Chapter 852: Taken Away (Bonus Chapter Two for Monthly Tickets)

Moreover, he discovered that his family's dog was a bit silly. The moment his front foot stepped up onto the sidecar, before his other foot even landed, Little Black had already jumped in and was looking at him with damp, glistening eyes.

He laughed helplessly and kicked it out. "You silly dog, get out."

"Woof woof~"

The little black dog, kicked out, flipped over and started barking wildly around the sidecar. The other dogs all gathered around this motorcycle too, which made the other officers in their peaked caps rather curious.

"You've raised this dog pretty well. It's quite loyal."

"It's alright. Chenghu, call all the dogs back..."

"No." Ye Chenghu said, looking at him with reddened eyes.

Ye Yaodong had no choice but to get down and shoo the dogs aside so they wouldn't block the officers from getting on the motorcycle.

He looked again at his family members standing nearby with reddened eyes, all watching him with concern. "Go on back, it's nothing. Just a few questions. I might even be back in time for dinner tonight."

The moment he finished speaking, the motorcycle started up. The crowd automatically parted to make a path, and the vehicle slowly accelerated and shot off.

The dogs also barked wildly and charged forward, legs flying as they raced after it.

"Dongzi..." The old lady behind kept wiping her tears nonstop.

"It's fine. He might be back any moment now."

At that moment, a voice dripping with schadenfreune rose from the crowd: "Hard to say. Speculation and profiteering means jail time. Serves you right for doing business..."

"Damn you to hell, I'll tear your mouth apart."

Ye's mother had been miserable the whole way and had bottled up a bellyful of anger. Hearing those words, she charged straight at her old nemesis Xu Laifu's mother, grabbed that woman's hair, slapped her twice with a crack, and even kicked her.

Fortunately, plenty of fellow villagers were around and pulled them apart in time, but the cursing between the two never stopped.

"Your son is a speculator and profiteer, he's going to do time in prison. He got taken away by the cops..."

"My son says this is self-production and self-marketing. Go to hell, you old witch. Drop dead already..."

Ye's mother glared fiercely at her opponent. Her hands and feet were held down by the villagers, otherwise she would have charged in again.

Ye's mother and Xu Laifu's mother had a long-standing grudge. They'd fought just last year, and normally when passing each other's doors she'd still spit on the ground. Now enemies meeting face to face, their eyes were especially red with fury.

"What's all this fuss? He's just going in for questioning. Look at the two of you—combined you're a hundred years old, and you're fighting like youngsters. Is that any way to behave?"

Secretary Chen lectured them for a moment, then simply waved his hand and told everyone to disperse. "Take your women home, everyone go back to your own homes, disperse, there's nothing going on..."

Lin Lin Xiuqing listened to the gossip in the crowd and said resentfully: "A bunch of loose-lipped busybodies. Adong is just going with them for a trip, giving a statement so the police comrades can understand the situation. He'll be back tomorrow."

"Who knows if he can come back..." No one in the crowd knew who said it.

Ye's mother glared around but couldn't tell who had spoken, so she could only attack indiscriminately. "Stop talking nonsense, all of you get lost. Nothing's wrong and you're spouting this bad luck for us..."

"I don't know which black-hearted, gut-rotten person reported us. Watch out for karma—struck by lightning, die a horrible death, and when you die no one will bury you."

"Heaven watches what people do. Those who wrong others, those harmful creatures, will all get their comeuppance. Heaven will open its eyes. My son will be back tomorrow."

"Gut-spilling, belly-rotting son of a bastard, actually went and reported us. May you die a horrible death, may your eighteen generations of ancestors never know peace..."

"Ah, disperse, disperse, everyone disperse..."

Everyone whispered among themselves, drifting off in twos and threes.

Those who spoke unkindly were people they normally had friction with. Most of the fellow villagers were largely sympathetic.

Listening to Ye's mother's cursing, they all understood perfectly. Suffering such a calamity themselves, feeling upset was inevitable. Besides, she wasn't pointing at anyone's nose to curse—she was only targeting those specific people who reported them and those who spoke unkindly.

A portion of those who were acquainted also stayed behind, still standing in place to comfort them.

"It'll be fine... at the latest he'll be back tomorrow..."

"Maybe just like Adong said, he'll be back in time for dinner."

"Whether Adong speculated or profiteered, we all know. He'll definitely be fine..."

Tractor driver Master Zhou also said at the door: "If you need a witness, I'll make a trip to the border defense station... He'll definitely be fine..."

Ye's father nodded. "Yeah, yeah, we still don't know how things stand. If a witness is needed, they should notify us..."

"I'll head back first. When there's something you need, just let me know..."

"We'll head back too. It'll be fine. If anything comes up, just say the word. Whatever help we can give, we'll give it..."

"Alright, alright..."

The acquaintances all stood at the village committee entrance offering a few words of comfort before leaving one after another. Only a few close ones remained, still standing in place keeping Ye's father and mother company.

Even Ye Ye Dabo and Ye Ye Erbo with their wives stood in place—no one knew what attitude they held, but they didn't just walk away directly, staying nearby instead. After all, the old lady was also there.

The village cadres also all remained standing in place to comfort them.

Ye Ye Dasao and Ye Ye Ersao were at that moment comforting Lin Lin Xiuqing and the old lady. Both had reddened noses and eyes, wiping away tears.

And Ye Ye Xiaoxi, slow to react, suddenly started wailing loudly. Perhaps she'd been scared by so many people earlier and hadn't dared to cry, but now she was crying out of fear.

Ye Chenghu and Ye Ye Chengyang stood there dumbfounded, at a loss, looking at this one, then that one, their eyes red like rabbits' too.

The other children also looked as if they'd been crying, drooping shoulders, listless.

Ye's father sighed. "Let's go, let's head back first."

He also gave the village cadres a greeting. "We'll be going first."

"Go back first. It'll be fine..."

He nodded absently.

After returning home, they locked the courtyard gate as usual.

The house was shrouded in gloom. No one had expected someone would actually report them for speculation and profiteering.

"Don't let me find out who did it, or I'll take a cleaver and hack them to death." Ye's mother said fiercely, hands on her hips.

Ye Ye Ersao frowned. "Who knows who's so vicious. Earning a bit of money—who does it bother? We're not taking anyone's money."

Ye Ye Dasao hesitated. "Did Adong offend someone? Wasn't it Adong who had that old Wang family beaten? Could it be them who wrote the anonymous report?"

"Who knows..."

"It's also possible that Adong has been too prominent this whole year, making people jealous—that's not impossible..."

"Right, one boat after another at home, and now another even bigger one is about to come back. Even though it's a partnership, he holds a big share."

"Exactly, maybe someone's jealous too, who knows. Otherwise why report it at such a critical moment — not earlier, not later."

"Then why not report someone else…"

"Other people aren't doing business, aren't as famous as Dongzi, haven't made that much money. Who within ten miles around doesn't know the name Salted Fish Dong now?"

"Only those doing business could possibly be labeled as speculators."

"Could be someone he offended, could be someone jealous, can't stand to see you doing well. Hard to say, just guessing, can't figure it out…"

The relatives inside the house all chimed in at once, the chatter a jumbled mess.

But everyone had come out of concern, and some were even staying by the old lady's side to comfort her, so they couldn't bring themselves to chase anyone away.

Until the old lady felt so upset she couldn't stand it and decided to go back to her room to worship Bodhisattva. Seeing that they'd stayed about long enough, everyone gradually drifted off one after another.

Only then did the house finally quiet down, leaving just Ye Ye Yaopeng and Ye Ye Yaohua's two families.

Ye Ye Chenghai's eyes were red. "Is Third Uncle coming back soon?"

"Mm, you all go home too. Staying here won't help. Just wait for him to come back."

Lin Lin Xiuqing wasn't in the mood to deal with people either. After saying that, she took the child inside. The two older sons didn't need looking after — they could manage on their own.

Ye Ye Xiaoxi kept clinging tightly to her neck. The two of them went inside, sat on the bed, and she was still clinging on.

"Mama…"

"It's fine, your papa will be back soon."

Although they knew that being taken to the border defense station on charges of speculation meant he should be fine and would come back, the more she thought about it, the more worried she got, and tears just kept falling.

The shock from earlier had been too great.

She sat quietly by herself. Ye Ye Xiaoxi sat obediently too, watching her mama, not crying, not fussing.

Until Lin Lin Xiuqing suddenly had an inspiration and looked up, a gleam of hope flashing in her eyes, and only then did Ye Ye Xiaoxi grip her mama's clothes tighter.

"Be good now."

After soothing the child for a moment, Lin Lin Xiuqing suddenly dashed to the desk, found a string of keys, then opened a drawer and rummaged around before finally pulling out a slip of paper with a phone number written on it.

"Found it!"

She was overjoyed, a smile breaking across her face.

This was the phone number Director Chen of the Haishi Bureau had left for their family earlier. She'd kept it tucked away in the drawer.

She'd never imagined her own family would have a use for it. When Adong was taken away earlier, she hadn't even thought about the slip of paper sitting at home. Just now, out of nowhere, inspiration struck and she remembered.

Lin Lin Xiuqing clutched the slip of paper tightly and hurriedly picked the child up and went outside.

The room was deathly quiet. Ye Mu sat with a worried frown, Ye Fu sat there puffing away on his water pipe nonstop, the room thick with smoke — probably hadn't stopped the whole time.

Two children sat on the steps at the doorway, arms wrapped around their knees, unusually quiet, not making a peep.

"Papa, Mama, let me watch the kids for a bit. I'm going out to make a phone call."

"What phone call?"

Lin Lin Xiuqing quickly set the child down and showed the slip of paper in her hand to the two of them. "Director Chen gave us a number before. I kept it tucked away, didn't think of it earlier, just suddenly remembered now and dug it out."

"I'm going to the village committee to make a call and see."

Ye Fu and Ye Mu were instantly delighted too.

Ye Fu even slapped his own forehead. "Right! Director Chen did give us a number back then. It's been too long, I forgot all about it."

"Then hurry, go make the call quick, leave the kids to me. See if you can put in a word, get Dongzi back tonight. He absolutely cannot spend the night in there."

"Aiya, alright, I'll go make the call right now."