Cui Hongyu spoke, turning to look at Mrs. Liu, "Do you think you are innocent? For the days I was kidnapped by you, I couldn't eat or sleep well. My hands and feet were tied at night. When I asked you to loosen the ropes, what did you do? Not only did you not untie me, but you tightened them further."
Hearing Cui Hongyu's words, the crowd was furious. The villagers present chattered, "That's right, he deserved to die."
"It's too good for this scourge to be dead."
Chen Dayong raised his arm and shouted, "Into the river!"
"Into the river."
"Into the river."
The crowd immediately followed with a chorus of shouts.
Listening to the unified shouts, Chen Sanqiu's eyes flashed with despair.
The elder, leaning on his cane, stepped forward and made a gesture. The crowd immediately stopped shouting, staring at him intently.
"Everyone, you have all heard what Hongyu said just now. Chen Sanqiu deserved to die."
"Today, I will take it upon myself to act according to the rules of our ancestors for hundreds of years and throw these three scoundrels into the river."
"I will also say a few more words: from now on, anyone who dares to do such things that ruin the village will have the same fate as this Chen Sanqiu."
Hearing this, Chen Sanqiao knew that death was unavoidable and suddenly yelled.
"Chen Xiaobei, you scoundrel, you act like a tyrant in the village because you have a little money. What are you?"
"Do you think the money Cui Hongyu brought you will last long? When your money runs out, you won't even be as good as a dog, and they won't listen to you anymore."
Mrs. Liu also yelled along, truly fulfilling the saying, "As the husband sings, so the wife follows."
Liu Xiaobao, standing beside them, did the opposite and started crying loudly, "Everyone, everyone, I have an eighty-year-old mother and a three-year-old child. I am the pillar of this family. If I die, with my old and young, what will happen?"
Hearing this, the crowd burst into laughter. Someone who knew him couldn't help but tease, "Liu Xiaobao, you're spouting nonsense from the moment you open your mouth. Where is your child? You don't even have a wife."
Hearing this, Liu Xiaobao, while crying, managed to reply, "My, my wife is, is in my hometown. You, you just don't know."
The more he said this, the more the crowd laughed. Amidst the laughter, Chen Dayong gestured, and the crowd stepped forward, roughly shoving the three into wooden cages and nailing them shut with iron nails.
Seeing that the situation was beyond redemption, Chen Sanqiu finally broke down and cried, "Ancestor, spare me! If I must die, give me a quick death. Drowning is too painful."
The elder let out a long sigh. "Sanqiu, ever since I can remember, your family has been scholarly. Your grandfather and father were respected teachers in the village."
"And you, you learned to read and write from your father and were considered a scholar in our village."
"But you, you didn't put your efforts into the right path. Instead, you thought about how to harm Chen Xiaobei."
"Touch your conscience and ask yourself, since Xiaobei became the village chief, the lives of us in Hetou Village are the best in ten neighboring villages. Not to mention anything else, just the wages. You work for one day, and it's equivalent to what a strong laborer in other villages earns in five or ten days in the city."
"Chen Xiaobei brings out real money. But you, not only do you not appreciate his kindness, but you have also done something worse than an animal."
Upon hearing the elder's lengthy lecture, Chen Sanqiu fell silent and could not speak another word. After a long silence, he sighed to the heavens, "One man's deeds, one man bears. Capturing Cui Hongyu was a spur-of-the-moment decision when I met her on the street. Everything is my fault, but can you let my wife and Liu Xiaobao go?"
Hearing his words, the elder felt a flicker of pity. He thought, what Chen Sanqiu said made some sense.
However, Chen Xiaobei did not think so. Chen Xiaobei understood the saying "eradicate evil completely."
He knew the principle of "releasing a tiger back into the mountains leads to endless trouble."
But if he were to speak out, it would seem like he was retaliating. Fortunately, Huang Ying spoke at this moment. She stepped forward and said loudly, "Chen Sanqiu, do you think a few soft words will make us let go of your accomplices? That is absolutely impossible."
Huang Ying's words, it must be said, resonated with Chen Xiaobei.
And they also resonated with the villagers of Hetou Village. The crowd followed with a chorus of shouts.
"Yes, yes, absolutely impossible, absolutely impossible."
Even the soldiers watching the commotion joined in the shouts. After all, drowning one person or three made a big difference in the excitement.
Seeing the crowd cheering and excited, Chen Xiaobei knew that these three were finished. Even if he wanted to spare them, he couldn't.
Besides, he had no such intention at all.
As expected, the elder understood public opinion best. He looked at Chen Sanqiu, then at Mrs. Liu and Liu Xiaobao. "The three of you have heard it all, haven't you?"
"Don't blame me for being ruthless. You brought this upon yourselves."
"May you suffer greatly in the underworld, and may you be good people in your next life." Su Dan Novel Network
With that, he waved his hand.
Chen Dayong and others stepped forward, carried the three, and walked towards the river. Chen Sanqiu and the others, trapped in the cages, seized the last opportunity to curse Chen Xiaobei again.
But what was the point of their curses now? It only made them seem more pitiful.
Chen Dayong and the others arrived at the riverbank. Large stones were already prepared by the river. The stones were tied to both ends of the wooden cages, ensuring they would sink quickly.
With a command, everyone exerted their strength together and pushed the three directly into the river.
Chen Sanqiu and the others didn't even have time to let out a cry before they sank into the water with gurgling bubbles. After a few ripples, the water surface returned to its calm state.
A moment of silence fell over the crowd. After a brief silence, someone suddenly shouted "Good."
Following this shout, the crowd finally came to their senses and began to shout excitedly.
Amidst the shouts, Cui Hongyu quietly leaned closer to Chen Xiaobei.
Chen Xiaobei put his arm around her shoulder. At this moment, their two hearts were tightly bound together.
When the crowd's shouts finally subsided, the elder waved his hand.
"Alright, alright, everyone go back. Go about your business."
As the crowd was dispersing, the elder came to Chen Xiaobei's side. "Xiaobei, with three fewer people, we still need to report this to the county. Otherwise, if there's an inspection of the Yongye fields later and they can't be accounted for, it will be troublesome."
Chen Xiaobei nodded. "Ancestor, you are right. I was planning to go to the county office these past two days."
Chen Xiaobei had already made up his mind. He was going to resign from his position as Township Head. He was so busy in the village now that he could barely go to the township office a few times a month. This was a clear case of "occupying a latrine without defecating."
It would be better to give the opportunity to someone else and focus on helping the people of Hetou Village make money.