The 1960s: The Story of a Country Girl's Journey to the City

Old Man Lü's face turned red from being choked by Bao Ya's words, and his chest heaved violently, as if he was about to faint.

Unexpectedly, Bao Ya added another sentence:

"Why don't you take a look at them and see which one is useless, then kick him out and replace him with you?"

She was pointing to the village party secretary, women's director, and several team leaders sitting opposite her.

Although the villagers weren't very educated and there wasn't much profit to be made in being an official, they were all obsessed with becoming officials. They acted more important than the provincial leaders.

Now that Bao Ya is pointing at them and saying that Old Man Lü should pick one of them to kick out, that's outrageous! For a moment, they all looked at Old Man Lü with hostility.

Unable to withstand the stares of the crowd, Old Man Lü flicked his sleeves, turned around angrily, and left.

The Lü family wanted to keep him, but unfortunately, they had no say in the matter.

"Bao Ya, look at the situation now. What are your demands? Let's discuss it properly. After all, we're still relatives, right? We can't let ourselves become mortal enemies. Don't you think that makes sense?"

Once everyone was seated, the village head began his opening remarks. After all, it was a family dispute, and village officials could only try to smooth things over; they couldn't exactly arrange for people to get divorced.

"Captain, we had already discussed this before we came. Er Ya and Lu Lao Er will divorce, and the Lu family will pay Er Ya's medical expenses and give Er Ya some compensation. That's it. Otherwise, we'll pursue their responsibilities in this marriage little by little."

"Why should we give her compensation? She's the wife our family paid a high dowry to marry. You think you can just divorce her like that?"

Before the brigade leader could even speak, Granny Lü jumped up, ignoring the pain all over her body. Wanting a divorce and then expecting money from his family? That was a pipe dream.

They smashed up their own house and beat them up like this; this isn't over yet.

"A high bride price? Second Uncle, did you accept their bride price?"

Bao Ya didn't even glance at Granny Lü, and turned to ask Lin Lao Er.

Lin Lao Er paused for a moment, then immediately shook his head.

"No, my husband and I never accepted any betrothal gifts from her family."

The couple had never seen a penny of each other's money. It was Granny Lin and Li Jinxiang who found Er Ya a husband's family. At that time, the family had not yet separated, and Granny Lin took all the betrothal gifts.

"Did you hear that? My second uncle didn't accept your family's betrothal gifts."

Bao Ya shrugged, "The second wife's family definitely didn't accept it. Go find whoever did."

"You, your aunt arranged this marriage. If you don't believe me, go back and ask her. Don't try to act like a scoundrel here."

Granny Lü was furious. She had spent a hundred yuan on the bride price, and now they were denying it. How could things be so cheap?

"My aunt is a bad element. One of the crimes she confessed to was human trafficking. It must be the one you two conspired to frame Er Ya, right?"

Bao Ya sneered and turned to the brigade leader, saying:

"Uncle, it seems we'll have to go to the police station to resolve this today. My aunt's confession has already been registered at the commune. Why don't you take her to the commune police station first, and we'll go back to the village to pick her up? How about we meet at the commune police station?"

The self-criticisms and apology letters written by Lin Dahe's family back then were all on the commune's records. It doesn't matter if they bring them up now; it'll just mean a few criticism sessions, no one will die.

"Cough cough cough."

The old Party Secretary, who was sitting to the side smoking welding fumes with his head down, was getting restless. When they went to the commune for a meeting, Secretary Yan warned them and even used that incident as an example to remind them to be more vigilant. He said that if their own village were to have a similar incident, they should see if they could handle it.

"Bao Ya, let's discuss this at the brigade level first. We will take the Lü family's problem seriously."

The old Party Secretary advised, "If they really accuse us of human trafficking, the entire brigade will be implicated, and who would dare to marry their daughters to our brigade in the future?"

"Yes, Bao Ya, don't listen to this old woman's nonsense. She doesn't have the final say. Lu Lao Er and Lin Er Ya should just get a divorce."

"That Lu Lao Er is a scoundrel; he beats his wife every day. No girl would want to live like that."

The brigade leader chimed in, saying, "Lin Baoya has already come to our door. Even if they manage to reconcile this time and prevent the two from divorcing, what about next time?"

If Lin Baoya can come once, she can come again. Next time, instead of talking about divorce, she'll directly label people, hold a big meeting, and bring in the city committee. Then things will be out of control.

"Why should you do this? You can't bully people like this. My son hasn't even agreed yet, and you just say a few words and make them divorce. You're not the kind of officials you are."

"Take Er Ya with you, and leave Wu Ya behind. My second son can't be without a wife."

Granny Lü was beaten black and blue, but she still hasn't behaved herself. She probably thinks that with the village officials around, no one will dare to hit her anymore, so she's become even more arrogant.

"bump!"

Bao Ya smashed the teacup full of water in front of her, splashing water all over everyone around her.

"Second Uncle, what are you standing there for? Hit her! She's been belittling your daughter like this. If you don't beat her to death today, how can you call yourself Wuya's father?"

Bao Ya's eyes narrowed, and she yelled at Lin Lao Er. Before Lin Lao Er could react, Lin Lao San had already pounced on him.

Seeing this, Lin Lao Er couldn't just stand by and watch, so he rushed over too. In a few breaths, Lin Lao Er and Lin Lao San were wrestling with the Lü family.

Those waiting outside heard the commotion and came to check. Seeing that the Lin brothers had already started, they rushed in to squeeze in.

The room was too small, so only seven or eight young and strong men came in. They surrounded the Lü family members and beat them until they cried out in pain.

"Stop hitting him! Stop hitting him!"

Several village officials shouted from the side, their voices cracking, but no one listened. By the time the villagers tried to rush in to see what was going on, it was over inside.

"Baoya, we understand you're young, but you can't go too far! Look at this..."

The captain was starting to lose his temper. He had been very polite from the beginning and had no intention of favoring the Lü family.

But to beat someone so brazenly in front of him—isn't that a slap in his own face? How can he possibly command respect from others after that?

"Okay, I understand. You can all leave now."

Anyway, she's vented her anger, so Bao Ya is being particularly obedient to advice now.

"Uncle, I've already given you plenty of face. Let's talk this over if we can, and if we can't, we'll go to the commune police station. If this old woman still won't speak like a human being, then we've got nothing left to talk about."

Bao Ya's attitude did not soften at all. She was calculating the time in her mind, and Monkey and the others should be arriving soon.

Bao Ya's arrogant attitude made the village officials present frown. They all remained silent, intending to leave her hanging for a while.

Bao Ya didn't care about their attitudes and started stating her conditions. It didn't matter if they didn't agree now; they would have to agree when the monkey arrived.