A small plot of land in a mountain village

Chapter 98 The Zhang Family

After leaving Old Zhu's place in the evening, Chairman Zhang was in a good mood. It seemed that many corrupt officials at the top would be brought down this time.

As soon as Old Zhang left, Secretary Zhu turned and went back into the house. Sitting in the bedroom, he rubbed his temples. "This time you've run into the line of fire," he said, "don't blame me for being ruthless." He picked up the phone and made a call.

The higher-ups were all tipped off that there would be a meeting first thing tomorrow morning. Everyone was wondering what big event it was this time. Last time there was a crackdown on poaching, so what would happen this time? Everyone was uneasy.

The two interrogated him in turns, but they couldn't get any useful information out of him.

In the afternoon, Gangtou and his gang were called in by the director and given another dressing down.

Da Pao and his team called, their voices already filled with impatience. Why hadn't they gotten their hands on the weapon on the stone statue yet? The well-informed Da Pao knew that the city was preparing for a crackdown. If they didn't actually have the weapon, they would have already left the country. It was too dangerous during this period.

The director usually receives a lot of benefits. Otherwise, how could he have risen from a squad leader to the director? He earned it all by handing over real money.

The following morning, Secretary Zhu convened a meeting, distributing a document to everyone and instructing them to read it carefully. After nearly three hours of meeting, a series of actions commenced.

First, the station chief was brought back for investigation. The station chief, who was easily frightened, quickly revealed his connection with Da Pao. Da Pao, who had received the news, was caught at the airport and was preparing to flee abroad.

The cannons brought back were followed by a large group of government officials who acted as their protectors.

When Secretary Zhu saw the list of officials on the paper, he was heartbroken and only managed to utter the words "thorough investigation" before falling silent.

But that's a story for later. Early in the morning, Chairman Zhang was waiting for Zhang Niu and the others at the door.

The director here has been taken away, and a temporary agent has taken over, who very warmly saw Zhang Niu out.

Zhang Niu was still in the interrogation room, being tortured, when suddenly a group of police officers rushed in and pinned Jiang Cheng and the others to the ground.

After a young policeman explained, Zhang Niu learned that it was an internal crackdown within the public security bureau. However, Zhang Niu only knew a little bit about it. As he was helped up, Zhang Niu kicked Gang Tou a few times as he passed by. "Well, you've finally met your match!" he thought.

However, the force exerted by his weak body was as light as an ant's kick.

"Finally out. It was really tough in there, those damn bastards," Zhang Niu sighed as he stood at the door.

"Hey Niu, what are you standing there for? Want to come in and sit down?"

Looking around, Chairman Zhang, the village chief, and Zhang Xing, the son of the third uncle, were all waiting outside the door.

"I just came out to vent." He chuckled.

Zhang Xing was fortunate to go in without being beaten much. He noticed the changes in the place early on, and his anger finally subsided.

"Thank you for your help this time," Zhang Niu said immediately as he approached.

"Yes," the village chief quickly added. Although they got beaten a few times inside, it was a miracle they even got out.

A rumbling sound rang out, and Zhang Niu realized his stomach was growling. He hadn't eaten for almost two days, and his stomach was rumbling.

"Could we go and eat something first?" she said with a smile.

The village chief and the others were all starving and needed to find something to eat.

Zhang Xing had to rush back, so he said goodbye to Zhang Niu and left, also asking the village chief not to tell his third uncle that he had been arrested, to avoid worrying him.

Watching Zhang Xing walk away triumphantly, I was surprised to find that my third uncle's son had also come to help.

"What are you still looking at? Hurry up and get in the car." The village chief, who had gotten into the car, saw Zhang Niu standing motionless outside and hurriedly called out.

"They're here."

I randomly picked a breakfast restaurant by the roadside and rushed inside.

It was already quite late in the morning, and only a few people were eating there occasionally.

Chairman Zhang sipped his wine, watching Zhang Niu devour his food. "Looks like he was starving inside. Didn't he get any food?"

"Stop talking. I've been keeping you chained to the chair the whole time. I won't even let you eat or go to the toilet." Chairman Zhang immediately noticed the red marks around his hand.

"Yeah, I didn't expect these police officers to be so unreasonable, arresting people just like that." He was still indignant about the village chief who had been arrested.

"You guys are really unlucky! Someone's probably eyeing your statue." He said with a laugh.

Zhang Niu nodded. "Yeah, I was puzzled when I came in too. Other villages had dug and nothing happened, so why did this happen to me? It's really just luck."

After eating several steamed buns and bowls of porridge, my stomach finally felt a little better. "Old Zhang, how did you know I was in there?"

I poured myself a cup of tea. "You mentioned last time that your cherries were almost ripe and asked me to come and pick them. My granddaughter was home, so I was planning to come and check on them. But you just walked right in."

"Who knows? But I still have to thank you. Otherwise, I don't know when I would be able to get out." Zhang Niu was still very happy to be able to get out.

"You're welcome. I wasn't the only one who helped; others did too." Actually, he wanted to see if he knew Zhang Niu.

Someone else is helping? Who could it be? He only knows a few people, none of them are big shots, he wondered to himself.

"Do you know who helped me? I'm just an ordinary citizen, who would remember me?" he asked, shaking his head.

"I didn't know, that's why I asked you. It seems you don't know either, which is a bit strange." I guess I'll have to ask Old Zhu next time I have some free time.

Upon hearing this, the village chief's heart skipped a beat. Could it be that his wife had called the number on that card? Otherwise, it would be hard to explain.

The village chief wasn't prepared to say this out loud, as he had promised to do so.

After eating and resting for a while, the group got into Chairman Zhang's car and headed home.

As they stopped at the village entrance, some people saw Zhang Niu and the village chief coming out.

"Zhang Wa is back!" someone shouted soon after.

"Is it alright to go in?" the villagers who gathered around asked one after another.

While in the car, Zhang Niu told the village chief that it was best not to mention that he was going in to be beaten, so as not to worry everyone.

The village chief nodded in agreement.

Chairman Zhang, who was driving, was very satisfied with Zhang Niu's actions, saying it was worth it for him to seek help from Lao Zhu.

"It's nothing, we just went in to investigate, and we're out now."

Zhang Niu said with a smile. After taking Chairman Zhang home, the village chief naturally went to his third uncle's place.

"Mom, brother's back!" the little sister called out to the house from under the jujube tree by the door.

Hearing this, Mom, who was washing vegetables by the well, rushed out without even washing them.

As soon as they entered the doorway, the younger sister rushed into Zhang Niu's arms.

"Mom, I'm back." Zhang Niu said quickly as his mother ran up to him. He felt really bad that he had worried his mother so much when he went in.

Mom looked me up and down, thankfully I was alright. "Wait, let's go in." She turned and ran into the storeroom.

Zhang Niu was a little confused as to why he was standing at the door.

A while later, Mom brought a brazier and a large handful of dried straw. She placed it at the door and lit it. "Come on, walk over the brazier to get rid of bad luck."

So it turns out it's to get rid of bad luck. Usually, if something happens at home or you come back from prison or something, you have to burn straw at the door to get rid of bad luck and so on, so as not to bring it into the house.

Stepping over the brazier, Mom's face lit up with joy. She kept muttering, "It's good that you're back, it's good that you're back."

"Mom, we owe a lot to Lao Zhang for helping us get out this time," he said to his mother.

The mother, who was still busy burning straw, said, "Then we have to treat him to lunch to thank him for his hard work."

This made Chairman Zhang, who was standing to the side, a little embarrassed. Why was he portraying himself as a benefactor? Wasn't that shortening his lifespan?

"Wife, go inside and boil some water," the father said, coming out from the backyard with an old hen in his hand.

"Dad, what's wrong?"

"This is to celebrate your coming out, and also to thank this friend," he said, plucking feathers from the old hen's neck.

Zhang Niu knew his father wasn't good at offering comforting words, but he could tell from his face that he was happy.

"Come in, Lao Zhang, have a seat!" Zhang Niu hurriedly invited.

Upon entering the house, Zhang Niu went into his room to find some clothes and take a shower.

I took off my clothes, and many parts of my body were red and swollen. Luckily, my face wasn't red, otherwise my mom would have been worried sick. I quickly put my clothes back on and rushed to the bathroom.

"Ah, that feels so good." Zhang Niu really enjoyed the heat after taking a hot shower.

Tuotuo and Tata walked into the lobby and saw Uncle San and Chairman Zhang chatting.

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