**Chapter 35: Crows Mourn, Rats Flee**
Wang Bin stepped forward, his tone conciliatory yet urgent. "Chief Wang, these stone oxen are bleeding. My friend here—a feng shui master—says it's connected to the Japanese who came last month. They—"
"Japanese? What Japanese?" Wang Xilai cut him off, though a flicker of panic betrayed him.
"The ones you met!" Wang Bin pressed. "I brought them to your house myself!"
The crowd murmured. Li Chengfeng watched the chief's eyelids twitch—a liar's tell.
"So," Li Chengfeng drawled, "you didn't *sell* the oxen… but perhaps struck a deal?"
Wang Xilai's face flushed. "This village's affairs are none of your business, *outsider*."
An elderly farmer shoved through the crowd, trembling with rage. "Tell the truth, Wang Xilai! Did you bargain away our guardians?"
Cornered, the chief sneered. "Two rotting stones for 1.5 million yuan! I'll pave roads, build schools—what's wrong with that?"
Gasps erupted. The farmer staggered. "Fool! Those oxen shielded us for *centuries*!"
Before the argument could escalate, a cacophony of *caws* split the air. Villagers recoiled as dozens of crows descended, perching on rooftops like feathered omens.
"Rats!" someone shrieked.
A tide of rodents poured from cellars and alleys—mothers dragging pups, elders collapsing mid-flight. They streamed past the crowd, abandoning the village as if fleeing an invisible flame.
Li Chengfeng's voice cut through the chaos: **"Crows mourning, rats exiling—the deadliest portents.** When vermin desert their nests, death follows."
Wang Xilai jabbed a finger at him. "Enough! I'll have you arrested for—"
A rock flew from the crowd, grazing the chief's Audi.
"Arrest *him*!" a woman screamed. "He sold our souls!"
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