Carrying a Jurassic on me-Chapter 1318 - 642 Xinyi Fully Expressed_2

Lin Xiumei complained as she tended to the fire, "These outsiders who become officials are really no good. It was so much more convenient when Baoguo was in charge here. Such a fuss wouldn’t have been necessary. If I had known, I would never have let Xiao Fei get involved in this kind of thing. As if the New Year isn’t stressful enough without worrying about money."

Yan Wen Hai knew his wife was just venting and didn’t join in the conversation, just keeping his head down, focusing on tending the fire.

He was well aware of the reason for Lin Xiumei’s complaints: for the incident involving the thief’s death, Yan Fei had suggested that now that the health clinic had issued an autopsy report, they should just take the body directly to the crematorium, regardless of whether the report was authoritative or not; it meant they had something to work with, and it would save a lot of trouble.

But the director disagreed, so the hospital had no choice but to keep storing the body in the morgue—and thank goodness it was the dead of winter. Otherwise, given the conditions at the village health clinic, it probably wouldn’t have been able to store the body for long.

"I’m talking to you!" Seeing that Yan Wen Hai remained silent, Lin Xiumei grew dissatisfied. "Did you not hear me, or is there wool stuffed in your ears? Xiao Fei has been out for quite a while; he hasn’t gotten into a dispute with the new chief at the station, has he?"

"Xiao Fei never said he was going to the station. He’s probably gone to discuss with someone. How could he possibly go directly to the station?" Yan Wen Hai smiled wryly. He knew all too well what his wife was like. Normally, she was straightforward and bold, rarely bogged down by worries. But when it came to their son, trying to reason with her was out of the question...

"What’s wrong with going to the station? Are we afraid of a new chief? Our son is only trying to do what’s best for everyone during the New Year..."

"Mum, mum, look at Qiuqiu sleeping with his eyes open!" Lin Xiumei was interrupted mid-sentence by Yan Chao, who suddenly exclaimed with surprise.

Following his gesture, Lin Xiumei saw the little Tibetan Mastiff named Qiuqiu by her son, sprawling and dozing off near the fire bucket, leaning against the leg of a stool. However, the little rascal kept sleepily opening his eyes now and then because of Yan Chao’s disturbance.

The Tibetan Mastiff, fed until it was chubby and covered in long, fluffy hair, did indeed resemble a small ball of fur, which justified the name Qiuqiu given by her son. The combination of the fluffy puppy and her endearing, naive son immediately diverted Lin Xiumei’s attention.

"Okay, stop bothering that little dog. Look how you’ve unsettled him; he can’t even get a good sleep." Lin Xiumei looked at the bewildered and helpless Tibetan Mastiff and, reproaching her son, she pulled him onto her lap. "He’s just like you; he needs to sleep too..."

Yan Wen Hai quietly breathed a sigh of relief to himself.

Yan Fei hadn’t really gone to the police station; after all, he wasn’t familiar with the new chief and hadn’t had much interaction with him. And he couldn’t be entirely clueless about the kind of person the new chief was; what if he went there and got snubbed? He certainly wouldn’t risk the embarrassment of seeing the new chief; he was currently at Old Pan’s place drinking tea!

Old Pan had prepared tea for him while he himself smoked incessantly before finally saying helplessly, "So what do you propose we do?"

Holding his teacup, Yan Fei appeared completely nonchalant, "I’ve already said, you should get someone to persuade the chief to cremate that dead thief and be done with it once and for all. At worst, if there’s any inquiry later, a few scoldings from the higher-ups, what’s the big deal?"

Old Pan was very frustrated, "And if the new chief isn’t amenable?"

"Whether he’s amenable or not is beyond my control. I’m just suggesting you report it to the township, success or not." Yan Fei appeared quite assertive. "It’s not appropriate for me to meddle too much, is it?"

"You’re not meddling?" Old Pan almost choked on his smoke. "Do you think I’ve been sitting at home all day without stepping outside? The talk around the village now is that the thief died of illness. Are you saying that wasn’t spread by you?"

Your shadow has been over this whole affair from the start, and now you’re saying it’s not appropriate for you to meddle?

"That wasn’t my doing!" Yan Fei entirely denied it. "I’m here to help the township, and you know very well why. Do I really need to spell it out?"

Old Pan indeed knew all too well.

What was the current state of security in the township? This was plain for everyone to see.

Such a good security environment was achieved by what? Nothing less than the collective effort of the entire township.

But now, such an incident had arisen. If it wasn’t properly resolved, then this security dam, built on the efforts of all the villagers, would easily collapse if put to the test.

If one were to strictly pursue Guo Liucai’s case, they could continue to send the thief’s body to the county or even the city for an autopsy. Afterwards, bring the authoritative conclusion to light, and if it really was Guo Liucai who killed the man, handle the matter according to the law.

It might seem trivial: just another run-of-the-mill case filed away in the police station.

But if we really do this, what will the villagers think?

No matter how much we promote legal knowledge, as long as the outcome remains the same, everyone will hold one belief, and that is: you can’t hit a thief.

Since a thief can’t be hit, should we still catch them?

How do we catch them?

When we see a thief, we shout, "Stop, come with me to the police station!"

And then the thief says, "Ok, just wait a second, let me call over my accomplice, and we’ll all go together. Oh right, I’ve got a knife here, it’s a weapon, you hold on to this..."

Or the thief hits back with, "Do you have a bicycle? The police station is still far away, you know. I’m tired from running, and you must be tired from chasing me for so long, right? Let’s both ride there!"

Is there such a conscientious thief? Maybe, but the odds of that are...

Most of the time, the thieves caught will resist a bit. After all, nobody wants to be just sent to the police station, and it’s not uncommon for them to pull out a weapon—hardly any thief is empty-handed, almost all have a small knife or scissors of some sort.

Others might say, there’s a difference between injuring or killing in the struggle, and injuring or killing after the thief has been caught. Some call it self-defense, some excessive self-defense, and others manslaughter...

But in reality, is it really different? You can say that, but will the villagers believe it? What if the thief pretends to surrender then pulls out a weapon at the crucial moment to stab someone and escape? If someone gets hurt before the thief is subdued, can the injured person and their relatives refrain from hitting back?

After finishing another cigarette, Old Pan stood up: "Alright then, I’ll go talk to the township and see what they think."

Yan Fei also stood up and followed him outside, "You could have just said that in the first place."

Old Pan gave a helpless smile, "It’s clearly something you could’ve done with a phone call, how could I say it any better than you?"

Yan Fei chuckled, "You can say whatever you want there. If I went, some things wouldn’t be appropriate to say. Just go and tell them, I’m not taking it lightly, and if Guo Liucai gets a heavy sentence this time, I’ll definitely resist in the future. Who knows what I might end up doing!"

Old Pan glared at him in irritation, "So, you’re sending me to be the bad guy, huh? Then tell me, what exactly would you do?"

Yan Fei thought for a moment, "Forget it, I won’t say anything, just tell them that. Anyway, I don’t want to see a future where the thieves come and nobody cares—if the thieves become more arrogant than good people, can we still manage security here? Will I dare to issue my cattle below then?"

Old Pan nodded, "You don’t need to say it, I get what you mean. I don’t want to see that happen either. Why else would I agree to be the messenger? But what I say might not make a difference. As long as we’ve done our part, that’s all that matters. Don’t think too much about it. Ok?"

Yan Fei reached out to take his motorcycle keys, "Sure, as long as you’ve said it, that’ll do! I’ll listen to you, doing our part is enough!"

He said this, but what he really thought, only he knew.

In fact, he also understood that if the head of the police station were someone more flexible, this would be quite easy to handle. It all depended on that head of the police station.

The reasons are clear.

The public security in Sancha River Township improves, and then the head gets transferred away, followed by the arrival of a young replacement with hardly a few hairs on his chin, who clearly doesn’t fit in with the countryside folk—a message that needs no explanation.

Some things are better left unsaid when everyone understands.

Th𝗲 most uptodate novels are published on free(w)ebnov(e)l.𝒄𝒐𝙢