Me! A high-ranking official!

"What can we do if we don't farm?" Liu Zhijun gave a bitter smile, his cloudy eyes full of helplessness: "If we don't farm the few acres of land at home, what will our family of four eat? We'll all starve to death. Every time Uncle Luo goes to work in the fields, he takes a rope or iron chain and ties the two of them tightly to the bed in the house. He unties them when he comes back from the farm work."

He felt a sudden pang in his heart, and an indescribable shock welled up inside him.

Living people tied to beds year-round like livestock? In this seemingly peaceful village, are there really families suffering such hardship and despair? This is beyond the scope of poverty; it's hell on earth.

He took a deep breath, suppressing the bitterness in his heart, and said in a low voice, "Then let's wait here."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a cheerful woman's voice suddenly came from inside the courtyard through the iron gate: "Hehe...who's here?"

He glanced at Liu Zhijun with surprise. Liu Zhijun wiped his sweat and called out into the room, "It's alright! Sister-in-law, let's cool off outside for a while. You go back inside and rest!"

Turning his head, Liu Zhijun lowered his voice and said to Zhao Jianguo, "It's Haitao's wife, Wang Xiujuan."

He nodded, about to say something through the door, when he suddenly heard a series of clanging and banging sounds coming from the yard, followed by an extremely heavy sound, like some kind of heavy furniture being forcibly dragged across the floor tiles, "Screech... screech..."

The sound was slow, with frequent stops and starts. The two stood outside the door for a full twenty minutes before the dull rustling finally reached the back of the door.

"Squeak..."

The rusty courtyard gate was pulled open a crack from the inside with difficulty.

A disheveled woman, dressed in tattered clothes and reeking of a pungent, rancid stench, peeked half her head out from behind the door, grinning to reveal a mouthful of yellow teeth. She looked at the two women with a silly grin and asked, "Hehe...who are you looking for?"

As Zhao Jianguo looked down, his pupils contracted instantly, and he was so shocked by the sight before him that he took a half-step back!

A thick, rusty iron chain, about the thickness of a thumb, was clearly visible around the woman's neck! The chain was tightly constricting her neck, and the other end of the chain was firmly welded to a heavy, old steel single bed!

Due to years of being tightly bound, coupled with the immense resistance from dragging the single bed along the way, the iron chain had worn a deep, bloody groove into the woman's neck, with blood trickling down her dry, black grime. She had actually dragged the iron bed inch by inch from the main room all the way to the courtyard gate to open the door for them!

Liu Zhijun was also startled. Although he knew she was mentally unstable, the scene was still frightening. He quickly grabbed Zhao Jianguo's arm, pulled back slightly, and said nervously, "This...this is Haitao's wife, Wang Xiujuan! Secretary, be careful. She's not thinking straight. When she has an episode, she doesn't recognize anyone, and she might hurt people!"

He steadied himself, forced a gentle smile, and said softly, "Sister-in-law, it's alright. We're just passing by. You should go back inside and rest. We'll be leaving soon."

"Ah ah..." Wang Xiujuan grinned, nodded with a silly smile, and tilted her head to stare straight at Zhao Jianguo.

After watching for a while, she seemed to feel a lot of pain and discomfort in her neck from being strangled. She started to use her hands to pry open the iron chain around her neck, but the chain was locked tightly and she couldn't budge it.

The more she couldn't figure it out, the more agitated she became. Her originally silly smile instantly twisted into a grimace, and she began to make angry, wailing noises.

Suddenly, her gaze fixed on Zhao Jianguo's face, her pupils dilating as if she had seen something extremely terrifying and hateful.

"It's you!!!"

Wang Xiujuan suddenly let out a piercing scream, baring her teeth and brandishing her claws, her face contorted with rage as she roared at Zhao Jianguo: "You bastard, you did it! Didn't you!! You scoundrel! Why did you do this! Why did you do this!! I'm your cousin-in-law! How could you face your brother!!!"

After yelling, she was like an enraged wild beast, carrying that heavy iron chain, she pounced on Zhao Jianguo frantically, waving her filthy hands to grab his face!

Zhao Jianguo reacted quickly, taking two steps back to avoid her attack.

The woman was held tightly by the iron chain around her neck, unable to move far. She struggled desperately forward, and the chain instantly dug into her flesh. Her face was contorted with bulging veins, her complexion turned purplish-red, and her eyes were so vicious that she looked as if she wanted to devour Zhao Jianguo alive.

Zhao Jianguo stood a few steps away, watching Wang Xiujuan fall into madness, and a storm suddenly surged in his heart!

He keenly caught the words the woman had just hysterically shouted.

"You scoundrel did this... Why did you do this... I'm your cousin's wife... How can you face your brother?"

His brows furrowed, and his eyes instantly became deep; something about what he said was very wrong!

A mentally deranged madwoman usually spouts nonsense, but her logic just now was extremely clear, and her identification was extremely explicit! She seemed to have mistaken Zhao Jianguo for someone else, her cousin who had caused her to end up like this!

Could it be that Wang Xiujuan's mental illness wasn't congenital, nor was it simply caused by being driven insane, but rather was deliberately caused? And the person who harmed her was one of her husband Luo Haitao's cousins?!

Just as Zhao Jianguo's mind was racing, a muffled "uh..." interrupted his thoughts.

Wang Xiujuan rushed forward recklessly, her neck tightly strangled by the iron chain. Finally, due to lack of oxygen, her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed onto the yellow earth, unconscious.

"What...what should we do?! Is she...is she dead?!" Liu Zhijun was so frightened that his legs went weak, and he clung tightly to Zhao Jianguo's clothes, trembling uncontrollably.

"Don't panic!" He quickly stepped forward, squatted down, and checked Wang Xiujuan's breathing. He found that although her breathing was heavy, it was still relatively steady.

"It's nothing, he just lost consciousness due to lack of oxygen from being strangled by the chains."

He comforted Liu Zhijun, then used all his strength to lift the unconscious Wang Xiujuan onto the steel pipe single bed. Then, gritting his teeth, he dragged the heavy iron bed with all his might back into the main room, placing it against the corner of the wall.

Just as I caught my breath, half a body suddenly peeked into the courtyard.

A middle-aged man peeked inside, spotted Zhao Jianguo, and paused, then asked, "Hey? Who are you? What are you doing at Lao Luo's? Why is Xiujuan lying there?"

He dusted off his hands and came out to explain, "Hello, brother. I am Zhao Jianguo, the newly appointed village secretary from the county. I'm here today to visit the villagers and see how they are doing."

"Oh, you're the new village secretary!" The man exclaimed, suddenly recognizing him. He looked Zhao Jianguo up and down. "Are you looking for Uncle Luo?"

"right."

"He's weeding in Nanwa. Wait for me, I'll call him and tell him to come back." The man took out his phone and dialed, shouting into the other end, "Uncle Luo! Come back quickly! The town... no, the new village secretary from the county is here to see you! Your daughter-in-law even dragged the bed to the front door, come back quickly!"