Until she saw her eldest brother Tao Yong and second brother Tao Qing kneeling in the ancestral hall.

Seeing the injuries on her own brother's face, Tao Guihua was furious. "You damned people, how dare you hit my older brothers! I'll fight you to the death!"

As he spoke, he rammed his head against Erhua's mother.

But her frail aunt was no match for Erhua's large frame. Tao Guihua's head was throbbing from the impact, while Erhua's mother remained completely still.

"Tao Guihua! You colluded with people from other villages to rob our village of grain! Do you know your crime?!" Zhao Tingzhang shouted angrily.

Tao Guihua finally calmed down. She looked at Zhao Tingzhang and all the villagers present with a disheveled expression.

Then, without any regard for appearances, he spat on the ground and said, "Know your crime? What crime is there in helping my family?"

“Look at the chaos outside! People are starving to death, dying of thirst. I can’t just stand by and watch my parents starve to death, can I?”

Tao Guihua showed no remorse whatsoever; in her view, she had done the right thing.

Zhao Yanniang spat on Tao Guihua, "Tao Guihua, aren't you afraid of being struck by lightning for saying such a thing! No matter how poor or difficult things are, you can't just steal, can you? If you care about your family, then use your own grain to help them out. Why are you stealing from our family!"

"Oh, so you're the only one with parents? Without food, it's the parents who starve to death. Who doesn't have children?"

It has to be said that Zhao Yan's talent for studying from a young age was largely inherited from his mother.

Aunt Zhao always manages to speak the truth that ordinary people wouldn't think of at crucial moments.

“Yes, Zhao Youqian, I told you back when you married this woman that it wouldn’t work. Your wife’s village is so rich, how could she possibly be interested in our poor village?”

Several elderly women from the village began to express their opinions.

"So what if the village is rich? People's hearts are rotten beyond redemption. How could they raise such scoundrels!"

"In the end, they still come to our village to steal things. It seems that our Changfeng Village has good feng shui, and our ancestors are protecting us!"

The group drifted further and further apart, and it was almost dawn.

He Tiantian, thinking about all the chores she still had to do at home, asked, "Chief, what should we do with these people?"

I need to finish dealing with her quickly so I can go home; I still have work to do.

This was something Zhao Tingzhang had been thinking about; arresting so many people at once was really difficult. The village didn't have enough extra food to feed them.

But we can't let these people starve to death; if someone dies, their village will be in big trouble.

So we still need to find a way to deal with them as soon as possible, but at the same time we can't let these people reveal the secrets of their village.

"Yan'er, if these people are handed over to the authorities, how should they be dealt with according to their crimes?" Zhao Tingzhang asked.

Zhao Yan thought for a moment before saying, "According to the laws of our dynasty, those who commit theft shall be punished with caning and imprisoned for half a year before being released."

Upon hearing this, Tao Yong immediately lost his composure.

He didn't want to go to jail, and he certainly didn't want to be beaten.