Although he was not very educated, he still knew that killing someone was a crime. These people had been shielding the bridesmaid and refused to hand her over. This definitely constituted the crime of harboring a fugitive.

Chen Daoguang glared at the crowd in the backyard and threatened, "Hand her over now, and you won't have to go to jail. Otherwise... when the time comes, I'll sue every last one of you!"

His words immediately frightened many people. The bride, the groom, and their parents all turned pale. They had been shielding the bridesmaid because they thought she was pitiable. But hearing that they might also go to jail, they instantly panicked. The crime of harboring a fugitive! They had heard of it before, exactly as Chen Daoguang described. Everyone turned somewhat pale.

Especially Peng Songyue. On one side was her close friend, and on the other, the crime of harboring. For a moment, she didn't know how to weigh her options.

Seeing that nobody spoke, Chen Daoguang snorted coldly again. "We're only here to catch a murderer. If you cause any more trouble, don't blame us for what happens next!" As he said this, he waved his hand.

His relatives rushed towards the inner room again, trying to drag the bridesmaid out. Apart from Chen Daoguang's relatives, the families of the three injured young men also wore stern expressions, their faces full of anger, their demeanor menacing. They had a clear numerical advantage.

Chen Zishi and Peng Songyue exchanged a glance, no longer daring to forcibly stop them.

Song Yun was even more panicked. Unsure of what to do, he had just been released from the twelve-year Parrot Case, receiving probation. At this moment, he absolutely could not be implicated in any crime again! If he were implicated, he would be directly arrested and sent back to jail! He could even face cumulative sentencing for multiple offenses! Having personally experienced a criminal trial, he knew the full severity of the law. Once violated, it was definitely no joking matter! Although Qin Mu had spent ten minutes before calling the police explaining the legal concept of self-defense, it wasn't guaranteed to secure a not-guilty verdict for the bridesmaid. If the bridesmaid was convicted, it seemed none of them could escape charges of sheltering and harboring a fugitive.

At that moment, seventy-nine-year-old Song Tiancheng could no longer stand by and walked up to Chen Daoguang.

"Song... Uncle Song, please speak."

Chen Daoguang's expression then softened a bit, and he signaled for the search of the house to pause. Song Tiancheng was of a generation older than him in the village. He had watched Chen Daoguang grow up. In the countryside, such matters of seniority were taken very seriously.

"No one wanted such a tragedy to happen," Song Tiancheng began, glancing at Chen Daoguang before continuing in a deep voice. "I've also seen the video. The main reason is that these young people took the wedding pranks too far, pushing the poor girl to the brink. Although she also made a mistake, we can't just hand her over to you. Who knows how you'd treat her?"

"We've already called the police, and they will be here soon. Why don't you wait a bit longer?"

"We will hand her over to the police."

As Chen Daoguang listened, his expression turned ugly. He argued, "Uncle Song, you can't say that. It's common for every household to have noisy wedding celebrations like this."

"Last month, during the wedding at Old Wang's house, my son Chen Quan also played pranks like this, and the bridesmaid there didn't complain."

"Why does it become excessive when it comes to her?"

"If she didn't want to be a bridesmaid, she shouldn't have accepted. But after accepting, she pretends she can't bear the supposed distress and even carried a small knife. I even suspect she planned this long ago, just looking for an opportunity to commit an assault!"

"Even though you've called the police, as the victims' families, shouldn't she apologize to us? What's the meaning of her hiding like a coward now?"

"Uncle Song, I respect you as an elder, but even elders shouldn't take sides unfairly. Murder has been a crime since ancient times. If you really plan to shelter her..."

"If it comes to that, I'll take you all to court, and don't blame me for disregarding our ties as fellow villagers!"

As he spoke, he once again wanted to lead his men into the inner room to drag out the bridesmaid. In his words, there was absolutely no sense that they had done anything wrong. He even went as far as to slander the bridesmaid, believing her to be a shameless hypocrite, acting wantonly yet demanding to be seen as virtuous.

Confronted like this, Song Tiancheng flushed with shame. He had put his reputation on the line, but Chen Daoguang hadn't shown him any respect at all. With no other choice, he turned to Qin Mu for help, asking, "Xiao Qin, what do you think... what should we do now?"

From the moment Chen Daoguang and the others rushed into the backyard, Qin Mu had remained like an invisible man, silent all this time.

"What should we do?" Qin Mu glanced at Chen Daoguang and his relatives, who were wielding wooden sticks. His lips twitched. "We can't stop them, so we might as well let them go in."

"But... what about Xiao Lan..." Peng Songyue's face filled with worry upon hearing this.

Qin Mu shrugged. He said casually, "The police should be arriving soon. Don't worry. This is a society governed by law; they wouldn't dare do anything too reckless."

As he spoke, he glanced at Chen Daoguang, their leader.

In the countryside, what people feared most was the power of kinship and clan networks, interconnected and deeply rooted. The group of relatives Chen Daoguang had brought was a clear representation of that. Each was a sturdy man in his thirties or forties, wielding a wooden club, looking ready to exact retribution.

Chen Daoguang noticed Qin Mu and snorted, "At least you know your place!" He merely thought that Qin Mu had backed down.

Following this, the crowd surged into the inner room and dragged out the bridesmaid, who had been resting.

The bridesmaid had just somewhat recovered from the earlier bloody scene. When she suddenly saw a group of farmhands wielding clubs...

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