The Sea Queen of 1985

Chapter 36: Chapter 36: Song the Second Is Dead

Han Xiaorui sneered, ”They have a son, of course they’re going to prioritize him for everything!”

”You used to send money home from your earnings. Stop sending it. From now on, save all the money I give you.”

Han Xiaoqing hesitated. ”No matter what, Mom and Dad raised me. I should respect them and take care of them.”

Seeing her sister say this, Han Xiaorui didn’t want to make things difficult for her. ”Alright then. I’ll give you a bit more money, but you have to keep at least half for yourself. Oh, and don’t tell them we’re doing well here, or else they’ll drag their whole family over and take over my house.”

”Of course I didn’t,” Han Xiaoqing replied. She knew her parents all too well. ”Sending money isn’t so bad. At least if I’m out here earning, they won’t marry me off to a stranger back home just for a bride price.”

Han Xiaorui thought about it and agreed. ”Xiao Jing, you have a point. It’s getting late, hurry up and get some rest. You have to take the child to class tomorrow.”

”You should get some rest too, Sis. By the way, I got a letter from Mom and Dad this afternoon. They said our younger brother is getting married next month and wants us to come back for the wedding.”

Han Xiaorui froze. ”What else did the letter say?”

”It said they don’t have money for the wedding banquet and asked me to send some. I was planning to send back the hundred yuan you gave me yesterday,” Han Xiaoqing replied. ’I’ll pay for it myself, I won’t let Sis spend her money.’

Hearing this, Han Xiaorui immediately rolled her eyes. ”You send home thirty yuan a month, and I send thirty. That’s sixty yuan already.”

”A dual-income household in the city only earns about that much. And money is worth more in the countryside where we’re from. Sixty yuan a month is more than enough.”

”They’re just deliberately squeezing money out of us. Don’t give them anything besides the monthly allowance. If Han Xiaohao has money, he can get married. If he doesn’t, he can’t. I’d like to see if he’ll really call off the wedding if we don’t send money.”

’Thinking back, her family of origin had a huge influence on why her past self was so easily tricked by Yang Jianming into getting pregnant and having his child.’

’Her own father was abusive to his wife and daughters. In his eyes, daughters were useless.’

’Well, not entirely useless now. At least they could be traded for a bride price.’

’She’d gone to school since she was a child, but her family never paid for it. It was only because her grades were good that her teachers and the principal waived her tuition.’

’After coming to the big city and seeing its prosperity and sophistication, she met the handsome and gentle Yang Jianming. He was just a little nice to her, and she fell for it, head over heels.’

Seeing her sister was angry, Han Xiaoqing said in a small voice, ”Then I won’t send it. Should we still go back for our brother’s wedding?”

”We’ll see when the time comes. If we don’t go back, just sending gift money might make them even happier,” Han Xiaorui said, her eyes filled with scorn. She had no illusions about her parents.

Han Xiaoqing hugged her sister, her eyes slightly red. ”Sis, I’ll listen to you.”

Han Xiaorui hugged her sister back, patting her on the back. ”Our family of origin has a huge impact on us. When you start dating in the future, you can’t let yourself be fooled by a man’s few sweet words. You have to thoroughly investigate his character and his family.”

”Mm, I know, Sis,” Han Xiaoqing agreed. With her sister’s cautionary tale and the example of Yang Jianming, she would be much more careful in the future.

「The next day, a light rain began to fall.」

Since they weren’t going fishing, Liang Xiaoyu went with Han Xiaoqing to take the child to class at the hospital.

Han Xiaorui, on the other hand, went to the police station with Uncle Liu and the others.

”Mr. Ye, how are the two men who were bitten by the poisonous snake yesterday?” Han Xiaorui asked.

Ye Feng replied, ”They’ve been given the antivenom and are out of danger now. The one named Cao Lang is disfigured and has lost an eye.”

”Cao Lang and his younger brother, Cao Hu, arrived in Shencheng two months ago. They’re movers at the Jinshan Bay Seafood Wholesale Market. They vehemently deny being put up to it by anyone, only admitting that they were jealous of you making money from fishing.”

Hearing this, Han Xiaorui frowned slightly. ”Mr. Ye, do you find their reason convincing?”

Ye Feng smiled. ”If they were really just jealous, they wouldn’t have spent money on pesticides to kill those peach trees. They would have tried to rob you instead.”

Han Xiaorui breathed a sigh of relief. ”It’s good that you don’t believe them. Those men were definitely put up to this by someone!”

”There are only a few people who have a grudge against my family. Can you investigate if any of them have been in contact with this Cao Lang?”

”Oh, right. Song the Second’s family has a stall at the seafood wholesale market. Song the Second is in charge of buying fish, and his wife, Yu Lanlan, runs the stall.”

”This Cao Lang is a mover at the seafood wholesale market. It’s possible he knows Yu Lanlan! If you investigate from that angle, you might find something.”

Ye Feng nodded. ”We will follow up on this lead. Please rest assured, Comrade Xiao Han.”

Han Xiaorui smiled. ”Then I’ll have to trouble you, Mr. Ye!”

Coming out of the police station, Han Xiaorui narrowed her eyes. ’This is the first step of my revenge.’

Meanwhile, as the rain lightened, many fishermen, holding umbrellas or wearing bamboo hats and straw rain capes, made their way to the seaside pier.

As soon as they arrived at the pier, they saw someone lying face down on the ground.

A crowd gathered around. ”Who’s that? Why is he lying on the ground so early in the morning?”

”Did you guys see the blood on his leg?”

Everyone’s attention was drawn to the blood staining the concrete pier.

Yang Zhigang was one of them. He owned a large boat; a day without fishing was a day’s earnings lost, and he still had to pay his crew.

He pushed his way through the crowd, patted the person, and got no reaction. He turned the body over and finally got a clear look at the man on the ground.

”Whoa, isn’t this Song the Second?”

Yang Zhigang jumped in shock. Song the Second’s eyes were closed, his face was a deathly blue-black, and he had the look of a corpse.

He put his hand under Song the Second’s nose to check for breath and quickly backed away a few steps. ”Song the Second isn’t breathing!”

Hearing this, the crowd jumped back in fright. ”How could he just die like that?”

Everyone was deeply confused.

Finally, it was Yang Zhigang who mustered the courage to pull up the trouser leg on Song the Second’s swollen, purplish-black leg. On it were the marks of a poisonous snake’s fangs.

”He was bitten by a poisonous snake! Everyone, quick, go tell Song the Second’s wife and his brothers!”

Someone brought over a flatbed cart, and everyone hastily worked together to lift Song the Second onto it and take him home.

Yu Lanlan had gone to the seafood wholesale market early in the morning, still waiting for Brother Wolf to bring her good news.

She waited and waited, but Brother Wolf never came. Yu Lanlan didn’t dare go looking for him at his place in front of so many people.

After finally finishing up with the morning market rush, the stall owners packed up in twos and threes and went home to rest.

Just as Yu Lanlan was about to go look for Brother Wolf, she received a message from home.

Song the Second had been bitten by a poisonous snake and died!

’Although Song the Second was ugly and no good in *that* department, he was a hustler and could always manage to buy good fish for very little money.’

’She was in charge of wholesaling the fish, and they made a decent amount of money every day.’

’Besides, Song the Second was always out and about, with no time to keep an eye on her. With no in-laws around either, she was as free as she could be.’

’Now that Song the Second was dead, the business was sure to suffer. And how was she supposed to raise their three children?’

So when Yu Lanlan cried, some of her tears were actually genuine.

’He was just supposed to go to Han Xiaorui’s boat and cause a little trouble. How did he end up getting bitten by a snake and dying?’