Caomo Village, Longkou Township, Longkou Town, Taoyuan County, Haikou City, Hainan Province, Huaxia Province.

In the evening, a gentle breeze blows through the land that has been exposed to the sun for a day, bringing a hint of coolness. The villages, which were as loose as chess pieces thrown on the ground, began to grow from silence to life. The people who had been at home for the afternoon with the doors closed opened as if they had made an appointment. After sleeping all afternoon, the villagers carried their 'treasures' and went to the free market in the middle of several villages.

At this point, the tropical day really begins.

This free market was formed spontaneously by several villages in the countryside, where everyone trades fairly, and it is also the only place for these small backward villages to relax.

The villagers put the things they thought could be sold on the ground at will, and they didn't shout at Zhang Luo, so they took out bags of cigarettes and chatted with the people next to them. There are also a variety of things: seafood, antiques, handicrafts, agricultural and sideline products and all kinds of outdated electric toys and small household appliances in the city, which can be bartered or traded in cash, because this small fishing village that cannot be found on the map is too remote and isolated, so most of the villagers who have lived here for generations have made a living by going to sea to fish, and the extremely underdeveloped transportation has also led to the almost derailment of the village and the city here. These villagers, who make a living from fishing, have lived quietly and contentedly in the village for generations.

And in the village of Caomo, not far from this small market, there are three figures squatting in a dark corner to discuss something.

Dense bushes fill the sides of the dirt road, which is not wide, and there is no chance of growth and expansion. The three sneaky figures were motionless, and they couldn't be spotted even if they approached.

After a while, a few people walked out of a house not far away. Apparently I saw the heat dissipate and was ready to go to the market. The man at the head locked a large copper lock firmly on the large iron door, reached out and tugged hard, and only turned to leave after making sure that it was locked.

This home is markedly different from the low, dilapidated houses that surround it. The small fishing village is inhabited by generations of aborigines, usually familiar with the neighborhood to the road does not leave no stone and does not close the house at night, if anyone goes out to buy something, at most is to close the door of the yard to prevent the chickens and dogs from running out, there is no lock on the door of the house. As for the so-called fence around it, it is just a square surrounded by things like twigs and bark.

But this family is different, the fence is made of red bricks and cement, nearly three meters high, not to mention, there are broken glass ballasts on top of it, the whole yard covers a large area, the newly built red brick house inside is also spacious and bright, and the flat roof is also set up with a solar water heater that every family can't afford.

The family gradually walked away, and after the fat man with a beautiful face whispered an old rule, he rushed out like a ghost. Under the cover of the bushes, he climbed up the smooth brick wall like a gecko, and then deftly jumped into the yard around the dense broken glass.

After more than half an hour, two crickets were heard from the bushes. The fat man who jumped into the yard jumped out deftly along the same road, and did not forget to wipe the footprints left on the dirt road, and the three of them left unconsciously.

Within ten minutes, a pig-like howl suddenly came from the red brick house. A red-eyed man rushed out with a kitchen knife and screamed around like a madman.

"Old Five, what's wrong with you? Who messed with you? What's the matter, can you put down the knife and talk well?" an old man on crutches shouted from afar, relying on his age and being a little timid. The crutches were also placed across the chest, and it seemed that if the situation was not right, the crutches would immediately become a weapon of self-defense.

"Uncle Seven, you are the village chief! You have to call the shots for me!" The middle-aged man called Lao Wu stared at the villagers who came over to see the excitement with red eyes, and said viciously: "I have lost all the money I have worked so hard to save! A full 150,000 yuan! 150,000 yuan!"

"What? 150,000 yuan?" Uncle Seven's crutches immediately changed from his horizontal chest to crutches on the ground, and the two old eyes that were still cloudy just now shone brightly. The small fishing village depends on the sea for food, and every household has basically no land except for a little land reclaimed at the foot of the mountain. Coupled with the extreme traffic congestion, these natural villages formed by exiled criminals in unknown dynasties and generations are basically still in the stage of self-sufficiency. The children in the village basically just dropped out of primary school to learn the skills of fishing from their parents, and there was only one private school set up by an old man with glasses in the village, and all that could be taught was the primary school curriculum. Later, the state successively launched the Hope Primary and Secondary School Program, the Reclamation Program, and the Medical Countryside Program, and several natural villages centered on Caomo Village finally had decent schools and small clinics. The primary and junior high schools are connected campuses, and there are no requirements for the quality of teaching. If you want to take the high school entrance exam after junior high school, you have to go to the distant county seat of Taoyuan County. With a train running every three days, a remote and unfamiliar environment, and expensive expenses, the children in Caomo Village have dropped out of school and stayed at home after finishing middle school.

What is the concept of 150,000? Almost no one in the village knows about it. Every family is a fisherman, and they don't make much money every year by going out to sea to fish. The old village chief took a few steps forward, his bright eyes narrowed, and his voice became cold: "Zhang Laowu, let me ask you, where did you get the 150,000 yuan? Jiang Laoer, who died of drinking pesticides yesterday in Laixi Village, and his daughter-in-law, did you owe you usury and force them to death?"

"I... I didn't, it was Jiang Lao Er who asked me to borrow it, and his house was sold to someone else. When Zhang Lao Wu said this, his momentum naturally weakened. There is a lack of entertainment in the countryside and sometimes when the weather is bad and you can't go to the sea, everyone will go to someone's house in twos and threes, drink some inferior local soju, smoke some tobacco pouch leaves, and play a few small poker and mahjong. Winning or losing is not a big deal, after all, no one has much money in their pockets. But Zhang Lao Wu saw a business opportunity from it, and saw that who had no money in his pocket and was not having fun, so he took the initiative to lend money to others, and the money lent out did not need interest, as long as it was returned within half a month.

In this way, Zhang Lao Wu began to become a banker, taking turns to play gambling games in various villages. With Zhang Lao Wu's purposeful and organized gambling and gambling money, there were more and more gamblers in various villages, and the gambling was getting bigger and bigger. The most terrible thing about gambling is its addictive nature, you want to continue to win when you win, and you think about how to turn it over when you lose. At this time, Zhang Laowu's long-hidden fangs were finally revealed.

First of all, he began to charge interest on the villagers who borrowed money from him and abolished the original limit on borrowing money, and those gamblers who gambled red and lost all their money once they lost their money, because there was a limit to control their inflated gambling desires. And now, with the limit on gambling borrowing gone, the appetite of these gamblers is like a flood that washes away the already fragile inhibitions.

Zhang Lao Wu's interest is not high, but he needs something valuable as collateral. In the beginning, the villagers were nothing more than mortgaging a radio, a black and white TV set and the like. Later, because some gamblers could not repay their debts, they began to mortgage their fishing boats, small motorcycles and other things, and later, small plots of land and houses subsidized by the state. Although the land and houses were redeemed by the gamblers with money in the end, Zhang Lao Wu made a lot of money from it.

Later, Zhang Laowu's behavior caused great dissatisfaction among the villagers in various villages. Zhang Lao Wu did not dare to go against the grain, and instigated the villagers to mortgage their houses and thin land. So Zhang Lao Wu changed the rules again, raised the original interest rate of three percent to one cent, and when borrowing money, the interest was directly deducted first.

Some people can see gambling as entertainment, win or lose and laugh and pass, and some people can see gambling as a means to make money and fall into this bottomless and terrible abyss. In the past few years, although Zhang Lao Wu has lent money to open a gambling game, after all, this is a willing to fight and a willing to take a deal, and there is no forced buying and selling when borrowing money. The police of the Taoyuan County Public Security Bureau, who come here once a week to inspect here, do not care about this kind of thing at all, and it is clear and clear on the IOU that they are willing to gamble, and it is a matter of course to repay debts. As for the joint defense team members in each village, drinking a few meals of wine is like Zhang Lao Wu's good mother.

But just the day before yesterday, Jiang Lao Er and his daughter-in-law from Laixi Village suddenly committed suicide at home. This is simply shocking news in the countryside where you don't even lose a shovel. All of a sudden, all kinds of rumors flew all over the sky, and some said that Jiang Lao Er disrespected the gods and was scared to death by the Sea Dragon King. It is said that Jiang Laoer's daughter-in-law was found stealing people behind Jiang Laoer's back, but Jiang Laoer poisoned his daughter-in-law in anger and then committed suicide. Of course, the most rumored thing is that Zhang Lao Wu forced Jiang Lao Er to death by lending usury.

Jiang Lao Er is a good gambler, I don't know how many times he has sworn not to gamble in the future, and he also cut off one of his little fingers Mingzhi, but the result is still bigger and bigger. Zhang Lao Wu took advantage of Jiang Laoer's gambling nature to tempt Jiang Lao Er to sell his real estate and sell his ration field step by step, and finally ended up bankrupt. By the time the daughter-in-law knew that Jiang Lao Er had sold the house behind her back and lost the gambling, Jiang Lao Er had already drunk pesticides and died. The daughter-in-law burst into tears, and before her son got out of school, she grabbed half a bottle of pesticide and drank it, and when her son came back in the evening to find it, the body was hard.

After receiving the report, the Taoyuan County Public Security Bureau immediately dispatched police officers to Laixi Village. There was no telephone in the village, and the call to report the incident came from Longkou Town, which is more than 20 miles away from the village. Hainan has a hot season, and the ice provided by the only small shop in the village is simply not enough to keep the body frozen. When a disease is caused by the decay of a corpse, it becomes a real deal.

Zhang Laowu was naturally the first subject of the investigation. However, Zhang Laowu's expression was calm and calm, and he showed the accounts that the two sides had had, as for the notes for borrowing money, they were all directly destroyed after the money was paid, and Zhang Laowu did not keep them here. In terms of circumstances, Zhang Lao Wu is absolutely unable to escape the blame, but from the legal point of view, usury in rural areas is a marginal ball, and everyone agrees to sign voluntarily after discussing the interest, even if the police come, this kind of thing is not easy to manage.

"You are not a human brute, I will kill you!" Uncle Seven raised his cane and brushed it on Zhang Laowu's temple. Frightened, Zhang Lao Wu hurriedly lay on the ground on the back, supported his right elbow on the ground and crawled forward, and his escape action was very fast and professional.

"Uncle Seven, you... What are you doing?" Uncle Seven was suddenly empty, and was immediately surrounded by the villagers who were watching. Everyone grasped and persuaded to persuade Uncle Seventh to extinguish the fire. Although Zhang Lao Wu gambled and put usury, this thing is indeed a thing that is willing to fight and suffer, and Zhang Lao Wu did not force anyone to gamble to borrow money, and the interest is clearly written in black and white. Everyone didn't know that this seventh uncle was actually holding back his anger - his uncompetitive youngest son was a gambler, and he had already lost the money that the seventh uncle had saved for him for half his life to marry his daughter-in-law. finally caught this opportunity to vent his evil anger, how could the old fox-like seventh uncle let it go.

"Zhang Lao Wu, how much money you have earned in the past two years, aren't you afraid of retribution? Get out of Caomo Village! You are not welcome in this village!" Uncle Seventh pointed at Zhang Lao Wu with trembling fingers, and his old face was as red as a monkey's ass because of excitement.

Hearing Uncle Seven say this, Zhang Lao Wu suddenly panicked. Although Uncle Seven has no right to do this, this guy is a superb old ginseng in the village, and he is very authoritative in such a remote and isolated village. If this guy gets mad and doesn't let himself live in the village, Zhang Lao Wu estimates that he will soon be isolated by the whole village.

"Old Five, you hurry up and compensate Uncle Seven, you are trembling when you see that Uncle Seven is angry. "The one who knows Zhang Lao Wu the most is Zhang Lao Wu's daughter-in-law. Seeing Zhang Laowu's suddenly changed face, he knew that Zhang Laowu was afraid. hurriedly walked over a few steps, and didn't care about the money, so he dragged Zhang Lao Wu to the seventh uncle to apologize.

The seventh uncle, who had enough face, stiffened his face, looked at Zhang Lao Wu, and said seriously: "Old five, although the seventh uncle is old, he is not confused. In the past few years, the most usury and gambling games have made the villagers in Caomo Village and the surrounding villages poke the backbone of the backbone, don't you know?" The seventh uncle turned his head sideways again: "The fifth uncle, the seventh uncle knows that you are shrewd, but this kind of thing, how can you help the fifth person mess around? This is a matter of iniquity! It is to be punished!" Seeing that both of them drooped their heads and did not speak, the seventh uncle pretended to change the conversation: "Old five, the seventh uncle watched you grow up. I know that you have a smart head, but this wisdom has to be used on the right path, and you can't do these immoral things, right? In this way, you now promise me in front of the big guys that I will not open gambling games and loan sharks in the future. ”

At this point, it's useless to say anything. If Uncle Seven really turns his face, this old fox usually looks at it with a smile and is easy to speak, and when he is serious, he may put the death of Jiang Lao Er on his own head.

Zhang Lao Wu drooped his head, and after swearing that he would never open a gambling game again and not let out loan sharks, Uncle Seven nodded with satisfaction.

"What did you just say? Running out shouting with a kitchen knife?"

Only then did Zhang Lao Wu remember what was going on, threw away the kitchen knife, and went to the place where the police lived at the entrance of the village to report the case.