Han Laizi was short but sturdy, wielding a shovel and shouting in their local dialect. Many people around him joined in the shouting.
Qingmu glanced around and saw that there were only five or six people with weapons, all surrounding Han Laizi. The others, though shouting loudly, didn't seem to have any resentment on their faces. They were probably called over by Han Laizi to help, and were more or less there to watch the show.
Yang Lijuan spotted her husband Letuolie, standing in the crowd, holding a baby in his arms, and her heart clenched instantly.
"Leave the person here!" someone shouted in Mandarin.
"Yes, Dazhuang, it's really not right of you to come and take them away without a word!"
" Xiao Shi, what brings you here to steal our Kuaziba's wife? Do you think you're such a high-ranking official in the city, yet you don't even have a wife?"
Shi Dazhuang remained calm, standing ramrod straight, and said, "Fellow villagers! Human trafficking is a crime! Participating in trafficking, illegal detention, or harboring human traffickers are all illegal acts! They all lead to imprisonment!"
The people of Kuaziba all knew his identity, and were also intimidated by his upright character, so they all quieted down.
Shi Dazhuang then cupped his hands in greeting and ushered the two women to him, saying, "They are people with parents too. Think about it, how would you feel if your daughters and sisters were kidnapped and sold to some poor mountain village?"
Han Laizi knew that he and the Tushu were already in the wrong, and if their momentum weakened further, everyone would surely scatter like birds and beasts. He wanted to call on his brothers to take action, but remembering that Shi Dazhuang was a policeman and a fairly high-ranking official, he dared not rush forward rashly. But Shi Dazhuang's words immediately gave him an opening.
"So you're just trying to say we're poor!" Han Laizi seized on the word "poor," stirring up the righteous indignation of the people in the valley. "So what if Laozi 're poor? Just because you people over there are rich doesn't mean you can bully us! You think you can steal our women?"
People started shouting noisily, "That's right! You think you're so great just because you have a few bucks! Kuaziba isn't a place you can come and go as you please!"
"You, surnamed Shi, dare to steal our women! Do you think the men of Kuaziba are easy to bully!"
The more they talked, the more excited they became, and the circle around them shrank.
Shi Dazhuang was speechless, trying to calm everyone down while protecting the two women behind him.
Han Laizi, ready to fan the flames, shouted at Letuolie in the crowd, " Letuolie, your wife ran off with another man, and you don't even say a word? Coward!"
Letuolie blushed, stepped out from the crowd, and said to Yang Lijuan, "Come home with me!"
Yang Lijuan went all out and said, "No! This isn't my home! My home is in Shenzhou!"
Han Laizi then provoked him. " Letuolie, look, your wife is determined to run off with a man, a high-ranking official in the city, a rich man!"
Letuolie's face turned ashen with rage. He threw the child in his arms to the ground and said, "Go away! Go away! If you have the heart to leave, then leave!"
The child was crying loudly on the ground.
Yang Lijuan's heart clenched, and she wanted to run over and hug the child, but she turned back halfway, tears streaming down her face, and said, "I'd rather die than go back."
A woman nearby stepped forward, picked up the child, and spat at Yang Lijuan: "Pah! I never thought you were this kind of person! You'd abandon your own child for a rich man? Shameless!"
"I'm not!"
Yang Lijuan's explanations sounded so powerless amidst the jeers and condemnations of the crowd.
There were more people than before, and the crowd was finally ignited, with angry faces appearing on the faces of the men and women of Kuaziba.
With a roar, Han Laizi charged forward, brandishing his shovel.
Led by him, several men with weapons rushed forward, wielding sticks, shovels, and hoes at Shi Dazhuang. Some who hadn't brought weapons, caught up in the frenzy, picked up nearby branches and began beating him.
Shi Dazhuang was very clear-headed. He couldn't fight back. If he did, it would escalate into a conflict between the police and the civilians, and the nature of the incident would change.
Han Laizi saw this point, which is why he dared to be so audacious.
At first, those who were beating him were relatively restrained, only using the handles of the shovels and hoes, at most striking with the blunt end of the metal objects. But later, some people even started using the sharp end of the shovels to hit Shi Dazhuang.
Shi Dazhuang, relying on his iron-clad physique honed during his military service, managed to withstand and dodge the attacks. However, protecting the two women behind him without retaliating was proving quite difficult. In a moment of carelessness, his arm was slashed by the shovel, and blood splattered far away, landing right in front of Yu Meiren. A few drops even stained her clothes, startling her so much that she screamed "Ah!"
Han Laizi sneered coldly, just about to give Shi Dazhuang another surprise attack, when suddenly there was a loud slap, and his face stung with pain.
A slipper flew out of nowhere, hitting him squarely in the face before flying away again.
His head lolled to the side from the blow, and he saw the slipper fly into the air, pause, and then fall back down, landing right on a foot that was sticking up.
The guy who came with Shi Dazhuang and had been lazily watching the show had somehow appeared in front of him.
"What... what are you going to do?" Han Laizi suddenly felt a little guilty.
He dared to hit Shi Dazhuang because he was certain Shi Dazhuang wouldn't fight back. As for the person who came with Shi Dazhuang, he looked weak and uncouth, not like a policeman, and with his lazy demeanor, Han Laizi never took him seriously.
Now, the man was standing right in front of him, still looking lazy, with his hands in his pockets and one foot half-raised in the air, catching the slipper that fell from the sky.
I want to kick you.
The man only uttered four words before his foot suddenly kicked forward, striking Han Laizi squarely in the stomach.
Han Laizi cried out in pain as he was kicked a long way away, dropping his shovel and lying on the ground groaning.
The previously aggressive crowd suddenly fell silent, completely taken aback by Qingmu's unexpected kick.
Han Laizi reacted quickly, immediately lying on the ground and wailing, "The police are beating people! The police are beating people!"
People snapped out of their shock and began shouting, "The police are beating people!"
It's as if by chanting such slogans, they become the righteous side, and the police on the other side become the guilty ones, obediently standing there to be beaten.
Several men who had come with Han Laizi, carrying weapons, rushed over menacingly, ready to attack Qingmu.
But as soon as they raised their shovels and hoes, Qingmu kicked them to the ground with a series of thuds, and they all clutched their stomachs and cried out.
Qingmu shook his head and said:
"You people! When the drug dealers come, you cower like Guisun, not daring to utter a sound, but knowing the police won't hit ordinary citizens, you dare to hit the police with shovels!"
He took a step forward.
People like you are worse than rats living in the gutter!
After he finished speaking, he stepped on the leg of the man who had been hitting the man most fiercely with the hoe, and a crisp "crack" was heard as the man's shinbone was broken.
" Teacher Qingmu!" Shi Dazhuang tried to stop him, but it was too late.
Qingmu stepped on the legs of four people in a short time, breaking them with his left and right foot, and stood in front of Han Laizi.
Han Laizi broke out in a cold sweat when he saw his several cousins lying on the ground groaning in pain.
The people around seemed startled, as quiet as a group of clay puppets.
"What are you trying to do?" Han Laizi tried to remain calm. "You're a police officer, and police officers can't just hit people!"
Qingmu bent over and looked at Han Laizi, his hands still in his pockets. He slowly lifted his right foot, his slippers wobbling as if they might fall off at any moment.
"What you say makes a lot of sense! Too bad you're wrong, I'm not a police officer!"
The foot he was holding landed, stepping right on Han Laizi's crotch.
Bi Shenghua was making breakfast, cracking an egg into a bowl.
Hearing the sound of the eggshell cracking, the Crow excitedly cawed, "Wow! A double-yolk egg!"
Bi Shenghua looked at the eggs in the bowl and saw that there were indeed two yolks, but they were both broken. She poured the eggs into the trash can and said, "Never mind, these eggs are completely rotten."