1985, the year of the great writer, began with Infernal Affairs!

On the other side, at Li Hanwen's home.

The atmosphere was completely different.

The room was in a mess. Several bundles were piled on the floor, some wrapped in bed sheets and some in burlap sacks. The closet doors were all open, and the clothes inside were rummaged through and in disarray. The tables and chairs were overturned and looked like they had been ransacked.

Li Hanwen was squatting on the ground, stuffing an iron box into a burlap sack. The iron box was very heavy. Inside was the money he had saved over the years, some in small change and some in larger sums, about five hundred yuan. After stuffing the box in, he grabbed a few pieces of clothing and stuffed them in as well.

His wife, Sun Qin, stood beside him, her face pale, holding a cloth bag containing several pieces of jewelry, all of which she had acquired from the village over the years.

Her hands were shaking so badly she could barely hold the cloth bag.

"Hurry up!" Li Hanwen yelled, turning around. "What are you dawdling for!"

Sun Qin was startled and quickly stuffed the cloth bag into another bundle.

"Hanwen," her voice trembled, "are we... are we really leaving?"

"If we don't leave, we'll just die!" Li Hanwen stood up, his forehead covered in sweat. "My brother-in-law hasn't been heard from for two days. We can't get through on the phone, and we can't find him anywhere."

Something must have happened!

If we don't leave now, they'll come looking for us, and we won't be able to leave even if we wanted to!

"But," Sun Qin's tears fell, "where are we going? What will happen to our home? What will happen to the land?"

"We can't worry about that now! Let's go out and hide for a while, and we'll talk about it again when things calm down. I brought all the money with me, enough for us to last for a while."

As he spoke, he went to rummage through the cabinet again.

He took out a stack of papers from the innermost drawer. These were his bankbooks and some IOUs. He glanced at them, threw away the IOUs, and put the bankbooks into his pocket.

Just as I was busy, I heard hurried footsteps outside the courtyard gate.

Then came the sound of banging on the door.

"Li Hanwen! Open the door!" A woman's voice shrill and piercing.

Li Hanwen and Sun Qin were both stunned.

"Who?" Sun Qin asked in a low voice.

Li Hanwen remained silent.

He walked to the window and looked out through the crack in the window.

A woman stood outside the courtyard gate. She was in her forties, not very tall, but quite strong.

She was wearing a floral shirt, and her hair was permed into curls, looking like a bird's nest.

She was banging on the door, shouting as she did so.

It's Zhou Tao.

His brother-in-law Zhang Dongchao's wife.

Li Hanwen's heart sank.

He knew Zhou Tao's temper; she was a notorious shrew in the surrounding area, used to running rampant in the village because her husband worked in the education bureau. Now that she had come to his door, it was definitely not going to be anything good.

"Open the door! Li Hanwen! I know you're home!" Zhou Tao was still shouting.

Li Hanwen hesitated for a moment, but still went over and opened the door.

As soon as the door opened, Zhou Tao rushed in. Her eyes were red and swollen, her hair was messy, and there were tear stains on her face.

As soon as she came in, she pointed at Li Hanwen's nose and started cursing:

"Li Hanwen! You bastard! You've ruined Dongchao's life!"

Li Hanwen took a step back: "Sister-in-law, what...what did you say?"

"What did I say?!" Zhou Tao's voice became even shriller: "Dongchao has been detained by the county! For two days! I went to inquire, and they said he's under investigation! Did you do it? Did you implicate him?"

"I didn't!" Li Hanwen quickly said, "Sister-in-law, I just found out about Dongchao's accident. I haven't been able to contact him for the past two days, and I'm very worried."

"Bullshit!" Zhou Tao didn't believe it at all. "If it weren't for you, who would know about Dongchao's affairs? How many times has Dongchao cleaned up your dirty messes in the village? Now look what's happened, Dongchao has been dragged down with you, are you satisfied now?"

As she spoke, tears welled up in her eyes again: "If anything happens to Dongchao, I'll never forgive you! My whole family will never forgive you!"

Li Hanwen had a headache.

He knew Zhou Tao was unreasonable, but he didn't expect her to be this unreasonable.

He tried to explain, but Zhou Tao wouldn't listen.

Sun Qin walked over and whispered to comfort her, "Sister-in-law, don't panic. Let's... let's think of a solution together."

"What can we do?!" Zhou Tao glared at her. "Dong Chao's been detained, what can we possibly do? Someone must have reported us! Li Hanwen, tell me, is it that lawyer Xie you offended before? Was it him who reported us?"

Li Hanwen's heart stirred.

Xie Lu? That kid went to Wuhan and went to Wuhan University.

Could it really be him?

Li Hanwen thought about it carefully and realized that Xie Lu must have used some connections to find someone even more powerful than his brother-in-law, which caused his brother-in-law to be punished. Although it wasn't as serious as it is now, where he was detained in the county, it was still a bad experience, and he almost faced disciplinary action.

If it were still Attorney Xie who made the report, then it might make sense.

But he's not sure yet.

Faced with Zhou Tao's questioning, he could only quickly shake his head and deny it: "I don't know."

Zhou Tao sneered: "You don't know?! If you don't know, who does? Let me tell you, Li Hanwen, if something really happens to Dongchao, you won't have an easy time either!"

All the things you've done, which one of them wouldn't be enough to get you into trouble?

Embezzling public funds, bullying villagers, and even withholding someone's college admission notice—if this gets caught, you'll be in jail!

Li Hanwen's expression changed.

His voice turned serious: "Sister-in-law, what do you mean by that?"

"What do you mean?" Zhou Tao looked at him, her eyes filled with hatred. "What I mean is, if anything happens to Dong Chao, I'll expose everything about you! We'll die together!"

After saying that, she turned and left.

Reaching the door, he turned back and said menacingly, "Li Hanwen, you'd better pray Dong Chao is alright, or you'll be sorry!"

She left, her footsteps fading into the distance.

The courtyard fell silent.

Li Hanwen stood there, his face ashen, while Sun Qin stood beside him, her hands still trembling.

"Hanwen, what... what do we do now?"

Li Hanwen remained silent, gazing at the pitch-black night outside the courtyard gate, a sense of foreboding rising within him.

Zhou Tao's words were like a knife, piercing his heart.

If we're going to die, we'll die together.

He suddenly realized that he might really not be able to leave.

A cool night breeze blew in.

Li Hanwen told his wife to hurry up and pack up again, and after she finished, to pick up the two children from their parents' house and then take them out to lay low for a while.

If nothing serious happens to my brother-in-law, they can come back in time.

If something really happens...

Li Hanwen didn't dare to think any further and could only pray in his heart that nothing bad would happen.

Once his brother-in-law gets into trouble, most of the things he's done in Shuangshui Village over the years will be exposed.

Li Hanwen knew his brother-in-law's character very well. Even if his brother-in-law didn't expose his dirty deeds, his wife Zhou Tao would definitely.

If you don't run away and stay, you'll get arrested sooner or later.

Thinking of this, Li Hanwen shook his head, trying to clear his mind of all other thoughts.

No, no, we have to run!

We can't stay in the village for even a moment longer!