At noon, many people who had heard about the courtyard fire came back during their lunch break to see what had happened.
No one needed to talk about the Wan family’s house. But the small side room where Bai Baowei lived had been affected, and the Bai family was quite worried.
Hearing Bai Baowei’s account, Bai’s father frowned. “Which worthless bastard took advantage of the fire to go through our things?”
Bai Baowei had already told Bai Lan and her husband about this in the morning. Now, seeing her father’s expression, Bai Lan offered a different opinion. “Dad, I don’t think it’s that simple. The place was thoroughly searched, yet nothing was missing. No matter how you look at it, it’s strange.”
Bai’s mother had just left to buy groceries when the fire broke out. She only learned about the fire at her son’s place when she returned. Hearing her daughter’s words now, she nodded along.
Xu Jianbei said, “There’s definitely something off about this. I just don’t know whether someone deliberately targeted my brother’s place. And this doesn’t look like theft—it looks like someone was searching for something. Brother, are you really sure nothing is missing?”
Bai Baowei shook his head again. “Nothing is missing. I don’t keep anything valuable at home. Any money or ration tickets I either carry with me or give to Mom to hold. I don’t have any other valuables.”
“Ah, I don’t know what kind of day today is,” Bai’s mother sighed.
Bai’s eldest sister nodded along. Who would have thought? When they first heard about the Ning family situation upon returning, no one could believe it. It was truly disgusting. If she had married someone not so great, then Ning’s mother had married someone who wasn’t even human.
Thinking this way, Bai’s eldest sister felt she was still relatively lucky.
Bai Lan didn’t know what her eldest sister was thinking. She was also concerned about how the Ning family situation would progress. And not just her—everyone in the neighborhood, after the excitement of the fire died down, was very interested in the Ning family affair. Everyone was waiting to see how Ning Geda would be dealt with.
They waited all the way until sunset before finally learning how things had progressed.
——
“Ning Geda knelt down and kowtowed as soon as he got to the public security bureau, begging the factory leaders not to take things to the point of imprisonment.”
The news was brought back by Uncle Qin, who had gone along.
The sun had set, and the surroundings were dim. By the faint yellow light from each household, the entire back courtyard was packed with people who had come to hear the news.
“Old Qin, the factory director isn’t just going to let him off, is he?”
Uncle Qin shook his head. “The nature of this matter is too vile. There’s no way the factory director will let it slide.”
If Ning Geda hadn’t been exposed in front of everyone, the factory might have been worried about the negative impact and tried to cover it up. But since he had been caught by everyone’s eyes, no matter what the leaders thought, this matter couldn’t be handled lightly.
“Oh my, that mother and son really have the worst luck.”
Hu the Widow’s gloating voice rang out from the crowd. Everyone glared at her.
Her old rival, Aunt Wan, didn’t come out to retort, because her house had caught fire that day and the whole place was blackened with smoke. The Wan household was currently in a state of gloom.
Someone took this opportunity to bring up the fire.
“If it weren’t for that timely fire, we never would have known that Ning Geda was such a piece of trash. Ah…”
Hearing this sigh, Aunt Wan became very upset. Her home was a wreck and would take a lot of effort to restore. She had no idea which worthless, smoke-spewing idiot had started a fire in the passage.
“No, stop talking about the Ning family first. Let’s talk about the fire in the passage first. Aren’t there several smokers in the courtyard? Was one of you the one who tossed a cigarette butt into the passage and started the fire?”
When Aunt Wan said this, she was fuming. She felt her family had truly been unlucky. Both houses were in the western wing, yet the Hu family’s place was completely fine. And although Bai Baowei’s place had been affected, his house wasn’t blackened with smoke!
Once this topic was brought up, people started talking about the fire again. The main thing was that the fire had been small, but the smoke had been thick.
Bai Lan listened as the conversation strayed further and further. She exchanged a helpless look with Xu Jianbei.
Fortunately, Uncle Qin wasn’t led astray. After listening to a bit of the fire talk, he continued with the Ning Geda matter.
“He’s still being held at the public security bureau. The factory’s accountant is calculating how much he defrauded the factory in subsidies and medical expenses over the years.”
At this, the crowd erupted in exclamations. They were actually going to recover all that money!
“Won’t that mother and son be bankrupted?”
Yes, Bai Lan had long thought that a reckoning might be coming. But now, hearing the confirmed news from Uncle Qin’s mouth, she still felt troubled on Datou’s behalf.
Ning Geda was the one who had committed the fraud. And all his years of eating, drinking, and living well—none of that money had been spent on Datou or his mother. In later times, there might have been ways to sever such ties. But in this era, people believed in the son paying the father’s debts. As the only son, Datou was truly in for it.
Thinking this, everyone lost their lighthearted mood. The main thing was that this outcome was terribly unfair to the Ning mother and son.
Bai Lan looked at Datou, who was squatting in a corner, and sighed.
——
“Not a single cent of Ning Geda’s money or ration tickets has been spent on us mother and son all these years.”
Just as everyone was feeling sorry for Datou and his mother, Ning’s mother’s voice rang out.
This was the truth. They had been neighbors for twenty years—who didn’t know the Ning family’s situation?
“How about we all sign a joint statement proving that Aunt Ning and Datou never spent the factory’s compensation money on themselves all these years? In fact, they had to put in their own money every month just to support Ning Geda. And beyond money, there was also the invisible labor and care they provided.”
Bai Lan and Xu Jianbei discussed the feasibility of this plan.
If they could testify that the money Ning Geda had obtained had nothing to do with Datou and his mother, then any future repayment obligations would fall solely on Ning Geda.
Xu Jianbei naturally agreed. He pulled Bai Lan along and immediately began discussing it with Uncle Qin.
Uncle Qin thought the suggestion was sound. Just as he was about to loudly discuss it with the neighbors, Ning’s mother’s voice rang out again: “Anyway, I’m divorcing Ning Geda right away. From now on, his affairs have nothing to do with us mother and son!”
The word “divorce” was no stranger to the people in the courtyard—after all, Bai Lan’s eldest sister had divorced less than a year ago. But for a middle-aged woman like Ning’s mother, who had worked tirelessly for so many years, to suddenly announce she wanted a divorce—everyone was stunned.
After the shock wore off, some disapproved, but others thought it was a good idea.
Seeing this, Xu Jianbei signaled Uncle Qin to bring up the joint testimony.
Hearing this, regardless of what they thought privately, everyone pounded their chests in assurance that they would testify.
And so, under the dim light, the residents of the entire courtyard began to mobilize. One by one, they pressed their fingerprints onto the testimony statement that Uncle Qin had written.
Their commotion grew loud enough that soon, people from the neighboring courtyard also came over to see what was happening. Upon learning what the testimony was for, many followed suit and pressed their fingerprints, saying they wanted to testify as well.
Seeing this, Bai Lan remarked that people in this era were still very warmhearted.
It wasn’t just the immediate neighbors. Soon, word spread from one person to ten, and from ten to a hundred. In the end, anyone in the surrounding alleys who knew about the Ning family’s situation came to testify. The original sheet of paper used for the testimony was completely covered in red fingerprints, and they had to add another sheet just to record everyone’s prints.
After seeing off these kind-hearted people, everyone began to reflect.
Several aunts and middle-aged women took Ning’s mother by the arm, comforting her that good people were still in the majority. They wouldn’t stand by and watch her and Datou be dragged down by Ning Geda.
Meanwhile, Datou was surrounded by the younger residents of the courtyard, each offering words of comfort. Some of these words didn’t seem particularly useful, but Datou still felt a warmth in his heart.
Good people were indeed the majority. Despite having such a father, Datou realized he was still fortunate to have met these good people.
What followed was relatively smooth.
Early the next morning, Uncle Qin took the fingerprint-covered testimony straight to the public security bureau. Ning’s mother and Datou went along as well. Their main purpose on this trip was to get Ning Geda to agree to the divorce.
After the divorce, Ning Geda’s affairs would have nothing to do with them.
Bai Lan was a little worried that the divorce might be difficult to obtain. But perhaps Ning Geda had a rare moment of conscience. In any case, by evening, Bai Lan heard that Ning’s mother had divorced Ning Geda.
“From now on, Xiaocong and I will continue living here. I’ve divorced Ning Geda. Everyone, please call me Aunt Yao or Sister Yao from now on.”
Ning’s mother was telling everyone about the divorce on one side, while Datou was updating Bai Lan and the others on what had happened that day.
“That piece of trash didn’t want to divorce at first. But the factory leaders laid down the law, and he was afraid of getting a longer sentence, so he reluctantly agreed.”
Datou sighed and added, “We owe it all to everyone’s testimony. The factory decided not to recover the money from us mother and son.”
That was the best news in the past two days. Bai Lan breathed a sigh of relief and asked how the factory had decided to proceed.
“They’re definitely going to recover the compensation money that was defrauded over the years. And I expect that in a few days, that piece of trash will be sent off for reeducation through labor.”
As for how the money would be repaid, Datou no longer cared. Not a single cent of that trash’s money had been spent on him or his mother in nearly twenty years—it was almost laughable when he thought about it.
His mother had not only worked hard all those years to earn money, but she had also taken such good care of that trash. Now, thinking back, Datou truly felt that having such a man was worse than not having him at all. If he had ended up on the wall—so to speak—soon after the accident, his family’s life might have been a hundred times better than it was now.
Bai Lan didn’t know what was going through Datou’s mind. But she didn’t disturb him as he tried to calm down.
The Ning family matter had come to a temporary close. But the fire from that day still had no explanation. Everyone’s attention had been completely absorbed by the Ning Geda affair. Bai Lan wondered whether this counted as an unintended diversion of attention.
She didn’t believe the fire was a simple accident. Comparing the damage to Bai Baowei’s house and Aunt Wan’s, it was clear something was off. Someone must have set the fire deliberately, using the chaos of firefighting to sneak into Bai Baowei’s place. But Bai Baowei was certain nothing had been stolen.
That meant the thief hadn’t yet found what they were looking for. And if that was the case, they would certainly try again.
It was just a matter of when.
With this thought, Bai Lan looked over at Bai Baowei, who was tidying up the roof tiles with their father, taking advantage of the day off.
“What’s wrong?”
Bai’s mother saw her youngest daughter staring at the father and son picking up tiles and gently patted her shoulder with a smile.
“Now that your brother is home, your father can even find joy in picking up tiles.”
The rainy summer season was just around the corner. The roof tiles had to be checked in advance to prevent leaks when the rain came.
In the past, Bai’s father had always done this alone. This year, with her eldest brother there, he was naturally happy.
Bai Lan looked up at her beaming father and her cheerful brother. The morning sun wasn’t too strong yet, but it was already a bit dazzling.
She raised her hand to shield her eyes and suddenly noticed something slip out from under her brother’s collar.
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