The Land Development Project
It was Sally Sewell, my wife Mandy Sewell's younger sister. She sobbed, saying she had finally conceived a boy this time, but the child inside her felt like it was going to tear her apart.
My hand clutching the mobile phone trembled as I asked her for the exact location. The mountain signal was weak, and static kept cutting off her words.
"Murphy, they won't call an ambulance, but they keep pressing my belly with a rolling pin because of their so-called folk remedy works..."
Before she could finish, Mandy burst out of the kitchen.
Her apron was stained with soap suds. She grabbed my wrist holding the phone, her nails digging into my skin with a force that felt like she wanted to crush my bones.
The next moment, the phone smashed onto the marble floor.
The screen cracked like a spider's web. Sally's crying abruptly stopped, leaving only the crackling hiss of electricity.
"Murphy Charles, can you just stop doing this?" Mandy slammed her apron on the ground, her chest rising and falling sharply. "Trying to push your sister into divorcing again? Better to be a peacemaker than a home-wrecker. How can you be so heartless?"
I stared at the shattered pieces of the phone on the ground, my throat tightening.
It turned out she had always thought it was my younger sister, Yvonne Charles, calling for help on the phone.
"If it weren't for Howard's kindness, finding your sister a great husband," Mandy bent down, pulled out many one-hundred-dollar notes from her wallet, flicked her fingers, and the bills fluttered onto my face. "With her bookish look, she's bound to end up an old spinster sooner or later."
The bill lay at my feet, the corner of the paper curling up in the wind.
I recalled what Sally had said on the phone—the villagers pressing on her belly, that twisted cry she let out—and my stomach churned.
"This is the bride price," Mandy said, hands on her hips, chin held high. "You've taken the money, so don't make a fuss anymore, got it? Know the rules?"
I looked at her, suddenly feeling like a stranger—this woman I'd been married to for three years, who once vowed we'd live well together, now looked at me with pure contempt.
"What about your family's dowry?" She reached out, trying to snatch the wallet from my pocket. "You can't just take the bride price without the dowry, can you? Is your family a bunch of beggars?"
I took a step back, my voice cold as ice: "You'll be the one paying the dowry."
Mandy was stunned for two seconds before exploding in anger.
She grabbed a glass from the table and smashed it on the floor; shards scattered near my ankle, cutting a line of blood. "Murphy, is your family glued to me or what? Your sister is getting married, and you want me to pay the dowry?"
"If you've got time to argue with me, you might as well call your dad and have him hurry up and scrape together the money," she stepped over the broken glass, her eyes sharp as poison. "I'm telling you the truth—no one wanted your sister from the start. What they want is someone who can bear healthy children."
"If it weren't for Howard helping to arrange it, do you think she could have gotten married?" Mandy sneered, "I suggest you hurry up and send the dowry, or if your sister ends up being bullied in her in-laws' house, don't say I didn't warn you."
I locked eyes with her and suddenly asked, "How long has it been since you last contacted Sally?"
Mandy's face changed in an instant, like a cat that's just been stepped on its tail.
She grabbed my collar, her nails digging almost into my neck. "What do you want? Trying to make a move on Sally? I'm telling you, if you so much as touch her, I won't let you off!"
I watched her furious face and suddenly laughed.
Sally was her only kin in this world; she used to dote on this younger sister—once a little hooligan whistled at Sally, she brought a bodyguard and turned that whole street upside down, beating up anyone in floral shirts.
But now, she tricked her own sister into the mountains where there's not even a signal.
I bent down, trying to pick up the shattered mobile phone on the ground, hoping at least to check the call records for a number.
But Mandy stomped on the back of my hand, the heel of her stiletto grinding down.
"You still want to contact her?" Her voice was thick with contempt. "From the city to that mountain village takes at least four hours. If she can make it through, she wouldn't need saving; if she can't, calling now won't help."
I stifled the pain in the back of my hand and looked up at her.
"Sally was born in the city and never endured hardship growing up. How could she live in the mountains?" I said carefully, word by word, "Marriage is about mutual love. You marrying her off to a stranger in that village is utterly irresponsible."
"You think marriage is just playing a role-play game?" Mandy kicked aside the broken phone pieces at my side, sending them skittering farther away. "Listen, there are rules in that village—no divorce allowed."
"Even if you take her away, her in-laws will come back for her," she said, arms crossed. "Give up hope. Once she's married in, don't expect her to get out."
"How would you feel if it were Sally getting married there?" I finally asked the question, my chest tight and uneasy.
But Mandy just laughed, a cruel, triumphant laugh: "Sorry to tell you my sister will never marry with a man in a small village. That's fate — she should be happy her whole life."
"Get the dowry ready quickly, and prepare a matchmaker's gift for Howard," she said, turning toward the bedroom. "He's been busy running around for your sister's sake; you should be grateful."
I stood motionless, watching her walk away, suddenly feeling that these three years of marriage had been nothing but a joke.
I went to the mobile phone shop to buy a new phone, and the first call I made was to the lawyer.
"Help me draft a divorce agreement," I said, sitting on the store's waiting chair, my voice trembling, "the sooner, the better."
The lawyer asked if I wanted to reconsider, pointing out that Mandy's family was well-off and I might lose out after the divorce.
I shook my head; I'd rather sleep under a bridge than live with that cold-hearted woman any longer.
By the time I finished handling the divorce agreement, darkness had already fallen.
I held that thin piece of paper, standing beneath my own building, looking up to see the living room light on, and inside, Mandy and Howard's laughter flowed out.
I pulled out the key, not yet inserted it into the lock, when I heard Howard say, "Mandy, that family just wants to marry a college student to improve their genes. I'm marrying Murphy's younger sister off to them, and they immediately signed the project agreement."
"You're so incredible, holding down the shareholders for me behind the scenes; otherwise, how else could I have gotten that land?"
Mandy's laughter floated out, sickly sweet: "What's the big deal? You're the one I trust most; if I don't help you, then who else would?"
I stood outside the door, my stomach churning violently, the divorce agreement in my hand nearly slipping to the ground.
So that's how it is.
It wasn't a misunderstanding. She did it on purpose—she knew Howard planned to deceive a college student into coming to the mountain, using my sister as a bargaining chip. But she didn't expect Howard to mistake the person and end up deceiving her own sister.
I pushed open the door, and the warm light from the living room stabbed into my eyes.
Mandy and Howard sat at the dining table, sharing a spoonful of cake.
When Howard fed Mandy, cream stuck to the corner of her mouth, and he wiped it off with his thumb, the gesture as intimate as a married couple's.
I remember, in the three years of marriage, Mandy never let me touch her cup, saying I had bad breath; she even insisted on wearing gloves just to hold my hand.
It turned out she wasn't simply a germophobe; she just refused to stand up with me.
Howard saw me and was so startled that he suddenly stood up, dropping the spoon from his hand onto the floor.
"Oh, Mur... Murphy, I won't dare again, please don't hit me." He backed away, hiding behind Mandy like a frightened rabbit.
Mandy instinctively pulled Howard into her arms and looked up at me with wide eyes: "Have you hit him?"
"I've hit him." I nodded, remembering what happened three months ago.
Back then, Howard had just become Mandy's assistant and had come to our house for dinner.
While I went into the kitchen to pour some water, he secretly opened my drawer, took out the silver bracelet my mother left behind, and tapped it on the table, saying he wanted to see if it sounded clear.
I told him to put it down, but he tossed it carelessly, and the bracelet fell to the floor, cracking.
That was the thing my mother clasped in her dying moments. I was so furious I slapped him.
I thought Mandy would understand me, but she just sneered coldly, "Murphy, you're really petty."
"Your mother's already dead. What's wrong with a living person using her things?" She yanked open my drawer and threw all the relics inside—my mother's photo, an old handkerchief, the silver bracelet—onto the floor in one sweep.
I rushed over, trying to pick them up, but Mandy slapped me across the face.
Her hit was hard; I stumbled backward and fell, my hand landing right on my mother's photo, cracking the glass frame.
Howard pretended to help me up, but his foot landed squarely on my mother's photo.
"Murphy, are you okay?" He smiled, dragging the sole of his shoe across the photo.
I shoved him angrily, and he flung himself onto the ground in an exaggerated way, crying, "I just wanted to help you—how could you push me away?"
Mandy looked at me with disgust. "Murphy, how did you end up like this? You're getting worse and more uncultured."
She helped Howard up, brushing the dust off his pants. "Let's go—don't stick around with him; he's bad luck."
I stood up from the ground and took a deep breath. "Mandy, let's get a divorce."
Mandy was stunned for a moment, then laughed outright, doubled over with laughter: "You want to divorce me? Murphy, don't think you can threaten me with divorce. I'm telling you, it won't work."
"If you keep acting like this, all you'll do is make me hate you even more." She reached out, trying to snatch the divorce agreement from my hands.
I dodged her hand and placed the agreement on the dining table. "I'm serious. Sign it."
Mandy picked up the agreement, glanced at it, her eyes turning icy cold. "The divorce agreement is already prepared? Looks like you've been planning this all along, just because your sister married into that mountain village?"
"If your sister were like Sally, excelling in both character and academics with a bright future ahead, I wouldn't let her marry off either," she threw the agreement onto the table. "But sadly, she's just like you—a useless bookworm. Having a good match would be a blessing for her."
"That family said as long as she gives birth to a son, they'll treat her like their treasure," Mandy stepped in front of me, looking down with contempt. "Kick back and live off—doesn't that beat working for a boss by a mile?"
"I really don't know what you're thinking. If you're ungrateful to Howard, fine—but keeping making troubles. Now I've seen what it looks like when a Drama Queen is in full force."
I ignored her scolding, took a pen from my bag, and signed my name on the Divorce Agreement.
Mandy stared at my signature, her face growing darker by the moment. "Murphy, I warn you—if you dare sign this today, even if you beg me on your knees later, I will never remarry you."
"Don't worry, even with a knife at my throat, I won't beg you to remarry," I pushed the pen toward her. "Sign it. I feel sick staying another second with someone like you."
Mandy trembled with rage, snatched the pen, signed the agreement fiercely, then threw the paper in my face.
"Fine, this is what you chose, don't regret it!" She turned and walked into the bedroom, slamming the door shut with a bang.
I picked up the divorce agreement from the floor, folded it neatly into my bag, and stood at the bedroom door, saying, "One last reminder: call Sally and ask how she's doing."
Laughter came from inside the bedroom—Mandy's laugh: "What? You want my sister to persuade me to remarry you? Murphy, you really know how to scheme."
"Sally's gone abroad, busy writing her thesis, hasn't even replied to my messages lately," her voice came through the door, proud, "She's got no interest in your nonsense. Even if you two used to be close, I'm her sister. She wouldn't help an outsider like you."
I nodded, "Alright."
Just then, Howard's mobile phone rang.
He answered the call, murmured a few words, then hung up. With a gleam of schadenfreude in his eyes, he looked at me and said, "Murphy, just got a call. Your younger sister died in childbirth up in the mountains. My condolences."
My heart dropped sharply, like falling into an icy abyss.
I knew Sally still hadn't made it.
Mandy burst out of the bedroom, and the first thing she said wasn't to ask how she was, but grabbed Howard's arm: "She's dead? What about the project? It won't be affected, will it?"
Howard patted her hand with a grin, "Mandy, don't worry, the agreement's all signed. No problem."
"Though they're mountain folks, they keep their word," he said. "They wanted college students, and we gave them that. Those people killed college students; it's got nothing to do with us."
Mandy breathed a sigh of relief, patting her chest, "That's good, that's good. As long as the project isn't affected, it's fine."
I stood aside, watching them act as if nothing had happened, and suddenly felt like a stranger among them.
How could I have fallen for such a woman? A living soul was lost, and all she cared about was the project.
"We're already divorced. What are you still doing here?" Mandy finally remembered me and said coldly, "If you apologize to me, I might consider tearing up the Divorce Agreement."
I sneered, slinging my bag over my shoulder. "I just want you to bring back our sister's body, so I can see her one last time."
"None of my da*n business." Mandy said it plainly, without the slightest hesitation.
I sighed. "Then give me the address. I'll see her off one last time."
Mandy glanced at Howard, who pulled out his mobile phone and sent me the location.
"Go ahead, just don't come back to bother us," Mandy waved her hand like shooing flies. "From now on, we have nothing to do with each other."
I drove into the mountains; the mountain road was all gravel, the chassis scraped three times, and in the end, I had no choice but to continue on foot.
The sunset dyed the mountain hollow blood red. That little mound lay beneath the old locust tree, without even a wooden marker—only a few tufts of wild grass stuck in the soil, toppling over with the slightest breeze.
I stood before the grave for a long time, took a bunch of white chrysanthemums from my bag, and placed them on the mound.
I bought the chrysanthemums at a small shop at the foot of the mountain; the petals were already a bit wilted, just like Sally's voice on that last phone call.
Suddenly, the rumble of excavators came from afar. I turned and saw several excavators coming this way, their buckets raised high.
I rushed over and stopped the one at the front, tapping on the cabin window: "What are you doing? There's a grave here!"
The driver stuck his head out, impatiently saying, "The boss ordered this digging. They're building a resort here. The land was sold long ago."
"I'm just a worker. If you have complaints, take them up with the boss." He pointed to the hillside. "See? The boss is right there."
I looked in the direction he pointed. Mandy and Howard stood on the hillside, surrounded by a crowd, with a reporter holding a video camera.
Mandy was dressed in a white suit, holding a microphone, speaking to the reporter with a smile on her face.
Just as I turned around, the excavator's bucket slammed down onto the mound.
The earth was scooped up, uncovering the bones inside, which were thrown aside like garbage; a few bones rolled to my feet.
I charged over like a madwoman, trying to stop the excavator, but the driver shoved me aside and kept digging forward.
I climbed the hillside and saw Mandy speaking confidently into the video camera: "We want to transform this place into a resort, bring in water and electricity, build roads and bridges, and help the villagers prosper."
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