Downstream from the dam, Zhou Zhijun was leading the able-bodied men of the village along the riverbank, searching through the mud with every step sinking deep and coming up shallow.
Rain streamed down their faces, blurring their vision until they could barely keep their eyes open.
Their clothes were soaked through and clung tightly to their skin, cold and heavy. Yet not a single person dared to stop. They all pushed themselves desperately onward.
Huang Meili’s heart-wrenching cries, the villagers’ anxious shouts, the rumble of thunder, and the roaring downpour blended together, pressing heavily over the village and making it hard to breathe.
The sudden rainstorm had saved the fish Zhou Zhijun had painstakingly raised, but it had also brought an unavoidable disaster down upon Wangjia Village.
The torrential rain showed no sign of stopping. The muddy river, churning with sand and silt, surged downstream at a frightening speed.
The people searching along the bank had long since forgotten their fatigue and hunger. They could only run forward, but how could their two legs possibly match the speed of the rushing current?
At dawn the next morning, the rain finally stopped, and a pale fish-belly glow appeared along the horizon.
Everyone had struggled through the storm for an entire day and night. They were utterly exhausted and covered in mud, yet there was still no sign of the missing children.
Everyone present understood that after a full day and night, the children were most likely doomed.
But the living had to be found alive, and the dead had to be found dead. Even if there remained only the faintest glimmer of hope, they could not give up.
No one backed down. They dragged their leaden bodies onward, continuing to search along the riverbank.
Around noon, they finally found one of the village’s older children in a river bend thirty li from Wangjia Village.
By the time they pulled him ashore, his body had long since gone stiff. There was not a trace of life left in him.
Not long afterward, they found Zhou Xiaomei in a small tributary. Like the other child, she was no longer breathing, her little face stiff and cold.
Several strong men carried the two children’s bodies back to the village. Forcing down his grief, Zhou Zhijun led the remaining men onward to search for the other two missing children.
Wangjia Village was already filled with cries of grief. Every household listened with hearts clenched tight, and the entire village was enveloped in the shadow of death, so oppressive that it was hard to breathe.
Huang Meili threw herself over Zhou Xiaomei’s cold little body, weeping as though her heart had been torn apart. Several times, she cried herself unconscious and had to be revived by pressing the philtrum beneath her nose.
Zhou Zhimin squatted by the wall, clutching his head and wailing like a helpless child.
Wang Haiying and Aunt Zhou helped the limp Huang Meili into the house and laid her on the bed.
Her eyes were wide open, fixed on the wooden rafters overhead. Her gaze was vacant, as if she meant to bore straight through the old beams.
Suddenly, she sprang upright on the bed, pointed at the ceiling, and shouted like a madwoman, “Xiaomei! Xiaomei is up there! She isn’t dead!”
The moment she finished speaking, she leapt off the bed barefoot and charged outside like a woman possessed, heedless of the slippery mud and water underfoot.
Outside the courtyard gate, Zhou Xiaomei’s body had already been wrapped tightly in an old straw mat and bound with three lengths of coarse hemp rope. Two strong men were carrying her away, preparing to bury her in the mass graveyard north of the village.
Huang Meili stumbled over and stared at the tightly wrapped mat. Instead of continuing to cry and scream, a strange, chilling smile slowly curled across her face.
The sight of that smile sent shivers through the villagers. One by one, they backed away, and no one dared to speak to her.
Huang Meili suddenly turned and swept her vicious gaze over the crowd. The look made everyone’s scalp prickle.
“It’s you, you murderer! I’ll make you pay with your life…”
Huang Meili abruptly raised her hand and pointed at someone in the crowd. Everyone followed the direction of her finger and looked over.
Before they could see whom she was pointing at, Huang Meili had already rushed forward. One hand seized Shi Yanhua by the collar while the other clawed at her face.
“You shameless curse! Give me back my Xiaomei! Give me back my daughter…”
Shi Yanhua already harbored resentment toward Huang Meili. But as the village women’s director, she had come to offer condolences after someone from the Zhou family had died; it was only proper, both emotionally and socially.
She had never expected to be scratched and cursed the moment she stepped through the courtyard gate. Ashamed and furious, she raised her hand and slapped Huang Meili hard across the face.
“Huang Meili, have you lost your mind?”
Five clear finger marks instantly appeared on Huang Meili’s cheek, but she did not loosen her grip. If anything, she clutched Shi Yanhua even more fiercely.
“My daughter is gone… You’ll pay for my daughter…”
Huang Meili was small and thin, while Shi Yanhua was tall and powerfully built. Yet Huang Meili was using every ounce of strength in her body, and Shi Yanhua could not break free for the moment.
The watching villagers were stunned. For a while, no one dared to step in and separate them. They whispered among themselves that Huang Meili had been driven mad by grief.
“What are you standing around for? Pull them apart!” Village Chief Zhang Dongsheng roared.
Only then did several women from the crowd hurry forward. It took all their strength to finally drag Huang Meili away.
Huang Meili watched helplessly as the two laborers carried off the straw mat, then stumbled after them.
Halfway there, she saw people from the township police station arriving. The man leading them was the station chief, Wu Mingwei.
When Huang Meili saw the people in uniform, she began to giggle foolishly instead. She kept muttering over and over, “Catch the bad people, catch the bad people. There are bad people in Wangjia Village… Lots of them…”
The previous day, when the villagers had rushed to seize the fish, Wang Xiaoming had gone to the township police station to report it. But before he had reached the halfway point, the torrential rain began, and he had no choice but to turn back.
That downpour had saved the fish in the dam, but three children from the village had disappeared, and one of them was still missing.
The previous day, when the villagers had swarmed the fish, Zhou Dana had only put on a show of trying to stop them. He had never truly intended to intervene, and that was what ultimately led to the deaths.
Wang Xiaoming had once again run to the township police station to report the matter.
As soon as the police officers heard what had happened, they immediately made their way over through the mud.
Everyone thought Huang Meili had gone mad and that everything she said was nonsense. But Wu Mingwei merely frowned. He did not dismiss her words as the ravings of a lunatic.
After calming Huang Meili down, he took her home and questioned her personally.
“Huang Meili, who are the bad people in Wangjia Village?” Wu Mingwei asked, his expression solemn and his voice grave.
Huang Meili stared at him, still giggling foolishly.
She suddenly leaned closer, then warily turned to glance at the other officers. Lowering her voice, she said, “I’ll tell only you. Make them all leave!”
Wu Mingwei gave the accompanying officers a meaningful look. “You few go to the other victim’s home and see what the situation is.”
The officers turned and left. Huang Meili then pointed at the villagers watching from the courtyard, her eyes filled with suspicion.
“Make them leave too. They’re all bad people. I won’t let them hear!”
“Everyone, disperse. Stop crowding around here!” Wu Mingwei shouted.
The villagers left slowly, their faces full of confusion.
As they walked away, someone muttered, “Huang Meili is obviously pretending to be crazy. Does Director Wu really believe her nonsense?”
Once everyone had left, only Wu Mingwei and Huang Meili remained in the house. Huang Meili continued to lower her head and giggle foolishly.
Wu Mingwei suddenly shouted, “Huang Meili, stop pretending to be crazy! Your daughter went into the river to scoop up fish and was swept away by the current, wasn’t she?”
His sharp question instantly froze the foolish smile on Huang Meili’s face. A moment later, she wiped it away completely.
She collapsed into the chair and wailed through her tears and runny nose, “Director, my daughter was murdered!”
“Who killed her?” Wu Mingwei pressed.
“It was Shi Yanhua! She pushed my girl into the river!”
“Take your time. How exactly did she push her?”
“My girl was catching fish by the riverbank when a sudden downpour started. Everyone panicked and crowded toward the shore. Shi Yanhua took advantage of the chaos and shoved my girl. She fell into the water and was swept away by the current right then and there!”
“Where were you at the time?”
“I was in the river too. When I turned around and called for my girl, I saw it happen with my own eyes! I chased after her with everything I had, but the rain was too heavy and the current too strong. I couldn’t catch up…” Huang Meili sobbed so hard that her whole body trembled.
“Huang Meili, do you think Shi Yanhua pushed her deliberately, or did she bump into her by accident in the confusion?”
“I don’t know… I’ve never had any quarrel with her, past or present. I really don’t know how she could be so heartless as to lay a hand on a child…”
As she spoke, Huang Meili once again collapsed onto the table, sobbing bitterly.
Just then, a young police officer strode into the courtyard, his voice trembling. “Director! We found the last child! But the truth… is even stranger than we imagined!”
