Chapter 885
The Zhou family did indeed call the police.
Seeing their eldest brother finish talking to Lao Li and walk over, the three brothers, who were sitting in chairs to take notes, straightened their backs a little nervously.
"Who told you to turn yourselves in?" Yue Feng asked, frowning slightly.
"Hehe, we came up with it ourselves! If you hit someone, you can turn yourself in and get a lighter sentence!" Xiao Tao said with a laugh.
Xiaowen chimed in, "It was my suggestion! The Zhou family definitely won't let this go easily. If they want to take the initiative, it's best for us to surrender ourselves and stay for a few days!"
Xiaowu, with a cigarette dangling from his lips, exhaled a smoke ring and said nonchalantly, "We're not serious criminals, just a fight. At most, we'll be locked up for a few days, and then we'll go back!"
"Brother Feng, don't worry, Brother Li will definitely take care of us!!"
Seeing the three people's unanimous reaction, Yue Feng sighed: "At home, my father-in-law gave me the same idea. I didn't expect that before I even had a chance to tell you how to arrange it, you guys came over on your own!"
"Since you're here, why don't you stay for a few days? I'll take care of everything in the village these few days! You don't need to worry about anything at home, I'll look after you!"
"Hehe, we've never stayed in a temporary cell before, so let's treat it as a learning experience!" Xiao Tao grinned again.
"Stop showing off! Take your statements as they are, and explain what happened to Brother Li! I've arranged for someone to bring you food starting this morning! Just stay put!"
As he spoke, Yue Feng turned to look at his acquaintance, Instructor Li: "Brother Li, for someone like my brother who surrendered himself to the police and didn't cause any serious casualties, shouldn't he be detained for at least a few days?"
Instructor Li replied, "If the other party doesn't report it to the police, at the very least they can be given a reprimand and education, but not administrative detention!"
If someone from the other party's family comes to the police station to demand accountability and insists on not settling the matter, it will take one to five days for a single person. But in a situation like our brothers who all got into a fight, it will take at least three to five days!
There were no outsiders in the room, so as the older brother, I didn't need to discuss it with Officer Liu. Let's just detain him for three days! The time will start from midnight!
Even if the three of them are a gang, the minimum requirement of three days is already very lenient.
Yue Feng nodded: "Alright, then I'll trouble you all to take care of things, Brother Li! You guys stay put! I'll come pick you up when it's time!"
"Don't worry, I'll take care of my younger brothers. No one will bully them!" Old Li assured him again.
Yue Feng nodded, but what he was thinking was something else entirely.
The township police station only detains people with minor offenses. Given Xiao Tao and the Zhang brothers' skills, it would be good enough if they didn't bully others inside.
……
After Yue Feng explained the matter of the three brothers turning themselves in, it was already getting light outside when he came out of the police station.
Since entering the mountains at around 4 PM yesterday, Yue Feng hasn't slept a wink all night. Despite his current emotional state, he doesn't feel tired at all.
He started the motorcycle and headed straight for the Xing'an Village office.
At the village office, after processing the wild boar meat from the night hunt in the latter half of the night, most of the villagers and the able-bodied men who had gone up the mountain to hunt went home to rest. Only a few people were left to guard the well, changing the water in the well every hour or so.
When Yue Feng returned to the village office, he first went to the well to take a look at the wild boar meat.
Thankfully, the well water was very cool, and the cooling effect was very obvious. The wild boar meat, which had been soaked overnight, didn't smell spoiled at all, except for turning slightly white from being soaked in the well water.
"Secretary Yue, you're back! Some villagers just came over and asked what to do with the pork we harvested. Should we divide it up or take it to the sales point to exchange for money?"
One of the villagers who stayed behind to change the water greeted Yue Feng and asked curiously.
Logically speaking, if you caught 19 wild boars of various sizes, the best option would be to send them to a sales point to exchange them for money, which would be the easiest way.
However, after the incident last night in which he publicly beat up Zhou Xueqiang, Yue Feng changed his mind.
Besides doing practical work, village officials also have to put on a show. There's no way around it. It's not that Yue Feng is a small person with a big official position; it's just that the villagers like this.
Only a minority of people are truly enlightened; the vast majority of villagers are more afraid of authority than morality. This is especially true for Yue Feng, a young village secretary who is only in his early twenties, making the situation even more serious.
"Distribute the meat! I'll use the village's loudspeaker to notify the villagers right away!"
"While it's still early morning and the temperature is low, let's distribute all the pork from yesterday according to our contributions!" Yue Feng replied readily.
Soon, the village loudspeaker started making announcements.
"Attention all villagers! Attention all villagers!"
All villagers who hear the loudspeaker, please bring your containers for the meat and gather at the village square!
All villagers who hear the loudspeaker, please bring your containers for the meat and gather at the village square!
After careful consideration, the village committee has decided to distribute the wild boar hunted with the autumn protection poles last night to all villagers, according to tradition, to increase their oil and improve their meals! Please send a representative from each household to the assembly point!
Pork is limited, first come, first served, and will not be available after the deadline!
To reiterate, pork is limited, first come, first served, and will not be available after that!
Soon, the villagers who heard the loudspeaker broadcast gathered in the village square, carrying basins, buckets, or other containers for meat.
Yue Feng directed several villagers to hang all the soaked, whitish meat on poles, and then personally took the butcher's knife and distributed the meat to the villagers.
The number of people was almost there. Yue Feng counted the number of people present, and basically more than 90% of the villagers were present. That was about right.
"Secretary Yue, how should we divide this meat today? There's so much meat, one portion for each family?"
A woman from the front street approached, carrying a basin, and asked, her eyes fixed on the wild boar meat on the pole.
Yue Feng said, "There are two rules for distributing the meat. One is that the strong laborers who went into the mountains to hunt for meat yesterday will receive a share, and the other is that ordinary villagers will receive a share of pork on a family basis!"
These wild boar meat we brought back include many half-grown piglets, quite a few of them, and the meat tastes much better. So we won't sell them or split the money. Everyone, line up! Once we have a few more people gathered, we'll butcher them in front of everyone!
No one could find fault with this rule for dividing the meat. Those who did extra work should definitely get a larger share; otherwise, they would be treated the same as ordinary villagers who didn't participate, which wouldn't be fair.
A few minutes later, Yue Feng saw that almost everyone had arrived, so he called out to everyone and began to distribute the meat.
The first animal to be butchered was an old sow weighing nearly 300 pounds. After skinning and deboning, there were at least 200 pounds of clean meat left. The fat was as thick as four fingers. With each cut, the meat was white and trembling.
Yue Feng first made a cut from the front elbow area, neatly cutting off a piece weighing about three pounds.
Yue Feng had already done a simple calculation of how many households there were in the whole village, how many able-bodied people were doing voluntary labor, how many portions there were in total, and how much meat was in each portion. The difference between the calculations was not significant.
Nineteen wild boars, including both large and small ones, yielded approximately two thousand catties of meat. The distribution wasn't stingy, avoiding the awkward situation where each family only got two ounces of meat.
The auntie from the neighboring house, who was at the front of the line, quickly received her meat and happily carried her basin home. Wang Xiaona, who had come to help, wrote a villager's name on the back of her notebook with a pen, and then continued to the next house!
The entire meat distribution process proceeded in an orderly manner. Yue Feng set aside some for bullet damage, some to compensate Aunt Ma for her harvest loss, and some for the families of martyrs and elderly people living alone in the village. The remaining meat was distributed according to a uniform standard.
Everyone lives in the same village and sees each other all the time, so there's no chance of someone claiming the meat for free. The atmosphere during the meat distribution was quite good, and the villagers who received the meat were very grateful and cheered with joy.
In less than two hours, most of the wild boar meat hanging on the meat pole was divided up.
At this moment, Zhou Yuansen, who had been waiting for a long time, arrived at the meat distribution site with Uncle Hat, who had just started work that morning.
"Officer, it was him! He instigated his henchmen to beat my son! And now he's even dismembering people in the village to pretend to be a good guy!" Zhou Yuansen said indignantly, pointing at Yue Feng.
Seeing Zhou Yuansen bring his men over, Yue Feng's heart stirred slightly.
The father-in-law's guess was accurate; the Zhou family still called the police.
The three brothers, Xiao Tao and his brother, have already turned themselves in and given statements, so Yue Feng is currently invincible.
He smiled slightly at the newcomer: "Zhou Yuansen? There's no meat for your family! Your son disrupted the autumn hunting operation, and as the village secretary, I personally revoked your family's eligibility!"
"My family doesn't want your little bit of meat! Officer, as a family member of the victim, I demand that the assailant be punished and that we get justice!"
The officer in the hat who responded to the call was most likely instructed by Lao Li in advance, and did not share any relevant information with the other party when he received the call.
Now that they've come to the village office with the Zhou family, they're pretending not to know anything and cooperating with Yue Feng's 'acting'.
Yue Feng narrowed his eyes and curled his lips slightly: "Zhou Yuansen, making a false police report is also illegal!"
"Last night, your son got into a fight with the main members of the hunting team. At least dozens of villagers were there. Now, in front of the police, I'm asking you, did I lay a hand on your son?"
“You…you didn’t do it yourself, but you ordered them to do it!” Zhou Yuansen paused slightly before adding.
"Who heard me give the order? Find the witnesses! I was yelling about pulling the weapon, you're making baseless accusations!"
Upon hearing this, the villagers who had been watching the commotion immediately chimed in with their own comments.
Yue Feng did not verbally order the beating, but it is true that he shouted to stop the fight. Although there was indeed some unspoken understanding and tacit agreement in the atmosphere at the time, he either said it or he didn't.
Yue Feng had already considered these details in advance, so how could he make such a basic mistake?
Upon hearing this, the police officers immediately sought confirmation from the villagers in person.
After some questioning, even the Zhou family members who were present yesterday remained silent, and no one came forward to accuse Yue Feng of giving the order or intervening to help.
Now, Zhou Yuansen felt a little uncomfortable.
Yesterday in the hospital room, he heard his son confidently say that Yue Feng had given orders for Xiao Tao and the Zhang brothers to beat him up. Now, however, there are no witnesses at all. Even the Zhou family relatives who were present yesterday dare not lie or give false testimony.
Even if you didn't say it, you gave it a signal with your eyes!
Xiao Tao, Zhang Xiaowen, and Zhang Xiaowu are all key hunters in your hunting team; everyone in the village knows that! They're definitely on your side!" Zhou Yuansen said, forcing a smile.
"We are a hunting team, that's true, so what?"
I'm from the same village as you! Zhou Xueqiang and I are childhood friends and classmates.
It won't stop you from making baseless accusations, nor will it stop him from deliberately sabotaging the village's autumn hunting operation!
Officer, since the Zhou family has already called the police, there's no need to save face for them anymore.
In my capacity as the village secretary of Xing'an Village, I demand that Zhou Xueqiang be held accountable for deliberately sabotaging the autumn harvest protection campaign! The situation is as follows…”
Yue Feng recounted the events of yesterday in great detail with remarkable clarity. One of the officers who responded to the call, wearing a hat, was diligently recording the relevant information in a notebook.
At that time, although the collective land had been contracted out to the villagers, there were still taxes to be collected and levies to be paid, so the policy issues concerning agricultural production at the grassroots level were still quite sensitive.
That means the sensitive period has passed; otherwise, given Zhou Xueqiang's egregious behavior, he might have been targeted as a model citizen and, if unlucky, even shot.
Even if law enforcement is not as strict now, disrupting production and affecting collective hunting and autumn protection activities is still a serious crime. Even if not sentenced, it will be dealt with seriously, and 7-15 days of administrative detention is inevitable.
"My son didn't do it on purpose, he was just joking with Sandan! You're abusing your position to retaliate!"
Zhou Yuansen's expression changed after hearing what Yue Feng said, and he hurriedly explained.
Yue Feng stared into Zhou Yuansen's eyes: "What the nature of the matter is is not up to you or me to decide; it's up to the police officers to decide!"
“Even if my son did something wrong, you, as the Party Secretary, have no right to hit him!”
I demand that Li Mingtao, Zhang Xiaowen, and Zhang Xiaowu, who physically assaulted the person, be punished! They can't just hide and get away with it! The Zhou family will not stand for this!
"Officers, if you can't enforce the law impartially, I'll go to the commune and cause trouble! I know you all know Yue Feng and have personal connections with him!"
In the preceding series of face-to-face confrontations, Uncle Hat appeared to be handling the case fairly and normally. However, after hearing Zhou Yuansen's subsequent threatening remarks, Officer Wang, who was on duty, became enraged.
"Please watch your words and actions. Our public security organs handle cases according to the law, without regard to personal feelings or private relationships!"
"If you have evidence, you can file a complaint with the higher-level supervisory department! If you make baseless accusations and slander our police officers without evidence, that's also against the law!" Officer Wang said righteously and sternly.
"Then arrest the person who did the assault first, take them back for questioning, I don't believe they won't confess!" Zhou Yuansen continued.
Yue Feng grinned: "You're asking about Xiao Tao and the others? They did indeed lose a lot of prey because their hunting operation was disrupted, and they got into a fight with your son, Zhou Xueqiang!"
But after the fight, he realized his mistake. He not only sent your son to the township clinic for treatment, but also told me that he would be responsible for the follow-up medical expenses!
By the way, the police don't need to arrest them anymore. After they were taken to the hospital last night, they went to the police station to turn themselves in, and they're there now!
"He turned himself in?"
Upon hearing this answer, Zhou Yuansen was dazed, almost choking on his breath, as if his most powerful punch had landed on cotton. (End of Chapter)