I can travel back and forth in 1986

Chapter 22: Murder?

"Are you going to give it to me or not?"

"I won't give it to you, I just won't."

After the little girl Zhang Xiaocui finished speaking, she looked at her cousin Zhang Jianjun and Shi Lei, and tried to snatch the White Rabbit milk candy from her pocket, but then she turned and ran away.

"If you help me get the candy, I'll let you come to my house to watch TV." Shi Lei acted like a little adult, bossing Zhang Jianjun around.

If he can't handle that timid girl Zhang Xiaoli, can't he handle Zhang Xiaocui?

Upon hearing that he could watch TV, Zhang Jianjun turned around and chased after the little girl.

Zhang Jianjun and Shi Lei are both ten years old, while Xiao Cui is only six. How could she possibly outrun them?

"You worthless thing! Hand over the candy!" Zhang Jianjun reached out and grabbed Xiao Cui's arm.

Shi Lei chimed in, "Exactly! You have so many, what's wrong with sharing a few with us? You're such a cheapskate!"

Xiao Cui struggled desperately, tears streaming down her face, clutching her pocket tightly.

"It was given to me by my uncle! Why should I give it to you!"

During the shoving, Xiao Cui was pushed by Zhang Jianjun and stumbled backward, her head hitting a half-buried stone by the roadside with a "bang".

Time seemed to stand still for a moment as Zhang Jianjun and Shi Lei watched Xiao Cui lying motionless on the ground.

Beneath the glossy black hair, a dark red stain slowly seeped out, and thick blood dripped down the edges of the stone.

"Blood...blood..." Shi Lei's voice trembled as he pointed at Xiao Cui on the ground, his face turning deathly pale. "You did it, you did it..."

Zhang Jianjun was also terrified. He only wanted to grab the candy, but he never expected it to turn out like this.

He trembled and took half a step forward, wanting to see what was wrong with his cousin Xiao Cui, but the glaring red made him stop in his tracks.

"Is she...is she dead?" Zhang Jianjun asked, his voice trembling with tears. He turned around, but Shi Lei had already run away.

Helpless, he looked at Xiao Cui, who had been lying on the ground motionless for a long time. Like a frightened rabbit, he ran home with weak legs, tumbling and crawling.

Only Xiao Cui's small body remained on the road. After a while, she twitched, her head felt dizzy, and a piercing pain came from the back of her head.

She reached out and touched it; her hand was covered in sticky blood.

The six-year-old girl had never seen anything like this before. She burst into tears and stumbled home.

"Dad... Mom..."

Inside the thatched shed, Lan Xiuying, who had just returned from working in the fields, was waiting for her eldest and second sons to come back from cutting pig feed to cook dinner when she heard the crying and her heart tightened.

Seeing her youngest child covered in blood and with a deathly pale face, her legs went weak and she almost couldn't stand up.

"Cui Cui! My Cui Cui! What happened?" Lan Xiuying rushed over, frantically trying to press the wound, but blood still seeped out from between her fingers.

Zhang Dequan had just finished carrying water from the rice paddy, and before he could even put down his carrying pole and buckets, he heard the cries of a mother and daughter coming from the yard. His mind went blank.

He dropped his carrying pole and rushed over, his voice trembling.

"Who did this? Who did this to Cui Cui?"

Xiao Cui cried so hard she could barely breathe and couldn't speak coherently.

"Jian...Jianjun...and Shilei...took my candy...pushed me...and I bumped into a rock..."

"Good! Good! Our own people are ganging up with outsiders to bully our own people!" Zhang Dequan squeezed out these words through gritted teeth, his eyes instantly turning red.

He turned and rushed out, grabbing the carrying pole from the ground.

"Dequan! Dequan, where are you going!" Lan Xiuying shouted anxiously, still holding her youngest child who was bleeding profusely in her arms.

"You take the child to see a doctor. I'll go find Zhang Dezhong first and ask him how he raised his son! Then I'll go find Shi Qiang and get some answers!"

Zhang Dequan ran out without looking back, carrying his carrying pole.

Lan Xiuying looked at her youngest daughter's still bleeding head and, without thinking too much, picked her up and ran to the barefoot doctor's house a few miles away.

After Xiaoli and her second sister finished cutting pig feed, the two sisters chatted and laughed as they walked home. Soon they ran into their mother, and their expressions changed.

"Mom, what's wrong with Cuicui?"

"Eldest brother, second brother, you two hurry back to your uncle's house and find your father. Tell him not to do anything foolish. Go now!"

Hearing their mother's anxious tone, the two sisters quickly ran to their uncle's house.

Villagers who had just finished their work by the roadside saw Lan Xiuying running while crying with her child in her arms, and some villagers quickly stepped forward to help, taking the child to the barefoot doctor first.

Meanwhile, Zhang Dezhong, exhausted from a long day, had just sat down at home.

Zhang Jianjun hid in the corner behind the house, his face pale, his hands and feet trembling uncontrollably, wanting to cry but not daring to.

"Clang!"

The courtyard gate was kicked open, and Zhang Dequan stood at the door carrying a carrying pole.

"Zhang Dezhong! Get out here right now!"

When Zhang Dezhong saw his third brother's appearance, he was taken aback at first, then his face hardened.

"Third brother, what's wrong with you! Why are you kicking my door?!"

"I'm crazy?" Zhang Dequan pointed at his nose and cursed, "What a fine son you've raised! He teamed up with outsiders to bully our Cuicui, giving her such a big gash on the head, blood flowing all the way! If anything happens to the child, I'll kill your whole family!"

"Zhang Jianjun, you get the hell out here too!"

Hearing his third uncle's murderous roar, Zhang Jianjun, who was hiding behind the house, dared not go out. He hugged his legs, trembling, and tears streamed down his face.

Hearing the commotion outside, Wang Guifen ran out, hands on her hips.

"Third brother, stop making baseless accusations! My Jianjun is a very well-behaved girl, how could this be? Who knows if your girl fell down on her own, and you're trying to blame us!"

"Bullshit!" Zhang Dequan was completely enraged. "It's one thing for kids to be ignorant, but for adults to be ignorant too, you son of a bitch!"

Years of pent-up anger erupted at this moment, and he swung the carrying pole at Wang Guifen, who was spewing filth from her mouth.

Zhang Dezhong didn't expect his third brother to actually make a move. Just as the carrying pole was about to hit Wang Guifen with a "smack," he saw it whistling through the air.

"Ouch!" Wang Guifen screamed and hid inside the house. "You're crazy! You're crazy!"

Zhang Dezhong also became famous, and picked up a shovel from the wall.

"Third brother! You think you're so great, huh? Daring to lay a hand on your sister-in-law!"

The sounds of the two brothers wrestling in the yard quickly alerted the nearby neighbors.

As soon as everyone ran over, they saw Zhang Dequan swinging the carrying pole with a whooshing sound, without any technique, just with a reckless and ruthless force.

I wanted to go up and pull him away, but Zhang Dequan's eyes were now bloodshot, making it impossible for anyone to get close.

Zhang Dezhong held the shovel to defend himself, feeling a little uneasy—he had never seen the third brother like this before, and he couldn't help but wonder if what he said was true.

In those two seconds of distraction, Zhang Dequan slammed a carrying pole into Zhang Dezhong's shoulder.

Zhang Dezhong felt the pain, his hand loosened, and the shovel fell to the ground.

Zhang Dequan, his eyes already bloodshot, swung the carrying pole across again—"Bang!"

The blow landed squarely on Zhang Dezhong's forehead, and time seemed to stand still.

Zhang Dezhong swayed, raised his hand to touch his forehead, and warm, viscous blood flowed down his brow bone, blurring one of his eyes. He felt dizzy and fell straight down.

The courtyard was deathly silent. Everyone was dumbfounded, and even Wang Guifen, who was hiding in the back, forgot to scream.

Zhang Dequan was also stunned. He looked at the blood on the carrying pole, and his hand holding the pole trembled slightly.

Hearing the commotion at home, the eldest son, Zhang Jianguo, ran back. As soon as he entered the house, he saw his father, Zhang Dezhong, lying on the ground.

"Dad...Dad, what's wrong?"

A few seconds later, Wang Guifen came to her senses and screamed in anguish.

"Murder! Zhang Dequan has murdered someone!"