Transmigrating into the Genius Cannon Fodder’s Aunt

Chapter 149 Part 2 – The Richest Man With Enough Power to Crush Lives Casually (II)

After hearing what Chen Lanxiang had to say, the old woman clapped her hands in delight. “Your brain finally lit up for once!”

More than anyone, Old Lady Mao wanted Mao Zhishan’s family to return. Not only because their absence had left the entire family vulnerable to the Hao family’s dominance, but also because her own daily life had become quite unpleasant since they left.

Mao Zhishan and Xia Wenyue were both hardworking, and their three girls were equally diligent. Take laundry, for example—back when the second branch was still around, she had never once washed her own clothes. But now, her eldest daughter-in-law resented her over Mao Huihe’s situation and wouldn’t help. Her third daughter-in-law was a sly one who avoided work, leaving her, this old woman, to scrub her own laundry in the freezing winter.

“This is a great plan!” She spat viciously. Her hatred toward the second branch’s rebellion ran deep. “Not only can we drag them all back, but we can really teach them a lesson!”

As for whether Mao Zhishan might get sentenced, she wasn’t worried in the least. She believed the Hao family would cover it up. This way, she’d have all five of them back to work like beasts of burden for her!

It just so happened that the hotel where the reporters were staying wasn’t far from the Mao family’s house. As soon as they returned from visiting the nearby villages, Old Lady Mao started looking for opportunities to hang around them.

Sure enough, persistence paid off. The reporters soon noticed her, and she managed to land herself an interview.

When she saw them setting up their equipment, she immediately smoothed her hair and tugged at her clothes. “Hello, comrade reporter.”

The reporter smiled. “You look blessed, ma’am.”

“How many children and grandchildren do you have?”

Old Lady Mao proudly puffed out her chest. “I had three sons—all boys! And three grandsons, all very capable.”

When the topic turned to grandsons, she suddenly had a new idea and asked the reporter, “Is this going to be on TV?”

The reporter smiled. “Yes, whoever gives a good interview will be aired.”

The old woman was immediately energized, thinking they wanted to hear about her good life. She launched into a round of praise for her eldest and third sons.

Then she moved on to her grandsons. “All three have played on TV! My eldest grandson is the best—he’s in Yan City now. If the director sees this, you can give him a shot! His name’s Mao Dawei.”

The reporter listened with polite interest and then asked, “Don’t you have any granddaughters?”

“Sure.”

“How many?”

“Five.” She unconsciously curled her lip, clearly not interested in talking more about them.

So the reporter had to ask, “Five granddaughters too—that’s a blessing. How are they doing?”

“The eldest, from the eldest branch, got married already. She married the richest man in the county.”

That made her smug again. “One from the third branch is eighteen now. She’s a hard worker—been helping her mother since she was five or six. She’s real capable. There’s a line of suitors trying to marry her.”

“Your grandkids were working at five or six years old? What about your grandsons? Did they work too?”

The old woman answered as if it were the most natural thing in the world, “Why would the boys do work? They have to study. My three grandsons are all real smart.” Then she boasted shamelessly, “They were top of the class every year.”

“Your granddaughters don’t go to school?” the reporter asked casually.

The old woman replied, “What do girls need schooling for? Even if they go to college, they’ll just end up getting married and having kids anyway. Why waste the money?”

The reporter glanced toward the departing guide and asked, “You mentioned two of your granddaughters earlier—what about the other three? Are they your second son’s daughters? You’ve been talking about your eldest and youngest sons. What about your second?”

“That’s right!” The old woman suddenly slapped her thigh. “Comrade reporter, can you help us find someone?”

The reporter asked, “Who are you looking for?”

“My bastard of a second son!” she snarled, practically grinding her teeth.

The reporter paused. “What, your second son’s family is missing?”

“Missing? They ran away!” the old woman fumed. “That whole family is worthless! Every last one of them nothing but trouble!”

“What happened?” The reporter gave a subtle glance to the assistant beside him and coaxed gently, “Tell us the details, maybe we can help you find them.”

The old woman brightened immediately, and once she started, she couldn’t stop:

“That second one of mine was a curse on our family from the day he was born. Nearly killed me in childbirth! If I’d known he’d turn out like this, I should’ve strangled him at birth…”

“He grew up a freak. Ugly as sin, and when he talks, he’s all weird and soft-spoken. Who knows how much shame he’s brought on our family!”

“I went through so much trouble to get him a wife and thought that was finally settled. But what does he do? Has three useless girls. All money drains!”

In her telling, Mao Zhishan was nothing but a disgrace and a burden, good for nothing except embarrassing the family. And just when they thought he might finally be useful, he took his whole family and ran off!

“It was such a good marriage too. The Hao family is the richest in the county! Hao Xufeng taking a liking to his eldest girl, that was a blessing from heaven. And what does he do? He runs off with their bride price!”

“Comrade reporter, you have to help us find them.”

The reporter said, “Alright, can you give us some detailed information about their family?”

It took the old woman a few moments of fumbling to even recall Mao Zhishan’s full name. When the reporter asked about his age and birthdate, she couldn’t remember at all and had to count on her fingers for a long time, muttering, “Three years younger than the eldest… the eldest was born in XX year, so he must be…”

After they helped estimate the age, the reporter asked, “Do you have a photo? That would make it easier to locate them.”

The old woman frowned. “Now that… I really don’t.”

“I have one!” A sharp voice rang out, and everyone turned to see a gaunt woman in pajamas running over, barefoot. Disregarding the shoes that had fallen off, She rushed forward urgently, saying, “I have it! I have a photo of the second family!”

She shoved the picture into the reporter’s hands. In it was a family with sallow skin and thin, frail bodies.

The man—hunched over, nearly unrecognizable from how emaciated he looked, eyes lowered, not daring to face the camera—was a far cry from the composed, confident Mao Zhishan the reporter had met just recently.

“This one, this is Mao Huimei!” Mao Huihe crowded close, excitedly pointing at the eldest girl in the photo. “Reporter, you can help us find her, right?”

“They ran off with over sixty thousand yuan in bride price! They’re criminals! The police should arrest them!”

The reporter glanced at her increasingly frenzied expression and turned to ask Old Lady Mao, “Is this your daughter?”

The old lady seemed somewhat afraid of Mao Huihe and backed away, forcing a smile. “No, that’s my eldest granddaughter.”

The reporter pretended to just realize something. “Oh, right, you mentioned your eldest granddaughter married the richest man in the county…”

“Wait—didn’t you just say the richest man was interested in your second son’s daughter?”

“Yes!” Mao Huihe cried. “They liked her! Not me, her! They wanted Mao Huimei, not me!”

As she spoke, her emotions suddenly spiraled out of control.

“Don’t hit me! Don’t hit me!”

She curled into a ball, hugging her head. “Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me! I won’t tell, I won’t say anything… I didn’t kill anyone…”

The old woman’s face changed dramatically. The young man beside the reporter, sensing something, began watching Mao Huihe closely.

Just then, the guide who had stepped away returned and, upon seeing Mao Huihe, his expression shifted. The reporter quickly asked the old woman, “Hey, what’s wrong with your granddaughter?”

The guide asked, “What did she say?”

“Nothing really, just something about looking for Mao Huimei, and that the Hao family wanted her, not this one. Then she got all worked up.”

The reporter tapped his temple and asked the guide, “Is there something wrong with her… up here?”

The guide sighed in relief. “Isn’t it obvious?”

“If you’re talking about gender discrimination, the Mao family is the worst. They don’t treat girls like people at all,” he added, quickly shifting the blame. “Turned a perfectly good girl into this.”

Old Lady Mao looked furious but didn’t dare say a word.

The guide said, “You’re here to do interviews, right? Just ask around. Everyone knows the Mao family is a textbook case of favoring sons over daughters.”

After the chaos died down, the reporter and his assistant sat back in their hotel room, staring at each other, both shaken.

They now understood why their superiors had told them: “There’s a big story there, depends how deep you dare dig.”

If the county’s so-called richest man truly held enough power to crush lives so casually…

Then this could turn into a nationwide scandal.

Translator’s Note:

Really sorry for the messed up schedules this far and for missing two weeks >_<

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