In the early morning before daybreak, a woman had already gotten up from her bed. The winter nights were very cold, and the bed that had been heated last night had cooled down overnight, but it was still a little warm.
The woman shuddered when she came into contact with the cold air.
Shivering, she put on her most decent clothes, combed her hair neatly in front of the mirror, took the dry food she had baked last night, filled a worn and paint-chipped military water bottle with water, and put on her already somewhat worn PLA rubber shoes.
When it was dawn outside, she carried a bag and set out on the journey to the capital to petition.
People in the countryside woke up early, and when she went out, she met many people. No one spoke to her, and she didn't want to greet them either. She walked through the crowd with her head held high. She was like a soldier, and no matter how harsh their words were, they couldn't hurt her.
Before she had gone far, the voices of those people reached her ears.
"Hu Yuannan went to petition again? Do you think she'll be sent back by the government this time?"
"I think so. I heard the secretary tell us to keep an eye on her situation. If she's going to petition, we need to inform him."
"Everyone knows Hu Yuannan is going to petition this year. What's the point of her petitioning every year? Hu Jiangrong's been out for so many years. If the police could have caught him, why would they have waited until now?"
"That's what I think. She should save the money she earned from petitioning and give it to her son. Her son has a stepmother and doesn't recognize her anymore."
"I also wouldn't recognize her if I was him. She's been out for so many years, she's become dirty!"
"Don't say that. If you want to blame someone, blame Hu Jiangrong. She didn't want to do that either."
"If you care about her so much, why don't you marry her? Don't you already have a son and your wife just died?"
"Are you crazy? Why are would I want to get married if I'm nearly three generations away from her?" The two started arguing, and someone immediately changed the subject when they saw this.
"Someone should have told the secretary. Look, isn't that the secretary? He's here pretty quickly!"
When everyone looked over, they saw a man in a black cotton jacket standing in front of Hu Yuannan. He was Xu Zhigang, the village secretary of Hujiagou, and he had been working in Hujiagou for almost ten years.
Calculating the timeline, he had just arrived at Hujiagou to take up his post when Hu Jiangrong murdered his father, Hu Laogen, grandfather, and grandmother. It was he who insisted on calling the police.
Because of this incident, the older generation of villagers at that time had a lot of complaints against Xu Zhigang. If Xu Zhigang had not later led the villagers out of poverty and into prosperity, now every household in the village has a motorcycle, and farmers earn tens of thousands of yuan every year just from picking wolfberries.
He can help his fellow villagers make money, so they respect him so much. No matter what he says or does, there are always people supporting him.
Hu Yuannan frowned as she looked at the man in front of her. Before Xu Zhigang came to the village to take up his post, Hu Yuannan and her sister Hu Yaonan were sold into the mountains of the neighboring county.
Hu Yuannan had no impression of Xu Zhigang. She now hated all men equally. In her mind, none of these men were good people. They were all equally disgusting.
"Hu Yuannan, this is the money the village has allocated to you from their bank account. Take it for your travel expenses." Xu Zhigang placed an envelope in Hu Yuannan's arms. He glanced at the villagers who seemed to be chatting, but their eyes were fixed on them.
"This is the money the men in the village agreed to give you after a collective meeting. Just take it and I hope you can get your name cleared soon."
Dingzhou County has always been a place where men have a lot of say. Here, no matter how powerful a woman is, she can't control her men.
Before this, Xu Zhigang had been actively promoting gender equality and women holding up half the sky, but with little success.
Xu Zhigang used to hate this outdated idea the most, but sometimes he had to use it to achieve his goals.
Just like now, if he hadn't said that it was a decision made jointly by the men than of those women, Xu Zhigang was sure that these cheerful and generous Northwestern women would definitely rush up and scratch his face one by one.
The envelope was not thick, but there should be a few hundred yuan in it. Hu Yuannan turned around and glanced at the people who were listening attentively, threw the envelope to Xu Zhigang, and turned away without saying a word.
She did live in Hujiagou now, but that didn't mean she felt a sense of belonging to Hujiagou Village, because there was a room in this place where she could sleep. But she was filled with disgust for this village.
Everyone in Hujiagou knew what kind of temper Hu Yuannan had. Her fourth sister fell into the toilet and died, and her second sister mysteriously disappeared, with no news to date.
When she and her elder sister were sold by Hu Jiangrong, she saw clearly that one of her uncles was squatting not far from them.
The police officer who rescued her said someone had called the police. Hu Yuannan wasn't moved at all. For the past three years, she'd lived a life worse than that of pigs and dogs. There wasn't a single piece of healthy flesh on her body, and her face was covered in scars. Sometimes she'd wake up in the middle of the night and be startled by the mirror on the wall.
Her eldest sister was the one with the best temper among them. Hu Jiangrong was the youngest child in the family and he could be said to have grown up on her eldest sister's back. Her eldest sister is also the best when it comes to treating Hu Jiangrong among all the sisters in the family, but even such a good eldest sister did not make Hu Jiangrong soft-hearted.
Hu Yuannan didn't even exchange a single word with the people of Hujiagou Village. Even if Xu Zhigang had helped the people of Hujiagou escape poverty and become prosperous, she hadn't benefited from it. And what if the men of Hujiagou Village had chipped in for her petition?
She will never forget the year when the village was going to watch an opera. They were playing in the courtyard when Hu Jiangrong, who was about eight years old, got angry for some reason and chased them with a stone, hitting Xiaoxiang so hard that she bled.
However, the uncles and aunts in the village did not take this matter seriously. Instead, they all praised Hu Jiangrong for being so powerful. The aunts and sisters tried to persuade him a few times, but were quickly dismissed by the men in their families.
There were countless incidents like this. These men didn't care whether they felt pain or whether Hu Jiangrong was being too brutal. They just wanted to have fun and watch the excitement.
Some people even cheered on the sidelines when Hu Jiangrong beat them.
If Hu Jiangrong had not been so cruel as to kill Old Man Hu and the other two, they might never have thought that what they had done was wrong.
After all, girls, when they grow up, will marry into other families and become their own children. A daughter who cannot carries on the family line is not as important as a son. The fact that these uncles and aunts were willing to share money from the village for her petitioning expenses might be a way of expressing repentance for their past actions.
Perhaps there are some people who still don't think they are wrong. The reason they agree to this matter is probably just to follow the crowd.
Hu Yuannan didn't want their money, and she didn't accept their repentance. Perhaps their faults weren't that serious, but what did it matter? She would always remember the pain and shame they felt when Hu Jiangrong beat them in public.
Hu Yuannan used to find those things unbelievable. Why didn't they resist? They were all older than Hu Jiangrong. Even if he was powerful, they could definitely give him a beating.
But now, Hu Yuannan figured it out. They didn't dare to resist when they were young because the men watching them at that time were the absolute authorities in front of them.
They were an unchallengeable authority, so even if they had the right to resist, they didn't dare. This included Hu Jiangrong, who, thanks to the extra two ounces of meat, had become a member of the authority.
In the eyes of those men at that time, Hu Jiangrong was one of them, and they, the girls, were not.
Hu Yuannan strode away. Passing by a group of obviously older men, some looked ashamed, while others didn't even dare to look at her.
Hu Yuannan took the wages she had earned from following others to dig herbs in the mountains and pick wolfberries in the fields in the previous autumn, and walked towards the capital step by step.
When she reaches the next county town, a truck carrying pigs will pass by and she can take their truck to the nearest train station.
The northwest region is vast, and the distance between county towns is very far. She walked from early morning to afternoon before she could vaguely see the outline of the county town.
She sat on a big rock by the roadside, quietly waiting for the pig collector's truck to pass by. She had made an appointment with the pig collector last month.
After walking all morning, Hu Yuannan was starving. She took out a pancake and began to eat. She had already finished most of the water she'd bottled that morning, but she ate the pancake dry. Her lips blistered from the dryness, and the cold wind made her shiver. Her hands were covered in large, rough cracks, the deepest one as thick as a toothpick. Some of the cracks were fresh, and a faint trace of blood oozed out.
The wind started to get stronger again, bringing with it a few small snowflakes. Hu Yuannan took two bites of the cold, hard biscuit, went around to sit behind the rock, and curled up behind the small rock to wait.
"Hu Yuannan, Hu Yuannan!" Before she was about to drift off to sleep, Hu Yuannan heard someone calling her. She struggled to open her eyes, picked up her backpack, and walked out. She thought it was the couple who had collected the pigs.
But when she walked out, she found that it was a police car calling her and Xu Zhigang was sitting in the police car.
Xu Zhigang, who was in the police car, also saw Hu Yuannan and was very excited: "Comrade police, comrade police, Hu Yuannan is there."
As soon as he finished speaking, a police car stopped beside her, the window of the driver's cab rolled down, and a policeman who looked very familiar to Hu Yuannan appeared in front of her.
This policeman was the one who rescued her and also the one who provided her with travel expenses when he knew she was going to petition.
"Hu Yuannan, Hu Jiangrong was arrested in Pengcheng."
The wind blew harder and harder, and the strands of hair by the ears hit her face, causing a slight sting. Hu Yuannan felt that she must be dreaming, otherwise how could she hear such exciting news now?
She thought that she would have to go on this petitioning journey for the rest of her life.
•••••
It takes 24 hours to get from Guangdong Province to the capital by train. Lin Shuyue and Hang Jiabai agreed to take the train at six in the morning on the 24th, stay on the train for a whole day and a night, and when they woke up the next day, they would be in the capital.
But because of Hu Jiangrong's incident, they refunded their train tickets and decided to move their trip to the morning of the 25th.
On the afternoon of the 24th, Lin Shuyue met Hu Yuannan.
She was thin and wearing thick clothes. Because of the heat, there were some beads of sweat on her face.
This wasn't Hu Yuannan's first trip to the metropolis, and she'd long since lost the sense of wonder she'd felt the first time she entered the city. But she still looked around. To celebrate the New Year, some businesses had placed auspicious green plants at their entrances, beneath a circle of red and pink flowers.
This was the first time in Hu Yuannan's life that she had seen a leafless tree in winter. She had been shocked all the way, but she was still amazed.
Ye Xueyu walked up to her, introduced herself to her, and shook hands with her.
Hu Yuannan looked at the hand held out to her, wiped her own hand on her trouser leg before taking it. For the first time, Hu Yuannan realized how soft a girl's hands could be.
Lin Shuyue raised her camera and took a picture of them. Hu Yuannan looked over subconsciously and Lin Shuyue smiled at her.
Hu Yuannan was accompanied by four police officers from their city. The bags they carried contained all of Hu Jiangrong's criminal files.
They were utterly anxious the entire time. Hu Jiangrong's case was considered extremely serious throughout the province, arguably the most influential in recent years. To apprehend Hu Jiangrong, they had searched the entire province extensively for years.
"We really didn't expect him to run so fast!" Dingzhou County criminal police officer Zhang Zhouhai was very emotional.
Hu Jiangrong is uneducated and is unwilling to continue his studies before even graduating from elementary school. When asked about this, he says that the teachers teach too simply and he knows everything without having to learn.
Judging from the information Zhang Zhouhai and his colleagues had collected, Hu Jiangrong was indeed a very intelligent person. To what extent was he so smart? You only needed to explain some junior high school knowledge three or five times, and when he was given a problem again, he would not make a mistake.
But his character flaws have always existed. His brutality seemed innate. He seemed to lack any empathy. Things like killing his grandparents and his parents, and selling his sister seemed so natural to him, as simple as drinking water and eating.
He treated his relatives like the ants on the roadside at his doorstep. Killing them was as easy as killing newly hatched chicks when he was a child.
Hu Jiangrong had been thoroughly studied by them over the years. They all knew that he was an antisocial person.
This kind of person is extremely dangerous in society. This is why, over the years, the public security system in Northwest China has been sending Hu Jiangrong's personal information to public security systems in all provinces nationwide. This is also why the criminal police of the Dingzhou Public Security Bureau have been searching for Hu Jiangrong year after year.
"He is indeed a good runner. He is also very cruel, but he just had bad luck this time." Hang Jiabai said here and glanced at Lin Shuyue.
Zhang Zhouhai also knew how Hu Jiangrong was arrested, and he looked at Lin Shuyue with curiosity.
Lin Shuyue wasn't embarrassed at all. However, her use of pepper spray to subdue a gangster yesterday had already become known to many people. Lin Shuyue had received many calls today, all asking for the recipe for her own pepper spray.
Hu Yuannan didn't say a word. Zhang Zhouhai knew that she was curious, so he didn't waste any words and asked Hang Jiabai to take them to see Hu Jiangrong.
Hu Jiangrong is still in the detention room of the Public Security Bureau. In order to avoid accidents, there are armed police officers on duty outside his detention room 24 hours a day.
When Lin Shuyue and the others saw Hu Jiangrong, most of the bruises on his face had already disappeared.
Hu Yuannan, who had been very quiet all the time, took out a rectangular stone from her bag when she saw Hu Jiangrong. Before anyone could react, she ran over and smashed the stone directly on Hu Jiangrong's face.
Hu Jiangrong's face was immediately torn apart. Hu Jiangrong was still very arrogant. He massage at the place where he was hit and said, "Where did you come from, you crazy woman?"
Ever since Hu Jiangrong followed Zhong Jiasheng, he had never trained a woman like Hu Yuannan. Now that a woman who looked like a mad woman appeared before him, Hu Jiangrong frowned in disgust.
But he was thinking in his mind, could this very familiar woman be the fool he trained before he met Zhong Jiasheng?
But didn't he kill that fool? Ghost? Hu Jiangrong sneered, not afraid at all.
Hu Yuannan clutched the stone and said bitterly, "Hu Jiangrong, don't you remember me?"
The familiar accent made Hu Jiangrong sit up straight. He squinted his eyes and looked at Hu Yuannan carefully for a long time before asking in disbelief, "Hu Yuannan?"
Hu Jiangrong was extremely shocked: "You're still alive. How could that old scoundrel Zhu not have beaten you to death?"
After Hu Jiangrong reaped the profits from selling his sister once, he carefully selected the people where he wanted to sell again. Those who loved to beat or abuse others were his first choice. Even when he was selling people, the buyers would ask him what he would do if they beat someone to death.
Hu Jiangrong's answer was that if they were beaten to death, then that's it.
And that old man Zhu was arguably the most brutal of the group. He was all betting that Hu Yuannan wouldn't survive more than six months in Zhu's hands.
Hu Jiangrong was very curious about how she could survive until now, and his eyes lit up with interest. "Hu Yuannan, you have such a good body, so resistant to beatings and tough. How about you become my 'M'? We will definitely be the biggest stars in the circle when the time comes."
Hu Jiangrong knew that as long as he didn't exposed Zhong Jiasheng, he would find a way to get him out once Zhong Jiasheng got out. After all, he knew so many of his secrets!
Besides, there were no witnesses to the murders he'd done back home. People like Zhong Jiali had signed an agreement during his last interrogation. With that agreement, he felt the police had no say in whether they lived or died.
It seemed perfectly normal to Hu Jiangrong to let his elder sister Hu Yuannan be his 'M'. Before Zhong Jiali recognized him as her master, wasn't Zhong Jiasheng her master?
He really never changes his bad habits. Everyone present frowned.
Hu Yuannan even took out a stone from her bag and hit Hu Jiangrong on the forehead.
"This is the stone I brought from my fourth sister's and eldest sister's graves. We are happy to see you arrested today and sentenced to death in due course."
Hu Jiangrong had a look of disdain on his face and was not worried at all.
After identifying the person inside and confirming that it was Hu Jiangrong, Hu Yuannan was asked to leave. The stones she brought with her were also picked up. She carefully placed the two stones back into her army green canvas bag with a patch on it.
At the door of the detention room, Lin Shuyue told her identity and wanted to interview her, and Hu Yuannan agreed.
Her story has been reported many times, and every time she goes to petition, reporters come to interview her.
Hu Yuannan is illiterate, but when the newspaper interviewing her was distributed, she bought it and had someone read it to her, spending ten cents each time. The people who read the newspaper to her were all elementary school students.
Some newspapers wrote extremely outrageous stories, even portraying her as a completely filial daughter. When Hu Yuannan heard this, she felt so disgusted that she wanted to vomit.
"I am not a filial daughter. If you want to portray me as a filial daughter, then don't interview me. I don't fit your imagination." This was Hu Yuannan's first sentence.
Lin Shuyue already knew Hu Jiangrong's entire personal resume from the system, so how could she ask Hu Yuannan to be a filial person?
"My reports are always truthful. I write exactly what the interviewees say. I never mix in any falsehood."
Hu Yuannan already knew that Lin Shuyue was the one who arrested Hu Jiangrong. She nodded and said, "Then ask."
Lin Shuyue turned on the recorder and the interview began.
When asked why she persisted in petitioning, Hu Yuannan replied, "I did it for my sisters. In my family, as girls, we were not liked by anyone. There are four of us sisters."
"That's why the four of us sisters have always had such a good relationship. My youngest sister's death was so ridiculous. My second sister just contradicted Hu Jiangrong and then disappeared mysteriously. We haven't seen her alive or her body yet."
"My eldest sister worked so hard for the family. After getting married and having children, she didn't take good care of her health. The year after she was sold by Hu Jiangrong, she died. I found the place where she was dumped last year."
"After she died, there was no coffin or straw mat. She was thrown into a valley. When I found her, there were only bones. Her thigh bone, right here." Hu Yuannan pointed to the inside of her thigh. "There's a knife wound here, it hit the bone."
Hu Yuannan's eyes were filled with tears, and her lips were trembling. "My elder sister, such a good person, such a gentle person, why did she not get rewarded for her kindness? How painful must she have been back then?"
Seeing that she refused to mention herself, Lin Shuyue asked, "What about you?"
Hu Yuannan touched the scar on her face and said, "You see this, don't you? My face is ruined, and my body is ruined too. If the police had arrived a month later last year, I wouldn't be alive."
Hu Yuannan has endured for so many years, relying on the thought of seeking justice for her sisters after she is released and watching Hu Jiangrong die.
Because her thoughts were too strong, her belief was too firm, and because she had given birth to a son for Zhu Laolai, she has survived to this day.
Hu Yuannan wasn't afraid of being disfigured; she didn't even care, because while she lived, she would witness Hu Jiangrong's death. These scars were testimony, and they were all worth it.
There was a determined light in Hu Yuannan's eyes, and this light moved Lin Shuyue.
"What about your parents, grandparents, won't you seek justice for them?"
Hu Yuannan sneered, "I'm not afraid to tell you, nor am I afraid of you writing these words out. Journalist friend, when I found out they were killed by Hu Jiangrong, I just hated myself for not having any money in my pocket. If I had, I would have set off two strings of firecrackers."
"They were killed by Hu Jiangrong. That was what they deserved. It was their retribution. It was what they deserved. They died a good death. If they had died of old age or illness, I would have felt that God had no eyes and could not see our injustice."
Hu Yuannan's hatred was too strong. Lin Shuyue thought of Zhou Tiehua, the woman who was the start of Hu Jiangrong's killing journey and Hu Yuannan's mother.
"Is your mother like this too?"
Hu Yuannan was silent for a moment, then said, "She's not that bad, but compared to Hu Laogen and the others, how much better is she?"