"Stop fighting, stop fighting! Stop fighting! We are all from the same village, Aunt Jiang, you and my mother should stop fighting!" Seeing his mother fighting with someone and the fight getting more and more intense, Zhao Yu hurried forward and tried to pull the two of them together to stop the fight.
However, how could a young man like Zhao Yu accomplish such a thing?
Not only did Zhao Yu fail to separate Cao Shufen and Jiang Hongmei, but he was also scratched by Jiang Hongmei. When women fight, no matter whether they are old or young, they all like to scratch and pull each other's hair. Jiang Hongmei and Cao Shufen also did the same when they fought. Zhao Yu was immediately hit when he stepped forward.
"How dare you hit my son?! Jiang Hongmei, I'm going to fight you!" Cao Shufen was furious when she saw her son's face was scratched and blood was oozing from his cheeks.
He raised his hand and wanted to slap Jiang Hongmei!
It's just a little bit of bituminous coal, isn't it? Who can't afford it? If it weren't for the earthquake that caused her house to collapse and the bank to close, how could she have done such a thing?
Why don't these people understand?
Cao Shufen was truly angry and aggrieved. Even though she knew she was wrong to steal last night, she was just cornered, wasn't she? She could have just returned the bituminous coal once things returned to normal. Was there any need to make such a fuss about a few pieces of low-quality coal? Someone who didn't know would have thought it was gold!
"You black-hearted woman, you still want to hit me?! I tell you it's impossible!" Jiang Hongmei's face was ferocious. She grabbed Cao Shufen's hair and pulled it back hard. The slap that Cao Shufen was originally swinging at her suddenly deflected to the side and missed.
Cao Shufen screamed in anger, and the people around her finally came to their senses at this time. Several men in the crowd hurried forward and followed Zhao Yu to pull Cao Shufen and Jiang Hongmei apart.
Zhao Xingguo frowned and said to a young man next to him, "Go ask Zhao Yu where his father is now? Call him back quickly... Someone stole coal from Jiang Hongmei's house last night, and we have to solve it today. Go quickly! We'll wait here."
By now, things have almost been settled.
The bituminous coal produced by these coal mines almost all has a yellowish-brown surface, while the anthracite here is standard black, and the contrast is very obvious.
The coal in Cao Shufen's house was covered with a layer of yellowish-brown color, which was obviously bituminous coal. Before, Cao Shufen's family and everyone else bought anthracite. Until now, the other party has not been able to provide any evidence to prove who this load of coal was bought from. They would rather fight with Jiang Hongmei than clarify the reason. Both Zhao Xingguo and others have already made a conclusion about this matter.
Zhao Zhen was kowtowing at someone else's house when he was called back home. When he heard what the village chief said to him, Zhao Zhen's brows were tightly furrowed. He looked at Cao Shufen with anger and scolded her.
"Shufen, how could you do such a thing?"
Catching the perpetrator red-handed, Cao Shufen had no way to refute her. Her face was grim, and she opened her mouth several times to explain. However, the words were on the tip of her tongue, but Cao Shufen could not speak. Facing her husband's questioning, she felt wronged and sad. She had not been so sad even when Jiang Hongmei slapped her twice before. Her eyes suddenly reddened. Who was she doing this for? Wasn't it for this family?
But in front of other people, Cao Shufen had to defend the dignity of her husband and son, so tears fell down, but Cao Shufen didn't say a word.
Seeing Cao Shufen, who had previously been fiercely fighting with Jiang Hongmei, crying so miserably, Zhao Xingguo sighed, stood up, and said to Jiang Hongmei, Zhao Zhen, and Cao Shufen, "Let's have a good talk about this matter today. Do you two decide to settle it privately or what else you want to do? All the coal stolen from Hongmei's house must be replaced today. We also need to discuss how to handle this matter with the village..."
This was the first time in all those years that there had been thefts in their village.
Zhao Xingguo sighed a little. After all, this matter was forced by the recent severe weather changes.
Otherwise, Zhao Xingguo believed that such a thing would not happen in their village.
However, they must eradicate this kind of thing at the source, otherwise if it happens once, it will happen twice, and then the rules left by their village ancestors will be destroyed.
…
The news that Cao Shufen stole coal from Jiang Hongmei's house last night was instantly reported to Qin Suyun's house.
The old lady who was originally sitting in Qin Suyun's house drinking hot tea and eating melon seeds suddenly seemed to have forgotten how she had looked at Xiao Cuizhen before. Instead, she patted Xiao Cuizhen's shoulder with joy and said, "Haha, I knew you wouldn't steal things in the middle of the night and ruin our family's reputation. Not bad, not bad, good child, a good child! Next time I go home, I'll tell your mother to stew a chicken leg for you to nourish you well!"
Xiao Cuizhen, who was almost knocked down by the old lady's powerful slap, said: "..."
Auntie, the way you looked at me just now didn't mean that!
Now that you turned your head, the wind direction has changed too fast!
Cao Shufen's act of stealing coal was not a big deal in Wanxi Village, but it was not a small one either.
Although coal is not worth much, its price is high nowadays. In addition, the other party stole a lot of coal last night, and Cao Shufen even broke the rules left by the village ancestors. I am afraid that this matter will not be handled leniently. They must make an example of someone to scare the others in their village!
Although this matter was inexplicably linked to her, Qin Suyun had no intention of watching how Cao Shufen handled the matter.
Seeing this, several villagers helped to send Dahei and the others back.
After this incident, everyone was extremely envious of the dogs raised by the Qin family.
It can guard the house, search and rescue, and catch thieves!
There is no better dog!
Jiang Hongmei even went to Qin Suyun's house to apologize later, but that is a story for later.
Now they are all at Zhao Zhengde's house to deal with this theft. This is the worst thing that has happened in their village in all these years. This incident has sounded the alarm for Zhao Xingguo and Zhao Zhengde. The old village chief and Uncle Nine also frowned and took this matter very seriously.
"Shufen! You seem to be very smart on weekdays, why are you so confused this time?" Uncle Jiu is one of the older generation in the village. Most of the children in the village today were raised by Uncle Jiu. Although Cao Shufen is a daughter-in-law from outside the village, she has lived in Wanxi Village for more than 20 years and stays in the village every day. Uncle Jiu is very familiar with her and has no less affection for her than those children he has watched grow up since childhood.
Uncle Jiu admired Cao Shufen very much for her daily ability. Although she had a fierce personality, the most important thing for a wife was to be diligent and able to work. Cao Shufen had always been an expert in taking care of crops, raising pigs and chickens in their village.
But now...
well--!
Uncle Jiu sighed deeply in his heart and shook his head helplessly.
"I'm sorry for your expectations, Uncle Jiu." Tears streamed down Cao Shufen's face, and her nose and eyes were all red. It was too late to say anything now, and she didn't want to argue any more.
"Then let's handle this matter according to what we just decided." Zhao Xingguo sighed and looked at Zhao Zhen and Cao Shufen. "Jiang Hongmei and Tian Pengyi, for the sake of our fellow villagers, have decided not to pursue the matter further... But after this snowstorm stops, you should move out and don't come back... The rules of our village cannot be broken. This is also the condition proposed by Jiang Hongmei's family for not pursuing the matter further."
"Don't worry, village chief. After the snowstorm stops here, we will move to the temporary base in Shoushan City." Zhao Zhen nodded without refuting. When he went out today, he was going to talk to other villagers in the village who wanted to move to the temporary base about this matter.
Their house collapsed, and it would probably cost a lot of money to rebuild it.
So, ever since Zhao Zhen heard about the temporary base, he became eager to take his wife and children to the temporary base. Apart from anything else, the temporary base can at least guarantee their most basic needs in life, heating is not a problem, and there are soldiers there to protect them.
After the earthquake, the village is completely rebuilt, and even if they don't return to farm the land, the three of them can still work outside to support themselves.
"Since you have made up your mind, let's do it this way. The temporary base set up by the higher-ups should have environmental conditions no worse than here in the village. After all, no matter what, the other party will not let you live in such simple thatched huts and wooden houses." The old village chief knocked on his pipe and nodded.
What will become of everyone in the future and whether we will be able to meet again is a matter for the future.
After this incident, Zhao Xingguo and his colleagues became more strict in managing the village in the future.
In this chaotic atmosphere, they can only restrain the villagers to prevent chaos in their village.
Cao Shufen's incident served as a wake-up call to Zhao Xingguo and others, so after dealing with the matter, Zhao Xingguo knocked on doors from house to house and suggested that everyone stay together for warmth during the day to reduce the consumption of firewood and coal.
This matter was unanimously agreed by everyone. If each household contributed one or two kilograms every day, it would be much more cost-effective than burning coal directly at home.
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