Chapter 51: Dealing with Miao Xiaohua
"Brother, I’m the one who called the police to have someone arrested."
An Ning and the police officer spoke at almost the same time. An Guoqing looked back and forth, dumbfounded, then clutched his head and chuckled sheepishly.
"I was just kidding. You go ahead, you go ahead."
An Sancheng shot An Guoqing a fierce glare and gave a sharp jerk of his head. An Guoqing took the hint and stood aside.
"Hello, Officers. I am An Ning. I’m the one who reported this, because five days ago, Miao Xiaohua pushed me into the river. I have a witness."
Only after An Ning spoke did the villagers understand: she was going after Miao Xiaohua.
But on second thought, it made sense. An Ning had nearly lost her life.
The two police officers exchanged a few words with Team Leader Sun Dazhuang, who had come over. Then they summoned the other party, Miao Xiaohua, preparing to settle the matter right there in the fields.
When Miao Xiaohua arrived, she was determined to argue, adamantly insisting that she had only tripped.
As for Jiang Xia, she was firm that Miao Xiaohua had reached out to push her, but the distance was considerable. An accident on Miao Xiaohua’s part wasn’t impossible.
The excuse—that she had tripped, instinctively flailed her arms to save herself, and accidentally pushed An Ning—was perfectly plausible.
"An Ning, we currently don’t have enough evidence to prove this."
An Ning had expected this all along. She said, "Fine. I may not have evidence to prove her intent, but it’s a fact that Miao Xiaohua caused me to fall into the river. It’s also a fact that I was hospitalized for five days and nearly died several times."
"Miao Xiaohua should compensate me for my hospital fees, shouldn’t she? I’m not asking for much. Here are the hospital bills. She just has to pay the amount listed on them."
An Ning produced two bills, one from the town hospital and one from the county hospital. The moment the officer across from her saw them, he understood her plan.
"I knew it! So this is what you were really after! It wasn’t on purpose, so why should I have to pay!"
Miao Xiaohua shrieked, being deliberately unreasonable. ’Things shouldn’t be like this,’ she felt, though she didn’t know why!
For the past few days at the Chen family’s home, everyone had been annoyed with her. Even Chen Mingliang was ignoring her.
She didn’t care about the others, but she couldn’t stand it from Chen Mingliang. ’Chen Mingliang is very important,’ a thought constantly echoed in her mind.
Being forced to act meek and subservient in the Chen family home, doing all the chores, eating the least food, and waiting on the entire family had left her simmering with resentment.
An Ning secretly observed Miao Xiaohua’s state. She was very satisfied.
"Officers, you see how she’s acting. What should I do?"
The older officer stepped forward and said to Miao Xiaohua, "The fact that you caused An Ning to fall into the river is undisputed. Compensation must be paid. Otherwise, I’ll have to take you back to the station for a more thorough interrogation."
Miao Xiaohua certainly didn’t want to go to the police station. She turned and gave Chen Mingliang a hopeful look.
Chen Mingliang didn’t want to get involved, but he was inextricably linked to the situation. He had no choice but to brace himself and step forward.
"It’s not that we won’t pay, we just don’t have the money! We already gave that two hundred yuan to An Ning. Where are we supposed to get more money!"
The older officer heard this and immediately thought, ’So there’s more to this story!’
"You two have a history?"
As the officer eyed her with suspicion, An Ning instantly understood what Chen Mingliang was trying to do, but she hated how he was beating around the bush.
So, An Ning pointed at Miao Xiaohua and Chen Mingliang and declared, "He is my ex-fiancé, and she is his mistress. They had an affair on what was supposed to be my wedding day, injured my head, and paid compensation for it."
The officer’s eyebrows shot straight up. ’Now that’s a juicy story.’
In the end, with the help of the police and Sun Dazhuang, Miao Xiaohua and Chen Mingliang were ordered to write an IOU for An Ning. But before the IOU was even written, the Chen family announced they were splitting the household.
Chen Mingliang’s father was somber for a long moment, but he finally agreed.
The Chen family divided their assets first, casting out Chen Mingliang and Miao Xiaohua to bear the debt alone.
Miao Xiaohua was delighted by this, but seeing the gloomy, uncertain look on Chen Mingliang’s face, she didn’t dare show it.
’Still,’ she thought, ’I’ll just coax him a bit in bed tonight, and he’ll be fine. Men are all the same.’
At first, the current Miao Xiaohua had wondered where she’d learned such skills, but she gradually stopped questioning it and began to use them to her advantage.
The IOU was written in triplicate. An Ning, Chen Mingliang, and Sun Dazhuang each took a copy.
The police left, and the villagers returned to their work, though everyone was wondering when the sky would finally grant them some rain.
An Ning didn’t continue working. Instead, she went back to the An family home to continue studying her pile of parts.
By now, several rooms in the An family house were filled with bolts of fabric. When there was no more space, her aunt and sister-in-law from her uncle’s side of the family took the sewing machine to their own home, along with the pre-cut fabric pieces.
Many villagers saw them carrying everything away and couldn’t help but ask questions.
After some inquiries, everyone learned that the An family’s second son was behind the whole operation.
This was the official story An Ning had them stick to. She didn’t want any distractions; she just wanted to farm in peace and send the seeds back to the interstellar.
When the villagers learned that An Guoming had bought a sewing machine to start a business, their first reaction was fear.
’Are people allowed to run businesses now?’
Eventually, Sun Dazhuang explained that there was indeed a new policy from the government and that many people in the cities were already in business. Only then did everyone relax a little.
Once they relaxed, they started seeing An Guoming in a whole new, favorable light.
Whenever An Guoming went out, several of the village aunties would strike up a conversation, asking his age and what kind of wife he was looking for.
This wave of enthusiasm was so intense that An Guoming wondered if he’d stumbled into the wrong village!
After all, he had long been considered the village’s most despised "loafer."
That evening, after dinner, An Ning stopped studying her parts.
She pulled An Guoming and An Guoqing aside to teach them how to read.
"For today, just learn these two pages. Watch."
An Ning pointed to a page in the dictionary and read it from top to bottom.
When she finished, she figured they probably wouldn’t remember it after just one reading, so she read it again, this time from bottom to top.
’That should be enough,’ she thought. ’I read it twice.’
"Eldest Brother, Second Brother, write each of today’s new characters ten times. I’ll check your work tomorrow evening."
Holding the dictionary in one hand and a notebook in the other, An Ning left.
An Guoqing dumbly held his notebook and turned woodenly to look at An Guoming.
"Second Brother, did Little Sister... just teach us how to read?"
"She did... I think?"
An Guoming wasn’t too sure either.
"What did she teach us? How do you write them? Show me an example! What am I supposed to do if I can’t turn in my homework tomorrow?"
As An Guoqing spoke, he felt that something wasn’t quite right. He leaned his head closer to An Guoming’s.
"Second Brother, don’t you get the feeling... that we’re a little scared of Little Sister?"
An Guoming nodded frantically but didn’t dare say a word.
In truth, neither of them had remembered a single character. They had no choice but to find An Ning and ask for the dictionary.
An Ning didn’t think much of it, simply handing the dictionary to An Guoming and paying them no more mind.
And so, An Guoming and An Guoqing, clutching the dictionary, went to find An Guoping for tutoring!
Their younger brother was easy to handle; their little sister, they dared not mess with.
The two of them borrowed a flashlight, dragged An Guoping away, and studied for half the night.
In the dead of night, An Guoping went to sleep while the two miserable brothers began their homework, momentarily unsure of who the real student was supposed to be.