The Leader's house was a two-floored building, the best-looking house in Chu Wang Village. When Nuannuan arrived, the Leader was sitting on a chair on his balcony, gazing into the village in the dark night with a cigarette. Nuannuan greeted his wife and followed her instructions to walk upstairs in quiet steps. Zhan Shideng seemed to be deep in thought; he did not move. Nuannuan stood aside for a while and saw the whole village from the balcony: the houses, small and big; the small pier by the side of the Red Lake; the winding road leading to Juxiang Street; the lake reflecting a pale light from the moon; the silhouette of the mountains hiding in the night … the whole village. Under the pale moonlight, Nuannuan saw Zhan Shideng's big round wood chair with a shed shaped like an umbrella on top. The chair amazed her, too. She heard before that the Leader was a carpenter before he took office. He must have made the chair himself.
"Mr. Leader." Nuannuan called out.
Zhan Shideng turned his head slowly. His sight seemed bad, and it took him the time a man needs to find a bag of tobacco to see Nuannuan: "Kaitian's wife! What happened?"
Nuannuan burst into tears and choked on her voice: "Something bad happened to my family, I beg Mr. Leader to help."
"What happened?" Zhan Shideng stood up, his figure seemed tall and reliable in the moonlight.
Nuannuan spoke fast about the incident, her chest rose and fell as she sobbed. Her full breasts were shaking up and down, too. Zhan Shideng listened with his eyes narrowed, yet he kept a gaze at Nuannuan's breasts.
"Mr. Leader, you are the only one I have."
"The police really took Kaitian away?" Zhan Shideng seemed surprised.
"It's real! They rode two motorcycles over!"
"How could that be? They can't arrest him before an investigation!"
"Mr. Leader, you have to help us. Kaitian was tricked! How can he harm anyone in the village? He did not break any law!"
Zhan Shideng sighed and spoke in a voice without emotion: "Kaitian did make a mistake with the weedkiller. He caused a big loss to the village, to the people he sees everyday. Of course they are angry! Does he still want to live here? He would be so stupid to use such a way to make money!"
"Mr. Leader, we are victims, too! You know Kaitian. He is not a liar! I was there, too. The liar told us the weedkiller was imported from America, and the price was so good! We didn't think over it, so …" Nuannuan tried to defend her husband in a low voice.
"What do you want from me, then?" Zhan Shideng narrowed his eyes and looked at Nuannuan.
"If you can go talk to the heads of the town police station and ask them to release Kaitian …"
Zhan Shideng did not listen to her pleading. He exhaled quietly.
"Please, Mr. Leader, go to the police station, Kaitian is innocent …"
"If the police came down, then what he did is illegal. I'm only a village committee's leader, I cannot deal with illegal things."
"But you are the Leader, they all trust you." Nuannuan begged in a softer voice. "We'll think of ways to compensate those who bought our weedkiller."
"I'm afraid that it's not as easy!" Zhan Shideng narrowed his eyes further more.
"Mr. Leader, you are the best person to solve this. Everyone knows you in the town office. Please, save Kaitian." Nuannuan could not hold back anymore, tears running down her face.
Zhan Shideng lit another cigarette and took a deep smoke.
"Mr. Leader, Kaitian belongs to your village. You can't leave him be!"
"In Chu Wang Village, I won't leave any house's business when bad things happen. Alright, I'll go tomorrow and try to talk to someone." Zhan Shideng threw the cigarette on the floor and stepped it hard with his feet. He slowly spoke to Nuannuan: "If I went through tomorrow, of course it's good. But if not, you can't blame it on me. What he did was illegal!"
"Of course. I thank you, Mr. Leader." Nuannuan bowed down …
