Thinking of this, Ruyi quickly walked up and knocked the man on the ground unconscious with a stick. Then she took the lantern handed to her by Xu Cui and walked towards the front yard, instructing as she went, "I'll go look around to see if there are any other thieves. You guys tie these two petty thieves up first!"
Before they could react, Ruyi had already reached the front yard. Holding a lantern, she carefully checked everything. All the doors and windows were securely closed, and there was nowhere to hide in the yard. Could it be... that someone hadn't come in at all? Was someone keeping watch outside?
So she hurriedly grabbed the wooden ladder, placed it by the back door, climbed up in a few steps, and just as she raised the lantern, she saw a panicked figure outside the door, who disappeared into the alley corner in an instant.
Unfortunately, it was dark, and apart from the other person's short stature, nothing could be seen clearly.
He actually got away! I wonder if this will affect my system rating. What a loss!
"Ruyi, what's wrong? Have you found any other thieves?"
After seeing Cheng Ruyi climb down the wooden ladder, Cheng Yan asked, genuinely curious as to how his granddaughter could be so sure there were other thieves.
"There's another one outside, but he ran away as soon as he saw me. I guess he was the lookout. He's skinny and small, and timid. He's not a threat."
Hearing the disdain in Cheng Ruyi's tone, Cheng Yan couldn't help but scold her: "You! You're getting bolder and bolder. Do you think you can take on the thieves all by yourself? Do you have three heads or six arms?"
"Hehe, no, no, I was just thinking that you and Aunt Cui are here, Dad, you'll definitely help me!" Ruyi hated Cheng Yan's nagging, so she quickly changed the subject and pulled Cheng Yan back to the backyard: "How are those two thieves? Are they tied up?"
By this time, the little thief in the backyard had already been tied up tightly by Xu Cui, while Cheng Yunping and Cheng Yun'an stood by, looking on curiously.
Cheng Yan glanced at the people on the ground, his eyes flashing slightly, and then said, "I'll go get another lamp. Yunping and Yun'an, you two go back to your rooms and check on Yunle and the others."
"But......."
"Let's go, your sister-in-law must be worried sick. You should hurry back and let her know you're safe!"
Cheng Yunping wanted to stay and watch, but before he could even open his mouth, Cheng Yun'an covered his mouth and dragged him away.
After everyone left, Ruyi lifted the rope net and carefully used tweezers to remove the poisonous barbs from the thief's body. These things shouldn't be exposed to the light, so it was better to clean them up.
Then Cheng Yan took a lamp and went into the backyard, squatted down to help. After all, he was really scared just now, so he used the red thorns to hit the thorns with all his might. He almost knocked the thorns off the pot, so the little thief really had a lot of poisonous thorns on him.
"Everyone be careful, there are some poisonous thorns left on the ground, try not to touch them!" Ruyi reminded them while tidying up. "Oh, and while you're at it, search them to see if they're carrying any weapons."
After Xu Cui and Cheng Yan responded, the three of them focused on packing up.
After searching the area, they discovered that the two thieves only had a tattered sack, a small wire, and a rather dull dagger on them. How dare they steal with just that? Where did they get their confidence?
She recalled the scene when she encountered the bald thief in the kitchen and felt that the thief's behavior did not seem like that of a novice. Could it be that they had been able to steal things in the past by doing things like this before?
It's really hard to understand...
Just as Ruyi was lost in thought, Wei Zhi's shouts suddenly came from next door: "Old Yan! Old Yan! Are you alright? Who was that shouting just now? Should we call my sons over to help?"
After hearing this, the three exchanged glances. Wei Zhi only had a son and a daughter, and neither of them were around. It was obvious that he was saying this to warn them, probably to help scare away the thieves.
"Ahem, we're fine. A few petty thieves came, but we've already caught them!" Cheng Yan replied loudly, sounding quite smug.
Actually, if you calculate the time, after all this trouble, it should be almost the end of the Chou hour, around the Yin hour, which is about 3 a.m.
Normally, this would be the time when everyone is sound asleep and the alley is quietest. But tonight was different. After Cheng Yan shouted, a lot of sounds suddenly came from around: people talking to each other, doors and windows opening, and footsteps.
Not long after, there was a knock at the back door. It sounded like there was a lot of noise outside.
However, the two thieves still hadn't been cleaned of their poisonous thorns, so Ruyi had to have Cheng Yan and Xu Cui temporarily lock them in a corner of the kitchen.
After tidying herself up a bit, she took out her keys and opened the two back doors.
Even though Cheng Ruyi was mentally prepared, she was still slightly surprised when she saw the situation outside the door.
At this moment, a group of about a dozen people were gathered outside the back gate of the Cheng family's house. They were all adult men, and each of them was holding various kinds of "weapons." If Ruyi hadn't recognized them as neighbors, the scene would have been quite frightening.
For example, Wei Zhi, carrying a lantern in his left hand and a broom in his right, immediately asked Ruyi after she opened the door, "Ruyi, are you alright? Did a thief really break in? Is anyone hurt?"
“That’s right! Ruyi, if you need any help, just say so, don’t be shy!” The second to speak was Zhang Hui, the eldest son of the Zhang family across the street. He had been a neighbor for decades and, besides the Wei family, had exchanged the most goods with the Cheng family. At this moment, he was holding a wooden stick as thick as a thigh in both hands, looking worried and nervous.
Before Ruyi could speak, the people around her started talking one after another, expressing their concern and asking if she needed help. Most of them were people who had been exchanging food with the Cheng family, so it seemed that the neighborhood feeding program had been working for a while.
Ruyi felt a warmth in her heart, realizing that her efforts were worthwhile.
Of course, there were also some discordant voices occasionally mixed in.
"Tsk tsk tsk, why do they only steal from your house and not others? There must be something wrong with that!"
"Exactly, I wonder how much food they secretly hid. If they had been more generous and shared it with everyone, they wouldn't have gotten into this mess."
"Who can argue with that? Women are out in public every day; maybe it's not a petty thief that's breaking in, but rather a lover?"
"Hey, that's actually quite possible! Why don't you think she should let us have a good deal instead of letting someone else benefit? We're all neighbors, wouldn't that be more convenient? Hehe~~"
Their voices weren't particularly loud, but they weren't particularly quiet either; even in noisy environments, you could occasionally hear a few words clearly.
Especially since Cheng Ruyi's five senses are now more sensitive than those of ordinary people, she couldn't help but give them a sharp look as they talked more and more outrageously. She discovered that the ones speaking were the few sleazy men standing at the back of the crowd, who were either people who lived far away or people who had just moved in and were not very familiar with the area.
Others followed Ruyi's gaze and turned to look. Some neighbors who were standing nearby heard them talking and spoke up to rebuke them. Seeing this, the group could only leave, muttering curses under their breath.
Ruyi silently added those people to her blacklist, then said loudly, "Thank you all for your concern. The house was in a bit of a mess today, but we were lucky enough to catch both thieves!"
Everyone was astonished to hear that the Cheng family had actually caught the thief.
Ruyi gestured for everyone to be quiet, then continued, "One of the lookout thieves has escaped. Everyone should be careful tonight. We'll take those two thieves to the authorities at dawn. Sorry to disturb your rest, it's late, everyone should go back and rest!"
At this moment, Cheng Yan and Xu Cui also came out. After another explanation, they agreed that everyone would help take the thief to the government office in the morning, and then the crowd slowly dispersed.
After a whole day of fussing, Cheng Ruyi, who was finally able to return to her room to rest, didn't even have time to check the mission before collapsing onto the bed and falling asleep.
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