Chapter 99: East Wind and West Wind (Part 3)

Shazhou College was submerged in the night. The green trees were reduced to mere silhouettes, and every dozen meters, a streetlamp cast a bright circle of light onto the road. Students moved through the campus as usual. Couples walked hand in hand or embraced under the shadows of the trees.

The diligent students remained in the library or teaching buildings, or walked through the campus, which was thick with the atmosphere of youth, clutching their books.

Hou Weidong moved through the campus like a drunkard. His steps were unsteady, and the alcohol continued to rise in his system. He found a dark spot by the roadside, leaned against a tree, and vomited violently. This startled a couple standing beneath the tree.

"That person has no manners at all," the woman said. "If you drink like that, I won't have anything to do with you."

"I study law," the man replied. "How could I do something like that?"

After vomiting, Hou Weidong had no energy to argue with the couple. He stumbled to a small convenience store and bought a pack of Lebaishi yogurt drinks. He usually didn’t drink this sweet-and-sour beverage, but tonight it tasted quite good. He sat on a stone bench and drank four bottles in a row.

After sitting for a while, he felt slightly better. Relying on instinct, he headed toward the guesthouse. As he passed a small bookstore, his head grew increasingly foggy. Subconsciously, he turned inside. He randomly pulled out a book about transportation, but when he opened it, the pages were a blur of flowers.

"Hou Weidong, why are you reading here?" A pleasant female voice rang out.

Hou Weidong didn’t hold the book steady. It dropped with a slap. He leaned against the bookshelf to pick it up, but as he straightened, another wave of nausea hit his chest, and he nearly vomited again. He lifted his drunken eyes to look. Standing before him was a quiet beauty with short hair. He straightened up, striving to maintain his composure.

"Guo Lan, what are you doing here?"

Guo Lan had already smelled the strong odor of alcohol on him. She instinctively took a step back. "I live on campus."

"I graduated from Shazhou College. Why haven’t I seen you before?" Hou Weidong said. Then, realization dawned on him. He spoke loudly, "I know. Your parents work at the college. When I entered Shazhou College, you had just graduated. When I graduated, you returned. It seems we always miss each other."

With alcohol clouding his brain, Hou Weidong started joking in front of the beautiful woman from the Organization Department.

The bookstore owner recognized Hou Weidong. He said to Guo Lan, "Lanlan, Hou Weidong graduated from Shazhou College last year. He was an outstanding student cadre. Do you know him?" Then he turned to Hou Weidong. "How did you get so drunk?"

Guo Lan had once accepted Hou Weidong’s unintentional help during a difficult time. Because of that experience, she harbored a faint goodwill toward him. Seeing him so intoxicated, she asked with concern, "You’re drunk. Why did you come to the college? Go home quickly."

Hou Weidong became even more charmingly drunk. "My home is in Wu Hai County. I don’t have a home in Yi Yang. I’m staying at the college guesthouse."

"I see." Guo Lan understood why she had met Hou Weidong at the dance hall earlier. Her eyebrows furrowed slightly. She advised him again, "You can’t even hold your book steady. Go rest."

Hou Weidong followed Guo Lan outside. There were a few steps leading down from the bookstore door. As he descended, he nearly fell. Guo Lan saw that he was truly too drunk to walk on his own, so she stepped forward to support him, scolding, "Why did you drink so much? Come, I’ll take you to the guesthouse."

Hou Weidong felt quite excited. "Alcohol is a good thing. As the ancients said, 'What can relieve sorrow? Only Du Kang.'"

Guo Lan replied, "Forcing sorrow to write new verses."

Hou Weidong waved his hand in response. "Now I have tasted the flavor of sorrow, yet I say, 'What a cool autumn day.'"

It was with great difficulty that Guo Lan dragged Hou Weidong to the guesthouse. She booked a room for him, pushed him onto the bed, and pulled a quilt over him. Pinching her nose, she took off his leather shoes, then hurriedly left. Back at her home, she realized she smelled of alcohol too. She took a bath to wash away the unpleasant odor.

"This Hou Weidong is too fragile. He can’t bear setbacks. He’s not a real man." This was Guo Lan’s assessment of Hou Weidong.

Hou Weidong slept deeply until ten o’clock the next morning. When he woke up, he was dazed for a long time, unsure of where he was. Finally, he saw the characters "Shazhou Guesthouse" on the table and realized his location. His memory only retained the scene of getting out of the Santana car; the period after entering the college was completely erased from his mind.

"Who brought me in?"

The waitress was a relative of a Shazhou College teacher. She had practically watched Guo Lan grow up. She looked Hou Weidong over without hesitation and said, "You were too drunk to walk. Guo Lan booked the room for you." Another waitress walked over and smiled. "Hou Weidong, why did you drink so much? Young people should drink less."

"Guo Lan? It was her?" Hou Weidong struggled to recall the events of the previous night. That period of time was like a vacuum, with no trace left. He slapped his head hard. "It seems I should avoid getting drunk in the future. I especially shouldn’t drink that 'Hei Wa' liquor. How did Liang Bifa get involved with gangsters? He’s playing with fire."

Just then, his pager beeped. Hou Weidong picked it up and read the message. He jumped up instantly. It was a short message: "Tian Dadao’s quarry crushed someone to death. Return immediately. He."

Although it wasn’t his own quarry that had the accident, it was the first accident at the Shangqinglin quarry. Hou Weidong dared not delay. He hailed a taxi and rushed back to Shangqinglin.

When he arrived at the small courtyard, he saw it filled with people. The crowd was agitated, shouting loudly in the yard. Several people recognized Hou Weidong and grabbed him.

"Hou the Madman! You are a government person. You must do justice for us!"

Some people who had entered the courtyard later saw the group surrounding Hou Weidong and rushed over. "Someone was killed, and you’re still trying to run, you bastard!" A young man already kicked at Hou Weidong.

Someone shouted, "That’s Hou the Madman! You’re hitting the wrong person!"

Hou Weidong pulled a familiar villager aside and asked, "What exactly happened?"

The villager explained, "Tian Dadao’s quarry crushed someone to death. A rock fell from the mining platform and smashed Liu Erwa’s head open. He died on the spot. Tian Dadao said he would go get money and ran away."

Hou Weidong’s face turned pale. He thought to himself, I feared this would happen. A safety accident has occurred. Fortunately, it wasn’t at Goubewan. He asked again, "Why are so many people gathered here?"

The villager said, "Tian Dadao’s wife lives here. They brought Liu Erwa’s body over. If the township government doesn’t resolve this quickly, they will carry Liu Erwa’s body to the township government."

Hou Weidong said in a low voice, "Tian Dadao’s quarry is a private enterprise, not a township government enterprise. What does it have to do with the government?"

The villager replied, "They don’t care about that. If the township government doesn’t handle it, they will go to the county government."

Hou Weidong pushed through the crowd and went inside. A wooden door panel was placed on the ground, and a man in his thirties lay on it. The man was covered in blood, especially on the top of his head, where there was a large hole, about the size of a fist. It looked quite terrifying.

A half-grown child squatted nearby, crying. Another child, not yet three years old, sat beside them, playing with small stones on the ground. The three-year-old was too young to understand what had happened and played with great interest.

From the inner room came a commotion. After a while, several women struggled out of the mess hall gate. Chi Ming’s hair was disheveled, her nose was broken and bleeding profusely, and her face was bruised purple and blue.

"If you want to find someone, find Tian Dadao! Why are you looking for me? I didn’t open the quarry!" Chi Ming struggled continuously.

Xi Zhaoyong’s face was iron-gray. He roared loudly, "What are you doing? Solve the problem properly. The government will send people up immediately. Hey, no hitting!"

A roar came from the crowd: "She is part of Tian Dadao’s family. Tian Dadao ran away, so she must pay compensation!"

Director Gao was also in the crowd. He raised both hands high and said, "Why are so many of you gathered here? Everyone who is not from the Liu family, go out. Those from Erwa’s family, find some water to wash Erwa, and find some new clothes for him to change into."

Under the guidance of Xi Zhaoyong and Director Gao, the crowd slowly retreated to the outer courtyard. Suddenly, a heart-wrenching cry rang out. Liu Erwa’s mother rushed in from the outer courtyard. The crowd had been hiding the truth from her, but how could such a major event be concealed? Upon learning the situation, she had gone mad and rushed to the old township government office.

After entering the yard, she threw herself onto her son’s body and cried for a while. Then, she suddenly jumped up with astonishing speed, lunged at Chi Ming, raised her hand, and struck down with force.

Chi Ming let out a scream, and blood spurted from her face.

Xi Zhaoyong rushed forward and pulled her away, snatching the object from her hand. Xi Zhaoyong had been a scout and participated in the Sino-Vietnamese War; his movements were fierce. He looked at what he had grabbed and saw it was a sharp stone, perhaps taken from somewhere near Liu Erwa’s body.

Hou Weidong had been stunned at first, but now he finally snapped out of it. Seeing blood streaming from Chi Ming’s head, he shouted loudly, "Stop hitting! Violence is illegal. Take Chi Ming out."

Except for Liu Erwa’s mother and daughter-in-law, the others shouted fiercely but moved little. Seeing Chi Ming covered in blood and slumping to the side, unsure of the severity of her injuries, they parted to make a path.

Yang Xinchun and others took the opportunity to help Chi Ming out.

Once Chi Ming left, the two women threw themselves onto Liu Erwa’s body and wailed. The two children also began to cry loudly.

Amidst the chaos, car horns sounded outside the yard. Mayor Qin and people from the Enterprise Office walked in.