Chapter 216 The Justice You Desire, I Will Give You
Outside Shi Gandang's small mud-brick house, the wooden fence of the sheep pen was smashed to pieces, and several frightened goats huddled in a corner, trembling. The ground was covered with mud and specks of blood.
A middle-aged man was leaning against the wall, clutching his head. He had a large gash on his forehead, and blood was streaming down his cheek, staining half of his clothes red.
Shi Gandang rushed over, helped his son up, and looked at the wound. His bloodshot eyes were blazing with fury. He was trembling all over, not from the cold, but from rage.
Su Wantang followed behind, and looking at the mess on the ground and the miserable state of the three generations of the family, her beautiful peach blossom eyes turned cold.
She walked to Shi Gandang's side, took his trembling arm, and spoke in a calm voice, so calm that there was not a ripple, but it carried an undeniable power.
"Uncle Shi, is this all you got in return for keeping this secret for twenty years?"
She didn't say her family was destroyed, but that implication was more effective than saying it directly.
Yes, he kept that secret. He was afraid, he hid, he lived his life as a shadow. And what was the result? The result was that his son had his head broken, his grandson was terrified, and he couldn't even live a peaceful life.
Shi Gandang's tears streamed down his face. This tough man, who had never shed a tear on the battlefield, was now crying like a child.
Lu Jingyan's face was so dark it could drip water. He didn't ask anything, but simply turned his head and gave an order to Qin Zheng behind him.
His voice wasn't loud, but it carried the chilling intensity characteristic of a soldier.
"Go and 'invite' them over."
"yes."
Qin Zheng nodded, and with a flicker, he vanished instantly. He moved without making a sound, as fast as a ghost.
The atmosphere inside the room was terribly oppressive.
Ignoring all that, Su Wantang took out clean gauze and a small bottle of medicinal powder from her cloth bag, squatted down, and began to treat Shi Gandang's son's wounds. Her movements were gentle and professional, carefully cleaning away the blood and then evenly sprinkling on the medicinal powder.
The man gasped in pain, but gritted his teeth and remained silent.
Less than half an hour.
A series of wailing and cursing sounds came from outside the courtyard, followed by a muffled "bang," at which point the cursing stopped abruptly and turned into whimpering groans.
Qin Zheng is back.
He was carrying a young man in bell-bottoms and a floral shirt in one hand. The young man had a bruised and swollen face and blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. He was Ma Weiguo’s beloved son, Ma Biao.
Qin Zheng's movements were swift and decisive; with a flick of his wrist, he tossed Ma Biao onto the muddy ground in the center of the yard like a dead dog.
Ma Biao fell face-first into the mud, struggled to his feet, and still tried to argue, pointing at Qin Zheng and cursing, "Do you even know who I am?! My dad is Ma Weiguo! If you dare touch a hair on my head, I'll have my dad arrest you all..."
Before he could finish speaking, Qin Zheng raised his foot and stomped on his face, forcing the rest of his words, along with a few teeth, back into his stomach.
Ma Biao's face was pressed hard into the muddy ground mixed with sheep dung by his military boots. The pain made him cry and snot flow together, and he could no longer make a sound, only muffled sobs.
This completely shut down the situation.
Shi Gandang and his son were dumbfounded. They had never seen such an arrogant person in their lives.
Bai Shu, who had been silent all along, slowly stood up. She walked to Ma Biao, squatted down, and took a stone from his open pocket, which had been exposed due to his struggle.
The stone was warm and smooth all over, and under the dim light it gleamed with an oily luster, truly resembling a piece of fine mutton fat jade.
Bai Zhu took the stone under the lamp, examined it carefully, and then let out a soft laugh.
She turned to look at Shi Gandang, who was still in shock, and slowly said, "Uncle Shi, this is not jade."
Shi Gandang was stunned.
"This is the core material used by that scientific expedition team back then for energy conduction experiments, the raw ore of 'spodumene'." Bai Shu's voice was still soft and gentle, but what she said was like a thunderclap.
"This thing is available but priceless."
Shi Gandang and Ma Biao, whose face was being stepped on, both widened their eyes at the same time.
One was stunned by this earth-shattering secret, while the other was aroused by the phrase "priceless in demand," forgetting even the pain on his face.
Bai Shu ignored their reactions, playing with the stone, her gaze returning to Ma Biao, her tone becoming somewhat playful.
"Your dad's secret account at Hang Seng Bank in Hong Kong, ending in 8848. That $500,000 in there is enough for him to eat a few peanuts. Tell me, if we expose all the money your dad embezzled, how many times could he be executed?"
Ma Biao's pupils contracted sharply, and the greed on his face was instantly replaced by boundless fear.
Bai Shu continued unhurriedly, "This money is embezzled. If the outside world finds out the purpose of this stone you stole, it's treason."
She tilted her head slightly, smiling like an innocent young girl, but the question she asked was incredibly cruel.
"Tell me, will you die first, or will your father die first?"
“I…I…” Ma Biao was completely terrified.
Embezzlement, execution, treason… every word pounded in his heart. He had always thought his father was the god of this Northwest, omnipotent, but in this woman's mouth, his father's shady dealings were nothing short of a death warrant!
The overwhelming fear crushed all his will.
"I'll talk! I'll tell you everything!" Ma Biao, no longer caring about the pain on his face, shouted with tears streaming down his face, "It's not my fault! It was all my dad's doing! It was all my dad's doing!"
He poured out his grievances like beans spilling from a bamboo tube, pinning all the blame on his father, Ma Weiguo.
"He gave the order to seal off the restricted area! He said it contained state secrets and no one could get close! He also suppressed those who knew about it! He said those people couldn't keep their mouths shut and he was afraid they would go out and cause trouble!"
"This stone... was also sent by my father to steal it! He said that the stone in Old Man Shi's house is a treasure, and he told me to get my hands on it no matter what!"
Qin Zheng loosened his grip slightly, allowing him to finish his sentence smoothly.
Ma Biao lay on the ground, kowtowing repeatedly in the direction of Su Wantang and Lu Jingyan, until his forehead bled.
"Grandma, sir, spare me! I'm a scoundrel, a good-for-nothing! I don't know anything! Please, let me go!"
Bai Shu stood up, no longer glancing at him, and handed the "lithium-stone" back to Shi Gandang.
She looked at the old man calmly and said, "Uncle Shi, the person is in your care."
This is your grudge, your justice; you must seek it yourself.
Looking at Ma Biao, who was sprawled on the ground like a rag doll, and then at the wound on his son's head, Shi Gandang's anger gradually subsided, replaced by a deep sense of sorrow and relief.
He walked over but didn't make a move.
He just stared at Ma Biao and said, "Take out all the money in your family, compensate my family's sheep tenfold, and pay for my son's medical treatment. Also, write a confession, clearly stating all the filth your father and you have done, and put your fingerprints on it."
Ma Biao dared not disobey and nodded vigorously.
After dealing with all of this, Shi Gan... turned around and bowed deeply to Su Wantang and Lu Jingyan at a ninety-degree angle, remaining there for a long time.
"From today onwards, my old life belongs to you."
The next day, before dawn.
Shi Gandang led the two men, avoiding all eyes and ears in the town. Instead of taking the main road, he led them around to the side and rear of the "Ghost's Sorrow" forbidden area.
Behind an inconspicuous sea buckthorn grove, he parted the waist-high, thorny weeds to reveal a completely hidden secret path.
The path was narrow, allowing only one person to pass at a time, and wound its way down into a bottomless valley.
Shi Gandang turned around, his voice hoarse but incredibly firm.
"This was a survival route that the expedition team created themselves as a precaution. Only I know about it."
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