Imperial Capital’s vicinity, Stone City, Celestial Water Village.

At the entrance of the village, there’s a large river, its water coming from the mountains, as if bestowed from the heavens above, hence the name Celestial Water Village.

By the river, a few old ladies sat on stones, wearing rubber gloves and scrubbing clothes.

In this deep autumn weather, just standing by the river for a moment feels cold, let alone washing clothes?

However, the water in the river is free, so to save on water bills, they grit their teeth and bear it.

The village women gather together, inevitably chatting about home matters, gossiping, or bragging a bit.

An old woman wrapped in a headscarf spoke while vigorously scrubbing clothes:

"You wouldn’t believe it, my second son has done well and is now a supervisor at a big restaurant in the city!"

An old woman in a floral coat scoffed:

"What’s so great about a restaurant supervisor? My daughter works in a large company in the city.

What’s it called? Some building...

She works with computers while sipping coffee, it’s so trendy, just like on TV."

The old woman in the headscarf was displeased:

"My son is also a leader. My son said your daughter is just a worker in the city."

The floral coat old woman was taken aback: 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"How dare you call her an animal, what kind of insult is that?!"

Seeing they were about to argue, Aunt Liu from the small shop said:

"Oh dear, don’t quarrel, your children are all outstanding.

They may not be at the top, but they’re certainly above average!

Look at Old Ye at the village entrance, they say his kid Ye Fan is up to some shady stuff!"

This statement instantly ignited the gossip flames within the two old women, and they eagerly leaned in:

"What kind of stuff, tell us more!"

Aunt Liu whispered mysteriously:

"Rumor has it he’s into gambling and visiting prostitutes, and now he’s become a thief!"

The two old women gasped:

"Oh dear, Ye Fan was without a mother since childhood, no one to educate him!

"That’s right, children need guidance,

But Ye Fan has been aimless since childhood, no wonder he went astray when he grew up!

No father to teach, no mother to care for."

"Tsk tsk tsk, poor Old Ye, no one to take care of him in his old age!"

"The Ye family is so poor, they couldn’t possibly raise a decent son."

Some people are like this, no matter how badly off they are, as long as they see someone doing worse, they feel content.

It’s as if the ones living poorly have committed heinous crimes, allowing themselves to stand at the lofty moral and philosophical high ground, openly critiquing.

Aunt Liu suddenly motioned for silence:

"Stop talking, Old Ye is coming to fish."

The old women quickly closed their mouths, using mocking, pitiful, and disdainful glances to eye the elderly man approaching with his hands behind his back.

Old Ye walked up to them, letting out a heavy grunt.

He could tell they were gossiping about him behind his back just by looking at them.

The old women rolled their eyes, faces smug, as if afraid Old Ye wouldn’t notice.

Most villages are like this, elders without reliable children, women without decent husbands, have to endure being downtrodden.

At this moment, several patrol cars drove over the bridge, heading into the village.

The laundry women and Old Ye were all staring at the patrol cars in a daze.

Big events in the village are rare; one usually doesn’t see patrol cars.

Today, not only did they see them, but there were five of them.

Aunt Liu jokingly said:

"Old Ye, are those cars heading to your house?"

The floral coat old woman covered her mouth and laughed:

"Could they be here to catch your Ye Fan? Has he done something and snuck back home?"

Old Ye retorted angrily:

"That brat of mine even knows to come home? He’s probably dead out there already, useless creature!"

The headscarf old woman was just making a joke when she suddenly frowned and stood up:

"Old Ye, it does look like the patrol cars stopped at your house."

Old Ye was taken aback, quickly turning around to look.

Sure enough, the patrol cars stopped right in front of his house.

Could it be that Xiaofan really did something?

Are they here to investigate?

Old Ye tossed aside his fishing gear and rushed home in a hurry.

"It seems something really happened."

Aunt Liu’s eyes were wide with excitement, the fire of gossip burning bright.

"Let’s go, take a look."

The floral coat old woman quickly gathered her clothes.

This kind of excitement isn’t seen every day.

The headscarf old woman didn’t even care about her clothes:

"Old Ye, don’t worry, I’ll go with you to see what’s going on."

The old woman showed a worried expression on her face, while actually feeling schadenfreude inside.

Her urgency wasn’t fake; she wanted to get first-hand information in the village.

...

A crowd had gathered at the entrance of the Ye Family, eager to watch the commotion.

The whole village knew that Ye Fan, the child of the Ye Family, had quit school during his elementary year and had been a small-time thug in the Imperial Capital ever since.

For the first time, the Ye Family’s big yellow dog saw so many people surrounding its home, barking anxiously.

People were stepping down from the patrol car.

Leading them was an old sheriff with graying hair, followed by eighteen young sheriffs standing upright and firm.

The main protagonist of this big scene, Old Ye, finally rushed back hurriedly, asking repeatedly:

"What happened, what happened, what’s up with Xiaoye?"

The old sheriff respectfully saluted Old Ye, then voluntarily extended his hand:

"I am Zhao Tingkun, Director of the Stone City Security Administration."

The crowd immediately erupted in chatter.

"What kind of trouble has befallen the Old Ye Family!"

"What kind of grave mistake has Ye Fan made for the director of the Security Administration to come personally!"

"Hiss, I watched Ye Fan grow up, and I don’t think he would commit any wrongdoing."

"Shh, keep your voice down! Don’t get too close to the Ye Family, you might get implicated."

Old Ye nearly collapsed, his eyes full of despair:

"What has happened to my son? What happened to him?"

Old Ye also believed that Ye Fan must have made a mistake.

He felt that he had let his son down, what if his son had done something disgraceful, how would he explain it to the ancestors, to the child’s deceased mother?

At the same time, he was furious with this unworthy son of his!

Old sheriff Zhao Tingkun, with a swift movement, stood at attention and said:

"Comrade Ye Fan is my colleague. He secretly executed an official mission for years.

He protected national security and maintained social order, winning first-class honors!

In a recent special task, Comrade Ye Fan heroically sacrificed himself, he is a hero!"

The villagers nearby were utterly stunned.

Ye Fan? First-class honor? Hero??

The director of the Stone City Security Administration came personally for this?

Wasn’t Ye Fan just a small-time thug?

How did he become a sheriff on a secret mission?

It was rumored that many outstanding sheriffs would hide their true identities to perform special tasks.

Could Ye Fan be one of them?

Old Ye was completely taken aback:

"You said, Xiaofan is dead?"

Director Zhao Tingkun immediately saluted, shouting:

"Salute to the hero’s family!"

The sheriffs behind him uniformly saluted.

Two sheriffs stepped out from the ranks.

One carried an urn, the other held a first-class badge.

Old Ye collapsed to the ground, crying out loudly:

"My son!"

The bystanders’ attitude toward Old Ye changed, their gaze became concerned, their expressions ingratiating.

"Old Ye, you must take care of your health!"

"Xiaoye... alas! Such a pity, I always thought this child had potential."

"Ambition does not depend on age!"

They all stepped forward to assist Old Ye, as if they were well acquainted with him.

Clearly, these people were previously avoiding Old Ye as if he were a harbinger of doom.

The Ye Fan they spoke of as a thug and the Ye Fan as a hero seemed to be two completely different people.

These people weren’t becoming so kind because Ye Fan was a hero, maybe some of them were, but most of them weren’t.

They just wanted to bask in the glory of being associated with a hero’s family.

Old Ye couldn’t hear anything anymore, sitting on the ground sobbing uncontrollably.

...

On the mountaintop of Celestial Water Village, Fox Xiaosan and Zhang Xiaoyi gazed quietly at this scene from afar.

Zhang Xiaoyi sighed:

"Originally, Cao Yi wanted to keep news of Ye Fan’s death secret, let no one know."

Fox Xiaosan coolly responded:

"What, treat it as a disappearance?"

Zhang Xiaoyi said:

"I think pretending he’s missing is good, the old man won’t know his son is dead."

Fox Xiaosan said:

"That would be better, the old man’s status in the village wouldn’t be low.

Ye Fan’s matters, your Security Administration should not intervene anymore, his family will be taken care of by us, the Demon Race."

Zhang Xiaoyi nodded, asked:

"What’s your plan next?"

Fox Xiaosan’s eyes revealed a trace of bitterness:

"Find that pig-headed monster and avenge him!"