Chapter 34: Homicide
Su Yaoguang and Zhou Wangshu came down from the mountain, with Zhou Wangshu holding a rabbit. They were discussing how to cook the rabbit. Su Yaoguang thought braised rabbit would be delicious, while Zhou Wangshu wanted Su Yaoguang to try his roasted rabbit. Ultimately, they were both swayed by the other’s suggestion and decided to cook half braised and half roasted.
As they returned to the courtyard gate, a woman in patched clothing was anxiously pacing back and forth, muttering ’what to do, what to do’.
"Second Aunt?" Su Yaoguang tentatively called out upon seeing the figure.
The woman turned around, revealing a face extremely similar to Zhang Zhaodi’s, only more haggard and frail.
It was Zhang Zhaodi’s sister, the Zhang family’s second daughter, Zhang Pandi.
Upon seeing Su Yaoguang return, Zhang Pandi cried out, "You’re back, Yaoguang girl. Something happened to your mother, come quickly and think of a solution!"
"What happened to my mother?" Su Yaoguang’s face turned pale.
"Your mother was delivering Eldest Feng’s wife, and that woman nearly bled to death. Fortunately, your mother managed to save her. However, the next morning, the child was found dead. They’re saying it was caused by improper delivery by your mother, and they want her to take responsibility. She’s being detained now and not allowed to leave."
"Where is the Feng family?" Su Yaoguang asked.
"In the village where my husband belongs, they’re the wealthiest family around. Yaoguang, if this situation isn’t handled well, your mother could be charged with a crime!" Zhang Pandi said anxiously, "If they hand your mother over to the government, the accusation won’t be minor, she could be sentenced for years."
"Second Aunt, I’ll first go rent a bull cart, we’ll ride there quickly to check it out." Su Yaoguang said, "Wangshu, stay here with Second Aunt and wait."
Zhou Wangshu said, "Don’t rush, let’s go and see first, there’s always a way to resolve this."
Despite Su Yaoguang’s calm words, her palms were trembling. She was only a fifteen-year-old girl, the worst people she’d ever encountered were village hooligans and shrews, so it was natural to be scared when facing something more serious. If she weren’t scared or tense, she’d either have a heart of stone or have seen too much bloodshed.
In her previous life, none of this happened, it was surely because she changed her initial choices, leading to different obstacles and difficulties.
Su Yaoguang quickly rented the bull cart. Zhou Wangshu had already placed their belongings back in the courtyard and was waiting outside with Zhang Pandi for her return. When the bull cart arrived, Zhou Wangshu helped Zhang Pandi into the seat beside Su Yaoguang, then jumped onto the wagon at the back.
A quarter of an hour later, the bull cart arrived at the village where Zhang Pandi’s husband lived.
Zhang Pandi pointed out the best large house in the village to Su Yaoguang, saying, "It’s that one."
"Oh, Chunni’s mother, where did you find such a handsome young man? Could it be someone chosen for your Chunni?" The village women joked.
Zhang Pandi weakly explained, "No, this is my big sister’s daughter, and this is her young husband."
"Second Aunt, thank you for letting me know. You go home first, Wangshu and I will handle dealing with the Feng family." Su Yaoguang said, "My mother put in so much effort to save Mrs. Feng, since both the adult and child were safe, it’s unreasonable for them to blame her just because the child was found dead after sleeping."
If the child was born weak due to a difficult birth, a doctor should have been called immediately. The Feng family has money and can afford a doctor, why blame the midwife who did her job perfectly?
Zhang Pandi was worried about her sister but she also had a mess at home, leaving her no choice but to go back.
In fact, going back now would likely result in a beating. Normally at this time, she would have finished cooking, but today she hadn’t even started.
Su Yaoguang knocked on the door.
"Who is it?" An old lady opened the door, seeing the unfamiliar faces of Su Yaoguang and Zhou Wangshu, she raised her sparse eyebrows, "Who are you two?"
"I’m the daughter of the midwife Mrs. Zhang." Su Yaoguang said, "My mother hasn’t come home for a long time, I heard she was delivering here, so we came to see how things are."
The woman opened the door and said sharply, "If you hadn’t come, we would’ve been looking for you. It’s good you came, saves us a trip. Come in!"
"Where’s my mother?"
"Your mother?" Madam Yu sneered, "Your mother killed my granddaughter, and we’ll send her to the government. Of course, she’s in the woodshed now, did you think she’d be treated as a guest in our home?"
"How could my mother have killed your granddaughter? I don’t believe it just hearing your side, I want to see my mother. If you’ve simply detained her, we’ll report to the government, say you’re engaged in human trafficking, people go into your house and can’t come out, and have the government investigate you properly."
"Old lady has never seen someone without fear. Your mother killed someone, and you dare report?" Madam Yu stood with her hands on her hips.
A robust man came out, with a fierce look in his eyes when he saw Su Yaoguang, "You’re the midwife’s daughter? Since you’re here, let’s discuss how to settle this. If you don’t want us to report to the government, then pay one hundred taels of silver. My wife did suffer a considerable hemorrhage, though she saved her life. Still, saving my wife’s life while killing my precious daughter demands a reckoning. If it weren’t for considering she saved my wife, we’d have already reported her to the authorities."
"One hundred taels? Ridiculous."
"Don’t want to pay? Then don’t think about leaving this door."
"If you want the money, fine, let us see the person first." Zhou Wangshu stood in front of Su Yaoguang.
The man was fierce and daunting, clearly not a decent person.
Eldest Feng waved his hand, signaling Madam Yu to lead them to the woodshed.
As Madam Yu opened the woodshed door, Su Yaoguang shoved past her, rushing inside.
Zhou Wangshu stayed outside.
He did not enter the woodshed. This family was not decent; he needed to become her way out, couldn’t be trapped with her in the small woodshed.
"Mother... mother..." Su Yaoguang shook the bound Zhang Zhaodi.
Zhang Zhaodi weakly opened her eyes, and upon seeing Su Yaoguang, she whispered softly, "I must be delirious from hunger, otherwise how could I see my girl?"
Su Yaoguang took out a flatbread from her chest, tore it open and put it near her mother’s mouth, then called outside, "Wangshu, did you bring water?"
Zhou Wangshu said, "I did."
He handed the bamboo bucket inside.
Madam Yu stood outside the woodshed, asking Zhou Wangshu, "Why are you standing here, not going in to check?"
"It’s also for your sake. If someone locks me in a woodshed, I carry a flint with me and can burn it clean with one fire." Zhou Wangshu said, "You surely weren’t planning to lock us all inside, were you?"
Madam Yu’s eyes flashed with guilt.
Of course, she considered.
But thankfully didn’t act on it, otherwise that young man would ignite the woodshed and burn the whole house down?