Starting from 1950

Chapter 142 Finding the Stolen Goods

After Su Yang finished speaking, the militiamen quickly tied up the screaming Liu and dragged him to the center of the threshing ground like a dead dog.

Old Yang and several farmers' association cadres surrounded him with livid faces. They didn't even look at the bloody cuts on Kuaishou Liu's body, the bloody holes bitten by Xiaobai, and the bloody holes pecked by Xiaoyu on the back of his hand. They were all furious.

"Quick-hand Liu! You son of a bitch! You really did this!" Old Yang was trembling with rage, pointing his finger at him and cursing, "You dare mess with Sister Li's family? They're the family of a martyr! They deserve to be struck by lightning!"

Kuaishou Liu grimaced in pain, but stubbornly refused to admit it, his eyes darting around: "Innocence! Director Yang, innocence! I was just bitten by a dog, and I pulled out a knife to defend myself... I didn't kill anyone! I didn't..."

"Didn't kill anyone?" Su Yang sneered, stepped forward, grabbed his collar, and exposed the fresh bloodstains on his neck to everyone's eyes. "Then where did those scratches on your neck come from? And whose blood is under Sister Li's fingernails? Should we take you to the Li family right now and compare them properly with Sister Li's fingernails?"

"Woof woof!" Little White bared its teeth at the opportune moment, letting out a threatening growl, poised to pounce. Little Jade also landed on Su Yang's shoulder, its sharp eyes fixed on Quick-Hand Liu.

Looking at those gleaming white fangs and the hawk's beak that gleamed with a cold light, and recalling the excruciating pain of being pinned to the ground and torn apart, Kuaishou Liu's mental defenses collapsed instantly, his crotch became soaked, and a foul stench filled the air.

"No! Don't unleash the dogs! Don't unleash the hawks! I'll talk! I'll talk!" Kuaishou Liu, tears streaming down his face, collapsed to the ground. "It was me..."

"I did it... I was hungry... I wanted to make some money... Widow Li's house... looked like they had some resources... so I... I..." He confessed the crime haltingly.

Su Yang was somewhat disappointed. He had hoped that if Su Yang continued to be stubborn, he would have a reason to let Xiao Yu and Xiao Bai continue to make trouble for him. He didn't expect Su Yang to back down like this.

The remaining villagers were in an uproar, with angry curses rising and falling.

"Kill him! You beast!"

"Shoot him! He must be shot!"

As Wu Xinxue and the girls from the art troupe listened, their eyes were filled with anger and disdain as they looked at Kuaishou Liu.

"Let's go find the stolen goods first," Su Yang said, waving his hand with some regret.

The militia escorted Kuaishou Liu towards his home.

The dozens of villagers who stayed at the threshing ground to watch the whole thing quickly spread the word throughout the village.

The escorts deliberately dawdled, and in the end, the entire village of Mushroom Village mobilized again.

The adults were swearing and spewing all sorts of profanities.

The children dug up some mud from the stinky ditch and threw it at Liu the Quick-Hand Man.

When he arrived at Liu's house on Kuaishou, he was almost completely covered in mud.

Kuaishou Liu's home is more of a makeshift shack than a proper home.

The mud-brick walls were crooked and sparse, the thatched roof was sparse, and the yard was overgrown with weeds and smelled musty.

The militiamen kept all the onlookers outside, and only Su Yang, Old Yang, and a few others went inside.

"Search! Search thoroughly! Find everything belonging to the Li family!" Old Yang waved his hand, and the militiamen immediately rushed in like wolves.

The commotion coming from the thatched hut was deafening, with people rummaging through chests and cabinets, smashing pots and bowls.

It hasn't been long since Kuaishou Liu committed the crime, so he probably hasn't had time to move the stolen goods yet. When we were looking for the culprit, Lao Yang didn't step forward, but now that the case is solved, he's very active in finding the stolen goods.

Su Yang saw through his thoughts, but he didn't really care.

"Old Yang, we didn't find anything!"

The militiamen searched for half an hour, and finally the squad leader said with a dark face.

"Quick Hand Liu! Confess! Where did you hide the stolen goods?" Old Yang kicked Quick Hand Liu, who was tied up and kneeling on the ground, knocking him to the ground.

Kuaishou Liu fell backward, face first, rolled a bit, and lay on his side.

Blood dripped from his nostrils, but he closed his eyes, looking as if he was free to do as he pleased.

"You son of a bitch, answer me!"

Old Yang snatched the red-tasseled spear from a militiaman and immediately started hitting Quick-Hand Liu.

"Well done! Keep hitting!"

"Yes! It would be better if they were killed!"

The villagers of Mogutun, who were blocked outside the courtyard, started a commotion.

But Kuaishou Liu just gritted his teeth. He had been thrown around and cursed by the villagers all the way, and he had figured it out.

With Sister Li's life in his hands, he's definitely going to get his hands on peanuts.

Since we're all going to die anyway, what difference does it make whether we confess or not?

Old Yang fired more than a dozen shots in a row, during which Liu kept groaning, but he still neither begged for mercy nor spoke.

Old Yang was exhausted and panting heavily.

Su Yang shook his head, unable to resist speaking up: "President Yang, this guy's just throwing caution to the wind. Save your energy, I'll have Xiao Bai handle it!"

Unexpectedly, as soon as he said this, Kuaishou Liu, who was lying on the ground pretending to be dead, suddenly raised his head and looked at Xiaobai with fear in his eyes.

He gritted his teeth, raised his head as high as possible, and strained his neck.

"Bang!"

He actually bumped his head on the ground.

Everyone was startled, and the militiamen quickly went forward to check.

"Phew... he's unconscious." After checking him over, the militia captain breathed a sigh of relief.

"Pooh!"

Old Yang couldn't help but spit on the ground, and said to Su Yang with some regret, "I didn't expect him to be so afraid of dogs. But this dog is dizzy, so it won't work to scare him with dog bites anymore."

"Who said I was going to unleash the dogs on him?" Su Yang said with a smile. "Xiao Bai! Go find the things that were stolen from the Li family!"

"Woof!"

Upon receiving the instruction, Xiaobai ran without hesitation towards a paulownia tree growing against the wall in the yard.

It came to the paulownia tree, stood up, and began to paw at the trunk with its two front paws.

"This is..." The militia captain's eyes lit up. "Quick! Climb the tree and look for it!"

Before he could finish speaking, Xiao Yu, who had been perched on Su Yang's shoulder, had already turned into a white shadow.

Just as the militiamen reached the tree, Xiaoyu grabbed a cloth bag about half a foot square and flew back to Su Yang.

Old Yang and several other farmers' association cadres, as well as the militia captain, all froze.

They didn't contribute to finding the murderer, nor did they have anything to do with finding the stolen goods; they didn't get any credit this time.

Su Yang, however, had already begun to open the cloth bag.

Kuaishou Liu's dilapidated thatched hut, which let in drafts from all sides, had been ransacked and was now in complete disarray. There wasn't even a table left to put anything on, so Su Yang simply spread the cloth bundle out on the ground.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Su Yang untied the knot tied to the cloth bag.

There weren't many things in the cloth bag:

Two silver bracelets, a silver longevity lock, approximately tens of thousands of yuan in banknotes, and... a small yellow croaker.

"That's right! This is something from the Li family."

Old Yang nodded. "That little yellow croaker was a reward from above for the 'floating wealth' that was given to Xiao Ya's father when Zhu Laocai was purged. He was at the forefront, contributed the most, and even got injured!"

Su Yang then realized what was happening.

A small yellow croaker weighs about one tael (approximately 50 grams), which is 31 grams. Based on the current gold buyback price at banks, that would be worth 128 million yuan.

Including the banknotes, silver bracelets, and longevity locks, Kuaishou Liu obtained no more than 200 million yuan from killing Sister Li.

For a mere two million, he actually caused one death; if Li Xiaoya hadn't been saved, there would have been two.

Su Yang sighed inwardly, when he suddenly saw Xiao Bai curiously sniffing the small yellow croaker again. Only then did he step forward and re-wrap up the stolen goods and take them with him.

"Sigh! Su..."

"7

A member of the farmers' association tried to stop him, but Old Yang quickly pulled him back.

Su Yang noticed their subtle actions but pretended not to see them.

When the police arrive, whoever finds the stolen goods will get the credit.

Although Su Yang was not lacking in merit, he did not have a good impression of the cadres in Mushroom Village, nor did he intend to be a pushover and give up his credit.

"Let's go! Everyone, let's go to the farmers' association and wait for the police to arrive!"

Old Yang sighed and said to everyone.

Two hours later, at the Mushroom Village Farmers' Association compound.

The police have arrived and are standing with Old Yang and the others, talking about something.

In the open space of the courtyard, Sister Li's body lay on the ground, but it was covered with a white cloth.

Kuaishou Liu was tied to a tree and hung up.

As for Li Xiaoya, she has already woken up, but...

Her eyes were dark and empty, devoid of any sparkle, as if veiled in mist.

Her face was pale, her lips were dry and cracked, and she looked listless, like a soulless rag doll.

She didn't look at the people surrounding her, nor did she respond to any sounds. She just stared blankly at a certain spot in front of her, her gaze unable to find its target.

Wu Xinxue brought the peeled Mickey Mouse milk candy to her lips, and the sweet fragrance wafted into her nose.

Normally, the little girl's eyes would have lit up and she would have opened her mouth to catch it.

But now, she merely tilted her head slightly, her movements frighteningly slow, and her expression remained blank.

The other members of the art troupe handed her handfuls of maltose and dried sweet potatoes, but she just stood there with her hands frozen, neither putting them in her mouth nor putting them down, not even bending her fingers.

Su Yang called her softly, "Little Ya?"

"Little girl, can you hear me?" Wu Xinxue's eyes reddened, and she couldn't help but wave her hand in front of her eyes.

"Little girl, do you know who I am?" Wang Xue's voice trembled slightly, and a very bad guess came to her mind.

Her eyes rolled halfway around very slowly, landing on the speaker, but she acted as if she didn't recognize him.

There was no fear, no joy, not even a sense of grievance; only a deathly silence and bewilderment remained.

Wang Xue flipped Li Xiaoya's eyelids, then gently tapped her knee, her brows furrowed as she straightened up.

Wu Xinxue clutched the hem of her clothes, her voice trembling, "Sister Wang, Xiaoya...is she mentally unstable?"

Wang Xue sighed and lowered her voice: "I can't tell either, after all, I'm just a medic."

"Huh? The little girl moved!" Sure enough, she suddenly exclaimed in surprise.

Everyone looked over and saw that Li Xiaoya was probably hungry, or perhaps she realized that the Mickey Mouse candy that had been placed in her mouth was a good thing. She opened her little mouth and put the candy in her mouth, and then bit it hard, bit by bit. When she realized that she couldn't bite it for a while, she even raised her little hand to grab the candy and bite it.

Everyone was overjoyed.

"Little girl!"

"Little girl! Look at me, I'm Sister Xinxue!"

"Little girl, do you remember me? I'm Brother Su!"

Everyone started asking the little girl questions all at once.

However, after they talked for a while, Li Xiaoya only raised her head a few times, glanced at them indifferently, and then lowered her head to focus on the snacks in front of her.

Everyone's mouths were dry from talking, but the little girl didn't say a word.

"Xiao Ya... seems to have amnesia," Wang Xue said uncertainly.

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