Chapter 241: Protecting the Victimized Girls
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Li Zhu looked at Xia Wan and said, “Moreover, after Liu Shi had bullied those girls, they were, according to him, no longer clean. Therefore, he’d go to look for them again. The girls’ families favored men, and if they told their parents about this, they would only get beaten and scolded, so Liu Shi wasn’t complaining.”
Xia Wan’s eyes were frighteningly cold. Liu Shi. What a b*stard.
Chen Mo’s expression was also very gloomy. It was not because he had heard that Liu Shi had done so much wrong to the women but because he had once tried to harm Xia Wan. When he thought of this possibility, he had the urge to stab Liu Shi with a knife.
Was Xia Wan even worthy of such a beast?
From Li Zhu’s side, they gradually learned the number of people that Liu Shi had extorted. Some people had lost really valuable items from their homes. In fact, Liu Shi had even coerced a bunch of kids to carry out burglaries.
Liu Shi then took these things to the town to sell.
After leaving Li Zhu’s house, Xia Wan and Chen Mo’s hearts were heavy.
Chen MO had already calmed down. He saw that Xia Wan’s expression was still very heavy and knew she must be worried about those girls. He comforted her, “The family environment of these girls is quite complicated. Their parents favor sons over daughters. If their parents know about this, they might not be willing to let them testify.”
Xia Wan nodded. “Yes, such incidents won’t sound good in the village. If they testify against Liu Shi as witnesses, they might face criticism from the villagers when they return. It will be difficult to marry them off.”
Regarding the issue of rape, it would still be a very complicated issue in the coming years.
Women were clearly the victims, yet they still provoked the ire of public opinion.
They would think that if these rapists chose to rape you, it had to be because you were dressed scantily, or you must’ve gone out too late.
If she was a well-behaved girl, how could she have encountered such a thing?
Even if she weren’t attacked on the Internet, the woman’s boyfriend, if she had one, would usually feel disgusted with her once something like that happened.
If the girl had not found a partner yet, then there would be very few people who would propose to her in the future. Parents with the ability might choose to change cities to spare their daughters from facing these public attacks.
If her family was poor, she might have to live under the thumb of others for the rest of her life.
The smaller the city, the easier it was for word to get around.
“If we want to convince them to testify against Liu Shi, then we must arrange for them to retreat,” Xia Wan said to Chen Mo.
Chen MO nodded. He knew that Xia Wan already had an idea, so he asked, “What do you plan to do?”
“There are many factories in the south that are quite profitable now,” Xia Wan replied. “If you work there, you can also provide food and accommodation. No thanks to the influence of family values, most of the girls in our village only study up to junior high before they completely stop. Their families think that they are mere women, so no matter how much they study, they would be married someday. This compels them to be not supportive of their daughters furthering their studies all the way to high school.
“No matter what their grades in school are, their families are poor nonetheless, or they have younger brothers at home. Whatever little money that’s left in the household would then be used to feed her younger brothers, and that means she’d be left with nothing at the end of the day.
“If we send them to the factory, there will be opportunities for training and promotion every year. Some of them are smart and hardworking. As long as they are willing to work hard, they could achieve good results.
“When they have money, they can choose to open a shop. Besides, the culture in the South is more progressive. It’s unlike our village, where the mentality is still so conservative.”
Chen MO nodded, agreeing with Xia Wan’s idea.
“Excellent idea! I have many acquaintances in the factories in the south. I could arrange their employment, but the problem is if their parents would agree to let them go.”
Xia Wan did not reply immediately.
She thought that if she told the parents of these girls that they could earn a lot of money by working in the South, these parents would definitely let them go. However, the price they had to pay was that their hard-earned money would have to be given to their parents.
Xia Wan asked Chen MO, “If they go to the factory in the south, how much can they earn in a month?”
“Between 1,000 and 1,500,” cnen MO replied.
Xia Wan was a little surprised. That was a rather generous amount. The teachers in their village only earned a few hundred yuan a month..