Chapter 68

The three saw off Comrade Liang, lit cigarettes for themselves, sat in silence for a while, then Liu Guoyou finally spoke.

“Isn’t this absurd? When I came in, that young punk yelled at me, ‘Mind your own business, dog chasing rats’—I’ve never seen such heartless family.”

Seeing Li Xuewu frowning over here, Han Dache spat silently to himself.

“This trip was already cursed, and now we get stuck with this family—damn our luck. Who knows what punishment’s coming next?”

“What? Because we didn’t realize he was a SL person and just left him by the roadside, we get disciplined? It was pitch black, his head was gone—how was I supposed to see? Was the special line more important than a dead body?”

His temper, as Liu Guoyou himself said, was explosive, igniting at the slightest spark.

Han Dache took a drag from his cigarette and stared out at the dark night dotted with distant lights. “There’s no point arguing—foreign-related incidents are always handled specially.”

“Can you explain what happened?” Li Xuewu asked, exhaling smoke.

Though not exactly tied together like grasshoppers on one string, the three were close enough.

Liu Guoyou smoked furiously, saying nothing.

Han Dache spoke in a low, somber tone: “The one crushed under the wheels was a SL person. From the family’s shouting, it sounded like he was a university teacher. The dead woman was a student—they were unmarried but had a child. The school disciplined her and notified her family. She brought the man home, and they chased him out that very night. Somehow, he ended up dead under our train.”

Hearing this, Liu Guoyou grew even angrier, muttering: “Teachers and students carrying on like this? Unmarried and pregnant? Reporting it to the family—who could possibly accept that?”

Li Xuewu understood the mindset of people in this era, especially rural folks. He saw the old couple—they clearly loved their daughter, or she wouldn’t have made it to university.

Love runs deep, so blame cuts deep.

Just now in that room, the middle-aged man spoke without mercy, yet his eyes were as dead as ashes.

Li Xuewu asked: “Even if a foreigner was hit, why go to all this trouble—dragging us all the way here for questioning?”

Liu Guoyou glanced at Li Xuewu. “Don’t you get it? If they could summon all of us, the dead one must’ve been someone sensitive. Otherwise, why would two foreign affairs officers be chasing the truth? We don’t know his exact status, but he lived in China and was involved with that girl...”

Han Dache grumbled: “Marriage to a foreigner isn’t easy, especially with SL people. Now they’ve got a child—it’s not just one problem. The fallout will be huge.”

Liu Guoyou sighed and added: “The man protected the child even in death. The woman was thrown far—her eyes still fixed on the child and the man. I know. When I moved her, she didn’t want to die.”

Li Xuewu watched the two men speak in low, heavy voices, as if burdened by mountains, and sighed too, patting Liu Guoyou on the shoulder.

Han Dache stared out the window without turning, his voice hollow: “They say saving one life builds seven levels of pagoda merit. But this child’s fate is stubborn—when Li Baowei carried him out, the baby reached out with his tiny hand and grabbed Li Baowei’s finger. We don’t ask for that seven-level merit, but may both the child and we all find a good outcome.”

Liu Guoyou pulled himself together, straightened his posture: “We’re stuck like this. Might as well retire early and clear the path for the child. But you, Han Dache—you’re wasting your talent. Your skills won awards.”

“As for the child? Forget it. Just now it sounded like the woman’s relatives don’t want him—only compensation. The embassy won’t raise him, and local authorities keep delaying pickup, saying they’re afraid of getting tangled up. Ugh.”

Hearing this, Li Xuewu’s heart clenched tightly.

As the three sat smoking, lost in thought, a commotion erupted outside—the voices of men and women, mixed with a child’s crying.

The shouting was jarring. Li Xuewu recognized the young man’s voice—demanding compensation from the railway crew and the SL foreign affairs officers.

Where did that young man get the courage to challenge the railway and foreign affairs officers? The compensation system back then wasn’t nearly this developed.