Only that morning, they had heard Secretary Chen say the man had been found. They had not expected trouble to break out at Ye Yaohong's house again by the time the bride's homecoming banquet was over.
They had no idea whether a family member of someone on the Village Committee had leaked the news, but in the time it took to eat a meal, word had spread throughout the village. A crowd of villagers rushed to Ye Yaohong's house, demanding that his family pay them back immediately.
After the meal, Father Ye heard the neighbors talking and headed over to Ye Yaohong's house again with his three sons and his new son-in-law.
On their way there, they kept running into villagers heading in the same direction. With nothing to do after lunch, they walked along discussing it. Most had probably heard the news and were going to watch the commotion.
There was no helping it. With so little entertainment available, the slightest disturbance could bring the whole village out to watch, let alone something this big, where so many people had been cheated out of all their money.
Many others had been tempted at the time, too, but their hesitation had made them a step too late. Now they felt nothing but relief.
When they hurried over, they saw the house packed with people. Some villagers were carrying off the television, others were moving the bicycle, and still others were clutching the radio...
Several people were fighting over every single item. Some had even come to blows, with their friends and relatives helping them grab things. Whether anyone was taking advantage of the chaos to steal was anyone's guess.
The people who had come to help were stunned by what they saw from the doorway. For a moment, none of