Chapter 9 - 7: Accident

"What do we do!?" Zhang asked in a low voice, his hands gripping the steering wheel tightly.

Xu De frowned, lost in thought.

Li Xiang glanced around at the dense crowd, and his heart sank.

’Hand Wang Mei back over? No way.’

’If Wang Mei went back, she would absolutely be abused!’

’So what else can we do?’

Just then, someone outside picked up a rock and hurled it at the bus.

"CRASH!"

The window shattered, jolting everyone inside.

"Open the door. I’ll go talk to them!"

Li Xiang took a deep breath and signaled for Zhang to open the door.

He then walked to the front door of the minibus.

Seeing him appear, the villagers of Li Family Village surged forward again, their faces even angrier than before.

"Hand her over!"

"The Lis bought her! What gives you the right to snatch her away?"

"Where’s Li Erniu? His wife is running off and he’s not even here!?"

"..."

Seeing this, Li Xiang could only take another deep breath. He held up his hands, his expression grim, and said:

"Quiet! Listen to me!"

"Wang Mei isn’t Li Erniu’s wife! She’s a victim who was abducted and brought here ten years ago. Now, her real family has found her..."

Hearing this, the old couple pushed their way out of the crowd again. Seeing Li Xiang blocking the door, they immediately plopped down on the ground and started wailing theatrically.

"Oh, why is my life so miserable!"

"We finally saved up a few thousand yuan to buy a wife for our son, and now she’s trying to run away after such a short time... I don’t want to live anymore!"

"You officials just love to bully us, don’t you? You won’t be happy until our family is torn apart!"

Wang Mei had been sold to Li Erniu’s family.

These two people in front of him were Li Erniu’s parents: his father, Li Youcai, and his mother, Liu Cui.

The two of them sat on the ground, wailing nonstop and slapping their thighs as they cried out.

Li Xiang’s face instantly turned an ugly shade of purple.

"This is illegal!"

"You’re obstructing the police!"

But a few of the nearby villagers were completely unfazed. One of them, a man of about fifty who looked like a total thug, stepped forward.

"Illegal? What law is there here?"

The man grumbled resentfully:

"I bought my wife too! Bought her for eight hundred yuan!"

"All the wives in our whole village were bought. Are you really going to arrest everyone!?"

"Even the police have to be reasonable!"

Li Xiang: "You!"

His face instantly flushed red, his eyes suppressing a storm of rage.

In the back of the bus.

"Where’s the Party secretary of this place? Where did he go?"

Xu De stood up and glanced at the situation outside. His brows knitted, and he had a bad feeling about this.

The officer beside him took a deep breath and said casually:

"Li Family Village has had four village secretaries. Two resigned, one died in an accident while inspecting the mountains, and the fourth one hasn’t arrived yet."

Hearing this, Xu De gained a rough understanding of the place.

’No wonder this place is so ignorant...’

’However, since they’re ignorant, maybe I can use that.’

At that thought, Xu De suddenly started walking forward. The officer behind him, seeing this, froze for a second before quickly calling out to stop him.

"Lawyer Xu, where are you going?"

"To see if I can get them to let us take her."

Xu De tossed out the sentence and walked to the front of the bus.

Outside the bus.

"She’s not leaving!"

Li Youcai said belligerently, his tone full of aggression.

Hearing this, Li Xiang was about to say something, but was unexpectedly cut off by a voice from behind him.

"No, no, she’s not running off. She’s still right here."

He turned to see Xu De stepping off the bus with a gentle smile, coming to stand beside him.

Then, Xu De looked at Li Youcai and continued speaking:

"The police operate according to the law. You’re not actually afraid they’re going to snatch your daughter-in-law, are you? It wouldn’t do them any good to snatch her away!"

Hearing this, Li Youcai snorted coldly and crossed his arms.

"She’s already on the bus! How can you say you’re not snatching her!?"

"This isn’t snatching. This is clearly just implementing an official welfare policy," Xu De said.

’Wel... welfare policy? What the hell is that?’

Li Youcai was stunned, and he wasn’t the only one.

Even the brains of the other villagers seemed to freeze for a moment, unable to process it.

Li Xiang, however, shot Xu De a strange look. To him, the lawyer seemed to be spouting pure nonsense.

"The country now enforces nine years of compulsory education."

"Your grandson is seven years old and meets the enrollment standards, but you need a household registration to send him to school."

"The child’s mother doesn’t have a household registration, so how can you register the child? That’s why the police are here—to take her and get her registration sorted out first."

Xu De said this without batting an eye.

As he finished speaking, the crowd in front of him froze. The police officer, Li Xiang, felt his eyelid twitch and instinctively glanced at him.

The people of Li Family Village frowned. They didn’t understand the law... but something about what the man said felt strange.

’Besides, that policeman just now clearly mentioned something about trafficking...’

’Could this guy be trying to trick us!?’

But before they could think it through, Xu De suddenly looked at Li Youcai and asked:

"Li Youcai, have you registered your grandson for his household registration?"

Li Youcai was stunned for a long moment before hesitantly shaking his head.

"No."

"Well, do you want your grandson to go to school or not?" Xu De asked again.

Li Youcai was about to shake his head again, but in the next second, the other man spoke up:

"School is free. If he studies well, the school gives you money. And once he’s registered, you’ll get rice, flour, and cooking oil delivered directly to you as a subsidy. It’s all free."

"He could even come back and be an official in the village after he finishes his studies."

Li Youcai’s eyes went wide. Liu Cui scrambled up from the ground in an instant.

"Really? They give you money?"

"Of course," Xu De nodded.

The two of them were tempted, like old folks lining up for free eggs at a pharmacy.

But...

Looking at the minibus in front of him, Li Youcai’s gaze was still wary.

"Maybe we should just forget..."

Xu De cut him off, glanced at the surrounding crowd, and added:

"If you can’t bear to be parted from the child... well, that’s easy to solve, too."