Time Travel: Volume 1! Starting from a Small Mountain Village

"Call the police!"

Long Lifan's words were astonishing; the three short words slipped out so quickly that for a moment everyone seemed not to have heard them clearly.

A moment later, the crowd, having recovered from their shock, began to murmur amongst themselves, unable to understand what Long Lifan was thinking. The IOU was right there in black and white; what good would calling the police do? Did they intend to arrest Chen Ying and her daughter and force them to repay the money?

"Whose side is Long Zhiqing on? How could he say something like calling the police?"

Some commune members were puzzled. In their understanding, Long, the educated youth, was now working in the Dongwan brigade, which belonged to their brigade, so they should be on their side. Even if they called the police, they wouldn't be in the right!

"Nian'an, why do you think Lifan did this?" Hu Lili and the others were still lying there. She was a sentimental person who sympathized with the weak, so she was on the side of Chen Ying and her daughter.

"I don't know either!" Jiang Nian'an shook her head; she couldn't understand Long Lifan's actions either.

.........

Listening to the discussions around him, Lin Guodong wanted to speak, but he noticed the strange smile on Long Zhiqing's lips, so he tugged at Zhou Huiji's arm, signaling him to be quiet.

"Call the police?"

Chen Ping's expression changed slightly upon hearing the words "call the police," but he quickly regained his composure. However, Long Lifan, who had been watching him closely, noticed this and said slowly, "Isn't that unnecessary? I don't want to push people to the brink!"

"You guys don't think I called the police to force Chen Ying to pay back the money, do you?" Long Lifan looked at everyone and said with a smile.

Otherwise! Everyone was completely confused. If it wasn't about forcing Chen Ying to repay the money, then what was it about to make her give up on repaying it?

"Hahaha, it's a misunderstanding!" Long Lifan laughed a few times and explained to everyone, "I called the police not to force Chen Ying and her daughter to return the money, nor to make this man give up on getting the money."

"Did I call the police to find money?"

"give change???"

"What change do you need!"

“Long Zhiqing, what kind of riddles are you spouting? We don’t quite understand!” Lin Guodong stood aside, and like everyone else, he didn’t understand what Long Lifan meant.

"Brother, is the IOU you have real?" Long Lifan didn't answer Lin Guodong's question. Instead, she looked at Chen Ping with a serious expression and asked him earnestly.

“Of course it’s real. It has Zhou Hu’s signature and fingerprint on it. Didn’t you all see it just now?” Chen Ping took out the IOU and showed it to everyone again.

"In other words, Zhou Hu borrowed 150 yuan from you."

"Yes, yes!" Chen Ping felt a little guilty when he heard Long Lifan ask this. They owed the money at the card table, and as for Qian Zhouhu, they had never even met him.

“You two are witnesses!” Long Lifan looked at the two men of similar age behind Chen Ping. The two men glanced at Chen Ping first, and then nodded.

"That makes things easier!" Seeing the three nod, Long Lifan said with a smile, "I see the IOU is dated yesterday morning, and Zhou Hu's incident happened yesterday afternoon. That means the money might still be somewhere."

150 yuan—even if you went to the county, you might not be able to spend it all. Everyone instantly understood why Long Zhiqing had mentioned calling the police; he wanted to find the money.

Hearing this, Chen Ping and his men sneered inwardly. "Go ahead and search," they thought. "You could search the entire Dongwan Brigade, but you wouldn't find him, because Zhou Hu never received the money."

He thought this young educated youth had some brilliant idea, but it turns out this is all he has? Call the police, go ahead and call, it's not like he'll be the one who suffers in the end anyway.

“Brother Chen, don’t worry, we’ll return the money to you when it’s found!” Long Lifan said deliberately, “We should trust the police. They will find out exactly how the money ended up in Zhou Hu’s hands and how it was lost.”

Chen Ping was initially pleased with the first half of the sentence, but the second half seemed increasingly off.

The three exchanged glances, wondering if this young educated youth knew something.

"Hehe, I'm not in a hurry." Chen Ping forced a smile, suppressing his unease. "Why don't we avoid troubling the police officers? After all, they're busy all day long and don't have time to deal with our little matters."

"Huh?" Long Lifan let out a soft exclamation.

“Brother Chen, how can you say that? Police officers are here to serve the people, so why would they find it troublesome? You are being disrespectful to them. Besides, 150 yuan is not a small amount. Ask everyone here, how many families can afford it!”

"Brother Chen was willing to lend Zhou Hu 150 yuan, which shows how much you trusted him. Although he is now dead, we must not let you suffer a loss."

Her words immediately alerted the others to something amiss. Indeed, how many people present could afford to lend 150 yuan, especially to someone else? Even in-laws would likely be reluctant to part with it!

Zhou Hu and Chen Ping are not related, so why would Chen Ping lend Zhou Hu so much money? There's obviously something fishy going on.

Chen Desheng also came to his senses. Yes, his nephew's family could come up with so much money. He seemed to realize something and broke out in a cold sweat.

"Forget it, forget it, we don't want the money!" Chen Ping was now certain that the educated youth in front of him must have discovered something to dare to suggest calling the police.

But he dared not. The IOU was written at the card table, and besides, they had cheated. If the police investigated, gambling was illegal, and since they had cheated, they might even be blamed for Zhou Hu's death.

“Yes, yes, we’ll forget about the money!” Chen Desheng chimed in, looking righteous and indignant. “She just lost her husband. As the saying goes, when a person dies, it’s like a lamp going out. Let’s just let the debt go!”

"To avoid the rumor that our Xigou brigade bullied orphans and widows."

"Wait!" Seeing the group preparing to leave, Long Lifan stopped them, saying, "Isn't it inappropriate for you to just leave like this?"

"We don't want this money, what else do you want?" Chen Desheng snorted coldly, speaking with a displeased expression.

As the captain of the Xigou brigade, when had he ever been so embarrassed?

"You're the captain of the Xigou Brigade, right?" Long Lifan sized up Chen Desheng, having just overheard Lin Guodong mentioning her identity from behind.

"So what if it is!" Chen Desheng glanced at her, his face full of disdain. Back in Xigou Brigade, every educated youth in the village greeted him warmly when they saw him.

“If someone were to cheat and swindle someone into finding a child bride for their mentally challenged son, and the village officials not only failed to stop them but even aided and abetted them, what do you think the higher-ups would think?” Long Lifan whispered to Chen Desheng.

Upon hearing this, Chen Desheng instantly broke out in a cold sweat. The little girl in front of him spoke very softly, only he could hear her. But her voice was like a bell, striking his heart repeatedly, making it hard for him to breathe.

"I...I didn't know either!" Chen Desheng had clearly lost his previous arrogance, and his words were somewhat hesitant.

"Even if you were unaware of the situation, as Chen Ping's uncle, don't you know anything about him? To come and cause trouble based solely on an IOU, didn't you even think twice when you saw the IOU? Such behavior is truly unbelievable."

“As a village cadre, if you listen to only one side of the story so readily, your superiors might think you are unworthy of your position.”

"What exactly do you want!" After the educated youth had said both good and bad things, Chen Desheng had no choice but to admit defeat and now deeply regretted coming with his nephew.