Starting from 1950

Chapter 139 Murder

Su Yang has the advantage of the cooking skills on the panel and has sufficient theoretical knowledge of cooking.

Although he doesn't cook at home very often, he still beats the country folk in Mushroom Village.

Wu Xinxue had previously studied under a master chef in Beijing, and with the theoretical guidance from Su Yang over the past two years, her culinary skills have become quite advanced.

The two worked together seamlessly, and the two pots of tofu dishes were quickly prepared.

"It smells so good! It smells so good!" Sure enough, she squatted by the big pot with her lunchbox in her hand, not caring that she was covered in sweat from the fire, and just kept sniffing.

"Xinxue, I never knew you were such a good cook!"

"Little Su can cook too!"

The female members of the art troupe chattered excitedly, while the people of Mushroom Village, still shaken by Su Yang's earlier shot, stood at a distance, not daring to approach.

Wu Xinxue sprinkled the last bit of "Defend the Country" seasoning from the paper packet into the pot. Su Yang stirred it vigorously with a large spoon a dozen times, then scooped up some soup to taste.

A satisfied smile appeared on his face.

The production line for "Defend the Country Noodles" has a production limit, but the seasoning packets do not.

The supplies for the troops were packaged separately for the flatbread and the seasoning packets. The amount of seasoning packets varied, ranging from one flatbread packet to one hundred flatbread packets.

During this trip to the countryside, Su Yang applied for a lot of material packages from the factory, which came in handy.

"Line up! Get your food!" Su Yang waved his hand.

"Buzz!"

The eagerly waiting crowd erupted, rushing towards the pot in a frenzy.

Sure enough, the female members of the art troupe reacted the fastest and lined up at the front of the queue.

Following them were Old Yang and several other cadres from the Mushroom Village Farmers' Association.

"Good heavens! I've lived for over fifty years and this is the first time I've ever seen anything like this." Old Yang craned his neck to look at the big pot, saw the obvious slices of meat inside, and smelled the aroma he had never smelled before. He swallowed hard and exclaimed in amazement.

"That's right! Even when Zhu Laocai's son got married, he didn't dare to hold a banquet like this." A member of the farmers' association chimed in.

As Su Yang listened to these words, he learned that Zhu Laocai was the former head of the village in Mushroom Village. Although he was called the head of the village, he was actually a local tyrant.

The Farmers' Association compound was just Zhu Laocai's old house in the countryside. His family's main base was actually in the town. The Zhu family once owned 4000 mu of the more than 6000 mu of land in Mushroom Village.

Moreover, the Zhu family employed over a hundred thugs. The common people would only call him "Old Rich Zhu" behind his back; when they met him in person, they would call him "Zhu Half-Day"!

It means that the Zhu family could control half the sky in Mushroom Village.

Su Yang, lost in thought, used a spoon to fill a lunchbox with tofu and vegetables for each of the female members of the art troupe. When he saw Old Yang eagerly handing him a bowl, he ignored him and turned to Wu Xinxue with a smile, saying, "Sister Xinxue, why don't you eat first? I can manage on my own."

Standing behind another large pot, Wu Xinxue scooped a spoonful of tofu and vegetables into a villager's bowl, turned to him with a smile and said, "I'm not in a hurry, I'll wait for you to eat together."

Su Yang nodded, not insisting further. He turned around to get some food for Old Yang, but glanced at the people queuing in front of the two large pots and frowned, asking, "Where's Li Xiaoya?"

Most of the villagers in line were staring at the large pot, and no one answered his question. He raised his voice and shouted again, "Li Xiaoya! Come and get your food! Didn't I tell you you didn't need to queue?"

Still no one responded.

After a long pause, a woman who had gone to the river to wash vegetables with Li Xiaoya hesitated before speaking: "Xiaoya went back to get her bowls, and I haven't seen her come back since."

Upon hearing this, Su Yang frowned even more, wondering if something had happened.

Could it be that Li Xiaoya's mother's condition has worsened?

Medical worker Wang Xue swallowed what was in her mouth and said, "I'll go see what's wrong."

She also knew about Li Xiaoya's mother's health condition and had even treated her when she visited her before.

It's not a big problem; it's just physical weakness caused by malnutrition and overthinking.

Su Yang nodded, then thought for a moment and smiled, "Then I'll trouble you, Sister Wang. Oh, and Xiao Bai, you'll come along too!"

He said to Xiaobai, who was squatting beside him and watching the villagers line up.

Wang Xue always enjoyed playing with Xiaobai. She closed the lunchbox, waved her hand, and said, "Xiaobai! Let's go!"

After watching the man and dog leave, Su Yang continued serving food to the villagers, but for some reason, he suddenly felt uneasy.

"Next!"

Su Yang served a bowl of rice to a villager, who felt that Su Yang had given him less than others and kept pestering him to add half a spoonful. Su Yang ignored him and simply tapped the edge of the pot with the spoon.

The villager reluctantly gave up his spot. Su Yang scooped up a spoonful of tofu and vegetables, and seeing that the people behind him were keeping their heads down, he reminded them, "Move your bowl closer."

Upon hearing this, the man moved the bowl forward again and poured a spoonful of food into it, but his hand trembled, and he almost spilled the bowl of food.

Su Yang added a reminder: "Be careful!"

The man steadied the bowl in his hand and raised his head slightly.

Su Yang then realized that this person was none other than Liu the Quick-Hand, who had tried to steal something from the art troupe's truck on their first day in Mushroom Village, but was discovered and chased away by Xiao Bai and Xiao Yu.

He didn't have a good impression of this person, and waved his hand dismissively, saying, "Next..."

""

Suddenly, his expression changed, and he exclaimed, "Oh no!"

Wu Xinxue stopped serving the food and asked with some confusion, "Su Yang, what's wrong?"

Su Yang immediately put down his rice scoop, glanced at the long line of people waiting in front of the two pots, hesitated for a moment, and said, "Sister Xinxue, something happened to Li Xiaoya's family, I have to go and see."

"You continue serving food to the villagers... Guoran! You take my place first!" Su Yang didn't elaborate, but shouted to Guoran, who was squatting not far away, wolfing down her lunchbox.

Without waiting for a response, he quickly ran towards Li Xiaoya's house.

"Coo!" Little Jade flapped its wings and flew over his head.

As Wu Xinxue watched Su Yang's departing figure, she felt a little worried. It wasn't that she was worried about Su Yang; she knew his abilities.

She was worried about Li Xiaoya, the lively little girl who had been calling her "Sister Xinxue" all the time these past few days.

"Captain Wu, it's my turn." A woman in line urged, swallowing hard. Only then did Wu Xinxue come back to her senses, stop thinking about other things, and continue to focus on getting her food.

Su Yang left the threshing ground and started running. Li Xiaoya's house was about 500 or 600 meters away from the threshing ground. He ran halfway there and met Wang Xue running towards him.

The two stopped. Wang Xue, slightly out of breath and still holding a pistol, said urgently, "Su Yang, Sister-in-law Li is dead! I examined the body, and the preliminary judgment is that she was suffocated! Li Xiaoya is also missing..."

Su Yang waved his hand to stop her. "Sister Wang, I already know about this. We're going to Li Erya's house now! When you go to the threshing ground, don't make a sound. Quietly tell Sister Xinxue... and, never mind! Tell the Mushroom Village Farmers' Association cadres as well, and have them report it to the police in town first!"

He rattled off a series of instructions to Wang Xue, then walked past her and ran towards Li Xiaoya's house.

After running a short distance, Su Yang suddenly stopped and said to Wang Xue, who was still standing there in a daze, "Sister Wang, don't go to call for help, come with me to the Li family to rescue them!"

Wang Xue was completely confused, thinking to herself, "Sister-in-law Li is already dead, how can we save her?"

Su Yang didn't explain to her, and just dragged her along as they continued running.

Normally they might joke around, but now it's a special time, and Su Yang is, after all, the deputy team leader who just came to the countryside.

Although Wang Xue was full of questions, she didn't say much and followed Su Yang back to the Li family.

The Li family's house is located at the easternmost edge of Mushroom Village, about 40 to 50 meters away from their nearest neighbor's house.

Like most villagers in Mushroom Village, the house is a mud-walled, tiled house with three main rooms and two side rooms, and the conditions are considered to be above average.

Su Yang pulled Wang Xue into the courtyard. He didn't go into the house first, but went straight to the well in the courtyard.

"Woof woof!"

Little White is lying on the well opening, howling down into the well.

Su Yang picked up the rope used for drawing water from the well and tied it around his waist, speaking quickly: "Sister Wang, Li Xiaoya is in the well. I'm going down to rescue her. You and Xiaobai hold the rope tight from above!"

Wang Xue then seemed to snap out of her daze and quickly nodded, "Okay!"

She came looking for Li Xiaoya, and when she entered the courtyard, she saw that the door to the main room was open. She went in and saw that the room had been ransacked, so she quickly went to the inner room.

Li's sister-in-law had already stopped breathing. After a quick check, she determined that she had been smothered to death.

She searched for Li Xiaoya at the Li family home without success, so she thought she should hurry back to the threshing ground to call for help.

But they didn't notice that Xiaobai ran to the well and started scratching at the bluestone slab pressing down on the wellhead.

Looking back now, Xiaobai must have sensed that Li Xiaoya was in the well.

Wang Xue panicked at this thought. She wondered how long Li Xiaoya had been thrown into the well and whether she was still alive.

"Sister Wang, hold the rope tight!"

Su Yang interrupted Wang Xue's thoughts and handed one end of the rope to her. Xiao Bai quickly grabbed the rope to help.

Su Yang lowered his body into the well opening, braced his hands against the well wall, and began to slowly slide down.

"Su Yang, be careful!" Wang Xue couldn't help but warn him.

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

Su Yang responded, and he had already descended more than three meters.

The well walls were covered with moss, making them sticky and slippery to the touch.

However, Su Yang's body, modified by the panel, was no pushover, and he also had the help of Wang Xue and Xiao Bai at the wellhead.

He strained his arms and legs to stretch outwards, preventing himself from falling directly.

After descending a few more meters, the light in the well became even dimmer. Looking down, Su Yang, with his excellent eyesight, could already see the well water below and Li Xiaoya floating on the surface.

Although she was silent, you could vaguely see that she was floating with her face tilted upwards.

Su Yang breathed a sigh of relief and began to move his hands and feet faster.

A dozen seconds later, he was immersed in the cool well water, stretched out an arm, and hugged Li Xiaoya.