RYEY – Chapter 95 Who Reported It

“The situation is like this: these two people were wanted by our Public Security Department, but they were extremely cunning, constantly changing locations. Later, a cattle herder from Qian Village reported that he saw two dead bodies on his way home.”

Li Huan nodded. So they were wanted criminals. No wonder they were so vicious. Luckily, the snake his wife had hidden—the red-headed viper—was there. Otherwise, these two would have ended up as victims under the knife. No, it would have been three people, including the baby in his wife’s belly.

“When we arrived at the scene, we could immediately tell that a fight had taken place. And the main culprit had clear marks on his arm from a cattle whip, which showed he had met strong resistance and suffered a heavy loss.”

Li Huan was astonished. He remembered cleaning up the battlefield at the time. The police really had eyes like a hawk—they could immediately see that a fight had occurred. There was no arguing with that.

“Originally, we thought they had died in the fight, but after inspection, we found bite marks on their bodies—clearly venomous snakebites. We also found traces of a viper crawling nearby, so we concluded they died from snake venom.”

“Comrade Li Huan, you’ve done a great service this time. You have to understand, these two had several lives in their hands. If they had gotten away, who knows how many villagers would have lived in fear?”

“No, no, it’s got nothing to do with me. I just did what had to be done. They tried to rob my money and even said they would kill me and sell my wife. That’s why I went mad.”

“And what a fortunate madness it was! If you hadn’t gone mad, you wouldn’t have provoked the snake, and they wouldn’t have been killed by it. The net of heaven is vast but never misses.”

Li Huan thought about it. Indeed, if they hadn’t come to rob him and his wife, they wouldn’t have been bitten by the viper she released. Truly, what goes around comes around.

“That’s why we posted a missing persons notice to get more information. But the anonymous letter writer probably didn’t get much schooling—the letter was full of spelling mistakes. It took us a long time to find you.”

“I see. Can I take a look at that anonymous letter?”

“Well…”

The police officer hesitated. Usually, such letters aren’t shown to the people involved. If anything went wrong, they would be held accountable.

“No need to show it. I just want to thank whoever wrote it. Otherwise, I wouldn’t even know that one whip could help accomplish a merit.”

“You have a point. Without the anonymous letter, we could have still found you, but it would have taken much longer. Here, take a look. If you know who wrote it, don’t forget to thank them.”

The officer took a manila envelope from the drawer, then pulled out a small sheet of paper and handed it to Li Huan.

Li Huan looked at the palm-sized paper. It simply had the five characters “Erlizi and Cheng Qiao” written on it. But “Erlizi” was written as “Erlizhi,” and “Cheng Qiao” was written as “Chen Mu.”

“Village Head, look at this handwriting. Can you tell who wrote it?”

Chen Weidang examined it for a long time, but couldn’t make sense of it. He just saw the characters “Chen Mu” and laughed. The person must have imagined Qiao (巧) as a bridge (桥), so they wrote “Mu” (木, meaning wood), thinking wood is also a bridge.

“Good thing you’re used to being called ‘Erlizi,’ otherwise, no one could have guessed from ‘Erlizhi’ that it was you.”

Chen Weidang’s words made Li Huan a little embarrassed. Who would have thought being called “Erlizi” could be useful? Maybe he should keep that glorious title after all.

“Can I leave now?”

Li Huan, thinking about his wife Cheng Qiao, was anxious. Today he had to mail the quilt to his father-in-law. His pregnant wife couldn’t exert herself, so he asked eagerly.

“Comrade Li Huan, please wait a bit. Our colleague is still transcribing the record. Once it’s done, you just need to sign it.”

Li Huan nodded, watching the officer carefully copy every stroke. He smirked—his wife’s handwriting was fast and beautiful; if she were here, it would have been done ages ago.

“Comrade, since Li Huan has made a great contribution, is there any reward for him, for our village?”

Chen Weidang asked cautiously. Even though Li Huan made the achievement, he was a resident of Xiangyang Village. Under his leadership, it reflected on the village too.

“Yes. When we found the bodies, we reported it, and the higher-ups said there would be a reward. Wait for it—once the report is submitted, you’ll hear news.”

Chen Weidang’s eyes lit up. Seeing Li Huan carefully sign his name, he rubbed his hands together excitedly, as if he had been the one who made the merit.

“Village Head, I’ve signed. I have urgent matters to attend to, so I’ll go first.”

“No, you must wait here for news.”

Chen Weidang wouldn’t let Li Huan leave. Until they had definite news, even if Li Huan went home, he couldn’t relax. Staying here was safer.

Li Huan grew anxious. The report hadn’t even left the desk—how could there be news so soon? Just as he was about to tell Chen Weidang to wait at home, Cuihua rushed over in a flurry.

Seeing Li Huan, she shouted anxiously, “You Erlizi! Look at the mess you’ve caused. Villagers say you killed someone, and Miao Qing even beat your wife. She was sent to the hospital!”

Li Huan’s expression changed, and he dashed out the door like a spring had been installed under his feet. In an instant, he disappeared. Cuihua was stunned. Li Huan wasn’t a murderer—how could he just run away like that?

“Wife, quickly tell me, what exactly happened in the village?”

“Old Chen, how can a murderer run away? Weren’t they supposed to be locked up?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. This time, Erlizi made a huge contribution to our village. We’re waiting for the reward.”

Cuihua was dizzy. Which version was the truth? But she trusted her man and quickly explained everything that had happened in the village.

“We must clarify quickly, or that little firecracker from the Li family won’t believe it. If anything goes wrong, Erlizi could cause big trouble on his return.”

Chen Weidang slapped his thigh in pain but determination, grabbed Cuihua, and ran back to the village. Along the way, he realized who had written the anonymous letter.

That Miao Qing was almost twenty, but unfortunately, she had grown in body but not in brains. With Chen Chunhua’s incident in mind, it was no wonder she got into trouble.

“Old Chen, in such cold weather, how could snakes come out to bite people? And two at that? That’s really strange.”

Cuihua, listening on the way, also felt puzzled.

“What’s strange about it? When those two died, we were only wearing thin jackets—not as cold as today. Snakes coming out is normal. The question is why there were two.”

“Two people, two snakes. Where have you seen one snake bite two people? It’s not a two-headed snake.”

“Who knows? Maybe it was a pair of love-struck snakes, disturbed but not angry.”

“You… I’m not talking to a fool.”