country bumpkin

Chapter 51 The Truth

At night, a dark-skinned man from Xiangyang Hutong in Kongjia Village sneaked to Li Guanggun's house at the village entrance.

He went out during the day and when he came back, his wife told him that Li Guanggun had been arrested. So, taking advantage of the fact that no one was around at night, he went to Li Guanggun's house to check.

He was afraid that he might have left something behind and that the police would find it. Even though he had given Li Guanggun money, he was still worried that Li would give him away.

This person is Liu Dayong, the eldest son of Granny Xu from the same village.

Er Gouzi's father, Cheng Dachui, and Liu Dayong's father are good friends.

The two often went hunting together in the mountains. Once, an accidental landslide occurred, and Liu Dayong's father slid down the slope.

Cheng Dachui disregarded his own safety and slid down the hillside to save Dayong's father.

Because of the slippery conditions caused by the rain, a mudslide occurred on the mountain. If Cheng Dachui hadn't carried Dayong's father on his back and taken shelter under a large tree overgrown with weeds, they might both have been buried in the mudslide's mud.

This act of saving a life brought the two families together. Later, Liu Dayong and Er Gouzi became sworn brothers.

After Cheng Dachui died of illness, Granny Xu and her husband often went to take care of him and brought him food.

Later, Liu Dayong's father's dying words were that he was worried about his friend's son.

Because Cheng Dachui died of illness, the family spent all their savings on medical treatment and medicine, leaving them penniless and unable to afford to marry off their son.

Er Gouzi remained single. Without any elders to supervise him, he grew increasingly lazy and eventually became a lazy bum on Lazy Street.

This time, because Er Gouzi and some thugs robbed Kong Xiangdong's house, they were arrested and imprisoned. Liu Dayong felt that this was Kong Xiangdong's fault.

They shouldn't have called the police to arrest Er Gouzi. They should have just found the village chief and returned the stolen goods and money to them.

He felt that the village chief could handle such minor issues in the village. That's why Liu Dayong sought ways to retaliate against the Kong family.

He found Li Guanggun in the village, explained what he needed to do, and gave him 200 yuan.

For a lazy bachelor, this is an irresistible number. So even if he gets arrested, he won't betray Liu Dayong.

He also hoped that after his release from prison, Liu Dayong would give him some work to do. At least that would bring him some income; otherwise, he would starve to death on that little piece of wasteland.

Even if he had a lot of land, he wouldn't bother to manage it.

Granny Xu also had a younger son, Liu Dagang. The younger son was smarter than the older one and would never do such dirty things.

Liu Dayong's mother, Granny Xu, was unaware of the bad things he had done. She was a timid and fearful person and would never allow her son to do such things.

Liu Dayong wandered around the house for a while, but found nothing. He carefully closed the door, looked around, and when he saw that no one was watching, he went home.

It was late at night and the streets were quiet. All the lights in the houses were off, and occasionally a village dog would bark.

He stealthily opened his front door, closed it, and went straight into the house.

My wife and child were fast asleep, and I lay in bed thinking. I drifted off to sleep.

The next day, just as dawn broke, Liu Dayong got up early, feeling restless as if he had a rabbit in his hand.

His wife, Zheng Shuang, noticed his low spirits and couldn't help but mutter a few words, but he wasn't in the mood to respond.

At this moment, there was a sudden noise outside.

Liu Dayong was startled and ran to the door to look around. He saw a group of police officers walking towards his house.

It turned out that although Li Guanggun was stubborn, he couldn't withstand the police's meticulous investigation and still gave himself away.

Liu Dayong's face turned deathly pale; he tried to run, but his legs went weak. The police quickly arrived at his doorstep and surrounded him. His wife and children watched in horror.

"Liu Dayong, you are suspected of instigating others to commit crimes. Come with us," the police officer said sternly.

Liu Dayong lowered his head in despair, letting the police handcuff him.

Hearing the commotion, the neighbors all peeked out to see what was going on. Granny Xu also squeezed to the front and, seeing her son's condition, fainted on the spot.

Liu Dayong was filled with remorse. If he hadn't been blinded by hatred, he wouldn't be in such a state now.

It wasn't until noon that Granny Xu slowly woke up. As soon as she opened her eyes, she tightly grasped her daughter-in-law's hand. "Has Zheng Shi Dayong been released?"

Zheng Shuang forcefully pulled her hand away. "Mom, you're awake. Dayong was only arrested this morning, how could he be released so quickly?"

Granny Xu was anxious and upset, and tears kept falling from her eyes.

"How could this child be so foolish? How could he do such a thing? Even if they weren't brothers, and even if they were, if a brother robbed someone, we couldn't call the police and have him arrested. It's not worth it for a robber like that... Waaaaah."

Granny Xu cried and shouted, "Dayong is a fool. His father has been gone for seven years. In these seven years, we have provided him with food and clothing, and we have repaid the debt of gratitude we owed him."

Granny Xu was filled with regret. She had never explained things to her son, and that they had already repaid enough favors over the years.

His own son was a foolish display of loyalty.

Zheng Shuang patted her mother-in-law on the back, "Mom, don't be sad, you'll be out in a few days. No one died, it's not that serious."

Granny Xu stopped crying. "Really?"

Zheng Shuang nodded, "Really, Mom, don't worry!"

Granny Xu breathed a sigh of relief, finally feeling a weight lifted from her heart. These matters once again became the hot topic of conversation in the village.

In fact, the village chief can handle any theft, fights, or brawls that happen in the village. But this matter concerns the water safety of more than twenty households in the entire street.

If it's poison, then all these lives were sacrificed in vain. The matter itself may seem minor, but the potential harm is extremely high.

A few days later, the village chief came to inform Granny Xu that the matter had been settled.

Liu Dayong was sentenced to six months in prison, and Li Guanggun to three months. They were also given a reprimand and education.

Although he was only imprisoned for a few days, his reputation was ruined. Liu Dayong had served time in prison, and his children would be pointed at and talked about in the future.

Liu Dayong was filled with remorse while in prison.

Because of his own mistake, his child has to endure scorn and public opinion.

After this incident, the children all avoided his children, isolated them, and refused to play with them.

Zheng Shuang didn't want her children to suffer criticism, so she took them back to her parents' home. She plans to return after some time, once the children have forgotten about it.

This will give both the child and yourself a chance to breathe.

Life goes on. Whatever happens tomorrow, we'll deal with that tomorrow! Let's just focus on living each day to the fullest.

Only after experiencing the vicissitudes of life do people truly understand how difficult life is.

Because everyone lives in the real world, facing the cruelty of life and the realities of human nature.

To live a good life, you should associate with sincere and honest people and avoid adding too much mental burden to yourself.