Seeing this scene, the crowd couldn't help but follow.
Mainly, in a rural village, this kind of thing was an absolute top-tier piece of gossip; everyone wanted to see what was going on.
Furthermore, a search like this was supposed to be conducted openly, as that was the only way to avoid many unnecessary troubles.
Therefore, Captain Zhou and his men did not stop the crowd from following to spectate. They simply told everyone to watch from within the courtyard and maintain order, warning that anyone who dared to cause a scene would be detained and treated as an enemy agent.
As soon as these words were spoken, the noisy crowd instantly became exceptionally well-behaved.
One had to realize that in this era, when the police went on missions, they were fully armed. Since ordinary people had guns, the police would be unable to carry out missions if they didn't have them too.
Thus, under the witness of the crowd, the tools used in the crimes were placed one by one in the center of Niu Dabin's courtyard.
Two miniature cameras and a pile of matching film, a radio for communication, a Browning Baby pistol, three magazines and several boxes of ammunition, and two daggers.
Of course, besides these items, there were three stacks of "Big Unity" bills—amounting to about 3,500 or 3,600 yuan—and several stacks of coupons.
No wonder Niu Dabin was willing to be a lapdog for the Little Devils; with this kind of treatment, many people with weak wills would indeed fall.
Setting everything else aside, 3,500 or 3,600 yuan was an amount that over 99% of families in this era could not produce.
One must remember that for a formal employee, this was the equivalent of eight or nine years of salary, even if they didn't eat or drink.
Among these things, while the money and coupons caught Wang An's attention, only the Browning Baby pistol made his eyes light up.
In his previous life, Wang An had once collected one of these things.
Although the effective range of the Browning Baby was only 30 meters, it was perfectly suited for Mu Xueqing, who loved carrying a gun on her person.
Mainly, it was very light—weighing only 7 liang—making it incredibly convenient to carry.
But remembering that this was a tool used by an enemy agent, and that even Zhang Shuya wouldn't dare touch it carelessly, Wang An dismissed the thought.
However, it was not hard to tell from Wang An's gaze just how much he liked the gun.
Soon, all the valuable items were unearthed. After everything was registered in the ledger, Captain Zhou sent someone to examine Niu Dabin's corpse and took several photographs of it.
Finally, Captain Zhou and his team took Niu Dayou and Niu Dawei with them and headed back to the county seat.
Indeed, the reason they took those two was because Wang An had secretly played a trick.
Earlier, Wang An had whispered to Captain Zhou that during the time Niu Dabin and Dahui were gathering intelligence, Niu Dayou and Niu Dawei had provided a great deal of assistance.
Therefore, they should be taken to the Public Security Bureau to "recollect" properly and think about what they had been doing during this period.
Upon hearing Wang An's words, Captain Zhou felt it made perfect sense and promptly gave each of them a pair of "silver bracelets" (handcuffs).
Mainly, when dealing with enemy agents, not a single clue or trace could be overlooked.
In the case of Niu Dayou and Niu Dawei, they were inherently very suspicious. So, although Wang An was indeed settling a private grudge, no one could find any fault in his reasoning.
It wasn't hard to imagine what kind of severe punishment these two, now linked to enemy agents, would receive after being taken away.
But there was no other way; it was their own fault for having crooked hearts and daring to plot against Wang An.
For a person like Wang An, who repaid every slight in kind, how could he possibly let them go once he had the chance?
To be perfectly honest, it was only because conditions didn't allow it; if they had, sending them to prison wouldn't have been Wang An's true desire. His true desire was to simply wipe them out, because only by killing them could the future trouble be permanently eliminated.
Fortunately, life inside the "fence" (prison) was decent enough to satisfy a good portion of Wang An's hatred.
By the time Captain Zhou and his men were leaving, it was mealtime. Wang An had originally wanted to invite them to stay for dinner, but Captain Zhou stubbornly refused, so he eventually gave up.
After seeing off Captain Zhou's group, the crowd chatted for a while longer before dispersing to their homes.
Anyone with eyes could see why the Niu brothers had been taken away, so while chatting, many people looked at Wang An with a visible hint of fear.
This reaction was quite normal. After all, Wang An's ability to flip the clouds and bring the rain with a turn of his hand was truly frightening; people feared that if they offended him, they might be sent "inside" one day too.
Upon returning home, Wang An was immediately subjected to a round of scolding from Wang Dazhu, his wife, and Mu Xueqing.
Liu Guilan, with a face that looked like she was about to cause trouble, said to Wang An
"Have you forgotten your own name after practicing martial arts for a few days? You just start fighting whenever you feel like it. Where do you get this nerve? What if you couldn't beat them?"
Just as Wang An was about to speak, Wang Dazhu interrupted with a face full of anger
"Exactly! It's fine now that Niu Dabin was found to be an enemy agent, but what if he wasn't? Tell me, after you beat those two brothers into that state, how would it have ended? Can our small Wang family beat the whole Niu family?"
As soon as Wang Dazhu finished, Liu Guilan chimed in again
"Why couldn't you just endure it for a bit? Let him blabber whatever he wants, just put up with it for a while, and you could have dealt with them later, couldn't you? How many of us are there in the Wang family? How many are there in the Niu family?"
And so, the old couple went back and forth, firing words at Wang An like machine guns.
Their core philosophy was "a brave man doesn't suffer losses in the moment," "endure for a moment and the wind will die down," "a gentleman's revenge is never too late," and so on and so forth.
Finally, only after Wang An promised that he would not easily resort to violence in the village again did the old couple let him off.
But just as the old couple finished, Mu Xueqing spoke up
"Do you have to show off when catching enemy agents? The Niu family has so many guns; what if someone's gun went off by accident and hit you? If you died, what would I do? Couldn't you have gone to the eldest sister first and then gone with her to catch them?"
Mu Xueqing's words effectively reopened the topic. As soon as she finished, Liu Guilan shouted at Wang An again
"Exactly! Xueqing is right! What on earth is going on in that head of yours every day? If everyone just started firing guns whenever they felt like it, our village would have been shot to pieces long ago!"
Wang Dazhu: "Indeed! Are you stupid? Did a donkey kick you in the head? Can you just fire guns randomly?"
Thus, after experiencing another round of verbal bombardment lasting twenty minutes, Wang An felt his head "buzzing" incessantly.
(End of Chapter)