"Zhijun, meet me outside the prison at noon. I have something to do, so I'll leave now." Xu Zhengyang hurriedly hung up the phone, got out of bed, and chased after them in his shorts and sandals.
Li Bingjie could leave without saying a word or even saying goodbye, but Xu Zhengyang couldn't leave without seeing her off.
As always, Li Bingjie arrived without any warning and left quietly. She didn't leave behind many words, or even any impression, as if she had never been there at all.
Fortunately, Xu Zhengyang had gotten used to it.
What's remarkable is that this time, his mother wasn't too angry. She didn't show much resentment after Li Bingjie left, nor did she nag. She just urged Xu Zhengyang to go back to his room and lie down. It was getting cold, and he was running outside in just his shorts and sandals, so he was careful not to get a fever again.
Xu Zhengyang returned to the house and changed into a white shirt, black trousers, and black leather shoes, which he had specially polished to a shine. Then he went to the living room and told his mother that he had to go out for a while.
"You're not fully recovered yet, what are you doing going out?" Yuan Suqin scolded, frowning.
"Mother, Chen Chaojiang and Liu Bin are going to be released from prison at noon," Xu Zhengyang said softly.
"Huh?" Yuan Suqin was stunned for a moment before saying, "Those two kids... weren't they sentenced to five and seven years respectively?"
To this day, apart from the families of the two men, Zhong Shan and his son, and Xu Zhengyang, no one in the village knows that more than a month ago, the case from that year had been completely overturned, and that some people from the municipal government and the public security, procuratorate, and court had gone to Chen Chaojiang and Liu Bin's homes to do ideological work.
Xu Zhengyang laughed and said, "The original judgment was wrong. Guo Tian, his father, and Shen Qun, the former director of the Futou Town Police Station, were arrested a few days ago, weren't they? They confessed to framing Chen Chaojiang and Liu Bin back then."
"Oh, then you should hurry and go to their house and tell them... go pick them up and buy some gifts, buy lots of good stuff. Oh, and by the way, how about we book a table at Tianwaitian when we get back, a welcome-back dinner for the two kids, something like a 'washing away the dust' dinner, right?" Yuan Suqin sighed and said, "These two kids are really unlucky. They've been in there for almost two years now, haven't they? Their families have suffered so much..."
"It's alright, there will be compensation." Xu Zhengyang smiled. Actually, there was no need to keep this a secret. When the relevant personnel were doing ideological work, they didn't intend to keep it completely secret. They just told the two families not to cooperate and not to say too much if they encountered reporters or other interviews.
Yuan Suqin shook her head and said, "Go get busy. Oh, put on a shirt, it's windy riding a motorcycle."
"No, it's not that cold yet, haha." Xu Zhengyang agreed, took his car keys and sunglasses, and went out.
Xu Zhengyang went to Chen Chaojiang and Liu Bin's houses. Both houses were locked. Xu Zhengyang guessed that they had probably been notified to go to the city to pick up their loved ones. He then went to Cao Gangchuan and Zhang Hao's houses, but neither of them were home. They had gone to work with the construction team.
Xu Zhengyang had no choice but to drive his motorcycle and rush to the city.
Outside the detention center in the western suburbs of Fuhe City.
Xu Zhengyang, Zhong Zhijun, and Zhou Qiang stood quietly by the roadside, looking at the large iron gate of the detention center a dozen meters away.
According to Zhong Zhijun, Chen Chaojiang and Liu Bin had already been transferred from prison to the detention center half a month ago, so when they came to pick them up, they naturally had to go to the gate of the detention center. Chen Chaojiang and Liu Bin's families should now be at the Municipal Political and Legal Affairs Commission receiving government subsidies and compensation, as well as the relevant proper handling results afterward.
I checked the time; it was 11:30.
Zhou Qiang took out cigarettes and handed one to each person. Just as he was about to light one, he heard the sound of the detention center's iron gate opening. The three of them immediately turned to look at the gate.
Two middle-aged policemen, who looked to be in their forties, came out first, and then...
Liu Bin, a burly man with a shaved head and a simple, honest face, came out. He was wearing flat cloth shoes, faded jeans, and a gray thermal shirt. When he saw Xu Zhengyang, Zhong Zhijun, and Zhou Qiang on the roadside, he grinned, looking a bit silly and cute, like a child.
A few seconds later, Chen Chaojiang, of medium height, thin build, and pale face, slowly walked out from behind the large iron gate that was slightly ajar. He wore black trousers, yellowed white sneakers, a white shirt, and had a bald head. His two thin, dark eyebrows were arched horizontally, and his eyes showed no emotion whatsoever, devoid of any warmth or life force… somewhat similar to Li Bingjie's ethereal and indifferent gaze, yet completely different in its coldness.
Li Bingjie is ethereal and indifferent, while Chen Chaojiang is icy indifference.
The two policemen stopped and briefly explained the instructions they had received from above. Liu Bin listened with a simple smile, nodding as he went.
Chen Chaojiang didn't stop at all, but walked straight towards Xu Zhengyang and the others.
The three of them greeted them with smiles.
No one spoke. Chen Chaojiang walked over, took the unlit cigarette from Xu Zhengyang's hand, then took out a box of matches, lit it, took a deep drag, and gazed at the cloudless blue sky and the dazzling sun. He slowly exhaled a cloud of smoke, which obscured Chen Chaojiang's vision and the clear sky.
The five people hugged each other.
Volume Two, Chapter 80: With reverence in one's heart, why seek a temple to worship?
At their respective homes, Chen Chaojiang and Liu Bin each received a government subsidy of five thousand yuan. This subsidy was not defined as compensation or restitution; it was simply a government allowance.
No one expressed any dissatisfaction or questioning. As the relevant personnel said during their persuasion, the two had already committed a crime; excessive self-defense resulting in serious injury is punishable by imprisonment. It's just that the investigation and judgment at the time had various errors, leading to an excessively harsh sentence.
This matter is now considered closed, and there will be no further developments.
And no one will want to do anything anymore.
On the night Chen Chaojiang and Liu Bin were released from prison, a group of people gathered at the "Tianwaitian Hotel" in Futou Town for a meal. Xu Zhengyang and Zhou Qiang insisted on paying, but in the end, Zhong Zhijun took advantage of the moment when the two were arguing and paid the bill.
Next...
There were no days of wild celebrations, but rather heartwarming scenes of brothers sitting together every day, drinking and singing.
Instead, they go to work and earn money as usual. It's only in the evenings that the brothers, who haven't gotten together much in over a year, sit together to chat, drink, reminisce about the past, talk about the present, and dream about the future.
The initial joy and excitement quickly faded, not because the brothers' relationship had changed, but because... they were no longer carefree young people; they were all adults in their twenties, and they couldn't continue to live their lives aimlessly with the mentality of "only one person is hungry, so the whole family is not hungry" as before.
The day after Liu Bin was released from prison, he started working on a construction team, introduced by Cao Gangchuan and Zhang Hao.
The construction team wasn't short of manpower, but the foreman, Zhang Zhong, who was also Zhang Hao's uncle, couldn't resist his nephew's persistent pleading. Plus, Zhang Zhong thought Liu Bin was a capable and hardworking young man, so he reluctantly agreed, but insisted on not letting Chen Chaojiang join their team. Firstly, the construction team wasn't really short of manpower, and secondly, everyone in the village knew that Chen Chaojiang was practically a madman; his cold, aloof demeanor made him seem like a ghost.
Chen Chaojiang did not express any dissatisfaction, but simply smiled faintly and remained calm.
"Why don't you go work as a joint security officer at the police station?" Xu Zhengyang suggested.
Chen Chaojiang paused for a moment, then said, "Looking for Uncle Zhongshan?"
“Uncle Zhongshan is now the head of the county criminal investigation team.” Xu Zhengyang smiled. “I have the title of joint security guard at Huaxiang Police Station and Futou Town Police Station, but I don’t want to do it anymore. Hmm, I still have some acquaintances at the station. Do you want to go?”
Chen Chaojiang nodded lightly and said, "Okay."
Which police station should I go to?
"Futou Town, perhaps," Chen Chaojiang suggested after a moment's consideration.
"Okay." Xu Zhengyang replied, and then made a phone call to Wu Feng, the director of the Futou Town Police Station.
Wu Feng said, "Aren't you making things difficult for me? A person who has just been released from prison, being assigned to a police station as a joint prevention and control security team member... It's laughable."
"Please help us out, after all, it was your police station that caused this mess back then..."
"It's Shen Qun, don't generalize from one instance."
"Can you do me a favor..." Xu Zhengyang said with a smile.
"Okay, you didn't say you were quitting, did you? I'll take your place. Oh, by the way, if I need anything in the future, you'll have to help me out, and I won't even pay you." Wu Feng said with a smile, "You've managed to get Lao Zhong promoted to the head of the criminal investigation team at the county bureau. Don't deny it, Lao Zhong told me. Yeah, you can't ignore me if I need anything in the future."
“No problem.” Xu Zhengyang readily agreed.
Chen Chaojiang looked at Xu Zhengyang with a mixture of doubt, gratitude, and admiration.
Few people could earn Chen Chaojiang's respect. Even among many young people of his age in the surrounding villages, it was said that Chen Chaojiang and his group initially listened to Xu Zhengyang. But this wasn't actually the case. Among their group of friends, there was no concept of who listened to whom or who was the leader. The reason for this was simply that Xu Zhengyang had led the fight against Zhu Wuchun during middle school, and in several subsequent brawls, especially the initial conflict with Guo Tian and his group, Xu Zhengyang had only taken the lead once.
People like Chen Chaojiang are unwilling to listen to or admire anyone.
Xu Zhengyang now, I suppose, could be considered one.
And so it went. Four days after his release from prison, Chen Chaojiang joined the Futou Town Police Station as a joint prevention and control security team member.
That day, Xu Zhengyang treated Wu Feng to a meal at the Yunhai Restaurant outside the Futou Town Police Station, and Chen Chaojiang was also present. During the meal, Xu Zhengyang and Wu Feng chatted and laughed, enjoying each other's company immensely. This made Chen Chaojiang even more puzzled. He had only been in prison for less than two years, yet when he came out, Xu Zhengyang seemed like a completely different person, able to befriend the police station chief without a trace of flattery, while Wu Feng appeared rather polite.
With this, Xu Zhengyang was able to put his mind at ease for the time being.
But he never expected that Chen Chaojiang would work at the Futou Town Police Station for less than two months.
That's a story for another time, of course.
Let's go back to the story of how Xu Zhengyang fell ill after Cheng Jinchang was resurrected in another body.
On the third day after his high fever, Xu Zhengyang finally regained some consciousness. However, he couldn't communicate with the county clerk in his mind to check on the situation; doing so would only give him a terrible headache and make him feel dizzy. But since there were always other people in the ward, he couldn't just casually take out a piece of jade to play with, because he was wearing a patient's clothes.
So, after enduring the pain under the covers and using his mind to summon the County Records, Xu Zhengyang quickly withdrew them from his body, finally feeling relieved. He was genuinely afraid that this illness was because he had violated the heavenly rules, thus being stripped of his divine position and unable to remain a god forever. Since the County Records were still within him, it meant that he was at least still a god.
He stayed in the hospital for three days, returned home to recuperate on the fourth day, and finally fully recovered on the sixth day, when he was able to communicate normally with the county magistrate again.
Of course, he still preferred to hold the county register when no one was around to have conversations or check out the things he wanted to know about Cixian County.
It's probably just because of personal preference.
During the days he had a high fever, Jiang Shiqing, who had once spoken wildly and recklessly, finally got rid of the painful nightmare that had lasted for several days: every night he was accompanied by ghosts, whether he was sleeping at home, walking on the street, in a KTV room, or even when he went to the toilet, ghosts would accompany him and chat with him, so he was never lonely!
So, poor Jiang Shiqing terrified his wife and ended up in a mental hospital.
Being confined to a room in a mental hospital every day wasn't the end of it; the staff also bound him to the bed with bandages, rendering him immobile. To prevent him from biting himself due to excessive fear and stress, they even taped his mouth shut. He could see ghosts and hear them talking to him, yet he was restricted in his freedom to escape or hide, unable to scream or shout. This meant he was deprived of the ability to vent his fear through shouting.
So Jiang Shiqing got used to the torment of repeatedly falling into a coma, waking up, falling into a coma again, and waking up again...
So these ghosts can't do anything to me after all!
After he had this thought, the ghost seemed to realize it couldn't scare him anymore. That night, the ghost didn't appear again, and for the next few days, no ghost appeared either.
While secretly rejoicing, Jiang Shiqing also felt a little smug, thinking that it was nothing special.
Of course, he knew perfectly well that he could no longer tell anyone about his encounters with ghosts or being haunted by them; otherwise, he'd be locked up in the mental hospital every day. Good heavens! Not only would he be tormented by ghosts every day, but he'd also have to endure the incessant shouting, screaming, and laughing of the mental patients day and night…
So after spending five days in the mental hospital and two days under observation, he became the patient with the shortest treatment time and the best recovery. The doctors, nurses, and director of the mental hospital felt incredibly proud and publicized it extensively. If it weren't for the fact that television stations and newspapers refused to report this kind of news under his real name, they would definitely have spent even more money on advertising.
Even so, Jiang Shiqing became famous in the Guangming Community in the south of Cixian County where he lived.
This made Jiang Shiqing lose face, and he refused to leave the house.
His wife, Zhan Xiaoyun, hadn't been in a good mood lately either. In the final moments, the doctor had already left the ward to inform her that her brother had died. But just as she was outwardly weeping and grieving, inwardly she was overjoyed... her brother suddenly showed signs of life again. The doctor immediately performed resuscitation and snatched Zhan Xiaohui, who was on the verge of death, back from the brink. Moreover, after the hospital's treatment and rescue efforts, the various organs in Zhan Xiaohui's body, which had been failing, slowly began to recover.
Doctors can only call it a miracle. In general, for situations that are difficult to explain medically, it can only be said that the human body has its own resistance and recovery ability, and once the dangerous period is over, it can recover its health.
The 15 million inheritance that was within their grasp vanished just like that.
Zhan Xiaoyun was furious. A few days ago, her husband suddenly went mad, constantly claiming that he was haunted and being haunted by ghosts who wanted to kill him. This terrified Zhan Xiaoyun. After finally calming down, she rushed her husband to a mental hospital. She then spent her days in the hospital waiting for her younger brother to die so she could inherit a large sum of money.
My younger brother woke up; he wasn't dead.
My husband is better now; he's no longer having mental breakdowns.
The money is gone.
Left with no other choice, Zhan Xiaoyun could only continue to be a typical good older sister, showering her younger brother with love and affection. She spent every day by his side, weeping and telling him about her worry and heartache over the past few days. Although her brother had just woken up and couldn't speak yet, Zhan Xiaoyun knew he could hear and see, so she had to behave well. She figured that once he recovered, he would at least give her some money as a token of his affection.
On the tenth day after Zhan Xiaohui woke up, when he was finally able to speak, the first thing he said to Zhan Xiaoyun was: "Give me my phone."
After a few unsuccessful attempts to persuade her, Zhan Xiaoyun quickly pulled out her phone, which she had already used, and said awkwardly, "I forgot where I put your SIM card. The current number belongs to me."
Zhan Xiaohui didn't say much. With her weak body barely able to support herself, she dialed a phone number and said softly, "This is Zhan Xiaohui. I want to see you, is that alright? I'm sorry, I shouldn't have memorized your phone number without your permission."
A calm voice came from the other end of the phone: "I'll come to see you in the hospital in a couple of days. Remember, don't say anything you shouldn't."
With just those two simple sentences, Zhan Xiaohui hung up and closed his eyes, ignoring his sister.
For Xu Zhengyang, three important things happened that day.
First, Chen Chaojiang became a joint prevention and security team member at the Futou Town Police Station, which meant he had a job and an income.
Secondly, Zhan Xiaohui called him, something Xu Zhengyang hadn't expected. Cheng Jinchang actually dared to write down his phone number. Damn, this guy is really cunning. He spends most of his time in the Yushi County office and only goes out for a few hours, yet he still managed to secretly figure out his phone number. Of course, Xu Zhengyang wasn't too bothered by this, but he felt he had been too careless.
Three... In the northeast corner of Pingluo Village, Guang'an Township, twenty li east of Cixian County, villager Deng Erhu built a small temple on his private plot of land, naming it "Land Temple." Deng Erhu was the father of Deng Wenjing, his wife was Song Yuelan, and his son was Deng Wensheng.