Divorced woman with child travels through time

Seeing that Wang Youcai had accepted the money, Chen Wenfang felt much more at ease and stopped making a fuss. She went back to the kang (a heated brick bed) and hugged Chen Xuanyu.

Everyone was exhausted from all the commotion. They placed Chen Wenfang's stools along both sides of the main room. Those with stools sat on them, those without brought their own chairs, and those without chairs sat directly on the floor, making the room packed full. Everyone was waiting for the county officials to arrive.

After waiting for a long time, and with some people leaving, they finally heard someone at the door say that the officials had arrived. The room immediately fell silent. Everyone looked at the officials who entered.

Chen Wenfang looked in the direction of the sound and saw three tall men dressed in official robes and wearing turbans leading an elderly man carrying a box into the room.

The man leading the group was probably a jailer. He entered the room without saying a word and looked around.

Before the jailer could speak, Aunt Wang from next door, hearing the commotion, burst into a deafening wail. She grabbed the jailer's leg and cried out, "Your Honor, you must do justice for my son! He died so unjustly! Sir, she's the murderer! Arrest her! My God, save me! Is no one going to do anything? My poor son... Oh, alas..."

The jailer, increasingly exasperated by her ramblings, said helplessly, "We'll investigate. You can go now." "You two, drag her away." Two other guards pulled Aunt Wang away again, but she persisted, continuing to howl in the next cell.

Wang Youcai wiped the sweat from his brow and asked the women nearby to persuade Wang Ershen. He then hurried forward, saying, "Greetings, Lord Yang. I am the village head of Wangjiazhuang. This is Madam Chen. The head of the household is Wang Erniu. Madam Chen is his cousin. They fled here during the famine, but Wang Erniu went to look for his wife and never returned. So Madam Chen has been living here alone with her orphan. The woman just taken away was the aunt of the deceased, Wang Ximao." He added, "Wang Ximao lost his mother at a young age and was raised by Wang Ershen."

The jailer, Yang, nodded and looked at the older man carrying the box, guessing he was an ancient coroner. The man then took the box to examine Wang Ximao's body. Yang approached Chen Wenfang, carefully observing her and Chen Xuanyu, and said, "Could you please recount what happened, Madam Chen?"

Chen Wenfang struggled to get up and tried to bow to the jailer, but accidentally touched Chen Xuanyu's face. Chen Xuanyu burst into tears. Seeing this, the jailer Yang reached out to stop him and said gently, "No need for formalities, you can talk on the kang."

Chen Wenfang nodded in response and said through sobs, "This morning, just as dawn broke, my son woke up needing to urinate. I got him dressed and got up to relieve himself. But as soon as I untied the chain from the door and pulled the bolt, I smelled a strong odor of alcohol. I knew something was wrong, so I slammed the door shut. Wang Ximao quickly reached his hand in. My son and I immediately blocked the door with our hands to stop him from coming in."

Chen Wenfang wiped away her tears. She had been too cruel to herself; the swelling on her face hadn't subsided at all, and wiping it only made it hurt more. The tears wouldn't go away, making her appear even more pitiful to outsiders. Through her tears, Chen Wenfang continued, "After a while, my son and I couldn't hold him off any longer. That Wang Ximao was reaching out and grabbing everywhere. My son was anxious and stretched out his neck, trying to bite him. He grabbed his neck and threatened me to open the door. I had no choice but to open the door and beg him to let my son go. He even forced me to take off my clothes. I took off my outer garment and let him in. I knelt on the ground, pleading with him to let my son go. He still wouldn't let go of my son. Worried that he would go out to find someone, he slapped him several times, knocking him unconscious and leaving him inside. I was afraid he would beat my son to death, so I tried to go to check on him, but he wouldn't allow it. He dragged me onto the bed and raped me. Waaah... Waaah..."

Thinking of this, Chen Wenfang was filled with grief and burst into tears. "I resisted desperately, and he hit me. He's the one who hit my face. Waaah, after he finished hitting me, he stripped me naked. Because I had altered my pants myself, the knots were hard to untie. While he was on top of me trying to take off my pants, I pulled out my hairpin and stabbed him. I didn't expect him to die. When I bought the hairpin, I thought wooden hairpins were easy to break, so I bought a silver-plated iron one. I didn't expect it to be so sharp. It killed him. I didn't want to kill him. He tried to rape me and also tried to kill my son. If he had been a little rougher, my son would be gone."

After Chen Wenfang finished speaking, the coroner had already examined Wang Ximao's body. The coroner stepped forward and nodded to Yang, the jailer. Yang then said, "Madam Chen, please come with us to the county government office. This case involves a murder and requires a trial."

The jailer Yang then said, "Village Chief Wang, could you please find a few people to bring a stretcher and carry Wang Ximao's body to the county government office?"

Wang Youcai should go and find someone.

Chen Wenfang said, "Lord Yang, may my son come with me?"

The jailer, Yang, said, "Of course, he is a witness."

After a while, Wang Youcai brought people and a stretcher, and Yang, the jailer, led everyone to the county government office.

Chen Wenfang didn't tidy up. She asked Aunt Liu to watch the house, locked the door, and still wore her tattered clothes. She led Chen Xuanyu inside without making a fuss or saying a word.

Uncle Liu Hai followed along with Da Zhuang.

The jailer Yang didn't put any handcuffs on Chen Wenfang. He had also heard about how Aunt Wang had tried to hit Chen Xuanyu and how Chen Wenfang had protected her son. He thought that Chen Wenfang was a good mother and would definitely not run away for her son's sake.

Because they were carrying a corpse, they didn't take the side paths this time, but followed the main road. The procession was large and attracted attention. When they reached a village, a large group of people arrived. Seeing that Chen Xuanyu was too weak to walk any further, Uncle Liu Hai asked the jailer Yang to carry him. The jailer Yang didn't make things difficult for him and agreed.