NOVPUB
Chapter 224: Chapter 217: Take Away for Investigation
Shen Yunfang had fully understood that it was still those rumors causing trouble, and they were indeed targeting her family’s chickens, only Qian Xinxue was more circuitous about it.
While Shen Yunfang was pondering how to respond, a jeep drove into the entrance of Gaijiatun Village.
The jeep seemed to know the way well, speeding along until it finally screeched to a halt at someone’s courtyard gate. The doors flew open, and four men alighted, their menacing appearance striking as they pounded on the gate.
Shen Yunfang and Qian Xinxue were both startled by the sudden knocking.
Shen Yunfang snapped back to reality and prepared to get off the kang to open the door. Truth be told, when she heard the knocking, her heart sank with a bad premonition.
"You stay put, I’ll go take a look," Qian Xinxue urged, having neither gotten the money nor the chickens yet. She quickly pushed her niece back down, knowing it was her time to step up.
Qian Xinxue walked out of the room grumbling, greeted by the door banging louder and louder, "What’s going on here, can’t you wait a bit, are you in a rush to be reborn?"
As soon as she slid the door bolt, the courtyard door was fiercely shoved open from the outside.
"Goodness gracious, you’ll knock me dead. What are you doing, a gang of bandits?"
Qian Xinxue, who was just behind the door, toppled over to the ground from the impact. 𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙥𝒖𝒃.𝒄𝒐𝒎
Wang Biao looked down at the middle-aged woman on the ground, frowning, "She doesn’t seem to be the one; the age doesn’t match. Keep an eye on her while we go inside." He instructed the person behind him, then strode towards the house.
Inside, Shen Yunfang heard the conversation outside and quickly sat up on the kang. Before she could even put on her shoes and get down, several men barged in.
"Who are you, what do you want?" Shen Yunfang demanded, this bandit-like behavior was something she hadn’t witnessed before.
"Shen Yunfang, right?" Wang Biao asked.
"Yes, and who are you?" Shen Yunfang, recognizing that they’d got her name right and seeing their attire didn’t resemble common thugs but was rather like that of leaders, grew suspicious.
"We’re from the Revolutionary Committee. Someone has reported you for stealing collective grain. Now, come with us," Wang Biao demanded, his chin raised arrogantly.
"Someone reported me?" Shen Yunfang was surprised, quickly running through her mind who she might have offended. "If someone reported me, then just investigate. Why do I need to go with you?"
Here on her own turf, where her uncle could still have a say, she wouldn’t let herself be falsely accused. If she really went with these people, who knows where they would take her? And if someone framed her on a whim, what then? She would be like a fish on the chopping board, utterly at their mercy.
"Don’t waste so much talk, just grab her and take her back for interrogation," a sly-looking man with glasses said from behind.
"Fine, you keep an eye on her. I’ll go grab the evidence from the back," Wang Biao signaled the man with glasses, then led another person towards the backyard.
The man with glasses, pushing up his frames, said to a stunned Shen Yunfang, "Cooperate a little, huh? Don’t blame me for getting rough if you don’t play nice." As he spoke, he took out a pair of handcuffs from somewhere and stepped forward, intending to cuff Shen Yunfang.
Shen Yunfang certainly couldn’t let him take her away; she herself was not a criminal. Wasn’t it just a matter of assisting with an investigation? Why would they need to handcuff her? "What are you doing? What right do you have to handcuff me? I am not a criminal; do you even bother to reason anymore?"
The man with glasses smirked ominously, "Don’t worry, once you come back with us, you will surely confess obediently." Without further discussion, he pressed Shen Yunfang onto the kang bed and, with a forceful move, yanked her arms behind her back and clamped on the handcuffs.
Shen Yunfang, with all her strength, could have easily knocked the man with glasses to the ground. However, considering she was pregnant, a scuffle with a man was not in her favor; besides, there were three other men outside. A stray kick in the chaos could be disastrous. Moreover, if she resisted, who knew what additional charges these bandits would come up with.
The wisest course of action was not to resist but to adapt and respond as the situation unfolded.
As Shen Yunfang was handcuffed inside the house, the sound of clanging basins rang out from the back yard, and she vaguely understood that these people were also after her chickens.
At that moment, she truly began to despise Qiu Shuping and Li Xianghe. If those two hadn’t spouted nonsense upon returning, those rumors wouldn’t have spread. Without the rumors, she would still be living her quiet life, not plagued by constant unwanted attention. Now it had escalated to someone reporting her. She had heard that during this era there were many wrongful and false cases, with numerous people coerced into confessing falsely. She had no idea how this matter would be classified, and it seemed it wouldn’t be easy to get through.
In the backyard, amidst a commotion of chickens flying and dogs jumping, Wang Biao and another man made several trips to transport the tied chickens to the trunk of a car.
"Alright, bring out the person," Wang Biao called from the courtyard.
"Let’s go," the man with glasses said to Shen Yunfang, nodding his chin upwards, a look of condescension on his face as if looking down upon all beings.
Shen Yunfang walked obediently toward the door without arguing. It was a time to be aware of the situation and suffer as little as possible.
Once they were in the courtyard, the man associated with Qian Xinxue asked, "What about this woman?"
"Take her away too," the man with glasses commanded.
"Ah, don’t grab me, I don’t know her, please don’t grab me," Qian Xinxue, initially cowering on the ground, scrambled to dodge the reaching hands while pleading as soon as she heard she would be taken away.
"Shut up, you’re driving me crazy," Wang Biao snapped impatiently, "Forget about her, there’s no room in the car."
The last sentence was key.
Upon hearing this, Qian Xinxue collapsed back to the ground, drained, not daring to even glance in Shen Yunfang’s direction, afraid of being implicated.
As several people escorted Shen Yunfang out of the courtyard to the car, Elder Shen and a few villagers hurried over, running and stumbling.
"Hey, what are you doing there, why are you arresting someone, and which department are you from?" Elder Shen was shocked to see his niece in handcuffs, but he still needed to understand the situation.
Wang Biao glanced at Elder Shen, knowing he was the team leader, and pulled out a small notebook from his jacket pocket, showing it to Elder Shen, "We’re from the Revolutionary Committee. Someone has reported Shen Yunfang, and we are taking her back for investigation. We hope your team will cooperate with the investigation. If there’s any progress, we will come back to you."
"This..." Elder Shen recognized the small notebook, indeed a work ID from the Revolutionary Committee, "Shen Yunfang is pregnant now, could you possibly be accommodating and not take her away? If you want to ask anything, ask here, I guarantee she will definitely cooperate." Regardless, his first aim was to keep her there; the Revolutionary Committee was not a good place, and if his niece was truly taken there, she might suffer greatly before being released.
