The Happy Farmer Wanderer-Chapter 185 Canal Conflict_1

"What’s wrong?"

Gao Li suddenly burst in all flustered, making Li Qing nervous as well.

"The old Shepherd was beaten by people from Hengqu Village, and his head is all bloodied," Gao Li exclaimed urgently.

Li Qing furrowed his brow, "You should have rushed to find Tang Jianmin, what use is there in telling me?"

"The village chief is already on his way there, he asked me to come and let you know," Gao Li explained, "From what he said, it seems you do business with some folks from Hengqu Village and there are some ties, maybe you could help mediate or something."

"Qingzi, you should go check it out quickly," Han Mei said, "The old Shepherd is all alone, without anyone to rely on; help him as much as you can. A frayed rope tends to snap at its thinnest part; misfortune always seeks out those already suffering. The old Shepherd’s life was already hard enough, why would someone beat him up like this out of the blue!"

"Sister-in-law, you go ahead and eat, I’ll go have a look." Li Qing grabbed two pieces of chicken, stuffed one into Gao Li’s hand, and hurried out the door while gnawing on the other.

Starved from guarding the water in the field, he’d just stuck his back to his belly.

He hadn’t taken more than a couple of bites of his meal when this disruption occurred.

The old Shepherd was over seventy, having herded sheep all his life, and he still tended to the flock.

His son had died in a car accident years before, and not long after, his daughter-in-law took his grandson away from the village, leaving the old man all by himself.

Even so, it was said that whenever the old Shepherd earned a little money from herding, he would send it to his grandson.

By the time Li Qing and Gao Li arrived, a large crowd had already gathered at the plot of land where the old Shepherd was working.

The people were clearly divided along the boundary of the field ridge and water channel.

"Village chief, where is the old Shepherd?" Li Qing squeezed through to Tang Jianmin and asked.

With a cigarette wedged into the corner of his mouth, Tang Jianmin took a pensive drag and replied, "Someone has already taken him to the health center in town." 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

"It’s not serious, is it?" Li Qing asked.

"Getting hit like that wouldn’t be serious for a young person, but the old Shepherd is of a certain age, and he passed out on the spot," Tang Jianmin sighed, "Whether he can pull through is still uncertain."

"What exactly happened?" Li Qing asked with a dark expression.

"That guy over there!" Tang Jianmin pointed to a young man in a tank top, "He came with a big group, trying to forcefully change the water channel. By rerouting it from here, the old Shepherd’s land would receive not a drop of water. He didn’t agree with it, and when a dispute erupted, he got hit with a shovel."

Li Qing lifted his flashlight and shone it directly onto the young man’s face.

He looked somewhat familiar, possibly surnamed Jiang.

But Li Qing couldn’t quite remember his full name.

They must have attended school together at some point.

"Get that damn thing out of my face!" the young man bellowed ferociously.

"I won’t, I need to take a good look at your face. Forcibly changing the water channel and beating up an old man, do you even count as human?" Li Qing shouted back angrily, "Village chief, what are we waiting for, let’s call the police."

"If something happens to the old Shepherd, let him pay with his life, the arrogant bastard!"

"This water channel was dug collectively, you think you can change it however the hell you please? If you’re so capable, why don’t you reroute it directly into your own house?"

Jiang Youwei started to laugh coldly, "Call the police, go ahead, I’m not scared. And you hit the nail right on the head, I do want to redirect it to my own house. Why should the water channel make such a big detour for these measly three acres of thin land? Everyone out of the way, if you delay our work any further, each of you will get a taste of the shovel."

Li Qing took a step forward, the flashlight almost pushed against the man’s face, "Come on, hit me!"

The young man surnamed Jiang sneered, "Who the hell do you think you are? Our village chief doesn’t even dare to fart, and you want to come out and play the hero? You think I’m afraid to hit you?"

"Come on, hit me, Hu Youyu just fought with me a few days ago, got five years!" Li Qing poked the young man surnamed Jiang in the face with the flashlight, "I’m standing right here, if you’ve got the guts, beat me to death."

The young man surnamed Jiang suddenly hesitated.

Many people in the area knew about Hu Youyu’s incident.

"Don’t have the guts?" Li Qing taunted and threw a fierce punch at the young man surnamed Jiang’s face, "Bastard, forcibly digging ditches, and you even hit an old man!"

The young man surnamed Jiang, caught off guard, took a punch and toppled heavily into the trench.

Li Qing took the chance to stomp several times, pinning him down in the ditch.

"Qingzi, Qingzi, stop it!" Tang Jianmin hurriedly held Li Qing back.

He was worried that it might result in a fatality.

Although that Jiang fellow was very arrogant, he was no match for Li Qing in terms of physique.

Li Qing’s punch knocked the man down; after falling into the ditch, he was utterly powerless to fight back.

"Village Chief, we can’t just let this go!" Li Qing said with a grim face, pointing to the young man surnamed Jiang floundering in the ditch like a dumb dog, "The old Shepherd is helpless in the village; we have to help him get justice."

"I could tolerate Hengqu Village bullying anyone, but they actually hit a seventy-year-old man."

"Qingzi, don’t act rashly, it won’t look good if a life is lost," Tang Jianmin said, holding Li Qing tight, trying to calm him down.

While they were talking, a few people from Hengqu Village pulled the young man surnamed Jiang out of the ditch.

Without an extra word of nonsense, they propped up the young man surnamed Jiang and ran off.

"Village Chief, they’ve run off, you might as well let go of me now," Li Qing said with a look of resignation.

Tang Jianmin was a good person, but sometimes, he really was too timid.

They dared to beat a seventy-year-old man, yet Tang Jianmin seemed to prefer keeping the peace instead of seeking justice.

"Village Chief, better report it to the police quickly, let the police station handle it," Li Qing said.

He had been truly angry just now.

A group of young men ganging up on a seventy-year-old, that’s not something humans do.

He couldn’t help himself and had lashed out.

But now that he had been stopped, it would be more appropriate to let the police station deal with it.

Tang Jianmin hesitated for a moment and said, "Let’s wait a bit longer. If the old Shepherd is alright, we’ll have Jiang Youwei apologize, and he can compensate the Shepherd for his medical expenses. If Jiang Youwei refuses, then we’ll call the police."

"Sure, we can call the police now, but... Qingzi, I’m about to retire. Adding such a messy fight between two villages to the records, it just doesn’t look good. Of course, if the Shepherd’s injuries are severe, we’ll call the police immediately."

Li Qing then remembered that these kinds of incidents did affect the Village Chief’s performance record.

A wave of indignation surged in his heart without reason.

Aside from detesting the angle from which Tang Jianmin considered the matter, his arrangement was somewhat reasonable.