Chapter 4: I Want Compensation Too

Chen Wenjun was crying even more bitterly now. “You people are utterly inhuman! I spent the whole day selling fish at my stall in the street and never went anywhere. That was fish I saved up for more than half a month. I sold every last one, and now I have less money in my pocket than I have on my face. You say I have no money—were my fish given away for free, then?

“I know you all look down on people like us from the fishing communities, but I’ve lived honestly and earned my living by my own two hands, selling fish and stealing from no one. I was struck by disaster for no reason at all, and now you still want to turn around and bite me? Isn’t that bullying people too much?”

The neighbors could not bear to listen any longer and rose up one after another to condemn the Liu family.

Seeing that Liu Yongguo was refusing to cooperate, the police officer said coldly, “Open a case and arrest them!”

“No! No, no... We’ll pay compensation... No! We’ll return the money, we’ll return it!” Ma Cuihua shouted through clenched teeth, pounding her thigh as she wailed. She had a bellyful of grievance, but she could not say a word of it. She could say nothing at all; even if she did, no one would believe her.

Clearly things were not supposed to have turned out this way. Why, in the end, were they the ones suffering?

The officer, furious, barked, “Then hurry up!”

Ma Cuihua tottered to her feet, clinging to the cabinet, and was about to go back inside to fetch the money.

“Stop right there!” Lin Qin, holding Liu Yaya in her arms, blocked her path. “And don’t forget the account for framing me and beating me until I bled must be settled too!”

Ma Cuihua’s chest heaved violently with rage. “You... You filthy wretch, and you think you’re fit to settle accounts with me!”

Lin Qin gave her a cold glance and looked to the police officer. “Officer, my case isn’t over yet, is it? They’ve all confessed. I demand the harshest punishment!”

A hiss of shock rippled through the crowd of neighbors. They stared in astonishment at the unfamiliar Lin Qin before them.

They were all one family—how had it come to this, as though they were sworn enemies? Or had a rabbit, driven to the wall, turned around and bitten?

This was not the Lin Qin they knew. She had never been this fierce!

The neighborhood director hurried forward to soothe her. “I know you’ve been wronged, but if this gets out, it won’t look good. Your husband is still in college, and I heard he’s about to graduate. What if this affects his job placement?”

The director was trying to use Liu Yongming to make Lin Qin yield, but she did not know that the person Lin Qin hated most in her heart was that scoundrel himself.

He was the true mastermind behind everything tonight, doing all this just to cast off a wife who was uneducated and useless, so he could marry a woman of suitable standing in a proper, respectable way.

“Fine!” The director’s expression relaxed, only to hear Lin Qin speak slowly and evenly: “If making trouble here is disgraceful, then I’ll go to Yongming’s school and find him there. I’ll have his teachers and classmates judge the matter fairly for me. Since he can’t even sort out the affairs of his own home, then he needn’t study anymore!”

The neighborhood director frowned. “What nonsense are you talking?”

In their neighborhood, there were only a handful of people studying in college, and Liu Yongming was one of them. He was the neighborhood’s pride. If Lin Qin really made a scene at his school, she would ruin him.

“I say, girl, do you have any sense at all? He’s your husband! If you ruin him, how will it benefit you? Has water gotten into your head?” Li Lian scolded her in a rapid torrent.

Even Lin Yi did not approve of her plan.

Yet Lin Qin remained unmoved. “If you want me not to go, that’s fine. They have to compensate me, and they have to apologize to me properly until I am satisfied.”

“You’re dreaming!” Ma Cuihua roared back without a second thought, her gaze on Lin Qin so venomous it seemed she wanted to flay her alive.

Lin Qin gave a cold snort. “Fifty yuan. If I don’t get the money today, none of you will have a peaceful day. I’ll go to the newspaper office, I’ll go to Liu Yongming’s school, and I’ll keep making trouble until we all go down together!”

Her crazed, all-or-nothing demeanor darkened every face in the room.

The police officer spoke up in time. “Since Comrade Lin Qin has already proposed a settlement, you’d better think it over carefully. And she still has an injury to her head that needs treatment. If this case isn’t resolved, then after the fact, if anything happens to her, she can hold all of you accountable at any time.”

His words were veiled, but the neighborhood director understood. When Ma Cuihua was about to argue again, he shot her a fierce glare. “Hurry up and go get the money to compensate her! You old fool, you brought this on yourself. Yongming having a family like yours is truly a disaster of eight lifetimes!”

Ma Cuihua felt the world go black.

Fifty-three yuan and twenty-five cents, plus another fifty yuan—that was more than a hundred in all!

Their family assets amounted to only a little over four hundred. To suddenly hand over so much money, Ma Cuihua could hardly move her feet.

Fearing she might cause more trouble, Lin Qin said at once, “Officer, I know where she hides her money. Come with me and I’ll get it myself, so she can’t later accuse me of stealing from her!”

“Lin Qin... you... very well! Just you wait!” Ma Cuihua glared at her with venom for a long while before gritting her teeth and going into the room to get the money.

Xu Wanzhi secretly pinched Liu Yongguo’s waist, aching with distress. That was more than a hundred yuan!

When Ma Cuihua finally came out trembling with the money in hand, the police officer took it quickly, counted it, handed fifty yuan to Lin Qin, and gave the rest to Chen Wenjun.

Before leaving, he did not forget to give the Liu family another stern reprimand.

The neighborhood director shook his head in exasperation, thinking that while the four members of the Liu family were hateful, Lin Qin was not innocent either. Causing such a scene today would only make her life in the Liu household harder.

Chen Wenjun took the money and immediately packed up to leave.

Before he went, he gave Lin Qin a deep look, though he said nothing.

The four members of the Liu family did not dare stop him.

Lin Qin watched him go, then turned and handed Liu Yaya to Lin Yi. “Dad, I’ll pack a few things and go stay with you for a few days. I’ll go to the clinic later to have the wound on my head treated.”

“Good! I’ll go with you!” Lin Yi was seething with anger and did not want his daughter staying in the Liu family for another moment.

When Ma Cuihua saw that Lin Qin was leaving, she refused to allow it and threw herself onto the ground, rolling and yelling, cursing Lin Qin for being unfilial.

It angered Lin Yi to no end.

Lin Qin drove everyone out of the room, quickly gathered her things, locked the door, and left without looking back, not giving a damn about Ma Cuihua’s fate.

Behind her came Ma Cuihua’s foul stream of curses.

Xu Wanzhi returned to the room with a belly full of rage.

Liu Yongguo hurried in after her to soothe her. “Wife, this won’t just be let go. Don’t worry—the fifty yuan will be back in our hands very soon.”

“Easy for you to say! Didn’t you see how arrogant Lin Qin was today? She even dared to hit her own mother. In the future she’ll climb all over me too! And what about those fifty-three yuan and twenty-five cents? Are we just supposed to swallow that loss in silence?” Xu Wanzhi raged, pointing at Liu Yongguo’s nose.

Liu Yongguo was annoyed beyond measure. “Then what can I do? Do you really want me to go to prison?”

“You didn’t steal that money, so why should you go to prison? Why should we be the ones paying?” Xu Wanzhi simply would not accept it.

Fifty yuan! Their family would have to save for more than half a year to manage that much!

At this moment, Liu Yongguo was also filled with regret. If he had known something was wrong when he saw a person lying in the alley, why had he been so bewitched, dragging the man back just to pocket those three yuan? In the end, not only had the plan failed, they had been forced to pay more than fifty—no, more than a hundred!