Zhou Zhijun hadn't even reached the melon field when he saw from afar that the cart was still on the ridge, surrounded by a dense crowd of people, but there was no sign of the Wang Xiaohong siblings.
He immediately understood what was going on. The Wang Xiaohong siblings had definitely gone to the commune health center, and this group of people was stealing the watermelons.
Zhou Zhijun quickened his pace, walked over, and shouted, "You're all quite enthusiastic!"
A group of villagers were frantically stuffing watermelons into gunny sacks, pushing and shoving each other. Some even ran into the melon field, bending over and picking energetically.
They were so focused on putting the melons into the sacks that they didn't notice Zhou Zhijun at all.
Hearing the voice, a few people suddenly turned their heads. Seeing it was Zhou Zhijun, their faces instantly turned pale, and their hearts thumped wildly.
But thinking about the large number of people, if the sky fell, everyone would hold it up together. Besides, these melons didn't belong to Zhou Zhijun's family.
They guiltily glanced at Zhou Zhijun, then quickly buried their heads in stealing the melons again, completely forgetting that he was the militia captain.
Zhou Zhijun walked up, cleared his throat. His tone wasn't as cold and hard as usual, but rather a bit gentler, yet the words he spoke made people's scalps tingle.
"The whole country is cracking down hard, specifically catching petty thieves and hooligans. Do you all want to join the fun at the commune too?"
Hearing this, a few people immediately stopped their hands, but some were still playing deaf and dumb, stuffing watermelons into their sacks even more fiercely.
A woman squeezed out a smile on her face, her wrinkles deep enough to crush a fly, and stepped forward, saying, "Brother Zhijun, that Wang Jieshi and Liu Cuilan are no good. We can't leave these melons for them!"
A man next to her immediately chimed in, "Exactly! Dealing with this kind of people, you can't be soft-hearted!"
Zhou Zhijun didn't reply, but his cold, piercing eyes glared fiercely at them.
"Second Uncle!"
Zhou Xiaowei's voice suddenly came, with Li Mingliang following behind him.
It turned out that right after Zhou Zhijun left, Zhou Xiaowei packed a few boiled eggs and went to see Chuntao.
Chuntao had just finished eating dough drops and was lying in bed, covered with a coarse cloth sheet, sweating it out.
"Sister-in-law Chuntao, how are you?"
Thinking of what happened last night, Zhou Xiaowei couldn't help cursing, "Wang Haichao, Wang Haibao, those bastards, they're really scum!"
He didn't dare mention Wang Jieshi's name in front of Chuntao.
Zhou Xiaowei added, "Liu Cuilan was injured by Zhou Zhaodi and lost a lot of blood. It's truly retribution!"
Zhou Zhijun hadn't mentioned this to Aunt Zhou and Chuntao. Hearing it, both of them felt vindicated.
Aunt Zhou couldn't help asking, "Is her injury serious? Is she close to dying?"
"They sent her to the commune health center. The branch secretary and the Xiaohong siblings all went. It looks like the injury isn't light!"
Aunt Zhou then remembered that early in the morning, Wang Xiaoming had asked her to take good care of Chuntao and then ran off. So he went to the health center.
Liu Cuilan and Wang Jieshi were truly hateful, but Wang Xiaohong and Wang Xiaoming were not bad kids. It was really pitiful for them to have such a mother.
Aunt Zhou sighed, muttering, "What a sin!"
Hearing Zhou Xiaowei's words, Chuntao's heart tightened, and she became even more worried about the watermelons in the field.
"Last night, we unloaded a whole cart of watermelons. With no one watching, a lot of them must have been taken away!"
"Your Brother Zhijun has already gone, it's fine. Don't worry about these things. Getting your body back in shape is more important than anything!" Aunt Zhou persuaded.
Aunt Zhou knew very well that with no one watching the melon field, those people in the village would really dare to steal them blatantly.
"Xiaowei, you go over and take a look too!"
Just as Zhou Xiaowei walked out the gate, he bumped into Li Mingliang.
He was carrying a string bag of things, including malt extract and canned fruit, coming out of Chuntao's courtyard.
In the morning, while eating at the canteen, Zhou Pandi ran up to him and chattered endlessly about what happened last night.
Hearing this, Li Mingliang kept worrying about Chuntao. He quickly finished his work and came with the gifts.
The door to Chuntao's house wasn't locked, but there was no one in the yard. Just as he was about to find someone to ask, he ran into Zhou Xiaowei.
Zhou Xiaowei loved a lively crowd and was very familiar with several young workers in the workers' compound, Li Mingliang being one of them.
Seeing the things in Li Mingliang's hand, Zhou Xiaowei immediately understood he was here to see Chuntao.
Before Li Mingliang could speak, Zhou Xiaowei spoke first, "Brother Mingliang, are you here to see Sister-in-law Chuntao? She's at my grandma's house!"
Zhou Xiaowei led Li Mingliang into the house. Li Mingliang saw Chuntao and comforted her a bit. Seeing it was almost noon, he got up to take his leave.
Walking out the gate, Zhou Xiaowei suddenly said, "Brother Mingliang, the watermelons at Sister-in-law Chuntao's place are ripe, and there's no one to sell them. There's still a cartful sitting in the field. I'll take them to the workers' compound, and you help sell them, okay?"
The workers all received salaries and were willing to spend money. Yesterday, a few workers had gone to Chuntao's melon field to buy melons.
"Alright, I'll go to the melon field with you!"
Zhou Xiaowei and Li Mingliang walked side by side toward the melon field in the eastern gully.
Walking to the upper edge of the field, Zhou Xiaowei saw many people in the melon field, so he jogged over.
Hearing Zhou Xiaowei's voice, Zhou Zhijun turned his head and saw that Li Mingliang had also come.
He didn't say a word, standing there like a door god, his face so gloomy it seemed it could wring out water.
Zhou Xiaowei saw at a glance what was going on and shouted at the villagers stealing watermelons, "What are you doing? Daring to rob in broad daylight!"
Someone carrying a full gunny sack of watermelons turned and tried to slip away.
Others kept bending over, continuing to stuff melons into their sacks.
Zhou Xiaowei grew anxious and roared at those trying to run, "Put them all down!"
Then he pointed at those still picking melons and shouted sternly, "You all, stop picking!"
But the group acted as if they were deaf, completely ignoring him.
"Xiaowei, write down their names, and hand them over to the commune's joint defense team later!"
Zhou Zhijun spoke unhurriedly, his voice carrying a chilling aura that made one's whole body tense up.
Zhou Xiaowei was the brigade accountant and had a notebook and pen in his pocket. He immediately pulled them out and started writing down names with his head bowed.
Last night, Wu Mingwei had said that the whole country was cracking down hard, calling on everyone to report petty theft.
Seeing that Zhou Xiaowei was serious, this group of people all grew scared.
If they were caught and taken to the commune, it wouldn't be a joke.
A few people carrying watermelons on their backs who were about to slip away felt their legs turn to lead, unable to take another step.
Those still picking melons in the field also stopped, carrying heavy gunny sacks, wanting to leave but not daring to, frozen in place.
Huang Meili and her children were also mixed in the crowd picking melons. Seeing the situation going south, Zhou Xiaoying and her sister quickly grabbed a watermelon each, hunched over, and slipped away from the other end of the field.
Seeing this, several other half-grown kids followed suit, grabbing a watermelon each and running away.
Zhou Xiaowei was sharp-eyed. Not only did he write down the names of the adults present, but he also noted down all the kids' names without missing a single one.
Holding up the notebook, he shouted loudly, "Your names are all recorded in my notebook! If you want to get hit with electric batons and squat in a dark room, just carry the watermelons home!"
The group of people looked at each other, none of them daring to move.
An old woman leaned forward, a fawning smile plastered across her face. "Xiaowei, we are all neighbors here. It is just a watermelon, right? Even if Li Chuntao were here, if we asked for a piece, would she really say no?"
"Exactly! Good food should be shared with everyone!"
"It just grows in the dirt, it is not some precious treasure! When Liu Cuilan was here, she never said a word when we came to eat!"
...
As the crowd surrounded Zhou Xiaowei, chattering all at once to plead their case, a muffled splash suddenly echoed from the direction of the riverbank.
Immediately after, a woman's scream rang out.
Everyone turned their heads in unison, just in time to see a stark naked man darting into the sorghum field by the river.
