Back to 1984: Hunting in the Mountains

Chapter 2 Unfounded Evidence
People in mountain villages love to spread rumors. It won’t take half a day for every household to know about this kind of thing. By then, the truth is no longer important. The key is what the villagers are willing to believe.

They are simple and honest, but also have a cunning and selfish side, and possess both pure bad and pure good characteristics.

Yu Qiutang pulled Yu Xiaowei in front of the two cadres who had been watching the fun.

One of these two men was the village clerk, named Liu Xiang, and the other was the team leader of Yu Qiutang's production team, named Yu Daner.

Neither of them is a good person, especially Yu Daner, who is still a fellow grandfather of Yu Qiutang, but when it comes to doing bad things, he is ruthless.

He is not well-liked by the team members.

"Captain, you said Xiaowei stole the red taro, what evidence do you have?"

"Evidence?" Yu Daner was in his thirties, with a pointed face and monkey cheeks, and was less than 1.65 meters tall. In the northwest, people with this height would call him a "third-class disabled person."

He was able to become the team leader mainly because of his sister-in-law's son-in-law, who was a cadre in the town.

"As the saying goes, to catch a thief, you have to catch the dirty work. You have come here with so many people to complain, but you can't just expect to get away with it with empty words, right?" Yu Qiutang inherited his mother's height, which is over 1.8 meters, which is considered tall here.

Although he was a little thin now, he was still a head taller than Yu Daner. His condescending and gloomy face still made Yu Daner a little uncomfortable. He took two steps back and tried his best to reduce the oppressive feeling brought by Yu Qiutang.

"Why, Qiutang, do you think Liu Wenshu and I would wrongly accuse this little thief of yours?"

Yu Dan'er appears to be fierce but is actually weak.

Hearing this, Yu Qiutang suddenly grabbed Yu Daner by the collar. His arms were very long. Yu Daner wanted to dodge when he saw that something was wrong, but failed. He wanted to struggle again, but it seemed as if he was fixed by an iron claw and he couldn't break free at all. He was a little panicked for a moment.

"Uncle Dejin, do you...do you care?!"

Yu Dejin was still confused by Yu Qiutang's sudden change. When he heard him being called, he hurried forward and pulled Yu Qiutang's arm hard, "Damn it, what are you doing? Do you want to hit someone? Don't you think I haven't lost face enough?"

Yu Qiutang just flipped his elbow slightly and pushed his father back a few steps. Seeing Yu Daner's face getting even darker, he asked, "You said Xiaowei and his friends stole the red taro. Which field did they steal from? Did anyone see it?"

"This..." Yu Daner subconsciously glanced at Yu Dejin, "Of course someone saw it. Would I...would I wrongly accuse him?!"

Yu Daner's gaze lasted only for a moment, but it did not escape Yu Qiutang. He looked in the direction of his gaze and found that at the entrance of the cave behind the crowd, his stepmother Chen Meidi was leaning against the door frame, knitting a sweater and looking at this side with a relaxed look.

Chen Meidi's daughter Wang Chunhua and later-born son Yu Qiushi stood beside their mother, looking gloating.

Wang Chunhua is already in her twenties and has been married once. After moving to her husband's family, she was lazy and ate a lot. She would go back to her parents' home every few days. Later, her husband's family completely ignored her and she started to stay at her parents' home to eat and drink for free.

She has the same personality as Chen Meidi, selfish and mean, likes to sow discord, and says one thing in public and another behind people's backs. She is not as hardworking and capable as Chen Meidi.

My younger brother Yu Qiushi is a bad boy. His mother has instilled all kinds of bad ideas in him since he was a child. He is lazy and gluttonous. When he grew up, he teamed up with others to steal things.

As a result, the master came back one day and caught him red-handed. In a panic, he accidentally killed the other person and was sentenced to more than 20 years in prison. He was not released before Yu Qiutang was reborn.

The upper beam is crooked and the lower beams are crooked too. There is something wrong with the family tradition of the Yu family. Since Yu Qiutang's grandfather, there have been few good people. If Yu Qiutang had not left home early and severed ties with them, he would have been affected.

"Who saw it?" Yu Qiutang could probably guess that this was another bad idea of ​​Chen Meidi's. Chen Meidi's adopted brother and Yu Daner were brothers-in-law, and they had a somewhat complicated relationship as relatives.

The custom here is that sons can live separately at the age of 18. Yu Qiutang will reach the age of 18 before the New Year, so Chen Meidi naturally doesn't want the family property to be divided. She thinks that she and Yu Dejin have been responsible for the family life, so it would be best if Yu Qiutang, the ex-wife, can leave the house with nothing.

"Anyway, someone saw it. Don't think of retaliating against me after I say something. The stealing of the red taro is true. If you don't believe me, ask your nephew." Yu Daner pointed at Yu Xiaowei and said.

"Haha~"

Yu Qiutang laughed sarcastically.

"Yu Dan'er, is your brain growing on a dog? What season is it now? Most of the red taro in the field has sprouted, and there are only a few acres of winter taro left, which are still seedlings. Where can they steal them?"

"Red taro is hard to dig up cleanly, but if you dig in the ground, you can always dig up some."

Yu Daner retorted subconsciously. He didn’t understand why Yu Qiutang had changed his temper today. He was usually listless, but today he was so strong!
Yu Qiutang frowned.

What Yu Daner said is a common phenomenon.

Rongcheng is now in a transition period of land reform. Some of the land has been subcontracted out, but some still belong to the public.

The crops in public fields are often not harvested cleanly during the autumn harvest. The villagers will wait until after the autumn harvest and then go back to dig in the fields. They can get a lot of food, especially potatoes and taro that are buried underground.

This kind of thing is a common practice, and people with bad financial situation would do it. But Yu Daner just kept picking on Xiaowei, and it was obvious that she was targeting him on purpose.

There is naturally no point in dealing with Xiaowei, a child alone. To put it bluntly, they still want their father to drive his family out of the house. In this era, there are many children, their relationship with their parents is strained, and it is not uncommon for brothers to become enemies.

Yu Qiutang took a deep breath and slowed down his tone: "Yu Dan'er, there must be more people digging in Hongyu than just Xiaowei. If you think this is stealing, let's go to the village and ask how many people are stealing?
Xiaowei was beaten like this now because you deliberately provoked trouble. Either you get out of here right now, or we will go to the village committee and have a good talk with the village chief. "

"I deliberately provoked trouble. Why did I do that? I can't let public property get damaged... You're a thief... And... What do you want to do?"

Yu Daner wanted to continue speaking, but Yu Qiutang dragged his body out with one hand. He struggled desperately, leaving a deep mark on the ground with his feet, but he was still unable to slow down and was dragged out and thrown into the alley.

Yu Qiutang's terrifying behavior was not over yet. He raised the hemp rope and hit Yu Daner's leg with a "snap".

"what!!"

Yu Daner was hit and bounced up on the spot. He screamed and rolled and crawled, running dozens of meters away without even daring to look back.

Yu Qiutang did not chase him. He just turned around and said coldly to the confused and shocked Liu Xiang: "Liu Wenshu, you can go and tell the village chief about what happened today. I'm waiting for the village committee to punish me!"

Liu Wenshu's face turned pale. He stared at Yu Qiutang's hemp rope cautiously, then stepped sideways out of the door and left quickly.

"Yu Dejin, Yu Qiutang, just wait and see, you will reap the rewards!"

Yu Daner shouted from a distance.

Yu Qiutang was too lazy to pay attention to him. He closed the door tightly and bolted it, isolating the yard from the outside.

(End of this chapter)