Chapter 122 The Death of Mo Liang
Mo Gaofeng and Liu Ahua traveled by train for two days and two nights, then transferred to a car. When they returned to the village, the sun was setting, and the sky was bathed in golden light, with the earth and village also gilded with a light gold.
Mo Gaofeng felt himself shining, and a sense of relief washed over him. Once this matter was resolved, he would slowly pay off the debts. Life was getting better year by year; they could get through this. Tomorrow he would send Mo Liang to school, and he and Liu Ahua would stay home to farm, save money to build Mo Liang a new house, help him get married, and then they would have a few grandchildren, which he would then take care of at home…
Thinking about the wonderful life ahead, Mo Gaofeng's lips unconsciously turned up, a faint smile appearing on his worried face.
"Second Uncle, something terrible has happened to your family," a young man said with a serious expression.
Mo Gaofeng was taken aback. "What's the big deal? You mean the incident where Mo Liang injured someone? We're trying to raise the money, could you please give us a few more days—"
"Mo Lao Er!"
Village chief Mo Weimin walked towards Mo Gaofeng. Seeing Mo Gaofeng covered in dirt and looking terribly haggard, Mo Weimin sighed. On one hand, he felt that Mo Gaofeng had brought this upon himself, and on the other hand, he couldn't help but feel sorry for Mo Gaofeng.
"Big cousin, how is that bald kid doing?" Mo Weimin and Mo Gaofeng were from different families, but Mo Gaofeng always called Mo Weimin "big cousin" to show their closeness.
“That bald kid is fine. The hospital treatment cost 1,200 yuan. The bald guy said your family should pay 1,200 yuan for the treatment, and then you should give his family another 800 yuan, and that'll be the end of it,” Mo Weimin said.
Upon hearing this, Mo Gaofeng immediately breathed a sigh of relief. In front of Mo Weimin, he took out the envelope containing three thousand yuan, took out the money from the envelope, and counted it out on the spot, totaling one thousand six hundred yuan.
“We gave you four hundred yuan back then, and here’s the remaining sixteen hundred yuan. Cousin, please keep the money safe, and that’s the end of it.” Mo Gaofeng said with a smile.
Liu Ahua laughed too, "Yes, yes, let's just leave it at that."
If they give out 1,600 yuan, they will still have 1,400 yuan left. With that much money, they can build a new house.
Liu Ahua was secretly delighted.
"Where did you get this money? It's from a clean source, isn't it? You didn't rob a bank, did you?" Mo Weimin looked at the two men with a scrutinizing gaze.
“Big cousin, what are you thinking? We’re all honest and law-abiding people.” Mo Gaofeng said with a hint of pride, “We went to Beijing to get the money from Mo He and Mo Li.”
Mo Weimin sighed again. Mo Liang had committed a terrible sin, but it was the Mo He and Mo Li sisters who had to pay the price. These two sisters were truly suffering because of their father and brother.
“A major event has happened in your family. You and your husband should be mentally prepared,” Mo Weimin reminded them.
"What's the big deal?" Mo Gaofeng thought there couldn't be anything worse than Mo Liang hurting someone.
Mo Weimin hesitated for a moment, then shook his head with a serious expression. "I'll go home with you. You can see for yourselves."
Along the way, the villagers saw Mo Gaofeng and Liu Ahua and all looked at them with sympathy. Some even advised Mo Gaofeng to take it easy.
Mo Gaofeng's smile gradually faded, and a bad feeling crept into his heart. "Big cousin, what exactly happened?"
Mo Weimin looked grief-stricken. "We're home now. Go in and see for yourselves."
"Could it be that something's wrong with my mother?" Mo Gaofeng's heart sank. "But that doesn't make sense. Doesn't my mother live at my eldest brother's house?"
"Why don't you just go in and take a look?" Liu Ahua pushed open the door and saw the mess inside. She immediately frowned. "Where is everyone? Where did you all go? There's chicken droppings all over the floor and you don't even sweep them up. You don't even pick things up when they've fallen over. You lazy old woman, the house is so messy there's nowhere to step! Don't you know how to tidy it up?"
“Mo Zhong’s wife isn’t home; she took their daughter back to her parents’ home,” Mo Weimin said.
Liu Ahua was even angrier, "Going back to her parents' home over a little thing? How can she live like this?!"
This eldest son is so inconsiderate.
Liu Ahua had always been dissatisfied with her eldest daughter-in-law. Not only was she lazy and gluttonous, but she had only given birth to a daughter for her eldest son, making her utterly useless. Hearing that her eldest daughter-in-law had gone back to her parents' home, Liu Ahua's eyes lit up. Why not take this opportunity to make her eldest son divorce this lazy woman and remarry a woman with a large bottom who could bear sons?
Anyway, their family is rich now!
The more Liu Ahua thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. She would bring it up with her eldest son later.
The two continued walking inside.
Mo An followed behind the two.
Mo Gaofeng pushed open the living room door and saw Mo Liang sleeping on a low wooden plank. He was stunned. Usually, when an elderly person in the village was seriously ill, the family would simply dismantle the bed plank, put the bed plank on the ground, and then put the elderly person on the bed plank. They said that this would allow the elderly person to absorb some earth energy and yin energy before they died, so that they could have a smoother journey to the underworld after death.
How could Mo Liang sleep in a bed like this?
"Xiao Liang?" Mo Gaofeng called out.
When Liu Ahua saw the person on the bed, she was stunned for a moment. She took a few quick steps and saw Mo Liang's face, which was so pale that it looked like he was not alive. She immediately went limp and knelt on the ground.
"Xiao Liang?" Liu Ahua was trembling all over.
The person on the wooden board did not respond.
Mo Gaofeng looked at Mo Weimin, "What, what's going on?"
The man's straight back slumped instantly, and his body fell backward uncontrollably.
"Mo Lao Er!"
Mo Weimin hurriedly helped Mo Lao Er up, but Mo Lao Er's whole body was limp and he couldn't muster any strength. Mo Weimin could only hold Mo Lao Er and slowly sit down on the ground.
Two meters away, Liu Ahua touched her youngest son's face; it was icy cold, his skin having lost its elasticity. She then grabbed his hand; it was also cold and stiff.
"ah--"
Unable to contain herself, Liu Ahua let out a mournful and heart-wrenching wail.
Mo Gaofeng was so frightened by the shout that his eyes rolled back, and his whole body trembled and convulsed.
“Mo Lao Er, be strong. You don’t only have Mo Liang, you also have Mo An! You have another son! Mo An is not dead. Mo An is alive and well, in good health, and has grown very tall and strong. He is already in junior high school, and I heard that his grades are very good.”
"Mo Lao Er, did you hear that? You still have Mo An!"
"Mo An is with his sister in Beijing, the capital city. He's sure to have a bright future and won't be any less successful than Mo Liang!"
"Mo Lao Er, pull yourself together, you still have a son!"
Mo Weimin shouted in Mo Gaofeng's ear again and again.
After a while, Mo Gaofeng's unfocused eyes gradually regained their light, and his body stopped twitching. He slowly turned his head to look at Mo Weimin and asked in a hoarse voice, "Has Mo An's health improved?"
Mo Weimin nodded, “It’s all right now, it’s been fine for a long time. His sister has taken very good care of him. A few years ago, when the siblings were still in Xiaonan Village, I saw Mo An a few times. He was very strong, like a calf. He could go up the mountain, go down into the water, and he could fight people without losing. If you don’t believe me, you can go to Xiaonan Village and ask. The whole village can testify.”
Mo Weimin spoke with absolute certainty, and Mo Gaofeng couldn't help but believe him, because Mo Weimin was a man who never lied.
Before his youngest son's remains had even been buried, Mo Gaofeng was already preoccupied with his other son. Liu Ahua was both angry and resentful. She gritted her teeth, looking as if she wanted to devour someone. "Village chief, my Xiaoliang is healthy and has no illnesses or disasters. What's going on?"
Mo Gaofeng also came to his senses, "That's right, Xiao Liang is so healthy, he rarely gets fevers or colds, he couldn't have died of illness, he must have been beaten to death."
Mo Gaofeng got up. "I need to check on Xiao Liang's health."
Mo Weimin did not stop the couple.
About five minutes later, the couple discovered a long and deep wound on the back of Mo Liang's head.
"Who? Who killed my son?"
Mo Gaofeng's eyes were bloodshot, his fists clenched, as he questioned Mo Weimin.
Liu Ahua was trembling with rage. "They dared to kill my son. I'll make sure their whole family suffers a terrible death."
"Calm down, everyone." Mo Weimin's expression was extremely helpless.
"My son is dead! How can you expect me to stay calm?!" Mo Gaofeng roared, rushing to the kitchen to grab a cleaver, looking ready to fight someone. "Was it the bald man who killed my son?"
“No,” Mo Weimin said.
"You don't need to defend him. Besides him, who else has a grudge against my son?" After saying that, Mo Gaofeng grabbed his knife and rushed outside.
“It’s not that bald guy, it’s your stepson, Liu Ahua’s eldest son. He was arguing with Mo Liang and, in a fit of anger, threw the sickle at Mo Liang’s head.” Mo Weimin finished speaking in one breath, and then, as if exhausted, he leaned against the wall.
"Impossible!" Liu Ahua refused to believe it. "They are brothers. Even if the elder brother is angry, he would never hurt his younger brother!"
"Mo Zhong blamed his younger brother for causing trouble, for putting the family in debt, and for losing the family's land. He blamed Mo Liang, but Mo Liang showed no remorse and argued with Mo Zhong. That night, he stole two chickens from the house and roasted them with his friends outside. The next day, Mo Zhong discovered the two chickens were missing and questioned Mo Liang. Mo Liang admitted it and shamelessly claimed that Mo Zhong was just a stepson and that everything in the house belonged to him and had nothing to do with Mo Zhong. The two brothers argued again, and the argument became very heated. The neighbors came out and saw Mo Liang shove Mo Zhong, and they also saw Mo Zhong grab a sickle from the ground and throw it, hitting Mo Liang on the back of the head. Mo Liang fell to the ground and died on the spot."
“Mo Zhong has been arrested by the police. The neighbors are all witnesses, so there’s no way to lie about it. If you want to know more, you can go to the jail and ask Mo Zhong.”
"Otherwise, go ask Mo Zhong's wife. By the way, Mo Zhong committed murder, and his wife wants to divorce him, saying she doesn't want their daughter to have a murderer as a father."
"......."
Liu Ahua went mad after her eldest son killed her youngest son.
Mo Gaofeng was furious and resentful, and he vented all his anger on Liu Ahua, beating her so badly that she couldn't get out of bed for three days.
Mo Gaofeng buried Mo Liang on the mountain and erected a small stone tablet.
After burying Mo Liang, Mo Gaofeng sent Liu Ahua back to the Liu family, but they refused to take her back and sent her back as well. Finally, people from the Women's Federation came to Mo Gaofeng's house and persuaded him to let Liu Ahua stay.
Mo Gaofeng went to Xiaonan Village and learned from the villagers that Mo An's health had indeed improved and he was no different from other children, and that Mo An had been going to school all the time.
"When Molly came back last time, she said that Mo An was going to high school and take the college entrance exam. She also said that the children in our village should study hard and get into universities in Beijing, and then go to Beijing to find Mo An. Second Brother Mo, your good fortune is yet to come." The people of Xiaonan Village looked down on Mo Gaofeng, but they also envied him for having a daughter like Molly. With Molly's support, his eldest daughter and youngest son were also living a good life.
Mo Gaofeng smiled and said, "Studying is good, going to university is good, then I can work for the government."
He wanted to work hard to save money for Mo An's education and to help him get married.
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