Shifting the blame eastward

That's how it is in the village. If someone is struggling to get enough to eat, everyone will lend a hand. But if someone makes a lot of money, most people will be envious. The Li family's youngest daughter was already attracting attention because she married well, but now that she's married, she can't really help her family much.

Who knew that the eldest and second sons would suddenly become so clever, going up the mountain to collect herbs every day, and even building a new house. Wouldn't that make people even more envious?

This mountain doesn't belong to Old Li's family. The herbs on the mountain belong to everyone. If one family makes money while others don't, they feel even more resentful.

Zhao, the coffin bearer, wasn't stupid. He knew there must be a conflict between the Qian and Li families, but his son was murdered. The Qian family didn't have much money, and he had two unmarried sons. Only the Li family could give him an explanation.

Zhao, one of the coffin bearers, shouted, "To the Li family!"

The remaining brothers who carried the coffin took Zhao Chun's body to the Li family.

Li Guorong shouted, "What are you doing? It's none of my business!"

Li Guorong tried to stop them, but Lin Shaocheng grabbed him. The group hurried home along a mountain path. Li Guojian was lounging at home listening to the radio when he saw them rushing back. He asked, "Why are you back so soon?"

Li Guolan said, "Second brother, the fake book you made killed Zhao Chun. You'd better run!"

Li Guojian sprang up from his seat, shouting, "Nonsense! Who says I make fake books? Who has any evidence?"

Li Guorong quickly added, "The village chief and several educated people compared the IOUs you used to borrow grain in the village and said it was you who did it."

Li Guojian rolled his eyes and said, "I just drew that for fun. Who told them to take it out and see it? They got what they deserved."

Lin Shaocheng spoke up, "I'm afraid the family makes money by digging up medicinal herbs. It's fine once or twice, but if it becomes a long-term business, it will incur public wrath."

The Li family thought this made sense, but what could they do now?

Li Guorong said, "At worst, we can just pay the Zhao family some money. Second brother, you really are something, why did you have to draw a fake book for them?"

Li Guojian never expected this would cause death. Whenever he and his elder brother went up the mountain, people from the nearby villages would follow them up and steal their herbs. After the book was finished, they quieted down and all focused on the Qian family's little girl.

He chose relatively inexpensive herbal medicine pictures, placing them deep in the mountains or on cliffs, intending only to confuse them and never intending to kill anyone.

Lin Shaocheng asked, "Have the villagers made money digging for medicinal herbs?"

Li Guojian became honest now. He could only rely on Li Guorong to pay compensation. The family's money had been almost spent on expanding the house and getting his older brother married. His brother-in-law was smart and might be able to come up with a solution. "I drew some common herbs, such as houttuynia cordata, angelica dahurica, and chuanxiong. I went to the herb collector, but they offered a low price, and only a small portion of them were sold."

Li Guorong rolled his eyes at his second brother, thinking, "He's always overthinking things. So what if we earn less money? Are there many people in our village who stockpile these kinds of herbs?"

Li Guojian said with a hint of ingratiation, "It seems like every household has one."

Snowflakes began to fall outside. A hint of surprise flashed in Li Guolan's eyes. In Chongchuan, there might be a lot of rain in winter, but it was rare to see snowflakes for many years. Lin Shaocheng's heart skipped a beat when he saw the snow.

Lin Shaocheng walked over to Li Guorong and spoke to him in a low voice. Li Guorong nodded.

The Zhao family finally arrived outside the door. Zhao, the coffin bearer, shouted loudly, "Li Guojian, come out here!"

Li Guojian's legs felt a little weak, and Li Guorong whispered, "Big sister, take second brother to Uncle's house to hide for a while, and go out the back door."

Li Guolan nodded and quickly helped Li Guojian sneak away through the back door.

Li Guorong led Lin Shaocheng out and shouted, "What are you shouting for? My second brother went to my uncle's house, which is three hills away. If you're so capable, go to my uncle's house and find him."

When Zhao, the coffin bearer, saw Li Guorong, he became even more furious. The snow fell on him and melted at the touch. He shouted, "Your second brother killed my Chun'er. Even the heavens can't stand it and have sent snow to express their grievances."

Lin Shaocheng quickly said, "This is a natural phenomenon; we can't engage in feudal superstitions now."

Zhao, the coffin bearer, cursed, "Where do you, an outsider, have a place to speak?"

Li Guorong cursed, "It's just me and my husband at home now. If you think we don't keep our word, then take us back. My eldest brother will accompany my sister-in-law to her parents' home, and my mother will take my second brother to my uncle's house. We'll be back in five days."

This person is gone today. If we don't get the money back quickly, things will get complicated in five days. "Pah! Your family stole public property, killed my son, and now you want to deny it?"

Lin Shaocheng coughed twice. “The things on this mountain belong to everyone. I’m sure all of you folks have them at home. This is too serious. It would be more like the Qian family stealing my second brother’s sketches from home. Paper and ink are expensive, so my second brother mixed things up. It wasn’t intentional.”

Upon hearing this, the village chief quickly stepped in to smooth things over, saying, "Old Zhao, what Li's son-in-law said is also true. He definitely didn't write it down on a piece of paper because he didn't want to. It wasn't intentional."

Zhao, the coffin bearer, didn't believe him. "Then hide it in your shoe."

Li Guorong replied, "What do you know? Used paper won't smell if you put it in your shoes. Who knew the Qian family would steal draft paper?"

“

"I'm just a manual laborer, I can't argue with an educated person like you. Your family killed my son, so you have to pay compensation. Give me 1000!"

Li Guorong's eyes widened. They really dared to ask for that much. Although she felt sorry that Zhao Chun was dead, the main problem wasn't hers. 1,000 yuan could buy half a house in Beijing. "I have no money, but you can take my life."

Li Guorong stepped forward with his hands on his hips, saying, "Go ahead and hit her. Lin Shaocheng will definitely be able to stop you."

Lin Shaocheng hurriedly stood in front of Li Guorong, saying, "I know Mr. Zhao loves his son dearly. This whole mess was caused by the Qian family's dirty tricks. My family is innocent too. It's really hard for me to accept this loss. How about this, I'll contribute 100 yuan to give Zhao Chun a proper burial."

"100 isn't enough," Zhao, the coffin bearer, was about to lash out when several of his good brothers clenched their fists, making a cracking sound.

The village chief quickly spoke up, "Both the Qian and Li families are at fault in this matter, and Old Zhao, your family is also at fault. This is a society governed by law."

Lin Shaocheng's words were echoed by the villagers watching the commotion, who chimed in, "That's right, we can't make the Li family pay for everything."

Zhao, the coffin bearer, his face flushed, raised his fist, as big as a clay pot, and lunged straight at Lin Shaocheng's face, cursing, "It's easy for you to talk when you're not the one suffering."

Lin Shaocheng pushed Li Guorong aside, dodged to the side, grabbed the arm as thick as a tree with one hand, pushed and pulled, then kicked, and the burly coffin bearer fell to the ground.

The village chief stepped forward to help Zhao, one of the coffin bearers, up. Old Zhao had lost face, and his already biased support for the Li family only intensified. He said sternly:

“

"You're not just being unreasonable. We don't have much to do with the Li family anyway, and yet you still hit someone."

Seeing the villagers gathered around him, Lin Shaocheng took out the medicinal herbs he hadn't sold inside the house from his waist and held them up. "Although this isn't my family's problem, I heard from my family when I got back that these two kinds of herbs are very cheap and the village has a lot of them. I'm willing to pay a higher price than the buyers."

The surrounding villagers were excited. It was a pity that Zhao Chun was gone. They had worked hard and risked their lives to pick medicinal herbs, but they only received a few cents. Being able to sell them was much more important than Zhao Chun.

A villager, hiding in the crowd, shouted, "How much money are you offering?"

Lin Shaocheng held up a black, clod-like piece of Sichuan lovage root, saying, "This is 1 yuan per jin (500g), it's a quality dried product." He then held up another white, root-like object, saying, "This is 8 mao (0.8 yuan) per jin (500g), same requirements."

A villager took two pieces of rhizome, smelled them, and passed them around to the villagers. These 80 cents and 1 dollar were several times more expensive than those from unscrupulous merchants who bought medicinal herbs. The village chief had a sudden thought: this was a good thing that would benefit the whole village. Now the medicinal herbs in his house could be sold.

The Tai family clearly distinguished between the compensation for one person and the business of the entire village. The families of the coffin bearers had picked the most of these two kinds of herbs. Their children were good friends with Zhao Chun and were the first to receive the news. They went forward to pull Zhao Chun back and advised, "You hurt them and now you have to pay compensation. City people are much more precious than us."

The villagers nearby chimed in, "If you're so capable, go after the Qian family. Why are you always eyeing the Li family?"

What if the Li family loses a lot of money and can't afford to buy their herbs?

A few honest people who didn't follow the trend of herbal medicine spoke a word of justice: "The Qian family's youngest daughter is the most at fault in this matter, and the Li family shouldn't be forced to pay compensation just because they have money."

The other villagers all agreed.

When Zhao, the coffin bearer, saw that the villagers had all stopped supporting him after a short while, he felt uneasy. "I'm not willing to be satisfied with just 100 yuan."

The village chief said, "The Li family will contribute 200 to give Zhao Chun a proper burial."

Li Guorong looked up at the sky and said, "This is too much." He looked unwilling.

Lin Shaocheng quickly stopped Li Guorong, frowning as he said, "Alright, it's snowing, let's hurry and carry Brother Chun home so he doesn't catch a cold."

The snow in Chongchuan wasn't heavy; it melted as soon as it hit a person. But Zhao Chun was gone. He lay on a thin bamboo plank, and the snow fell on him, covering him lightly, like a mountain, like soil, like grass, buried in the not-so-cold snow.

Perhaps Zhao Chun just wanted to earn money to help ease the burden on his family. After all, he had three sons, none of whom were married. The three young men lived in a small, low house, and because of a fake medicine picture, their lives were forever frozen at the age of 18.

Snowflakes drifted onto Lin Shaocheng's face. He felt a pang of sadness. If Li Guorong hadn't been waiting for him and hadn't given him a gun, would he have chosen to give up when leaving Tibet? Would he have also fallen asleep on the snow-capped mountains amidst the swirling snow?

Li Guorong gently held Lin Shaocheng's hand from behind. She didn't understand why Lin Shaocheng was so sad, but she knew he needed her at this moment. She took out money from her pocket, neatly arranged, "I'm also very sad that Chun'er is gone, but this matter can't be attributed to just my family. Qian Duowu kept Chun'er hanging on, which is why Chun'er is gone."

Just now, Li Guoliang secretly told her how the Qian family schemed against her eldest sister, and this time they even implicated her family. She's going to go over there later and tear Qian Duoduo to shreds.

Zhao, the coffin bearer, raised his hand and said, "Go to the Qian family."

In the light snow, a large group of people walked towards the Qian family's house, like a black snake swallowing its last prey before winter.