A villager nearby also said, "Yes, Teacher Qiu, your three children are dishonest. I saw them stealing food from the educated youth a few days ago."

"Who says he isn't? He's always stealing. He just did minor things before, but this time he stole all the hens that lay eggs. It's only natural that Caijuan is angry."

"Teacher Qiu, you are a teacher at least. How can you still protect them?"

The three little ones did exactly what the villagers said.

They hung their heads, and faced the villagers' accusations, wishing they could bury their heads in the ground, not daring to refute at all.

Ran Qiu also turned pale because of what everyone said.

He looked at them again and asked again: "What's going on with this chicken? You must tell the truth."

"We found it in the cotton field, Brother Qiu. We didn't lie."

Although the three little ones had stolen things a few times before, it had never been such a big deal. Now that Ran Qiu was also being accused, the three little ones felt even more guilty and couldn't even raise their heads, but they still said.

Brother Qiu taught them that people should be honest. They didn't steal, so they couldn't admit it no matter what.

Wu Caijuan rolled her eyes and felt more confident when she saw that all the villagers were on her side.

The village cadres had not arrived yet, and Ran Qiu insisted on protecting these three little bastards. Wu Caijuan couldn't swallow this anger, so she put her hands on her hips and looked at Ran Qiu.

"Ran Qiu, you don't need to ask them. Anyway, I found this chicken in their hands. Just tell me what to do now?"

Without waiting for Ran Qiu to speak, she asked again: "How are you going to compensate?"

They are all from the same village, and Wu Caijuan is also aware of the situation of Ran Qiu and the others.

Wu Caijuan became very annoyed when she thought about how poor they were and how they might not be able to afford to pay for their chickens.

Is she going to suffer this loss?

no!

Wu Caijuan gritted her teeth. Even if they had no money, she couldn't suffer this loss.

"If you don't have money, then use something else to compensate me. My chicken lays two eggs every day, so you have to compensate me no matter what."

Ran Qiu ignored her nagging and looked at the three little ones again to ask.

"Did you really pick it up?"

The three little ones nodded repeatedly.

They were not lying, they were the ones who picked up the chicken.

Looking at the three pairs of clear and determined eyes, Ran Qiu breathed a sigh of relief.

Seeing that Ran Qiu ignored her, Wu Caijuan lost her patience and grabbed his clothes: "Ran Qiu, what do you mean? Don't you want to compensate?"

Ran Qiu's brows were tightly knitted together. He moved to free his clothes from her hands and said with a cold face, "Since they deny it, they couldn't have stolen the chicken. I won't compensate you."

Wu Caijuan was stunned for a long time, then she cursed fiercely, put her hands on her hips and started cursing furiously.

"Ran Qiu, I really didn't expect that a teacher like you could be so shameless. I've learned a lot today! You have to compensate for this chicken even if you don't want to! Don't think that a widow like me is easy to bully!"

The surrounding villagers didn't expect that even at this point, Ran Qiu would still protect those little guys.

After they reacted, they all started giving pointers.

"Ran Qiu, this is exactly what you did wrong. How could you protect a few thieves? If you behave like this, won't you corrupt the children in the school?"

This immediately made those families with children anxious.

"Ran Qiu, you are a role model but you don't do it well. You are not qualified to be a teacher. These thieves are from your family. Is this how you usually teach them?"

"No wonder they're constantly stealing and robbing the village. It turns out they have someone backing them up. I never imagined they'd be so polite on the surface, but actually have such terrible character? People like them shouldn't be teachers and harm children."

The people around me said more and more unpleasant things.

Ran Qiu's fists hanging at his side became tighter and tighter, his whole face was tense, and his lips were pressed into a line.

"No! We really didn't steal! It's none of Brother Qiu's business, don't talk about Brother Qiu like that!"

The three little ones cried and shouted, but didn't listen to them at all.

They regret it so much now. If they had known that Brother Qiu would be blamed by the villagers, they would not have stolen things even if they starved to death!

But it's too late now!

Because they didn't behave properly in the past, no one would believe them now even if they didn't steal the chicken.

At this time, the village committee secretary and Tang Junhe came over from outside the village.

Hearing the hustle and bustle here, he walked over quickly.

"What's going on?" The village committee secretary felt his scalp tingling when he saw the noisy scene and asked immediately.

As soon as Wu Caijuan saw them, her eyes turned red and she begged them to make the decision for her.

"I beg Officer Tang and Secretary Tang to help me. My widowed and orphaned family depends on this chicken for their livelihood, but the three children of the Ran Qiu family stole my chicken and killed it. They are even refusing to compensate me. Isn't this a threat to our lives?"

She slapped her thighs hard, becoming more and more angry as she spoke, her eyes red as hell.

After hearing the whole story, the village committee secretary felt even more troubled.

This kind of dispute is the most difficult to deal with in the village.

He glanced awkwardly at Tang Junhe who was following him, and said sheepishly: "Officer Tang, please go to my house and rest for a while. I will come over after I finish dealing with things here."

His tone was respectful.

Tang Junhe said nothing and looked in a certain direction among the crowd.

As soon as he came over, he saw Song Zhi.

She was dressed very elegantly today, wearing a light green jacket and a long red scarf, which made her face look even whiter.

She braided her long hair into two pigtails that hung in front of her chest, and pinned a hairpin of the same color on her head, making her stand out in the crowd.

She was carrying a lot of things in her hands, big and small bags, and it seemed that she had gone to the town to buy things.

Tang Junhe looked at her carefully, and when his eyes fell on her face again, he realized that she had lost weight in the past few days, her chin was much sharper, and her facial features were more beautiful.

Song Zhi frowned fiercely as he looked at Ran Qiu and the others who were ostracized and helpless.

She heard everything the three little ones said just now clearly. Looking into those three pairs of clear eyes, she believed that they were not lying.

She had been in contact with the three little ones quite a lot recently and knew that they were not bad people by nature, and that they had to steal things before.

But the villagers had preconceived ideas and no longer believed what they said because of past mistakes.

If the label of stealing chickens really falls on them.

Song Zhi didn't dare to think about how the four of them would continue to live in this village.

She handed the thing to Nie Jinmei.

"Help me get it."

"Hey, Song Zhi, what are you going to do?"

When Nie Jinmei saw Song Zhi throw something to her, she pushed through the crowd and walked inside. She shouted anxiously and tried to chase after him, but she tripped because of the thing in her hand.