Although Gu Xinguo had never achieved anything particularly remarkable during his time in the army, those years of service had not been wasted.
The connections he had formed there were a form of wealth that would remain with him for the rest of his life.
He would never use those relationships to do anything immoral, but everyone encountered difficulties at some point in life. One more friend meant one more path forward. When trouble arose, it was always better to have another way out.
Just like now.
His wife had been taken away, so naturally, it was time to call in an old favour.
Gu Xinguo did not know anyone at the Linqing County Public Security Bureau, but he knew someone above them.
Linqing County and Anyuan County were both governed by Zhangcheng City, which meant that the Linqing County Public Security Bureau also answered directly to the Zhangcheng Municipal Public Security Bureau.
One of Gu Xinguo’s former comrades had happened to become a deputy director of the Zhangcheng Public Security Bureau the previous year.
He might not be able to handle a major case, but getting Gu Xinguo’s wife released should not be difficult.
Gu Xinguo hurried to the post office and placed a call to the Zhangcheng Public Security Bureau.
After exchanging a few words with his old comrade, he explained the trouble his wife had encountered.
The deputy director had initially assumed it was something serious.
It turned out to be only this.
The country had begun reform and opening up. Special economic zones had already been established in the south.
Times had changed.
Yet some people were still clinging to outdated thinking and had even detained someone who was enthusiastically responding to the country’s new policies.
It was simply outrageous.
The deputy director immediately promised Gu Xinguo that he would call Linqing County and order them to release the women at once.
One of them was seven months pregnant.
What would happen if something went wrong?
Meanwhile, after Shen Jiao and Gu Xinmin were brought to the Linqing County Public Security Bureau, they were taken directly into an interrogation room.
The moment cold handcuffs were fastened around Shen Jiao’s wrists, anger surged through her.
There had been no questioning, no written statement, and no investigation.
They had not even asked a single question before putting them in handcuffs.
Had they already decided she was guilty?
Was this how law enforcement was supposed to operate?
Even in ancient times, prisoners had been allowed to shout that they were innocent.
How could this so-called new society be worse than the old one?
Therefore, no matter what the two uniformed men asked during the interrogation, Shen Jiao refused to say a single word.
Whenever Gu Xinmin tried to speak, Shen Jiao stopped her.
“Shen Jiao, what kind of attitude is this? Your Xinjiao Tailoring Shop has been engaging in capitalist activities. Do you admit it or not?
“Leniency for those who confess, severity for those who resist.
“Even if you refuse to admit it, that doesn’t mean we can’t convict you. Your shop has three machines and employs as many as six people. If that isn’t capitalist activity, then what is?”
No matter what they said, Shen Jiao remained silent.
She was pregnant, so they would not dare do anything too extreme to her.
She also trusted that Brother Gu would be outside finding a way to rescue both her and Gu Xinmin.
Besides, these two men were obviously acting with malicious intentions.
The more she said, the more opportunities they would have to twist her words.
She had no intention of falling into their trap and creating additional trouble for Gu Xinguo when he tried to save them.
One of the two uniformed men was a distant relative of Li Tao.
One lived in town and the other in the countryside, so their families had stopped interacting long ago.
They had only reconnected after the old tailor’s family moved into town and opened their own shop.
This relative was the cause of Shen Jiao’s completely undeserved disaster.
Ordinarily, although the old tailor’s shop received less business than Xinjiao Tailoring Shop, the difference had never been especially large.
However, after Xinjiao Tailoring Shop acquired an overlock machine, more than half of the old tailor’s customers were drawn away.
How could they not resent her?
In the end, they followed Wang Xiangxiu’s suggestion, resulting in Shen Jiao being taken away.
Li Tao’s cousin, Li Wenjie, was becoming increasingly irritated.
Li Tao had never warned him that this woman would be so difficult.
If not for the benefits Li Tao had promised him, Li Wenjie would never have gone to so much trouble.
When he thought of the seductive look in Li Tao’s new wife’s eyes, heat surged through him.
That made Shen Jiao, who was deliberately wasting his time, appear even more disagreeable.
He wanted to hurry to Li Tao’s house and collect his reward.
He would receive money and enjoy the favour of a beautiful woman.
No matter how he looked at it, he could not lose.
“Shen Jiao, don’t think refusing to speak will save you. If you continue stubbornly resisting, we have every right to shut down Xinjiao Tailoring Shop.”
Holding her large stomach, Shen Jiao shifted her heavy body until she was sitting more comfortably.
Then she began studying her fingers.
She counted the whorls on all ten fingertips.
How did that old saying go again?
Why could she not remember it?
Pregnancy truly did make a woman foolish for three years.
Her memory had deteriorated terribly.
Shen Jiao’s attitude completely enraged Li Wenjie.
He slammed his palm against the table and was about to shout more fiercely to frighten her when the interrogation-room door suddenly opened from the outside.
Another public security officer walked in.
He looked at Shen Jiao and Gu Xinmin. Seeing that neither of them had been harmed, he sighed in relief.
He had not expected Xinjiao Tailoring Shop to possess such a powerful background.
They had actually caused a deputy director from the municipal bureau to intervene personally.
Captain Li had truly kicked an iron plate this time.
Furthermore, when the officer remembered some of the things Li Wenjie had done in the past, he wondered whether the man would even be allowed to keep wearing his uniform.
In his opinion, once someone put on that uniform, they should stop harbouring so many selfish motives.
Their hands should not be so dirty.
“Captain Li, Deputy Director Lin from the municipal bureau is calling. He specifically asked to speak to you.”
Li Wenjie was overwhelmed with excitement.
How did a deputy director at the municipal bureau know his name?
Had his opportunity finally arrived?
Hahaha!
Perhaps the saying about riding proudly on a swift horse after achieving success had been written precisely for him.
Reality promptly slapped him hard across the face.
Deputy Director Lin harshly reprimanded Li Wenjie and ordered him to apologise to Shen Jiao.
Li Wenjie felt as if his entire world had collapsed.
Considering how he had treated Shen Jiao earlier, there was no possibility she would respond kindly to him.
But setting that aside, he was a proper public security officer.
How could he apologise to someone accused of engaging in capitalist activities?
How would he face his colleagues afterward?
How would he continue operating within Linqing County?
However, circumstances were stronger than people.
Compared with losing face, losing his livelihood was clearly the greater matter.
Was it not only a little humiliation?
Whatever face he lost in front of Shen Jiao, he would recover from Li Tao’s family.
Li Wenjie hardened his heart.
“Hahaha! Comrade Shen Jiao, I’m truly sorry. It was a misunderstanding. Everything was a misunderstanding.
“We only acted because we received a report from a member of the public.
“You understand that public security officers serve the people. Once the people make a report, we can’t simply ignore it, can we?”
“Captain Li, then I would like to ask who this member of the public was.
“I would very much like to ask which eye they used to see me engaging in capitalist activity.
“I would also like to determine whether this person truly reported me out of concern for society.
“If that is genuinely the case, then all they need to do is apologise, and I will consider the matter settled.
“But if they acted out of personal revenge, then I will accuse them of slander and disturbing public order.”
“Comrade Shen Jiao, you know we have rules. We genuinely cannot reveal the identity of the person who filed the report.”
“Is that so?
“Then who handcuffed a pregnant woman without questioning or investigating her first?
“Who shouted at me inside the interrogation room and subjected me to personal attacks?
“I happen to be mentally strong and physically healthy. Otherwise, you might have frightened me into premature labour.
“Perhaps both mother and child would have died.
“Is this what you call following the rules?
“I intend to report to your superiors that I was treated unjustly here.”
Despite the freezing winter weather, cold sweat broke out across Li Wenjie’s forehead.
Where had Li Tao found such a terrifying woman to offend?
She was trying to destroy his entire career.
“I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you, all right?
“I’m practically begging you, grandaunt. I’m only an errand runner. Please be magnanimous and let me go.”
Shen Jiao sneered inwardly.
Only an errand runner?
That was doubtful.
Even if he truly had been acting on someone else’s instructions, he had almost certainly accepted plenty of benefits.
However, that was not her responsibility.
The Public Security Bureau’s leaders would deal with the rotten elements inside their own organisation.
She only needed the information she wanted.
“It was Li Tao. He’s a relative of my family. I only began paying attention to Xinjiao Tailoring Shop after hearing his report.”
The answer did not differ from what Shen Jiao had expected.
Although Xinjiao Tailoring Shop’s business was thriving, it was not as though the other tailoring shops had no customers.
The New Year was approaching.
Government policies had improved considerably that year, and people had more money in their pockets.
Naturally, they were willing to spend more on clothing and appearance.
Tailoring shops were usually too busy to handle all their orders.
Everyone else was occupied earning money.
Who would have the leisure to deliberately harm another business?
Only Wang Xiangxiu, who already held a grudge against their family, would do such a thing.
And of course, there was Li Tao’s family.
Of everyone from Shuanma Village, only their two families had opened tailoring shops in town.
People in the same trade were natural rivals, and comparisons were unavoidable.
However, the fiercest comparisons often occurred between people from the same hometown.
Because they knew one another, they constantly compared themselves.
And because they knew one another, they could not bear to see the other person surpass them.
Li Tao’s family undoubtedly felt that way.
After betraying Li Tao, Li Wenjie still wanted Shen Jiao to promise that she would not report him to his superiors.
However, Shen Jiao no longer had the patience to deal with him.
Gu Xinguo had arrived to take her home.
He approached beneath the glow of the streetlamps, his steps steady and composed.
It was an entirely ordinary sight.
Yet to Shen Jiao, he looked like her hero.
Even a fool could understand why Li Wenjie’s attitude had changed so drastically.
Someone above him had applied pressure.
And apart from Gu Xinguo, who else could have found someone powerful enough to rescue them?
Shen Jiao’s eyes suddenly stung.
Across both her lifetimes, almost all the warmth she had ever received had come from this man.
She had always warned herself that when loving someone, she needed to hold something back.
That way, if she ever had to leave, the pain would not be so devastating.
But faced with a man like this, she truly could no longer control her heart.
Even if she ended up like a moth flying into a flame, she would accept it.
Across two lifetimes, she deserved at least one love wild enough to consume her completely.
“Brother Gu, you finally came!”
When Gu Xinguo reached her, Shen Jiao ignored the people watching around them and threw herself directly into his arms.
She allowed her tears to flow freely.
“All right, don’t cry. You’re already going to be a mother.”
“Someone who’s going to be a mother is still allowed to cry.”
“All right, all right. Are you tired? Let’s go home first. It’s too cold here.”
“Sister, thank you for protecting Jiaojiao today.”
After comforting Shen Jiao, Gu Xinguo did not forget his older sister.
What she had done that day filled his heart with warmth and deep emotion.
True feelings were revealed during hardship.
He was not skilled at expressing gratitude, but in the future, as long as he had meat to eat, he would never allow his sister to survive on soup alone.
“Jiaojiao is pregnant. How could I allow them to take her away?
“She’s foolish too. I had already stepped forward, so she should’ve let them take me instead.
“It wasn’t as though they could do much to me.
“But she insisted on competing even over this. I’ve never met anyone so foolish.”
Although Gu Xinmin spoke as though she were criticising Shen Jiao, she felt deeply pleased inside.
Once again, hardship revealed genuine affection.
She had willingly stepped forward to take responsibility for Shen Jiao.
But Shen Jiao had also immediately stood up to protect her.
That was extremely rare and precious.
Gu Xinmin sighed again.
Although her younger brother’s marriages had been full of twists and difficulties, he had truly chosen correctly this time.
No wonder Grandma had been able to die smiling even though she had never met her great-grandchild.
After returning home and eating a steaming bowl of noodles, Shen Jiao finally felt warm and comfortable both inside and out.
Only then did she explain that Li Tao’s family had been behind the entire incident.
“Leave this matter to me.
“Your body is already heavy, and your energy is limited. You also have to manage the tailoring shop. How could you possibly have the strength to deal with these things too?”
“All right. I’ll wait for my husband to stand up for me and seek justice on my behalf.”
Shen Jiao finally understood how satisfying it felt to win while lying down and doing nothing.
It was addictive too.
But she was not afraid.
As long as she ensured she never became disconnected from society and remained capable of supporting herself, what was the worst that could happen?
If the relationship failed, she could simply stop loving anyone and live alone for the rest of her life.
Gu Xinguo noticed the change in Shen Jiao.
Although she had always depended on him, there had previously been another layer of strength deep within her bones.
Now, seeing her rely on him so completely and wholeheartedly made his heart soften beyond measure.
So why should he let Li Tao’s family go?
People always had to bear responsibility for the things they chose to do.
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