Chapter 497: Give Him Some Hot Vinegar

Taoist Chen said, "Shiyu was afraid you would scold him, so he never dared to tell you. Things have been lost in the Taoist temple several times."

"Public property or private property?"

"Both. First, the money in the merit box was lost. Then we took measures to take the money out every day before dinner. As for private individuals, some have lost money. Some have lost jade pendants."

"So there's a thief?"

"Yes. Initially, Shiyu suspected it was the young Taoist priest named Ye. He asked me to keep a close eye on him. That was the time when you were away."

Later, Taoist Ye discovered that I was secretly monitoring him. He left in anger. After he left, he continued to lose things.

"It's not an insider, it's an outsider."

"Yes. Through investigation, it turns out there's a habitual thief in this village at the foot of the mountain, a repeat offender. The first time he was caught stealing, he assaulted the person and was imprisoned for five years.

After being released, he continued to steal things from the village, from small things like chickens, ducks, and fish to large things like sheep, cattle, and pigs. He was caught again and was sent to the palace for the second time.

Not only did he not repent, he even learned a technique from another habitual criminal in prison: he stole things silently. He stole animals without them making any noise.

He not only stole from villagers, but later also from temples. He no longer stole from pigs or cows. He focused on religious sites because that's where the cash was.

We put the cash away, and Shiyu kept it for safekeeping at first, but it was stolen. Later, I kept it, and it was stolen too. It's like he has a pair of golden eyes and knows where you are hiding it."

"Have you reported the case?"

"I did report it, but the amount each time wasn't that much. The police sometimes come, and sometimes they get annoyed, saying we need to tighten up our controls. But once we did, the thief disappeared and stopped coming."

"How much money was lost?"

"More than ten thousand."

I thought about it and said, "After lunch, leave one person on duty and gather everyone into this room. I will talk to everyone later."

I walked out of the temple and looked outside. I wanted to call Lao Xiao and ask him about the ins and outs of this business. How did this thief get into the house?

But after thinking about it, I decided not to fight.

This would make Lao Xiao very embarrassed. He was trying hard to erase that history, but I brought it up again, which was tantamount to exposing his scars.

Besides, Lao Xiao was a pickpocket, and he was a thief. Different professions are like different worlds. It suddenly occurred to me that this thief was a door-to-door thief.

The so-called door-to-door thief usually sneaks into the temple in the evening when there are fewer tourists. The temple is so large that he can easily find a hiding place. Once hidden, he will stay in hiding until late at night and then come out to commit crimes.

After lunch, more than ten Taoist priests, except for one on duty, all came into my cell, some sitting and some standing.

Taoist Master Chen said, "For a while, the temple was always in turmoil, with money being lost. Now, please let the abbot tell everyone about it."

I took a sip of tea and cleared my throat.

"Technology is so advanced now, and yet a thief still got in and stole something. This is outrageous. I'm going to hire a company this afternoon to install surveillance cameras everywhere. I want to see exactly where he came in and where he left."

Taoist Chen made arrangements and assigned someone to be responsible for this matter.

I continued, "Of course, installing surveillance isn't perfect. Thieves can hide their faces. We arrange for two Taoist priests to be on duty all night, taking turns.

Third, the merit room and the surrounding area. We need to have each of our rooms inspected by a computer company. Don't let thieves install eavesdropping devices and pinhole cameras even though we don't even have surveillance cameras installed.

"A Taoist temple isn't just a place for daily Daoist learning. We need to keep pace with the times. We've entered the age of intelligence, so we shouldn't cling to the past, only learning Daoist practices without knowing how to prevent theft."

A Taoist priest asked, "If you catch a thief, should you beat him up or send him to the police station?"

"That's a good question. We shouldn't beat him, nor should we send him to the police station."

Everyone looked at me in confusion.

I said, "I'm going to cripple his martial arts skills so he can't steal anything in the future."

The room was silent and everyone looked at me.

I said, "Put two bottles of white vinegar in the temple ready for use. If you find a thief, don't rush to catch him. Instead, shout loudly: Catch the thief, catch the thief."

He would run immediately, but he couldn't get out of the main gate. He would just run from the upper hall to the middle hall, then from the middle hall to the lower hall, and then try to escape by climbing over the wall.

At this point, you all need to go up and hold him down. The rest of you should heat up some white vinegar until it's almost warm, then pour it directly into his mouth. Just half a bottle will do."

Everyone was staring at me, wondering what the purpose of drinking hot vinegar was.

I said, "As long as this thief continues to steal, he will cough whenever he does strenuous exercise. Even a good person will cough.

The more he moved, the more he coughed. Even climbing a wall would cause him to cough uncontrollably. He won't be able to steal anything anymore."

Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment, as this was the first time they had heard of this strange method.

At this point, I changed the subject and said, "I'm not really asking you to do this. It's illegal.

I've called you to this meeting to spread the word among the villagers. Post notices. Openly declare that if money and property are repeatedly stolen from the Taoist temple, the next time you catch someone stealing, and we can no longer tolerate it, you should pour vinegar into their mouth.

The villagers learned about this method and spread it everywhere. If thieves are not afraid of being fed vinegar by villagers, it is also a way to eliminate harm to the people.

A Taoist priest asked, "Is it illegal to publicize this method?"

I said, "There are still kitchen knives for sale on the street? Kitchen knives can kill people, so why don't you sell them?"

Everyone laughed.

I said, "This method is to create a strong public opinion effect. It makes the thieves feel terrified."

The crowd dispersed. Taoist Chen stayed and asked, "Abbot, I've never heard of this method. Is it recorded in some book, or is it passed down from your ancestors?"

I said, "My family has been farmers for ten generations, so we don't need to worry about thieves. The person who invented this method was Lu Longqi, a county magistrate in the Qing Dynasty.

Lu Longqi was about to become the magistrate of a county where social morality was extremely poor, especially with theft being rampant. Lu Longqi was knowledgeable in medicine and was good at treating coughs.

He announced a rule to the whole county that any thief caught would be poured with hot vinegar first, so that the thief would not be a thief in the future.

Whenever the thief turned over a new leaf, he would cure his cough. After two years, the county was free of thieves.

Taoist Chen laughed and said, "Do you have a cure?"

I laughed and said, "Of course. It's just a punishment. Making him cough constantly doesn't conform to the principle of punishing past mistakes to prevent future ones and curing the disease to save the patient."

Taoist Chen had a plan in mind and said, "If I catch him next time, I'll force him to drink the wine. I hate this thief so much."

I said, "Don't say you can cure it now."

Taoist Chen smiled knowingly.

We finished chatting, and it was almost one o'clock, so I said, "I'm going to take a lunch break."

After saying that, I closed the door and slept for two hours. When I woke up, Mr. Chen called me.

He said he was waiting for me at the company. The development plan for Lot 3 had been finalized, and the approval for the school building had been received from Nanli Town. He wanted me to come over for a meeting.

I drove towards the rising sun.