Chapter 98: Waiting for Rabbits by the Stump

That afternoon, when Li Yi and the others returned from the county seat, they were chatting and laughing as usual.

They greeted other villagers and commune members they met along the way, and there was nothing out of the ordinary to be seen.

What they didn’t know, however, was that shortly after Li Yi and the others returned to the village, several men in plain clothes had quietly arrived and made their way to the village committee office.

Li Yi was unaware that Wang Anguo’s men had already arrived in the village; he simply instructed his third older sister and Tang Xue to carry on as usual.

Back home, he had Li Na clean up the mess as usual, while Li Yi rode his bicycle with Tang Xue to the new house.

The roof tiles had already been laid at the new house, and Master Zhao was leading his crew in grouting the exterior walls.

This involved using cement to fill the gaps between the red bricks, which not only improved the appearance but also effectively prevented rainwater from eroding the walls, thereby extending the building’s lifespan.

Meanwhile, his father, Li Shankui, was leading a team in leveling the floor inside the house—raising the foundation above ground level to prepare for the upcoming renovations.

Speaking of renovations, rural homes aren’t particularly fussy.

Usually, they just install a drop ceiling and cover it with old newspapers—and that’s considered a finished ceiling.

The walls are simply painted white—no tiles, wallpaper, or diatomaceous earth finishes whatsoever!

The floors were simple too: those who could afford it laid a layer of red bricks; those who couldn’t simply wet the ground with water and then tamped it down.

That’s right—back then, most people’s floors were just dirt, with no tiles, no grout lines, and no baseboards.

So, home renovations in those days were incredibly quick and hassle-free.

According to Li Yi’s estimate, after airing out the room for a day or two to let the moisture dissipate, it’s ready for renovation.

It looks like we can definitely have the house ready by the end of the month!

Overjoyed, Li Yi immediately began discussing renovation plans with Tang Xue.

After all, this house would be where the two of them—no, their whole family—would live, so it had to be comfortable.

Tang Xue actually had no objections to this, and the reason was simple: first, she didn’t know much about it.

Second, Tang Xue felt that things were already great—far better than she had ever expected—so she really had nothing else to say.

After returning from the new house, both Li Yi and Tang Xue were thrilled.

They were finally going to have their own little nest, and both began to imagine the wonderful life ahead.

However, as soon as they got home, Li Yi heard his third older sister say that Secretary Feng had just stopped by and asked him to come to the village committee office.

Although he didn’t know what it was about, Li Yi still hopped on his bicycle and headed to the village office.

When he arrived at the village office, Zhou Yang was surprised to see Li Gang, as well as several young men he’d met at the criminal investigation team.

As soon as he walked in, Feng Kai, puffing on his pipe, said, “Yi, these police officers have already told me what happened. Are you really planning to get to the bottom of this?”

No sooner had he finished speaking than Li Gang interjected, “Secretary Feng, I understand what you mean, but even if Brother Li Yi chooses not to pursue this, we can’t drop the case!”

“Why?” Feng Kai asked, furrowing his brow.

As the village Party secretary, he truly didn’t want this matter to be made public. Regardless of who was responsible, it would ultimately damage the reputation of Nianzishan Brigade.

“Secretary Feng, in ordinary public order cases, we can dismiss the case if the parties involved don’t wish to pursue it. But that’s not possible with criminal cases—especially not one as serious as this, which is a malicious poisoning!” Li Gang said.

“Poisoning? I think those young men were just jealous of Yiwa’s success and wanted to scare him a bit. There’s no need to blow this out of proportion…”

Before Feng Kai could finish speaking, Li Yi interjected, “Uncle Feng, I know you don’t want this incident to tarnish the reputation of our Nianzi Mountain Brigade, but wrong is wrong. If you do something wrong, you have to take responsibility—even a child understands that!”

“Since those people dared to do this, they need to have the courage and resolve to take responsibility! Besides, I don’t think we can protect the reputation of our Nianzi Mountain Brigade if I don’t hold them accountable this time!”

“Yi, what do you mean by that?” Feng Kai asked, frowning.

“Uncle Feng, do you know what they put in our mushrooms this time? Highly toxic autumn-born scaly ears. You should know just how potent the poison in these mushrooms is!”

Li Yi continued, “We should count ourselves lucky that we stumbled upon this problem today. Otherwise, if people had eaten those mushrooms, it would have cost lives.”

“And yet, these people went ahead with it even though they knew full well it would lead to such serious consequences. Just look at how brazen they are—and how utterly depraved their hearts are!”

“If we let them get away with this, who knows what even worse mistakes they might commit next time? Uncle Feng, if you don’t take decisive action now, you’ll end up suffering the consequences yourself!”

Feng Kai fell silent!

After a long while, he sighed and said, “You’re right, Yi. I won’t get involved in this. You guys handle it.”

With that, Feng Kai picked up his pipe and walked out of the village committee office.

He had done his best, but the current situation had spiraled beyond his control; all he could do now was leave it to fate.

After Feng Kai left, Li Gang said with a smile, “Your Secretary Feng seems to care quite a bit about those educated youth!”

“Haha, if something goes wrong, he’s the one who’ll be held responsible as the Party Secretary. How could he not care?” Li Yi said.

“We’ve already gotten a preliminary understanding of what happened. It’s pretty much in line with your earlier assessment. We also think it’s more likely that the male educated youths committed the crime, so we plan to use that as a breakthrough point for our investigation!” Li Gang said.

“How do you plan to investigate?” Li Yi asked immediately.

“In a case like this, it might be worth trying a ‘wait-and-see’ approach!” Li Gang said.

“Lying in wait?”

“Yes. According to you, those female educated youth only just helped you pick mushrooms. That means those male educated youth only recently found an opportunity to poison them, is that right?”

“Yes. To be specific, today was likely their first attempt, because my wife only explicitly refused to take them out to earn money yesterday!” Li Yi said.

“In that case, we’ve got this in the bag!”

Li Gang then explained, “In cases like this, to ensure success and to make sure the blame falls directly on you if something goes wrong, the killer usually commits a series of crimes!”

“So my plan is for my men to sneak into the female educated youth dormitory tonight and stay there until dawn, waiting for the killer to strike again!”

Hearing this, Li Yi frowned and said, “Is it really okay for your men to sneak into the female educated youth dormitory?”

“Of course, you’ll need to give the female educated youth a heads-up—just make sure it doesn’t turn into some kind of scandal!” Li Gang said.

“Alright, I’ll go back and make the arrangements. I’m sure they’ll cooperate!” Li Yi said.

“Hmm! Let us know once it’s all set!”

“Got it!”

…….