Chapter 117: Root Out the Evil Entirely

Crossing Boundaries: The Ghost Doctor

The next afternoon, Kang Ning accompanied Shuyi back home. To his surprise, many villagers gathered at Shuyi’s house to offer their congratulations when they saw Kang Ning’s jeep bringing her back. Shuyi’s teacher had already visited the village at noon the previous day to announce the joyful news that Shuyi had been admitted to university. Generously, the teacher also presented Shuyi with a thousand-yuan scholarship from the school, which added to the festive atmosphere upon her return.

Faced with Shuyi’s beaming mother and a room full of villagers, Kang Ning felt both awkward and touched. The awkwardness stemmed from how warmly even Shuyi’s mother treated him as if he were her son-in-law, and the others only piled on, praising Kang Ning’s appearance and character. Despite their attempts to keep their voices low amid the excitement, every word reached Kang Ning’s keen ears.

What moved him deeply was the heartfelt warmth and genuine affection the villagers expressed towards both Shuyi and himself. After some conversation, the villagers gleefully recounted the recent misfortunes that had befallen the village chief’s family: the village chief’s younger brother and third elder brother, notorious local bullies, had met tragic ends—one dead, the other three crippled—leading to a significant weakening of the once-dominant family’s power. The village chief and his wife, who once lorded over the community, now had to keep their heads low and live humbly. The villagers were jubilant, spreading the good news with wide smiles and lifted spirits.

After clearing all her debts, Shuyi’s mother distributed three thousand yuan among several elderly and vulnerable villagers who relied on state support. Her renewed vigor was apparent as she smiled with genuine joy and hope for the future. Her previously empty pigpen in the backyard now housed a dozen piglets. Yet, Kang Ning noticed a flicker of pain and worry behind her radiant eyes.

From the villagers’ chatter, Kang Ning learned of the many wrongdoings committed by the village chief and his family: exploiting a cousin who was a minor official in the organization department, the Liu family had, for over a decade, seized the best forests and paddy fields in the village. The only collective fifty-acre high-yield fish pond was monopolized by the chief’s younger brother, who rented it out for a mere five hundred yuan annually under a thirty-year contract. Meanwhile, even the six state-supported villagers did not receive their monthly twenty-yuan relief allowance. The local primary school had long been dilapidated and precarious, its frightened teachers scraping together two hundred yuan from their meager salaries to build a bamboo shelter on the playground to continue classes. The fifteen-thousand-yuan education donation sent by a coastal city for assistance had been diverted, with only two brick-and-cement ping-pong tables added to the school; the rest was used to construct the family’s three-story house. Half the village households had suffered beatings and intimidation by the Liu family, and the other misdeeds were too numerous to recount.

Kang Ning asked Uncle Tian, a man in his fifties, “Uncle, the fish pond the villagers mentioned earlier—is it the one owned by the farmhouse business across the road?”

“Exactly,” Uncle Tian replied sadly. “After Liu the Second became a vegetable and died, his older brother, the village chief, took back the pond. I guess he’s kept it for himself. That pond, with its constant fresh water, is a gold mine! When fish sold for just a few dimes a jin, the village earned nearly ten thousand yuan a year. Now at three yuan a jin, you do the math.” Uncle Tian shook his head in pain. “If it were returned to the collective, not only would the school’s land and buildings be fine, but the village’s elderly and lonely would be cared for, and every household would benefit. But now… sigh.”

Kang Ning smiled faintly. “Uncle, haven’t the other village officials objected over the years?”

“How could they?” Uncle Tian sighed heavily. “Our arms can’t twist the legs of a giant.”

A blunt Aunt Tian interrupted loudly, “My husband was a low-level cadre, but Liu the Elder had the whole sky covered. He had connections above; what could we do? Families like Gen Sheng’s and Yao Hua’s couldn’t bear it last year and reported him, but the higher-ups ignored them. A few days later, Gen Sheng’s leg was broken by thugs, and Yao Hua was beaten so badly he vomited blood and spent over forty days in the hospital, spending all his savings and unable to work for half a year. Since then, no one dared report him. It’s tough! Everyone wishes he would die soon. Only if he dies can his position be vacated, and the villagers have hope again. But now that his family has suffered retribution, we all feel relieved. I bet he won’t dare oppress us so much anymore.”

There is a saying: a centipede dies but does not stiffen. As long as that villain remained village chief, the kind but weak villagers had no chance to rise and would endure his oppression another day. Thus, Kang Ning decided to confront the village chief ahead of schedule and alter his original plan of outright removal. Instead, he resolved to bankrupt him utterly, making his remaining days a pitiful existence, enduring the contempt and scorn of the villagers.

After sending Shuyi back to the rented apartment in the city and bidding her a reluctant farewell, Kang Ning called Lu Jing. Then, changing into a worn work uniform in the garage, he strolled casually into the bustling downtown.

A young man with bleached yellow hair parked a racing-style bicycle outside a cybercafé and rushed inside excitedly. Kang Ning glanced around calmly, then approached the beautiful bike, grasped the soft lock, and with a firm tug, snapped it open. He mounted the bicycle, whistling leisurely as he rode southward toward the suburbs.

From the villagers’ talks earlier, Kang Ning knew that the unfortunate village chief, Liu Da, had been delivering meals daily to his hospitalized son without fail, only returning around ten each night. When Kang Ning left the village that evening, he saw Liu Da riding a motorcycle with a meal box in tow. So he planned to act near the small stone bridge five hundred meters into the village, where the uneven, rocky road made it difficult for a motorcycle to exceed twenty kilometers per hour.

At nine-thirty, Kang Ning turned down the narrow path at the village entrance. After some thought, he messed up his hair and rode back and forth along the eight-hundred-meter road. Two villagers returning home at night passed by without recognizing him and went on.

Around ten-ten, the roar of a motorcycle engine approached. Kang Ning, facing away from the main road, glanced back at the bright headlights and then rode into the village. The motorcycle drew closer and soon ran parallel to him near the stone bridge. Liu Da, seeing Kang Ning so close, angrily honked twice. Kang Ning recognized him instantly, pulled to the side, and as Liu Da cursed and was about to accelerate, Kang Ning struck his head with a left-hand palm. Liu Da’s body swayed and suddenly fell onto the uneven roadside, rolling twice before losing consciousness. The motorcycle sped past the bridge, crashed headlong into a field, and stalled immediately.

Kang Ning quickly dismounted and approached Liu Da, whose face was scratched by gravel. He flipped him over, then delivered a heavy punch that fractured his lumbar vertebrae. Placing Liu Da on his back, Kang Ning picked up a nearly bowl-sized stone and set it beneath the broken spine. After a pat on his shoulder, he mounted the bicycle and rode away. Upon reaching the highway, he adjusted the throttle and sped back toward the city.

Entering the bustling district, Kang Ning steered onto a shadowed sidewalk, dismounted, and leaned the bicycle against a street curb near the village. Without looking back, he turned into a food street and walked into a familiar snack shop. Greeting the owner cheerfully, he sat down and pulled out his phone.

“Jing’er, haha, are you hungry? Want me to bring you some of your favorite white-cut chicken to enjoy tonight?”

The next day at noon, while cooking for Lu Jing at home, Kang Ning received a call from Shuyi.

“Brother Xiaohua, I’ve got good news! Last night, that evil Liu Da fell off his motorcycle and broke his back near the stone bridge. No one passing by helped him. He groaned on the ground all night. Early this morning, his wife finally showed up, crying and calling an ambulance to take him to the hospital. I just called my mom, and Aunt Tian answered. She said Liu Da will be bedridden for life!”

Kang Ning asked in surprise, “Really? How did retribution come so quickly?”

“Really! I’m not lying—if I were, I’d be a puppy!”