The village chief of Tuliang Village has been in a bad mood since last night.
Who wouldn’t feel bad about two criminals being taken away by the police from their village?
With such an incident in the village, there would be no chance for him to be rated as an outstanding leader in the future.
He cursed in his heart, cursing that Second Pillar’s mother is truly an unworthy character, cruel enough to kill her own granddaughter, and even more so cursing the person who reported Zhang Fugui for being immoral. It was just about bringing a child ho to raise, was it worth reporting?
Li Guilan started cursing early this morning in the yard.
She had no mind to care for Zhang Qiang, jumping and cursing in the yard.
"Which despicable person reported our family? It’s really lacking in virtue, disappointing their ancestors. What did we do wrong? We saved a child’s life; we were doing a good deed. Yet there are those with envious eyes who can’t stand others’ good fortune and ran to report to the police. I curse that their ancestors for eight generations all face misfortune..."
The sound of her curses spread far, with the neighbors quietly listening at ho.
Everyone was puzzled too, wondering in their hearts who reported Zhang Fugui’s family.
Zhang Fugui and He Jian fought for half the night, by morning they were exhausted, and both started pondering who the immoral person that reported them was.
It was now a ti of serious crackdowns, one knew that several village tyrants were caught and executed; knowing whether they would survive was uncertain.
Zhang Fugui was uncertain if he would survive, though he knew Second Pillar’s mother definitely wouldn’t.
Why, because murder warranted paying with one’s life and debts had to be repaid, an age-old truth. Second Pillar’s mother had killed two people, she would surely be executed.
However, Zhang Fugui believed he hadn’t taken anyone’s life, so it shouldn’t be a problem. At most he would go in for two years, and co out as a good man again.
He said to He Jian: "When I co out, if I find out who reported , I swear I’ll break their legs."
He Jian also cursed angrily: "I’ll have to stab that despicable person."
He still didn’t know it was Anning who reported him; if he knew, he wouldn’t so readily curse, as Anning was his biological child, and cursing would implicate himself.
What was Anning doing, she was eting news reporters.
This ti it was two reporters arriving for the interview, one male and one female.
The male was responsible for taking photos, while the female handled the interview records.
The girl was thoughtful, even bringing so candy and other things for Anning.
When she saw Anning, she took out the candy and snacks for her: "Aunt bought these in the Provincial City, you eat, you must take care, don’t suffer any grievance."
Anning smiled, accepted it, stood up and bowed to the female reporter: "Thank you, Auntie. My issue caused you trouble."
The female reporter smiled, waved her hand: "No trouble at all, instead we should thank you for providing us such good material, alright, sit down, let’s have a good talk."
Faced with Anning, the female reporter wouldn’t be so serious, nor possibly adopt a formal interview posture. She just shared family chats with Anning, asking about matters from childhood to now.
At this ti, Anning knew how to vent her hardships.
She cried with sniffs: "I never tasted a drop of milk since birth. My biological mother didn’t even glance at before selling , reportedly for over fifty dollars. Li Guilan had never given birth, naturally she had no milk, I grew up drinking rice soup. Later Li Guilan gave birth to Zhang Qiang, and I had no rice soup to drink... I started working at two years old, back when I couldn’t even walk steadily, yet I had to do chores. I had an early mory, rembering a lot, I even recalled one winter, Li Guilan lying on the kang eating peanuts, not giving a single one to eat. While she lay eating, I swept the peanut shells on the ground with a broom. I was young, if I missed a spot, Li Guilan would jump off the kang and slap so hard that I almost went deaf..."
Anning recounted bitterly, her tale was even more bitter than coptis, making the female reporter who hadn’t suffered shed tears, filled with hatred towards Li Guilan.
Even if Anning was bought, not biological, treating her like that was excessive, after all, she was still a child. No wonder Anning ran to report them, indeed. Had they treated the child better, it wouldn’t have turned out this way.
Ge Hongi hadn’t heard Anning ntion this before. Now hearing her speak, realized that what Anning said before wasn’t the worst. This was truly grown in bitter waters, she couldn’t help but cry along.
Anning’s voice was very calm.
Yet the calr it was, the more it choked the heart.
"When I was young, I understood nothing. Later I sneaked into school to eavesdrop, learned pinyin, and recognized characters. Then quietly coaxed village children to lend books, the more I read, the more I understood the principles. I realized Zhang Fugui and Li Guilan buying children was illegal, that their actions were wrong. Reporter sister, my biological parents sold , Zhang family treated like that. I never felt parental love, just like I didn’t have parents, no, actually I have a mother, my mother is the country, our nation. Biological parents can’t be relied on, foster parents even less so, but I hold a firm belief in my heart that motherland will forever be my strong support. No matter when, anyone can abandon , but the nation will never abandon ."
The female reporter was stirred with warm blood by Anning’s words: "Child, what you said was right, the nation is the mother of us all, never will abandon us."
Anning clenched her fist: "I have a mother, and my nation is my backing, I needn’t fear, I’ll draw a clear line with bad people, and never collude with criminals. I must uphold the dignity of the law, even if offenders are my biological parents, I’ll report them all the sa."
Hearing this, the female reporter couldn’t help but applaud Anning: "Well said."
Of course, she recorded Anning’s words without alteration.
Anning’s eyes shone with light, tears as well as hope: "Reporter sister, now that I’ve dared step forward with a report, I’m prepared to be criticized. People in the village will surely call vicious, cruel, unable to tolerate even my biological parents and foster parents for seven years. But I won’t fear, I uphold righteousness, no matter what others say."
The female reporter couldn’t help but nod.
Ge Hongi softly comforted Anning too: "Don’t fear, we’re all on your side, for such bad people, we sure need to draw a clear line with them."
Anning smiled: "Thank you."
She took a deep breath, composed herself, and continued after a while: "When I reached the police station, the police officers were good to . Though I’m just a child, they warmly greeted , recorded statents earnestly, never dismissing for my age, nor neglecting anything. Knowing I hadn’t eaten, Sister Hong i even went out to buy food for and cared for personally. I really must thank uncle, brother, sister; they made feel warmth, gave hope, and in this cold winter, made feel the warmth of spring."
The female reporter glanced at Ge Hongi.
Ge Hongi blushed, waved her hand: "This is what we ought to do, nothing significant, Anning, stop saying it, you’ve made blush."
Anning looked at Ge Hongi, very seriously asking: "Why can’t it be said? What I speak is the truth, the leaders always emphasized being factual in our actions, I didn’t make things up, and sister’s kindness towards is genuine. Why should it not be said?"
"Indeed, focusing on facts should be acknowledged."
The female reporter praised with admiration.
Having recorded these, she asked about Anning’s educational progress.
To prove Anning had self-learned the primary school curriculum, the female reporter even got a set of sixth-grade exam papers from the county’s elentary school for Anning to complete.
Anning took over half an hour to finish the exam, except for not writing the Chinese essay, there wasn’t a single mistake.
Looking at these wonderfully answered, almost model-like papers, the female reporter felt rather excited.
She asked Anning: "Did you self-learn all this? How did you study?"
Anning blinked: "I learned from books, these aren’t difficult, just looking I can understand. I read the Chinese textbook once, and I rembered. Math is just about formulas, once you morize the formula, the rest is manageable, it’s all variations on the the."
This child, almost too clever to be human.
The female reporter took out a middle school Chinese textbook: "Can you self-learn this?"
Anning saw it was a middle school book, took it joyfully, and she sat quietly reading.
While reading, her deanor was particularly solemn, imrsed in the world of books, seemingly undisturbed by anything.
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