Zhou the Cripple had received a favor from Zhou Hongsong's father, which is why he risked his life to protect Zhou Hongsong.

"Fourth Uncle, this money is all from legitimate sources, so you can rest assured."

Li Xiangdong's voice was calm and composed, "As for Fifth Brother, you don't need to worry. He can come with me to make money in the future."

"By the way, my father, Li Jin, is the captain of the Lijiapo Brigade and a demobilized soldier."

After saying this, Li Xiangdong had a rather pretentious air about him, like someone who was referring to his father, Zhang Erhe.

Upon hearing the keywords "battalion commander" and "demobilized soldier," Zhou the Cripple was immediately relieved; this kid came from a respectable background.

Aunt Zhou accepted a pile of expensive food, and her attitude towards Zhou Hongsong was no longer as cold and distant as before. After all, one is obligated to help someone who has eaten their food.

After chatting for a while, Zhou Hongsong asked, "Fourth Uncle, Zhou Erkui became the brigade leader?"

Zhou the Cripple nodded, glanced at him, and pointed to the sky, "It was decided by the commune."

Zhou Hongsong slapped his thigh, "Damn it! I've been outsmarted by Zhou Erkui!"

It was Zhou Erkui who instigated him to lead the looting of grain, and then distributed the grain without stopping. As a result, he himself went to the labor camp, and his fourth uncle was dismissed from his post. However, Zhou Erkui was not only not implicated, but also became the captain.

"I'm like a cannonball; they're loading the explosives, and I just explode!"

Zhou Hongsong was filled with remorse.

Zhou the Cripple patted his hand, "Hey, you've learned your lesson. There's nothing more to say now."

Li Xiangdong steered the conversation back on track, asking Zhou the Cripple, "Fourth Uncle, of the two educated youths in our village, besides Wu Jianjun, there was also a female educated youth. Did she return to the city?"

Aunt Zhou said, "He hasn't left yet. Sigh, this child is getting all worked up about going back to the city. Sigh!"

Two sighs in a row mean something's wrong.

......

The educated youth settlement of Duyanggang Brigade was located next to the brigade headquarters.

Aunt Zhou carried a basket containing a bowl of porridge and two cornbread buns, walking unsteadily towards the educated youth settlement. Behind her followed Zhou the Cripple, Zhou Hongsong, and Li Xiangdong.

The sky was as dark as ink, the stars shifted, and a cold wind blew, making the entire Duyanggang seem frozen.

Duyanggang was poor, and there was no work to do in the dead of winter. People were afraid of wasting kerosene, so they would close their doors and rest after eating.

The small mountain village was so quiet that you couldn't even hear a dog barking.

As we approached the educated youth settlement, we suddenly heard faint voices.

Li Xiangdong twitched his ears and heard the voices of a man and a woman.

Seeing that no one else had heard, he quickly pulled Zhou Hongsong aside and whispered, "Keep it down, someone's there!"

Educated youth settlement.

Fang Shilan, a young intellectual from Shanghai, stood against the wall, holding a pair of scissors in her hand. Her hair was disheveled, there was a trace of blood at the corner of her mouth, several buttons on her shirt were torn off, and her clothes were in disarray.

"Don't come any closer! If you take another step, I'll call for help!"

The voice was shrill, yet it couldn't hide the trembling and fear.

The man chuckled coldly, "Call for help? Go ahead, let's see who hears you! You slut, what are you being so coy about? Didn't you already sleep with Director Hou? What difference does it make who you sleep with? Why are you so desperate! If you want to go back to the city, besides the commune's stamp, I have to stamp it for you too. Same stamp, same treatment..."

Zhou Hongsong, who had been listening intently at the doorway, couldn't hold back any longer and shouted, "Zhou Erkui! I'll kill you, you beast!"

With that, he kicked the door open and rushed inside like a tiger.

The two people facing off inside the house never expected that someone else would come over at this moment.

The kerosene lamp on the kang table was flickered by the wind, and the flame flickered for a while before it stabilized.

Zhou Erkui recognized the person's face and said in a fierce voice, "Zhou Laowu, what brings you out here!"

Without saying a word, Zhou Hongsong walked over and slapped Zhou Erkui twice across the face. Then he twisted Zhou Erkui's hands behind his back and kicked him in the back of the knee. Zhou Erkui cried out and knelt on the ground.

Aunt Zhou put down her basket and quickly went to Fang Shilan's side, taking the scissors from her hand. "Little Fang, Auntie is here. Don't be afraid, don't be afraid!"

Fang Shilan remained in a defensive posture, her eyes fixed on Zhou Erkui.

Zhou the Cripple tossed a wad of hemp rope hanging on the wall to Zhou Hongsong, "Fifth Brother, tie him up!"

......

Zhou Erkui lay on the ground like a pig with its head tied up, his neck stiff as he shouted, "Are you trying to rebel?! You're engaging in reactionary activities! Don't you want your work points anymore?!"

When Zhou Hongsong saw that this villain who had framed him still dared to shout like that, he grabbed a lump of something he didn't know and choked him in the mouth.

"Waaaaah~ Waaaaah~ Yue——"

Outside, Zhou Erkui was rolling around and retching, while inside, Fang Shilan finally recovered from her stress reaction thanks to the comforting words of Aunt Zhou Si.

Aunt Zhou hugged Fang Shilan, who was still trembling, while Li Xiangdong and Zhou the Cripple sat two meters away from them.

"Comrade Fang, I'm here to investigate the situation of educated youth returning to the city from Shangfang Brigade. You can tell me what difficulties you've encountered."

This isn't exactly a lie; we didn't say we were sent by the authorities.

But as soon as he said that, everyone assumed that he was representing the government.

Fang Shilan paused for a moment, then said firmly, "I want to report this!"

——————

With Fang Shilan's help, Li Xiangdong and his team investigated for three days and finally discovered that there were as many as fifteen female educated youths in the Shangfang Commune who were in the same situation as Fang Shilan!

That's absolutely outrageous!

Each of them had been threatened by Hou Zhonghe, the director of the educated youth office of Shangfang Commune, with the promise of processing their return-to-city procedures.

Despite suffering losses at Hou Zhonghe's hands, these fifteen people still had their return-to-city paperwork held up in the commune, preventing them from returning to their own cities.

There was even a female educated youth among them who suffered a mental breakdown.

Li Xiangdong never expected that Hou San would be so utterly depraved. No wonder he was stabbed more than a dozen times by Zhou Hongsong in his past life. He deserved it!

Holding a thick stack of testimonies soaked in blood and tears, with fingerprints pressed on them, Zhou Hongsong's fists clenched so tightly they cracked. "Xiangdong, what do we do next?"

Zhou the Cripple frowned. "Hou San's uncle is the head of the county's armed forces department and is sworn brothers with the director of the Public Security Bureau. Even if we hand over this evidence, it probably won't do any good."

Previously, that mentally unstable female educated youth had caused trouble at the police station, but what could they do? They sent her away without any evidence. Hou San even threatened to sue the female educated youth for defamation!

Li Xiangdong slowly uttered a sentence, "If no one in Guitang County can control him, then let's find someone who can!"

Zhou the Cripple and Zhou Hongsong exchanged a glance, wondering who Li Xiangdong was talking about.

Li Xiangdong called Liu Donglai first, explaining in detail the affair between the director of the Dafang Commune's Youth Affairs Office and female educated youth, and asking him to pass on the message to Mayor Zhang that it would be best to send someone to investigate.

The call was made today, and the police from the Dongfang City Public Security Bureau arrived the next morning.