Chapter 52: Hush Money

Chapter 52: Chapter 52: Hush Money

For the first time, Zhang Yun tested his speed. The moment he dashed forward, he outpaced Zhang Long. Seeing the figure fleeing, he immediately accelerated, pouncing forward like a cheetah in an instant.

The man scrambled blindly to escape, but he hadn’t made it far from the ancestral tombs before Zhang Yun caught up to him.

"Stop right there!"

Zhang Long shouted from behind. Zhang Yun slapped the man’s back, sending him crashing face-first into the dirt.

Zhang Yun stopped and planted a foot on the man’s back. He realized that despite his explosive sprint, his breathing was incredibly steady. He didn’t feel winded, nor was his heart racing.

The effects of an entire Mysterious Petal had truly enhanced his body in every possible aspect!

"Good job! Pin him down, don’t let him get away!" Zhang Long yelled as he caught up. He immediately delivered a few heavy kicks to the man while gasping for air. "You dare dig up our ancestral tombs? You’ve got a death wish!"

Zhang Yun had held back his strength with that slap, but the fall had still taken a heavy toll on the culprit. Now that the others had arrived, he lifted his foot off the man’s back.

Guang and Jin Lu rushed over and joined in, raining kicks down on the man.

Bao Sheng, who arrived last, cursed furiously. "You scared the crap out of me! I really thought it was a ghost! I’m going to kill you!"

Zhang Yun stopped them from venting their anger any further. "Don’t actually beat him to death. Call Uncle Ronghui first! I’ll go see how much damage was done."

"Alright!" Zhang Long held back his kicks. Defiling an ancestral tomb was no trivial matter; they had to notify the village director, Zhang Ronghui.

"No, no... don’t make the call!" the man on the ground whimpered. "I can give you money! I’ll agree to whatever conditions you want!"

Zhang Yun and Zhang Long exchanged a glance. That voice sounded oddly familiar!

Though they couldn’t immediately put a name to the face, it was definitely someone from their village. A member of the Zhang clan actually digging up the Zhang Family’s ancestral tombs? That made him even more deserving of death!

Zhang Long immediately hauled the man up by his collar. "Shine the flashlights over here. Let’s see who this is!"

Guang aimed his beam at the man’s face, and everyone leaned in for a closer look.

"Zhang Youcai?!"

All five of them, including Zhang Yun, cried out in shock. Never in their wildest dreams would they have guessed that the culprit was the village’s wealthiest man, Zhang Youcai!

When it came to vandalizing Tianxin Village’s ancestral tombs, their first thought had naturally been an outsider. Even after hearing a familiar voice, they assumed it was someone destitute and desperate from the village. Only a person like that would harbor resentment that the ancestors weren’t blessing them. With nothing left to lose, they might resort to sabotage in hopes of turning their luck around.

On the contrary, those who acquired wealth and status usually attributed their success to their ancestors’ blessings. Not only would they never desecrate the graves, but they were almost always the ones funding tomb repairs and updating the genealogy records.

Even if Zhang Youcai wasn’t the absolute richest man in the village, he was definitely one of them. He had a thriving career, a good family, and successful children. Why on earth would he sneak out in the middle of the night to dig up their ancestral tombs?

"Uncle Youcai, how do you explain this?" Zhang Long usually respected and admired Zhang Youcai, treating him as a role model. Now, he was deeply conflicted.

"Zhang Youcai! Why did you mess with the graves?" Bao Sheng trembled with rage at the thought that the ’ghost’ who terrified him last night was actually a fellow villager. "I’ll kill you!"

"Don’t hit me, don’t hit me!" Zhang Youcai raised his hands in surrender. These were all strapping young lads who didn’t know their own strength; if they beat him into a pulp, he’d be in real trouble.

"Uncle Cai, you better have a reasonable explanation. Otherwise, even if Uncle Ronghui keeps a level head, at least a third of the village will march up the mountain tonight to beat you! If they beat you to death, the law wouldn’t even be able to punish everyone!"

Zhang Yun wasn’t making idle threats. Zhang Ronghui was the village director—effectively the traditional village chief. Although a low-ranking official, he still possessed some legal awareness. The villagers, however, would absolutely riot over their ancestral graves being desecrated! The younger generation wouldn’t mind stirring up trouble, while the elders took the sanctity of ancestral graves even more seriously. If word got out, the situation would be impossible to control.

"Zhang... Zhang Yun, just listen to me first!" Recognizing Zhang Yun and banking on the goodwill from buying his soft-shelled turtles earlier, Zhang Youcai hurriedly begged for mercy. "Don’t hit me. Hear me out, okay?"

"Speak!" Jin Lu gave him a hard shove to vent his frustration. He had always been envious of Zhang Youcai’s wealthy boss persona. Now that he held the moral high ground, he could finally take him down a notch.

"Stop hitting him," Zhang Yun ordered.

Zhang Youcai caught his breath and offered a bitter smile. "My business has run into some trouble recently. I consulted a master, and he said there was a slight misalignment with the Feng Shui of our ancestral tombs. He told me to come and adjust it..."

"The ancestral graves belong to the entire village! Do you think you can just mess with them because you have money?" Jin Lu rebuked fiercely.

"I know, which is why I couldn’t make this request publicly. But I didn’t have any other choice, so I had to sneak up here in the middle of the night and adjust it myself..." Zhang Youcai explained with a wry smile before pulling out his phone. "I’ll give each of you a thousand yuan. Don’t breathe a word of this to anyone. I won’t dare touch it again, and I’ll restore it to exactly how it was in a bit..."

He fawned over them, asking, "Do I have you on WeChat? I’ll transfer the money to you right now!"

Before Zhang Yun or Zhang Long could speak, Jin Lu barked angrily, "You think you can buy us off with a thousand? Ten thousand!"

Guang and Bao Sheng opened their mouths to speak but didn’t stop him. They felt it was a bit inappropriate, akin to extortion, but since they weren’t the ones making the demand, they were more than happy to reap the benefits.

Zhang Long subconsciously looked at Zhang Yun. Even he didn’t know why he sought out Zhang Yun’s stance on the matter. He was incredibly conflicted. With his highly regarded role model acting like this, he didn’t know what to say. Seeing Zhang Yun remain unresponsive, he asked softly, "What do you think?"

Zhang Yun didn’t care about this little bit of money. Since Zhang Youcai had bought turtles from him just yesterday morning, it didn’t feel right to completely burn bridges. However, the others wanted the money—and rejecting the payout meant they couldn’t settle this privately!

"Wasn’t I just about to go check the extent of the damage? If there are no major issues... let’s not blow this out of proportion," Zhang Yun finally said.

Jin Lu said coldly, "Ten thousand per person, and we’ll keep this secret!"

"I have no objections," Guang chimed in.

Bao Sheng huffed angrily, "He scared me so bad last night that I haven’t dared to close my eyes since! He needs to compensate me extra for my suffering!"

"My business is failing, so I really don’t have much money..." Zhang Youcai smiled bitterly. "But blowing this up won’t do anyone any good. I’ll transfer the funds to you..."

Jin Lu was the first to pull out his phone, having Guang shine a flashlight on his screen. "Scan the QR code! Pay up first, talk later!"

Zhang Youcai scanned their codes one by one, transferring ten thousand to each of them. "Bao Sheng, I am truly sorry. I’ll compensate you an extra thousand, is that acceptable?"

Looking at the eleven thousand yuan that had just hit his account, Bao Sheng felt much of his resentment dissipate. He snorted and quickly hit confirm.

"Then let’s leave it at that. Let’s all help restore the graves. Uncle Youcai, you need to learn your lesson. Don’t even think about vandalizing the ancestral tombs again!" Since the others had already accepted the money, Zhang Yun considered the matter settled.

"Yes, yes. Sorry for the trouble..."

Jin Lu raised a hand. "Hey! You broke it, you fix it yourself. What you paid was hush money, not a wage for our labor! We have no obligation to help you. You shouldn’t mess with ancestral graves; you’ll face karmic retribution!"

"We’re staying out of this!" Zhang Long said helplessly. "You’re on your own. You know exactly what will happen if someone else finds out!"

"Let’s go!" With his fear completely gone, Bao Sheng only wanted to go straight to sleep.

Zhang Yun spoke up, "I’m fine. I’ll stay behind!"

"Just supervise him, Zhang Yun. Don’t do the dirty work yourself," Jin Lu warned.

A ghost hunt had turned into catching a grave robber, which then turned into collecting hush money. None of the other three had any interest in staying, so they promptly left.

"Zhang Yun, thank you for speaking up for me," Zhang Youcai let out a long sigh of relief.

Zhang Yun stared at him and said slowly, "Tell me the truth."