Chapter 275: Entering the Village

After Wu Qian sent Guo Wei to the hospital for bandaging, she rushed back to the construction site without a moment's rest. When she arrived at the site, I had already gone to the police station. Having waited until midnight without seeing me, she had no choice but to check into a room at the County Committee Guesthouse with Sister Xiao Mei. The two women found something to fill their stomachs and waited anxiously for dawn.

Two women who had been strangers were now friends after traveling all the way from Hengyue City together for over a day.

It is easy for women to become friends, and just as easy for them to become enemies. They say three women make a play, but two women can make a whole book. Once women drop their guard with each other, they become incredibly intimate. Wu Qian and Sister Xiao Mei exchanged a smile while eating, and just like that, they became friends who shared everything.

After a heart-to-heart chat, they both knew each other's identities. Wu Qian was a well-known young businesswoman in Hengyue City, with interests in department stores, trade, real estate, and investment; she was my former girlfriend. Sister Xiao Mei came from the household of the Deputy Party Secretary of Hengyue City, so her background was not to be underestimated either.

Each took a bed, and after a busy day, they both felt exhausted. As they talked, they drifted into a deep sleep.

When they woke up, Wu Qian prepared to go check on the highway construction site, but Sister Xiao Mei was too worried about me and insisted on not going along. The two finally reached a compromise: Wu Qian would take Sister Xiao Mei to find me, and once I was found, they would go to the site.

Thus, the two headed straight for the Laoyingzui site. Only upon arrival did they learn I had already gone to the county seat, so they headed there, just in time to run into us as we were walking out of the County Committee compound, standing at the entrance smoking.

Guo Wei already knew them and smiled politely, revealing a set of clean, straight teeth. It was just that the bandage wrapped around his head made him look a bit comical.

Huang Qishan had only seen them in passing at the site and hadn't really gotten a good look at them. Now, suddenly discovering two alluring and beautiful young married women in front of him, he was so shocked his eyes went wide, and he kept looking at me, as if trying to find an answer.

I introduced their identities: one was my aunt's best friend, and the other was my cousin.

My introduction clearly caught Sister Xiao Mei off guard. For someone with the status of a nanny to be called "cousin" by me suggested that there was not only a familial relationship between us but also an invisible blood connection.

Guo Wei was still driving his own car, and Huang Qishan climbed in. I had originally intended to climb in too, but Huang Qishan raised his leg, making a gesture to kick me out of the car, his eyes narrowed into slits as he laughed teasingly, "With two beauties to keep you company, why are you still trying to get in our car? Trying to gross us out?"

Wu Qian pursed her lips and smiled, opening the car door for me and saying, "Town Mayor Chen, get in my car; I'll give you a lift."

Sister Xiao Mei also urged me to sit with her. Just as I was about to argue with Huang Qishan, Guo Wei started the car, stepped on the gas, and took off in a flash. Huang Qishan's voice drifted back on the wind: "See you at the site!"

Guo Wei's jeep only had four gears; how could it be a match for our Honda? In less than a quarter of an hour, we had left them so far behind that we couldn't even see their shadows.

After passing them, Wu Qian slowed down and asked me, "Chen Feng, have you been well these past few years? You've even become a Town Mayor, and you didn't even tell me."

I said, "This Town Mayor position of mine is a sesame-seed-sized official post. The rank isn't high, but there are so many things to do. From national policies down to the people's daily needs, there isn't a single thing I don't have to worry about. Is such a small matter worth telling you about?"

"Are you waiting until you return home in glory and bring honor to your ancestors before you tell me?" Wu Qian pouted, looking as charming and cute as she had six years ago.

"That's not what I meant," I said, pulling out a cigarette, plucking one out, and asking her, "Can I smoke in your car?"

"Go ahead, it's fine." Wu Qian reached out to roll down the window, looked at me, and said, "Still haven't quit?"

I said, "I've never thought about quitting. What is a cigarette? A cigarette is a 'peace herb'; if you don't have one, you have to beg for it. Didn't you see Secretary Guo and Secretary Huang asking me for cigarettes just now?"

"Smoke, just smoke. You have so many theories just for smoking a cigarette." Wu Qian said helplessly, "In my car, you're the only one who dares to smoke. If it were anyone else, I'd have kicked them out long ago."

I ignored her and lit the cigarette myself.

With the window down, the car filled with cold wind. Sister Xiao Mei, sitting in the back, hugged herself tightly, shrinking behind my seat, her knees pressing against the backrest, letting me feel her plight.

Seeing her in the rearview mirror, I had no choice but to calmly throw the cigarette out the window and say, as if it were nothing, "I won't smoke anymore, roll up the window."

Wu Qian was a bright and clever woman; she naturally understood my actions. She still pursed her lips in a smile and said, "Heartache, was it?"

Once the window was rolled up, the heater filled the cabin, making it feel warm and comfortable. I touched my injured leg, feeling a faint, lingering pain, but I couldn't find exactly where the pain was coming from. Sister Xiao Mei in the back noticed my movement, leaned over half her body, and asked, "Does it hurt?"

I nodded, gently tapped my leg, and closed my eyes slightly, preparing to feign sleep.

After leaving the police station last night, I had gone to Guo Wei's command post. Guo Wei had set up a shed at the site, and inside, office desks, beds, and other daily necessities were all fully equipped. Ever since Sun Demao's construction site started, he had been living in this small shed and hadn't returned to the old Suxi Township government office for a single day.

Guo Wei had returned before me, groaning and moaning in the shadows of the lamp, with Sun Demao standing beside him. On the table was a bowl of poached egg noodles, sprinkled with a layer of vibrant green scallions. Seeing the noodles, my stomach rumbled with hunger, and ignoring Guo Wei, I picked up the chopsticks and slurped them down.

Guo Wei had been groaning, but seeing me eating with such gusto, he swallowed his saliva and asked, "Didn't the police station feed you?"

I rolled my eyes at him and said, "I'm not a criminal, why would they feed me?" As soon as the words left my mouth, I felt it wasn't right, so I stopped my chopsticks, looked at Guo Wei, and said, "Sorry, I didn't realize this was your food. How about I let you eat it now?"

Guo Wei was between laughter and tears, raising his foot to kick my butt. I laughed loudly and dodged him, pointing at Sun Demao and saying, "Old Sun, do you want our Secretary Guo to starve to death?"

Sun Demao ran out, stood outside the shed, and shouted at the cook at the site at the top of his lungs, "Bring another bowl!"

Before the noodles arrived, Huang Qishan returned with a group of people from the aftermath team. They had been at Zhao the Half-Immortal's house but hadn't even been able to beg for a sip of water. They were parched, but didn't dare to make a scene, so they had to endure it until Zhao the Half-Immortal's body was placed in the coffin and the "night-waking" gongs sounded before they felt their way back to the site in the dark.

"Night-waking" is a funeral custom in Southern Hunan. The deceased's relatives, friends, and neighbors set up a bronze gong, with a large drum underneath, and use a large drumstick to beat it "ping-pong, ping-pong" for a while. Then, someone who can sing folk songs comes out, singing in a hoarse voice about the past events of the deceased.

It is said that "night-waking" has a basis. Legend has it that when a person dies, they don't know it themselves; their soul is still there, drifting around as if in a dream. Only when the gongs and drums of the "night-waking" sound do the dead realize they have died, and then they will weep and walk toward the Bridge of Helplessness.

When a family holds a funeral, the moment the gongs and drums of the "night-waking" sound marks the official start of the funeral proceedings.

Huang Qishan was a man who feared ghosts. He had seen countless white bones while moving graves in the first half of the year and had countless nightmares at night. But this time, he was seeing a real dead person, and his calves kept trembling. He didn't dare to make a scene, so he had to steel his courage to help wash Zhao the Half-Immortal's face and change his clothes. Although the village elders were doing the work, he still had to reach out and help. Occasionally touching Zhao the Half-Immortal's cold corpse, he would quickly pull his hand back, his face deathly pale.

On the way back to the site, he kept walking in the middle of the crowd, not saying a word, and didn't dare to look back, fearing Zhao the Half-Immortal's ghost would follow him.

The aftermath team members all had to rush back to the county seat, so they didn't eat and called for Huang Qishan to get in the car.

Huang Qishan, however, sat on Guo Wei's bed and refused to move an inch. He shouted that he was hungry and insisted that Sun Demao make him poached egg noodles to eat.

Once the aftermath team left, only the three of us were left in the shed. Huang Qishan didn't even bother to wash his face or feet; he climbed onto the bed, sat on the inside, and said the three of us would sleep on one bed tonight.

I had no choice but to tell Sun Demao to bring two quilts, and the three of us, each with a quilt, lay horizontally on the bed, eyes wide open, telling lies until we all drifted into a deep sleep.

As soon as our car turned around a mountain ridge, we saw a sea of white at the Laoyingzui site.

The entire site had stopped work; the machines lay there like old oxen, silent. The people of Laoyingzui Village, with white cloth wrapped around their heads, led by a short, stocky woman, were gathered in front of Guo Wei's small shed, wailing and crying to the heavens.

I recognized her; it was Zhao the Half-Immortal's daughter who had married away. Last night, when placing her father in the coffin, the people of Laoyingzui Village had originally wanted to wait for her to return, but I was afraid of complications and secretly had Huang Qishan place him in the coffin before she returned.

Standing beside Zhao the Half-Immortal's daughter was Yue Bai, also with a piece of white cloth wrapped around her head, looking coldly at the woman who was collapsed on the ground crying.

We had been mentally prepared for the people of Laoyingzui Village to come and make trouble. Last night, we had made some arrangements: all the people from Yuetang Village had withdrawn from the site, and Sun Demao's site had stopped work to rest.

As soon as my car arrived, it was immediately surrounded by them, and they asked me in a cacophony of voices, "Leader, you have to give us an explanation!"

I comforted them, saying, "I will definitely give everyone an explanation. Don't worry, don't worry."

Once I entered the shed and sat down, Guo Wei and Huang Qishan arrived too. The crowd cleared a path to let them in.

The three of us exchanged glances. Huang Qishan had no confidence and leaned close to my ear to ask, "What do we do?"

I didn't say anything, took out the cigarettes I had prepared, and passed them around. Every time I reached someone, I was all smiles. When I reached Yue Bai, I said, "You want one too?"

Yue Bai pushed my hand away and said in a low voice, "Prepare the money!" ===== CHAPTER 276 =====