Chapter 389
“It’s okay; this matter itself is also troubling you,” a comrade from the National Security Office reassured with a smile.
In fact, they should have stopped when they found no suspicious people or events. However, they couldn’t shake the feeling that Wei Dexuan had gone through so much trouble, disguising himself each week to visit that brigade. They wondered how he could be doing all this while hiding it from his subordinates, all for the sum of money found in three small buildings.
They traveled in three military jeeps, heading grandly towards the brigade where the items were hidden. As soon as they arrived at the village entrance, Su Xiaoxiao spotted a group of children squatting under a tree, playing with ants.
They were holding white milk candies and occasionally popping them into their mouths. When the children heard the noise, they all looked over, and one boy excitedly shouted, “A car! Another car is coming!”
Some children ran towards the village, presumably to fetch adults. With so many kids around, they had no choice but to slow down. By the time they reached Wei Dexuan’s yard, fifteen minutes had passed.
“Don’t be fooled by the fact that this is a mud-brick house; it’s actually one of the better houses in the brigade. However, when we were digging up the yard during our renovation, it became difficult to navigate,” the leader of the National Security Office explained to Su Xiaoxiao and Jiang Yexun as they walked ahead.
But Su Xiaoxiao didn’t immediately follow him inside; instead, she looked around outside. Not sensing any unusual activity, she tilted her head up to look at Jiang Yexun.
Jiang Yexun’s furrowed brow instantly relaxed as he gently nodded at her. Clearly, they both shared the same concerns.
Su Hongchen pointed to two large pits, saying, “There used to be two fruit trees here. We dug them up and indeed found three boxes of gold inside. We also dug another layer in the cellar, where we discovered many antiques, calligraphy, and jade artifacts. We even sent someone down this well to check; it contained hidden money, gold, and jade. The telegraph machine was found beneath the bedroom floor, but there was nothing else.”
Su Xiaoxiao paced around the room with her hands behind her back, her little face tightly knitted. “I don’t think there’s anything unusual here…”
“Does this mean we really overthought it?” some comrades from the National Security Office said, somewhat reluctantly.
Su Xiaoxiao shook her head, pouting, “I think you should ask those children. They were just holding Big White Rabbit milk candies. Those candies are rarely eaten even by city kids, and all the dozen or so children, including five or six girls, had them.”
The comrades from the National Security Office then realized something was off. They had indeed never paid attention to the children in the village. One reason was that they thought spies wouldn’t involve kids in their schemes, and another was that it didn’t seem like a problem for children to play at the village entrance.
But upon reflection, it was indeed quite strange. The village children usually fished by the river or looked for food in the mountains; they wouldn’t be so bored as to squat under a tree watching ants.
Moreover, if they were calling for adults, it shouldn’t have taken so long for the adults to arrive. The more they thought about it, the graver their expressions became. They hurried outside, just in time to run into the brigade leader, who was being led over by the children.
They collided, and everyone stepped back two paces. The brigade leader exclaimed, “Oh! Comrade Xu, why are you here again today? Is there still something that hasn’t been dealt with?”
Xu Chengzhi pointed at the group of children beside the brigade leader and asked, “Brigade leader, could you let these kids answer a few questions? Also, please call the children from the village over; we need to ask the dozen or so kids who were at the village entrance.”
The brigade leader immediately nodded, “Alright, alright! Comrade Xu, just wait a moment; I’ll bring all the kids over right away.”
As he spoke, he hurriedly turned to search from house to house. However, as soon as the villagers heard their children were to be questioned, they became anxious.
“No way! Our kids haven’t done anything; why should you take them for questioning?”
“Exactly! My child is only five; what could he possibly know? This is a matter for adults, not kids!”
While they rebutted in discontent, they pulled their children back into the house, refusing to let the brigade leader take them away.
Seeing this, the brigade leader became urgent, “Wait! How can your consciousness be so low? The public security comrades are handling a case; you should cooperate as much as possible. If your children haven’t done anything, they won’t take them away!”
“Brigade leader, what you’re saying is nonsense! The three children from the Chen family didn’t do anything either, yet they were taken away by the public security comrades! Those three kids cried so badly yesterday, and now they still haven’t returned. Who knows if they’ll ever come back?”
The brigade leader realized he couldn’t reason with the villagers and reached out to grab the children hiding behind their parents.
“I’m too lazy to argue with you; it’s crucial to cooperate with the investigation! Do you all want to be arrested?” he threatened.
This threat backfired, as the aunts from each family immediately sat down on the ground, wailing loudly.
“Damn it! We’ve been honest at home, haven’t done anything, and now because one family in the brigade has a spy, we all have to go to jail! Is there no justice left?”
The comrades from the National Security Office and Su Xiaoxiao waited for a while, hearing the conflict escalate and fearing it might cause issues if it dragged on too long, they could only hurry over.
When those wailing people saw them approach, they immediately rushed towards them. Jiang Yexun and Su Hongchen’s expressions changed, and they quickly raised their hands to protect Su Xiaoxiao, retreating two steps back.
Fortunately, those people weren’t coming for them; they all pounced on the comrades from the National Security Office instead.
They were crying in a way that was truly heart-wrenching, as if their family had already been sentenced.
This sight left the comrades from the National Security Office feeling overwhelmed.