198: village

The meeting with the residents' representatives was scheduled for two days later, at a relatively open Threshing Ground by the Yuejin River.

Several elderly men with graying hair and tanned skin, along with a few agitated middle-aged men and women, were already waiting there.

As soon as Shen Mingyuan's car stopped, they crowded around, all talking at once about their experiences over the past few years: well water turning foul and undrinkable, vegetables in their gardens wilting as they grew, children and elders at home inexplicably coughing and breaking out in rashes... The air was thick with anxiety and anger that even the river breeze couldn't disperse.

Shen Mingyuan didn't interrupt. He listened quietly, occasionally jotting down key dates or symptom descriptions in his notebook. His gaze occasionally swept over the turbid, slow-moving river nearby and the area on the opposite bank with its chimneys and factory buildings—the Xinwang Chemical Plant.

After the initial intense emotions had somewhat subsided, Shen Mingyuan finally spoke, his voice steady and clear:

"Everyone, I've noted down all the situations you've described. The medical records, photos, and these logs you've provided are crucial. They show that the harm is real and likely related to environmental pollution."

He then shifted his tone, his eyes scanning each face present:

"But we now face a critical issue. All these Materials can prove you've been harmed, but it's difficult to legally prove that the sole and direct cause of your suffering is the discharge from that factory across the river."

A hot-tempered middle-aged man immediately shouted, "If it's not them, then who? They're the only chemical plant around here! We never had these problems when the river was clean!"

"I understand your reasoning, and it's very likely the truth."

Shen Mingyuan nodded, "But in court, the opposing lawyer will raise many other possibilities: other villages upstream, passing boats, or even pollution left from decades ago.

"If we can't produce solid evidence of their ongoing illegal discharge, the lawsuit will be tough, and we might even lose."

The scene fell silent for a moment. An elderly man who had been quietly smoking a Long-stemmed Pipe asked hoarsely, "Lawyer Shen, what do you mean?"

"We need to find their discharge outlet, preferably capture evidence of them discharging into the river, like a video, and also collect water samples to send to an authoritative agency for testing."

Shen Mingyuan spoke bluntly, "You've all lived here for many years. Is there anyone particularly familiar with this river or the area around that factory?

"For example, someone who used to work at the plant, or often fishes or farms nearby, someone who knows the terrain well? I need a guide to take me on-site to check, especially along riverbanks and drainage ditches that are usually deserted."

The villagers exchanged glances, their faces showing reluctance. The middle-aged man who had spoken first shook his head, "That factory's walls are high, and they have dogs. We've checked all the accessible spots along the river countless times and haven't seen any obvious pipes. If there are any, they're definitely well-hidden, or they'd have been caught long ago."

"Yeah, they're cunning. I heard they only do it at night or during heavy rain," a woman added.

At this point, the elderly man smoking the pipe tapped out his tobacco pouch and slowly said, "If you're talking about knowing these River Branches, Old Channels, where the water's deep or shallow, which paths lead to the back of the factory walls... Old Man Chen might know a thing or two.

"He used to run small transport on the river, then cleared some wasteland by the factory to grow vegetables, until a couple of years ago when the crops kept failing and he abandoned it. He's just stubborn and doesn't much care for strangers."

Shen Mingyuan's eyes lit up slightly, "Old Man Chen? Could someone help introduce me? Or tell me where he lives, and I'll visit him myself."

The elders discussed briefly, and finally, a relatively talkative old man agreed to lead the way. "Alright, Lawyer Shen, come with us. Old Man Chen lives by the abandoned pump house upstream, not far from here. But whether he'll talk, we can't guarantee."

"That's fine, let's try. Thank you, everyone." Shen Mingyuan put away his notebook and followed the guiding old man, walking upstream along the riverbank.

The guiding old man led Shen Mingyuan to an abandoned Water Pump House by the river and pointed to a low brick house nearby. "Here it is, Old Man Chen. I've brought him to you, you two talk."

With that, the old man sighed, waved his hand, and turned to leave, seemingly not holding much hope that Old Man Chen would help.

Shen Mingyuan knocked on the peeling wooden door. After a long while, the door creaked open a crack, revealing a face etched with deep wrinkles and weathered by time.

The old man's eyes were somewhat cloudy, filled with years of weariness and a near-numb stillness. He looked Shen Mingyuan up and down in his suit, his brow furrowing almost imperceptibly.

"Uncle Chen, hello, sorry to disturb you. I'm the lawyer commissioned by the residents, Shen Mingyuan. I'd like to learn about the Yuejin River and the chemical plant." Shen Mingyuan spoke calmly, showing his credentials.

Old Man Chen looked at him for a few more seconds before slowly pulling the door open. He turned and walked slowly to an old rattan chair in the room, sitting down without a word, just pointing to a small stool nearby.

The room was sparsely furnished but exceptionally tidy. A few blurry old photos hung on the wall, faintly showing a clear river and fishing boats.

Shen Mingyuan sat down but didn't immediately press about the factory. His gaze swept over the old photos. "The Yuejin River must have been beautiful back then, right?"

Old Man Chen followed his gaze and remained silent for a long time—so long that Shen Mingyuan thought he wouldn't answer—before a sigh almost too faint to hear escaped. "Ah." Just one word, yet it seemed to carry the weight of a thousand pounds.

The conversation that followed was difficult. Old Man Chen spoke very little, answering briefly only after three questions, and often falling silent. But Shen Mingyuan listened patiently, piecing together some information from those scattered words and long pauses:

He had lived by this river his whole life, fishing and transporting goods, knowing every bend and underwater current best. After the factory was built, the river changed day by day. He had also been among the first to notice and try to do something.

"Reported it," Old Man Chen's thin lips moved, his eyes fixed on the ground. "Wrote letters, made calls... Useless. People came, looked, left. Later, they seemed to know. When strangers lingered nearby, the factory dogs barked especially fiercely."

He didn't specify what happened after the failed reports, but a profound sense of helplessness and the nearly extinguished anger that followed permeated the small space.

It wasn't that he didn't want to express himself; it was that the weight of those emotions had been ground down by reality, almost losing their shape for outward expression.

Shen Mingyuan didn't speak, just listened quietly. His keen observation caught the old man's hand unconsciously clenching and unclenching when he mentioned "writing letters," and the fleeting dimness in his eyes at "useless."

This wasn't simple indifference or resistance; it was a deeper, almost tangible sorrow—the sorrow of being powerless to protect what one loves.

"So, you feel that doing anything more is meaningless, is that it?" Shen Mingyuan asked softly, not as an accusation, but more as a confirmation.

Old Man Chen fell silent again, this time looking out the window at the suspiciously colored river not far away. After a long moment, he stood up, his movements slow but with a determined heaviness. He walked to the wall and took down an old straw hat and a polished bamboo stick.

"I... don't really understand all the twists and turns nowadays," Old Man Chen spoke, his voice hoarse, not looking at Shen Mingyuan but toward the door. "But I don't want, and I don't hope, for this river that raised me to end up like this."

He turned, looking at Shen Mingyuan more directly for the first time. In the depths of his still eyes, something very faint seemed stirred by a thrown stone, creating ripples almost too subtle to notice.

"If you really want to see, I... can take you to look. Just look."

Shen Mingyuan stood up as well. He could sense the complex, surging emotions beneath the old man's calm tone—the discouragement from past failed struggles, the heartache over the river's current state, and perhaps, a faint flicker of hope being rekindled.

"Thank you, Uncle Chen," Shen Mingyuan said solemnly. "Then let's go 'look' now."