Chapter 4 Chapter 4 Great Uncle's Lies

Chapter 4

In the threshing ground, many idle men in the village gathered together to chat.

"Shuanzi said bad things about our village beauty at the entrance of the village this morning. Guess what happened? Qin Ze jumped out from nowhere and beat Shuanzi up. His legs were even broken!"

"Bah! That bastard deserves it! He even broke into the widow's house a few days ago and peeped at her bathing!"

"Hahaha, people are peeping at the widow bathing, Dawei, why are you so anxious? Could it be that you are the widow Wang's boyfriend? Widow Wang tastes good, right?"

"Go to hell! Do you think I don't want it? It's because the widow has high standards and doesn't even look down on me!"

When a group of grown men gathered together, their conversations quickly became vulgar and unpleasant to the ears.

"Widow Wang is good, but compared to Qin..."

The man just said half of his words and quickly shut his mouth. Shuanzi had just been beaten in the morning, and with the lesson learned from the previous incident in mind, he didn't want to be punched by Qin Ze.

Not to mention, Qin Ye’s uncle Qin Liangping was also involved in the gossip.

The man simply changed the topic to Qin Liangping: "Liangping, I think Widow Wang's eyes are almost growing on you. You can hold it back. Are you still a man?"

Qin Liangping knocked on his pipe, took a deep puff, and waved his hands, cursing and laughing: "Go to hell, you know that bitch in my house. I have the intention to steal, but I don't have the guts to do it!"

"Look at the grain level, then look at us, it's true, one man is no match for another!"

Some people feel very upset.

I don’t know why Qin Liangping’s life is so good? His wife is quick and capable, with no other faults except a bad temper; his son was admitted to a technical secondary school, and after graduation he stayed in the county to work in the steel plant and got married; his daughter married the team leader of the production team in the neighboring village, and the family is also very wealthy.

Look, during the recent slack season, he can look after the threshing ground for the team, and easily earn a few more work points by chatting with everyone every day.

Even Widow Wang was flirting with him, but this boy still looked down on her. Ha!

The more people talked, the more sarcastic they became, but Qin Liangping did not refute them. No matter what they said, he just smiled and laughed it off. He was having so much fun chatting that he didn't even bother to take a look at the food drying in the yard. There was no one watching the threshing ground, and sparrows would fly over from time to time and destroy the crops.

…

As soon as the secretary of the Juexing Village Party Committee entered the threshing ground, he saw the grains destroyed by birds and became furious: "Qin Liangping! Get over here!"

The village party secretary roared, instantly attracting everyone's attention.

Everyone who was chatting looked towards the door, only to find that in addition to the village party secretary, there were also two uniformed police officers. Qin Ye was standing next to the police officer. She was huddled together with the older police officer and no one knew what they were talking about.

When Qin Liangping saw Qin Ye appear with the police, he felt disappointed.

He walked up to them and said, "Village Party Secretary, why are you here? And Ye Ye, what are you talking about with the police?"

"Qin Liangping, don't embarrass your ancestors!"

The village party secretary had survived years of disaster and hated to see food being wasted.

In front of everyone, he didn't give Qin Liangping any face at all and yelled at him: "If you want to watch the threshing ground, then watch it. If you don't want to watch it, then get out of here! I originally reserved this position for Qin Ye's father. If your son-in-law hadn't spoken well of you to the captain, do you think you would have gotten your turn?!"

Qin Ye didn't expect that Qin Liangping got the job of looking after the threshing ground by using his connections to replace the original owner's father.

She searched the original owner's memory and found that this seemed to be true.

When Qin's father returned home, he was so worried that he couldn't eat. He was also scolded by the original owner, who disliked him for being a disabled person who couldn't even take care of a threshing ground.

"My good Party Secretary——"

Qin Liangping was scolded by the village party secretary, but he did not dare to talk back. He just clasped his hands together and leaned forward to beg for mercy, "Please give me some face in front of outsiders."

The village party secretary snorted coldly, raised his head, and pointed to Li Quan and Lao He to Qin Liangping: "These two police comrades have something to ask you."

Qin Liangping was frightened on the spot, cold sweat broke out on his forehead, and his tongue was tied: "Public security comrade, I didn't break any law, why are you looking for me?"

"Don't be nervous. We received a report from Comrade Qin Ye and came to you to briefly understand the situation."

Lao He gave Li Quan a look, and he immediately opened his notebook to record the case: "You said that you saw Comrade Qin Ye jump into the river with your own eyes, so you jumped into the water to save her, right?"

Qin Liangping glanced at Qin Ye subconsciously and swallowed his saliva: "Yes. My niece is dating An Zhiqing, and they quarrel every other day. After every quarrel, my niece cries and threatens to commit suicide."

Qin Ye looked at Qin Liangping quietly. When the other party spoke, his eyes were wandering, and it was obvious that he had something to hide.

Lao He continued: "But Comrade Qin Ye told us that she is..."

Before Old He could finish, Qin Ye interrupted him: "He Gongan, can you wait a moment? I have a small question for my uncle."

Perhaps it is because the criminal investigation materials nowadays are not as rich as those in later generations. Even an experienced police officer like He Gongan does not have a relatively formal and scientific way of questioning.

If Public Security He told Qin Liangping directly that she had reported the case and said that An Chu had forced her into the water. It is very likely that Qin Liangping will follow He Gongan's words and further fabricate new lies.

The most important thing to do now is to make Qin Liangping admit in person that he was lying.

When He Gongan heard Qin Ye's request, he nodded and agreed without saying anything: "You ask first."

Qin Ye thanked him and looked at Qin Liangping. Qin Liangping was obviously relieved when she heard He Gongan agreed to let her ask questions first.

"Uncle, did I struggle when you saved me?"

Qin Liangping thought it was a question, but when he heard her ask, he immediately let down his guard: "Ha, kid, don't you remember whether you struggled or not? Of course not! Don't the old people in the village always say that people who fall into the water and struggle should not be rescued easily, or they will become a water ghost and drag you to death with them."

Then he added: "If you were not my niece, I would not have saved you! You were soaking in the water, motionless, I didn't know whether you were dead or alive."

The speaker may not mean it, but the listener is able to keenly notice that something is wrong.

Qin Ye got the answer he wanted and raised the corners of his mouth. She took a step back and gave her seat to Lao He and Li Quan, indicating that she had finished asking questions.

Lao He secretly sighed in his heart that Qin Ye asked a good question and seemed like he could be a good candidate to be a police officer!

Li Quan shouted: "Qin Liangping, why don't you tell the truth? Why are you lying?!"

"I, I didn't lie! It's really unfair! Public Security Comrade."

Qin Liangping was so anxious that he slapped his thigh. What he said just now was the truth. At that time, Qin Ye looked like dead in the water. He didn't know how much courage he mustered to pull her out of the water.

Li Quan sneered: "You first said that you saw Qin Ye jump into the river, and then you saved her. Then you said that when you saved her, she was motionless in the water and didn't even struggle."

Even if a person is determined to die, once he jumps into the water, he cannot resist the body's instinctive desire to survive. The person in the water will struggle with all his might until all his strength is exhausted and he is completely drowned in the water.

Qin Liangping was stunned and still didn't react. He didn't understand what was wrong with his answer.

Qin Ye couldn't bear to watch it any longer, so he started to explain: "When I fell into the water, it was a long process for me to stop struggling completely. Uncle, you said you saw me jump into the river, and when you said you saved me, I was already motionless. So, where were you during the time I was struggling? What were you doing?"

After her explanation, Qin Liangping finally understood. He stammered, "I, I..."

Qin Ye took advantage of the situation and said, "Were you watching from the shore the whole time? When your niece was struggling in the water, you didn't call for help, and you didn't rescue her immediately. You just stood on the shore, watching her soak in the water and never move again, and then you pulled her 'body' ashore."

The villagers who were watching all heard Qin Ye's explanation. They looked at Qin Liangping with strange eyes and whispered:

"I can't believe Liang Ping is so cruel."

"Even if there was a conflict between the Liangping brothers, they shouldn't have watched their niece jump into the river and waited until she was dead before rescuing her, right?"

"Hey, look at what you are saying. Does it mean that whatever Qin Ye says is true? Isn't she still alive and well now?"

"Shuanzi's mother, you are wrong. When Qin Ye was fished out of the water, I saw her. Her face was pale and she couldn't even breathe! She is lucky to be alive."

Qin Liangping listened to the villagers' discussions, his expression became distorted, and he roared at the top of his voice: "No, it's not like that! I, Qin Liangping, am not a beast! How could I watch my niece drown?!"

His roar drowned out the villagers' discussions.

He sat down on the ground in frustration and wiped his nose. "I didn't see it. I didn't see Ye Ye jump into the river. I was lying! When I saw her by the river, she was already soaking in the water and not moving."

Qin Ye raised his eyebrows, it was indeed so.

"Qin Liangping, why did you lie?"

He Gongan stopped Qin Liangping in a deep voice, stopping his crying. "Comrade Qin Ye reported to us that she did not commit suicide, but was pushed into the river by An Chuqiang! Your lies have affected our investigation! Did you accept hush money from An Chuqiang? Did you agree to give false testimony for him?!"

Qin Liangping never could have imagined that a casual lie he told would make him an accomplice of a murderer.

This time, he was really panicking. He rolled over and hugged Qin Ye's legs, crying and begging: "Ye Ye, please save uncle. Tell the police to let uncle go. Uncle saved your life! I didn't know that you were pushed in by An Chuqiang! I really didn't know!"

Qin Ye tried to pull his legs out of Qin Liangping's arms, but failed.

Li Quan and He Gongan joined forces, one tried to pull Qin Liangping away while the other tried to pry Qin Liangping's arm.

After a lot of effort from the three of them, Qin Ye was finally able to pull his leg back.

She looked at her wrinkled pants and sighed silently.

My body is too weak now and I can’t do anything. It's time to exercise and strengthen your body.

Qin Ye gathered his thoughts and looked at Qin Liangping again: "Then why did you lie, uncle? On the way to the threshing ground, I asked the village party secretary, you asked for leave and didn't attend the production meeting the day before yesterday. You told the party secretary that you were going to the county town to see your son, but the road to the county town does not pass by the river. Then why did you suddenly change your route and go to the river?"

As she asked questions, Qin Liangping's face gradually turned purple.

He opened his mouth and was about to answer when his aunt's fierce curse suddenly came from outside the threshing floor.