Chapter 684 - 662: Found

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Lin Wan and Shi Lan had just finished eating when Han Yi and the others returned.

Shi Lan was still pregnant, so they didn’t stay long and drove straight home.

Lin Wan had just gotten home when Su Ling called, bringing her exciting news.

"Xiao Wan, guess who I saw at Qiu Hualan’s door today?"

"Du Guangjun?" As soon as Qiu Hualan was mentioned, she thought of Du Guangjun.

"Wrong, it was the person we saw before New Year, Ye Weijun, Ye Qing’s dad."

"..." Hearing this name, Lin Wan’s heart suddenly leapt with joy, and she grinned, "So, Ye Weijun found Qiu Hualan?"

"Indeed, tsk tsk... lots of action, I heard Ye Weijun beat up Ye Qing’s mom as soon as he entered the yard."

"He’s just like that. If he doesn’t hit someone, it’s abnormal." Lin Wan was used to it back home. Every time she heard commotion, it was surely coming from Ye Qing’s house.

"This man is too ruthless, hitting his wife indiscriminately as soon as he went in. She’s so old, how can Ye Qing’s mom bear it?" Su Ling couldn’t imagine living with such a violent man every day. Just thinking about it made her teeth ache. "Ye Weijun has a history of domestic violence, Ye Qing’s mom has been beaten by him for over ten years. By the way... what was Uncle Du’s reaction?"

"I don’t know. I was just passing by and saw it suddenly, I didn’t see him."

Lin Wan oh’ed and laughed.

Now that Ye Weijun found Qiu Hualan, the Ye Family won’t have peace. Qiu Hualan won’t have it easy, and Ye Qing will be troubled because her son needs Qiu Hualan.

In the following days, Lin Wan learned more or less about the matters on Qiu Hualan’s side.

Qiu Hualan was living comfortably alone in S City for over a year. Now that Ye Weijun caught her, her good days were over.

Ye Weijun saw Qiu Hualan living alone in a small yard with a child, eating big meals of fish and meat every day. He didn’t feel comfortable with it.

These days, he’d lie in bed at home, having Qiu Hualan buy him big meals, drinking and eating meat. After drinking, he’d start tormenting Qiu Hualan. The past few days he had been beating Qiu Hualan severely, almost unable to get up. With Ah Qing’s child at home needing care, he stopped hitting her but started tormenting her in bed in other ways.

...

"Left me for so long and living quite comfortably, huh. This body is even smoother than a young wife’s. Tsk tsk, city life sure is good, no need to work every day, damn comfortable." Ye Weijun had drunk a lot today and was now roaming on Qiu Hualan’s body.

Qiu Hualan watched Hua Hua, whose eyes were still open on the bed next to them, and endured without making a sound, afraid that her cry would scare Hua Hua.

Right now, she could only silently endure Ye Weijun’s torment, shedding silent tears for who knows how long. Ye Weijun eventually got off her, cursed twice, and soon fell asleep snoring.

Only then did Qiu Hualan dare to cry softly, hugged Hua Hua to comfort him, not caring about the filth on her body, fed Hua Hua, and waited for him to fall asleep. Then she quietly went outside to rinse her body.

"Who’s there?" Just as she was about to start undressing, she saw a shadow outside, instinctively calling out.

"It’s me." Du Guangjun had been standing outside for a long time, he heard the filthy language inside so clearly.

He could only blame himself for having no rightful status to go help her. Seeing Qiu Hualan’s face full of tears, her eyes swollen, hair disheveled, and the scent of intimacy from earlier on her, with bruises from being beaten by Ye Weijun days before still visible.

This made Du Guangjun angry, he had lived more than half his life and was encountering such a brutal husband for the first time.

"How can he treat you like this? You’re still his wife, after all. This beast is simply inhuman. I’m going to confront him." Du Guangjun grabbed Qiu Hualan and was about to head inside.

Seeing Du Guangjun, Qiu Hualan felt as if she found her support, couldn’t bear it anymore, tears flowing down, pulling him back, "Don’t, if he finds out about us, he’ll surely beat me to death. He’s been doing this for years, I’ve... gotten used to it."

"You... Sigh. Did he often treat you like this back home as well?"

"Yeah," Qiu Hualan nodded, wiping away tears.

"Lan Hua, divorce him, divorce him. Why continue with someone like this?"

"I want to divorce him, but this person is stubborn. As long as I mention it, not only won’t he divorce, but I’ll have a new reason for him to beat me later. I’m scared."

"What’s to be scared of? I’m here. Do you have family back home that can help? Or directly call the police. Beating you counts as domestic violence, which is a crime."

"But back home, they typically won’t interfere in your domestic matters. Quarrels between couples are common, even if reported, it’d only be a mild reprimand there. Divorce is something they surely won’t help with. In the end, I’m the one who gets hurt."

"Sigh... first talk to your family, see what they think. Your family wouldn’t want to see you getting beaten every day either."

Qiu Hualan bowed her head, not wanting to trouble her family with these matters. In the past, every time Ye Weijun beat her, her dad and brother would rush back to give Ye Weijun a lesson. But once her family left, Ye Weijun would retaliate on her for the lesson he received.

Over time, Qiu Hualan couldn’t take it anymore. Every time she visited her family, she firmly told her dad and brother not to interfere in matters between her and her husband. She could handle it herself.

Mr. Qiu looked at her with a mix of frustration and regret. But he never entertained the thought of divorce; in their hometown, divorced women are gossiped about, and remarrying wouldn’t be any better.

But this time was different; she had Du Guangjun.

The two didn’t exchange many words before Ye Weijun loudly cursed in his sleep, prompting them to quickly separate.

Back inside, Qiu Hualan thought for a moment and called Ye Qing.

"What? My dad found you?"

"Yeah, Ah Qing, what should I do? Your dad beats me every day, torments me." Qiu Hualan whimpered and cried, "Ah Qing, I don’t want to live with your dad anymore."

"... If you don’t want to, then don’t. You should’ve left him long ago."

"But your dad surely won’t agree to divorce, Ah Qing, can you call your Grandpa and have him come up with a way for me? Your dad is home all day, I really can’t call his family."

"Mom, I got it. How’s Hua Hua? Did my dad do anything to him?"

"No, he doesn’t dare."

Ye Qing furrowed her brows, a thought formed in her mind, "Mom, maybe you should take Hua Hua and find somewhere to hide for a while. I’ll be back soon anyway."

"Where can we hide?"

"Find a place to rent for ten, fifteen days. If you can’t, stay in a guest house for now. It’s better than getting beaten every day."

"Okay, I’ll listen to you, Mom."

"Mom, pack up the valuable stuff at home, take it with you, okay?"

"Got it, Mom will do that."

In the middle of the night, Qiu Hualan took advantage of Ye Weijun’s deep sleep to move all the valuable things at home to Du Guangjun’s house.

Not long ago, Du Guangjun had bought her a radio, the only appliance at home.

And the few hundred yuan she had saved up, given by Ah Qing over time. Besides those, there was the house deed. The rice, flour at home, Qiu Hualan made a bold decision to move them all to Du Guangjun’s place.

"How come you moved so many things out, what about him?" Du Guangjun, drinking alone in his house, sighed deeply before seeing Qiu Hualan knocking on his door, carrying a pile of things.

"He’s still asleep, I just called Ah Qing, she told me to hide for a few days. I don’t want to leave anything for Ye Weijun, so I’ll leave it all with you."

Hearing this, Du Guangjun slapped his forehead, "I was so dull, should’ve thought of this way. Now that you’ve moved the stuff here, he’ll surely be suspicious when he wakes up tomorrow. How about while he’s asleep, you go back and pack, I’ll wait outside your house. I’ll take you to a house I have in the countryside, you can live there for now."

Hearing this, Qiu Hualan felt relieved. She was moved to tears again. "Guangjun, I, I don’t know how to thank you."

"No need for thanks between us, hurry back to pack, I’ll go fetch the tricycle."

Du Guangjun placed the things Qiu Hualan brought back into his house. There was a tricycle in his courtyard, bought this year for convenience when he and Qiu Hualan took his grandson out for fun.

Returning home, Qiu Hualan packed her and Hua Hua’s clothes, even the thick quilts at home weren’t left behind. The kitchen pots and pans were all taken out. To prevent Ye Weijun from calling, Qiu Hualan took the phone too, with just the phone lines left to see how he would call.