Chapter 30: Standoff on the Beach

She had to get up for work around 4 AM, so to ensure she got enough sleep, Zeng Yan’s routine was the same as the villagers’: she went to bed after 8 PM. She hadn’t been asleep for long when the sound of insects from her space woke her up.

The four cameras outside couldn’t connect to the network, so she came up with an idea: she would leave her computer camera on all night, connected to a speaker. The sound from the video would be amplified, and she could receive information from outside while she was sleeping in her space. The expensive camera was not just for show; the one pointing down the slope detected a human presence and immediately sounded an alarm.

So, she knew who was coming right away. Through her night vision goggles, she recognized the wicked mother and son duo, and Liu Xiu being dragged along. Zeng Yan was sharp. She quickly figured out what the two were up to and didn’t rush out to meet them. It was one against three; it was better to trap them like turtles in a jar. She prepared her old friends, the pepper spray and the stun gun. Whoever comes in tonight won’t be walking out.

What happened next was too fast. She hadn’t expected Liu Xiu to swing Hu Feng like a discus in her night vision goggles. Zeng Yan wasn’t a saint; even if Hu Feng died, she had brought it on herself. The lighthouse foundation was about four meters away from her stone house. Zeng Yan took advantage of Zeng Fugui’s panic to quietly go outside and retrieve the four cameras from under the eaves. People were going to come soon, and even though she had set the alarm to sound like insects, it would be weird for the insects to be chirping nonstop.

After putting away the cameras, Zeng Yan returned to the house to check again. She put away anything that shouldn’t be there and finally spread the tattered quilt on the heated bed.

In Team Four, at the Liu family’s house, Liu Wang and his wife went out to look for their son since he hadn’t come home yet. They searched for a while but couldn’t find him, so they walked back, thinking they might have gone the wrong way and that the silly boy might be home by now. Before they could reach their front door, they saw Liu Xiu running back in a panic, his face covered in tears and his words incoherent.

Parents know their children best. From Liu Xiu’s jumbled words, they realized that someone might be dead and that their son was involved. Both of them turned pale with fear. The father, Liu Wang, had to steady himself. He told his wife to coax their son back inside and prepared to go to the scene himself. If he could downplay the situation before anyone found out, that would be for the best.

As he was leaving the alley, he ran into a panicked Zeng Fuzhen. She had been worried after giving Liu Xiu the medicine, so she had stayed on the roadside to wait for them. When she saw Liu Xiu running back in a panic without her mother and brother, she guessed something had gone wrong. Zeng Fuzhen was a spoiled person, and her brain was just for show. Instead of going to the stone house to check the situation, she ran to question the idiot Liu Xiu about what happened. Liu Wang couldn’t calm her down, and Zeng Fuzhen’s voice was shrill and piercing. “What happened? Tell me!”

In the summer, everyone slept with their windows open. The neighbors were woken up by Zeng Fuzhen’s shouts, and the situation could no longer be contained. The brigade leader, who lived in the next team, was also woken up. A group of people didn’t take the road and walked across the beach with flashlights. When they reached the bottom of the old lighthouse cliff, the first thing they saw was Zeng Fugui, who was kneeling on the sand, shivering and holding his head.

Zeng Fuhao had a bad feeling. He ran forward. In the flashlight’s beam, Hu Feng was hanging on a protruding rock, her eyes slightly open, with no rise and fall in her chest. The drop from the cliff was nine meters. If she had fallen on the sand, the cushioning might have saved her, but she had unfortunately hit a reef. Zeng Fuhao reached out to check her pulse, confirming that Hu Feng was dead. He was in a daze. Many people had died recently, but the Xiangyang Brigade had been peaceful under his leadership. No one had even died during the two typhoons they had endured. He couldn’t believe this was happening tonight.

His face was as dark as the night. He roared at his cousin, “How did she die here? Tell me what happened clearly!”

Zeng Fugui hunched over, his head still down, muttering words that no one could hear. Liu Wang and his wife were also there. To protect their son, no matter how much the people from the brigade questioned them, they adamantly denied that Liu Xiu had swung her. Liu Wang’s wife walked up to Zeng Fugui and started hitting him. “Team One is so far away. Why weren’t you sleeping at home, and why did you come here in the middle of the night? You even tricked my Xiu to come with you. You must have had bad intentions. Your mother deserved to die!”

Zeng Fugui almost got pushed over but still didn’t react. Since the incident happened at Zeng Yan’s place, they had to question her. The brigade accountant, Song Qi, personally went to her house to bring her to the scene. As soon as Zeng Yan arrived, Zeng Fugui, who had been hunched over, suddenly jumped up, extending his arms to grab her. “It was you! You pushed my mother off the cliff! You heartless little beast, why don’t you die! I’ll kill you to avenge my mother!”

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Everyone was taken aback by his accusation. Zeng Fugui almost got to Zeng Yan, but the brigade leader was the first to react. He kicked Zeng Fugui. “Why should we believe you now? You were mute just a moment ago. Now, you’re going to tell me what you know.” He instinctively didn’t believe Zeng Yan was the murderer.

In the darkness, a voice spoke softly. “Brigade leader, isn’t it obvious? There’s no need to ask. My son might not be bright, but he’s a young man in the prime of his life. Hu Feng and Zeng Fugui lured him here, trying to ruin the Zeng family girl’s reputation. The young girl wouldn’t give in, and in a moment of panic, she pushed her off the cliff. My foolish son can be a witness, but you’ll have to wait. He’s terrified, and we can’t get the story out of him until he calms down.”

With only three parties at the scene, and two of them claiming Zeng Yan was the one who pushed her, most of the people present believed it. People tended to side with the weaker party. Hu Feng was dead, and no matter what evil she had intended, Zeng Yan shouldn’t have killed her. They all thought the girl was too ruthless.

Accountant Song Qi looked at Zeng Yan as if she were a murderer. “Brigade leader, a person is dead. We can’t handle this. We have to send them to the county and let the revolutionary committee deal with it.”

The brigade leader scowled. “Send who? You just believe whatever these two say? Did you even find out what happened?”

“Zeng Fugui wouldn’t push his own mother. An idiot doesn’t have the brains to do it. If it wasn’t that girl, was it a ghost?” someone shot back.

Zeng Yan stood quietly on the beach, in no rush to defend herself. The calmer she was, the more the onlookers believed she did it. They thought back to how she had manipulated the family split and all the other things she had done to live on her own. They had already labeled her as cunning and manipulative. To be so young and be able to kill someone and remain so calm after… this girl is truly terrifying.

Even in the darkness, Zeng Yan didn’t miss the looks of disgust on their faces. Heh, people’s hearts are so easily swayed. Human nature was nothing more than this: to seek an advantage and avoid harm, like a hen protecting her chicks.

She could understand Liu Wang’s actions but would never forgive him. With a look of mockery on her face, Zeng Yan spoke mockingly. “Liu Xiu is an idiot. If he was a simpleton who, under duress, accidentally killed someone, I don’t believe he should be held responsible. Liu Wang, do you dare to call your son out here? Whether he’s coherent or not, let him tell everyone what happened. As for Zeng Fugui…”

Zeng Yan didn’t bother to look at him. She scanned the faces of the crowd. “You believe the words that came out of his dog’s mouth? He couldn’t even harm someone and ended up getting his mother killed instead. They say that eating fish is good for your brain. I think all the fish you’ve eaten went into a dog’s stomach instead.” She didn’t care that everyone present was older than her. When they were being foolish, they deserved to be scolded.

Although Zeng Yan had expected this outcome, she was still a little affected by it. She was just sleeping peacefully at home, and someone had to come to her door to make a mess. They wouldn’t even admit it and tried to blame her instead. Who would be happy with that?

The brigade leader glared at Liu Wang. “Yan is right. Go home and call your son out here.”

Liu Wang shuffled his feet, unwilling to move. He argued forcefully. “My Xiu just said that it was Yan who pushed her. He’s easily scared. He went home and cried nonstop. What if he has another fit after we finally calmed him down?”

“The fact that you’re afraid to bring him here means you have something to hide. It wasn’t your son who killed her, was it?” the brigade leader said with a sneer.

With the conversation at this point, Liu Wang and his wife had no choice but to go home and get their son. However, the two of them never came back. The crowd grew impatient. The brigade leader told a few young men to go to the Liu family’s house to see what happened. Hu Feng was still hanging on the reef, which was a bad look. He then sent someone to the brigade office to get a door panel to move the body.

The men who went to the Liu family’s house came back first, angrily reporting. “Brigade leader, that son-of-a-bitch Liu Wang ran away with his wife and that idiot son of his from the back of the mountain. Damn it, the truth is out. It must have been that idiot Liu Xiu who pushed her.”

“It wasn’t Liu Xiu; it was that little brat! She’s been wanting to kill her grandma for a long time, and she finally got her chance today!” Zeng Fugui insisted, as if he had lost his mind.

“Damn it, I’ve seen it all. How can a father be so evil?” Baldy Zhao from Team Five, who was the most reckless of the bunch, couldn’t stand it anymore.

They couldn’t go looking for them in the mountains at night, so they would have to wait until daybreak. Before Zeng Fuhao could get someone to move the body, a group of uninvited guests arrived. “We have a report that there was a death here. Who is the person involved? Come with us for questioning.” The voice arrived before the person.