Chapter 150 - 148: Taking the Blame

Chapter 150: Chapter 148: Taking the Blame

The Kong father and son returned home. After tidying up a bit, they sat on the sofa, thinking about their future.

"Dad, order some takeout. I’m starving."

Kong Lin felt hungry too. With no one to cook for them now, he took out his phone and started ordering takeout.

"Dad, let’s get these. We need to treat ourselves. It was hell in there."

"Get lost! This is all the money we have left. We need to be frugal."

Kong Wei said nonchalantly, "Dad, don’t worry about it. I still have a house and a car in Jiangcheng. If we run out of money, we can just sell the house."

As the two were inside ordering food and continuing their discussion, they didn’t notice a dark figure had already scaled the courtyard wall and entered.

CLANG!

The iron rod Gou Ji was carrying hit the courtyard wall, making a noise.

"Who’s there?"

The father and son, who had just finished ordering their food, immediately grew alert upon hearing the sound from outside.

"Dad, you don’t think it’s a burglar, do you?"

"The lights are on. No thief, no matter how stupid, would break in right now. Something probably just fell over. I’ll go check."

Gou Ji stood by the wall next to the door, a spot people coming out from inside usually wouldn’t notice.

The outside light was switched on. The outward-swinging door blocked Kong Lin’s view, preventing him from seeing Gou Ji by the wall.

"There’s nothing here. It was probably just a stray cat."

Just as he turned to close the door and go back inside, he spotted a pair of shoes at the bottom of the door.

He immediately shouted, "Kong Wei, hurry! There really is a thief!"

If he hadn’t shouted and had instead retreated inside and closed the door, he might have been fine.

The shout let Gou Ji know he had been discovered, so he stopped hiding.

Now exposed, Gou Ji shoved the door hard, knocking Kong Lin straight to the ground.

Kong Wei was just coming out of the house at that moment and was also knocked over by his father. The two of them ended up sprawling on the floor.

Gou Ji, his face covered by a mask, swung the iron rod and struck each of them once on the shin.

His practiced movements suggested this wasn’t his first time doing something like this. His strikes were vicious, clearly aimed at breaking their legs.

"Aargh!"

"It hurts like hell!"

Gou Ji said fiercely, "Don’t scream! Scream again and I’ll kill you!"

The two instantly clapped their hands over their mouths, staring in terror at Gou Ji and his iron rod.

"Hurry up, get me all the money in the house!"

Kong Lin said, "There’s no money in the house. That thieving wife of mine took it all."

THWACK!

"Aargh! Don’t hit me, don’t hit me! I’ll get it for you."

Struck again, Kong Lin felt a searing pain shoot through his leg. He was scared to death; this guy really seemed capable of murder.

"Tell me where it is. I’ll get it myself." Gou Ji swung the iron rod menacingly.

Kong Lin hurriedly said, "Behind the sofa! There’s a hidden compartment on the lower left side. The money is in there."

Kong Wei stared at his father in astonishment. He never thought his dad had actually stashed cash in the house.

Gou Ji tied the two of them up and quickly found the emergency cash Kong Lin had hidden. He didn’t bother counting it, just stuffed it all into his pockets.

The father and son had been thinking of getting up to see if they could escape, but they hadn’t expected Gou Ji to be so fast.

The slender Gou Ji dashed over, struck each of them one more time, and then bolted for the main gate.

This time, the two were left lying on the ground, unable to get up, groaning in pain.

It wasn’t until the takeout delivery guy arrived and found two people lying by the door that he hastily called the police.

The police and an ambulance arrived quickly. When they saw it was the Kong father and son, they recalled the day’s events, and Lin Xian Village immediately became a suspect.

"Doctor, what’s their condition?"

"Kong Lin has a fractured sternum and two fractures in his leg. He’s currently unconscious, but his life isn’t in danger.

Kong Wei’s condition isn’t as good. He has a leg fracture and suffered cardiac trauma. He’ll likely have lasting complications even after he wakes up."

Learning that the two wouldn’t be waking up anytime soon, the police had to search for clues in the surrounding surveillance footage.

Soon, they found a suspicious figure matching Gou Ji’s description in one of the recordings.

The man was bold; he only covered his head and didn’t try to avoid the cameras.

With the suspect’s image found, the next steps were straightforward: run a comparison search in the database.

At the same time, they used his routes of approach and escape to find other nearby cameras and continue the pursuit.

"Captain, this guy has no regard for us at all. Could he be connected to Lin Xian Village?"

"Don’t speculate without evidence. Let’s catch him first."

Meanwhile, Lin Feng received a phone call and was completely dumbfounded. He had just learned that the Kong father and son had been severely beaten and nearly killed in their own home.

"Chief, this has nothing to do with me. I wasn’t even paying them any mind."

"Mm, I’m mainly calling to give you a heads-up. There might be some negative public opinion tomorrow."

"Thanks, Chief. I understand." Lin Feng wasn’t too concerned.

Soon, Hu Zhiming sent him a message: "Brother Lin, what’s this about the Kongs getting beaten up?"

Lin Feng replied with a grim expression, "I have no idea. They’re just a couple of clowns. I wouldn’t stoop to getting revenge on them."

’Besides,’ he thought, ’if I really wanted revenge, I wouldn’t need to hire anyone. That hive of bees I tamed for pollination is far more effective than any person.’

’Or I could just get some poisonous animals as pets. That’d be easier than finding someone and wouldn’t leave a trace.’

Soon, in their small group chat, Hu Xia and Zhao Shiyun also started sending messages asking about the incident.

’If this wasn’t an accident,’ he mused, ’then someone is trying to frame me.’

They had just been there protesting with a banner during the day, and now this happened at night. He was indeed the prime suspect.

With the county leadership paying attention, the police were under immense pressure, searching for the culprit all night.

What they didn’t expect was that after the assault, Gou Ji had used the cover of darkness to flee to Mountain Ridge Town. He planned to sneak into Lin Xian Village through the mountains the next day to find Qin Youyou.

Just as the chief had said, word of the incident spread throughout Wuyuan County that night, and the news was then posted online.

Some people started stirring up trouble, connecting the dots between the Kongs protesting outside Lin Xian Village and then being nearly beaten to death that same night.

Through this insinuation, they pointed the finger at Lin Xian Village, leading netizens to believe the village had ordered the attack.

When they woke up the next morning, Lin Xian Village and Lin Feng had inevitably shot to the top of the trending topics again.

During breakfast, Hu Zhiming looked at his phone and said, "Brother Lin, look at these bloggers. They’re insinuating that you’re a local tyrant with protection from higher-ups."

"It seems to be all those bloggers who didn’t dare to come to Lin Xian Village. They’re all ganging up this time, and it’s getting a lot of traction online."

"They’re all just trash, nothing to worry about. We’ll just wait for the police investigation."

"Whoa, Brother Lin, it looks like some of those celebrities who came to us last time, hoping you could help them worship the Earth God without being punished, are also fanning the flames."

These people weren’t saying much themselves, just reposting some of the negative comments.

"Isn’t that perfect? Later, have your sister find all of them and add them to Lin Xian Village’s blacklist."

"What’s this about a blacklist?" Hu Xia asked as she walked over.

"I was just telling Brother Lin about the trending topics online, how we’re being slandered."

Hu Xia asked, "Lin Feng, you really didn’t have someone do it?"

Lin Feng shot her a sideways glance. "I’m not an idiot. Why would I do something like that right after they protested in broad daylight?"

"Well, it’s too much of a coincidence. You can’t blame others for suspecting you."

"In a bit, have your people find everyone who’s secretly slandering us. After this whole thing is over, we’ll release a blacklist."

"Alright, I’ll have someone get on it. There really are a lot of people smearing us this time. They’re all people who approached us about worshipping at the Land God Temple."

Regarding the matter of worshipping the Earth God, Lin Feng had indeed offended many people. In fact, quite a few celebrities had contacted him.

Not only was Lin Feng being attacked online, but Wuyuan County’s official account was also being flooded with attacks from netizens.

Some netizens were convinced that Lin Feng was behind it; the coincidence was just too great.

Hu Xia said, "You should go pay respects to the Earth God in a little while. I’ll livestream it."

Lin Feng didn’t refuse. From last night to this morning, he had received calls from many people.

Most were from people who were concerned about him, but there were also some who wanted to take advantage of the situation.

This latter group hinted that even if he had done it, as long as he was willing to cooperate, they could make the trouble go away.

For people like that, Lin Feng would just curse them out and hang up.