This director is vindictive.

Chapter 568 The Brahmin in the County Town: Despair with No Way Out.

Old Zhou's depression was feigned, but his inner pain was real. Especially when dealing with the case of Xu and Tang, the profound sense of self-blame almost overwhelmed him.

Tang's final, coldly mocking "thank you"—"Thank the mediator for me. If he hadn't said 'Men are all like this when they're drunk,' I probably wouldn't have stabbed him twelve times"—was like a knife piercing Old Zhou's heart.

From Lao Zhou, Chen Mo and Zhang Yuqi learned more details and the process.

Before the incident, Zhou, the mediator, had visited the "model couple" multiple times to mediate their minor squabbles. Each time, Xu was impeccably polite, even serving his wife tea and water, while Tang remained silent, only occasionally nodding or shaking her head. At the time, Zhou, like everyone else, was deceived by Xu's carefully crafted facade.

Ms. Xu was very good at manipulating people's hearts. She even deliberately acted like a "helpless husband" during the mediation, saying in a humble voice, "It's my fault. I drank too much and got angry, which scared her."

Like everyone else, Lao Zhou dismissed Tang's fear with a flippant remark like, "That's how all men are when they're drunk."

It wasn't until after the verdict and a thorough police investigation that all the hidden details came to light—Xu's mental control, financial blockade, and psychological torture, as well as Tang's long-term forbearance and repression. Old Zhou then realized that his initial mediation had not only failed to help Tang, but had inadvertently made him an accomplice to Xu. His comment, "All men are like this when they're drunk," may have fueled Tang's despair, ultimately leading him to choose an extreme form of resistance.

This belated truth plunged Lao Zhou into deep self-reproach. He could not forgive himself for his initial rashness, nor could he accept that he had indirectly contributed to Xu's violence.

“Whenever I think of Tang’s terrifyingly calm eyes and that sarcastic ‘thank you,’ it feels like a huge rock is pressing on my chest, making it hard to breathe,” Old Zhou said.

Therefore, his despondency wasn't an act; it stemmed from genuine regret and pain. He felt unworthy to be a mediator anymore, or even to be pitied. However, the diagnosis of depression was fabricated—he preferred others to believe he was ill rather than admit that he was driven to the brink of collapse by the judgment of his own conscience.

After leaving Lao Zhou, Chen Mo and Zhang Yuqi were still reeling from the shock of the truth.

This also gave them a different understanding of the mediator profession.

"I never expected it to turn out like this!" Zhang Yuqi couldn't help but say.

Given her brain capacity, it would be really difficult for her to fully understand this.

Well, actually, Chen Mo's understanding was also somewhat refreshed.

Both he and Zhang Yuqi previously believed that the mediator played a very negative role in this case, and that was indeed the case.

But I have to say, can we blame the mediator for this?
It's really hard to say. From Tang's perspective, she has reason to blame mediator Lao Zhou, but from the perspective of an observer, was Lao Zhou wrong?
It can only be said that the devil is always one step ahead of the saint. Who could have imagined that Xu would be so terrifying and so scheming?

Sitting in the car, Zhang Yuqi unconsciously picked at the seams of the leather seats. The cold air from the air conditioner in the visiting room still seemed to stick to her skin, making her involuntarily recall the calm look in that woman's eyes when she talked about "stabbing Cong and the cat four more times."

She suddenly grabbed Chen Mo's wrist, her nails tapping softly on his watch strap: "This whole mess is weirder than any script we've ever seen! If you ask me—"

She lunged forward, her knees creaking as they hit the seat.

"Just make a movie about this! Let those blind people see clearly that domestic violence isn't just about punching people!"

Chen Mo felt her palms were sweaty, like a piece of velvet soaked in water. He pinched the base of her thumb with his other hand; this silly woman always forgot to control her strength when she got serious.

"script?"

He pulled his wrist, which had been pinched red, and opened the case photos on his tablet. In the cold light of the screen, the couple's wedding photo smiled jarringly.

"There's enough conflict, and enough suspense—"

He scrolled to the autopsy photos of the deceased, who was riddled with holes: "Even the bloody scene was readily available."

Just as Zhang Yuqi was about to grin, she saw Chen Mo suddenly place the tablet face down on his lap.

"But what I want to film is not a special episode of 'Today's Talk'."

He shook his head, tapping his fingers on the car window with a dull thud: "After watching, the audience will just say 'This guy deserves to die,' and then what? Tomorrow he'll continue telling his wife 'I'll take care of you'?"

The van rolled over a speed bump, causing Zhang Yuqi's diamond anklet to leave a red mark on her ankle. She remembered the ring mark on the ring finger of the woman behind the glass of the visiting room, which was whiter than the surrounding skin, like a scar.

"grass!"

She suddenly kicked the back of the seat in front of her: "Then how do you suggest we film it? Are you suggesting we cast a bunch of saintly figures to play 'Even though I'm being manipulated, I still believe in love'?"

Her flaxen-gray hair swept across Chen Mo's face with her movements, carrying the scent of hot pot-flavored shampoo—this tiger girl insisted on using her newly bought trendy Sichuan pepper shampoo this morning.

Chen Mo grabbed a strand of her hair and pulled it back: "What's the rush?"

"If we hadn't met with mediator Lao Zhou, what would we have been thinking before?"

“Old Zhao, let’s meet with the next victim first. While mind control, this kind of invisible domestic violence, is certainly terrible, physical domestic violence is more common.”

Zhang Yuqi suddenly fell silent. She stared at Chen Mo's profile for three seconds, then suddenly reached out and tugged at his ear: "You'd already thought this through, hadn't you?"

Seeing him wince in pain, she leaned in and kissed him on the chin: "Tell me! Are you going to pull off a series of traps?"

"Fasten your seatbelt." Chen Mo slapped away her groping hand and signaled the driver to start. The prison bars outside the car window were receding, like faded film.

"Old Zhao, tell me about the victim's situation," Chen Mo gestured for Zhao Ming to recount the details.

"Ahem, this victim is different from the previous one, Ms. Tang. She's truly miserable! And it's the most direct kind of domestic violence!"

"The victim is very similar to the one who was subjected to domestic violence sixteen times and ended up living with a urinary catheter, but is even more desperate!" Zhao Ming said. "Can you imagine? Everyone around the victim knew about her ordeal, but not a single person stood up for her. They all advised her to endure it, endure it, and endure it some more? Even law enforcement officers and mediators." Zhao Ming said, flipping through the documents.

"How is this possible? Are they blind, and also blind in their hearts?" Zhang Yuqi couldn't understand it.

"You know the term 'Brahmin of the County Town'?" Zhao Ming asked.

"A Brahmin from the county town?" Zhang Yuqi was a little confused.

Zhao Ming explained: "The word Brahman comes from India's caste system and refers to the elite class in society, mainly composed of monks and scholars. In the context of Chinese online discourse, 'county town Brahman' refers to young people in county towns who, with their family background and resources, control various political and business resources and live a comfortable life."

"The man in this case, Zhao, is a real-life version of the Brahmin from the county town!"

"You mean he's very influential in the area?" Zhang Yuqi asked.

"You can't say that. You can only say that in the local area, there are people from each other's 'family' holding positions in various official departments."

Can you imagine that the victim, Ms. Li, couldn't even escape this county? Because even if she bought a ticket, her husband, Mr. Zhao, would know immediately.

She hid, but Zhao was able to find her quickly.

People around her knew that Zhao Ming had been committing domestic violence against her for a long time, but when they called the police, the police officers at the local police station knew Zhao Ming and were even distant relatives of him.

The courts, marriage mediation committees, women's federations, and so on—all have connections to the Zhao family.

Zhang Yuqi was completely stunned.

Zhang Yuqi's eyes widened, her fingernails unconsciously digging into the stitching of the leather seat: "Wait... what era is this? How can someone be trapped to death in a small county town?"

Zhao Ming turned the tablet around, displaying the victim Li's household registration file: "The Zhao family has been operating in this area for generations. Look at this—"

He opened the relationship graph, and the dense red lines covered the screen like a spider web: "My uncle in the traffic police team, my cousin at the train station ticket office, and my niece in the women's federation office are all inconspicuous positions."

"grass!"

Zhang Yuqi suddenly snatched the tablet, zooming in on the list of police officers at the police station with two fingers: "This bastard's distant cousin is actually a beat cop? What the hell is she supposed to do with calling the police?!"

In a fit of anger, she slammed the tablet onto the chair, her rhinestone-encrusted nails scraping the screen with a screeching sound.

Outside the car window, dilapidated billboards in the county town flashed by: "Welcome to XX County!" The slogan gleamed eerily in the sunlight.

Chen Mo reached out and pressed her trembling wrist, and Zhao Ming continued, "The most amazing thing is..."

“She was abused by her husband, but even her parents and siblings advised her to reconcile rather than separate,” Zhao Ming added.

"Could parents really push their own daughter into a fire pit? What kind of nonsense is this?"

Her chest heaved violently, and the neckline of her Hermès scarf was pulled askew to one side.

Chen Mo was no stranger to this, because to some extent, this situation was more common in smaller places.

Those people may not be high-ranking or powerful individuals, but when they come together, they form an incredibly terrifying force, especially for ordinary people.

The victim, Li, whom we are going to meet this time, is caught in such a huge network of interpersonal relationships.

“Actually, this is normal. Look, these are the other party’s father’s original words: ‘Daughter, it’s wrong of Zhao Ming to hit you, but look, his brother-in-law works in the Education Bureau, and our grandson will be able to go to school in the future.’” Zhao Ming said, pointing to a passage from the other party’s father’s words in the document.

Do you know how Li was caught during his last escape attempt?

He pulled up a screenshot from the bus station's surveillance footage: "Her best friend—now a long-distance ticket seller—immediately notified Zhao Ming."

“What’s even more ironic is this.”

Chen Mo opened the county court's commendation notice from last year, and the title "Judge Zhao XX successfully mediated the 100th divorce dispute" was prominently listed.

The accompanying photo shows a bald judge warmly shaking hands with a couple—the woman with bruises all over her face is Ms. Li.

"Fuck the mediation!"

Zhang Yuqi kicked the front seat, snapping the 15-centimeter Jimmy Choo heel in half. Her eyes red, she pulled out a powder compact and smashed it against the car window: "This isn't mediation! This is handing a knife to a slaughterhouse!"

Chen Mo let her vent until the car turned into a narrow alley before speaking: "We'll see someone later."

Before she finished speaking, Zhang Yuqi had already pulled back the car curtain with a "whoosh"—at the end of the alley, three men squatting and smoking looked up in unison.

"did you see it?"

Chen Mo lowered his voice: "Before our car had even come to a complete stop, the people keeping watch were already in place."

In the rearview mirror, a woman in a mink coat was pretending to play on her phone, but the camera was clearly pointed in their direction.

(End of this chapter)