Shuangling: Braving the Rapids

A few days later, the case of the theft of Qin Yunhai's sheep made a breakthrough, with the key clue being the black cloth strip taken from Ah Huang's mouth.

It turned out that after Yue Chuan handed the cloth strip to Qin Xiaomei, this senior female doctor immediately went to a leader in the Criminal Investigation Department of the County Public Security Bureau. This leader's mother-in-law had previously been treated by Qin Xiaomei, and upon hearing that it was entrusted to her by Dr. Qin, the importance attached to the matter was evident.

Under the supervision of their superiors, the Criminal Investigation Department attached great importance to this case. Given the limited testing capabilities of the county bureau, the officers overcame numerous difficulties to send the evidence to the newly established bioinformatics laboratory of the municipal bureau. Surprisingly, this seemingly ordinary black cloth strip tested positive for human blood residue. DNA comparison directly identified the suspect—Qin Sihou!

After gathering evidence, the police immediately went to Qin Sihou's house to search and easily found the raincoat he wore during the crime. As expected, the hole in the raincoat's cuff matched perfectly with the black strip of cloth the police had obtained.

Faced with irrefutable evidence, Qin Sihou denied everything but was still handcuffed and taken away. According to villagers who witnessed the incident, his face was deathly pale, looking worse than a corpse.

Before his rise to power, Qin Sihou had been involved in the illegal trade of dog meat, and countless dogs had lost their lives to his specially made crossbows. After the crime was exposed, although he destroyed the tools used in the crime, he kept the tattered raincoat out of a sense of luck—this fatal oversight completely exposed him.

Qin Sihou was filled with remorse. He couldn't understand how he could end up in jail for a dog, especially a dead one. It was truly ironic.

After a surprise interrogation, Qin Sihou quickly confessed to stealing the sheep. To protect his other brothers, he took all the blame, and despite the police's best efforts, he refused to admit to having accomplices.

After several days of intensive interrogation, the once robust Qin Sihou suddenly became abnormal. From the onset of hydrophobia, aerophobia, and facial paralysis to his eventual suicide by biting his tongue, the entire process took less than 24 hours.

News of Qin Sihou's sudden death spread like wildfire, causing an uproar at the old hunter's house. The remaining four brothers besieged the detention center for days, demanding answers, and their farce even alarmed city leaders—at the eve of Hong Kong's return to China, these four had somehow managed to infiltrate various celebrations. Had it not been for the intervention of a special investigation team dispatched by the province, they would have almost taken their incident to the capital.

There are many different accounts of how this matter ended: some say the four brothers received huge compensation, while others say the forensic autopsy confirmed that Qin Sihou died of rabies, and only then did the remaining brothers stop causing trouble.

After Qin Sihou's death, the case of the stolen sheep was closed. From then on, no one in Qin Family Village ever publicly mentioned the name "Five Tiger Brothers," and this scandal of the old hunter's family gradually faded into the past.

History is easily forgotten, but hatred can endure through generations. Since Qin Sihou's death, the four brothers have regarded Qin Yunhai's entire family as their mortal enemies. Instead of reflecting on their own actions, they blamed Qin Yunhai and his son Qin Aimin for the fourth brother's death and would take every opportunity to cause trouble for Qin Yunhai.

Fortunately, Qin Laishun was successfully elected as the new secretary of Shuangling Brigade. With him protecting them, the "Four Tigers Brothers" finally had some restraint. Otherwise, their revenge would have been endless.

The two branches of the Qin family, the old hunter and Qin Yunhai, who share the same surname but belong to different lineages, have long been at odds. In this impoverished mountain village, the open and covert struggles between the two Qin families have never ceased.

Back when Qin Laishun was the squad leader, the "Five Tiger Brothers" didn't take him seriously at all, relying on the support of the old Party Secretary Yang Dalin. Now that Qin Laishun has taken power, settling scores with the four brothers has become his primary objective, a way to settle both old and new grudges at once.

Qin Laishun, citing the four brothers' factory's encroachment on collective land, forcibly imposed exorbitant rent on the four brothers. When they refused to acknowledge the debt, he resorted to measures such as cutting off electricity and investigating taxes to punish them. Although the four brothers were furious, they couldn't do anything to their leader and could only swallow their anger. After all, this was Qin Family Village, and anyone who dared to "disrespect the village chief" would pay the price.

After winning over the four brothers, there was no longer any opposition in the village. Qin Laishun firmly held his position as Party Secretary, and to fulfill his promises to his second uncle and the other villagers, he immediately set about pushing forward the road paving project. Those days were like a transformation for him; he tirelessly sought funds, even breaking down the doorstep of the county government, and after approval, he led the entire village, young and old, in wielding picks and hoes. When funds were tight, this Party Secretary even led the villagers to carry loads on their shoulders and by hand, managing to pave all the dirt roads in Qin Family Village with cement.

From then on, Qinjiazhuang completely bid farewell to the backward situation of muddy roads on rainy days and flying sand on sunny days.

During this period, the opposing "Four Tiger Brothers" became much more low-key. Although they would still secretly send letters of denunciation, they outwardly greeted the new Party Secretary with smiles. This internal family struggle temporarily subsided with Qin Laishun's strong rise, and Qin Family Village finally ushered in a golden age of development...