Lin Hai also noticed the roaring motorcycle convoy and shot a glance at Guo Fei.
Guo Fei walked to the roadside and took a submachine gun from a soldier.
“Rat-a-tat-tat…” He fired a burst at the road surface in front of the motorcycles.
The moment the gunfire rang out, everyone from the Li family flinched in fear.
Clang! Clatter! Their clubs fell to the ground. A few people immediately squatted down, hugging their heads and trembling.
Damn, these soldiers really dared to shoot!
“Whoa!” The lead motorcyclist braked hard and tumbled to the ground; those behind him quickly stopped as well.
“What do you think you’re doing!” Guo Fei shouted loudly, holding his gun steady.
“J-just passing through,” said the lead rider, a burly, shirtless man covered in tattoos. He scrambled up, covered in dust, and nodded obsequiously.
“Yeah, just passing through, just passing through,” the group of young motorcyclists behind him quickly chimed in with fawning smiles.
“Passing through?” Guo Fei’s brow furrowed. “If you’re just passing through, then why the hell is everyone carrying a knife?”
“Oh, uh, going home to cook, they’re for cutting vegetables. Yeah, cutting vegetables.”
“Cutting vegetables? You use fucking choppers to cut vegetables? Get the hell out of here!” Guo Fei aimed his gun at them.
“D-don’t shoot! We’re leaving, we’re leaving right now!”
This bunch of bikers had come fast and left even faster. Scared off by Guo Fei, they scrammed in a panic.
After driving a good distance, the lead biker finally stopped. Fei Yangyang pulled out his phone and called the scrawny monkey.
“Brother Fei, why did you guys just leave as soon as you arrived…”
“Fuck your mother!” Before the scrawny monkey could finish, Fei Yangyang exploded.
“You want to die yourself, fine, but don’t drag me into it! God damn it, scared me so bad I pissed my pants! I’ll deal with you later!”
After hanging up, the scrawny monkey walked dejectedly over to Li San Leng.
“San Leng, Fei Yangyang chickened out. Said he just pissed his pants.”
Li San Leng shot him a glance. Damn, you think he was the only one? When those guns went off just now, I pissed my pants too.
Just then, a police van came screeching to a halt.
“What’s going on here? What the hell are you all doing…” Zhang Fan jumped out of the car and started yelling arrogantly.
But he stopped mid-sentence, realizing something was wrong.
When he saw the fully armed soldiers in front of him, Zhang Fan’s head started spinning.
“Holy mother, what’s going on here?”
He quickly jogged over to Guo Fei.
“Uh, Comrade Lieutenant, I’m the chief of the town police station. What is all this…”
“Police station chief?” Guo Fei glanced at him out of the corner of his eye.
“Alright, this has nothing to do with you. Go on about your business.”
Guo Fei waved his hand at Zhang Fan. A township police station chief wasn’t someone he’d pay any attention to.
“Well…” Zhang Fan was in a bind now. In his own jurisdiction, a bunch of soldiers with live ammunition showed up, apparently in some kind of conflict with civilians, and he’s told it’s none of his business?
If something actually happened here, he’d be the first one fired!
But he didn’t dare to challenge these soldiers either. His small eyes darted left and right.
“Huh?” When he spotted Lin Hai, Zhang Fan’s eyes lit up, and he scurried over.
“Oh, Chief Zhang, you’re here!” Li Chusheng, thinking Zhang Fan had come for him, hurried forward to greet him.
“Chief Zhang, look at these people, they’re practically bandits! This is a society of law…”
“Haha, Xiao Lin, you’re back!” Zhang Fan ignored him completely, brushed past him, and came directly to Lin Hai, greeting him warmly.
He remembered clearly that the big shot from before had a close relationship with this Lin Hai. Even Town Chief Huang was desperately trying to curry favor with the Lin family.
And apparently, Town Chief Huang would soon be promoted to Party Secretary. Word had it that if he hadn’t managed to connect with that big shot through the Lin family, the Secretary position would likely have been filled by an outsider; it never would have been his turn.
Zhang Fan thought that he too had been stuck in this rural backwater for four or five years. If he could also latch onto the Lin family, maybe he could get promoted too, become a bureau chief in the county or something.
So, the moment he saw Lin Hai, Zhang Fan came running over, all enthusiasm.
“Chief Zhang, what’s this…” Li Chusheng was completely baffled.
He hadn’t heard that Zhang Fan had any connection to the Lin family. Why did he seem so familiar with the Lin kid?
“Chief Zhang, is there something you need?” Lin Hai didn’t have particularly good or bad feelings about Zhang Fan. Before, his family simply hadn’t been in a position to interact with someone like him.
Having worked at the grassroots level for years, Zhang Fan had become as sharp as a tack.
He could see at a glance that Lin Wen looked angry, was being supported by Lin Hai and a pretty girl, and had dirt on his clothes.
Across from them were all the village riffraff from the Li family, being held at gunpoint by a bunch of soldiers, with clubs scattered all over the ground. How could he not figure out what had happened?
“Xiao Lin, I received a report from the masses that a group from the Li family were armed with clubs and planning to bully your father. The moment I heard, I was furious. How could I allow such bastards to run wild under my watch? So I rushed over personally.”
Zhang Fan was lying through his teeth without batting an eye.
“Chief Zhang, you…” Li Chusheng was shocked by Zhang Fan’s audacity.
“You what you? Let me tell you, Village Chief Li, you’d better discipline these young punks of yours properly. If this keeps up, I’ll arrest every single one of them sooner or later!” Zhang Fan spoke righteously, loudly reprimanding him.
Lin Hai found it quite amusing. This Zhang Fan was indeed a shrewd operator, knowing exactly what to say to whom.
Lin Hai didn’t expose him. He just smiled at Zhang Fan.
“Chief Zhang, since you’re here, I’ll leave this matter in your hands.”
“Don’t you worry, Xiao Lin. I’ll handle this. If anyone dares to bully honest folks just because they have numbers, I’ll shoot them myself, damn it.” Zhang Fan thumped his chest loudly, taking full responsibility.
“Uncle Lin, what exactly happened? Tell me, don’t be afraid. I’ll see that you get justice!” Zhang Fan turned to Lin Wen.
“Hmph, Chief Zhang, this Li Er Leng took a tiny piece of my land. I went to reason with him, and he was utterly unreasonable, even pushed me down. Everyone saw it.” Lin Wen said angrily.
“Outrageous!” Zhang Fan acted as if he’d heard something truly heinous, turning around with a pained expression.
“Uh… where’s Li Er Leng! Where the hell did he go?” He looked around but couldn’t find Li Er Leng.
“Chief Zhang, I, I’m right here,” Li Er Leng said weakly, his voice still lisping.
Damn, what kind of monster is this!
Staring at the swollen face before him, Zhang Fan was startled.
“You, you’re Li Er Leng?”
Zhang Fan thought to himself, damn, he got beaten viciously. Probably even his own mother wouldn’t recognize him.
“Why did you take Old Lin’s land, huh? He comes to reason with you, and you’re arrogant and violent, assaulting someone! Have you lost your mind? You took his land, don’t you know you have to compensate him!” Zhang Fan scolded, his beard bristling with anger.
“Who said I didn’t compensate? I, I did compensate him!” Li Er Leng muttered quietly.
“You did?” This surprised Zhang Fan.
Li Chusheng was at a loss, but hearing that Li Er Leng had already paid compensation, his heart lifted. He quickly ran over.
“Er Leng, you say you’ve already compensated him?”
“I, I did,” Li Er Leng said, a bit guiltily.
“How much did you pay?”
“R-right over there.” Li Er Leng pointed at the twenty yuan on the ground.
Pfft!
Li Chusheng stared at the crumpled twenty-yuan bill on the ground and blinked.
“Th-that twenty bucks?” Li Chusheng asked, dumbfounded.
“Y-yeah,” Li Er Leng said, hanging his head.
Seriously!
Li Chusheng wanted to rush over and slap him twice.
Damn, he thought there might be a turning point, but this just became evidence against them.
Compensating someone twenty bucks for a piece of land? Even an idiot could see you were bullying them.
Zhang Fan picked up the twenty yuan and laughed in spite of himself.
“Listen here, Li Er Leng, are you trying to make a fool out of someone? Twenty bucks for that piece of land? Where the hell do you find prices like that!” Zhang Fan slapped the money right in Li Er Leng’s face.
“Twenty yuan for that piece of land, I think this compensation is quite reasonable,” a voice sounded from behind.
