“Creak.”
Da Mao and Er Mao, who were keeping watch at the intersection, suddenly heard the front door of the house behind them open. They turned their heads curiously to look.
Then they saw a hand reach out from the doorway, beckoning them repeatedly.
Thinking Wang Xiaofa had succeeded and was calling them over to help, they immediately rushed over excitedly: “How did it go, Brother Fa? Did you already find the ginseng?”
But when they reached the doorway, there was no one inside.
The two of them froze on the spot.
Just then, a gust of wind blew from behind them, sending a chill down their spines.
Both shuddered simultaneously, slowly turned their heads, exchanged a glance, and simultaneously made crying faces.
They seemed to have a bad feeling…
They turned together to run away.
Suddenly, a pair of hands reached out from behind and pressed down on their shoulders.
The two immediately froze in place, too terrified to move. Then they felt a warmth in their crotches, followed by the spreading smell of urine.
They had actually wet themselves from fear.
Xing Zhaozhao wrinkled her nose in disgust, grabbed both by their necks, and knocked their heads together with a “thud.”
Their eyes rolled back, and they instantly lost consciousness.
Xing Zhaozhao grabbed their clothes, dragged them inside, and closed the door.
The continuous commotion outside soon woke Hongfei and Hongyu, who had been sleeping inside.
The two little ones rubbed their sleepy eyes and came out from the inner room: “Mom, what’s going…”
Before they could finish speaking, seeing all the people lying on the ground outside, the two children were instantly dumbfounded.
“Mom, what happened?” They hurried to Xing Zhaozhao’s side and asked worriedly.
Xing Zhaozhao said dismissively, “It’s nothing, just a few petty thieves.”
A few?
The two children quickly counted.
There were way more than just a few – quite a lot of them.
“Da Fei, go to the cellar and get me a long rope, the longer the better. Xiao Yuma, go to the kitchen and scoop a ladle of water for me. After I tie them up, splash them all awake,” Xing Zhaozhao instructed.
“Okay!” The two children immediately responded, their faces bright with excited smiles, and went off to do their tasks.
There were nine people in total. Xing Zhaozhao tied them all together in one long line with a single rope, then had Hongyu splash them awake.
In the middle of winter, late at night, being doused with cold water made everyone shiver awake, then curl up shaking.
Xing Zhaozhao brought over a stool, sat down beside them, and asked, “So, what were all of you suddenly coming to my house looking for?”
Before anyone else could speak, Liu Gouzi’s eyes rolled craftily, and he spoke first.
“Looking for what? We didn’t even know this was your house, cousin-in-law. I remember this used to be an empty house. We just wanted to find a place to secretly gamble a bit, remembered this place, and came over. Who knew you’d moved in, cousin-in-law,” Liu Gouzi attempted to lie.
Anyway, they couldn’t admit they were here to steal – wouldn’t admit it even if beaten to death.
The others caught on and hurriedly nodded in agreement: “Yes, yes, that’s exactly it.”
Xing Zhaozhao directly kicked Liu Gouzi in the shin.
Liu Gouzi howled in pain with an “ow!”
Xing Zhaozhao said with an unchanged expression, “The others look unfamiliar—they’re not from our village, so they might not know. But you, Liu Gouzi, often come to your aunt’s place to freeload. How could you not know?”
After saying this, she pointed at the other two villagers. “Even if Liu Gouzi doesn’t know, you two should.”
The two immediately hung their heads and pretended to be dead.
“Confess honestly, or I’ll send you to the public security brigade and have them transfer you to the labor camp,” Xing Zhaozhao threatened.
Wang Xiaofa’s eyes lit up, and he strained to lift his head to look at Xing Zhaozhao. “If we confess honestly, you won’t send us to the public security brigade?”
He really didn’t want to go.
Although he had connections there through his older brother, he didn’t want his brother to find out he’d caused trouble again.
“Confess first,” Xing Zhaozhao said ambiguously.
Wang Xiaofa took it as her agreement and immediately explained the whole story to her.
Liu Gouzi, standing nearby, tried to stop him but was too late.
Xing Zhaozhao frowned. “Ginseng? What ginseng? Who told you I have ginseng?”
“Liu Gouzi,” Wang Xiaofa said without hesitation, selling him out.
Liu Gouzi: “…”
“I didn’t say you had it. I only said you might,” Liu Gouzi argued.
Wang Xiaofa: “…”
What a petty man.
Wang Xiaofa gritted his teeth in anger and didn’t hold back in selling Liu Gouzi out even more thoroughly. “I originally wanted to tell my brother and have him come buy it from you, but Liu Gouzi said there’s no need to waste hundreds on it since your household only has one woman and three children.”
Xing Zhaozhao raised an eyebrow.
Liu Gouzi: “!!”
Liu Gouzi was furious and continued to argue, “That’s right, I did say that, but you’re the boss. You’re the one who makes the decisions. You can’t blame me.”
Wang Xiaofa: “!!”
He had never seen such a shameless person.
Wang Xiaofa glared at Liu Gouzi.
If they weren’t tied together, he would have lunged at him and torn his face apart.
This dog-like scoundrel had egged him on to come here and steal, saying it was just one woman and three children. But was this an ordinary woman? What kind of woman could take down so many men alone?
“I don’t have any ginseng. Although I did pick wild raspberries in the mountains, I definitely didn’t find any ginseng. You’re supposed to be the boss—you should be more discerning in the future. Don’t just believe everything others say. You might end up being sold out and still counting the money for them, dragging your own followers down with you,” Xing Zhaozhao said to Wang Xiaofa.
Hearing Xing Zhaozhao’s “patient guidance,” Wang Xiaofa thought she was going to let him go. Overjoyed, he nodded repeatedly. “Okay, okay, I’ll remember what you said, sis.”
Xing Zhaozhao stood up and turned to instruct Hongfei and Hongyu, “Mom will be back soon. Lock the door and stay inside.”
Hongfei and Hongyu nodded seriously.
Xing Zhaozhao walked over, picked up one end of the rope, and dragged the tied-up group toward the door.
Wang Xiaofa was dumbfounded. “Sis, what are you doing? My dear sis!”
“Taking you to our village’s brigade leader,” Xing Zhaozhao said.
Wang Xiaofa’s heart sank, and he immediately felt uneasy. “Why? Didn’t we agree that if I confessed honestly, you’d let us go?”
Xing Zhaozhao denied it: “Who said anything was agreed? I never made any agreement with you. You break into my home to steal and still think you can get away scot-free? Don’t dream too big. I’m just taking you to our brigade leader for punishment. Not sending you directly to the public security brigade is already going easy on you.”
“Please don’t, sister, my dear sister! Let me go, I’ll never dare do it again,” Wang Xiaofa wailed.
Xing Zhaozhao paid him no mind and directly dragged the whole string of people down the mountain.
When passing the village entrance’s cattle shed, an old professor who had studied abroad and devoted half his life to physics research was getting up for a nighttime toilet break. In the pitch darkness, he suddenly saw a dark figure pulling along a chain of people howling like ghosts and wolves. Mistaking it for underworld officers coming to collect souls, he fell ill from fright upon returning.