Chapter 164 - 163: Cleared of Suspicion

Chapter 164: Chapter 163: Cleared of Suspicion

Director Fei of the Public Security Bureau glanced at Jiang Weimin, then at Zhao Wendong who had stood up beside him. A thought struck him. Now that Li Guangming was dead, Jiang Weimin was a shoo-in for the next Party Secretary. This Zhao Wendong clearly had a deep connection with Jiang Weimin. ’It’s best if I don’t stir up any trouble.’ He even started to consider darker possibilities... but no, he dared not think about it. Having made up his mind, Director Fei’s expression became much more amicable.

"Of course not. I didn’t make myself clear just now. Comrade Zhao Wendong, could you please answer my question? Did you hit Li Guangming this afternoon?"

"That’s right."

Zhao Wendong admitted it readily with a nod.

"And you publicly threatened to shoot him dead?"

"That’s right."

"Then how did you kill him?"

"Heh, Director Fei, you’ve got it wrong again. I didn’t kill him. I only heard he was dead from you."

Director Fei scrutinized Zhao Wendong’s facial expression for a moment before continuing his questions.

"Then do you know who killed Li Guangming and the other two?"

"I don’t!"

"Have you been in the village all day today?"

"Yes!"

Zhao Weiguo, who was standing to the side, couldn’t help but interrupt.

"Comrade Director, everyone in our entire village can vouch for Zhao Wendong. He never left the village. He’s been right here in this mess hall with us, eating barbecue. He hasn’t even been to the restroom!"

"That’s right!"

"I can prove it."

"Me too."

The crowd clamored in agreement. Jiang Weimin spoke up as well.

"Old Fei, there’s no way Zhao Wendong could be the one who killed Li Guangming. We rushed over from the county seat as soon as we heard the news. You know it takes over an hour to drive here from the county. He was sitting right here when we arrived. Unless he grew wings and flew to the county and back, right?"

Director Fei nodded. He agreed with Jiang Weimin’s reasoning. Transportation was scarce these days; a mere Civilian Militia Captain like Zhao Wendong wouldn’t have access to a car. Still, he remained cautious.

"Well, Secretary Jiang, I’d still like to conduct some interviews as part of the investigation. Is that permissible?"

Jiang Weimin smiled and stepped aside to make way.

"Of course! It’s your job. Go on, investigate!"

A few police officers quickly came in and randomly called some villagers outside for individual questioning. After the interrogations, the officers cross-referenced the details the villagers provided and found no signs of collusion or fabrication.

This proved that Zhao Wendong had indeed never left the village. He certainly wasn’t the one who killed Li Guangming’s family of three. As for other possibilities, they were the police; they operated on evidence. Therefore, unless they found the real killer, or the killer confessed to some connection with Zhao Wendong, they had no reason to take him into custody.

"Alright, Secretary Jiang, we’ll be taking our leave then. Sorry for the disturbance!"

After speaking, Director Fei glanced at Li Dawei, who quickly saluted his superior.

"Director."

"Mm, Dawei, a major case has come up in the county. Do you have any leads or ideas from your end?"

"Reporting, sir! No!"

Director Fei shot him a look without a word, bid farewell to Jiang Weimin again, and then led his men to the American Jeep. The other officers climbed back onto the truck.

Zhao Wendong smiled and waved to the villagers who were serving the meat.

"The comrades from Public Security came all the way to our Dragon King Pond and even brought us such great news. We can’t let them leave empty-handed. If word got out, people would say our production team is too stingy and doesn’t know how to treat guests. Quick, give the comrades some of the roasted meat to take with them."

"You got it!"

In Dragon King Pond, Zhao Wendong’s words now carried more weight than Zhao Weiguo’s. The villagers immediately followed his instructions, taking the roasted venison to Director Fei and the other officers. The officers, who had been squatting in the back of the truck getting blasted by the cold wind, suddenly felt much better. ’This trip wasn’t a total waste after all,’ they thought. ’We even got a bite of hot roasted meat. Mmm, this is delicious!’

Many began to whisper among themselves. This Zhao Wendong seemed like a good comrade. How could a comrade like him kill Li Guangming’s entire family of three? It must have been Li Guangming himself who was fooling around and brought this disaster upon himself. They had heard more than a few rumors about Li Guangming’s affairs with this woman or that.

The police hadn’t even left yet when Zhao Lao Nian lit the firecrackers the production team had been saving for the New Year. Amidst the CRACKLE and POP, the county police’s Jeep and truck slowly drove away, as if being sent off in celebration.

Seeing that the matter was settled, Jiang Weimin also stood up to leave but was pulled back by Zhao Wendong.

"Secretary Jiang, since you’re already here, stay a little longer! The deer offal soup is on the stove. Have some hot soup before you go. Besides, our village is about to hold a meeting to discuss how the team will get through the winter. With you and Secretary Yang, our two ’parental officials,’ here, you can oversee things and guide our work!"

"Right, right, Secretary Jiang, you can’t leave."

Third Master Zhao and the others also chimed in, urging him to stay. Seeing their enthusiasm, Jiang Weimin smiled and sat back down.

"Alright, alright. We’ll impose on you a little longer then."

"What imposition? Come on, get all the meat on the grill! Ah, the alcohol is here! Quick, bring it over."

Zhao Wendong was mid-sentence when he saw Lin Zhiyin and the others returning with the bulk white liquor they had traded for, along with several jars and bowls. He shouted with delight.

He was genuinely happy and felt an urge to drink. He had been on pins and needles before, one moment afraid the Little Bastard would fail, the next afraid he would get caught. Now, everything had turned out for the best. The Little Bastard would presumably soon be on a train to the regional capital, and the great weight on Zhao Wendong’s heart was finally lifted.

The thought of Li Guangming’s entire family being wiped out filled Zhao Wendong with immense satisfaction. At this moment, he felt that only alcohol could properly express the joy in his heart!

Seeing Zhao Wendong in such high spirits, no one wanted to be a killjoy, especially since he had brought out alcohol. In this day and age, white liquor was an incredible luxury. Due to the ongoing grain shortages, major distilleries had halted production to conserve grain. The few of them poured some drinks and began to sip.

The other members of the Zhao Family also poured themselves some alcohol. As for the rest of the villagers, there were too many of them, so they just filled one bowl, and everyone dipped their chopsticks in for a taste to satisfy the craving.

As everyone ate the meat and regained their strength, combined with the presence of Commune leaders, county leaders, and the police—who had brought news that Li Guangming, the troublemaker from earlier, was dead—people started gathering and chattering about the day’s events. Every gaze that swept over Zhao Wendong now held a bit more awe, and the buzzing of conversation in the mess hall grew louder and louder.

Many people were now in awe of Zhao Wendong, such as Sun Zhiguo and his group of male educated youths, as well as people like Zhao the Sixth. Just moments before, Zhao the Sixth had pretended to help butcher the deer while secretly hiding a small piece of meat in his clothes. Now, feeling uneasy, he found an opportunity to sneak out and put the meat back.

But he was unwilling to leave empty-handed. Noticing a small piece of deerskin discarded to the side, he thought for a moment, picked it up, and stuffed it in his pocket. Someone saw him but said nothing.

The main topic of discussion in the mess hall was Li Guangming’s death. Although there was no evidence connecting it to Zhao Wendong, the villagers had a silent consensus: Li Guangming’s death had definitely been arranged by Zhao Wendong.

They had all watched him grow up and knew him too well. Why had Zhao Wendong been such a successful troublemaker? Because he’d had a personality that refused to be taken advantage of since he was a child, which was why no one in the village dared to provoke him. Aunt Wang, feeling this deeply, whispered to Uncle Wang.

"Dongzi definitely did this. Remember when Dongzi and Wenwu couldn’t beat our three sons in a fight when they were kids? What did he do? He tricked our boys one by one outside the village and ganged up on them, two against one."

Uncle Wang shot her a glare, glanced over at Zhao Wendong a few times, and then lowered his voice.

"Shut your trap. From now on, don’t say a bad word about Dongzi. Didn’t you see who’s sitting next to him? The Commune Secretary and the County Secretary are both drinking with him! If you want our three boys to ever get married, you’ll listen to me. Have them sign up for the civilian militia right away. They have to get in, even if it means begging Dongzi. You hear me?"

Aunt Wang was a bit reluctant. The current policy was "every citizen a soldier," meaning all men and women of appropriate age had to receive militia and military training. This was the militia in a broad sense. The civilian militia team, like the one Zhao Wendong led, referred to the core militia selected from the general pool. It was normally composed of able-bodied young men, sometimes with a few female members.

During the last selection for the core militia, Aunt Wang hadn’t let her three sons participate. The training was frequent, but it didn’t reduce their regular workload. It was exhausting with no real benefits. And if there was a dangerous mission like combat or catching spies, the militia team would be the first to charge in. That’s why many people were unwilling to join.

Zhao the Fourth was usually quite mild-mannered and hadn’t forced every household’s eligible members to participate in the selection. Not only had Uncle Wang thought of this issue, but Zhao Wendong had as well. He planned to reorganize and optimize the personnel tonight. Now that the Li Guangming matter was resolved, it was the perfect time to rebuild the core civilian militia team.

Venison was still roasting on several fires, but few people were watching it anymore. Many had turned their attention to the three original large stoves. For the first time in over two months, the mess hall’s huge pots were heated with water. Now, they were bubbling away with deer offal soup. The public mess hall had no seasonings, so Zhao Wendong had even contributed two packs of salt.

The adults were now gathered in small groups, chatting enthusiastically. Children ran around in packs, a stark contrast to the scene just a short while ago when everyone was listlessly waiting for meat, too weak to even speak.

"The morale of your team’s members is truly excellent!"

Yang Wenxue observed the scene and offered his praise with a gratified look. The members of the team committee looked at Zhao Wendong, signaling for him to speak on their behalf to the leaders. Zhao Wendong took a sip of the white liquor and sighed.

"That’s just because they’ve finally eaten some meat and have some energy. An hour ago, this whole room was silent and dead. Everyone was too weak to talk. It’s better now, but once this deer is gone, it’s gone. Tomorrow, it’s back to toughing it out. In a couple of days, they’ll all be too hungry to speak again."

Hearing Zhao Wendong’s words, Jiang Weimin suddenly remembered something. His eyes lit up.

"Comrade Wendong, about that matter with the bricks you mentioned before... are you still considering it?"