Xiaoqiang and Li Zhengjun took it upon themselves to fetch a bundle of rope and tie up the pair's hands and feet.
They were following the brigade captain's orders anyway, so no one could blame them.
Wang Zhiwen's parents watched helplessly as their son was tied up tight. They crowded around the brigade captain and the village party secretary, weeping and pleading for mercy.
Brigade Captain Wang ignored them and addressed all the villagers present. "Everyone, go on home. Don't spread word of what happened tonight. Family scandals shouldn't be aired in public; if word gets out, people will only laugh at us, and it'll hurt our production team's reputation."
"We'll discuss how to deal with the two of them tonight and announce our decision at eight tomorrow morning in the open space by the threshing ground. Now, everyone, disperse."
The villagers were in no hurry to leave. As the bound pair were led away, everyone followed behind, whispering and gossiping among themselves.
Chen Haichao and his family walked together, indignantly denouncing and cursing Wang Zhiwen alongside the villagers around them.
Chen Sidi linked arms with her third sister, relieved. "Good thing you didn't get involved with him, or you'd have lost so much face this time."
Chen Pandi nodded. "Yeah. I used to think he was so refined and gentle, but he turned out to be a scumbag."
Chen Haichao said, "There are thousands upon thousands of good men in the world. You can all find someone better."
No one wanted to disperse just yet. They followed all the way to the production team's office and watched the pair being shut inside and the door locked, yet they still lingered outside, gossiping.
The brigade captain kept telling them to leave, but nobody wanted to go. This was enormous news, something they could talk about for years!
Unable to chase them away, Brigade Captain Wang gave up. He went into another office with the village party secretary, several production team squad leaders, and a women's director as a representative. They sat down to discuss how to handle the matter.
Everyone was waiting outside, and they had to give them an explanation. Ideally, they would keep the repercussions to a minimum. The movement had ended a few years ago, and reform and opening up had begun, so public criticism was no longer in fashion. But the pair's misconduct had also tarnished the village's morals, and they had to be punished.
Zhao Guilan stopped crying and glared at the people shouting the loudest.
"Who was it that harmed my son? Who went shouting all over the village? You black-hearted, rotten-gutted people, what grudge do you have against our family?"
The others couldn't stand listening to her. "How did we harm him? If he'd stood straight and sat upright, would he have been caught in bed with her?"
"The eyes of the masses are sharp as snow. If he hadn't been messing around, would anyone have found out?"
"I just don't know who discovered them and called everyone up to catch them in the act..."
Chen Haichao spoke up. "That's why they say, walk enough roads at night and you're bound to run into a ghost."
His two childhood friends behind him rolled their eyes hard. He was the one best at reaping the fisherman's profit, yet no one even knew he had set tonight's drama in motion.
They had worked so hard and been so clever, yet he called them ghosts. Damn it, he couldn't smooth this over without handing them some cigarettes!
Perhaps the noise they were making was too loud, because the brigade captain came running out and shouted, "Stop arguing! If you keep it up, go home."
"Brigade Captain, Zhiwen really knows he was wrong. You mustn't parade him through the streets, or his whole life will be ruined."
Brigade Captain Wang knitted his brows and said irritably, "If he'd known it would come to this, why did he do it in the first place? He could have married a wife and lived a peaceful, harmonious life, but now the whole village has lost face."
"Parading him through the streets would make the whole village lose even more face. You can't do it."
"Hmph. Carrying on with a woman and behaving like a hooligan is enough to make him drink a bitter potful."
Chen Haichao's eyes darted around, and an idea struck him. "Why not have Wang Zhiwen marry Widow Liu? That could salvage a little of their reputation. It still wouldn't sound good, but since they'd be getting married, it'd be normal for them to have been unable to restrain their feelings. It wouldn't count as messing around, so there'd be no need to parade them through the streets."
Huh?
Brigade Captain Wang stood dumbfounded.
Everyone else was shocked too.
Widow Liu was old enough to be Wang Zhiwen's mother. She was eighteen years older than him!
His smile deepened as he went on, "They've already slept together anyway, and it surely didn't start just a day or two ago. That shows how deep their feelings are, so why not bring them together and have them marry tomorrow?"
In a few more years, Wang Zhiwen could get a taste of old-people smell too. He had chosen her himself, after all. He liked her.
The woman also liked being a mistress and breaking up someone else's family. In his previous life, when they were found out, she had even urged Wang Zhiwen to beat his sister, spending his sister's money while provoking her. They might as well be paired off and brought together.
He felt he had done a good deed, repaying resentment with virtue and finally uniting the lovers in marriage.
After their initial shock, the villagers burst into an uproar. Then, one by one, they looked even more excited than he was.
People began calling out from the crowd. "That's right! Wouldn't it solve everything if the two of them got married?"
"Rich or poor, it's good to have a wife for the New Year. She's over ten years older, but an older woman knows how to look after a man. Doesn't Wang Zhiwen like older women? Otherwise, he wouldn't have gotten together with her. He might as well bring her home as his wife."
"If they get married right away, the brigade can go easier on them. An internal punishment will do; there won't even be any need to report it to the commune."
"Exactly. They've already gotten together, so we might as well bring them together. Then we can treat them as an unmarried couple who couldn't restrain themselves."
Zhao Guilan's vision darkened in waves. Bring her home as his wife???
"No, absolutely not! That bitch is only a few years younger than me, and my son is only twenty-one. How could he marry someone so old?"
"Your son likes her! He doesn't even mind that Widow Liu is nearly eighteen years older than him, and he still got together with her. That shows it's true love. Better to tear down a temple than destroy a marriage, so why not bring them together?"
Chen Haichao thought his idea was wonderful. This way, the pair wouldn't harm anyone else. True love ought to be tied together and locked up tight!
If Widow Liu really married into the family, she could go on making the whole lot of them sick. Holy crap, he was already looking forward to the village's future headlines!
There would be no shortage of drama to watch in the future. Just thinking about it was exciting.
The veins on Wang Laosan's forehead throbbed, and even his hands shook. "Impossible!"
Chen Haichao couldn't wait to pair the two off. He said alarmingly, "Then the only option is to report it to the commune and have the higher-ups send someone to investigate. It could be classified outright as corrupt personal conduct and hooliganism. It'll go on record and be a stain that follows him for life. He'll be disqualified from any job recruitment, military enlistment, or political screening, and it'll affect the next generation! It'll affect the whole family!"
Wang Zhiwen also had an older brother and sister-in-law. Their faces turned pale, and they immediately shook their heads in opposition.
"Absolutely not. It can't go on record."
"Mom, Dad, you can't let Zhiwen affect us. Your grandson and granddaughter still have to go to school. They'll definitely study and take the college entrance exam or become workers in the future. They can't have a stain on their record."
In truth, it wouldn't affect them, but everyone was ignorant of the law.
Wang Laosan and Zhao Guilan both swayed on their feet, their vision going dark. They wished they could just faint dead away and make everything that had happened that night disappear.
The two looked pleadingly at the brigade captain.
"Brigade Captain, you mustn't report it to the commune and put it on record..."
"And you can't parade him through the streets either, or it'll hurt our village's reputation. Brigade Captain, could you just deduct some work points and give him a verbal criticism?"
Brigade Captain Wang frowned as he considered Chen Haichao's suggestion.
Although it was rather shocking, that was because the woman was more than ten years older than the man. If it were the other way around, or their ages were closer, it would be a perfectly conventional solution.
When faced with a scandal like this, the best thing was to cover it up with a marriage. Although it still wouldn't sound good, it could salvage their reputation somewhat and smooth the whole thing over, characterizing it as an unmarried man and woman being unable to restrain their feelings.
Someone in the crowd called out, "Brigade Captain, our village has always had simple, honest customs. Nothing like this has ever happened before. If we let them off lightly, I'm afraid people will think there's nothing wrong with messing around, then knowingly do it themselves and completely corrupt the village's morals."
"Exactly. Either report them to the commune and punish them severely, or have them get married. They're both willing and like each other anyway. Once they're married, they'll be together openly and properly instead of messing around outside."
"They like each other anyway, so bring them together. Then they won't have to be a pair of illicit lovebirds."
"They've already been having an affair, so they must be willing."
"For all we know, Widow Liu already has a bun in the oven. Marrying her into the family could bring double happiness."
Everyone was watching the excitement and hoping for more.
Brigade Captain Wang also thought that, since they had been caught in bed together, their reputations were already ruined and it would be hard for either of them to marry someone else. They might as well be paired off. Widow Liu was only thirty-nine and could still have children.
"I'll go in and tell the others. We'll discuss it."