Chapter 28: Chapter 28: Leverage
Wow, this is good stuff! You could get a lot of money for this at the supply and marketing co-op!
"You got it!" Li Guihua began counting nimbly. ’These kids are so honest,’ she muttered to herself. ’If I’d found this much, I would have brought in a dozen at most and kept the rest for myself.’ "A total of five wild ducks and seventy-eight duck eggs."
Miao Dahai nodded. "Yang Guanghui, Zhao Nuanyue, you can go on back. The village believes you."
"Thank you for your trust," Yang Guanghui said gratefully, then led his indignant and aggrieved companions away.
No one spoke on the way back. They were outsiders, after all. Even though they were the ones who had turned in the goods, they now had no say in what happened to them, not even the right to know the real situation.
They felt wronged and frustrated.
When they got back to their place, Wang Yuan lamented, "That Wang Dadan is rotten to the core. If Nuanyue hadn’t gone to find Uncle Miao, they would’ve searched our place. What if they had..."
Hearing Wang Yuan’s words, Zhao Nuanyue thought to herself, ’If Wang Yuan knew that Wang Dadan was the man who violated her, she probably wouldn’t stop at just calling him ’rotten to the core’.’
"Don’t be afraid. It’s not like they’d dig three feet deep," Li Qiong said, still shaken. But then she grew worried. "Is our stuff safe where we put it?"
Zhao Nuanyue nodded. "It’s safe. I have a knack for hiding things. They won’t find it."
"That’s good." Yang Guanghui breathed a sigh of relief. "In any case, let’s not eat any of it for now. We can take it out to eat after some time has passed."
Meanwhile, after Yang Guanghui and the others left the village committee building, Miao Dahai narrowed his eyes at Accountant Li and Wang Dadan. His sharp gaze swept back and forth between them, but he said nothing.
Li Siming and Wang Dadan grew uncomfortable under his stare. They forced a smile and said, "We were just being cautious. We didn’t mean to give them a hard time."
"Heh!" Leader Miao sneered. "Quite the ’cautious’ act! If what you two did wasn’t deliberately giving them a hard time, then what is? Let’s not even talk about distant matters. Li Siming, what about your wife taking those small salted fish from the warehouse? No matter how small those fish are, they belong to the village. Your family took them, and everyone else just played dumb and pretended not to see?"
Miao Dahai’s words made Li Siming flush with shame. Compared to them hiding something they’d found outside, his wife taking small salted fish from the warehouse was like chipping away at the very foundation of Nianqiao Village!
"Those were too small. Useless. It would’ve been a waste to throw them away," Wang Dadan said, trying to smooth things over for Li Siming. ’Who hasn’t taken stuff home before?’ he thought. ’In times like these, how else are you supposed to keep your wife and kids from starving?’
Miao Dahai turned to Wang Dadan. "Then let me ask you: what about the fresh fish you secretly took from the village? The ones weighing five or six, even seven or eight pounds?"
"Heh!" This time it was Wang Dadan’s turn to flush. "I just saw that the fish wasn’t fresh anymore..."
"Hmph!" Miao Dahai sneered. "You two have plenty of excuses, don’t you? Those kids found some wild ducks and duck eggs. So what if they ate a couple? Did you really have to corner them like that? Besides, you have no proof they ate anything!"
"That’s exactly why we need to search! Because we don’t have proof!" On the surface, Wang Dadan respected Miao Dahai, but deep down, he was unconvinced, and their relationship was far from good. ’Besides,’ he thought, ’once I use my brother-in-law’s connections to get the village chief position, I’ll be the one calling the shots in Nianqiao Village!’
’And then, not a single one of those three young women will escape me.’
’Recommending Li Siming and Liu Lanhua’s son for that spot in the city was to get Li Siming’s support. By next year, I can become a leader.’
Uncle Miao narrowed his eyes at Wang Dadan. ’This Wang Dadan is getting even bolder than his name suggests!’
’If I don’t deal with this punk, he’ll be walking all over me in the future! Just you wait, you little brat. Sooner or later, I’ll take care of you two.’
"Heh, fine then," Miao Dahai said slowly. "Since you want to search, let’s search everyone. We’ll search the whole village. We’ll just say it was your idea to search everyone. I won’t stop you. After all, it’s your job."
Wang Dadan froze, then quickly said, "No need to go to all that trouble. Just searching those few outsiders is enough."
"What a coincidence. Those young people just reported you for abusing your power for personal gain. For the sake of fairness, I’ll have to organize a search of your homes as well." Miao Dahai wore a knowing look. "Should I give you the night to go home and tidy up first?"
His own hands weren’t clean, yet he wanted to search others.
Today, he would oppose him to the end and see what this Wang Dadan could do!
Seeing this, Li Guihua stepped forward and said to Wang Dadan with a smile, "Dadan, I’ve noticed you’ve gotten quite bold lately. Is it because you’re relying on that capable brother-in-law of yours in the county seat?"
Other people might be afraid of Wang Dadan, but not Li Guihua!
Her son was set up in the city with a good job, and the whole family benefited from it. She wasn’t afraid of Wang Dadan’s so-called "capable" brother-in-law in the city!
He was just some small fry who could fool the people down here, but in the county seat, he was nothing but a gofer. Only Wang Dadan treated him like a big deal. In Li Guihua’s eyes, he was less than nothing!
"Heh heh, Madam Guahua, what are you talking about? My name might be Dadan, but I’m not bold at all," Wang Dadan chuckled, though the smile didn’t reach his eyes. ’This Li Guihua is no good either,’ he thought, ’always sucking up to that Miao and opposing me.’
Li Guihua’s smile grew even warmer than Wang Dadan’s. "Heh heh," she said, "you know, I found a copper pipe in the cave that day. It looked familiar, but I don’t know who it belongs to. Ai, the craftsmanship was quite good. Whoever lost it must be heartbroken."
’A pipe?’
Hearing this, the expression on Wang Dadan’s face instantly froze.
His pipe was missing. He had looked everywhere for it and couldn’t find it. So it had been lost in the cave.
Losing it was one thing, but for it to have fallen into Li Guihua’s hands...
This proved that Leader Miao and Li Guihua already knew he was the one who had taken advantage of those two young women!
’Since they haven’t exposed me,’ he reasoned, ’they must have a deeper reason.’
"Heh heh, smoking is bad for your health. I’ve started quitting," Wang Dadan said, not mentioning the pipe directly. He changed the subject, his attitude softening. He didn’t dare to confront Miao Cunzheng and Li Guihua head-on. After all, they had leverage over him now. While it might not be enough to convict him of a crime, it could certainly affect his future prospects.
Li Guihua and Miao Dahai smiled. They knew Wang Dadan was a bully who preyed on the weak and feared the strong. Now that he had exposed a weakness, he wouldn’t dare to be so arrogant.
"Smoking is indeed bad for your health. Not smoking is good for you. I hope you can quit," Li Guihua said with a smile. "Right, where were we? Oh, yes. You were going to search the Dragon King Temple, weren’t you?"
