Chapter 7: Accident |
"What do we do!?" Lao Zhang asked in a low voice, his hands gripping the steering wheel tight.
Xu De furrowed his brow, sinking into thought.
Li Xiang swept his gaze around the surrounding area, taking in the dense crowd of people, and felt his heart drop to the bottom of a well.
Hand Wang Mei back over? Out of the question.
If Wang Mei went back, she would be abused — one hundred percent.
Then what else could they do?
---
Just then, someone outside picked up a rock and hurled it violently at the vehicle.
Crack!
"Open the door — I'm going out to negotiate!"
Li Xiang took a deep breath and signaled Lao Zhang to open the door.
He then walked to the front door of the minibus.
The moment he appeared, the villagers of Li Family Village surged forward again, their faces burning with even greater fury.
"Hand her over!"
"That woman was bought and paid for by the Li family — what gives you the right to snatch her away?"
"Where's Li Er-Niu? His wife's about to run off and he still hasn't shown his face!?"
"......"
Seeing this, Li Xiang could only take a deep breath, raise both hands, and speak up with a grim expression:
"Quiet — listen to me!"
"Wang Mei is not Li Er-Niu's wife. She was trafficked ten years ago and is a victim. Her family has come looking for her now......"
At those words, the old couple squeezed their way back out of the crowd. Spotting Li Xiang blocking the door, they immediately threw themselves onto the ground and began wailing theatrically:
"Oh, what a wretched life I live!"
"We scraped together every last coin we had — paid good money to find our son a wife — and it's barely been any time at all before she tries to run... I can't go on like this!"
"You officials just love to bully us common folk! You won't rest until you've torn our family apart!"
Wang Mei had been sold to the Li Er-Niu household.
The two people now on the ground were Li Er-Niu's parents — father Li Youcai, and mother Zhang Cui.
The pair sat in the dirt, howling and wailing without end, slapping their thighs between shrieks.
Li Xiang's expression instantly turned as dark as a pig's liver.
"This is against the law!"
"You are obstructing the execution of police duties!"
The surrounding villagers, however, couldn't have cared less. One thick-skinned man in his fifties even shoved his way forward.
"What law? There ain't no law out here."
The man was thoroughly unimpressed:
"My wife was bought too — paid eight hundred for her!"
"Every wife in this whole village was bought. You gonna haul all of 'em away!?"
"Even cops gotta be reasonable!"
Li Xiang snapped: "You—!"
His face flushed crimson in an instant, rage barely contained behind his eyes.
---
In the rear of the vehicle.
"Where's the Party secretary for this area? Where did they go?"
Xu De rose to his feet, glanced at the situation outside, and felt his brow knot. The circumstances were looking more than a little grim.
One of the officers beside him exhaled slowly and muttered offhandedly:
"Li Family Village has gone through four village Party secretaries — two resigned, one died in an accident on the mountain, and the fourth hasn't even arrived yet."
Hearing that, Xu De formed a rough picture of this place in his mind.
No wonder these people were so ignorant...
But then again.
If they were ignorant, perhaps that ignorance could be turned to his advantage.
With that thought, Xu De suddenly stepped forward. The officer behind him started, then immediately moved to stop him.
"Xu-lǜshī, where are you going?"
"I'm going to see if I can get the person out of here."
Xu De left those words hanging in the air and walked to the front of the vehicle.
Outside.
"She's not going anywhere!"
Li Youcai declared aggressively, his tone overbearing and combative.
Li Xiang was about to respond, but before he could, a voice came from behind him.
"She hasn't gone anywhere — she's still right here."
He turned, and there was Xu De stepping down from the vehicle with a mild smile, coming to stand beside him.
Xu De then looked at Li Youcai and continued:
"The police uphold the law — surely you don't actually believe they're here to steal your daughter-in-law? Even if they took her, it wouldn't do them any good!"
Li Youcai let out a cold snort and crossed his arms.
"She's already on the bus! And you're saying they didn't steal her!?"
"That's not stealing — that's the implementation of an official government welfare program," Xu De said.
A... welfare program? What in the world?
Li Youcai froze. And it wasn't just him — the other villagers nearby also felt their brains grind to a halt, unable to quite process what they'd heard.
Li Xiang gave Xu De a strange sideways look, as if watching a man speak gibberish.
"The state currently enforces a compulsory nine-year education policy," Xu De continued.
"Your grandson has turned seven — he qualifies for enrollment. But attending school requires a household registration. His mother doesn't have one registered, so how can the child be enrolled? That's why the police are taking her — to get her residency documentation sorted out first."
Xu De said all of this without so much as a flicker of shame.
At those words, the crowd fell silent, and Li Xiang's eye twitched involuntarily as he stared at Xu De.
The Li Family villagers frowned. They didn't know the law... but something about those words felt off.
Besides, hadn't the officer just mentioned something about human trafficking?
Could this man in front of them be trying to pull a fast one?
But before they had time to think it through, Xu De suddenly turned to Li Youcai and asked:
"Li Youcai — have you registered your grandson's household yet?"
Li Youcai stared blankly for a moment, then shook his head with some hesitation.
"No."
"Then do you want your grandson to go to school?" Xu De pressed.
Li Youcai looked like he was about to shake his head again — but before he could, Xu De spoke again:
"School is free. Do well in school and the school pays you. And once the household registration is in order, you'll receive monthly allotments of rice, flour, and cooking oil — subsidies, all free of charge."
"On top of that, after graduating, the child could even come back to the village and work as an official."
Li Youcai's eyes went wide on the spot, and Zhang Cui scrambled up from the ground like she'd been yanked on a string.
"They actually give money?"
"Of course they do," Xu De confirmed with a nod.
The two of them were visibly tempted — like elderly patients at a pharmacy lured in by the promise of free eggs.
But still...
Li Youcai's eyes remained guarded as he looked at the minibus.
"Maybe we should just forget about it..."
Xu De cut him off before he could finish, sweeping his gaze around the crowd.
"If you're worried about the child... that's actually easy to sort."
"Just pay a twenty-thousand yuan fine."
"Twenty thousand!?"
Li Youcai froze, his face breaking out in a look of genuine shock, as though he'd just heard something utterly earth-shattering.
They hadn't even paid twenty thousand for Wang Mei in the first place!
"And if she does go to get the registration sorted out..."
Zhang Cui suddenly spoke up, a look of residual wariness still in her eyes — though it was abundantly clear she feared a fine far more than she feared losing a person.
"When would she be back?"
"If things go quickly, she'd be back by evening."
Xu De replied, and before they could respond, he pressed on:
"What — are you actually worried your daughter-in-law is going to run away?"
With that, he laughed lightly.
"Don't forget — the child is still right here. Where's she going to run? How's she going to run?"
The moment those words landed, the wariness that had been keeping the crowd on edge dropped by more than half. Li Youcai and Zhang Cui's brows eased ever so slightly.
The villagers gathered nearby found themselves nodding along.
"That's right, Youcai — the kid's still at home."
"She can't just abandon her own child!"
"The monk may flee, but the temple stays put — I think it's fine......"
"......"
Over a dozen people began whispering among themselves, their suspicion largely absent now.
Li Xiang, meanwhile, was staring at Xu De with unconcealed astonishment, his eye giving a subtle twitch.
The man's play was simple: throw out a plausible-sounding pretext to cool things down and pull people back from the emotional edge — it didn't matter whether they truly believed it or not. The real hook was the threat he'd planted at the end.
People in a state of panic were the most susceptible to seizing on any "obvious" answer. And in their minds, a child was an unbreakable chain around the mother's ankle — practically an iron law. As long as they instinctively latched onto that logic... even if some part of them suspected the police's true intentions, their resistance would crumble regardless.
"This guy... he's a graduate from a prestigious university?"
"They actually teach this sort of thing there?"
Li Xiang was mildly bewildered.
But never mind all that — as long as they could get the person out of here, it was a damn good move.
Just as Li Xiang let out a quiet breath of relief, as the tension on the scene eased and a window of opportunity finally cracked open...
A voice thundered from somewhere in the crowd, raw with fury.
"Snatch my woman!? Who the hell dares snatch my woman!?"
"Let her go — right now!"
The voice detonated in everyone's ears like a crack of thunder.
The crowd whipped around and parted, opening a path.
A man came striding through — stocky and broad-faced, around 1.7 meters tall, with hooded single-lid eyes that carried a faint, cold malice.
He bore about a seventy-percent resemblance to Li Youcai, dressed in rough, shabby clothes with mud-caked work boots on his feet.
He was bearing down toward them with long, purposeful strides, and in just a few steps he was already close.
Xu De's eyes sharpened.
This man... he had to be Li Youcai's son — Li Er-Niu.
"Where is she!? I paid for that woman!"
Li Er-Niu was livid. He shoved Li Xiang aside and made to board the vehicle.
He was a middle-aged man who'd spent years laboring in the fields — his raw strength was well beyond anything Li Xiang could match. The officer stumbled.
"Li-duì!" The officers behind him rushed forward to block the way.
Li Youcai and Zhang Cui also moved to restrain him.
"Er-Niu, this is all a misunderstanding!"
"They're here to do paperwork and give out money......"
The couple and the other Li Family villagers held him back, then pulled him aside and began relaying what Xu De had said.
Li Er-Niu's expression shifted through several changes as he stared at Xu De and Li Xiang, thinking hard.
Finally, he spoke:
"I don't trust this. Let me get on the bus and go with her."
Li Xiang paused, his brow furrowing. He glanced at Xu De, who was already looking back at him.
After a moment's thought, Li Xiang replied:
"Fine."
They could afford to concede this much. If he wanted to come along, he could come.
After all, the moment they were clear of Li Family Village and back at the station, it would be well out of Li Er-Niu's hands.
"Everyone board — we'll aim to be back by tonight."
Li Xiang stepped aside with a smile that didn't reach his eyes.
Li Er-Niu's gaze flickered. Without a word, he stepped up onto the stairs.
The passengers inside tensed as Li Er-Niu climbed aboard, the officers exchanging wary glances.
Li Er-Niu ignored them all and kept walking.
When he finally stopped at the back of the vehicle, Wang Mei buried her head even deeper, her body trembling, her breath coming in quick, shallow bursts.
And Wang Qiang...
Wang Qiang's eyes locked onto Li Er-Niu, his stare hard and unblinking, the arms around Wang Mei locked tight as steel rebar.
Li Xiang was just about to signal Lao Zhang to drive when a thick, guttural voice rang out from behind him.
"Get off the bus."
Li Er-Niu's face had twisted into something savage, his hooded eyes gleaming with cold violence. He seized Wang Mei by the wrist and wrenched her toward the door.
Get off—!? He wasn't coming along for the ride?
Everyone startled, and in that split second of confusion, Wang Mei was ripped from Wang Qiang's embrace without warning — her face, which she'd kept buried, was suddenly exposed, raw with terror.
"Off the bus, now! Forget the damn registration — you're coming back with me!"
Li Er-Niu was like a stubborn, maddened bull, dragging her bodily toward the exit.
Li Xiang snapped back to his senses immediately. "Someone stop him!"
The officers reacted fast — but faster still was Wang Qiang.
The instant he felt the person in his arms being wrenched away, Wang Qiang exploded. He shot to his feet and bit down — hard — on the hand gripping Wang Mei's wrist.
"Aaagh!"
Li Er-Niu yelped in pain and reflexively released his grip.
Then the lean, wiry frame of Wang Qiang drove his shoulder into Li Er-Niu's gut and shoved him toward the door with everything he had.
It all happened in an instant — too fast for anyone to react.
Even Xu De hadn't processed it before it was over.
By the time everyone came back to their senses, Li Er-Niu and Wang Qiang had both tumbled out of the vehicle and hit the ground in a cloud of dust.
"Damn it!"
Li Xiang's stomach dropped. Without an instant of hesitation, his hand went to his hip.
The next second, a steel object was in his grip.
A gun.
"Freeze — nobody moves!"
"Move and I'll shoot!"
Li Xiang's shout tore through the crowd, the muzzle of the gun sweeping dark and steady across the villagers, his expression iron-hard.
At the sight of this...
The Li Family villagers froze for a few seconds, before one man craned his neck forward with the look of someone who had absolutely nothing to lose, pointed at his own head, and stepped toward the gun.
"Come on then — shoot! Right here — kill me!"
"Murder! The cops are murdering people!"
"Son of a bitch, who do you think you are? Just 'cause you're a cop doesn't mean you can pull a gun on innocent people!"
"......"
The villagers, who Xu De had barely managed to pacify, erupted again in an instant. Both doors of the bus were swamped, hands beating and smashing against the vehicle from all sides.
The officers were blocked completely. Even Li Xiang drawing his weapon hadn't done anything.
And outside...
"Bastard — you old son of a bitch!"
Li Er-Niu scrambled to his feet, face contorted with rage.
He glanced left and right, then snatched a wheat-cutting sickle out of the hands of a nearby villager and came charging at Wang Qiang.
The blade had been honed to a gleam, its edge throwing off a cold, sinister light.
Wang Qiang instinctively threw up his hands.
Smack.
His hand barely caught Li Er-Niu's fist around the knife handle. The veins in Wang Qiang's arm stood out like cords, his face going red as he strained against the other man's strength, the blade tip shifting back and forth between them.
Thud.
A blunt strike came crashing down on Wang Qiang from behind, buckling his legs, sending him crumpling to the ground.
Li Er-Niu was dragged down with him by the momentum. Villagers swarmed forward, and in a blink, both men were swallowed by the crowd.
In an instant, the entire scene descended into chaos.
Curses and the sounds of violence bled together.
Until...
BANG!!!
A sound like a thunderclap detonated against everyone's eardrums without warning.
One shot, and everything stopped. Everyone flinched. The noise died. Every head swiveled toward the source.
That was...
A gun.
"Don't move — nobody moves!"
Li Xiang's face was dark with controlled fury. He raised the barrel still reeking of spent gunpowder and trained it back on the crowd.
"Warning shot!"
"Stand back — drop whatever's in your hands — on the ground, now!"
He... he actually fired...
The expressions on the Li Family villagers' faces went rigid. The bluster drained out of them. They shuffled backward with suddenly reduced bravado, dropping their sickles and hoes one by one.
Li Xiang's expression remained severe as he advanced, gun still raised.
The villagers fell back, and the two figures lying on the ground came into view once more.
Wang Qiang was on the ground. Li Er-Niu was on top of him, both locked in mutual deadlock.
Li Xiang's brow furrowed. He turned his head slightly and raised his voice again.
"Stand back — stand back!"
But neither man responded.
Clatter......
In the stillness, the sound of metal hitting the ground rang out — a jarring sound that made everyone's breath catch.
Then Wang Qiang scrambled up from beneath Li Er-Niu and lurched to his feet, coming to stand beside Li Xiang. His face was a mask of savage fury, his eyes bloodshot, his breath heaving in and out like a winded bull.
Li Er-Niu, on the other hand, remained kneeling on the ground. He did not get up.
Li Xiang's eyes dropped to the dirt. Beneath Li Er-Niu lay a sickle that had fallen to the ground — the blade drenched in blood.
"Blood!?"
From inside the vehicle, Xu De caught a glimpse through the window, and his pupils contracted sharply.
"That's Li Er-Niu's blood!"
Li Er-Niu's blood?
Everyone stilled. Every head turned toward Li Er-Niu.
He was kneeling in the dirt, shaking all over, the sound of his ragged, labored breathing loud in everyone's ears.
Then, slowly, Li Er-Niu trembled. He staggered. His hands pressed to his abdomen as he forced himself to his feet.
His eyes were vacant, his face dazed — but no one was looking at his face anymore. Every gaze had locked onto a single point — his stomach.
The sickle, honed sharp enough to sever wheat — the sickle that had fallen to the ground — had come from inside his abdomen.
Li Er-Niu's clothes had been split open. And his flesh with them — a ragged hole torn into his belly.
Gurgle...
A wet, hollow sound rose from his throat. Both hands clutched at his stomach as blood seeped through his fingers. His eyes fixed on nothing, glassy, and he trembled and staggered forward two steps.
But with those two steps...
Blood cascaded onto the ground in sheets, and a length of red, glistening intestine — soft and pulsing, like a sea creature — slipped out of the wound in his abdomen like water. Li Er-Niu reached down with his hands, trying to push it back in.
But the light in front of his eyes suddenly went dark...
The next moment.
Thud.
He pitched forward, face-first into the dirt. The light in his congealing pupils slowly faded.
The man was dead.
As that scene played out before them—
In an instant.
The entire site fell utterly, deathly silent.
A long moment passed...
Zhang Cui buried her face in her hands and released a sound — piercing, raw, and unbearable.
"Murder! They've killed someone!!"