to her spine.
She ran so fast that her cloth shoes slipped off her feet, and she almost fell into the roadside ditch several times. Her gray hair was blown into a mess by the wind, making her look like a crazy old woman who had just crawled out of a grave.
Zhao Gang, who was in front, suddenly stopped.
He turned around, his chest heaving violently.
The streetlights weren't on yet, and in the dim light, the face looked distorted, with bloodshot eyes.
He stared intently at his mother, who was stumbling towards him, his face showing no pity, only disgust and hatred.
"Chase him? You still have the nerve to chase him?"
Zhao Gang forced the words out through clenched teeth, his voice terribly hoarse, "Look at the mess you've made! You're more trouble than you're worth!"
Zhao Da Niang was so frightened by her son's cannibalistic manner that she trembled all over, her knees went weak, and she sat down on a pile of dirt by the roadside.
She twisted the hem of her clothes haphazardly in front of her with her two withered hands, a habitual action she took when she felt guilty.
"Gangzi, Mother... Mother didn't expect this either. That Li Xianglian is usually so quiet, who knew she could bring such a bunch of hooligans and scoundrels..." Aunt Zhao murmured, her voice barely louder than a mosquito's buzz.
"Unexpected? You think you can just say 'unexpected' and get your money back?"
Zhao Gang strode up to her, pointing his finger down at her nose, spitting in her face: "That's five hundred yuan! A whole five hundred yuan! And that Shanghai brand watch! Do you know what that means? It's the savings I accumulated over three years without eating or drinking! And in less than half an hour, you've squandered it all!"
The mere mention of money makes Zhao Gang's heart bleed; his internal organs ache terribly.
That wasn't just money; it was the confidence he had to hold his head high in the county town, his fig leaf.
Now the cloth has been torn, the money is gone, and he still has to go to Wang Lili to appease her while carrying a mountain of debt.
He irritably unbuttoned his top button, his gaze sweeping over the empty streets around him. He lowered his voice and growled, "Money's gone, I can earn it back, but what about my reputation? Do you know that if this gets back to Yan Xiujuan, I'm finished! I finally managed to keep Li Xianglian's affair a complete secret, and you, with those penniless bastards, stormed right up to the supply and marketing cooperative's gate! How am I supposed to face the Wang family after this?!"
Aunt Zhao shrank her neck, tears welling up in her eyes. She was truly regretful, her heart aching with the loss of the money.
"Gangzi, Mother knows she was wrong... but given the situation, Mother was scared. Li Xianglian said she was going to the police station to report you for bigamy, and Mother was afraid you'd be arrested..."
"Sue me? She'd better not!"
Zhao Gang snorted coldly, his face revealing the arrogance and ruthlessness of a scholar. "What does a country woman like her know about the law! She's just trying to scare brainless idiots like you!"
After hurling a few curses, the anger in my heart subsided a little.
Zhao Gang wiped the oil and sweat from his face, as if he had suddenly remembered something important, and his brows furrowed tightly.
He took a step closer, his eyes gleaming coldly in the darkness, fixed intently on Zhao Da Niang's face.
"Oh, right, there's something else I haven't settled with you about. Didn't I send a message through someone to have that thug Sun Laowai take action?"
Zhao Gang's voice was extremely low, carrying a sinister tone: "Didn't we agree to knock that old hag unconscious before tonight and sell her off in the mountains to the north? How come she managed to come to the county town unharmed and cause trouble? And with that shrew and that wild child? What is Old Man Sun good for?"
This is what he can't understand the most.
According to his plan, Li Xianglian should have already been stuffed into a sack and abandoned in some remote, desolate mountain valley. As long as she "disappeared," he could stage a tragic scene of "being cruelly abandoned" at the Wang family's place, thus avoiding a share of the family property and gaining Wang Lili's sympathy.
But now, the whole plan is in chaos.
Upon hearing this, Aunt Zhao's already pale face turned ashen, and her lips trembled so much that she could barely speak.
"Gang...Gangzi..."
"Tell me! What exactly happened!" Zhao Gang kicked a pebble on the ground impatiently.
"What a tragedy... what a tragedy!"
Suddenly, Aunt Zhao slapped her thigh and began to wail. The sound was particularly eerie in the empty street. "Something's happened! Something terrible has happened!"
Zhao Gang's head throbbed from her yelling, and he glared at her fiercely: "Shut up! Stop wailing! Speak your mind!"
Aunt Zhao raised her tear-streaked and dirt-covered face, her cloudy old eyes staring straight at her son, filled with fear: "That damned Sun Laowai... he's made a mistake! That... that sack didn't contain Li Xianglian, it was your own sister, Xiaoyun!"
"What?"
Zhao Gang froze on the spot, his mind going blank, as if someone had hit him hard on the top of his head with a sledgehammer.
"That night... we were supposed to take action."
Aunt Zhao cried, tears streaming down her face, and said haltingly, "But who knew that by some twist of fate, that little bitch Li Xianglian was alright, but Xiaoyun disappeared! At first, we thought Li Xianglian had hidden Xiaoyun away, but then that shrew forced us to call the police, and Old Man Sun was terrified, so he told me the truth..."
Aunt Zhao grabbed Zhao Gang's leg, her nails digging deep into his trousers, and shook him violently, crying, "Gangzi, your sister has been taken away by that donkey cart! It's sending her to the deep mountains to the north, a place that eats people! You must find a way to save Xiaoyun!"
Zhao Gang stood there, his expression incredibly interesting.
First came shock, then bewilderment, and then a barely perceptible loosening slowly emerged.
Zhao Xiaoyun? Sold?
That spoiled and willful younger sister who was always trying to be the best and always followed him around asking for money was actually sold in place of Li Xianglian.
The image of Zhao Xiaoyun, always wearing cheap face cream and cracking sunflower seeds while mocking Li Xianglian, flashed through his mind. He also recalled Li Xianglian's frighteningly calm gaze at the entrance of the supply and marketing cooperative today.
A chill ran from the soles of my feet straight up to the top of my head.
Li Xianglian…that woman is terrifying. Did she know all along? Was she doing it on purpose?
"Gangzi! Say something!"
Seeing her son standing there in a daze, Aunt Zhao became even more anxious, shaking his legs frantically. "Isn't your father-in-law a high-ranking official in the county? Go and beg him! Tell him to send the police to chase after them! It's only been a few days; that donkey cart moves slowly, they can definitely catch up! As long as the police are dispatched, they'll definitely be able to rescue Xiaoyun!"
Zhao Gang was brought back to his senses by the howl.
He looked down at his mother, who was crying her heart out at his feet. The shock in his eyes slowly faded, replaced by extreme indifference and calculation.
Looking for the Wang family? Or the police?
Are you kidding me!
The Wang family hates him to the core because of his bigamy, and Wang Lili's mother, Yan Xiujuan, looks at him like he's a dead dog.
If he were to ask the Wang family to use their connections to find someone at this point, he would have to explain the reason for "selling people".
How so?
It is said that his biological mother colluded with thugs and originally intended to sell her daughter-in-law, but accidentally sold her own daughter instead.
If this gets out, he'll lose everything, not only his position as deputy director of the supply and marketing cooperative, but his entire life! This is a heinous crime of human trafficking, punishable by death!
At that time, the Wang family, for the sake of their reputation, will definitely sever ties with him immediately, and may even kick him while he's down and send him to prison to take the blame.
For a troublemaker like Zhao Xiaoyun, would he sacrifice his entire life?
It's not worth it. It's not worth it at all.
The last vestige of hesitation in Zhao Gang's eyes vanished.
Slowly, yet firmly, he pulled his leg out of Aunt Zhao's grasp.
"Mother," Zhao Gang's voice was soft, yet as cold as frost in the dead of winter, "I can't handle this matter."
Aunt Zhao's crying stopped abruptly. She stared blankly at her son, mouth agape, as if she couldn't believe her ears: "What did you say? That's your own sister! Your own sister, born from your own womb! How can you just ignore her?"
"So what?"
Zhao Gang took a step back, straightened his ripped trouser legs, and looked down at her. "Are you trying to make me look bad enough? I've lost all face in front of the supply and marketing cooperative today! The Wang family is furious right now. If I go and tell them that our family not only has affairs but is also involved in human trafficking, what do you think they'll do?"
Aunt Zhao's lips trembled, unable to utter a word.
Zhao Gang sneered, squatted down, and looked directly into Zhao Da Niang's desperate eyes: "They'll call the police directly and arrest me, you, and Sun Laowai! If Xiao Yun can't be saved, our whole family will be in jail! My future will be ruined, and you'll spend your old age in prison! Our Zhao family will be completely finished!"
"But...but that's Xiaoyun..."
Aunt Zhao trembled all over, her face streaked with tears and snot. "So we're just going to abandon her? Just let her suffer in this mountain valley?"
"That's just bad luck for her."
Zhao Gang stood up, patted the wrinkles on his trousers that his mother had made by scratching them, and said in a cold tone that chilled one to the bone, "Mother, you have to look forward. Right now, I'm like a clay Bodhisattva crossing the river, barely able to save myself. As long as I can still gain a foothold in the county town, as long as I can appease Wang Lili, our Zhao family will have a chance to turn things around."
As for Xiaoyun... let's just consider it her contribution to our family.
"Contribution?" Aunt Zhao murmured, repeating the two words over and over, feeling a chill run through her body, a chill that went straight to her bones.
Looking at her tall and imposing son, she suddenly felt utterly unfamiliar with him.
Is this the precious child she cherished and protected since childhood?
Is this the government official she's so proud of?
For the sake of his own future, he would even disregard the life and death of his own sister?
"Gangzi, how can your heart be so black?" Aunt Zhao asked, trembling.
"My heart isn't black; it's you bunch of drags me down that's made me this way!"
Zhao Gang growled impatiently, a savage glint in his eyes, "Alright! Get back to the village! Remember, keep this a secret! Tell everyone Xiaoyun went to work in another city! If I hear even a whisper of it reaching the county town and it ruins my plans, don't blame me for disowning you!"
After saying that, Zhao Gang didn't look at his old mother on the ground again, turned around and strode towards the county town.
Night completely enveloped the earth, and the dim yellow light of the streetlights stretched his shadow long, twisting on the ground like a menacing demon.
Aunt Zhao slumped in the darkness, watching her son's resolute departure. She finally understood that her greatest reliance in life, her proud eldest son who brought honor to the family, was actually an ungrateful wretch.
She not only lost her daughter, but also completely lost her son.
"Karma...this is karma..."
Aunt Zhao pounded her chest and let out a mournful wail like that of a night owl in the empty, desolate street.