Chapter 361 - 316: The Hu Family (3)
Chapter 361: Chapter 316: The Hu Family (3)
"..." Eldest Hu’s head was spinning. He stood there, dizzy and dumbfounded, his mouth agape, unsure of what to say.
The surrounding crowd, however, erupted. "What? Xinghua was actually sold by Hu Laosan and Hu Laoer’s families, working together? Good heavens! What kind of relatives are they? They’re rotten to the core!"
"Haul all of them off to labor reform, men and women alike! It’s what they deserve!"
"Xinghua is such a good girl—gentle as a lamb, sensible, and capable. She worked hard every single day. Who did she ever bother? They should all be arrested. Forget labor reform! Just shoot them! Shoot them all!"
"So many families in the village wanted Xinghua as a daughter-in-law. Well, so much for that! Now she’s never coming back!"
"I heard she found her biological grandparents over there. Jiabao and his wife packed up their whole family and went to join her. Now that they’re all reunited, why would they ever come back? Just the sight of these black-hearted monsters would make them sick to their stomachs!"
"Poor Jiabao! Stolen from his own parents by Hu Laosan when he was just a kid, forced to slave away for him for half his life. And now they’ve sold his daughter for money. That Hu Laosan... he’s black-hearted and rotten to the core! He’d trade his conscience and his honor for money in a heartbeat. The centuries-old reputation of our Hu Village has been utterly destroyed by your family!"
"And those two daughters of the Hu Family, Hu Xiu’e and Hu Aiyi! They always seemed so capable and put-together. Who knew their hearts were so rotten they’re probably crawling with maggots! They’re teachers, for crying out loud! I don’t want them corrupting my kids!"
"People like them should never be allowed to teach. When they get married, they should marry someone far away. We won’t let them marry anyone from around here! Don’t you dare say they’re girls from Hu Village!"
"Secretary! People as wicked as Hu Laoer and Hu Laosan shouldn’t be allowed to live in our village! They’re bad for the feng shui! They’ll bring misfortune to our children and grandchildren!"
"That’s right! They’re no better than animals! Banish their entire branch of the family! Make them go live in the mountains!"
"..."
The crowd chattered away, their voices growing louder and angrier with every word. They were so furious they looked ready to tear the Hu Family Courtyard down to its very foundations.
Eldest Hu’s face turned the color of liver, and his whole body trembled. For a long moment, he was speechless. Finally, he pointed at Hu Laosan and the others being loaded onto the truck and cursed through gritted teeth, "You’ve brought this on yourselves! All your wicked deeds! Now you’re paying the price, aren’t you?"
On the truck, the eight members of Hu Laoer’s and Hu Laosan’s families were ordered by the police to squat down on the truck bed. The two young women were crying, Hu Laoer was cursing under his breath, and his two sons and eldest grandson sat silently with pale faces. Hu Laosan’s wife tried to comfort her own sobbing younger daughter, whose face was a mess of tears, while shouting to the three or four grandchildren running toward the truck, "Go find your aunt! Tell your aunt to come home to look after the house and cook for you! Grandma will be back in a few days..."
These were the children of her and Hu Laosan’s two deceased sons, and they were still school-aged.
Hu Laoer’s wife also came running over with her two daughters-in-law and five or six children of all ages in tow, all of them crying and shouting at the truck.
Hu Laosan, however, gestured to his youngest son, Hu Jia’an. The two of them shuffled over to one of the police officers. Hu Laosan started bowing and scraping, trying to curry favor with the officer in an attempt to get him to release Hu Jia’an.
"Officer... er, Sir. My son, he really didn’t do anything wrong! He’s a state official! He only took a little time off today to come home and see his sick mother. He has to get back to his job in the county seat. Please, Sir, I’m begging you, let him go!"
A wooden bench, big enough for four, was set up by the side of the truck. A police officer and a plainclothes official were seated there. Hu Laosan had directed his pleas to the uniformed officer, whose expression remained grim as he completely ignored him.
Hu Jia’an decided to speak up for himself. Being an educated man, he had a different way of putting things. "Arresting people indiscriminately like this is an abuse of power. You’re law enforcement, yet you’re breaking the law yourselves. Even if you’re just bringing us in for questioning to ’cooperate with an investigation,’ you have no right to put us in handcuffs. Especially a state official such as myself! You owe me an apology, and you need to clear my name!"
The officer glanced at him and said coldly, "If you know so much about the law, then you should understand exactly why you’re in handcuffs. Now cut the crap and go sit down quietly. The way you’re being treated is already generous. If we had sent the militia to round you up, you’d be in for a world of hurt."