Chapter 20: The Rescue of the Green Peacock Mission

[Help, it hurts so much...]

A group of green peafowls were bound to the wall with iron chains as thick as a wrist. Their emerald feathers had lost their luster and some were bleeding, barely alive, trembling in a corner.

The peafowls’ eyes were filled with terror. Jiang Cha spoke gently, “Don’t worry, I will save you. This is the village chief’s house—did he capture you?”

Jiang Cha needed to find out if the village chief was responsible. But asking felt pointless; this was his cellar after all. If not him, then who?

One male peafowl crouched nearby, eyes wary as he looked at Jiang Cha.

“Are you with him? Who do you want to eat today?”

Jiang Cha’s heart skipped a beat. Could it be that the village chief was keeping them here to eat them?

Eat peafowl? That’s madness!

Seeing the peafowls shivering scared and helpless, Jiang Cha felt a pang of sorrow. Yet she didn’t know how to earn their trust, so she could only comfort them with words.

“Don’t worry, I’m really not a bad person. I just stumbled upon this place and heard your cries for help.”

One small peafowl whispered, “Dad, she can hear us.”

The male peafowl guarded the little one closely with his wings, eyes still filled with distrust.

“I don’t trust you, human. That old man captured my whole family and our kin. He ate them all. Why should I believe you?”

“Jiang Cha, Jiang Cha! Hurry up, the village chief is coming!” Zhong Jialin’s voice rang from above.

Jiang Cha couldn’t stay any longer. She hurriedly said, “Trust me, I will save you. Just hang on a little longer!”

With that, she quickly extinguished the torch and rushed out.

Zhong Jialin grabbed her hand and pulled her up as Jiang Cha peeked out. The two swiftly shut the wooden door, covered it with earth again, restoring everything to its original state.

They walked to the tractor and naturally sat down, as if nothing had happened.

The village chief came out slowly, leaning on his cane. Seeing them on the tractor, he frowned.

“Why haven’t you left yet?”

---

Jiang Cha forced herself to stay calm, the key inserted in the tractor’s ignition.

“We were just fiddling with the tractor. We’ll leave soon. Goodbye, village chief.”

She started the tractor and drove off without looking back.

Outside the village chief’s house, Zhong Jialin patted her still racing heart.

“What was going on down there? I didn’t expect the village chief’s house to have a cellar like that. What do you think he’s up to?”

Jiang Cha drove to the fields, looked around to ensure no one was nearby, then got off the tractor.

Lowering her voice, she said to Zhong Jialin, “I found a large hidden room down there. It’s full of green peafowls, all chained up.”

Zhong Jialin’s eyes widened, hands covering her mouth. “No way! Why would the village chief capture so many green peafowls?”

Seeing the complicated look on Jiang Cha’s face, Zhong Jialin’s wild suspicion began to clarify.

“You don’t mean... he’s eating green peafowls? Has the village chief gone mad? Are green peafowls even edible?”

Jiang Cha snorted coldly. “Who told him eating green peafowls cures dementia? That’s why he caught so many—to try and cure his foolish son. No wonder when he lent us the tractor, he said his youngest son’s dementia would soon be cured.”

So that’s the story. Zhong Jialin shivered.

“The village chief is terrifying. What should we do now? Should we free those green peafowls?”

Green peafowls are common in this rainforest, but due to extensive hunting in recent years, they have become endangered.

Not to mention eating peafowl meat is forbidden, even plucking their feathers is not allowed.

Jiang Cha folded her arms and pondered. She absolutely had to rescue the green peafowls, but she couldn’t do it alone.

She leaned close to Zhong Jialin and whispered a few words...

Late at night, Zhong Jialin gathered Fan Minghui and Deng Yixiang.

Of course, Song Yang, the ever-curious one, wouldn’t miss this opportunity.

He had long disliked the village chief, who was always at odds with his father.

Fortunately, Song Yingjie held the position of Party Secretary, so the village chief dared not make trouble openly and could only grumble quietly.

Moreover, the village chief’s eldest son, living in the provincial capital, often made things difficult for Song Bo.

The matter of the green peafowls being eaten was urgent. Had they arrived a day later, one of the peafowls might have fallen victim to the village chief’s cruelty.

---

The group crouched in the bushes outside the village chief’s house, lifting a branch quietly to peer inside.

Fan Minghui clicked his tongue. “What’s the village chief thinking? Green peafowls curing dementia—no way. And they’re endangered animals. Doesn’t the village chief care?”

Zhong Jialin snorted. “That village chief’s bold. If he’s willing to do this, do you think he’s afraid of anything?”

Before coming here, Song Yang had already told Song Bo everything in detail.

Because of Wang Ermazi’s poaching, Song Yingjie had been summoned to a meeting at the provincial expert bureau and hadn’t returned yet.

Upon hearing this, Song Bo immediately called the provincial police and repeatedly urged Jiang Cha and the others to be cautious.

Jiang Cha was also puzzled about the village chief’s family. He had a wife, but she was never seen in public.

He supposedly had two sons and a daughter, but only the sons were ever seen; the daughter was a mystery.

The village chief was reclusive and only appeared for major village affairs.

Thus, no one in the village was close to the village chief’s family.

“Strange,” Jiang Cha murmured.

Song Yang came closer. “What’s strange?”

Jiang Cha thought silently. “Who told him that green peafowls cure dementia? Even my twelve-year-old sister knows that’s impossible. Why does he believe it?”

Zhong Jialin slapped her thigh. “You mean the village chief was influenced by someone else?”

Fan Minghui said seriously, “Impossible! No one can manipulate the village chief. If he believes something, no matter what, he believes it. If he doesn’t, no force in the world can change his mind.”

His mother, Qi Yu, when she first became chairwoman of the Women’s Federation, had brief contact with the village chief.

She knew his character deeply: stubborn beyond reason, immovable like a mountain.

For him to firmly believe something, he must have seen it with his own eyes and be utterly convinced.

Though puzzled, the group was resolved—the green peafowls would be saved.

“Look, smoke’s rising!”