freenovelworld Chapter 1757 Righteousness Often Comes from the Humble Beginnings
Chapter 1757 Righteousness Often Comes from the Humble Beginnings
During this period, Li Xiangnan would stay at the Yanjing Municipal Bureau whenever he had free time. The old underground archive room had been given a new key and was currently placed on Guo Qian's desk.
He was organizing the files he needed to review that day on the table when, as if by telepathy, he looked out the window. A flock of wild geese was flying south. He turned his head and looked back.
The old snake lay listlessly coiled in the snake cage, ignoring his words. It seemed calmer than usual, almost motionless, as if it were dead and not breathing.
Li Xiangnan put down the file folder, lit a cigarette, and his gaze fell on the snake cage.
The old snake's head rested on the snake's body; it didn't speak, but it was looking at him.
Its cold, vertical pupils seemed to have long lost their former luster, now carrying an almost sorrowful decay.
"You sensed it, didn't you?" Li Xiangnan exhaled a puff of smoke and spoke softly, as if seeking confirmation from the old snake, or perhaps talking to himself, "You should have a tacit understanding with him; he—is to be executed today."
The old snake did not react at all.
It only twitched almost imperceptibly at the tip of its tail.
Li Xiangnan sighed and flicked his cigarette ash. "It's rare for a snake to live with a person for decades. You followed him and killed so many people. Do you think Wan Shuisheng did the right thing?"
His voice was filled with sighs and deep emotion: "Acting on behalf of Heaven and using violence to suppress violence—things are different now than they were back then, aren't they?"
No one answered from inside the house.
No dissenting voices were heard.
The old snake remained coiled in its cage, seemingly oblivious to these problems.
Or perhaps, in its simple and pure world, there is no right or wrong, only survival and dependence; it only trusts the "poor person" who raised it and depended on it for survival.
"Back then, you worked together to kill Boss He and avenged the Wan family! But have you ever regretted it?" Li Xiangnan looked into Old Snake's eyes. "You let him taste the sweetness of killing, and together you embarked on this endless road of no return. How can this be a life for a human being!"
The old snake remained motionless and silent, like a stone statue in a temple.
Looking at the beast's appearance, Li Xiangnan shook his head helplessly, stubbed out his cigarette, and asked, "I'll take you to see him one last time. I want you to accept the consequences of your sins. Are you willing?"
The voice just fell.
The old snake, which had been lifeless, suddenly raised its head.
Those previously dull and lifeless vertical pupils instantly shone with a light that was almost human, and they eagerly shook their heads in Li Xiangnan's direction.
The snake cage even trembled at that moment. The old snake inside swam up and restlessly pushed against the cage wall, its forked tongue flicking.
Those eyes were fixed intently on Li Xiangnan.
It is no longer the indifference and coldness of a cold-blooded animal, but rather a feeling of unspeakable pleading and almost grateful warmth.
It understood.
It agreed.
It is willing to accept Li Xiangnan's arrangement.
They are willing to accept such a deal and its consequences.
Li Xiangnan understood the situation by observing the old snake's reaction.
It is said that all things have a spirit, and even an animal has its own way of doing things.
This loyalty and affection that transcends species seems so heavy, yet so pure, at this moment.
"Let's go!" Li Xiangnan picked up the snake cage and stepped out of the Municipal Bureau.
……
Mass grave outside the city.
The autumn wind swirls yellow leaves, sweeping past rows of desolate graves.
In the newly dug pit, there was a thin-skinned coffin, inside which lay a recently deceased person.
The coffin lid was not completely closed, with a gap left.
Song Ziming, Guo Qian, and Wei Jingfei sat on a low tree stump beside them, with three shovels covered in mud next to them. The three of them silently smoked cigarettes, and none of them spoke.
The sound of a motorcycle engine could be heard in the distance.
Li Xiangnan carried the snake cage up the mass grave and walked over with steady steps.
"They're here!" Guo Qian stubbed out his cigarette, gestured towards the coffin, and went to greet it. "As you instructed, the coffin wasn't closed!"
"Thank you for your hard work!" Li Xiangnan nodded to the three of them, walked to the edge of the pit, placed the snake cage on the ground, and lifted the gray cloth covering it. Inside was the old snake that Wan Shuisheng had spent every day with.
These days, being kept in captivity, it seems to know the fate that it and Wan Shuisheng are about to face. It refuses to eat or drink anything, as if it already knows what is going to happen.
When it arrived at this mass grave, it seemed to have learned something. It raised its head, frantically flicking its tongue, trying to discern something in the air.
Li Xiangnan patted the cage to get the old snake's attention. When it turned to look at him, he asked, "We made a deal. I brought you to see him, and you chose your own death. You promised me, and if you don't keep your word, Heaven will punish you. If you agree, I'll let you out!"
As if it truly understood, the old snake silently lowered its head and nodded slightly, amidst the astonished gazes of Song Ziming, Guo Qian, and Wei Jingfei.
Li Xiangnan opened the cage door, took a step back, and took out cigarettes to share with the three of them.
The old snake hesitated before poking its head out. Its cold, vertical pupils scanned the surroundings before finally settling on the coffin. It swam out of the cage and slid directly into the pit along the wall, its movements incredibly urgent.
The old snake swam to the coffin, climbed onto the edge of the coffin lid, and peered inside with its tongue.
The group watched with bated breath, and everyone noticed that the old snake's movements froze for a moment before it slid into the coffin.
Time passed bit by bit.
There was no movement inside the coffin; only the mournful sound of the wind blowing through the mass grave.
"Is that enough? Close the coffin?" Wei Jingfei raised his hand to check his watch and gripped the shovel.
Guo Qian waved his hand and looked at Li Xiangnan.
Li Xiangnan shook his head slightly and offered cigarettes to the group, "Have another one!"
The men remained silent, smoking and waiting. When they finished, there was still no movement from the coffin.
The snake didn't come out either.
"Bury it!" Li Xiangnan waved his hand and threw away his cigarette butt.
Guo Qian took out a few one-cent coins from his pocket and scattered them at the bottom of the pit, then picked up a shovel and buried a shovelful of yellow soil in it.
Song Ziming and Wei Jingfei also joined in.
Thick layers of loess fell onto the thin coffin lid with a dull thud.
One shovel, two shovels.
The coffin pit was quickly filled in.
Just as the entire pit was about to be covered, the soil on the grave mound suddenly moved, and the old snake crawled out from it, its scales covered with grayish-yellow mud, and waited to the side.
"Keep going!" Li Xiangnan waved to signal them to continue working.
Once the new grave mound was completed, the snake slowly crawled onto it, rested its head on the fresh soil, and faced southeast, remaining motionless.
Guo Qian sighed, "Damn it, even an animal knows how to guard a grave. It's better than a human!"
Li Xiangnan stood in front of the grave, looking at the inconspicuous mound of earth, smoking his last cigarette as a farewell, his heart filled with mixed emotions.
Did Wan Shuisheng deserve to die? Yes!
Legally speaking, this old man has taken so many lives; his crimes are unforgivable and he must be severely punished.
But upon closer examination, those he punished—the ship tycoon who drove his entire family to their deaths, the mining tycoon who preyed on the villagers, the unscrupulous merchant who sold fake medicine and killed children, and Xu Sheng, that beast in human form—were all deserving of death.
"As the old saying goes, 'The most righteous are often the lowest of the low!'" Li Xiangnan lit three cigarettes and stuck them on the grave mound. His words seemed to be addressed to both himself and the crowd: "Wan Shuisheng went down the wrong path and used the wrong methods, but he still had a sense of right and wrong and a little bit of kindness in his heart! Alas, back in Dongquan, if he hadn't been forced to the point of losing his family and home, how could an honest and law-abiding fisherman have ended up on this path of no return!"
"Damn it, honest people deserve to be bullied! Just thinking about those days makes my heart ache!" Wei Jingfei sighed heavily.
Li Xiangnan stepped on the new soil, compacting part of it.
"But Lao Wan, the law is the law. If you break the law, you must be punished. There's no room for discussion! But putting aside the legal principles, just speaking from a moral standpoint, I, Li Xiangnan, respect you as a true man!"
Everyone was silent.
Only the autumn wind, passing through the mass grave, became the last guardian of this place, just like the old snake.
"Let's go!" Li Xiangnan took one last look at Wan Shuisheng's grave and his old snake, then turned and walked toward the motorcycle.
The following year, on the anniversary of his death, Li Xiangnan brought Jiang Qitao to visit.
At that time.
The grass on Wan Shuisheng's grave is already three feet tall.
In the grass, there was the skeleton of a giant snake.
Facing southeast.