Day Seven

The play "The White-Haired Girl" is a classic model opera, known to everyone—from toddlers to elderly villagers in their seventies and eighties. Everyone has seen it, and all know that Huang Shiren is the infamous villain.

In this era of intense class struggle, being called a "Huang Shiren" was far more than just an insult.

Huang Liying’s face immediately darkened as she pointed at Wen Congyin. “Who are you calling Huang Shiren? Let’s all be reasonable—how has our family treated Zhao Lina? If she hadn’t been dishonest, stealing our preserved pork reserved for the New Year, that three-pound chunk, heavy as it was, and eaten all by herself—this was meant to be served to relatives during the festival! Any parent in our shoes would punish their own child.”

She pounded her chest and wiped away tears, lamenting, “We’re just unlucky. Their child is really unmanageable. Any parent who finds their own child doing such a thing beats them and scolds them. But when it’s someone else’s child, you can’t lay a finger on them, yet you’re the ones called Huang Shiren!”

Her words silenced the crowd, for three pounds of preserved pork was no small matter.

Madam Lin added, “It’s one thing to discipline your child, but you can’t just kick them out. If there’s a problem, talk it over properly.”

“Madam Lin,” Zhao Anguo pushed through the crowd with his son Zhao Baoshan. Seeing him return, Madam Lin breathed a sigh of relief. Zhao Anguo was still reasonable. She immediately said, “Comrade Zhao, you came back just in time. This morning, you promised me you’d take good care of the children. Yet, no sooner had we left than you drove her out again. Her auntie came by today and saw it all herself. If this spreads, it won’t just harm your reputation—it will bring shame on our whole neighborhood!”

Hearing this, Zhao Anguo glanced at Huang Liying with a stern look.

Huang Liying’s expression turned guilty.

Zhao Anguo withdrew his gaze and faced Madam Lin, releasing his son’s hand with a sincere expression. “Madam Lin, I have been negligent in managing my household and have failed to control my wife. Rest assured, this will never happen again.”

“Never again?”

Wen Congyin held the thin, small Zhao Lina and looked at Zhao Anguo. “You say that lightly. But what if it happens again?”

“Who are you?” Zhao Anguo’s eyes fell on Wen Congyin. Though smiling, his expression was clearly disdainful and dismissive.

Madam Lin quickly introduced, “Comrade Zhao, this is Comrade Wen, Lina’s auntie. She came specially to see her.”

“Oh.”

At this, Zhao Anguo’s eyes flickered, his face revealed a trace of helplessness. “Xiao Wen, you’re still young and don’t understand how difficult it is to raise children. I wasn’t aware of Liying’s behavior before, but when I found out, I reprimanded her. Still, Liying has her reasons. The child is dishonest and must be punished severely. Otherwise, stealing needles as a child, stealing gold as an adult—what then? My younger brother and his wife passed away early, and their social status wasn’t good. As the uncle and aunt, we must bear the heavy responsibility of raising the child properly, ensuring she doesn’t go astray.”

“If you blame or criticize me for this, I accept it willingly!”

Zhao Anguo was clearly more eloquent and tactful than Huang Liying.

His heartfelt words swayed many neighbors angered by Huang Liying.

Even Madam Lin added, “Comrade Zhao is right. Children must be disciplined from a young age!”

Wen Congyin’s eyes blazed with anger.

She felt the small hand in hers grow colder and colder. When she looked down at Zhao Lina, the child kept her head bowed, expressionless, as if resigned to her fate.

In that instant, Wen Congyin understood why Zhao Lina would become a villain in the future.

With a cunning, scheming uncle like Zhao Anguo and a cruel, merciless aunt like Huang Liying, how much hardship and suffering would Zhao Lina endure growing up?

Though Madam Lin and others sympathized, their sympathy was limited and easily shaken.

Zhao Lina’s life was nothing but pain and torment. The people she met were so vicious and unscrupulous; the kind-hearted were far too weak.

“Comrade Zhao, Comrade Huang, you keep saying that Lina stole the preserved pork. Do you have proof?!” Wen Congyin, suppressing her fury, calmly demanded.

Before Zhao Anguo could answer, Huang Liying interrupted, “What proof do we need? There are only four of us in our family. The pork is gone. If she didn’t steal it, who else would have?”

Wen Congyin found this laughable.

“So, this is just your guess? You didn’t actually see it?”

Huang Liying snapped irritably, “Do we have to see? Our things are missing. Our family of three wouldn’t steal. Of course, it’s her!”

Wen Congyin pressed on, “Did you find the pork?”

Zhao Anguo, sensing Wen Congyin’s probing, answered cautiously, “The pork was eaten. It’s gone; there’s no way to find it now.”

“Fine. I can testify. My niece Zhao Lina is not the one who stole the preserved pork!” Wen Congyin held Zhao Lina up and said to the crowd, “Look at Lina’s complexion—pale and sallow. This clearly shows prolonged hunger. She probably hasn’t been properly fed. With her condition, even if the three pounds of pork were divided into several meals, she would have diarrhea and digestive problems. In this cold weather, she might have caught a cold or fever. But she shows no such symptoms, which means she didn’t eat the pork. Someone else did!”

Her gaze fell on Zhao Anguo’s son, Zhao Baoshan.

Baoshan’s flushed face was feverish; he sniffled, bundled up tightly but still complained of the cold.

Sister Sun clapped her hands, “Oh, now I remember! Baoshan has been running to the public toilet every night, dashing past our door!”

In these days, every floor in the alley had a public toilet and washroom.

You can hide many things, but not bathroom breaks—they’re unavoidable.

“Right, didn’t Old Zhao say this morning that the child had a fever and took him to the hospital?” another neighbor recalled, “I wondered why Baoshan got sick despite being so warmly dressed, while Lina, dressed like that, wasn’t ill.”

“You’re just guessing! That’s not proof!” Huang Liying panicked, furious and determined to deny everything.

Wen Congyin raised her eyelids and glanced at Huang Liying.

She pulled two orange candies from her pocket and approached Zhao Baoshan, rolling the candy wrappers in her hands. Although Baoshan was feverish and dazed, seeing the shiny golden wrappers made him swallow hard and reach out to grab them.

Wen Congyin dodged his hand.

“Candy! Give me! Give me!” Baoshan, impatient, grabbed at her hand.

Wen Congyin deliberately peeled one candy and slipped it into Zhao Lina’s mouth, then held the other out to Baoshan. “Little brother, you can have this candy if you answer one question for me. If you can answer, the candy is yours. If not, Lina gets it.”

“You—” Zhao Anguo twitched and tried to stop this, worried his son would reveal the truth.

But Geng Xu stopped him, silent but staring at Zhao Anguo with such intensity that it made Zhao Anguo uneasy.

“Who are you to stop me?” Zhao Anguo demanded.

“Wait until Comrade Wen finishes asking,” Geng Xu said and ignored him.

Standing broad-shouldered before Zhao Anguo, Geng Xu made him look like a quail—frustrated, angry, and humiliated.

Wen Congyin withdrew her gaze from Geng Xu’s back and looked tenderly at Zhao Baoshan, asking, “Do you know how to cook preserved pork so it tastes good?”

Baoshan nodded proudly, swaying his head, “Of course I know! We’ve been eating it every day. Stir-fried preserved pork is the best—it smells so good.”

No further explanation was needed. Hearing this, what else was there to doubt?

“Give me the candy! Give me!” Baoshan urged again, reaching for Wen Congyin’s hand.

Wen Congyin didn’t mind a child’s impatience and handed him the candy. Then she turned to Zhao Anguo and Huang Liying. “You say, ‘Stealing needles as a child, stealing gold as an adult.’ But your family is just crying thief and framing my niece. What’s that about?”

The couple’s faces turned green and then black.

Huang Liying stiffened her neck and said, “She’s just a child. You can’t take her words seriously. Besides, a little thing like this is in the past—it’s a family matter!”

“Your family matter?” Wen Congyin’s face darkened. “Your family cries ‘thief’ while making my niece take the fall. You kicked her out in the freezing cold winter. Were it not for the kindness of our neighbors, I’d be coming here to find my niece’s corpse. This is clearly an excuse for child abuse, and I’m going to report this to the Women’s Federation!”

Without waiting for a response, Wen Congyin turned to leave.

Madam Lin and others hurried to stop her.

“Xiao Wen, these family disputes are hard to judge. Don’t make things difficult for the Women’s Federation with this small matter.”

“Yes, Xiao Wen. I believe they won’t dare do this again. They’re Lina’s uncle and aunt after all—family. No need to make a fuss.”

Geng Xu watched the scene with no surprise.

Human nature has always been this way: when it concerns others’ interests, people can be fair; but when their own interests are involved, no one can sit still.

If this went to the Women’s Federation, both the local officials and the residents’ reputations would suffer.

Naturally, no one wanted Wen Congyin to escalate the matter.

But what happened next surprised Geng Xu.

Despite the crowd’s attempts to stop her, Wen Congyin didn’t get angry. After a brief, subtle struggle, she sighed and said to Madam Lin, “Madam Lin, I’m showing respect to you this time. I’ll listen to you, but this matter cannot be let go like this.”

Madam Lin relaxed, feeling gratified. She took Wen Congyin’s hand and said, “Xiao Wen, don’t worry. I’ll stand up for Lina and make sure justice is done. How about you come to my home? We can discuss this properly.”

Wen Congyin looked down at the child in her arms and hesitated. “No, thank you. We just took the night train here all evening and haven’t eaten yet. Let me take the child out to eat first. Tonight, I’ll bring the child back, and then we can discuss. Does that sound alright?”

Madam Lin had no objection.

Besides, it would hurt her to pay for the three of them.

So, Wen Congyin simply took Zhao Lina away.

She walked out of Butao Alley with the child. Geng Xu spoke, “Let me carry the child. Let’s go to the guesthouse and put our things down first.”

Wen Congyin hesitated briefly.

Geng Xu looked at her reddened nose from the cold. “No need to be polite. You should put on a coat too, so you don’t catch a cold.”

His words made perfect sense, so Wen Congyin didn’t refuse. She set the child down, opened the suitcase, and put on a coat, feeling warmer immediately.

She increasingly felt that Zhao Anguo and his wife were inhuman.

Just taking off one coat for a moment made her feel unbearably cold.

Zhao Lina wore such thin clothes and was barefoot—how could she be comfortable?

The pitiful child didn’t even cry or complain. She was clearly already used to it.