Chapter 13: Li Tianzhen's Wrongful Accusation

  The next day, Li Tianzhen vaguely heard the sound of knocking on the door outside. She opened her eyes and found herself sleeping naked in Zhang San's bed, with Zhang San also lying naked beside her.

  It was strange that she didn't see Zhang Xiaolan's corpse.

  The person outside was still knocking on the door. The man was shouting Zhang San's name. Judging from his voice, he should be Zhang San's neighbor Wang Wu.

  Wang Wu shouted outside the house for half a day, but there was no response inside. He thought Zhang San was still sleeping and planned to come back later. Just as Wang Wu was about to turn around and leave, he found that the big door of Zhang San's house was not locked.

  This Zhang San is a smooth talker, and there should only be him at home. Plus Wang Wu has a good relationship with him, so he carelessly pushed open the door and walked in.

  Li Tianzhen heard the sound of the door opening and was so frightened that she jumped out of bed. In Wang Wu's room, there wasn't even a large cabinet, the only place to hide was under the bed.

  Now, Li Tianzhen and Zhang San are both naked, if they were seen by Wang Wu who burst in, it would be terrible.

  Li Tianzhen had just hidden, and Wang Wu had already pushed the door in. Wang Wu didn't stand on ceremony either, walking to the bedside and starting to shake Zhang San, shouting as he shook him. But no matter how long Wang Wu shouted, Zhang San still didn't react at all.

  Wang Wu felt something was wrong, so he tried putting his fingers on Zhang San's nostrils to feel around. As soon as he did, Wang Wu immediately shouted: "Quickly come and see, Zhang San is dead! Quickly come and see!"

  It was already past nine o'clock, and rural people didn't have the habit of sleeping in, so the villagers of Shimache Village were all up. Although Zhang San's home was at the village entrance, after all, it was in the same village, and not far from other people's homes, just a distance of one or two hundred meters.

  So as soon as Wang Wu shouted, many villagers rushed over.

  Among the villagers who came in a hurry, there was a barefoot doctor named Yang Dazhong. Yang Dazhong flipped Zhang San's eyes and pressed his chest again, then shook his head helplessly and told everyone that Zhang San was indeed dead.

  As for the cause of death, Yang Dazhong said it should be sudden death. Yang Dazhong wasn't making a random guess either, because he saw that sticky ** on the bed. Although it had dried up a bit, it was still visible and was produced last night.

  The villagers who rushed over also knew that Zhang San was naked. Therefore, some people speculated that Zhang San had not been with a woman for too long and played himself to death while playing with himself.

  The villagers' words were heard clearly by Li Tianzhen, who was hiding at the foot of the bed. At this time, Li Tianzhen was already so scared that his mouth was trembling.

  Li Tianzhen was well aware that if she were discovered by the villagers at this time, she would be in trouble. Li Tianzhen had been in a hurry when hiding under the bed earlier, so she hadn't taken down any clothes, not even a pair of underwear.

  Now, if a villager finds her, just because of her naked appearance, everyone will also blame Zhang San's death on her.

  The shock of last night had not yet subsided, and as soon as she woke up, another homicide case was added to her plate. What's more tragic is that it was such a homicide case. However, what made Li Tianzhen feel slightly relieved was that so far, since everyone's attention was focused on Zhang San's corpse, no one had discovered her hiding under the bed.

  Just then, Old Qian spoke up. Old Qian's full name was Qian Yongfu, a very kind person who would help anyone in need. He was already 73 years old. In his lifetime, the number of good deeds Qian Yongfu had done were countless, but as for evil deeds, he hadn't committed a single one.

  "Let's not discuss this anymore. Zhang San is a bachelor, his parents have passed away, and he doesn't have any children. After all, we're all from the same village, so let's just put in some effort and give him a proper burial! As for the coffin expenses, consider it my responsibility!" said Qian Yongfu.

  Villagers have never been short of energy, so when Qian Yongfu said he would pay for it, everyone started to help out with all their might. Soon, they found a set of mourning clothes, incense sticks and paper money.

  Although a grand funeral is not necessary for Zhang San, the proper arrangements still need to be made, such as setting up a mourning hall and inviting a Taoist priest. The village already has a suitable Taoist priest, whose surname happens to be Zhang. Since Zhang the Taoist priest cannot accept payment for performing rituals for Zhang San, his services are also free of charge.

  As for setting up the mourning hall and buying incense, candles, paper money, etc., just keep it simple and it won't cost much. The main expense of buying a coffin has already been taken care of by Qian Yongfu, so these small expenses can be covered by everyone chipping in, no problem.

  After Zhang San was dressed in his funeral clothes, someone brought a cooling board and placed him on it.

  It seems that everyone is going to carry Zhang San's body out. As long as Zhang San's body is carried out, there will be no one in this house, and Li Tianzhen can take the opportunity to slip away.

  For Li Tianzhen, it has now reached the most critical moment. As long as she can get through this last bit of time, Zhang San's death will have nothing to do with her.

  Just as everyone was carrying Zhang San's body out, Liu Da Kui suddenly ran over. Liu Da Kui had a blue floral shirt in his hand, which was the same one Li Tian Zhen wore when she came to Zhang San's house last night. It was taken off by that Zhang San guy and thrown into the main room last night.

  "Mother! Mother! Where's my mother?" Liu Da-kui shouted while waving the clothes in his hand.

  Wang Wu looked around and saw that there were over ten people in the house, but Li Tianzhen was not among them. He then said to Liu Daogui, "Your mother is not here."

  "My mother is here, I found my mother's clothes in the main room." Liu Da-kui was after all a fool, he would say whatever came to mind without thinking twice. In fact, even if he did think twice, it wouldn't make a difference because his brain wasn't capable of thinking. So, he didn't know what to say or not to say either.

  This time, Li Tianzhen was originally going to risk passing through, but unfortunately she had such a foolish son. Therefore, this matter immediately encountered some twists and turns again.

  Everyone knows that the Liu family and Zhang San are incompatible. Li Tianzhen's clothes appeared in Zhang San's living room, which was originally an explosive news, plus Zhang San died naked, and suddenly, with what was on the bed... Putting all these together, this is absolutely the most explosive news since Shima Village was founded, without exception.

  Liu Da-kui, who suddenly appeared halfway, undoubtedly pushed Li Tian-zhen into the abyss. Because at this time, everyone began to search for Li Tian-zhen in the room.

  Zhang San's house was originally not big, and there were no large cabinets or anything inside, so as long as someone looked for it, it would be impossible to hide a person in this house.

  That tragic Li Tianzhen, even though she curled up into a ball at the foot of the bed, still couldn't escape everyone's eyes.

  However, after discovering Li Tianzhen, everyone was still quite surprised. Because Li Tianzhen was actually stark naked, without even a piece of cloth to cover her shame.

  This time, Zhang San's house was in an uproar. Even the kind-hearted Qian Yongfu didn't speak up for Li Tianzhen, but just shook his head and sighed repeatedly.

  It is known that Li Tianzhen, although not a chaste and virtuous woman in the village, is considered an upright woman in everyone's mind. Her reputation is much better than her husband Liu Renqing.

  It turns out that a woman who usually behaves very properly, was actually hiding naked under the bed of a male bachelor, and that male bachelor was also **. What's even more serious is that the male bachelor may have died suddenly while doing that thing.

  In the villagers' view, there was no need to ask Li Tianzhen about it anymore, because the fact was right in front of them.

  To be honest, most of the people present have been offended by Liu Renqing. Now, Liu Renqing's wife is naked here, not only stealing her husband but also suspected of killing someone. The people present are undoubtedly finding a godsend to vent their anger.

  Now, as for Zhang San's funeral, everyone is no longer so concerned. What they care about is how to make the Liu family lose face and thoroughly finish them off. It would be best if Village Chief Liu Renqing could step down and, just like in the days of land reform, have all of the Liu family's land and property distributed.

  In the 1980s, a small mountain village like Shimawan was always "the mountains are high and the emperor is far away". Therefore, as long as there were no major problems in the village, the government would generally not be aware of them. It was precisely because of this that Liu Renqing could rely on his identity as the village head to act tyrannically in the village and forcibly occupy other people's property.