Chapter 467: Chapter 460: Evil Repaid with Evil
Zhong Shoufu was on the bridge bragging about his experiences from the past few years, speaking nonsense, and Sisi was so annoyed by it that she got goosebumps all over her body. She couldn’t take it anymore and turned around to walk back.
However, those rural women were all listening with rapt attention, occasionally asking questions.
"Do city people really drink milk and eat Western-style bread every morning?"
Zhong Shoufu waved his hand disdainfully and said, "What’s so amazing about drinking milk and eating Western-style bread? These days, city people are into eating Western meals and steaks. You know about Western food, right? Western food is the cuisine foreigners eat. We Chinese use chopsticks, and foreigners use a knife and fork. They hold the fork in the left hand and the knife in the right, with a steak in front of them, cut a piece, take a bite, now that’s high society! Ah, it’s no use telling you, you wouldn’t understand!"
"Eating with a knife, wouldn’t they cut their tongues? Tsk tsk, how can foreigners be so foolish not to know how to use chopsticks?" Sister-in-law Jin Hua said in bewilderment.
Zhong Shoufu chuckled, clearly looking down on these women steeped in the scent of soil. Another woman then asked, "Zhong Shoufu, is it true there are ’iron birds’ in the city that can carry people and fly in the sky?"
"Of course there are. They’re not called ’iron birds;’ they’re called airplanes. I’ve ridden them a few times," Zhong Shoufu boasted.
The crowd immediately looked on with reverence, and Zhong Shoufu became more esteemed in their eyes—he could play in the sky, wasn’t that just like being a deity?
Zhong Shoufu continued smugly, "You have no idea how fast those airplanes are. It’s so quick that you could go from the Capital to our Yuequan Village in the time it takes to pee, way faster than a tractor."
"That ’flying chicken’ is really that fast?" someone doubted.
Being doubted, Zhong Shoufu suddenly became unhappy, "How could it not be that fast? I took a plane last month. It circled our village several times. I looked down from the plane and happened to see Sister-in-law Dongmei washing a chamber pot in the Crying Girl River. I even waved to you from the plane, but it’s a pity you didn’t respond!"
Sister-in-law Dongmei believed Zhong Shoufu’s words wholeheartedly and regretfully said, "Really? How come I didn’t hear you? Otherwise, I could have seen what the ’flying chicken’ looked like."
Sisi, who had walked far away, shook her head when she heard this. She didn’t know what Zhong Shoufu had been doing outside, learning to lie without blinking—an indication that he probably wasn’t up to any good.
Sure enough, just as Sisi was preparing to leave Yuequan Village and return to Huang Yuan, a major incident occurred in the village.
It was the tenth day of the first lunar month, just as the dawn was showing its first light. Most villagers were still enjoying sweet dreams, chatting with Duke Zhou in their sleep, but some diligent people were already up, women going to the riverside to wash their chamber pots, and men going out to work in the fields before coming back for breakfast.
A police car suddenly stopped at the entrance of the village. Uniformed officers, with pistols at their waists, jumped out and swiftly made their way through the village, heading straight for Zhong Liangcai’s house.
The early rising villagers, witnessing this scene, were so shocked that they stopped their work and rapidly informed their neighbors. In no time, the news of the police coming to arrest someone in the village spread like wildfire to every household.
Everyone dragged their feet, putting on clothes and running toward the entrance of the village. When the crowd reached the police car, they saw the police officers leading out Zhong Shoufu’s family. Zhong Shoufu’s head was down, his hands were cuffed with shiny handcuffs, and Zhong Liangcai with his spouse followed behind with pale faces, also in handcuffs.
What on earth had happened?
The villagers were immediately in a commotion as if a pot had exploded. They were all law-abiding laborers who would never have any dealings with the police in their lifetimes. Of course, they would also prefer to never have any contact with the police.
But why had the police come to the village to arrest someone now? The villagers were abuzz with speculation, all trying to guess what Zhong Shoufu had done.
When Tian Bajin received the news, he ran over and, plucking up his courage, approached the police to introduce himself. He asked with a composed but anxious mind, "Comrade officer, what crime has the Zhong Shoufu family committed?"
"Zhong Shoufu is involved in a burglary incident in the city from a few days ago. He is a prime suspect," responded the officer sternly.
The villagers were all stunned by the officer’s response. How could there be a thief among them? And to think the thief had even gone on to steal in the city, it was truly a loss of face!
Before long, the police car’s red light began to spin, and with a long wail, it kicked up dust as it drove off in the direction of the city.
According to neighbors of Zhong Liangcai’s house, the police had found quite a few stolen goods at his home, including their TV set and tape recorder, which were also stolen items. They had even found several tens of thousands of dollars in cash, stashed in burlap sacks.
The crowd swarmed towards Zhong Liangcai’s house, where several remaining officers were sorting through the Zhong family’s possessions. Televisions, clothes, fabric, alcohol, and other stolen items were all piled up in the yard, being logged one by one.
"There’s so much stuff here, even more than what’s in our town’s Supply and Marketing Cooperative!" someone in the crowd exclaimed.
Later on, more information surfaced. It was said that Zhong Shoufu, when outside, was not earnestly working for a company as he boasted, but had joined a major thievery gang in the provincial city. Because of his good performance, the gang leader greatly appreciated him and even made him the leader of their operations in Sui City. The recent sensational burglary in the city department store was the work of Zhong Shoufu leading his gang.
Zhong Liangcai and his wife were guilty of harboring criminals, as they helped their son to conceal and sell stolen goods. As for Zhong Shoufu’s wife, she was indeed unaware and therefore was not taken away this time.
"I knew it, those stingy people, Zhong Liangcai and his wife, how could they suddenly become generous? They even gave me two pieces of fabric last time. Pah, pah! I don’t want to use such dirty things. I need to go turn them over to the police."
The woman who spoke hurried back to her house, and soon she returned with two pieces of fine fabric to give to the officers in the yard who were inventorying the stolen goods. Seeing this, other villagers also went back home to bring over the items that Zhong Liangcai had once given them.
A few people had already eaten the food they had received, and now terrified, they took out money to compensate, fearing they too would be treated as accomplices and taken to the station. Luckily, the officers were amiable and reassured them that what was eaten was in the past, which settled them down.
The subsequent events were relayed to Sisi by He Xuewen. Zhong Shoufu was sentenced to fifteen years, Zhong Liangcai to five years, and Zhong Liangcai’s daughter-in-law Wang Yueyue received a two-year prison sentence with a two-year reprieve.
Moreover, He Xuewen said that Zhong Shoufu’s gang’s next target was the He Family Winery. They had everything set up and planned to strike it big in a few days, but they didn’t expect to be caught by the police so soon.
Upon hearing this news, Zhong Shoufu’s wife immediately took her child and returned to her mother’s home, unilaterally filing for divorce. Now only Wang Yueyue remained in the Zhong family. None of their three daughters had come to see her, and the villagers now avoided her like the plague, fearing they might be implicated.
Upon hearing this, Sisi couldn’t help but feel a wave of emotions. In her previous life, because of his sister Zhong Yuying’s relationship with Tang Qiubai, Zhong Shoufu boasted and threw his weight around in the company she managed. Zhong Liangcai and his wife also dominated and bullied Tian Manjin and his wife in the village, humiliating them on several occasions.
It seemed that in this life, the Zhong Liangcai family had completely fallen. Perhaps this was a case of karma – what goes around comes around. Sisi wondered what Zhong Yuying was thinking now?