The game of power begins with the police officers at the local police station.

Xu Ruqing's family was having dinner when they saw a group of police officers approaching, followed by many villagers watching the commotion.

Xu Ruqing put down her chopsticks, unaware of what had happened.

His wife, his father, and his mother all stood up.

Chen Jianyong pointed at Xu Ruqing and said, "Team Leader Ma, he's the one who stole the chicken."

Before Ma Guoliang could speak, Xu Ruqing glared at Chen Jianyong: "Chen Jianyong, what are you doing bringing the police here? Who stole the chicken?"

Chen Jianyong raised his voice: "Last night at ten o'clock, you stole a nest of chickens from Li Fugui's house. I saw it with my own eyes."

"You're talking nonsense, Li Fugui! Did I steal your chickens?"

Li Fugui was a cowardly and timid person, so frightened that he couldn't even speak.

Chen Jianyong glared at Xu Ruqing: "You son of a bitch, who are you cursing? Say it again if you dare, and I'll beat you up."

Xu Ruqing's father picked up a hoe and shouted, "Come on, if you dare touch my son, I'll break your legs!"

Xu Ruqing's father was named Xu Erdan. He was a notorious scoundrel in Qinghe Village who bullied honest people in the village.

Li Fugui's father was bullied by Xu Erdan his whole life. His family had a piece of land that came into contact with Xu Erdan's family. At first, the two families' lands were about the same size. Xu Erdan would dig up some of it every year. After more than ten years, Li Fugui's family's land was almost gone, as it was occupied by Xu Erdan.

Li Fugui's father confronted Xu Erdan, and Xu Erdan knocked out one of his front teeth.

Xu Erdan bought a cow and gave it to the kind-hearted man in Qinghe Village to raise. The agreement was that after the cow gave birth to a calf, they would raise it to adulthood and then sell it, splitting the profits equally between the two families.

He raised several calves, and sold them all by himself, without giving the family a single penny.

This family demanded money from him, but he refused to give them a single penny. He even claimed that the family had made his cow too thin and demanded compensation, extorting five hundred yuan from them.

I've raised this cow for seven or eight years for nothing, and now they're even paying me 500 yuan. That's outrageous!

Chen Jianyong was a ruthless man. He roared, "You old pig and dog, I'll take you both on by myself. Let's see how I break your legs!"

Ma Guoliang, his face grim, shouted, "What's all the noise about? Do you think we're invisible?"

He pointed at Xu Ruqing: "Someone saw you steal chickens from Li Fugui's house last night, so we need to search your house."

Xu Erdan, relying on his age, wasn't afraid of the police.

He shouted, "Let's see who dares to search my house!"

He stood guard at the gate.

Xu Ruqing felt guilty. He had stolen Li Fugui's chicken last night and didn't take it seriously at all, putting it directly into his own chicken coop.

He quickly gave his wife a look, signaling her to hide the chicken.

His wife turned and ran towards the chicken coop.

Chen Jianyong called out, "Team Leader Ma, she's going to hide the chickens."

Ma Guoliang shouted, "I'm warning you, you're obstructing law enforcement. Get out of the way right now, or I'll arrest you."

Xu Erdan shouted, "Who are you trying to scare? My nephew is the director of the finance office. Try arresting him!"

Ma Guoliang snorted coldly. If you were the head of the police station, I definitely wouldn't dare to arrest you. Who does the head of the finance office think he is? What does he have to do with me?

He shouted, "Arrest him!"

Several auxiliary police officers stepped forward, and Xu Erdan swung the hoe in his hand, hitting the auxiliary police officers. This was a big deal; it was an assault on a police officer.

The hoe that was brought down was caught by an auxiliary police officer, while two others quickly stepped forward and subdued Xu Erdan.

Xu Ruqing picked up a sickle from the side, intending to help, but a policeman nearby reacted quickly, kicking her in the stomach and sending her flying.

Chen Jianyong seized the opportunity, rushed forward, punched him several times in the abdomen, snatched the sickle from his hand, and threw it aside.

He learned his lesson the hard way last time and has learned some basic legal knowledge: you can't slap someone in the face, it's not good if there are visible injuries.

He acted bravely, helping the police catch the criminals.

Ma Guoliang ordered the auxiliary police to handcuff Xu Erdan and Xu Ruqing. Xu Ruqing's mother sat on the ground and threw a tantrum, yelling that the police were beating people.

Ma Guoliang shouted, "They assaulted the police. If you obstruct law enforcement again, you'll be arrested too!"

She was scared and shut up.

Even if no chicken was found, assaulting a police officer can be a serious offense, and if investigated, it could lead to imprisonment.

Chen Jianyong and Chen Jianhua rushed to the chicken coop and saw Xu Ruqing's wife hiding the chicks.

The auxiliary police officers followed.

Li Fugui was often bullied by Xu Ruqing. He remembered last year when Xu's horse passed by his field, ate two ears of corn, slapped him twice, and extorted two hundred yuan from him.

He recognized his own hen and chicks at a glance; there were red dots on their wings marked with a water-based pen.

"We're all made of flesh and blood, who's afraid of whom?" he shouted. "This chicken is mine!"

Chen Jianyong stepped forward and snatched the bag from Xu Ruqing's wife's hand. She was catching chicks and putting them into the bag to hide them.

Upon opening the bag, they found seven chicks inside. Xu Ruqing's wife reached for the bag, but Chen Jianyong pushed her away, picked up the chicks, and presented them to Ma Guoliang.

"Team Leader Ma, they've hidden stolen goods."

Ma Guoliang glanced at the chicks in the pocket and said to Li Fugui, "Find all your chickens and put them in the pocket."

Li Fugui jumped into the chicken coop, caught the chicks and the mother hen, and put them in his pocket.

Ma Guoliang carried the bag and asked the auxiliary police officer to take photos as evidence.

"This is stolen goods. We need to take it to the police station. You'll have to come with us. Once we've collected the evidence, you'll sign the papers, and then you can bring the chicken back."

Li Fugui quickly replied, "Okay."

Xu Erdan and Xu Ruqing were taken away in a police car.

Chen Jianyong, who had been holding back his anger for several years, was finally able to release it. He said gloatingly, "I told you, if you let me stay in jail for ten days, I'd pay you back."

He said it in front of the villagers who were watching the spectacle, trying to regain his lost face.

Chen Jianhua pointed at Xu Ruqing's house and loudly told the villagers who were watching the commotion, "It won't be long before this house is demolished."

Having previously lost face and suffered a double loss, he must regain his dignity.

The villagers were overjoyed to see Xu Erdan and his son Xu Ruqing arrested; finally, someone could bring this scoundrel father and son to justice.

The village chief stood at a distance, watching all of this. The Chen family had produced someone remarkable; it was best not to provoke them in the future.

Chen Jianhua said excitedly, "I said I would only be satisfied if I demolished Xu Ruqing's house."

Chen Jianyong chimed in, "We made a fool of ourselves in front of the people of Qinghe Village before. We have to get our face back. They have connections, and we have connections too. We're not afraid of them."

The two came to visit their uncle, Chen Yanshi. When Chen Jianyong entered, he took out cigarettes and gave them to Chen Yanshi.

"Uncle, isn't Xiaoxing home?"

Chen Yanshi took the cigarette: "I'm going to work tomorrow, so I'll tidy up my things at home."

Wang Guihua called out, and Chen Xing came out of the room.

"Big brother, second brother is here."

The four sat down, and Chen Jianyong took a drag of his cigarette: "You're going to work tomorrow."

"We should have gone a long time ago, but we're waiting for the child to be registered. It's taking too long."

"Has it landed?"

"It fell yesterday."

"You didn't pay the fine, did you?"

Before Chen Xing could speak, Chen Jianhua interjected, "Xiao Shi is now the deputy director of the police station. He can register his household there and even pay fines."

Chen Xing chimed in, "I didn't pay. If I were going to pay a fine, I would have registered my household long ago."

Chen Jianyong looked at Chen Xing and said, "Don't go to work anymore. What kind of work is that? Go open a restaurant in Fushan Town. With Xiao Shishi backing you up at the police station, business won't be bad."

"None of us like cooking, and we're not good at it either. Running a restaurant is exhausting, and even if business is good, we don't make much money."

"It's close to home, so I can take care of the elderly and children."

"My parents are still young. We'll work for a few years and then consider opening a restaurant."

Seeing Chen Xing's resolute attitude, Chen Jianyong said nothing more.