Seeing that the woman remained highly vigilant, Shen Ying and his elder brother exchanged a glance, worried that she might do something desperate and hurt the child, so they pretended not to care.
"Take away a child? I'd like to see who dares to do that."
Upon hearing his mother-in-law's words, Shi Xinzong got up and searched the yard for tools, finally fixing his eyes on the carrying pole against the wall. He looked as if he would take anyone who dared to cause trouble with him down with him. Anyone who didn't know better would think he was very fond of this child.
"What's going on here? Could it be that the family that lost their child back then has come here? If that's the case, let's have a good talk. Give them the money they owe, and negotiate. Gou Dan is still so young; don't let him suffer from childhood trauma."
The village chief slapped his thigh anxiously and inquired about the details in the courtyard. He felt something was amiss and wanted someone knowledgeable to explain.
Cuixia and Shi Xinzhong naturally dared not confess. One looked like she was about to fight to the death, while the other lowered her head, not daring to look him in the eye, clearly showing her guilty conscience.
Cuixia's mother was unreasonable, and the village chief was even less willing to communicate. Finally, he thought of Shen Ci and his brother.
What a coincidence! The two of them had just arrived when someone else arrived in a car. It must be related to those two.
"Shumei's family, shouldn't you give me an explanation?"
He knew that Shen Ci was a son-in-law who had married into the family, and he also knew his character; he wasn't a bad person and certainly wouldn't do anything outrageous.
Just as Shen Ci hesitated, unsure how to begin, cars began to pull up one after another along the roadside near Shi Xinzhong's house. The sheer number of cars attracted many villagers who came to watch the spectacle.
Most of the people who got out of the car were at the company commander level, and Bai Chen was among them.
Shen Ying assumed it was the leader and his wife coming in person and hurried over to greet them. The moment the car door opened, an unfamiliar face appeared before him.
The man looked about 70-80% like Li Xue; he was tall, handsome, and had a refined air about him.
"Comrade Shen Ying, my name is Li Xianxue, and I am Li Xueyi's younger brother. My sister and brother-in-law are too busy to come, so they specially sent someone to be at your service."
As he introduced himself, the people in the car quickly got out and lined up. Their neat and orderly appearance, and the upright aura they exuded, were enough to suppress the villagers who wanted to come and watch the spectacle.
They weren't from the same battalion as Shen Ying, but most of them knew each other. They were also willing to come and help.
Moreover, the main purpose of this matter was to follow the clues and investigate child traffickers, something Commander Bai specifically instructed Company Commander Zhang to take seriously. It was also considered assisting the police station in its work.
Seeing that they all knew each other, the village chief was even more convinced of his suspicions. He paced anxiously, while the two soldiers with him could only try their best to calm them down.
"Bring it over."
At Li Xianxue's command, Bai Chen dragged the midwife from the cart and threw her into the yard. Cuixia was shocked when she saw the old woman's face. She turned her head away, not daring to speak.
“Nephew, we agreed beforehand that as long as I confess the whole story, you have to be lenient with me. After all, your mother and I are cousins. Even if we don't care about the mother, we should still be considerate of her. You can't be so rude to an old lady like me.”
The midwife collapsed to the ground, her trousers covered in dust. She trembled as she looked at the soldiers standing at the gate. Years ago, when she delivered babies in Shenjiazhuang, she knew the woman there didn't like children, so she conspired with her sister to secure this job.
No one told her at the time that the child's father was in the army, and that he worked for his nephew-in-law.
Her cousin's two children are indeed successful, but they're also stubborn. They won't help their relatives get rid of their troubles, otherwise they wouldn't have brought her over directly.
"If you really want to atone for your sins, first ask the family of the comrade who lost the child if they agree."
Li Xiansheng has always despised people who traffic children and women. Now, he has such a cousin in his own family. It's a disgrace to his family.
“The Shi family, you two, tell the truth. How did this child come about? Also, the money I took from you back then, I gave it all to you. It was twenty in total, you count it. We agreed beforehand that the remaining eighty yuan is with the new mother.”
The midwife looked at Shi Xinzhong and his wife and recounted everything that had happened back then, afraid that she might miss something that would make sense and leave her in the wrong.
"Where did you come from, old lady? What nonsense are you talking about? We know nothing about buying a child. Gou Dan is my son."
Cuixia looked indignant and accused her of making false accusations.
"No wonder this couple treats their child badly; they bought him! They even claimed he was found; what a liar!"
"Back then, she was afraid of being ridiculed as a barren hen, so she colluded with human traffickers to buy a child. She made it sound so sweet that anyone who didn't know the truth would think she had done some good deed and was rewarded by God."
"Their family is rotten to the core, how could they possibly do anything good?"
The people outside the courtyard chattered amongst themselves, as if afraid the family wouldn't hear them. These past few years, the land grabbing and seizing of farmland had been utterly devastating; they wanted to take this opportunity to vent their anger.
"Bullshit, you bunch of dead women, you whine all day long and do nothing productive. You men went out to work and got lured away by those vixens, a bunch of living widows."
After the courtyard was surrounded by soldiers, Shi Xinzhong was so frightened that he dropped the carrying pole he was holding and remained silent. His mother-in-law, relying on her age and the fact that they were outside the courtyard, started to throw a tantrum and roll around on the ground, cursing as usual.
"Go to hell, you old hag! Two of your three sons are dead, and one is still missing. You're just a bully in this village because your daughter married into the village. Do you really think we're afraid of you?"
Perhaps because they had been bullied for so long, one of the women kicked her while cursing. Normally, their fear of her stemmed only from the worry that Shi Xinzhong, that street thug, would kill someone without thinking. But now, with soldiers surrounding them, and judging by the looks of it, she was likely to face imprisonment, so nobody was afraid of her.
Seeing this, the others joined in, punching and kicking him. The soldiers pretended not to see anything.
When Cuixia heard her mother's wailing, she wanted to rush out, but seeing the serious expressions on the faces of the people in the courtyard, she withdrew her foot.
“Cuixia, is what she said true? Do you know that child trafficking is a serious crime? You two…”
The village chief was furious. He pointed at the couple who were still stubbornly arguing, shook his head, and felt that there was no hope for them.
“Village chief, no, they really are the children we picked up. And this old woman, we don’t even know her.”
Cuixia tried her best to deny it, but Shi Xinzhong, who had seen through everything, quickly ran behind the woman and raised Gou Dan to smash it down.
Upon seeing this scene, everyone gasped in shock.
“If you don’t leave here, I’ll kill him. Then there will be no way to prove anything, and we’ll see who’s telling the truth. We’ll also see who the real villain is.”
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