Chapter 181: Begging Her for Mercy

Chapter 181: Chapter 181: Begging Her for Mercy

She slammed the jacket down at Shen Yujie’s feet.

Cowering in the corner from the verbal lashing, Shen Yujie covered her face and sobbed.

"I... I just wanted to do our family proud... Who knew my luck would be so terrible? The moment I made my move, they nabbed me..."

As she spoke, she raised a hand and slapped her own face.

"I deserve this! It’s all my fault! This is all because of me..."

Zheng Cuiyun didn’t even raise an eyelid.

"Killing you? That wouldn’t even be worth the trouble!"

"Because of you, my man is gone! How are Xiao Wen and I supposed to live from now on? On air? Or should I send him, at seven or eight years old, to haul cement at a construction site?"

Zheng Cuiyun’s voice was hoarse.

Song Wen was being yanked so hard his shoulders were askew, his calves dragging on the ground and leaving two faint gray streaks in the dust.

Shen Yujie was speechless, only able to beg incessantly.

"Zheng Cuiyun, please... Just do your big sis this one last favor, can you?"

"Go to the Yang Family and find Yang Tian, and tell him... tell him I’ve been taken to the station..."

With that, she buried her face in her elbows and wailed.

Zheng Cuiyun had cursed her fill and, fearing a physical fight would only cause more trouble, stomped her foot in fury, turned, and walked away.

She left with a sneer, not uttering a single word in response.

After the news spread that both Shen Yujie and Song Pengfei had been arrested, Song Yao thought she could finally get a good night’s sleep.

Who knew that the next afternoon, Zheng Cuiyun would show up with her son, Song Wen, and block her doorway.

Song Wen’s left hand clutched half a cold cornmeal cake, while his right was held in Zheng Cuiyun’s death grip.

The mother and son, one after the other, knelt in unison outside the courtyard gate.

Zheng Cuiyun grabbed eight-year-old Song Wen.

"Xiao Wen! Hurry up and kowtow to your aunt! Beg her to be merciful and let your father off the hook!"

When her palm struck, it created a gust of wind. Song Wen’s back shot straight up, then immediately slumped again.

Song Wen’s head was ringing, and he grimaced in pain.

But he bit his lip hard, refusing to cry out.

’Being dragged here to kneel is humiliating enough. Crying on top of that?’

’He’d rather bite his tongue off!’

He stubbornly refused to kowtow, so Zheng Cuiyun simply knelt herself, slapping the ground and shouting.

"Song Yao! Your sister-in-law was wrong! I was terribly wrong! You’re the bigger person, so please don’t stoop to my level. Just be merciful this once, can’t you?"

The moment Zheng Cuiyun let out that wail, the neighbors immediately gathered to watch the spectacle.

Song Yao couldn’t even pretend she hadn’t heard.

Besides, she wasn’t the type to hide her head in the sand and play dead.

She was just inside murmuring with Li Hanchen.

’Would sliced ham be more fragrant in a soup, or would diced ham stewed with turnips be better with rice?’

’We should also heat up the meat buns Wei Guilan brought over yesterday.’

’With that, the foundation for their New Year’s Eve dinner would be set.’

They hadn’t even finished their discussion when a shrill, piercing wail drifted in from outside, grating enough to give anyone a headache.

Song Yao frowned but still lifted the door curtain and went out.

’She had to go out.’

’If no one paid her any mind, that woman would wail from noon until nightfall.’

Seeing her appear, Zheng Cuiyun dropped to her knees, shuffled forward two steps on them, her face a mess of snot and tears.

"Song Yao, oh, Song Yao! Yesterday’s incident, it really wasn’t your brother’s fault! It was all that troublemaker Shen Yujie who egged your brother on to scratch the car!"

Song Yao took out a small ear pick and slowly cleaned her ears.

"My brother? Which brother?"

"My actual brother works in Beijing. He hasn’t even come back to the village!"

She lightly tapped the tip of the ear pick against her fingernail.

"He sent a letter last month saying his schedule at the factory is too tight, so he can’t even come back for the Spring Festival."

"Besides, my brother wouldn’t even dare to puncture a bicycle tire, let alone scratch someone’s car. Do you take him for a bandit?"

She tilted her head and tucked the ear pick back into her sleeve pocket.

"Last time he saw a mouse run into the chicken coop, his hands were shaking so bad he didn’t even dare to poke it with a bamboo pole."

Zheng Cuiyun’s face stiffened. She swallowed hard and quickly corrected herself.

"Oh... I misspoke! It’s... it’s Xiao Wen’s father! Xiao Wen’s father!"

As she spoke, she yanked Song Wen over, her nails digging into his arm, and shoved him forward.

"Xiao Wen! Hurry and kowtow to your aunt! Beg your aunt for mercy!"

Her knees buckled, and she fell back into a kneeling position with a THUD.

"Song Yao! For the sake of my old face, please let this go! For Xiao Wen’s sake, spare his father this once!"

Song Yao dusted off her sleeve.

"Nephew? Whose nephew? My older brother and sister-in-law have only been married for two years. They don’t even have a child!"

She paused, staring at Zheng Cuiyun.

"They had their wedding in the twelfth lunar month, reported to the factory in the first, and are still living in the bachelor dorms now."

Zheng Cuiyun’s wailing stopped abruptly. She stood there, mouth agape, stunned.

"You... didn’t you used to hold Xiao Wen every day, feed him candy, and call him your precious little darling?"

Song Yao laughed out loud, pointing at Song Wen’s old, faded clothes.

"Me, dote on him?"

She patted her own smooth forehead.

"My brain is working just fine, thank you! Nothing wrong with me! But as for your family... if you don’t have a mirror, you must at least have a chamber pot, right? Go squat over it, take a piss, and have a good look at your reflection! And you have the nerve to say I dote on him? By that logic, I must also dote on bones leftover by dogs!"

Eight-year-old Song Wen’s face flushed crimson on the spot.

Zheng Cuiyun was so ashamed the back of her neck turned purple. A vein throbbed on her temple. She pinched her thigh, her nails digging into her flesh.

A woman in the crowd of onlookers laughed out loud.

"Exactly! It’s not like they’re blood relatives. Look at how she was tormented by her in-laws! Why would she dote on their son? The woman must be living in a dream world!"

Zheng Cuiyun’s lips trembled with rage.

Just as she was about to shout, Song Yao had already lifted her chin and swept a cold gaze over them.

"So, do you want me to have someone throw you out, or are you going to get lost on your own?"

After a pause, she added the finishing blow.

"If you ever block my door and cause a scene again, I’ll report you to the commune immediately!"

Zheng Cuiyun had wanted to linger and argue some more.

But when she heard the threat of reporting her to the commune, she remembered the miserable sight of Song Pengfei and Shen Yujie being hauled away, and she swallowed the words on the tip of her tongue.

’It wasn’t that she didn’t want to be defiant; she just couldn’t afford to be.’

’If she really pissed off Song Yao, she’d be the next one to end up in a cell.’

In the end, she could only drag the dejected Song Wen away in disgrace.

Song Wen was dragged out the gate by his arm.

Wei Guilan stood at the courtyard gate, clutching a few freshly picked scallions, and watched their retreating figures. Her lips moved, but in the end, she said nothing.

After that, no one dared to come to Song Yao’s door to cause trouble again.

What happened to Song Pengfei and the others afterward?

Song Yao didn’t bother to find out.

’What did it have to do with her?’

She went about her business as usual, waking up early to buy groceries.

Occasionally, Li Yuan would ride his bike over to drop off some vegetables, and they’d chat about the weather and grain prices, but he never mentioned the incident.

Song Yao would just listen and nod, acting as if that whole fiasco had never happened.

「In the blink of an eye, it was New Year’s Eve.」

Wei Guilan tied on her apron and got busy before dawn.

Firewood CRACKLED in the stove. Lard was poured into the hot iron wok.

The oil sizzled and spattered, and its fragrance instantly filled the entire kitchen.

At the New Year’s Eve dinner table, Song Yao and Li Hanchen sat together. Li Yuan and Wu Xixi’s family were also there.

Li Hanchen helped Song Yao with her chair, then sat primly to her left.

Nowadays, the moment Wu Xixi saw Song Yao, she’d stick to her side like her butt was glued down and ask, "I heard your real dad is a high-ranking official? Is your house so full of gold it’s about to burst?"

The words had barely left her mouth when she hurriedly added another question.

"Do you really have a vault? Which room is it in? Who has the key to the safe?"

"With that much money, you probably can’t even count it all, right?"

She gestured with her hand, her fingertips tapping at the empty air.

"I heard officials make several hundred yuan a month. How much does that add up to in a year? Is it enough to buy a three-room house with a tiled roof?"