“Li Xiyue, you vicious bitch, just you wait,” Zhu Qingsong snarled, his face twisted with hatred. “I’ll make you pay for this.”
“Enough! Every one of you, shut your mouths right now!” the village chief barked angrily as he stroked his short beard.
He fixed a stern glare on Zhu Qingsong, who was still being restrained by the two strong young men. “Woman of the Wang family, Zhu Qingsong, listen carefully. Zhu Qingsong is now heavily suspected of theft. If you continue refusing to cooperate, this matter will no longer remain under my control.”
He paused before continuing coldly.
“As for your injury, it has already been made clear that your hand was caught because you illegally entered someone else’s room and triggered a trap yourself. Li Xiyue set that trap to catch vermin, so your injury was entirely caused by your own wrongdoing. If you had not sneaked into her room to steal, none of this would have happened. Return the sixty taels immediately, and I can persuade Li Xiyue not to pursue this matter further. What do you say?”
“That’s complete nonsense!” Zhu Qingsong screamed furiously, glaring at Li Xiyue as though he wanted to rip her apart alive. “I never took her damned silver! There wasn’t a single coin in that room!”
“Brother Qingsong, please return the silver to me,” Li Xiyue pleaded tearfully while Zhu Qinghe gently wiped away her tears beside her. “That’s my betrothal money. If it’s gone, how am I supposed to face my husband’s family after I marry?”
“If you still refuse to return it,” Zhu Qinghe added coldly, “then once my brother comes back, we’ll report you to the authorities immediately. Don’t forget, my future brother-in-law works as a senior bailiff at the county yamen.”
Inside, Li Xiyue almost applauded Zhu Qinghe.
Well done!
The moment Wang Dani heard the word “authorities,” panic overtook her completely. She shoved the two girls aside and rushed over to shield Zhu Qingsong protectively in her arms.
“Bah! My son already said he didn’t steal anything, so he didn’t steal it! You black-hearted little sluts are framing an innocent man! May you all die miserable deaths!”
Although she acted fierce on the surface, she was inwardly terrified. Right now, intimidation was the only weapon she had left.
Just then, a voice rang out from the crowd.
“Move aside! Great-Uncle has arrived!”
Zhu Tiezhu came hurrying over with Great-Uncle riding on his back. He had clearly run the entire way, and the moment he carefully lowered the old man down, he bent over gasping for breath.
“Great-Uncle, you must seek justice for our Qingsong!” Wang Dani cried dramatically as she grabbed Zhu Qingsong’s heavily bandaged hand and lifted it up for the old man to see.
Her grip was so rough that Zhu Qingsong nearly screamed curses from the pain.
The village chief calmly stepped forward and explained everything from beginning to end.
By the time he finished, Great-Uncle was trembling with fury. Raising his wooden cane, he swung it directly toward Zhu Qingsong.
Wang Dani hurriedly pulled her son behind her.
“Great-Uncle, what are you doing? Instead of helping Qingsong, you want to beat him?”
“I should beat him to death!” The Great-Uncle roared furiously. “When has our Zhu family ever produced such a shameless thief? This is all because you spoiled him rotten! If he doesn’t return Li girl’s money today, I’ll personally send him to prison!”
The old man became so enraged that he nearly lost his balance.
Li Xiyue quickly stepped forward to support him.
“Great-Grandfather, please calm down. Don’t harm your health over this matter.”
After finally catching his breath, Great-Uncle gently patted her hand.
“Good child, don’t worry. This old man will definitely see justice done for you today.”
Nearby, Zhu Tiezhu stood frozen in complete confusion.
Something isn’t right here…
Weren’t they supposed to bring Great-Uncle here to pressure Li Xiyue into apologizing and handing over the property deed as compensation for Zhu Qingsong’s injured hand?
The three members of the Zhu family were utterly dumbfounded.
Wang Dani quickly leaned close to Zhu Qingsong and whispered urgently,
“Tell me honestly right now, did you take the silver or not? If you did, hand it over immediately. Otherwise, they really might throw you in prison!”
“I swear I didn’t take a single coin!” Zhu Qingsong hissed back furiously. “That bitch’s room was completely empty. I saw a bundle hanging from the ceiling beam and thought it contained silver, but the moment I grabbed it, my hand got crushed. Where would I even hide the money afterward?”
The more he thought about it, the more wronged he felt.
If he had at least succeeded in stealing the silver, this suffering might have been worth it. Instead, he ended up with a ruined hand and nothing to show for it.
Hearing her son swear so firmly, Wang Dani immediately regained her confidence.
“My son already said he didn’t steal anything!” she shouted at the crowd. “Go ahead and search the entire place! If you can find even a single copper coin, I’ll chop off my own head for you to kick around like a ball! But if you find nothing, Li Xiyue must compensate us for everything! We spent fifty taels treating my son’s hand in the county!”
Li Xiyue almost laughed.
Some people really loved making reckless promises.
At the village chief’s order, the villagers immediately spread out to search the entire property.
Auntie Li charged into Zhu Qingsong’s room first.
“Ugh! What is this disgusting smell?” she exclaimed, pinching her nose in disgust. “How can a grown man live in such a filthy pigsty? Only a blind woman would marry someone like you.”
The villagers searched every corner thoroughly.
They inspected Wang Dani and Zhu Tiezhu’s room, Zhu Shou’s quarters, the kitchen, the woodshed, the outhouse, and even Li Xiyue’s room again. They checked every crack in the walls and every mouse hole they could find.
Yet despite all their efforts, they found nothing.
Wang Dani instantly became smug.
“I already told you my son was innocent!” she shouted proudly. “Now hurry up and kneel to apologize!”
Li Xiyue simply ignored her.
Celebrating too early was never a good thing.
Sure enough, moments later, an excited shout rang out from outside.
“I found it! I found the silver!”
Zhang Dabao came running back into the courtyard holding a bundle high in the air.
As he approached, everyone realized it was a thick sock stained with fresh blood.
The moment he turned it upside down, silver ingots spilled onto the table one after another.
Exactly sixty taels.
Not one coin is missing.
Li Xiyue and Zhu Qinghe immediately stepped forward, relief flooding their faces.
“Yes, this is the full amount,” Li Xiyue confirmed.
“At first, I couldn’t find anything either,” Zhang Dabao said proudly, puffing out his chest like a victorious hero. “But then I noticed one sock hanging on the clothesline didn’t have a matching pair. The missing sock wasn’t anywhere nearby, so I started looking around the yard. Then I saw the dirt beneath the pomelo tree had clearly been disturbed recently. I dug there, and sure enough, the silver was buried underneath.”
His expression practically screamed, Praise me for being clever.
The faces of Zhu Qingsong and his parents instantly turned deathly pale.
“That’s impossible!” Zhu Qingsong screamed hysterically. “I never buried it there! I searched her room several times and never found any silver at all! She framed me! She hid it there herself!”
“If she framed you, then why was the money hidden inside your sock?” one villager shouted back immediately. “And why is there fresh blood on it?”
“Exactly! Anyone can tell that blood came from today!”
Auntie Li stepped forward triumphantly.
“These two girls left for the county early this morning. The moment they returned, they discovered the theft. The entire village saw them come back together. When exactly would Li Xiyue have had time to bury the silver herself?”
The fresh blood on the sock completely destroyed Zhu Qingsong’s argument.
After all, Li Xiyue had remained under everyone’s watchful eyes since returning home. There was simply no chance for her to secretly hide the money.
Under the suspicious stares of the crowd, Zhu Qingsong’s defense became completely powerless.
All he could do was repeat desperately,
“It wasn’t me… I didn’t steal it…”
“The stolen silver has now been recovered,” Zhu Chenggong said as he turned toward Li Xiyue. “Xiyue, you are the victim here. Tell us, how do you wish to handle this?”
Li Xiyue lifted her head calmly.
“According to the laws of the empire,” she said clearly, “if the value of stolen goods does not exceed ten copper coins, the thief is sentenced to thirty days of hard labor. If the amount ranges between ten and two hundred twenty coins, the punishment is exile to the frontier regions. If the amount exceeds two hundred twenty coins, the criminal will have words tattooed onto their face as public branding.”
Her gaze landed coldly on Zhu Qingsong.
“You stole sixty taels from me. Tell me, what kind of sentence do you think the magistrate would hand down?”
Silence fell across the courtyard.
With such a huge amount involved, even execution no longer sounded impossible.
Wang Dani’s legs gave out beneath her, and she collapsed onto the ground.
Zhu Qingsong suddenly lunged forward and grabbed the village chief’s legs tightly.
“Uncle Chief, please believe me! I swear I never touched her silver! If I’m lying, may heaven strike me dead right now! Please save me! I can’t go to prison!”
In this era, common people deeply feared divine punishment and ancestral wrath. Swearing such an oath was an extremely serious matter.
Unfortunately for Zhu Qingsong, his reputation was already too terrible. Not a single villager believed him.
“The victim here is Xiyue,” the village chief said coldly. “Whether you go to the authorities or not depends entirely on her decision. If she insists on reporting you, there is nothing I can do.”
Truthfully, the village chief hoped Li Xiyue would show mercy. If the matter reached the yamen, Zhu Village’s reputation would suffer greatly.
Sensing the change in tone, Wang Dani immediately crawled forward and knelt before Li Xiyue.
“Xiyue, I’m begging you!” she sobbed pitifully, tears and mucus covering her face. “Please spare your older cousin this once! I promise he’ll never do such a thing again! Don’t send him to the authorities, he’s still young…”
A few soft-hearted villagers began wavering slightly.
After all, the silver had already been recovered safely. Sending someone to prison over this seemed somewhat harsh to them.
Li Xiyue felt speechless.
Since when did committing a crime mean you could avoid punishment entirely?
Still, from the very beginning, her true goal had never been sending Zhu Qingsong to prison.
“If you want me to let this matter go, it’s not impossible,” Li Xiyue said slowly.
Wang Dani’s eyes immediately lit up with hope.
“But there is one condition. Your family must pack your belongings and move out of my grandfather’s house immediately. If my grandfather’s spirit can still see this world, then after witnessing how you bullied and abused me all these years, he would never rest peacefully while you continue living in his home.”
“Impossible!” Wang Dani shrieked instantly. “You’re trying to drive us to our deaths! If we leave this house, where are we supposed to live?”
Zhu Qingsong and Zhu Tiezhu stayed silent the entire time, allowing Wang Dani to do all the shouting.
In truth, while rushing back from the city earlier, the family had already planned to force Li Xiyue into surrendering the property deed as compensation for Zhu Qingsong’s ruined hand.
Who could have imagined that things would end up like this instead?
Li Xiyue no longer had the patience to continue arguing with them.
“Prison or eviction,” she said coldly. “Choose for yourselves.”