Chapter 6

“My name is Lin Feng, I’m from the Guantian Sub-Bureau Criminal Investigation Team. You are the mother of the person we are talking about, right?”

In the hospital corridor, a plainclothes female police officer led a slightly overweight woman carrying a vegetable basket deeper into the corridor.

She appeared to be in her mid-fifties, her hair initially looked strangely shiny and black, but upon closer inspection, one could notice the faint white hair hidden beneath the black.

Her name was Huang Guifen, the mother of Ye Sibei, fifty-six years old this year, making a living by setting up a small breakfast stall at the school gate.

Her husband’s name was Ye Ling, originally an elementary school teacher who was dismissed for violating the family planning policy. He started helping her with the breakfast stall. She sold glutinous rice, and he bought soy milk, fried dough sticks, and porridge.

Their family wasn’t wealthy, with two children. Their eldest daughter, Ye Sibei, twenty-seven years old, worked as an accountant at Fuqiang Real Estate and had been married for six months. Their younger son, Ye Nianwen, twenty-four years old, had just graduated from law school and had recently become engaged, about to get married soon.

Being parents, their lifelong goal was simply to raise their children and watch them start their own families, which would be fulfilling enough.

Soon, they would have their own lives, having spent most of their lives caring for their children.

Therefore, in recent days, Huang Guifen was very happy, despite knowing that her daughter seemed to have some disagreements with her son-in-law. However, she didn’t dwell on it much, knowing that disagreements were normal in marriages. She and her husband had argued all their lives, but they still managed to carry on.

However, this morning, she suddenly received a call from Ye Sibei. Contrary to her usual demeanor, Ye Sibei sounded indifferent and said five words over the phone: “Come to People’s Hospital.”

After saying this, she hung up the phone directly.

Huang Guifen, with over fifty years of life experience, sensed the unusualness of the call and hurried to People’s Hospital. As soon as she entered, she was stopped by the police.

Holding tightly onto her vegetable basket, she followed the young female police officer, nodding repeatedly in response to the questions: “Yes, I’m her mother. What happened to her? Her voice sounded strange.”

“An hour ago, we received her distress call, saying she needed a windbreaker. We found her in the reed fields on the outskirts of the city. She was hiding in the reeds, no significant financial losses, her wallet and phone were intact. She hasn’t spoken since. I asked her to notify a friend to come over first, then I brought her here for examination while others are collecting evidence at the scene.”

Lin Feng explained vaguely, but Huang Guifen’s focus was on something else: “Reed fields?” She asked nervously, “Why was she in the reed fields?”

Lin Feng didn’t speak. She stopped at the entrance to the gynecological examination room, where two plainclothes police officers were stationed. They exchanged nods, then the female officer turned back and saw the woman who seemed to have vaguely realized something, silent for a moment before finally speaking, “From the scene, your daughter may have been sexually assaulted.”

Huang Guifen stood still, shocked, looking at the policewoman. Within this shock, there was a mixture of fear and bewilderment.

The policewoman, still young, perhaps not wanting to think of her own mother, averted her gaze and spoke in a professional tone, “She hasn’t provided any information yet. She requested a vaginal examination herself. We’ve just confirmed no other physical issues and collected skin tissue from under her nails. After she comes out, we’ll take her for blood and urine tests. Please wait here. If it’s confirmed that something did happen, please try to comfort her as much as possible and encourage her to cooperate with us.”

“Don’t worry,” Lin Feng promised solemnly, “We will do our best to capture the culprit and make them pay the price.”

“No!”

Huang Guifen finally regained her senses and said this word decisively. Lin Feng was taken aback, and Huang Guifen hurriedly continued, “You don’t need to bother with this matter. I know my daughter well, she must not be in any trouble. Wait for me to go in and ask her…”

The expressions of everyone changed slightly, and several police officers realized that this might be a difficult situation. Lin Feng stepped forward, attempting to comfort her, “Auntie, please rest assured, we won’t disclose the case to anyone unrelated…”

“Case? What case?” Huang Guifen pointed at the policewoman, “Don’t talk nonsense, my daughter has always been well-behaved. She just had a fight with her husband yesterday, I know all about it. I have the call logs from last night on my phone, where I called her. If you tarnish her reputation, I’ll shut your mouth!”

Her tone was passionate but not loud.

Yet, this slight sound was enough for Ye Sibei in the hospital room to hear.

She lay on the hospital bed, legs spread apart.

She wanted to escape, this position almost drove her to collapse. But she knew it was necessary.

This was what her rationality told her to do; she dared not think about anything else, from the incident to being conscious, to now, she dared not touch anything beyond “reason.”

However, Huang Guifen’s arrival seemed to suddenly snatch her out of her vacuum-like self-world, inundating her mind with countless noisy voices, making her see everything in this world beyond “law.”

Yet, Huang Guifen was the only person she could rely on at this moment.

She couldn’t tell her father any of this, let alone her husband.

Her mother and she harbored mutual resentment, yet they also depended on each other.

“She just called for a windbreaker, and you’re all jumping to conclusions like this. You’re a woman too, can’t you empathize with a young girl? How will my daughter live after this? It’s not her fault if something happens? You’ll catch the culprit? Are you crazy?”

“What’s wrong with her? Just because you say it’s not her fault, it isn’t? What’s the use of catching the culprit? What’s the use of justice? People won’t gossip about her anymore? Let me tell you, there’s more to the world than just law. You’re young, you don’t know, you’re ruining her life forever like this!”

Huang Guifen was like a mother hen protecting her chick with all her might, launching an attack against Lin Feng, denying her speculations.

Ye Sibei lay on the examination bed, looking blankly at the ceiling.

The female doctor examining her glanced at her, then lowered her head without saying anything.

Soon, the examination ended, and Ye Sibei calmly got up.

She had changed into hospital clothes, wearing a windbreaker provided by the police, her hair disheveled on both sides, still carrying a lingering smell of alcohol.

The doctor glanced at her face, got up to support her, and opened the door for her. As soon as the door opened, Huang Guifen immediately turned around, grabbed her, and exclaimed, “What are you doing here?! Come, let’s go home!”

“No.”

Lin Feng stubbornly held onto Ye Sibei, staring at Huang Guifen. “We have already filed a case, you can’t take her away.”

“I’m her mother!” Huang Guifen burst out angrily, “She hasn’t committed any crime, why are you detaining her?!”

“If you’re her mother, shouldn’t you be thinking about her?!”

“Stop arguing.”

The doctor looked at the two people who were deadlocked and said softly, “The patient’s condition isn’t very good. Help her to the adjacent ward to rest for a while.”

She lowered her voice, “Let’s discuss this in private.”

Upon hearing this, Lin Feng hesitated and let go of Ye Sibei’s hand. Huang Guifen quickly helped Ye Sibei into the adjacent ward.

She urged Ye Sibei to sit down and kept asking about her condition, “Are you okay? Where does it hurt? Is it nothing serious?”

Ye Sibei shook her head. Lin Feng followed into the room, and her two male colleagues decided to stand at the door.

Lin Feng looked at the numb Ye Sibei sitting on the bed, about to say something when Ye Sibei suddenly spoke up, “I need a glass of water, please.”

Hearing Ye Sibei’s words, Lin Feng guessed that Ye Sibei wanted to say something to Huang Guifen. She hesitated for a moment, then heard Ye Sibei say, “Thank you.”

Lin Feng understood Ye Sibei’s intention. Her older colleague outside urged her, “Lin Feng, come out.”

Lin Feng lowered her head, took a deep breath, turned around, and left, closing the door of the ward.

Inside the ward, there were only Ye Sibei and Huang Guifen left. Huang Guifen saw Lin Feng leave and immediately sat beside Ye Sibei, anxiously holding her hand, “Sibei, are you okay?”

Ye Sibei shook her head, and Huang Guifen relaxed. After thinking for a moment, she asked with difficulty, “Did something really happen last night?”

Ye Sibei nodded, and Huang Guifen’s eyes turned red in an instant. She bit her lip, controlled her emotions, and after a while, hoarsely asked, “Do you know who it was?”

“Blindfolded,” Ye Sibei spoke indifferently, as if she were an outsider to the situation, “Didn’t see.”

Huang Guifen sighed with relief, as if the worst-case scenario had been ruled out.

Blindfolded meant that the other party also didn’t want Ye Sibei to make a big fuss, so they probably wouldn’t talk about it.

She turned back, carefully choosing her words, “Sibei, let’s pretend this never happened. When the police come, just tell them you had an argument with Qin Nan, and we’ll go back immediately.”

Ye Sibei didn’t say anything. She slowly lifted her head, her cold gaze sweeping up from Huang Guifen’s face, staring directly at her, “Where’s the culprit?”

“Why do you care about the culprit?”

Huang Guifen lowered her voice, sounding urgent, “The most important thing now is to keep this quiet, don’t let anyone know!”

Ye Sibei’s heart trembled lightly. She couldn’t describe the feeling, but she felt as if her heart was suddenly gripped, suffocating and painful.

“Why?” Ye Sibei pressed on.

Why should she hide when she’s been hurt?

Huang Guifen hated that she seemed foolish, but she still weighed the pros and cons for her: “If this incident gets out, what will you do in the future? Will Qin Nan still be with you? How will people around you see you? Don’t say you don’t even know who it is now, even if you do, even if you win the case and send him to jail, what then? He’ll spend a few years in prison, but you’ll lose a lifetime!”

Ye Sibei’s eyes flickered slightly, but she still looked straight at Huang Guifen, saying nothing.

Worried that she might be traumatized, Huang Guifen deliberately softened her voice, as if comforting herself as well, “Mom doesn’t want to make you suffer; she just wants to give you the best way out. Those police officers only think about catching criminals, will they think about your future? Listen to mom, mom is doing this for your own good.”

“Think about it, if this blows up and everyone hears that you were dressed like that, had been drinking, and then reported rape, what will people say?”

This statement made Ye Sibei’s eyes well up with tears. She hoarsely explained, “It was a company dinner, I didn’t do anything.”

“Will others believe that?”

Huang Guifen looked at her, “I’m your mother, I understand you, but what about others?”

She didn’t say the harsher words, but Ye Sibei could already imagine them.

In a woman’s long life, there are countless times when she observes the outcomes of others’ mistakes. When observing, it’s others; when something happens, those painful paths of the onlookers immediately become one’s own possible future.

Ye Sibei felt her vision blur with tears.

She didn’t know why, she couldn’t see Huang Guifen clearly at all, she just saw shadows, sitting beside her, speaking continuously.

The voices of Tao Jie and Chen Xiaoyang from a few days ago echoed in her ears.

“I always tell my daughter, don’t go out after 8 p.m. What kind of good girl is out so late at night?”

“Girls need proper education, and men judge people by appearances too. I’m not saying that girl is wrong, but look, at one in the morning, wearing high heels, a tight skirt, and makeup, isn’t that like a lamb in a wolf pack, deliberately seductive?”

Their words were just sparks, but in an instant, they ignited a fuse that exploded her past into a blaze.

Countless judgments and admonitions towards girls from the past crowded in like a tightly woven net, quickly coming together and forming an impenetrable barrier that descended from the sky, much like Mount Wutai breaking through the clouds.

She was enveloped layer by layer, and all her struggles seemed particularly futile.

Was she wrong?

She couldn’t bring herself to ask that question aloud because deep down, she already had an answer that she had been trying so hard to bury, but now Huang Guifen was digging it out.

Moreover, she began to realize why she had called Huang Guifen here.

Neither her father nor Qin Nan could truly understand her fear, only Huang Guifen could.

She was her mother, supposed to be the woman in the world who loved her the most and understood her the best.

She waited for Huang Guifen’s judgment, waited for her to say, “It’s okay, let’s pursue this.”

With that, she would have the courage to go ahead with what she wanted to do.

But Huang Guifen didn’t say that. She held onto her, drowning her faint hope in water, “I’m doing this for your own good, Sibei. Actually, you’ve been married before, and in such cases, the most important thing is to keep it from getting out. Just treat it like a dog bite, forget about it?”

Ye Sibei looked at her through blurred eyes.

She couldn’t understand.

Her mother, who had repeatedly warned her when she was young, who was so concerned about her relationships with men, constantly emphasized the sanctity and exclusivity of sex, as if any woman who had relations with two men had a problem.

But now, at this moment, her mother casually told her that as long as no one else knew, this incident was just like being bitten by a dog, irrelevant.

She couldn’t reconcile these conflicting views, nor could she forget the humiliation and pain of that moment.

Yet, she didn’t have the courage to face everything Huang Guifen said on her own. She struggled, hesitated, in a standoff with her mother. Suddenly, a familiar greeting came from outside, “Hey, Sister Lin, Brother Zhang, Brother Wang, are you all here?”