Chapter Seventy-Two: The Mountain Village in Turmoil

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Without wasting words, I want to thank everyone for your support—especially those who’ve sent flowers, water, bricks, and those who’ve tipped me. I thank you all, and hope you’ll continue to support me. I promise to write the best novel I can, in my best state, to repay you!

At Luo Yinxian’s cry, a crowd from Xiasha Village rushed over. By then, Le’er had already made a call. Xie Dapao, upon receiving it, was furious.

“Who’s so brazen? I’ll be there soon. I’ll beat them to a pulp and send them straight to the lockup.”

Le’er explained the situation and told him who was behind it.

“Don’t worry, brother. I’ll bring my men right away. They won’t get away.” The noise in Xie Dapao’s call suggested he was in an entertainment venue. “Just a few petty thugs—not even enough to fill a pot.”

As the villagers arrived, Le’er got to his feet, with the yellow dog barking persistently at his side. His back was burning with pain—if he hadn’t dodged quickly, that blow to the head might have left him a fool.

“Le’er, who did this to you?”

Le’er’s uncle was seething with rage, a hoe gripped in his hand and his eyes blazing.

“I don’t know, Uncle. I’m fine, not really hurt.”

“Not hurt? I saw with my own eyes that man strike your back with a stick.” Luo Yinxian, eyes brimming with tears, came over and started to lift his shirt. “Let’s see how bad it is.”

Under the moonlight, they saw a broad, purple-black bruised stripe running horizontally across his back.

“Heavens, that could kill someone. Does it hurt?”

“It doesn’t…” Le’er looked at his uncle. “Uncle, don’t worry. This is nothing. They got nothing out of it. I wounded two of them, and the yellow dog bit another.”

“Nothing? If that had landed on your head, you’d be dead by now.” His uncle roared, “Those bastards, if I find out who it was, I’ll bash him to death with my hoe!”

Le’er managed a bitter smile. His uncle was hot-tempered, and if he found the culprit, he really would dare act. Though Le’er was in pain, he forced himself to stand, refusing Luo Yinxian’s support, and headed home. The villagers chattered angrily, speculating wildly. Le’er had already warned Luo Yinxian not to say too much, or else the villagers might have already stormed onto Shangtao with their hoes.

Xiasha Village, though rife with internal squabbles, was fiercely united against outsiders. The Sha clan was a small surname and a small village—in the surrounding dozens of miles, there were none others with the Sha name. Without unity, they would have long been bullied to oblivion. Over centuries of resisting external oppression, they’d developed a tough, combative spirit—if one suffered, the whole village would rise.

The yellow dog had become a hero; everyone praised it as a fine animal, a dog that protected its master—who wouldn’t love that? Luo Yinxian nearly scooped it into her arms to comfort it. Its hind leg had been struck and it limped along.

At home, Le’er lay on a chair, and his uncle wanted to rub his bruised back with wine, but Le’er waved him off.

“Uncle, could you all step outside for a bit? The police will be here soon. I need to talk to Sister-in-law Yinxian in private.”

The police were coming to take statements. Le’er worried Luo Yinxian might say something wrong, so he had to explain things to her first. This time, he was determined to bring down Tao Wen and Tao Gaolong. The wounds were nothing—bringing them down was what mattered.

His uncle recognized the importance of this and left with the others. Inside, Le’er and Luo Yinxian whispered for a while before letting the rest come back in. Only then did his uncle take up the rice wine and begin to rub Le’er’s back to disperse the blood. Though his uncle was gentle, the pain still made Le’er grimace.

“Damn those bastards, striking so hard. Even if you have a blood feud, there’s no call for such cruelty.”

While rubbing, his uncle cursed.

“Uncle, I hit back hard too. They’re probably worse off than me—one of them even had his head split open, I saw blood.”

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Le’er forced a smile through his pain.

“You had to hit back hard. If you hadn’t, they would have beaten you to death.”

Not long after, police sirens wailed on the road, and soon Xie Dapao strode in with three officers.

“Brother Xie…”

Le’er tried to get up, but Xie Dapao pressed him down, frowning at the wound on his back.

“They really went at you. Don’t worry—they won’t get away.”

“Thank you, brother.”

Le’er’s uncle and the other villagers waited outside, but Chief Xie told them to disperse. His uncle comforted Le’er a few words and led everyone away. Two officers took Luo Yinxian aside for her statement, jotting down notes.

Once the others had left, Xie Dapao joked, “Le’er, did you mess with someone’s girl to get beaten up like this?”

“Brother, I’m an honest man.”

“Honest my ass.” Xie Dapao laughed. “You really keep your place nice… haha. But honesty won’t get you anywhere—look at me, I’m a bad guy. You ought to learn from me, eh? Tell me, whoever came after you must really hate your guts. That Tao Gaolong, what’s his deal, daring to touch you?”

“He’s the cousin of our village chief, Tao Wen. Lately, Tao Wen’s been giving me trouble—I bet he’s behind this.”

Le’er was set on toppling Tao Wen.

“Hmm… makes sense. You’re new, took some power from him, so he’s out for revenge. On my way here, I called Secretary Huang. He said we must dig out those who hurt you and punish them severely. As for Tao Wen… hehe, don’t worry, leave it to me—he won’t get back up from this.”

“Thank you, brother. When I’m healed, I’ll come thank you properly.”

“You’re just my kind of guy. No need for thanks—we’re brothers, aren’t we?”

After Luo Yinxian finished her statement, Le’er gave his own. Meanwhile, the officers sent to make arrests called in—they’d caught the culprits and seized the weapons.

“All done,” Xie Dapao laughed. “I’ll take you to town—your injuries are serious.”

“No need… for country folk like us, this is nothing.”

“Nothing? You know nothing. Even if you weren’t hurt, you should pretend you were—let alone when it’s this bad.”

At Xie Dapao’s insistence, Le’er obediently got into his car and headed for town.

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Taosha Village was in an uproar—the police sirens had woken everyone. Soon, Tao Gaolong, Tao Xinhua, and Tao Fushu were handcuffed and taken away. Their families wept and wailed, while onlookers gossiped and speculated. Some expressed sympathy, others indignation, but most privately relished their misfortune.

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Most still didn’t know what had happened, but once the truth came out, they learned the three had attacked the new village assistant, Sha Le’er.

“Heavens, how is Sha Le’er so close with the police?”

People felt a chill—change was coming to Taosha Village. It would no longer be Tao’s family’s world.

“Why did those three fools mess with him? He’s just the new assistant—what business is it of theirs? Now look, they’ve brought disaster on themselves, might even end up in jail.”

Among the crowd, Tao Youneng and a few other youngsters laughed gleefully.

…

Even Secretary Tao was alarmed. As soon as the three were taken, their families sought him out. Secretary Tao’s face was ashen, his lips tight.

“Secretary, please, you have to help us.” Tao Gaolong’s mother pleaded, weeping.

“Help? How the hell am I supposed to help?” Secretary Tao finally exploded. “They brought this on themselves. What can I do? Do you think the police station belongs to me?”

“If it weren’t for Wen, that damned fool… he’s always drinking with Gaolong and egged them on to attack Sha Le’er… Oh, Gaolong, how could you be so stupid?”

“What did you say?” Secretary Tao was shocked.

“What else? Wen’s boy set the dogs on each other, now he’s just sitting back and watching… Heaven help us, how did things come to this? What are we going to do?”

Secretary Tao’s mouth hung open for a long moment, his face growing darker still.

“Damn it, damn it all, stupider than pigs, stupider than pigs…” Secretary Tao couldn’t sit still any longer. “Stop wailing, there’s nothing I can do. I have to check on Sha Le’er—I don’t even know how badly he’s hurt yet. These brainless fools, damn them.”

“I saw Sha Le’er get into the police car to town. The chief was very friendly with him.”

“Is he badly hurt?”

“I don’t know… He was sitting, didn’t seem too hurt.”

Secretary Tao slumped in his chair, shaking his head in silence. He felt as if everything in Taosha Village was slipping out of his grasp, that he could no longer control it.

He didn’t go seek out Tao Wen—he couldn’t bear to see someone so brainless. He thought of going to Teacher Feng, but it was too late, so he simply closed his eyes and decided to ignore everything.