Caught red-handed.
There was no room for excuses.
Li Ershuan couldn't escape either, so the Shen family settled down for a peaceful night's sleep.
But next door at the Li's, calm was far from restored. Not long after they had returned home, the air was pierced with shrieks and furious cursing.
It seemed the Li family was embroiled in another domestic dispute.
Yet it wasn't the Shen family's concern.
The next day, Li Er had been punished by the collective. In consideration of neighborly relations, he wasn't taken to the police station. Instead, the Li family lost six months of work points, and on top of that, they had to pay the Shen family a compensation of 200 yuan along with an apology.
The Li family was in turmoil, wailing and clutching at the earth. The damage wasn't just financial; the blow to their reputation was even greater. Afterward, the villagers didn't know how to regard the Lis or how to see Li Er's three children.
