When Erlaizi heard the voice of the brigade leader, he trembled three times in fright.

He thought it was his creditor coming to collect a debt, but it turned out to be the brigade leader.

"Sir, is that you? What are you doing?"

The brigade leader snorted coldly: "Don't call me grandpa. I don't have a nephew as disgraceful as you. Zheng Ting, Wang Zhiqing, take him to the house, check if he has any of the educated youth's money on him, and then search his room."

"Grandpa, what are you doing? I don't have any money. You're talking about the money of the educated youth? How could my family possibly have the money of the educated youth? That's nonsense."

"Whether it's bullshit or not, we'll find out soon enough."

Wang Qiang and Lu Zhengting escorted Er Laizi into the house. When they reached the yard, Er Laizi suddenly screamed, "Gently, gently! You've pulled my balls! You've really pulled my balls!"

That's fucking bullshit!

Lu Zhengting grabbed his upper body, and Wang Qiang felt it for a moment, then reached out and touched it. It was true that he had pulled Er Laizi's balls with the rope.

"You rascal, I'll open it for you."

"Hey, stop pinching me!" Erlaizi jumped up: "Wang Zhiqing, you're taking advantage of me."

"You rascal, shut up!" the captain snapped at him.

Lu Zhengting and Wang Qiang escorted Er Laizi into the house. The brigade leader took out a match and lit the kerosene lamp in Er Laizi's room.

Erlaizi was already starting to wonder if his theft had been discovered, otherwise the captain wouldn't have called Wang Qiang to come and arrest him. As for the other pretty boy, he remembered that he seemed to be a relative of the captain.

"B-Captain, sir, why are you arresting me?"

"Because you stole money from the educated youth."

"I...I didn't. Although I, Erlaizi, like to be lazy and like to peep at women bathing, I would never do such a despicable thing as stealing money or things."

“Words are not enough. We have already asked around. Today, someone saw you sneaking away from work and heading towards the educated youth settlement. You even went into the educated youth settlement.”

"Who? Who saw me go to the educated youth settlement? I didn't go to the educated youth settlement at all."

The captain snorted coldly: "I knew you wouldn't admit it, Jiang Laosi, come in."

As soon as the brigade leader finished speaking, an old man in his sixties walked in from outside. He pointed at Erlaizi and said, "My back was hurting terribly while I was working, so I went home to rest. I saw you enter the educated youth settlement, and I thought you were going in to look for someone, so I didn't suspect anything. Later, the brigade leader checked who had left the fields during working hours and found me. That's when I found out about the theft at the educated youth settlement during the day."

"You lazy bum, you're always idle, slacking off, and never doing anything productive. Going to the educated youth settlement won't end well for you."

"But, but I really didn't steal the money from the educated youth."

"Then what were you doing at the educated youth settlement?"

"Me, me."

"Speechless now, aren't you?" The captain gestured to Lu Zhengting and Wang Qiang: "You two search him. The educated youth's money is marked. See if it's on him."

Lu Zhengting was responsible for holding Er Laizi down, while Wang Qiang was responsible for searching Er Laizi's body.

Soon, Wang Qiang found money in Er Laizi's large pockets and handed it over to the captain.

Erlaizi shouted, "That's all my money!"

"Your money? Where did you get so much money?"

Erlaizi was speechless.

The captain unfolded all the money and, sure enough, found Xu Dazhi's name on a five-yuan note, a ten-yuan note, and a one-yuan note.

“This really is the money of the educated youth.” He looked at Er Laizi: “Er Laizi, this money has the names of the educated youth on it. Do you still say it’s your money? If you insist that it’s your money, you good-for-nothing, tell me, where did all this money come from?”

Erlaizi didn't know what to say, so he could only lower his head and agree with the captain's words.

The brigade leader then said, "Wang Zhiqing, search his room again."

"Yes, Captain."

The captain knew Wang Qiang's character and knew he wouldn't do anything reckless. With himself, Lu Zhengting, and Old Man Chen keeping an eye on him, Wang Qiang wouldn't dare to do anything underhanded.

Twenty minutes later, Wang Qiang found less than fifty yuan under Er Laizi's bedding, in the pile of firewood next to him, and at the bottom of the pot. He handed it all over to the brigade leader.

The brigade leader asked Erlaizi, "Is there anything else? Confess and you'll be treated leniently; resist and you'll be punished severely. If you confess truthfully, we can reduce some losses for the educated youth and you'll be dealt with more leniently."

Erlaizi gritted his teeth: "There are still some in the rat hole in the corner of the wall."

"Rat hole, you lazybones, aren't you afraid the rats will eat your money?"

Wang Qiang quickly went to the rat hole to retrieve the money and handed it all over to the brigade leader.

The amount of money in the captain's hand was equal to the amount Er Laizi confessed to, indicating that Wang Qiang did not secretly keep any money while taking advantage of the opportunity to collect it.

The captain was furious, looking at Erlaizi with a disappointed expression.

“You scoundrel, you used to be lazy and shirk your duties, and you were only given a small punishment. It seems that the punishment was too lenient before. You actually went and stole other people’s property. This time, you absolutely cannot be let off lightly. We must report you to the police and have you arrested to prevent you from committing even bigger mistakes.”

When Erlaizi heard that the captain was going to hand him over to the police, he became frightened and quickly begged the captain for mercy.

"Grandpa, sir."

"Don't call me 'Grandpa'!"

"Grandpa, Grandpa Captain, Captain." Er Laizi was so scared that he could barely speak. "I, I'll talk. Actually, I didn't do this alone. There was an accomplice."

"Accomplice? Who?"

"If I tell them, could you perhaps punish me less severely?"

"That's natural. If someone can share the blame with you, your punishment will naturally be lighter."

“Alright, I’ll tell you. That person is Song Qingfang, an educated youth at the educated youth settlement. She found me and asked me to steal money from the settlement. After I got the money, I was supposed to share some with her. She gave me a key to the gate of the educated youth settlement, right under the kerosene lamp.”

Otherwise, the wall over the educated youth settlement is too difficult to climb over, and I wouldn't be able to get in during the day. If I just use an iron bar to lock it, someone passing by will definitely notice something's wrong.

I first used the key to open the door, went in, stole the money, and then broke the lock, creating the illusion that all the locks at the educated youth settlement had been pried open. "Captain, Song Qingfang is my accomplice; arrest her too."

Wang Qiang took out the key from under the kerosene lamp and compared it with the one on his person; the two keys were exactly the same.

The captain wiped his face with his hand: "The two of them conspired to steal property from the educated youth settlement. They should both be arrested. We'll report them to the police tomorrow."

Actually, the captain already knew that this matter would involve Song Qingfang before Er Laizi confessed.

This was all thanks to his nephew, Lu Zhengting, who reminded him.