Chapter 350: An Infuriating Experience

Chapter 350: A Maddening Situation

Aunt Niu clutched Su He’s hand like a lifeline.

Both she and Old Zheng were country folk, out of their depth. Faced with this situation, they were extremely nervous, so Aunt Niu wanted Su He to stay by her side.

But in the police station, she didn’t dare speak carelessly, afraid that the police would realize Su He wasn’t a family member and prevent her from accompanying them.

So she could only grip Su He’s hand tightly. Fortunately, Su He understood her meaning and followed the police into the office with them.

“Here’s the report—read it yourselves.”

The police tossed the prepared statements to Aunt Niu and the others, making no effort to explain the details of the incident or clarify why Zheng Xiaofeng had been brought to the station.

Neither Aunt Niu nor Old Zheng could read, so they handed the statements to Su He.

Su He took the documents and asked the officer, “Officer, mind if I read this out to them? They can’t read.”

The officer glanced up at Su He. She was too polished to be from the village—probably some relative the elderly couple had called for help.

For minor cases like this, where a fight hadn’t resulted in any deaths, the police usually wanted to wrap this up fast. So he nodded at Su He and said, “Sort it out among yourselves. I’ll step out to handle other matters, but don’t take too long.”

“Ah, thank you, Officer,” Su He quickly replied.

Luckily, the cop wasn’t breathing down their necks, which was a relief.

She herself was fine, but Aunt Niu and Old Zheng were shaking like leaves.

Once the officer left, Su He read the contents of the statement aloud to Aunt Niu and Old Zheng.

According to the report, their son Zheng Xiaofeng wasn’t heavily involved in the incident. He wasn’t the one who started it, nor did he even know the people involved in the conflict.

Yet he’d hurt the guy.

Now, the family of the hospitalized man was milking Xiaofeng for all he’s worth.

After hearing the statement, Aunt Niu and Old Zheng were absolutely furious.

Zheng Xiaofeng’s girlfriend’s younger brother had borrowed money to gamble. When the lender came to collect, the brother acted like a complete scoundrel, taunting, “I won’t pay—try and make me, pal!”

Naturally, the lender was furious. He’d lent the money out of goodwill, only to be given the finger after helping by the debtor, who now acted like he was the one in charge.

The argument escalated until it turned into a physical fight.

Zheng Xiaofeng happened to be visiting his girlfriend’s family with her when he walked right into the mess.

He’d intended to break up the fight, but his girlfriend’s brother lied, telling him the lender was just causing trouble and urging Zheng Xiaofeng to help.

Hearing that someone was bullying his girlfriend’s brother, Zheng Xiaofeng wasn’t about to let that slide. He grabbed a stick and took a swing at the lender’s back.

But the brother suddenly shoved the lender forward, causing the stick to strike the man’s head instead.

Now, the man was hospitalized, getting every test under the sun to check for injuries beyond the head trauma.

By the time Su He finished reading the statement, Aunt Niu and Old Zheng were seeing red.

Their youngest son was utterly useless.

But no matter how useless he was, he was still their son—blood’s thicker than water.

Aunt Niu asked Su He nervously, "Miss Su, how much do you think my youngest son will have to compensate?"

Now that they had already split off from their older sons, they'd given part of their savings to them. So now, Aunt Niu and her husband didn’t have much money left.

Aunt Niu was very worried—they didn’t have enough to compensate the other party.

"It’s hard to say. It should depend on the severity of the other person’s injuries," Su He replied. She wasn’t entirely sure, but she knew it definitely wouldn't be cheap.

So she reminded Aunt Niu, "But I estimate it won’t be a small sum. You should brace yourselves."

"I know," Aunt Niu murmured, her face pale.

What a nightmare! Was raising children really for old-age security? Or were they just here to take revenge?

Su He thought Aunt Niu’s youngest son was truly a troublemaker for the family.

Thinking of this, Su He couldn’t help but recall Zai Zai.

Zai Zai—now he made Aunt Niu's son look tame.

But she would definitely straighten him out and prevent him from committing crimes like in the book.

The three of them went back to the officer. Su He asked, "Officer, can we see Zheng Xiaofeng?"

The officer had initially wanted to refuse, but seeing the elderly couple who had rushed from the village to the city without delay to see their son, he eventually nodded.

The system wasn't as by-the-book back then, so officers often showed leniency when they could.

Besides, this young man named Zheng Xiaofeng was truly unlucky—even the officer felt he was just caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.

On the way to see Aunt Niu’s youngest son, Su He asked again, "Officer, how about Xu Xiangyu? Is he also detained at the station? Why haven’t his family come?"

The officer gave Su He a strange look and said, "He walked hours ago. He was only held for twenty-four hours before his family took him home."

"What! He was the mastermind behind this—how could he be let go?" Aunt Niu blurted out, unable to hold back.

The officer suddenly stopped walking and shot Aunt Niu a look.

Aunt Niu had indeed lost control for a moment. Seeing the officer look at her like that, she started sweating.

"Officer, I didn’t... I didn’t mean to question you. It’s just... the report spells it out plain as day that the whole thing started because of his conflict with the debt collector. How could he just walk free?" Aunt Niu stammered, her words jumbled.

Though she was afraid of offending the officer, it was infuriating that the real culprit had only been held for twenty-four hours—everything was his fault.

The officer no longer looked at her coldly but with pity instead.

"Your son shouldered the whole thing. Moreover, it was indeed his use of a weapon that put the victim’s life at risk. Xu Xiangyu and the victim were initially involved in a civil dispute—their scuffle over the debt didn’t result in serious injuries before your son intervened. But after your son struck with that rod, the case escalated from civil to criminal. You getting this?"

The officer hadn’t planned to explain so much, but seeing how decent country folk they were, he decided to cut them some slack.