Chapter 20: Drowning in a Cage

Chapter 20: Drowning in a Pig Cage

Once the excitement died down, Lin Zhijin was so tired she drank half a glass of water and rested for a good while before recovering.

She had to hand it to the older generation—they'd raised over a billion people. Old-fashioned in their thinking, but wild in their actions—bold and fearless. She was the one who was behind the times.

Anyway, the whole thing got wrapped up nicely, and they'd received their first commendation banner. Though no one felt particularly glorious about it, it was still an official banner.

"Excuse me, is this the Women's Federation?" A man with delicate features, fair skin, and a clean-cut look walked in.

"Yes, what can we do for you?" Li Yue stood up.

The Women's Federation was established to help vulnerable groups such as women and children, but it wasn't just for women and children. When men sought help regarding marital issues, the Federation would also handle those cases.

"Oh, I came to ask—my brother-in-law has a mistress on the side and has even had a kid with her. Does the Women's Federation handle this kind of thing?" The man asked while his gaze kept drifting toward Lin Zhijin.

They were all quick on the uptake and immediately understood that this guy wasn't really here for help—that was just an excuse. He was really here to chase the girl.

"Yeah, we can handle that. First, tell me—how old are you? What's your name? Where do you live? Besides your sister, do you have other siblings?" Li Yue took out paper and pen, asking, all business.

The man hesitated, sneaking a peek at Lin Zhijin, then said solemnly, "My name is Sheng Huaimin, twenty-four years old, college graduate. I help out at the family factory. I have three older sisters, all married. I'm the baby of the family."

"Oh, a college grad! What factory does your family own?" Li Yue recorded his information and asked another question.

"Shenghua Textile Factory. You heard of it? We live on Fuqian Street, in a place with five courtyards." Sheng Huaimin spoke while observing Lin Zhijin's expression, but unfortunately, she seemed totally indifferent.

He pressed his lips together. Was his family not good enough? Was he not impressive enough? Or was he just not good-looking enough?

Li Yue, though, was pretty pleased. College educated, good-looking, from a good family—not bad at all.

"Alright, I understand. We can handle your sister's case, but she needs to come to us in person." Li Yue handed a document to Lin Zhijin. "Run this over to the director for me."

"Okay." Lin Zhijin stood up and left.

Sheng Huaimin watched her until she disappeared from view.

"Alright, anything else?" Li Yue looked at Sheng Huaimin with a sly smile.

He knew they'd seen right through him. A little embarrassed, he gave a bow and said, "Nothing else. I'll bring my sister next time."

Sister Qian said dryly, "He's got a great family, maybe too great. He and Xiao Lin are never gonna happen. Don't go trying to set them up."

Li Yue put down her pen and sighed, "I know. Even if his family was on board, Xiao Lin wouldn't give him the time of day."

She'd also caught Lin Zhijin's expression earlier—she clearly wasn't interested.

Just then, Lin Zhijin walked out of Director Zhang's office, and Li Yue asked her straight up why.

"Who? Sheng Huaimin? He's not my cup of tea." Lin Zhijin truly hadn't been impressed. Forget everything else—the fact that he's got three older sisters is enough to make her run the other way.

The whole "sons over daughters" thing, having to keep popping out kids till they got a boy—no matter how hot he was, that was a total turn-off.

"What, you don't go for the pale, bookish type? Then what do you like? Big and brawny?" Li Yue grabbed Lin Zhijin's arm to stop her from leaving. "Look, don't let Li Guihua scare you off. With men, it's better if they've got a little muscle."

"Haha, I second that! That guy was easy on the eyes, but way too green—a total rookie." Wang Chunhua was really getting into this topic.

Even though Lin Zhijin had dated in her past life, the shamelessly dirty jokes still made her blush to the roots of her hair.

"Okay, okay, Xiao Lin's still a young thing. Go easy on her." Sister Qian tried to step in but couldn't stop them.

"What's the big deal? Xiao Lin's not that young anymore. She oughta learn a thing or two—that's how you get a happy marriage down the road." Wang Chunhua thought Director Zhang and Sister Qian were way too overprotective of Lin Zhijin.

Sheng Huaimin lingered outside the Military Control Office, not wanting to leave. Hadn't he made himself clear enough? Or hadn't he done enough?

"Young Master, I finally found you! What are you doing here?" Liu Yuan asked, panting.

"Nothing. Let's head home." Sheng Huaimin thought back to that morning—Lin Zhijin in her light blue dress, all smiles—and his heart started pounding again. "Liu Yuan, how do I look today? Decent?"

"Absolutely stunning—like a million bucks." Liu Yuan gave a thumbs up.

Sheng Huaimin was even more confused. Plenty of girls had chased him before—some for his looks, some for his family money, some for his brains. Why was Miss Lin unmoved?

Liu Yuan watched his young master frown one second and smile dreamily the next, and his heart dropped. In just that little time, could his young master have fallen in love already? If the madam found out, she'd flay him alive.

Forget the contract—if the Sheng family wanted to squash a nobody like him, it'd take one word.

"Young Master, this girl works at the Military Control Office? What's her name? What does her family do? How old is she?" He had to find out fast, or when the madam asked later and he had no answer, he'd be in trouble.

"You running a background check on me? Let's go." Sheng Huaimin planned to go ask his cousin what he should do.

Lin Zhijin tossed the paper Li Yue had written on about Sheng Huaimin. With his situation, he didn't even make it past the first round.

First, his family was seriously into that "boys are better" crap. Second, his parents would definitely care about the girl's social standing, and he didn't have the guts to stand up to them. Being with him would mean getting looked down on by his parents, even getting talked down to. She wasn't a glutton for punishment who liked playing out some tragic love story.

Lin Zhijin stared at her empty notebook and sighed. Falling in love was easy; finding someone to marry was the hard part.

She'd been planning to grab a bite at Sister Dai's noodle shop, but Lin Shishu waylaid her.

"Zhijin, I'm getting married! The second of June, lunar calendar. I don't have many friends around here, so you've gotta come and back me up." Lin Shishu shook Lin Zhijin's arm.

"Definitely. Even if it's raining cats and dogs that day, I'll be there." Lin Zhijin joked.

"You're still at the hotel? I'm getting married soon and I'm nervous. Zhijin, let me treat you to a meal. Will you eat with me?" Lin Shishu was genuinely nervous.

Her family was poor. When her dad got really sick and they couldn't afford medicine, her mom sold her to the Wu family. When she first got there, she got bullied a lot. Later, she became the master's bed warmer, then a concubine, and life improved. To win Master Wu's favor, she learned to make pastries, soups, and do embroidery. She didn't know anything else. Now she was about to be a wife, and she had no idea if she could hack it.

"What're you nervous for? If anyone should be nervous, it's Commander Liu." Lin Zhijin wanted to tease her, but seeing she was genuinely anxious, she took her to a little restaurant nearby that Li Yue had suggested.

"Zhijin, I was with Master Wu for seven years and never got pregnant once. I'm scared I can't have kids." Lin Shishu hung her head, deflated.

"Moping around about it won't do you any good. Why don't you go to the hospital and get checked out? If nothing's wrong, great. If there's a problem, catch it early." Lin Zhijin figured the problem was probably that Master Wu was too old and his swimmers weren't up to snuff, so getting pregnant was hard.

"It's gotta be me. Shiqin and Shiqi both got pregnant, but they miscarried. Shihua even had a boy and a girl. Only me—I've never even been pregnant." Lin Shishu hung her head, embarrassed.

Lin Zhijin took her hand. "Don't lose hope yet. Go get checked first, then we'll see."

As for saying "it's fine if you can't have kids"—Lin Zhijin wouldn't say that. In this day and age, not being able to have kids was a really big deal.

The next afternoon, Lin Shishu excitedly told Lin Zhijin that there was nothing wrong with her body.

"So I guess I just wasn't meant to have kids with Master Wu. Zhijin, thanks. If you hadn't made me go get checked, I might've ended up letting Old Liu go." Old Liu was an only son—if she couldn't have kids, she couldn't hold him back, no way.

Before the afternoon shift started, a middle-aged woman with graying hair and patched-up clothes burst into the Military Control Office. "Save my daughter! They're gonna drown her in the pond!"

"What?" Sister Li jumped up from her seat, rounded up a dozen soldiers, and they took off right away.

Lin Zhijin, Li Yue, and the others were just as quick, piling into the car. A life was on the line—the more people, the better.

When they got there, the woman was already tied up and shoved into a pig cage. An old man who looked like some kind of clan elder was reading out her so-called crimes, and then they were gonna toss her into the pond in front of the whole clan.

“Hold it, what do you think you're doing?” Sister Li drew her gun and pointed it at the man who was muttering incantations. “Chief Zhou, I remember we told you last month that this is the New China now—all feudal garbage has to go. What are you doing here? Knowingly breaking the law?”

The villagers of Zhou Family Village were scared stiff by the row of soldiers with rifles. Chief Zhou forced himself to keep his cool and said in a low voice, “Of course we respect national law, but Zhou Zhangshi has disgraced herself by carrying another man's bastard, shaming both the Zhou and Zhang families. According to clan rules, she deserves to be drowned in a pig cage. Besides, her own father and brother have given their consent.”

“Clan rules? Next to national law, clan rules and family codes mean nothing. And she's a free person—her life is her own. Neither you nor her father and brother have any right to decide what happens to her.” Sister Li said grimly.

Lin Zhijin and Li Yue had already opened the pig cage and were helping Zhou Zhangshi out, untying her ropes.

Lin Zhijin pulled the cloth out of her mouth and asked worriedly, “You okay?”

“Waa...” Zhou Zhangshi clung to Lin Zhijin, shaking, and spoke in fits and starts, “I didn't... I didn't see anyone... the child I'm carrying... it's Pingshan's. Comrade, I swear, the baby in my belly isn't a bastard. It's them—they want my house and land, so they made this up to kill me and take everything.”

“Bullshit!” Chief Zhou shook with rage. “If that were true, why would your own father and brother go along with it?”

Zhou Zhangshi was crying her eyes out—this was what hurt her most. Her father and brother, the people she thought she could count on, had agreed to drown her in a pig cage over a few vague words from the clan chief, all for the sake of so-called family honor.

“Comrade, I'm telling you, it wasn't me. I have proof.” Zhou Zhangshi pulled herself together after a moment and, with Li Yue's help, got to her feet, ready to take them to the evidence.

“No, she can't leave. She's a slut—I saw it with my own eyes.” A woman stepped out from the crowd.

Sister Li cocked her gun, moving the barrel from the chief to the woman. “Lying under oath means jail time. Think real careful before you say anything.”

The woman shrank back, “Let me think, let me think about it again.”

The Zhou clansmen blocked Lin Zhijin and the others from taking Zhou Zhangshi, and a few hotheads even swung carrying poles and charged forward.

Seeing things about to get out of hand, Sister Li fired without a second thought. The middle-aged man in front dropped to the ground instantly, howling and clutching his shot-up leg.

The soldiers behind her all cocked their rifles, staring hard at the Zhou family, like they were ready to open fire any second.

“Bullets don't have eyes, and I can't say where the next one's gonna land.” Sister Li stared grimly at Chief Zhou. “The Zhou family's thinking is seriously behind the times—you all need to study national law properly. I'm taking her.”

Lin Zhijin and Li Yue quickly helped Zhou Zhangshi toward her home, and the Zhou family didn't dare stop them, not with a dozen-plus guns pointed at them.

Zhou Zhangshi's place was a bit of a walk, about seven or eight minutes. It had a bamboo fence around it, with two date trees in the front yard. Past that were three rooms with mud walls and black tile roofs. The front door was wide open, and inside, tables and chairs were knocked over and scattered all over the place.

“They showed up yesterday out of nowhere, tied me up without a word, then pulled out some letter from who knows where saying I was cheating and the baby was a bastard. But I swear I didn't—the baby I'm carrying is my husband's, conceived before he died. Any doctor can check my pulse and tell I'm over three months along. My husband passed a month ago; he was still alive then. We were a loving couple—how could I possibly be with anyone else?” Zhou Zhangshi trembled at the thought of nearly being drowned in the pig cage.

Lin Zhijin held her freezing hands and said gently, “Don't worry. We're here. We'll protect you.”

Zhou Zhangshi sobbed and nodded. “My husband was a capable man. He built this house himself, and we bought a mule and a few acres of land. A lot of people in the clan were jealous, but I never thought they'd be this impatient—they didn't even wait for Pingshan's forty-ninth day to pass before scheming to kill me and take the land and house.”

Zhou Zhangshi knew exactly what the Zhou family was like. She'd planned to sell the land and house after the forty-ninth day, give the mule to her own family, and give them some money to take her in for a while, until she could find a decent widower to remarry and stop being a burden.

She never thought the Zhou family would move this fast, or that her father and brother would throw her life away for the sake of so-called face.

“How did you find out the Zhou family was going to drown me in a pig cage?” Zhou Zhangshi asked once she had somewhat recovered.

“It was your mother. She found her way to the Women's Federation to ask for help.” Lin Zhijin thought of that gray-haired woman, whose forehead looked bruised—she'd probably begged a lot of people, even kowtowed, before finding the Federation, but nobody was willing to cross the Zhou family for her.

Zhou Zhangshi broke down crying again. Her mother, who'd been timid her whole life, had gone alone to a city she didn't know to get help for her.

“You said you have proof—let's see it.” Li Yue thought the Zhou family was absolutely disgusting. If there was evidence, they could be arrested and thrown in jail.

Zhou Zhangshi pulled a piece of paper out of a cabinet—a hospital check-up report. “Pingshan knew I was pregnant and made a point of taking me to the hospital for a check-up. Look, Pingshan wrote his name right here, and the hospital doctor saw him too. They can all prove this baby is Pingshan's.”

“This is attempted murder. We're reporting it to the police and letting them handle it.” Seeing how pale Zhou Zhangshi was, Lin Zhijin didn't feel right leaving her in Zhou Family Village. “Come back to the city with us and get checked out to make sure the baby's okay. And stay in the city for a few days. By the way, what's your name?”

Lin Zhijin didn't want to call her Zhou Zhangshi—she should have her own name.

“My name is Zhang Simei.” Zhang Simei bowed in gratitude. “Thank you all. I truly don't know where else to go right now.”

Sister Li had been waiting outside with her men. Seeing Lin Zhijin and the others come out, she looked over the examination report, swept a glance at Chief Zhou and the others, and waved her hand. “Back to the city first.”

As the truck drove off, the injured man's wife jumped out. “Chief, are we just letting them leave like that? What about my husband being shot?”

“What else can we do? Didn't you see the weapons in their hands? Do you want a bullet too?” Chief Zhou was already looking for somewhere to vent his anger.

Back in the city, Lin Zhijin and Li Yue accompanied Zhang Simei to the hospital for a check-up. Fortunately, she had only suffered a fright—no other issues.

As the liberated maidservants and concubines married off one by one, some dormitory rooms had opened up. Considering Zhang Simei's pregnancy, Sister Li arranged a private room for her.

“Thank you, thank you all. Otherwise, both my child and I would be dead.” Zhang Simei expressed her gratitude repeatedly.

“The purpose of our Women's Federation is to help women. Rest well—we'll seek justice for you.” Li Yue patted her arm and left with Lin Zhijin, not wanting to disturb her rest.

On the way back, Lin Zhijin felt heavy-hearted. She knew women's status was low in this era, but she hadn't expected pig-cage drownings to still occur. And this was just the suburbs—the injustices suffered by women in more remote areas must be even worse.

The work of rescuing women was a long and arduous road. No matter what, every one saved counted.

“What? Scared?” Sister Li glanced at Lin Zhijin and frowned. “Incidents like today will happen again. Xiao Lin, since you want to stay and work at the Federation, you need to learn to face all this and handle such cases. Starting tomorrow, come learn self-defense and shooting with me in the mornings.”

Lin Zhijin knew Sister Li meant well, and she did need to learn—she had to have some means of self-protection.

“Alright, thank you, Sister Li. I'll work hard.” Lin Zhijin nodded.

She planned to grab some noodles for dinner, but hadn't gone far when she was stopped by Sheng Huaimin, who appeared suddenly.

“What a coincidence, Miss Lin. Are you heading home from work? Where do you live?”

Lin Zhijin glanced at him and replied politely, “May I ask if Comrade Sheng has business with me?”

“No, just asking.” Seeing that Lin Zhijin didn't seem keen on talking to him, Sheng Huaimin felt anxious inside. He stole a glance at her. “Miss Lin, it's not safe for you alone. Let me walk you back?”

“No need. I live nearby. And please, call me Comrade Lin.” Lin Zhijin replied coolly.

“Comrade Lin, have you had dinner? Let me treat you. Oh, I mainly wanted to ask about my sister's problem. She's the only daughter of my eldest aunt, frail since childhood, and recently bedridden because her husband took a mistress. My aunt has been good to me, so I want to help my sister if I can.” Sheng Huaimin sounded quite pitiful.

Lin Zhijin looked at him with surprise—so he was a concubine's son. She certainly didn't look down on him for it; in this era, children of concubines were legitimate offspring, a product of the times, fundamentally different from illegitimate children.

“So the four of you siblings all have different mothers?” Lin Zhijin couldn't help asking.

“Yes. The eldest sister is from my second aunt, the second sister is the legitimate daughter, the third sister is from my third aunt, and my mother is the fourth concubine.” Sheng Huaimin looked at Lin Zhijin nervously, afraid she might disdain him.

Lin Zhijin nodded. Great—the family situation was even more complicated.

In her previous life, she had been an ordinary wage earner. Given her current identity and experiences, especially the future trends, she had never considered marrying into a wealthy family.

“As for your sister's matter, the key is her own wishes. Does she want to seek an explanation, or does she want a divorce? I suggest you first ask her what she wants.” Lin Zhijin stopped at a noodle shop. “Comrade Sheng, I'm not used to eating with people I don't know well.”

Sheng Huaimin could only watch Lin Zhijin walk into the noodle shop, not daring to follow too closely for fear of annoying her.

“Young master, weren't you waiting outside the Military Control Office specifically for Miss Lin? Why didn't you have dinner with her?” Liu Yuan, standing at the corner, hurried over when he saw Sheng Huaimin approach.

“Sigh, why do you think Miss Lin doesn't like me?” Sheng Huaimin planned to go see his cousin again—he hadn't been in when he went at noon.

After eating, Lin Zhijin went to the house on Maple Leaf Lane. As the weather was warming up, she needed to pick up some lighter clothes to take to the hotel.

Just as she was about to close the door and leave, she turned to find several sleazy-looking men standing there sizing her up.

The man in front was stunned by her beauty, and he slapped the guy next to him over and over, "Not bad, she really is a knockout."

Lin Zhijin frowned, clutching her stuff and trying to sidestep them to leave.

"Hey~" The man stepped to the left, blocking Lin Zhijin's path, "Hey, miss, I knocked on your door a few times, why didn't you answer? Were you scared? Don't worry, we're not creeps, hahahaha..."

Lin Zhijin was done with them, their laughter was so sleazy, they were straight out of a cheesy web drama as brainless villains.

"Get out of my way." Lin Zhijin said in a low voice.

"Oh, and your voice is sweet too." The man reached out to touch Lin Zhijin's chin, but she slapped his hand away. He didn't get mad, even sniffed his hand, "Smells good, hehehe, where you headed, miss? Let me walk you."

Lin Zhijin was about to bolt to the main street to flag down a rickshaw when she spotted the PLA patrol, and immediately shouted, "Comrade soldier, this guy is harassing me."

"Yang-ge, it's the soldiers." The lackey beside Yang said fearfully.

Yang slapped him on the head, "I ain't blind. Miss, don't talk crap. We were just saying hi. Since you don't wanna be friends, we're outta here."

Yang and his crew bolted, scared of getting caught and sent to re-education.

"Comrade, are you alright?" The PLA soldier ran over, looking at the fleeing Yang and his men, asking with concern.

"Good thing you guys showed up." Lin Zhijin thanked him gratefully, and decided she wouldn't come back here until she moved, and even then, she'd bring someone with her to grab her stuff.

The next day, Lin Zhijin worked hard learning self-defense and shooting from Sister Li, skills she urgently needed.

"You've got decent strength. Keep practicing, and you can take down two or three guys." Sister Li tested Lin Zhijin's physical condition, and it was better than she expected.

The original body was really strong, able to haul over a hundred jin of stuff, and now Lin Zhijin had inherited that strength.

"Really? How long would I need to practice to reach that level?" Lin Zhijin's eyes lit up, asking happily.

"If you work hard, four or five years." Sister Li drew her gun, "Try it."

"Really?" Lin Zhijin looked at Sister Li in disbelief.

"Of course it's true. Bullets are expensive, so I'll only give you one to get a feel for it." Sister Li said seriously.

Lin Zhijin pursed her lips, her eyes fixed on the target, making sure she was aiming at the center, pressed the trigger, bang, the target remained untouched.

"Did I miss?" She had aimed so carefully.

"Your hands are too shaky, your trigger pull's not decisive, your eyes aren't really locked on the bullseye, and even your grip is off. Come, let me teach you." Sister Li guided Lin Zhijin sternly.

"Sister Li, a fight broke out at the re-education center..." A young soldier ran up to Sister Li, out of breath.

The re-education center? Wasn't that where the brothel girls studied? Why would a fight break out there all of a sudden?

Author's note:

None