Nianzi Mountain Brigade Headquarters!
Just as those young lads were capturing the male educated youths, Li Gang and his men had finished interrogating Liang Jianhui.
The guy wasn’t exactly a tough nut to crack; after just a few words, he spilled the beans and confessed everything.
Li Gang hadn’t expected this case to be anything more than a routine poisoning incident; it turned out to be a relatively rare organized crime operation.
The reason it was considered rare was mainly because poisoning cases differ in nature from ordinary crimes.
Since the perpetrator chose to harm others through poisoning, it meant he didn’t want to expose himself and intended to act covertly.
Such individuals generally do not commit crimes with others, as having more people involved increases the risk of leaks.
But listening to this guy’s confession—that every single male educated youth at the work-study camp had been involved—was truly hard to believe, even for Li Gang, a criminal investigation team captain with considerable experience.
While shocked, he immediately realized he had been careless.
By making such a public spectacle of the arrests earlier, he had failed to keep an eye on the other educated youths. This had effectively alerted the suspects, and it was possible that those suspects had already fled.
Immediately, Li Gang informed Feng Kai of the situation. He led his team to the male educated youth dormitory while asking Secretary Feng to mobilize the village’s able-bodied young men to join the search for the suspects.
However, just as he began to act, he noticed a commotion outside the village office.
Immediately afterward, Li Gang and his group witnessed a shocking scene.
Several male educated youths were being led over, bound hand and foot, and to their surprise, they were being escorted by a group of young boys.
Seeing Qiangzi and his group looking as though they had returned in triumph, Feng Kai asked in surprise, “Feng Qiang, did you guys catch all of them?”
“Yeah. Brother Yi had long suspected those bastards were up to no good, so he told us to keep an eye on them. As soon as we saw them trying to run, we nabbed them!”
Gangzi chimed in from the side, “Brother Yi’s judgment was spot-on. Those bastards were just trying to run, but we stopped them all!”
Li Gang counted them and asked, “There are four here. Counting the one inside, that makes five. Who’s the fifth one?”
“It’s that bastard Xu Hong!” Feng Qiang said.
“Did he run?”
“Yeah, but Dongzi and Shitou are already chasing him. That kid’s a wimp—he won’t get away!”
“Was this also arranged by Brother Li Yi?” Li Gang asked in surprise.
“Yeah! Brother Yi’s calculations are spot-on!” Qiangzi said.
Feng Qiang and the others didn’t realize that to Li Gang, those words carried a completely different meaning.
He assumed Li Yi had once again predicted that their operation would run into trouble, so he’d made arrangements in advance.
Instantly, Li Yi’s standing in his eyes rose a little higher.
A true master is a true master—he really does leave no stone unturned!
Just then, there was another commotion outside, and soon they saw two teenage boys dragging a young man toward them.
The young man seemed extremely reluctant, struggling with every few steps, but what met him was a barrage of punches and kicks.
“It’s Dongzi and the others coming back. That guy is Xu Hong—that bastard’s been brought in too!” Qiangzi said, sounding a bit excited.
Hearing that the last suspect had been brought in, Li Gang finally breathed a sigh of relief.
When he’d first heard this was a gang crime, he’d immediately had a bad feeling. If any of the suspects had actually escaped, he’d be in for disciplinary action back at the station.
More importantly, as the interrogation had revealed, the first guy they’d caught was just a low-level henchman.
He hadn’t come up with the plan, nor had he procured the poison; he’d merely been sent to carry out the poisoning. At best, he was an accomplice.
If he arrested the accomplice but let the mastermind go, would he even have a future at the county bureau?
Just thinking about it was humiliating!
Fortunately, Li Yi stepped in just in time, plugged the gaps, and brought these bastards back!
Although he’d still be in for a good scolding and dressing-down from Old Wang back at the station, at least he hadn’t completely lost face!
Immediately, Li Gang ordered his men to handcuff all the male educated youths, then escorted them to the vehicle and headed back to the county seat!
……..
The sudden arrest of all these male educated youths by the police sent shockwaves through Nianzishan Village!
No one knew what was going on, and everyone’s gaze turned to the old Party Secretary, Feng Kai.
“Secretary Feng, what on earth is going on? How come those kids were just picked up and taken away like that?” asked Li Bingchen, the village’s highly respected “Third Uncle,” with his hands clasped behind his back.
Feng Kai didn’t want to talk about it, but seeing everyone’s curious expressions, he knew he had no choice but to explain.
Otherwise, who knows what these villagers would be saying behind his back!
So, in front of everyone, Feng Kai recounted how these male educated youths had envied Li Yi for making money selling mushrooms, how they’d been refused when they asked Li Yi to help them make money, and how they’d gone so far as to poison people.
When the commune members learned that these male educated youths had actually laced the mountain produce destined for the county seat with poisonous mushrooms, they were immediately up in arms.
As mountain folk, they naturally knew how terrifying poisonous mushrooms could be.
Sometimes, even the tiniest bit mixed in by accident could cause severe vomiting and diarrhea after consumption.
A few years ago, there was even an incident where an urban youth who had been sent to the countryside died after accidentally eating poisonous mushrooms. It’s safe to say that the mountain folk go out of their way to avoid poisonous mushrooms and are terrified at the mere mention of them.
Yet these male educated youths actually went so far as to lace the mountain produce with poisonous mushrooms out of jealousy—that’s downright insane!
No wonder Li Yi was forced to call the police to arrest them—they truly deserve it!
“How could they do such a thing? Aren’t they worried about poisoning someone to death?”
“Exactly. Never mind killing people—even if it just gives people stomachaches, no one will buy our mushrooms anymore!”
“Those bastards—they’re trying to cut off our livelihood…”
While most people were speaking out in support of Li Yi, some also raised doubts about the situation:
“Yi really is something. Why does he take the female educated youths to make money but not the male ones? No wonder they’re out to get him!”
“Exactly. We’re all neighbors here—why is he siding with those female知青?”
“Could it be that Yi and those female知青 are…”
Most of those who had previously spoken up for Li Yi were parents whose children were earning money with him.
Since their children had earned money, they were grateful to Li Yi and naturally wanted to stand with him.
But most of the people speaking now were those without children, or whose children were still too young to have benefited from Li Yi.
Their mindset at that moment was actually quite similar to that of the male educated youth: they felt a bit uneasy deep down, believing that Li Yi’s actions were underhanded and unfair!
Just as the crowd was arguing heatedly, the sound of a bell ringing—”ding-ling-dong”—suddenly rang out from outside the village office.
Everyone turned to look and saw Li Yi driving a bright red mule cart into the brigade headquarters…
………