Chapter 73 The Debt Collector So, let's start from here.
Little Dinggua was preoccupied with finding his relatives and couldn't think of anything else. He hastily wiped away his tears and snot: "Since the carriage is here, are my grandfather and the others nearby?"
Bai Yuan gestured with his chin toward the woman in front of him, indicating, "Why don't you go and ask again?"
So Xiao Dinggua turned around and chased after him, relentlessly asking questions as he went, but the answer he got was still that there was no one in the carriage.
Bai Yuan needed Xiao Dinggua's persistent energy to stall the other party, and then, just before the woman was about to help the old man inside, he would seize the opportunity to ask, "How did Xiao Hua die?"
The woman was stunned by these words: "Who are you? Why are you asking this?"
Bai Yuan: "I've been asked to inquire about the cause of Liang Taohua's death."
The woman nudged the old man from behind, inviting him inside, and then asked, "Who asked you to do this?"
The wronged man, Bai Yuan, said, "If we don't find out the truth as soon as possible, and Liang Youyi slowly investigates and interrogates everyone, I'm afraid it will implicate even more people."
The news of Wang Sanhu's death at the hands of Liang Youyi hadn't even leaked out of the government office. In fact, Bai Yuan was the first to know, summoned by Bai Yuan the moment Wang Sanhu breathed his last. The injustice had become a binding bond upon her, and she couldn't ignore it. If the grievances were too heavy to resolve, they could easily cause her to become restless and erratic. In any case, she wanted to remain as rational and dignified as possible.
The villagers were filled with unease, and the women were clearly also wary of Liang Youyi suddenly showing up to cause trouble.
Bai Yuan, observing his expression, said seemingly casually, "Those who have bullied Liang Taohua will likely not fare well in the end..."
The woman, clearly uneasy, retorted, "Wang Sanhu, who killed Xiaohua, hasn't he already been arrested?!"
Two weeks ago, Xiaohua's body was exhumed from the mass grave, and the cause of death spread throughout the village. Everyone in Fengkou Village already knew the truth and secretly suspected that Wang Sanhu was responsible. Later, when the officials came to the village to investigate, she gave the same account.
Who knew that the originally unrelated fool would suddenly have a father? That father was working in the county government office, and he looked like a fierce demon, with a ruthless look that said he would rather kill the innocent than let the guilty go free. Which of these ordinary people wouldn't be afraid when they saw him?
Besides He Laosi, Sun Xiaoniang, Fang Dajie, and Ma Jianzui, several other men in the village have also disappeared without a trace, one after another, and they can't be found no matter how hard they search. And these men all seem to have some kind of ambiguous relationship with Xiaohua, whether overt or covert. So the villagers began to speculate that Liang Youyi might have kidnapped them out of revenge.
The missing person's family members then went to search for him on their own, but naturally they didn't find him. Instead, the fierce-looking Liang Youyi would come to Fengkou Village every now and then.
The woman said, "He had a long knife tucked into his waistband, his hand always gripping the hilt, looking like he was about to draw his knife and chop someone at any moment. It was terrifying. Every time he came, he wouldn't talk to anyone, he would just wander around the village, and then suddenly stand in front of a kiln and stare at it intently."
Zhou Yaren asked, "What are you looking at?"
“He would look at people, chickens, dogs, everything. He would stare at whatever was in the cave dwelling without saying a word. His gaze was terrifying,” the woman said, her heart pounding as she recalled the scene. “Some people couldn’t stand his gaze and mustered the courage to ask him what he wanted, but he wouldn’t answer. He would just stare at you, making you scared. You could only hurry inside, lock the door, and hide.”
Every now and then, someone would go missing from the village, and naturally everyone would suspect Liang Youyi. It was as if he came to scout the area during the day just to steal people—no, kidnap people—without anyone noticing. Everyone was caught off guard and didn't know who would be next.
This makes one think of the saying "a barking dog doesn't bite," which shows that Liang Youyi is a ruthless person who gets things done quietly.
He didn't need to say anything; he simply stood there with his knife, and the whole village was filled with terror—because he was the biological father of that mentally challenged girl, the debt collector who had suddenly appeared in Fengkou Village.
The woman looked distressed: "We don't know whether those people he took away are dead or alive."
Zhou Yaren: "With so many people missing, hasn't anyone thought about reporting it to the authorities?"
"Why didn't we report it? Reporting it wouldn't have helped," the woman complained bitterly. "That Liang Youyi works in the yamen, the government will definitely protect him and back him up. The officials said that if we can't produce evidence, it's a false accusation. The villagers who went to the yamen were beaten several times on the spot, their buttocks were all bruised and battered. Who would dare to confront them? How can ordinary people like us fight against the officials?!"
The woman looked around to make sure no one was nearby, then lowered her voice and said, "So when that jailer surnamed Liang came to the village again, a dozen or so villagers surrounded him and demanded that he release the prisoners. He refused and kept staring at people with those venomous snake-like eyes, so of course a fight broke out."
Zhou Yaren: "A dozen people against one?"
The woman emphasized, "He has a knife and is trained. If we don't unite, there's no way we can deal with him."
Bai Yuan: "Will we win if we unite?"
"Of course, if the two sides fought, there would definitely be bloodshed. If Liang hadn't knocked him unconscious, it would have been very difficult for everyone to hold him down. Later, Old Man Hong suggested tying him up and then slowly interrogating him about where he had kidnapped people. But Liang wouldn't budge, his teeth bleeding but he wouldn't utter a single word. He was as fierce as a wolf waiting to be slaughtered. Everyone who went to interrogate him was afraid of him," the woman said. "I only peeked a few times from the outside and didn't dare to get too close. The next morning, I heard the villagers shouting that Liang had run away. Not only did he run away, but Old Man Hong's youngest son also disappeared. He must have been kidnapped by Liang. His daughter is an idiot, and he's a madman. What does his idiot daughter's death have to do with us? Why does he have the right to harm people everywhere?"
Bai Yuan raised an eyebrow: "How can it not be your business? Cao Dali clearly confessed in court that not a single person from Fengkou Village has ever treated that idiot kindly."
The woman's face suddenly darkened, filled with resentment: "That Cao Dali is no good at all. It's because of his evil deeds that he brought that plague-stricken, foolish girl into the village, making the village a mess. Now that someone has died, the fool's father has come to settle accounts, and everyone is suffering because of him. It's all Cao Dali's fault."
Zhou Yaren astutely remarked, "What bad thing did he do? Liang Taohua was saved by him after all..."
"Of course he said that," the woman scoffed, looking down on Cao Dali from the bottom of her heart. "Everyone knows that Cao Dali is a widower, poor, ugly, and stingy. He's too old to find a wife, and even widows in the village don't want him. How could he not want a wife? What I heard was that when he was traveling, he stumbled upon someone doing 'that' in a thick sorghum field in Watang, and Cao Dali hid in the shadows to watch." As he watched, he naturally couldn't resist, and his blood rushed to his lower abdomen. The woman said, "Plus, he had drunk a few sips of wine, and his lust got the better of him. He grabbed a hammer and rushed out, knocking the man unconscious. Then he loosened his belt and eagerly pounced on the woman. Only after it was over did he realize that the woman was mentally challenged and had a mental disability. So Cao Dali brought the idiot back and got a wife for free."
After the idiot was brought back, Cao Dali stayed home for several months without leaving the house, keeping the doors and windows closed and fiddling with something. The idiot then started making noises day and night, and anyone with experience could tell what Cao Dali was doing.
Bai Yuan and Zhou Yaren exchanged a glance, and the latter asked, "Who told you about this?"
"Wang Sanhu, I guess."
Bai Yuan pressed for details: "How did Wang Sanhu find out?"
"Who knows? It seems Cao Dali was drunk and told it himself."
Anyway, according to Wang Sanhu's oral account, it was vulgar and explicit. He said the woman lying in the field was tender and white, smooth and slippery to the touch, and left a red mark when pinched. She might be stupid, but she was quite pleasing to the eye. Because a fool doesn't know shame, he can do whatever he wants with her. He's obedient to everything, and since Xiaohua herself is quite pretty, Wang Sanhu also became lustful.
No wonder Liang Youyi refused to let Cao Dali go; he must have been confused by what he heard and couldn't tell right from wrong.
"He confessed it himself, but he didn't have the guts to admit it once he sobered up. If you ask me, the real culprit is Cao Dali, but he was released by the government and now nobody knows where he is hiding. Of course, the person who killed Xiaohua is Wang Sanhu, who has already been arrested by the government. The grievances have their perpetrators, and the debts have their debtors. The man surnamed Liang should go and seek revenge on them. Why is he causing trouble for others time and time again?"
What a fine example of "every wrong has its perpetrator, every debt its debtor." The innocent man said, "Why would Liang Youyi bother others for no reason?"
Zhou Yaren: "What is the connection between these people who went missing in the village and Liang Taohua?"
The woman paused for a moment: "How would I know what they have to do with that idiot? I haven't seen it with my own eyes, so I can't just say anything. I'd be responsible for it. If I get into trouble, I'll be the one who suffers. Besides, you just said that Cao Dali was talking nonsense in court, accusing the people of Fengkou Village of treating that idiot badly. That guy surnamed Liang must have held a grudge after hearing that."
Bai Yuan looked around the kiln and saw no one else: "Is it just you and your daughter at home?"
The topic suddenly shifted, and the woman paused for a moment to react before replying, "Oh, right."
Bai Yuan probed, "Where is your husband?"
Woman: "I've gone to work at the coal mine."
Bai Yuan: "When did you go?"
Woman: "One month ago."
That is, before Xiaohua's body was discovered, her husband had left Fengkou Village.
With a loud thud inside, everyone followed the sound and saw a bamboo basket overturned on the ground, spilling out a basket of straw ropes tied together.
The elderly man who was hard of hearing seemed to have made a mistake. He hurriedly knelt down, clasped his hands together in a panic, and raised them above his head as if praying to a god. He mumbled something, but it was hard to hear clearly.
"Mother." The woman walked over nervously and squatted down to pick up the straw rope from the ground.
"Don't touch it." The old man slapped her, then clasped his hands together and begged, "Forgive me, forgive me, please forgive me."
He even kowtowed to the air before muttering to himself as he put the straw rope into the bamboo basket.
Bai Yuan glanced around and, seeing no gods, Buddhas, or deities enshrined in the house, found the old man's kneeling and bowing inexplicable. So he asked, "Old man, what are you doing?"
"Nothing," the woman turned and came out. "Is there anything else? If not, I'm going to cook."
As soon as she finished speaking, Little Dinggua's stomach rumbled appropriately.
Counting the time, he realized he hadn't eaten anything since yesterday, and suddenly felt a little dizzy.
So Zhou Yaren took out a dozen or so copper coins and asked the woman to cook more food, as he was so hungry that his chest was sticking to his back and he needed to rely on grains to replenish his strength.
Bai Yuan wasn't idly waiting for his meal in the woman's cave dwelling. As wisps of smoke rose from the chimney, the sun gradually slanted downwards, hanging on a branch that had sprouted tender buds. By sheer coincidence, a sparrow was perched on that branch, like a golden crow resting in the red sun.
This scene was imprinted in Bai Yuan's pupils, captivating him without him even realizing it.
She was imprisoned in the Taiyin Dao Body, where there was no light of day. To this day, she has not had the leisure to look at the long-lost sunlight.
I've never seen a golden sun at midday, but I've seen toads under the moon many times.
She came from the shadows and has always walked in the shadows. She has witnessed nothing but bloody sorrow and separation, and is long tired of it all.
But what could she do about being annoyed? There would always be suffering in this world, and resentment would never let her go. She could only endure it.
Bai Yuan stared at the "golden crow" on the horizon, suddenly feeling lost: What should he do?
She then realized that she was completely helpless in the face of fate.
Now that we've emerged from the Taiyin Dao body, what's next?
And then what? What should we do next?
Bai Yuan turned around and looked at Zhou Yaren, who was talking to Xiao Dinggua with his head down. The afterglow of the setting sun illuminated his eyebrows and eyes, and a touch of warmth arose in the dilapidated cold cave.
Bai Yuan was somewhat dazed, and an inopportune thought popped into his head: to keep him by his side...
This thought didn't come out of nowhere; she had it before when she was in the Ghost Bureau, on the torture vessel.
Have you been lonely for too long?
I think so.
Or perhaps there's no other face like that in the world.
But Bai Yuan hesitated. How could she keep him by her side?
Zhou Yaren seemed to sense something and turned around, meeting Bai Yuan's gaze. The latter neither avoided nor flinched, staring at him openly and honestly, his gaze piercing through the past, seeing through his countless lifetimes of torment. There was no doubt that this was someone destined to be imprisoned for eternity. She, too, carried the burden of Zhou Yaren's countless lifetimes of injustice, heavy shackles binding her, like knots that could never be untied.
Zhou Yaren's death was more unjust and deeper than anyone else's in this world. Every life-and-death encounter between her and him was a preordained fate. Why not just accept it?
So, let's start here.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
