Era: Starting from the local police station

Jiang Zhenghua's expression turned serious: "Comrade Hou Laicai was murdered the night before last. We came here today to find out some details about him."

Hou Yongshou's face turned pale, and he asked incredulously, "Deputy Director Jiang, you mean... he's gone?"

Jiang Zhenghua nodded: "Yes, he was murdered and his body was dumped in a garbage dump."

Hou Yongshou stumbled.

Jiang Zhenghua quickly reached out to help him up, preventing the old man from falling.

He asked with concern, "Secretary Hou, are you alright? May I ask your relationship to him?"

Hou Yongshou's face showed grief: "I am his second uncle, and he is my eldest brother's youngest son. How are the two of them supposed to live?"

"Secretary Hou, please accept our condolences. The deceased is gone. Please remain calm and help us bring his killer to justice and clear his name."

Hou Yongshou nodded, forcing himself to stand up straight: "Thank you."

Jiang Zhenghua pulled out a pack of Daqianmen cigarettes from his pocket, took out two, and handed them over: "Have a smoke."

Hou Yongshou took it with trembling hands.

Zhang Chongguang immediately took out a match, struck it, and lit it for him, naming him as the recipient.

Jiang Zhenghua offered cigarettes to the group.

Hou Yongshou took a few deep breaths and wiped his eyes. "How do you want me to cooperate? If possible, I hope you won't tell my older brother and his wife yet. My sister-in-law hasn't been feeling well these days, and I'm afraid..."

"Sure. Of course, if the case gets stuck, I'd like to let them know in case they have any leads."

"I understand, I just haven't figured out how to face them yet."

"Could you call all the people who came to the city to do temporary work to the team headquarters? We need to know something about them."

"To avoid alarming the members and causing panic, I'll call out three names first. What do you think?"

"You've thought of everything."

Hou Yongshou shouted towards a field not far away: "Shucai, Baogen, Qilai, the three of you come to the team headquarters, I have something to arrange."

"Okay."

Someone in the field responded.

Jin Hong said, "Let's go, get in my car, we'll talk at the team headquarters."

Hou Yongshou glanced at his bare feet and dirty clothes, preparing to refuse.

Jin Hong had already pulled him toward the car: "Why bother with such formalities? As the great man said, the working people are the most glorious. There are no class divisions now; everyone is equal."

Hou Yongshou sighed and said, "I've been too attached to appearances. I tell the commune members every day, but when it comes to myself, I still can't do it. It's because my thinking isn't right."

Jiang Zhenghua sighed inwardly and turned to walk towards the motorcycle.

The Chinese way of thinking, which has been ingrained for thousands of years, is not so easily broken.

As soon as he got into the car, Zhang Youming asked in surprise, "This Secretary Hou is different from what I heard. Wasn't he the one who dared to curse people in front of the mayor's office? How come he's like this now?"

Jiang Zhenghua laughed and said, "Do you dare to slam your fist on the table with your Director Liao?"

Zhang Youming was taken aback, then said, "If I were in the right, I might dare to."

"Would you dare to take a picture with the district head or the mayor?"

Zhang Youming immediately shook his head: "I definitely wouldn't dare."

Zhang Chongguang asked with a smile, "Why?"

"Hey, I know Director Liao, he might scold me at most. But the mayor, that's a much bigger official."

"Have you figured it out? One issue is the unfamiliarity with these unknown people. The other is that the 'official-centric mentality' has been passed down for generations in this land. It can't be easily eradicated with just a phrase like 'equality for all.' Fear of power requires time, inner strength, and personal confidence to overcome."

Zhang Chongguang glanced back at Jiang Zhenghua and said with a smile, "Zhenghua, I didn't expect you to have such insight; that's quite rare."

Jiang Zhenghua shook his head and smiled, without replying.

The dust kicked up by the jeep in front of us was so thick that it made it impossible to speak.

Not far along, the dust on the road finally cleared up.

Jiang Zhenghua suddenly blew a breath towards his mouth, frowned and said, "This dust is too pungent, my nose is full of the smell of earth."

"Thank goodness it's scattered, otherwise we would have had dirt stuffed into our mouths."

Jiang Zhenghua glanced around.

On the right, a corner of the courtyard wall had collapsed, and several pieces of the blue tiles were broken. Two thin, sallow-faced teenagers were running around naked in the open space.

A few minutes later, the car turned a corner and stopped directly in front of a courtyard gate.

Jiang Zhenghua jumped out of the car and carefully looked around the yard.

The courtyard wall was twice as high as any of the ones we had seen along the way, and it looked exceptionally thick.

The black lacquered gate was worn dark, with a few spots of red paint still remaining on the edges. On the right side of the gate, a wooden sign hung on a thick wooden pillar, with the words "Headquarters of the Third Brigade of the Red Flag Commune in Sijiu City" written in red paint.

Zhang Chongguang noticed the doubt in his eyes and leaned closer, saying, "Judging from the size and style, it's probably a converted Hou family ancestral hall."

Zhang Youming also walked over and said, "Instructor Zhang is right. Our village's ancestral hall is also like this, and it's now being used as the team headquarters."

Jiang Zhenghua nodded: "Go in, the director and the others have already gone in."

The three of them stepped into the courtyard, and voices came from the main house.

When Hou Yongshou saw the three men enter, he quickly greeted them, saying, "Three police officers, please have a seat and a bowl of water to quench your thirst."

Several rough porcelain bowls filled with clear water were placed on a large, black wooden table.

Hou Yongshou said embarrassedly, "We're poor in the countryside, we don't have tea, we can only drink boiled water."

Zhang Chongguang and Jiang Zhenghua sat down on a long bench with one leg broken and tied with a rope.

Zhang Chongguang said with a smile, "Secretary Hou, you're too kind. Cool boiled water will quench your thirst. Please sit down and let's talk."

Hou Yongshou shook his head and turned to walk towards a table behind him.

Jiang Zhenghua then noticed that his right leg was a little stiff when he walked, and his whole body was slightly tilted.

Hou Yongshou opened a drawer, took out a cigarette case, walked to the table, and placed it in front of Jin Hong: "Commander, have a smoke."

The cigarette pack features portraits of workers and farmers standing side by side, with the workers wearing safety helmets and the farmers wearing straw hats, conveying a sense of strength. Behind the portraits is a combination of blue sky, white clouds, factory chimneys, and sorghum fields. The edges are decorated with gear and wheat ear patterns.

The words "Great Production" are printed in gold on a red background, with embossed lettering on the front, making them particularly eye-catching in the sunlight.

Jin Hong picked up the cigarette case, took out a few cigarettes and handed them out to everyone, saying with a smile, "These are good cigarettes, cigarettes praised by great men. When the old man saw the Dashengchan brand cigarettes on the table in the reception room of the West Open-pit Mine, he picked them up, looked them over, and said, 'Dashengchan brand, good, I'll have one.'"

They all smiled and lit cigarettes.

Jiang Zhenghua looked at Hou Yongshou, whose face was full of sorrow, and sighed, "Secretary Hou, could you tell us about Hou Laicai's situation?"

Hou Yongshou nodded, picked up his pipe, and took two puffs. The smoke slowly rose in front of him, making his face appear somewhat ethereal.

"He is my eldest brother's youngest son. He has two older brothers and one older sister, all of whom are married. He is 28 years old this year and has a seven-year-old daughter who lives with my eldest brother and sister-in-law."

"Where is his wife?"

Hou Yongshou said with some resentment, "They ran away."

"They ran away?"

"That woman was from the neighboring Ma family village. When she was twenty, she married Sanwa through an introduction, and gave birth to a girl the following year."

Hou Yongshou picked up his pipe and tapped it on the stool a few times, causing the ash to fall to the ground.

"My sister-in-law has always been in poor health and needs to take medicine frequently. But we farmers can only earn a few cents a year. So, the family went into great financial trouble to pay for her medical treatment."

"Many people advised her to give up if things didn't work out, saying it was her fate. But this third son is a filial son and refused no matter what. This caused a conflict with his older brothers, so he simply separated from the family and said he would earn money to pay for his mother's medical treatment himself."

Hou Yongshou's face was full of pain.

Jin Hong and the others exchanged bewildered glances, never expecting that the man who earned his living from the farmers' hard-earned money was such a filial son.

"This also sowed the seeds of future trouble."

"At first, he hunted and dug up medicinal herbs everywhere, and sold them to pharmacies in the city, but it was not enough to fill the hole in his mother's medical expenses. This caused him to quarrel with his wife often, but he was stubborn and insisted on getting treatment no matter what."

Hou Yongshou packed his pipe, lit it again, and sighed deeply: "In the spring of 1954, after his wife went to the city, she never came back. Later, some people said they saw that woman in Hongxing Town, and some suggested reporting her to the police to have her arrested, but Sanwazi refused no matter what, saying that he had let her down and that it was his misfortune that she left."

"How did he get into the city?"

Hou Yongshou's voice was a little hoarse: "He didn't say it out loud, but it really hit him hard. Once, when he was drunk, he said, why do city people live so comfortably while he has to suffer in the countryside and live this hopeless life? In 1955, he resolutely went to the city, saying that even pulling a cart was better than toiling in the fields."

Jiang Zhenghua quickly asked, "Did he pull a cart before?"

Hou Yongshou nodded: "That's right. He didn't know where he got a pair of cart wheels, and had them made by the carpenter in the village. He cherished them very much. From then on, he left the children at home and went to the city to pull a cart. The money he earned was enough for his mother's medicine."

"But at the beginning of last year, he suddenly ran back to the village and told me that he had met a very capable man in the city who took good care of him and could help him find temporary work in a factory. However, the job required a lot of strength, and city people thought it was too tiring and didn't want to do it, so he came to the village to find someone."

"When I heard about this great opportunity, that I could earn ninety cents a day, which is more than ten times the daily dividends in our village, I immediately agreed to organize people. However, he proposed that he would take two cents as a referral fee."

At this point, he lowered his head.

No one spoke, and the room fell silent.

Hou Yongshou continued, "I knew this was wrong, it was capitalist behavior. I hesitated at the time, but then I thought, even if he takes two cents, that's still more than he earns working in the fields. So I gathered all the able-bodied men in the village together, told them the truth, and listened to their opinions."

Jiang Zhenghua sighed deeply: "Everyone agrees, right?"

Hou Yongshou nodded: "The commune members said they were willing. If it weren't for Sanwazi, they wouldn't even have this opportunity. Sanwazi also said that he wouldn't take all the money; he needs to bribe officials to get work in the long run. Once he pays off his debts, he won't want his share."

Jin Hong took out a cigarette case, lit one, and asked, "And then?"

Hou Yongshou took a puff of his pipe and continued, "From then on, Sanwazi would bring the able-bodied men from the village to the city every month to do a few days of portering work. Sometimes it would be two or three days, sometimes seven or eight days. The villagers benefited, and everyone's life improved."

He paused for a moment, then continued, "He always had someone bring money back, and his mother's condition improved; she no longer needed medication. It seemed like things were finally going to get better, but alas..."

Has he been back recently?

Hou Yongshou nodded: "He came to see me at the beginning of the month, wearing a brand new outfit and bringing two bottles of wine."

Did he say anything?

"That night we drank and talked a lot. He said he wasn't going to do it anymore. If his superiors caught him doing this, he would be arrested or criticized. In the past two years, he had cleared his family's accounts and saved some money, enough for his mother's medical treatment."

Jiang Zhenghua frowned: "Didn't they say anything else?"

Hou Yongshou was taken aback, a hint of hesitation on his face.

Seeing this, Jin Hong said, "Secretary Hou, I've heard about your deeds. You fought the Japanese once, and later came back to lead everyone to a better life. You were a hero. Now that you're gone, what can't we talk about? There are some things we'll find out sooner or later if we investigate."

Hou Yongshou sighed: "It's not that I didn't want to tell you, but he had been drinking at the time, and I was afraid he would talk nonsense and affect your judgment."

Zhang Chongguang replied, "Just tell us, we'll judge for ourselves; perhaps there are clues hidden within."

Hou Yongshou nodded emphatically and said in a deep voice, "That night he said he was going to pull off a big heist and asked me to prepare the manpower. He said this job would be enough for him to live on for several years, and he might even get a formal job. Even if he didn't get a job, he would still have enough to live on for several years. He would immediately stop and go back to the village to take care of his parents and work to earn work points to make a living."

Jiang Zhenghua quickly asked, "What kind of work?"

Hou Yongshou shook his head: "I asked, but he didn't tell me. I even told him not to do anything illegal, disorderly, or against the ancestors, and he told me not to worry. I just didn't expect..."

Jiang Zhenghua wrote it down in his notebook and circled it heavily: "Does he have a wife now?"

Hou Yongshou shook his head: "He didn't look for anyone else. Actually, since last year, he has made money with the villagers, and he has become a well-known capable person in the area. Many people have come to propose marriage, but he has rejected them all. I also asked him what he was thinking, and he said he only wanted to raise his daughter well, and he would leave the matter of finding a wife to fate."

"Do you know where he's staying in the city?"

"I really don't know about that. I've never been involved in this work or gone there. But the villagers should know."

Just as Jiang Zhenghua was about to ask again, footsteps came from outside.