Chapter 40.1

The public security officers carrying out orders this time were basically all young people with a strong sense of justice. There are quite a lot of people in this county, a place where plenty of snakes and dragons mingle. Coupled with the poverty of the county, the public security bureau was naturally not configured to do anything large-scaled. With few hands and a big area, the fear of accidentally encountering a difficult task while on duty, and only able to arrest some petty criminals, it could only be considered too conservative.

This time was a rare occasion, the upper echelon sent out a missive directly and explicitly saying that there was no need to give anyone ‘face;’ just directly arrest, convict, and sentence those people – the whole package.

But not having to give any ‘face’, does that include these simple civilians?

The young public security officers began to wonder if they were arresting the wrong people, but looking back at these people they arrested themselves, it was indeed a gangster group.

They just wouldn’t let the men go, so the people just wouldn’t make way. Finally, an older public security officer decided not to do anything rash. After all, their duty was to catch the bad guys, not to go up against civilians.

This is a special period right now. If you really caught the wrong person and it was then reported to the higher-ups, you might not be able to keep this stable job.

The older public security officer instructed a few words and ran off to find the leader.

***

When the leader came over, the scene stunned him, he turned and asked a subordinate, “You guys aren’t blindly arresting people for the sake of the task, are you? Why do all the villagers look so agitated?”

“Really didn’t!”

The older officer was quite agitated himself, “Isn’t neighboring county also doing a similar operation? A gangster that was caught said he’d like to redeem himself by good service and told us about how many people were in this small group and their activity route in our county. The local comrades all specifically asked about it and after confirming that they were indeed taking money from the people, only then did we come with them to arrest.”

His voice was not loud, but the vegetable farmers who were close to him heard it very clearly, and they were anxious when they heard it. “How can you believe what those gangsters in the next county said? They used to come here to harass us just because of their large numbers. They destroyed all of Liu Zi family’s crops, causing his father to be in debt and he even fell ill due to the anger. He’s still in bed.”

The villagers who didn’t hear these words immediately got agitated as well and a group of people pushed forward noisily to argue.

“It’s their group of people that are black-hearted and green-eyed, not only bullying people in their county but also coming to our county to cause trouble. If it wasn’t for this group of young men taking action, how much money would we lose?”

“We paid the money voluntarily. This group of young men helped us beat up those hoodlums, and scare them away. To help us, all of them would patrol the streets without eating. We pay them just so they can eat!”

“Public security comrades, you are all comrades of the country, but you can’t listen to those villains!”

If it was a small group of people who cried foul, perhaps the police would still think that this was their accomplices helping them to commit perjury. But now, almost half of the people in the community are here. The excitement and anger on their faces were not false. Now, even the leader rather believed that it was the group of gangsters, who had been driven away, that held a grudge and took this opportunity to try to get these people into prison.

He held out his hand and tried to comfort the villagers in front of him. “Don’t worry. Don’t panic. We just want them to come back with us for investigation, just for investigation. If there is really isn’t a problem, they will definitely be released.”

“We still need to bring them back to the station.”

It was fine if he didn’t say this but when he did, the villagers grew even more anxious.

“They’re all good lads. You can’t take them away!”

“When my dad was younger, he only kissed my mom on the street; at that time, they also said they’d bring him back to the station to investigate, but then they just directly locked him up.”

“No, you can’t take them away! They are all good people!”

The crowd was getting more and more agitated, their faces full of anger, began closing in on the public security officers. Surrounded by so many people, the public security officers also got nervous, quickly stretching out their hands, “Step back! Step back!”

“Everyone, let’s not get excited. Take a step back first.”

No one listened to what they said, but at this time, an older-looking young man of the small group who had been silent all along became anxious.

***

He grew up looking a bit repressed, plus he appears older and was a ruffian, so there haven’t been any girls interested in him. But, after listening to Lin Shiheng’s words and starting to help out, he felt the joy from helping others and getting grateful looks and compliments.

Even if the officers didn’t come, he planned to continue being a good person. It had been less than a month of keeping a good character, but he has already found a partner in this one month.

She was a young widow, slightly older than him, but they still look about the same age in person. Her experience was quite similar to Mother Lin’s. After her husband died young, she was directly separated by her husband’s family and lived alone with her daughter. Because she had no skills, she could only grow vegetables and sell them. Usually, the villagers, after seeing her difficulties, will also help her out a little. Ever since this young man began to do good deeds, he had been eager to help people push their carts. He also helped this young widow several times. After a few times, the two of them started to have a seedling of feelings.

They’re both the kind of people who aren’t very well off, yet they were both eager to have a family. After being together, fearing the possibility of another change, they simply settled down at lightning speed. The child already changed to calling him “Father.”

Typically, it is very difficult for ordinary people to get close to children who aren’t related to them by blood. This young man, however, was different. He had a good mentality and had been influenced by Lin Shiheng’s few words. ‘I really envy you. How nice it is to have your own daughter already. It’s nice to have a sweet little cotton-padded jacket. In the future, you can enjoy more good things.’ So the more he looks at this daughter he picked up, the more affectionate he felt. After everything settled, every time he would go out to do something, he would her with him. The two of them got along well with each other and seemed no different from a real father-daughter duo.

(TNote: little cotton-padded jacket= a metaphor for loving and warm, young, close females of the family. It is often said that the maiden girl is the intimate cotton-padded jacket of the father and mother.)

He really loves this daughter, and the child also adores this father who loves her very much. Therefore, when she was brought over by her mother, she cried and called for her father and blocked the officers from leaving.

Now everyone’s rushing up and everything was a mess. However, she was small; although she was held by her mother’s hand, watching her wobble left and right, unable to stand still, and also being pushed around, the poor father’s anxious heart was about to jump out.

He couldn’t help holding out his hand to stop them, saying, “Don’t crowd, don’t go forward.”

Don’t overcrowd my daughter…

This appearance of trying to stop the crowd was seen by the public security officers. It was true that these people who had been obediently cooperating with them since they were arrested were now helping to calm the crowd.

In their mind, they recalled that they heard when the neighboring county was arresting people, it was very chaotic. The hooligans were fleeing in different directions and some even assaulted the officers. Then looking at this group of people they arrested: all of them were incredibly cooperative, no one cursed at all, instead just allowed themselves to be taken away.

Such a high level of mindfulness really doesn’t seem like gangsters.

If they knew that these policemen thought so, this group of people would have laughed out loud.

They didn’t curse anyone because Lin Shiheng knew there was going to be something big happening early on, having guessed the result, naturally, they were able to calmly accept it.

Either way, everyone is a local, if you get caught cursing, what if there was retaliation? Even if you wanted to run, can you run faster than the officers in a police car? Instead, it’s better to follow along honestly, their efforts during this time would not be in vain anyway. And even if they do get arrested, Shi-ge didn’t get caught. Surely, he could find a way to save them.

The public security officers who didn’t know the truth were all hesitant. Facing this beautiful misunderstanding, they also lost their initial excitement and looked towards their leader.

***

The leader obviously felt a headache. He looked at the people who didn’t move because they were blocked by their ‘own people’ and who only looked at them with angry eyes, and then looked at the group of tattered and honest ruffians who didn’t look like bad guys either.

Gritting his teeth, he waved his hand, “Release them.”

Seeing the surprise and excitement on the faces of the villagers who thought they were being oppressed, he confirmed his previous thoughts even more.

There must have been a mistake.

If they caught the wrong people, then they caught the wrong people. Even if they made a special trip, they couldn’t help but feel apologetic about it. The leader thought about it, turned to the ruffian group, and kindly advised, “This time we were the ones that didn’t investigate clearly and wronged good people. But right now, the country is vigorously cracking down on gangsters and criminals. Although the original intention of collecting money to do things for the villagers is good, this kind of behavior could still easily make people think of gangsters. Don’t do it again next time. If anyone comes to your county to make trouble, you can control the situation first, then send someone to the public security bureau to call us to deal with it. That way. there won’t be another misunderstanding.”

The group of people who just had faces full of happiness was now at a loss. If they didn’t receive any money, how would they eat?

But it was a special situation right now, they can’t just grab the public security officer and say ‘no, we have to collect money!’ They eventually complied “Yes, yes, thank you, public security comrade! We won’t do it again. Sorry to have bothered you and wasted your time like this.”

“You’re welcome. Next time you need anything, just come to us. Let’s go, we’re withdrawing!”

The public security started to withdraw, the people were less emotional and gave way. The leader took the lead in front, pinching his brows with a bit of a headache.

No matter who it was that worked hard to bring people here and then ended up with a wasted trip, they wouldn’t be in a good mood.

“I remember in the directive from above, there is a penalty for false accusations. Tell the next county to remember to punish the punk who reported this blindly. I remember that the lowest penalty for false accusations was three years, wasn’t it?”

The man who was following him closely at the side promptly said, “They’re already going to jail. I don’t know if they can add more years in that situation.”

“I think it could be added. Nevermind, I will personally go to the next county to explain this matter. This situation is already well-known here. If there isn’t any punishment for falsely accusing someone… What if in the future those hooligans who get caught clamber around indiscriminately to get revenge on someone they used to have a grudge against, what then?”

“The amount of trouble and time we have to spend on a single report, like this time… It must be punished severely!”

***

When the uniformed men left, the ruffian group forgot to think about how to make money in the future, instead, they hurriedly thanked the people around them.

To be honest, no one in the ruffian group could remain unmoved when they saw this group of villagers, who they had helped, stop the public security to keep them from being arrested.

It is precisely because they were moved that they felt more guilt in their hearts, that they treated everyone well only to deal with the public security.

Both sides spoke for a while before the crowd gradually dispersed, those who had relatives left first to comfort their loved ones, and the remaining bachelors looking at each other and finally voiced their worries.

“Not accepting protection fees. What will we do in the future?”

“Right! We don’t have any skills or capital, we’re broke and possess nothing. Aside from fighting, what else do we know?”

Liu Zi hasn’t left. His dad was old and sick and had been staying home to recover from his illness, so he probably didn’t come even after such a long time because no one told him. So, Liu Zi simply stayed to discuss with everyone.

“I inquired about finding work when my family was in trouble before. There’s easy work for little pay. For more pay, you’ll have to work harder and it’s also farther from home. A round trip will take a lot of effort, and will be busy for most of the day, from morning to night.”

As soon as he said this, the others were instantly at a loss for what to do.

They were all people that were used to freedom, how can they stand working hard the entire day?