Siheyuan: I just came across and wanted to chase me away

Zhang Xue paced back and forth in the room, her footsteps thumping on the wooden floor like the pounding of a taut drum, each sound reflecting her anxiety. She truly didn't know what to do. Just now, she had tried to shed a few tears under the covers, but her throat felt so tight that she couldn't cry. She cursed at the air a few times, saying "pathetic" and "serves you right," but then felt it was pointless—no matter how much she cursed, the person had already been taken away, and life had to go on.

Finally, she could only grit her teeth, rummage through the closet for her most presentable blue khaki jacket, and put it on. She buttoned the collar neatly and decided to go back to her parents' house first. No matter what, he was her husband and the father of her children. She couldn't just stand by and watch him fall from grace and spend the rest of his life in prison.

Zhang Xue's father lived in a small building with a courtyard. The red-lacquered gate was polished to a shine, and the verdigris on the door knocker gleamed from being rubbed. The blue brick courtyard wall was neatly arranged, with several ivy vines climbing on top, making it particularly conspicuous in this drab residential area. When she pushed open the door, the old man was sitting in a wicker chair under the grape trellis, reading a newspaper. The chair creaked and swayed gently, and his reading glasses had slipped down to the tip of his nose, revealing a pair of still bright eyes. His gaze was fixed on the newspaper, and he didn't even lift his eyelids.

Zhang Xue's mother passed away early, and the father and daughter have depended on each other for many years. Her father is a senior cadre with some influence. He is always calm and composed in his speech and actions. Even if the house is leaking, he can sit in a rattan chair, finish a cup of tea, and then arrange for repairs. He rarely gets angry, but he has an air of authority that makes people dare not be presumptuous.

Back when Zhang Xue was determined to marry Deputy Factory Director Li, her father was vehemently opposed. He had long seen through the boy's glib tongue and shifty eyes when he spoke to people, revealing a cunning and opportunistic nature, and that he had ulterior motives.

But his daughter was stubborn and kept nagging him about how "Jianjun is a good husband" and "he dotes on me," eventually even crying and insisting that she "wouldn't marry anyone but him." The father had no choice but to agree. He then used his connections and pulled strings to gradually promote Deputy Factory Director Li from an insignificant workshop worker to his current position, hoping he could finally settle down and live a peaceful life. But things didn't go as planned…

“Dad.” Zhang Xue walked up to her father, her voice trembling almost imperceptibly, like a leaf trembling in the wind. Her fingers nervously twisted the hem of her clothes, making wrinkles in the fabric. “Li…Li Jianjun, something happened to him.”

The old man put down his newspaper, slowly took off his reading glasses, and carefully wiped the fingerprints off the lenses with a cloth, his movements unhurried. A sharp glint flashed in his cloudy eyes, like the sun hidden behind clouds, faint yet bright, but he didn't speak immediately. He just quietly looked at his daughter, waiting for her to continue, his face expressionless, as if his daughter wasn't talking about her son-in-law, but just an insignificant name.

Actually, Zhang Xue had been staying at her parents' house recently, saying that she was busy at the factory and Li Jianjun often worked overtime. She was afraid of being lonely at home alone, so she came back to keep her father company. Although the old man didn't ask much, he vaguely knew that the young couple might have some friction, but since his daughter didn't want to talk about it, he didn't pry.

Seeing his daughter's distraught state, he slowly spoke, his voice carrying the steady composure characteristic of an old-fashioned cadre: "Didn't you just go back to get a change of clothes? Why are you back again? Did you have a fight with Li Jianjun?"

He paused, picked up the enamel mug on the table, and took a sip of tea. "Young people inevitably have their ups and downs in life. Don't run back to your parents' house all the time; it'll only make you a laughingstock."

Zhang Xue's eyes were red, and tears streamed down her face like broken beads, soaking her clothes and leaving a small damp patch. Clutching her clothes, she recounted the entire story of Li Jianjun's arrest—from his secret contact with his "brothers" to the discovery of his smuggled contraband, even detailing the "action plans" and "escape arrangements" he had secretly written in his notebook. Her voice trembled uncontrollably. She then gripped her father's arm tightly, her knuckles white, her voice filled with despair as she cried, "Father, you must save him! He's my husband, the father of my child! If something really happens to him, if he goes to jail, I… I can't live alone with my child!"

Zhang Xue's father frowned deeply, his brows furrowed like an unraveling knot. His fingertips tapped heavily on the mahogany table, each tap carrying suppressed anger. He looked up at his daughter, his voice filled with disappointment and frustration: "Didn't I tell you all this before? The higher-ups just issued a document recently, they're cracking down hard, telling Li Jianjun to settle down, behave himself, and not to do anything suspicious! But you wouldn't listen, you just kept walking into the line of fire! What's going on? What is he hiding that made the police take him away like that?"

Zhang Xue lowered her head, her shoulders trembling slightly, her voice barely audible, like a mosquito's hum: "Dad, I know you've said this before, and I've repeatedly told Jianjun about it, I've talked him until his lips were sore. But he said he already had a foolproof plan, that all his contacts were trusted old friends, and that the hiding place was well-hidden, guaranteeing nothing would go wrong. He also said... he also said this was the last time, that after this job he could earn enough money for the rest of his life, and then he could take my daughter and me to the south to live a peaceful life. I couldn't stop him, I couldn't hold him back, who knew it would turn out like this..."

Zhang Xue's father sighed heavily, a sigh that seemed to be squeezed from the depths of his lungs, filled with endless helplessness. Looking at his daughter's red, swollen eyes, her eyelids bulging like walnuts, he felt both angry and heartbroken: "You two, you really don't know the immensity of the world! I analyzed the pros and cons with you long ago. This is a sensitive period, so many eyes are watching, yet you still insisted on walking into the line of fire! Now that the person has been arrested, the evidence is probably in their hands too. What can I do?"

"Dad!" Zhang Xue knelt down with a thud, her knees hitting the blue brick floor with a dull thud. Tears streamed down her face, forming droplets on her chin. "I know we were wrong, we were foolish, but it's too late now! Please have pity on me, have pity on your grandson who just learned to call you Grandpa, please find a way to save him! We can't really let him go to jail. He's never suffered any real hardship in his life, how can he endure it in there? If anything happens to him in there, I... I really can't go on living!"

Zhang Xue's father watched as his daughter knelt on the ground, pleading desperately, her forehead almost touching the ground. Finally, his heart softened. She was the daughter he had cherished since childhood; how could he truly stand by and watch her find herself with no way out?