The traitor was so frightened that he was paralyzed, shouting incoherently: "Yes! We are greedy! We shouldn't be jealous of you for leading the village to a good life! We are not human! We are beasts!"
“Please, don’t…”
…
Zhao Wei felt that he had said enough and was no longer in the mood to continue talking nonsense with these people.
"Just know that you are a beast."
Zhao Wei retracted his whip, turned around and said to the people behind him, "List their crimes one by one and post them on the village bulletin board so that everyone in the village can see the faces of these ungrateful people."
He paused, then continued, "Convene a village meeting, start broadcasting now, and let everyone be the judge!"
Two militiamen immediately stepped forward and held up the inner traitor who was crying the loudest. The man's trouser legs were torn from the struggle, revealing the scars on his ankles caused by fire - they were caused by sparks when he threw torches up the mountain.
No one treated him for three days, and his wound had already started to fester.
But this is the retribution he deserves, no one will sympathize with them.
…
The threshing ground was already surrounded by people. Circles were drawn on the charred ground with white lime, and the traitors were pushed to the center of the circle.
A white-haired old lady rushed up with a cane and smashed the corn paste in her hand into these people's faces.
"You beast! My old man was already ill, and he became seriously ill after being choked by the thick smoke. He is still coughing non-stop. If anything happens to him, I will definitely kill you!"
"And my newborn baby almost died because of this fire. He is now living in the town clinic. You evildoers, troublemakers, how dare you still be alive?"
"Let these beasts pay for their blood debt with blood, send them to be shot..."
These people shouted extremely loudly, and before anyone could say anything, the crime had already been determined amid the public outrage.
The crowd exploded at the angry rebukes of these people.
Some people held up chickens that had been choked to death and shouted angrily, some held burnt children's clothes and cried bitterly, and some people sprinkled dried poisonous rice seedlings on them: "Eat! Don't you like poisoning people? Today I'll let you eat your fill!"
Zhao Wei stood on a makeshift platform, looked at the excited villagers, and suddenly struck the gong beside him.
"Quiet!" His voice cut through the noisy crowd: "This meeting is held today to deal with these people."
"I want to show these people that there is a heavy price to pay for betraying the village."
When everyone heard this, they became very excited. Some people shouted that they wanted to beat him to death, while others said to just slaughter him...
Those who criticized the mothers at the scene seemed to have forgotten that this is a society with laws and they cannot do whatever they want.
Zhao Wei's eyes swept across the boiling crowd. The lingering sound of the gong was still echoing over the threshing ground.
He pointed from the high platform at the trembling inner mole in the circle.
"I understand everyone's grievances, but the law and order cannot be violated. Let's be frank today - if anyone dares to torture someone privately, don't blame me, Zhao Wei, for being merciless."
The crowd gradually quieted down, except for the woman holding the child, who started shouting unwillingly.
"Boss, are you just going to let them go? I wish they were all dead..."
Zhao Wei walked up to her and said earnestly, "Sister-in-law, I understand your feelings, but the country has its own laws and the family has its own rules. This person has violated the law and should be handed over to the state for punishment."
Everyone seemed to know that they couldn't beat people who did wrong, and Zhongneng faced all this angrily.
"But don't think too much, everyone. The crime they committed this time is too serious. They must die. Even if the king of heaven comes, no one can save them."
"When the execution comes, if you guys want to see it, I'll bring some people with me."
…
"Hahaha... That's great. Evil will be punished. Trash people like this should be cleared out of our village. We should never have anything to do with their family again."
"I didn't expect it to be a death sentence. It's such a good death. I will definitely go and see it!"
…
After Zhao Wei said this, he saw the traitors shouting in dissatisfaction.
"Why do you sentence us to death? We just did a small thing!"
"That's right, we didn't do anything, we just talked. What right do you have to say that we will be sentenced to death? We don't accept it!"
…
Zhao Wei smiled coldly: "It's not up to me to decide what sentence you will give me."
"Moreover, whether you live or die, you have implicated your families, and they will have to pay for your ignorance and stupidity."
The wind ghosts finally started to get a little scared.
"You, you, you...what do you want to do?"
"Everyone is responsible for their own actions. Don't blame us for anything! Don't bring harm to our families. This was all our own idea. They didn't know about it."
There is no point in saying this.
Now I know I’m afraid. What were you doing in the past?
"There aren't that many good things in this world for you to take advantage of. You chose to let us down, so we naturally can't treat you as human beings anymore."
"From today on, you will go to the hardest and most tiring places to work. Reclamation, canal repair, wherever there is a need, you will be sent there. Without my order, you are not allowed to leave the village."
"When the debt owed to the village is paid off, then we can talk about other things."
The traitors were still crying and begging for mercy, but Zhao Wei no longer paid any attention to them.
Amid the cries and shouts, he asked Erxiao and the militia to take the person away.
The sunshine shines on him, but it cannot dispel the haze in his heart.
Dealing with these traitors is only the first step. There are more difficult tasks waiting for him - rebuilding his home, continuing production, and restoring everything as quickly as possible.
Yunxiu appeared beside him at some point, holding a clean wet cloth in her hand.
She walked to Zhao Wei and gently wiped the dust off his face: "Have you arranged everything? Look at you, you don't even care about taking care of yourself, and there's still so much dust on your body, look..."
Zhao Wei looked at the wet cloth that had turned black and held her hand.
"Well... you've worked hard these past few days, taking care of so many people by yourself."
Several old people were accidentally frightened during this forest fire.
Yunxiu shook her head: "This is nothing, it's what I should do. I'm just worried about Master Lin. He seems...something's not right, alas..."
Master?
Lin Qinghe’s matter gave Zhao Wei a headache.
Before this, he had already had some signs and felt that the other person's heart had changed.
I retired to the mountains and no longer cared about the mundane world. Unexpectedly, I achieved my goal twenty years earlier than in my previous life.
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