Chapter 460: Whoever Fails to Confess Honestly Will Bear the Consequences

Liu Shuqin was terrified; she glanced toward Liu Jiandong and mumbled indistinctly in a voice no louder than a mosquito's buzz: "Liu Jiandong sought me out, so I went to find Liu Cunyi for help."

Liu Quanwen's eyes were now filled with raging fury: "Louder! Make yourself clear, damn it!"

Having lost his position as accountant, if not for his old man still having some former connections, he would have been dragged down by previous affairs; he had originally planned to lie low for a few years until the heat died down, then devise another plan.

He never expected his useless daughter to cause such trouble again; seeing the matter escalate further and further, for the sake of self-preservation, his family had to advance in order to retreat—yes, advance to retreat—by directly dragging out the mastermind behind the scenes and shifting the blame onto them.

That was why he had deliberately shouted so loudly; only in this way could the extent of his daughter's involvement be minimized.

Truly a matched couple, Peng Ailan quickly understood her husband's intent: "Why are you still hiding and concealing? Hurry up and confess clearly! You've been used by others, and now you've ruined yourself too, oh, my bitter-fated daughter."

Hearing her family's words, Liu Shuqin trembled all over; these words struck right at her heart, for she had indeed been thoroughly exploited by Liu Jiandong, ultimately ruining herself in the process.

Thinking that her entire life was now ruined, her eyes filled with hatred; she shoved Peng Ailan, who was trying to shield her, aside, and disregarding her own disheveled clothes, she lunged straight at Liu Jiandong: "You calamity! I'll kill you!"

Peng Ailan reached out to stop her but failed; thinking it better to let her daughter vent all the suffering she had endured, she cast a meaningful glance at Liu Quanwen standing nearby.

Liu Quanwen understood instantly; he took a few steps forward, appearing as though he intended to restrain his daughter, but in reality, he kept dragging Liu Jiandong along.

Liu Shuqin raved almost like a madwoman; within moments, Liu Jiandong's face was covered in bloody scratches, and his leg, which had previously been intact, was injured again amidst the chaos, causing him to scream loudly for help: "Secretary! Village Head! Stop this madwoman quickly! Ah! Help! She's going to kill someone!"

Because of what Ge Xiulan had done earlier, the villagers now avoided associating with her; if not for Bai Da, who loved watching trouble regardless of the consequences, running to the Liu family to summon people, Ge Xiulan would still be unaware of what had happened.

She had indeed heard the commotion, but due to her previous actions, she was cursed at wherever she went, so she rarely ventured into crowds; it was only because Bai Da ran over gleefully to summon people that she learned of the situation.

From far away, she heard her son's miserable screams; pushing through the crowd and squeezing inside, she saw her son looking like a blood-covered gourd, and she roared: "Liu Quanwen, I'll fight you to the death!"

Liu Quanwen was wholly focused on helping his daughter and had no time to guard against an attack, so Ge Xiulan collided squarely with him.

Ge Xiulan had used her full strength, slamming directly into his waist and knocking him flat on his back; then, disregarding everything, she straddled Liu Quanwen, pulled a shoe off her foot, and began beating it directly against his face.

How could Peng Ailan tolerate this now? She stopped shielding her daughter, grabbed Ge Xiulan's hair directly, and tried to yank her off.

Just as she exerted force, Liu Shangang, who had arrived from behind, grabbed her by the back of her collar and her hair, dragging her aside immediately.

The Secretary glared at the villagers watching the spectacle on the sidelines and roared: "Why haven't you pulled them apart yet?"

In this era, there were no entertainment activities; although everyone wanted to watch the group brawl, since the Secretary had spoken, they had no choice but to step forward and separate the fighters.

Seeing that the separated individuals were still struggling and attempting to resume fighting, the Secretary roared again: "If you make any more trouble, the village will stop intervening entirely and hand this directly to the Public Security Bureau for handling!"

Upon hearing the two words 'Public Security,' all several individuals immediately calmed down.

The old Secretary fixed his sharp gaze on the several parties involved: "I will ask one by one, and you will answer one by one; whoever fails to confess honestly will bear the consequences themselves—you had better think carefully about the repercussions once this goes official."

After speaking, he cast a meaningful glance at the Village Head.

The Village Head called out to the crowd gathering outside the door: "It's getting late; everyone disperse now, we still have work to do tomorrow."

Saying this, he waved his hands to shoo the people away.

However, although the people were shooed out, no one actually left; instead, they all remained outside and began discussing fervently: "Tell me, what exactly is going on?"

"I've been confused by their twisting stories."

"Exactly; after all this dragging out, it seems there are connections between these four people—no, wait, five people; Cunyi from Uncle Liangzi's family is also implicated."

"If you put it that way, you're wrong; I heard them mention Chuxue."

"What does that have to do with Chuxue? She didn't get involved in their messy affairs at all."

"How do you know she wasn't involved? This is no time for sucking up."

"You dead cripple, what nonsense are you spouting? Who did I suck up to?"

"Who else but Chuxue?"

"Your dog mouth can't spit ivory."

"If you can, then spit some out for me to see."

"Get lost."

"Then tell me, how do you know Chuxue has nothing to do with this?"

"Chuxue went to Uncle Liangzi's house to find Cunyi; we watched her go straight home afterward, and she never went toward the southern woods at all."

"But what if she had gone there earlier?"

"Impossible; don't forget that a lot of red soil was piled in the southern woods a few days ago; if she had been over there, how could her feet not be stained with it? Yet her shoes are perfectly clean."

At this moment, someone chimed in: "Right, right, right; I remember now too, that girl Chuxue was wearing a pair of white canvas shoes; I stared at them for quite a while, thinking to myself how easily such white shoes would get dirty."

Soon after, the office door opened, and the Village Head shouted outward: "Who has fast legs? Go call Chuxue here."

Someone raised their arm: "Me, me, me! I'll go!"

But just as that person turned around, Chuxue's voice came from nearby: "No need to go; I'm right here."

Liu Mother turned and saw her: "When did you arrive?"

Chuxue lifted the flashlight in her hand: "Seeing that you hadn't returned, I thought I'd come over to meet you."

The person who had previously raised their hand shouted loudly toward the Village Committee: "Village Head, Chuxue is here!"

"Let her come in."

Chuxue patted her mother's hand: "You hold the flashlight; I'll go in for a moment."

There was not a trace of guilt on her face; after all, they truly intended to harm others, so even if Liu Jiandong and Ding Surong saw her, who would believe them?

The surrounding crowd consciously made way for her.

However, everyone inevitably looked down at Chuxue's feet; indeed, she was wearing a pair of white canvas shoes, and those shoes were extremely clean, without a single speck of red soil on them.

In this era, most villagers wore homemade cloth shoes with soles stitched by the women in their families and pasted with layered fabric; not just anyone could own a pair of rubber-soled canvas shoes, so naturally, no one would imagine that Chuxue possessed two identical pairs of white canvas shoes.

Therefore, when Liu Jiandong, echoing what the outsiders said, claimed that he saw Chuxue go to the southern woods and that her white canvas shoes must be stained with red soil, the Secretary had the Village Head come out to summon her; after all, if someone really wearing white canvas shoes had walked through there, not only the soles but even the uppers of the shoes would inevitably be stained with red soil.