They need to have it all taken care of before Yingying's parents got out; otherwise, it would be a big hassle with their intervention.
Shu Yan gave Hu Ruixue a call and asked whether she knew of anyone who could help with relocations of household register.
"That is easy. Just have her go look for her household register and identification card. I will have someone take care of the rest." Hu Ruixue didn't even hesitate after Shu Yan described her need to her.
"Thank you, I owe you one." She already owed Hu Ruixue two meals in such a short period of time.
"It's nothing. But I worry there will be danger with just the two of you. Let me send someone to go with you." Men were stronger than women. When push came to shove, even two women might not be able to fend off a man.
"That is fine. I know someone." Shu Yan placed a call to Feng Zeyu after she had hung up on the phone. "I have a favor to ask."
"Do tell." Feng Zeyu was very happy that Shu Yan would think about him in times of need. It went to show that she had trust in him.
"You saw what happened today. I want to help Yingying to move her household register, but we will need her household register and her identification card for that. Her parents hid both of them, so we will need to go look for them at her place. Her brother might be home, and we worry that there might be conflict."
"Where are you right now? I will be right over," said Feng Zeyu without saying one more word.
"We are at the shop. Where are you? We can come to you," said Shu Yan, not wanting to push her luck.
"That won't be necessary. I just happen to be taking care of something nearby. I am not too far from your shop."
Feng Zeyu came in a car. Shu Yan took a look at the make of the car and it cost upward of 300,000 yuan. It might belong to his company. She did not have too much time to think that through and got inside of it with Yingying.
They have arrived at a little district and got out of the car in about ten or so minutes. Many pointed at Yingying and gossiped when they saw her.
There were some who felt that what Yingying's parents had done were wrong at the beginning, but that was mostly a family's private business.
Most of the people were just being gossipy. Nevertheless, it was the first time anyone had heard of a daughter reporting her parents to the police; many called Yingying's action abhorrent.
"They are only saying that because it didn't happen to them. Just ignore them." Shu Yan couldn't be bothered so much as to look over at these people. She had Yingying showed them to her place.
Yingying's brother was still out and Yingying let out a sigh of relief obviously when she found out that there was nobody home. She quickly went inside her parents' room to look for her household register and her identification card, but she wasn't able to find it anywhere.
There was, however, a box with a lock on it inside the room. It was very likely that they could be inside of it. Problem was that her mother always carried the key on her.
"Let me," said Feng Zeyu when he asked Yingying for a hairpin and opened it up with ease.
The two women were amazed by that. After she had recollected herself, Shu Yan had Yingying quickly searched through the box.
All Yingying was able to find inside the box were food and some change; there were no household register or identification card.
"I know it wouldn't be so easy. They would never let me go," said Yingying, close to tears.
"Don't be distressed just yet. Let's look around for a bit longer. It has to be hidden somewhere inside this house," said Shu Yan in an effort to comfort Yingying.
"Perhaps I can help," said Feng Zeyu.
That was right. Shu Yan had forgotten about him. She had no idea what position he had held back in the military, but he must be very mighty being able to go to battle and must be an expert in looking for hidden items.
Sure enough, he drummed and knocked around and it didn't take him long to locate a secret compartment under the bed and there laid her household register and identification card. In addition to those, there was also two stacks of money, a stack of 50,000 yuan and the other, 30,000 yuan.
Yingying did not pay the 50,000 yuan much attention. She didn't need no ghost to tell her that that was the betrothal money from Li Weiguo.
The other 30,000 yuan was what was truly startling. She had always thought that her family was very poor and that her parents couldn't come up with the money for her brother, which was why they wanted to sell her off.
But they had 30,000 yuan at home. All they needed to do was to take out a 10,000-yuan loan from relatives and they would have enough to build a house for the brother. Why did they need to sell her?
Her tears rolled down cheeks nonstop. "Am I really their child? Is there really that much of a difference between a son and a daughter?"
"Okay, let's grab your household register and identification card and get out of here," said Shu Yan with a sigh. In some parents' mind, that gap was truly that huge. In their mind, the son was the one who'd be responsible for passing the family on whereas a daughter was water that one splashed out. They were only raising their daughters for others.
"Who's in my house?" They had just packed everything up when they heard the sound of Yingying's brother.
"What are you doing here? You brought strangers into our house to steal from us? What did you steal? Someone, come! I have thieves here!" Yingying's brother dashed out of the front door and shouted in the yard loudly.
All the neighbors came running over and stopped when they saw Yingying walked out with two others.
"This is your sister. What do you mean thieves?" The woman next door was a blunt one. She had always been irked by how lopsided Yingying's family was when it came to their two children and gave Yingying's brother a stare.
"I don't have a sister who'd call the cops on her own parents. She had just had her parents arrested and came straight home to steal. Speak! You stole money, didn't you?" Yingying's brother's eyes rolled around. There were 50,000-yuan betrothal money in the house. She better not have stolen that. That was money for his house.
"Had you no idea why I called the cops? Or do you not know?" Yan Shuyu looked around at everyone who had gathered around. Many of them lowered their head when she looked at them. Some of them still felt that Yingying was too cruel.
"My mother wants to sell me to 40-year-old crippled man just so she can get 50,000-yuan betrothal money for his house. You don't have the ability to buy your own house and get married and you resorted to selling your own sister. What kind of trash are you?"
"50,000 yuan? I thought it was only 20,000!" said one of the women from the crowd.
"I told you there is no way it is only for 20,000 yuan. Just look at those two. At least 30,000 yuan or above. I didn't think it'd be 50,000 yuan. That crippled man is quite wealthy."
"Well, you can always marry off your daughter to him," said the woman next door.
"Oh, nevermind about that. My daughter is a working woman. She will marry a college student. That crippled man is already 40 years old. I heard that he hit people. He's not good enough for my daughter."
"Now that you put it that way. Yingying's parents had gone too far on this one."
After they have learned that the crippled man was 40 years old and would hit people, many families who had daughters felt that Yingying's parents were not choosey enough.
"She still shouldn't have called the cops on her parents." There were still those who didn't agree with Yingying's actions.
"What else could she have done? Marry that crippled man? Do you want to marry him?" The neighbor woman retorted again.
When Yingying's brother noticed that the direction of the discussion had shifted, he immediately said, "Did you take that 50,000 yuan? If you take it, you will have to marry Li Weiguo. You better think it through."
"I did not take it but now I think I should." Yingying stared at her brother and said coldly, "I am going to bring that 50,000 yuan to the cops so they can give it back to Li Weiguo when he is released."
Yingying suddenly said to her neighbors standing outside. "This is my boss lady. She had her own company and her own shop and didn't care about this money that my family has. For the sake of my innocent and that my parents won't make stuff up after my departure, I would like to invite a few uncles here to come inside with me as my witnesses.
You will see how much there are in total and I am only taking with me the 50,000 yuan that did not belong to my family. I shall not touch a penny of the rest. Me, Yingying, will make say it clearly here today. I don't want anything or a penny from this house.
All the money I had given them over the years will go toward their raising me. I will contribute my share to take care of my parents when they grow old. But not a penny more than my share."
Knowing that they could see how much money Yingying's parents had stashed away, many were tempted. That being said, Yingying wasn't going to invite just anyone. She looked for a few with better integrity, one of them being a supervisor at the factory that her dad worked at and was his immediate supervisor.
Yingying's brother was about to stop this from happening when he was stopped by Feng Zeyu.
Opening up the hidden compartment under the dead again, everybody could see two stashes of money. A stash for 50,000 yuan and another for 30,000 yuan. Everybody exchanged a look.
The couple had been extremely frugal usually and everybody had thought that they didn't even have money for food. Nobody expected them to have saved so much money. Most importantly, they still wanted to sell their daughter even with that much money. That was going a little too far.
"Fellow Uncles, you are seeing what I am seeing. I am taking with me this 50,000 yuan and will be heading to the police station to turn it in so they can return it to Li Weiguo. In addition, I am taking with me my household register and identification card. I did not touch any of the other money. I hope you can be my witnesses."
Part of the reasons that Yingying had them come in was for them to witness her parents' saving. The other part was for them to see that they still wanted to sell their daughter to a 40-year-old crippled man even when they had so much money. The neighbors could make their own decisions about them.
Yingying's brother's eyes widened when he said the 30,000 yuan. Not even he knew that his parents had stashed away so much money. That being said, even with the 30,000 yuan, he still wanted the 50,000 yuan as well. Too bad Feng Zeyu was carrying him by his neck and he did not dare to stop them from leaving.
"Thank you so much for today," said Shu Yan to Feng Zeyu from the passenger seat after the three had returned to the car and she had let out a sigh of relief.
"It's nothing. Don't mention it."
"It's nothing to you, but it's a lot to us. I still have to go with Yingying to have her household register transferred today so I can't take you to lunch today, but I will owe you one." Along with this morning, she already owed him two meals.
"Sure. Where are you two heading? I will give you a ride," asked Feng Zeyu.
"Let's head to the police station first. We have to transfer the household register there anyway." Yan Shuyu didn't have a cellphone and wanted stop on their way to place a call to Hu Ruixue. Lo and behold, Feng Zeyu pulled out a cellphone.
"Wow, I guess you are the elite at your workplace. You have the whole nine yard," said Shu Yan jokingly.
"I do not lie," said Feng Zeyu seriously.
He was the owner of his company. It wasn't a lie to say he was the elite.
Shu Yan's lips curved upward and she gave Hu Ruixue a call.
"I have already let them know ahead of time. Just give them your name when you get there."
Yingying first handed the 50,000 yuan to the cop that was in charge of their case today and explained the situation. The cop wrote her out a receipt and reassured her that they would return the money back to Li Weiguo when he was released.
The other item on their agenda was the transferring of her household register. Partly because Hu Ruixue had made a call in advance and partly because the female cop taking of this was very sympathetic of Yingying's situation, she was particularly efficient.
She moved Yingying's household register to a government-ran factory temporarily and she could transfer it elsewhere as soon as she bought a house.
When they walked out of the police station, Feng Zeyu was still waiting outside.
"You didn't need to wait for us," said Shu Yan gently, slightly moved.
"It's not easy to get transportation here. Let's go. Are you heading back to your shop?" Feng Zeyu turned his head and asked.
"No, going back to my office." Shu Yan gave him an address and Feng Zeyu drove over there familiarly.
"You have been here before?" He was way too familiar with the area, much more than she was.
"Oh, I forgot to mention. My company is here as well." Feng Zeyu pointed at the bldg. in front of them.
"Oh, what a coincidence?" Shu Yan was surprised.