Reborn in 97, I solved a cold case at the Municipal Bureau

Chapter 493 Breaking Through the Window (Remember to participate in the giveaway!)
Ma Weichang said that after obtaining the certificate with Miao Genhua, the quarry started construction smoothly.

Apart from a few special jobs, all the other workers were from the village, and they were paid wages higher than those outside the village, as agreed beforehand.

Although the quarry is small and employs mostly villagers, the number of workers is limited.

So the village chief has the final say on who to use.

Regardless, at least the business got off the ground, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

During that period, he was completely focused on his business, working day and night, and had no spare time.

But Zhang Guifen didn't think so. She was afraid that he would get involved with Miao Genhua, so she would go to the quarry whenever she had free time. She didn't come openly, but secretly came to keep an eye on him. She was even caught by him a few times.

Zhang Guifen's actions infuriated him; he felt that she not only distrusted him but also caused him trouble.

Their relationship was once very tense.

Even so, nothing happened between him and Miao Genhua, because at that time he was fighting a desperate battle.

Ma Weichang recounted his hardships and difficulties over the past six months to Zhou Yi and the others, but Zhou Yi wasn't interested in that and told him to get to the point.

The key point is that business at the quarry started to improve slowly, and he was able to recover.

Moreover, Zhang Guifen stopped being suspicious of him. After all, she had been keeping an eye on him for so long and found that the two had almost no contact. In addition, she had to go to work and take care of her son, so she had limited energy and rarely came to the quarry anymore.

She would urge him and Miao Genhua to go through the divorce proceedings every now and then, but Ma Weichang kept saying he would wait a full year because he couldn't bear to spend the extra 500 yuan.

Zhou Yi lit another cigarette for Ma Weichang, but didn't smoke it himself.

"Thank you," Ma Weichang said, and continued, "I started getting to know Miao Genhua after business improved. The first time she came to me was to ask me to help her younger brother, Miao Zhuang, find a job."

“Miao Zhuang is rather short, so he doesn’t get a job at the village quarry. Miao Genhua thinks it will be hard for her brother to find a partner if he doesn’t have a proper job.”

“I thought she sounded quite sincere, and the fact that she only came to ask me for help after more than half a year means she had hesitated for a long time before asking. So I asked her to call her younger brother over so I could take a look at him. After looking at him, I found that he probably couldn't do physical labor. Luckily, he had a driver's license and could drive, so I asked him to be my driver and run errands for me.”

"Then a few days later, she came to my office at the quarry with a hot meal, saying she wanted to thank me for arranging a job for her brother. I saw she had brought quite a lot of food, and I couldn't finish it all by myself, so I offered her some. We ate and chatted, and I asked her how her husband died..."

Zhou Yi reminded him, "The details of the chat aren't important. Get to the point: your relationship."

Ma Weichang nodded repeatedly: "Okay, okay. Anyway, she saw that I really liked her cooking, so she said she could bring me meals often in the future."

"You didn't refuse?"

Ma Weichang lowered his head and gave a shameful "hmm".

The moral bottom line of ordinary people never collapses all at once, but rather melts away imperceptibly.

For Ma Weichang, it was a comparison between Zhang Guifen and Miao Genhua.

Zhou Yi was certain that Miao Genhua's act of delivering the meal was out of genuine gratitude to Ma Weichang for taking in his brother. If it were a calculated move, there would have been no need to wait more than half a year.

The problem lies in the stark contrast between Miao Genhua's delivery of meals and Zhang Guifen's surveillance.

If Miao Genhua were just an ordinary villager, coming to Ma Weichang to ask for a favor and then thank him.

There was absolutely no problem with that, and Ma Weichang wouldn't think much of it.

The problem is that, legally, the two are a married couple with a marriage certificate.

Generally speaking, men will feel a bit itchy inside.

One is a gentle and virtuous "current wife," and the other is a fierce and shrewish "ex-wife." Naturally, subtle changes will occur in their mindset.

"Later, she would often bring me food every few days, and we got to know each other. Then occasionally, her brother would invite me to her house for dinner. Of course, I didn't eat for free. I knew she had a daughter, so I would always buy something for the child when I went."

This time, Ma Weichang didn't reveal the details, but Zhou Yi could guess them.

When Miao Genhua delivers meals, the quarry workers always tease her a bit, and Miao Genhua always defends herself, feeling embarrassed. As for Ma Weichang, he's the boss, so of course he can't come forward to clarify, but he probably enjoys the feeling.

Then Miao Zhuang would always call him "brother-in-law," and Ma Weichang didn't stop him.

When Ma Weichang went to the Miao family's house for a meal, he was definitely treated as an honored guest. The whole family was extremely hospitable, and the old lady would even jokingly tell the children to call him "Dad." Ma Weichang said shyly that he should call him "Uncle," and Miao Genhua stood to the side, smiling without saying a word. Their eyes met, and Miao Genhua shyly looked away.

Ambiguity is inherently easy to get carried away with, especially for married middle-aged men, it's practically a death sentence.

Many people's affairs begin with this kind of ambiguous relationship that both parties enjoy, especially since the two of them have a marriage certificate.

It's simply a matter of how to finally break through this barrier.

This relationship is so outrageous it could easily be made into an urban romance drama.

“And so, my relationship with Miao Genhua grew closer and closer,” Ma Weichang said.

Zhou Yi asked, "So you're not worried about the five hundred yuan, which is why you're unwilling to divorce Miao Genhua early, right?"

Ma Weichang nodded: "Although our relationship is getting better and better, as the one-year deadline approaches, I can tell that she's reluctant to part with me..."

Zhou Yi felt a chill.

“But I was timid and didn’t dare to do anything further. Moreover, Zhang Guifen kept urging me, which made me very anxious. So I made an excuse not to go home and lived in a prefabricated steel house next to the quarry.”

"About a month before the one-year deadline, Zhang Guifen suddenly came over. But seeing that I was the only one in the office and there was no trace of other women, she didn't say anything. She just reminded me not to forget to make an appointment with Miao Genhua to get a divorce."

Zhao Liang asked, "Didn't she go find the seedlings herself?"

“She didn’t know where Miao Genhua lived. We met in the village committee office.”

Zhao Liang nodded. "Continue."

“Two days after Zhang Guifen left, it started raining heavily, since it was summer at the time. Because the rain was so heavy, I was afraid something might happen, so I told the workers to stop working. I was afraid that someone would take advantage of the rain to steal things, so I stayed behind to keep watch.”

"That night, I was alone in the quarry office. The raindrops were pounding on the corrugated steel sheet, and the noise was so loud it was unbearable. The room was stuffy and hot. Suddenly there was a knock on the door, which startled me."

“I asked who was outside, and Miao Genhua said it was her, so I quickly opened the door. She was standing at the door wearing a raincoat. I told her to come in quickly and asked her why she had come over in such heavy rain. She took off her raincoat and took out a cloth bag from her bosom. Inside were steaming meat buns. She said that she had heard Miao Zhuang mention that I was alone here and was afraid that I would have nothing to eat, so she steamed a basket of meat buns and brought them to me.”

Ma Weichang said excitedly, "When I saw the still-warm steamed bun, I was so moved that I couldn't control myself and hugged her tightly, and then... and then..."

"Alright, let's not go into those details," Zhou Yi reminded her. After all, everyone understands this: a lone man and woman, like dry wood meeting a raging fire, completely lost in each other's world.

So, from that day on, the unspoken understanding between the two was broken.

In Zhou Yi's opinion, it shouldn't be that Miao Genhua was too scheming and designed it this way on purpose.

Judging from Zhao Liang's previous reactions when he questioned her, Miao Genhua didn't seem to have such ulterior motives.

Moreover, the reason she lost control of her emotions earlier was because Zhao Liang mentioned that someone had seen her and Shi Jian sneaking into the sorghum field.

She was certainly not a chaste and virtuous woman, but she wasn't the kind of woman who would sleep with anyone.

She must have had a secret relationship with Shi Jian after her divorce, or perhaps Miao Genhua only needed Shi Jian to satisfy her physical desires, rather than dating or even marrying him, because Shi Jian was idle and irresponsible, unable to support her and her daughter, and was not someone she could entrust her life to.

The reason she was seen sneaking into the sorghum field with Shi Jian after marrying Ma Weichang was because her marriage to Ma Weichang was just a transaction, or a business deal.

So at that time, she was in a state of being married but also single.

Later, she may have broken up with Shi Jian, or she may have broken off contact with Shi Jian after formally contacting Ma Weichang about finding a job for her younger brother.

The reason is simple: compared to Shi Jian, Ma Weichang is the better man to whom one can entrust their life. Perhaps Ma Weichang isn't a wealthy tycoon, but to Miao Genhua and to the Xipinggou social class, he is a city dweller, a rich man.

Marrying him is so much better than marrying Shi Jian or those ugly ducklings introduced by matchmakers.

Moreover, she was already "married".

Once the two have had sexual relations, it's naturally impossible for them to go through divorce proceedings.

Ma Weichang said he started making all sorts of reasons and excuses to stall for Zhang Guifen in order to avoid getting a divorce.

From this perspective, Ma Weichang is still a little man at heart.

Otherwise, to put it bluntly, Zhang Guifen couldn't actually control him at all. Although he left with nothing, the quarry business was also separated from Zhang Guifen.

Old assets are dead, but business brings in money continuously.

What truly restrains Ma Weichang is the last vestige of morality and conscience he has left.

However, more important than all of these is Ma Weichang's biological son.

His son was the last rope that held him and Zhang Guifen together.

Ma Weichang said that as time went on, Zhang Guifen began to suspect something and questioned him about whether he had slept with that little bitch.

Ma Weichang vehemently denied it, but his expression when he said this showed that he was still shaken by the fact that the matter had almost been exposed.

During that time, he racked his brains every day trying to figure out what to do, but he couldn't come up with a solution.

Zhou Yi gasped, because if Ma Weichang was truly vicious, he would most likely have killed him to silence him in that situation.

Fortunately, that didn't happen. Otherwise, such cases would be easy to investigate, and people would either die or be arrested, leaving only innocent children to bear the consequences.

Just when he had exhausted all his excuses and was at his wit's end, an accident at the quarry six months later came to his rescue.

A worker from Xipinggou did not follow the regulations and his legs were crushed by a rock, eventually requiring amputation.

Although it was caused by his own violation of regulations, such a major safety accident will definitely affect the quarry.

Sure enough, when Ma Weichang, out of humanitarian concern, and Zhang Guifen visited the worker in the ward with fruit, gifts, and a thousand yuan in condolence money,

The worker's family demanded an exorbitant compensation of 200,000 yuan from Ma Weichang. Ma Weichang argued his case, but was almost beaten by them and had to throw away all the things he had brought with him.

The other party even threatened that if he didn't pay compensation, he would be unable to do any business.

The next day, all of the worker's relatives and friends came to the quarry to cause trouble. They even brought the worker's 90-year-old grandmother, threatening to fight Ma Weichang to the death and report him to the city.

Ma Weichang was on the verge of tears, begging and pleading, but the other party was unmoved and insisted that he pay compensation.

But he couldn't afford to lose so much money. If he lost everything, the business would be over.

However, if no compensation is paid and another death occurs, the quarry will have to close down.

Moreover, the other party came to cause trouble every day for several days, which delayed the delivery, and the customer also started to urge them.

Just when he was at his wit's end, Miao Genhua suddenly ran over and told him that she had pleaded with the family and they had agreed to reduce the compensation amount to 50,000 yuan.

Although 50,000 is not a small amount and could be quite a financial blow, at least the business can continue.

He asked Miao Genhua if it was real, and Miao Genhua repeatedly assured him that it was.

So he immediately went to the village chief to confirm, because he couldn't imagine why Miao Genhua could persuade the other party.

He learned a touching truth from the village chief: Miao Genhua had knelt at the other party's door all night to beg for leniency, saying that Ma Weichang was not an outsider, but her man and the son-in-law of Xipinggou.

The village chief said that it was the last sentence that made the other party relent, because the people of Xipinggou are very united. If anyone harms a fellow villager, their family will never be able to hold their head high in Xipinggou for the rest of their lives.

Ma Weichang was deeply moved, and at the same time, he became more determined not to divorce Miao Genhua. Where else could he find such a good woman!

To completely shut Zhang Guifen up, when delivering the 50,000 yuan compensation to the workers, he also dragged Zhang Guifen along, but of course, he couldn't call Miao Genhua.

Then, accompanied by the village chief, they went to the other party's home to apologize and, during the conversation, guided the other party's family to say that the reason they let it go was because he was a son-in-law of the Miao people and one of their own from Xipinggou; otherwise, they would never have let it go so easily.

These words were obviously meant for Zhang Guifen's ears. Later, when Zhang Guifen brought up the matter of him divorcing Miao Genhua, he used this incident as a shield.

And so it went, again and again, until divorce seemed like a distant dream.

“Ma Weichang, aren’t you tired of juggling two women and two families? Aren’t you worried?” Zhou Yi asked.

Ma Weichang gave a wry smile: "Of course I'm panicking. But Miao Genhua has been kind to me, I can't just abandon her and her daughter, can I?"

"What about Zhang Guifen? Legally speaking, she is already your ex-wife."

"Well, to be honest, I don't really have any feelings for Zhang Guifen anymore, but I don't know how to explain this to both sets of parents. My mother has a heart condition and can't handle this kind of shock. And my son, I'm afraid that if he finds out, he'll think his dad is a bad person."

Ma Weichang shook his head, his face full of confusion, and you could sense his predicament.

But that's just how reality works. Adults have to bear the consequences of any choices they make. There aren't many things in this world that you can have it all at once.

"Let me ask a more personal question." Before they knew it, Zhou Yi had taken the lead in the conversation, with Zhao Liang only occasionally chiming in.

"What?"

"It's been two years since you and Miao Genhua started having a relationship. Don't you plan to have another child?"

Ma Weichang replied somewhat awkwardly, "No...no, I had my tubal ligation done."

"Ligation? When did that happen?" Zhou Yi asked.

“It was before I got my marriage certificate with Miao Genhua…” Ma Weichang said softly.

Zhou Yi suddenly realized: "Zhang Guifen forced you to get a tubal ligation?"

Ma Weichang lowered his head and nodded, like a primary school student who had made a mistake.

"Do you know about Miao Genhua?"

Ma Weichang shook his head again.

Zhou Yi and Zhao Liang exchanged a glance, because based on this information, Zhou Yi's previous deduction about having children was completely proven to be impossible.

On the contrary, Miao Genhua may be the one who truly wants to have another child.

After all, ambiguity will fade and passion will dissipate. The best way to keep a man for a long time is to have a child.

"Ma Weichang, what's your opinion on Ge Fangfang's disappearance? Who do you think is most likely to harm Ge Fangfang?"

When Zhou Yi asked the question, he stared intently into the other person's eyes, trying to observe his reaction to determine whether he was lying.

If he is the murderer, unless he has extremely high psychological qualities, there will be some flaws in his story.

Upon hearing this question, Ma Weichang's gaze became firm, and he said without hesitation, "I roughly know who did this."

(End of this chapter)