Chapter Twenty-Four: The Arrest

My face changed abruptly. Just moments ago, Granny Li had urged me to chase after Wang Erjun; I’d replied it was already too late, and then Aunt Hui collapsed. My father and I panicked, and in the chaos, we’d completely overlooked this matter.

Granny Li’s brows were tightly furrowed. Suddenly, she said, “The chubby boy from the Wang family is about to lose his mind, but we can’t let them harm the girl.”

My father nodded and told me, “Xie Yuan, stay here with Aunt Hui. I’ll go outside.”

I shook my head, my expression tense. “Dad, let me go instead. Erjun and I grew up together—he’ll listen to my explanation.”

But my father didn’t give me a choice and walked straight out the door.

Granny Li’s frown deepened. We all knew that with Liu the Mourner on the run, and given the villagers’ and the old village chief’s habit of seizing Wang Erjun, they certainly wouldn’t let Aunt Hui off the hook.

“Granny, what should we do?” I was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan.

“Is there anywhere else to hide or escape to?”

I turned pale. “No, there’s only the window in the sundry room. Erjun grew up in this house—he knows every corner.”

Granny Li was silent for a moment, then sighed. “Whatever happens, we can’t let anyone get hurt. Otherwise, there’ll be big trouble.”

For a moment, I didn’t understand what she meant. Would something terrible happen if Aunt Hui were harmed? Was she afraid Liu the Mourner would retaliate against the village, or was it something else? But Liu the Mourner had already abandoned Aunt Hui; I couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought the villagers would vent their anger on her family.

Granny Li also left the room, telling me to stay and watch over Aunt Hui before she went. My anxiety grew. I looked around my father’s room—its window faced the courtyard, while the other walls were solid, not even a small opening.

Already, I could hear the sound of the courtyard gate being kicked open.

The old village chief’s voice was low and grave: “Where’s Liu the Mourner? Make him come out!”

“That’s right! Bring him out!”

“I never expected there’d be such a vicious person in our village! Stealing years of life, committing murder! We can’t let him get away with this!”

Amid the uproar, I heard Aunt Hui’s voice—sharp and hysterical: “Xie Youzhi, your whole family is worse than animals! How could you do such a thing? We’ve been neighbors for so many years. Did dogs eat your conscience?”

Her words felt like needles stabbing my heart.

Last time Erjun sneaked home at night, he must have kept everything hidden. But earlier, when he went out to find people, he must have revealed everything.

I didn’t dare leave the room—not out of fear, but because Aunt Hui was still unconscious, and Granny Li had told me to stay.

Standing at the door, I peered through the crack and saw what was happening in the courtyard.

Wang Erjun and his mother stood at the front. The village chief stood beside them, with seven or eight strong men blocking the gate, and dozens of villagers crowding behind—a sea of swaying heads.

Wang Erjun’s eyes were full of resentment. His fear seemed drowned by the strength of the crowd.

“That’s Liu the Mourner’s room!” Erjun suddenly pointed at a door.

His mother’s eyes were red and swollen, her face twisted with pain and hatred.

Seeing them like this, I felt an unbearable sorrow.

My father walked forward, intent on blocking the villagers, and said, “Erjun, Mrs. Wang, there’s been a misunderstanding—we haven’t figured everything out yet…”

Mrs. Wang seized my father by the collar, sobbing in a hoarse voice, “A misunderstanding? Not figured it out? My husband is dead! Erjun’s been close with your Xie Yuan for so long—what doesn’t he know? What doesn’t Xie Yuan know? It’s just that Xie Yuan kept his mouth shut, and my Erjun was blinded by trust and said nothing! If they’d spoken sooner, my husband wouldn’t have had to die, and the whole village wouldn’t live in fear every day!”

“How many more have to die before the truth comes out? Just now, Liu the Mourner tried to drive Granny Li away. Were you all blinded, too?”

Her grief was overwhelming. Erjun shoved my father aside.

At that moment, villagers forced open Liu the Mourner’s door.

“He’s gone!”

“Search the whole house! Block the back! We must catch him today!”

The village chief’s face was grim.

My father tried to explain, but villagers dragged him aside.

Granny Li’s expression grew grave as she approached the village chief. “Elder, the Xies deserve a chance to explain. The Wang boy’s blinded by anger—much is still unclear…”

The village chief looked at Granny Li with cold indifference.

Just then, a man in his thirties stepped forward and whispered a few words in the chief’s ear. The chief fell silent.

The man respectfully addressed Granny Li, then said with a bitter smile, “Let’s wait until Liu the Mourner is found before you intervene, Granny. With things as they are…”

He leaned in and whispered something else to her. Granny Li fell silent, saying no more.

I watched anxiously from behind the window.

Nothing Granny Li said would help—once Erjun brought the villagers, nothing would help.

Besides, on her first day here, the village chief had shown little warmth to Granny Li.

At that moment, another man in mourning entered my house, carrying a basin filled with burning paper money.

This was Zhou Gang, a distant relative of the village chief.

Once he arrived, the village chief went to his side, thumping his cane. “Liu the Mourner’s escaped. What should we do now?”

Zhou Gang’s face was dark. “He can run, but his family can’t. Arrest everyone in his house—he’ll have to come back then!”

The village chief frowned. “That might not be right. After all, it was Liu the Mourner’s doing. The Xie family has lived here for decades—we know them.”

This was my greatest fear: if they couldn’t catch Liu the Mourner, they’d take it out on us.

I’d always disliked the village chief, but he hadn’t suggested this—until Zhou Gang arrived and turned the crowd against my family.

“If you dare touch anyone in my family—” my father’s eyes suddenly reddened. He grabbed a big chopping knife and glared at Zhou Gang.

The village chief frowned. “Erjun’s already told us everything. The Xie family suspected Liu the Mourner. We don’t harbor criminals in our village, but we also don’t arrest the innocent.”

His words filled me with mixed feelings.

Suddenly, I understood—the village chief was one of those stubborn old men who lived and died by the rules.

When Erjun’s father died, all the evidence pointed to the culprit. Now that Erjun was the evidence, they came for Liu the Mourner. But since my family had done nothing, he hadn’t moved against us.

Zhou Gang suddenly said, “If we don’t take Xie Youzhi and his son, then we’ll take Liu the Mourner’s daughter! Elder, my uncle’s whole family was wiped out. Are you going to let him die without justice?”

The village chief said nothing, tacitly agreeing.

At once, the villagers surged toward my father’s door.

My father’s eyes were bloodshot. He swung his knife and roared, “Anyone who comes closer—I’ll fight you to the death!”

No one dared approach. Everyone feared death, and my father’s ferocity was too much for anyone to risk it.

I clutched the doorframe, feeling a crushing sense of helplessness. That helplessness turned into bitter resentment toward Liu the Mourner.

He claimed innocence, offered no explanation, and simply ran away. He didn’t care at all about my family.

But had he really done nothing?

I thought of Granny Li’s mention of those medicine ingredients. He could do such things to Aunt Hui—how much of what he said could we really believe?

My father and the villagers stood at an impasse for over ten minutes.

Suddenly, Wang Erjun hurled himself at my father, and the villagers swarmed forward, pinning him to the ground.

The door was kicked open. No matter how desperately I tried to block it, I couldn’t. Someone kicked me in the waist; with a groan, I collapsed.

A crowd stormed into the room and dragged Aunt Hui from the bed.

My father screamed hoarsely, forbidding them to touch her—she was pregnant!

He shouted that a person must have a conscience. Even if Liu the Mourner had done something, he, Xie Youzhi, had not, nor had Aunt Hui. Women and children were innocent.

For a moment, there was a flicker of unease on the village chief’s face.

Then Zhou Gang suddenly said, “All the better if she’s pregnant. I don’t believe Liu the Mourner will abandon his own flesh and blood.”

“And you, Xie Youzhi—don’t think I won’t dare just because you threaten me. My uncle’s family died horribly, and the Wang carpenter’s family too—we won’t let Liu the Mourner go.”

“If Liu the Mourner doesn’t show himself by tonight, tomorrow we’ll drown his daughter in the river!”

The village chief’s face changed abruptly. “No!”

The crowd grew restless.

Zhou Gang declared, “My uncle did so much for this village. Now he’s gone, I’m handling his funeral and the money he left behind. If you help me avenge him, I’ll share it out among every household.”

The uproar ceased. Some even began urging the village chief to compromise—hadn’t he wanted to catch the killer, too?

My father’s voice was raw from shouting, but no one paid him any mind. Instead, someone bound his hands and feet with rope.

Granny Li’s face was grave, but she remained silent.

Despair overwhelmed me. At this point, Granny Li’s words would be useless—she might even make things worse.

I noticed Granny Li signaling me with a very slight shake of her head.

Lying on the floor, I couldn’t get up.

Granny Li had said Aunt Hui mustn’t be harmed, mustn’t be implicated, or there would be dire consequences…

The teacher the village chief had found knew Granny Li, and had treated her respectfully earlier.

If only everyone would calm down, perhaps they’d listen to Granny Li and the teacher.

That was all I could hope for.

Just then, as Aunt Hui was being carried, she suddenly began to cough violently, still unconscious but in obvious pain.

The men holding her all recoiled at once, their faces filled with fear, and Aunt Hui fell heavily to the floor.