novelraw Chapter 65 Sun Xianglan has disappeared
Chapter 65 Sun Xianglan has disappeared
Tong Yuheng didn't adhere to the custom of not working during the Lunar New Year. She planned to use the salvaged adobe bricks to build a storage shed, right opposite the woodshed in the front yard. She would use the purlins from the demolished pigsty to make it easier to sweep snow in winter and prevent leaks in summer.
On the third day of the Lunar New Year, we dismantled the pigsty and sorted out usable items. On the fourth day, we built a storage shed. The whole family pitched in, leveling the ground and moving adobe bricks. Surprisingly, the adobe bricks from the dismantled kang (a traditional heated brick bed) were more than enough to build a 2x2 storage shed.
It doesn't need to be too high, 2.5 to 2.2 meters is enough. They first built the frame and set up the purlins. There are many reeds by the river, and they plan to cut some, make reed mats to lay on the roof, then cover them with tar paper, add a layer of bricks, and then apply cement on top of the bricks.
This house isn't expected to last a lifetime. It just needs to be repaired every year and last until they leave. It can be used to store some odds and ends, but its most important function is to conceal the passageway leading to the cowshed.
This idea came to her when she was searching for Linglong and saw the tunnels the human traffickers had built. If Grandpa's hat were removed, it would be convenient for everyone to come and go; but what if that wasn't possible? Of course, it would still be convenient to have a direct passage.
However, no one else needs to participate in this task; she can only quietly be the big rat by herself.
The family worked for several days and finally finished building the storage shed. The interior and exterior walls weren't plastered, and the roof wasn't cemented either. There was no other way; it was too cold to do the work!
The completion of the small adobe house surprised the villagers once again! The girls in the Tong family are so capable! Many young men don't even know how to build a house!
Tong Yuheng: What kind of house is that? Besides the door, there's only a tiny window, about two feet square, it's practically a dugout! But Grandpa's room wasn't much bigger than that!
After covering the shelter on the ground, Tong Yuheng began digging a tunnel. She quietly dug deep inside, creating a straight hole three meters deep. She stored all the excavated soil in her spatial storage, so she didn't need to move it.
Then she dug in the direction of the cowshed, avoiding other people's houses and collective pigsties, and dug into the hay shed next to the cowshed.
Midway through the tunnel, she also dug two small rooms like "cat ear holes," which contained a lot of supplies that her grandfather and uncle could retrieve whenever they needed them.
This tunnel, which requires people to bend over to walk through, is only about 300 meters long. This was even with all the necessary tools, and it took Tong Yuheng more than a month to finish it.
When Tong Anfu walked down from the hole in the hay shed and into his daughter's yard, his eyes welled up with tears. How much suffering this child had endured digging such a long tunnel over a month!
"Yuheng! Grandpa really doesn't know what to say!" The old man wiped away his tears, holding his eldest granddaughter's hand, feeling both heartache and gratitude.
"You don't need to say anything. Once the weather gets warmer, we'll ask a few people from the village to help build the courtyard wall, and you and my uncle can come over to teach us in the evenings. I've also gotten some fresh medicinal herbs, which you'll need to process; we don't know how to do any of these things..."
"Okay! Okay! Let's be careful not to disturb anyone!" The old man didn't dare to stay at his daughter's house for long and quickly went back through the tunnel.
During this period, Tong Yuheng visited Liu Fengyi twice, secretly, of course. After discussing some details, he obtained the letter of denunciation written in Tong Anfu's name by chance.
Instead of handing it over immediately, Liu Fengyi investigated the "money-grubber" and collected evidence of his framing of county officials.
Grandpa Tong also reported that Guo Qirun was a spy and that someone had instructed him to send him a note asking him to cooperate with their operation!
He had reported that his father's concubine, Guo Qirun's mother, might be hiding money belonging to remnants of the Qing dynasty, but he wasn't sure if this was true. However, given his father's favoritism towards his concubine and his abandonment of his eldest son, he would likely only give any wealth to his concubine and her son.
In his whistleblower letter, he also specifically named Sun Xianglan as possibly having an improper relationship with Guo Qirun, because she had previously worked as Guo Qirun's servant...
Liu Fengyi secretly reported the matter to the county party secretary and the higher-level public security department. The higher authorities attached great importance to the matter and immediately sent a special person to investigate. As for the extent of the investigation, no one knew.
Because of this whistleblower letter, a small courtyard house in Yanshi was thoroughly searched, and some gold bars and antiques were found, confirming that Tong Anfu's whistleblower report was not false. Just then, Guo Qirun, through an intermediary, sent a message to the domestic authorities offering to donate some machinery and foreign exchange, which immediately aroused the suspicion of the police.
A thorough investigation uncovered numerous spies hiding both domestically and internationally. Guo Qirun was arrested upon entering the country and confessed to having an improper relationship with Sun Xianglan. However, when agents were sent to interrogate Sun Xianglan, they discovered she had disappeared at the Northwest Farm!
Her disappearance implicated her ex-husband Fan Dayong and her son and daughter. Fan Dayong was investigated again, leaving him feeling confused, wronged, and angry.
His ex-wife's affair with her old flame happened before they married, so what business is it of his? He's been cheated on multiple times, so who can he hold accountable?
At this time, Fan Yaqing was deeply in love with Zhang Minghai. Her plan to hook up with Zheng Yunqing had failed, so now she could only cling to this silly boy, Zhang Minghai. At least he had a salary to support her, right?
At this time, Wu Zhigang also asked Shunzi to find her. She said that she would marry him after graduation. Now that she sees that his health is not good, she wants to leave him and climb the social ladder. But it's not that easy!
Fan Yaqing was overwhelmed by these things and often skipped classes, which led her to be labeled by her teachers as an unambitious and irresponsible girl!
After the Lunar New Year, the members of the G Committee, like insects awakening in spring, started causing trouble again. In Chenjiatun Brigade, the brigade leader called a meeting of villagers and first dragged out those in the cowshed for criticism and education.
Tong Jiahui wrote a speech for her father, in which she interspersed self-criticism with her hatred for the old society and the old system, criticizing her father for being irresponsible and for spoiling his concubine and framing him. She also listed the fact that he was almost killed several times when he was a child.
He was grateful to the new society and the people who gave him a new life; he was determined to thoroughly excavate the feudal dregs from his mind, and so on...
It was truly heartbreaking to hear and see, so much so that even the Red Guards couldn't bring themselves to hurt this old man who had lived a life of luxury since childhood but was constantly living in fear, as if he were in hell.
This time, he was spared a beating because of his profound understanding, and he was not spat on or stoned. When the others reported on the results of their ideological reform, they were also sincere and earnest.
The ideological report and criticism meeting of the exiled reformers in Chenjiatun basically returned to its previous state.