Chapter 12 A Thunderbolt from the Blue

An hour later, the family returned home with a full load.

The whole family was smiling before entering the house, but everyone's expression changed as soon as they entered.

All the dried bamboo shoots they had been drying were gone! The salted fish they had been hanging were nowhere to be seen!

Song Wenhui hurried into the kitchen, her eyes suddenly red.

"The cupboard is empty!"

So many eggs and wild vegetables, as well as the corn given to them when they settled down, were all stolen.

"It must be the Cai family!"

Jiang Wan didn't think the villagers would be interested in their family's melons and dates. When they first arrived, they were the poorest. Even a fool wouldn't come to steal. Only the Cai family had a grudge against her because they lost their house during the house change. They had a large family and must be in urgent need of food. They were most likely to steal things.

Yin Huaishan also thought of the Cai family. He gritted his teeth, put down the things in his hands and was about to walk out, but was stopped by his sister.

"Little sister?"

"Don't worry, brother. Let's go find the village chief first."

Yin Huaixi knew that the things were 100% stolen by the Cai family, but they had left early to catch the sea, which was nearly two hours, enough time for the Cai family to eat all the food. If they could find evidence now, it would be good, but if they found nothing, they would definitely be blamed.

"I just checked, the pile of croton in the cupboard was also stolen. If those people cook and eat it, they will definitely be in trouble today. In serious cases, someone may die. We must notify the village chief first."

I have more than thirty croton seeds in my pile. If the Cai family eats this amount, they will definitely suffer from diarrhea and become exhausted. There is not even a doctor in the village. If the diarrhea gets serious, it could be fatal.

It's true that evil deeds will be punished.

After hearing what his sister said, Yin Huaishan's anger subsided a little. Even he, who didn't know anything about medicine, knew that eating croton would cause diarrhea. The Cai family had been in exile all the way and their health was not good. They must be taught a lesson.

I thought so, but the family was very sad to see so much food lost. Fortunately, those people don't eat clams, so they didn't take away the clams and snails in the bucket, and with today's harvest, they won't be out of food.

Yin Huaixi decisively took her elder brother out to find the village chief, while Song Wenhui took the two girls to make lunch.

The sand from yesterday's clams had already been spit out, so today they were cooked and eaten, and the ones they dug today were put in to continue spitting out the sand. As for the cat's eye snails and oyster snails, Jiang Wan did not let her aunt use them to make soup, but grilled them directly with the crabs.

Conch meat also has a fishy smell. When she eats it nowadays, she usually stir-fries it or uses a strong-flavored dipping sauce. Now that I don’t have the conditions at home, I have to grill it. This kind of seafood with the shell has a unique burnt aroma when grilled, and it tastes very good.

Smoke from cooking fires gradually rose, and Yin Huaixi and his sister also found the village chief's house.

At this time, the village chief's family was having dinner, and the family happened to talk about the three families who were exiled to the village.

"This morning I saw the Zhou and Yin families go to the beach to catch fish. I didn't see many members of the Cai family. I don't know where they went. I heard from Ah Yue that the Cai family is very bad. They tried to steal her vegetables yesterday and were scolded and sent away. This family has bad character. Dad, don't you think of a way to drive them away?"

The person who spoke was Lian Jiabao. He had gone with the group to pick up the people this time and was quite familiar with the three families.

The old village chief gulped down big mouthfuls of porridge, his brows furrowed, and it was obvious that he disliked the Cai family.

"It's unlikely that the people assigned here from above would want to leave after just two days. Just be more careful in the future. They live at the end of the village and generally don't dare to come into the village. By the way, after dinner, go give them a little warning and inform them that the quarry needs people."

Lian Jiabao nodded and was about to say something else when he heard someone talking at his door.

"Is the village chief home?"

The old village chief had a good memory and recognized the voice of that girl Yin. She came to his house in broad daylight, so it must be no good. He finished the porridge in one gulp and went directly to the yard to call the person in.

"What's the matter?"

"Village Chief, this is a matter of life and death!"

Yin Huaixi stopped her brother from talking and told him the story of how the family was robbed, adding fuel to the fire.

"Village chief, I know some medical skills, so I picked some herbs in the mountains yesterday. Among them, not only croton is poisonous, but also several other herbs. If these are eaten as wild vegetables, it will most likely be fatal. What can we do?!"

The old village chief's heart skipped a beat, and he suddenly stopped and asked in surprise, "Do you know medicine?"

Brother and sister: "..."

Is this the point?

The old village chief also realized what the focus was at this time. He coughed twice and then asked if there were any clues at home.

"There are a few footprints, but nothing else."

“It’s nice to have footprints.”

The old village chief turned around and called out his eldest son, asking him to find a few people to go to the place where the Cai family was temporarily staying and take a "close" look.

Without even thinking about it, he went straight to find the Cai family. It showed that the old village chief was also a smart man and he immediately identified the suspect.

This is an easy guess. I believe most people who encounter this would guess that it was the Cai family who stole it. The Cai family knew this, so they cooked all the food and vegetables in one go and ate them, and buried the eggshells in the pit. They also ate some bamboo shoots, but there were still a lot left, which they hid far away, so you would never find them unless you went looking for them.

The stolen goods are all in their stomachs. As long as they refuse to admit it, who can dare to say that they took the things?

"Ah... I've been hungry for so long and finally I'm full."

Cai Wensheng from the second branch of the Cai family patted his stomach and was in a very good mood. This time, their family had made great efforts and ate the most. The old man had never scolded the second branch again and his attitude was extremely good.

You see, only the second branch can hold the family cap, the first branch should have given up long ago.

"Brother, I think a lot of the wild vegetables we just ate look familiar. Why don't we go up the mountain and get some back? We can't just steal them every time."

Cai Wenyi was a little timid. Although he felt great when stealing the things, he started to feel uneasy as soon as he finished eating. He was afraid that he would be found and thought about hiding in the mountains.

As brothers for so many years, Cai Wensheng knew what his brother was thinking. He was about to laugh at him when his cousin from the third room came running over in panic.

"Grandpa and grandma, something bad has happened! The village chief is here with the Yin family!"

"Village chief?"

Mr. Cai panicked for a moment but soon calmed down. Since he dared to steal, he should have known that the Yin family would find him. Why panic? No one could find evidence after he had eaten the food.

"Let's go and welcome the village chief."

The Cai family members calmed themselves down and walked out of the straw hut with false smiles on their faces.

"Village Chief, what are you doing?"

"You should know that."

The old village chief knew the people in the village too well. It was impossible for any villager to steal from the Yin family. It could only be the Cai family who did it.

"Jiabao, look carefully for it."

Lian Jiabao didn't even look at the Cai family. He led his men around the Cai family's straw hut and began to look for clues.

"Village Chief, what do you mean by this? Are you bullying us newcomers?!"

The Cai brothers still looked very imposing when standing together, and the old village chief was not at all inferior and his eyes were even more stern.

"The Yin family was robbed this morning. Your family is the most suspicious in this village, so of course we have to start the investigation with you. Don't think you can be a rogue in front of me, an old man. Do you have more people than the people in the village? Stay still. If it's you who really stole it, we'll settle the score later."

Such theft would never be tolerated in the village he governed.

When Mr. Cai heard this, his face darkened instantly. He thought that the head of a village would not act too harshly, but it turned out that this old man had a very tough temper.

The whole family looked at each other, feeling guilty but not scared, because they had already taken care of everything, and these people would not be able to find out.

The Cai family is still too naive.

They are good at academic research and power seeking, but they can't hide these little tricks like hiding things from the country folk.

Lian Jiabao and his team had not been looking far when they noticed traces of soil that had been turned over. Although it was not easy to detect, people had been playing in the mud and sand since childhood and had seen everything from mountains to sea. The turned soil was wetter than the surrounding soil and had a slightly different color. You could tell with a closer look.

The villagers who came with them used a hoe to dig out the eggshell in a few strokes.

"Dad, look!"

The old village chief took the eggshell from his son and threw it in front of the Cai family.

"What a coincidence, among the things lost by the Yin family there are chicken and duck eggs, and here there are egg shells and duck egg shells. Now the eggs have been eaten, and the egg shells were dug out from near you, what can you say!"

Of course the Cai family denied it.

"Who knows who ate and buried the food near our straw hut to frame us? Many people in the village know that our Cai family and the Yin family are not on good terms. How could we steal when we knew we would be suspected?"

The old village chief was disgusted and was about to say something when he saw the girl from the Yin family coming over with a smile.

"Village chief, I can't incriminate the Cai family with just this eggshell. But some of the herbs I picked are poisonous, and with that pile of crotons, anyone who eats them will be poisoned in three hours at most. Then we can determine who stole our property."

"What herb? Aren't they wild vegetables?!"

The second wife and her husband were horrified. You know, they ate the most just now...

"If you admit it now, I can ask the village chief to find something to detoxify you. If you don't admit it, just bear with it. I won't be able to do anything when the poison takes effect."

The Cai family members were all pale with anger. It was a rare occasion that they had so much food to eat today and they all wolfed it down. But now they were saying it was poisonous!

They didn’t know if the poison was really taking effect, but they suddenly felt uncomfortable in their stomachs.

On the one hand, he admitted to breaking into the house and then detoxifying, while on the other hand, he refused to admit it and waited for the poison to take effect.

After being pinched twice by his wife, Mr. Cai immediately understood and turned to look at his second son. The eldest son understood faster and pushed the second son out.

"My second brother is the village chief! My family and I went fishing this morning!"

Cai Lao Er looked at his elder brother and father in shock. He immediately understood that they were going to abandon the bodyguard. But why?! They also had food!

"My elder brother, the village chief, is talking nonsense! They were obviously involved and ate the food together!"

Cai Lao Er was furious and directly admitted it and dragged his eldest brother's family into the water. The third wife was so scared that she quickly hid behind the straw hut for fear of being remembered.

Before the village chief could even speak, the Cai family members started to fight. First the eldest and second oldest sons started fighting, then the grandchildren started fighting, and the two wives of the wives also started fighting, scratching their hair and faces.

Yin Huaixi felt a little regretful that she didn't bring her sister-in-law and the two girls from home to watch the show.

"Alright, alright, what's going on? Jiabao, tear them apart."

Only after the old village chief spoke did Lian Jiabao lead people to separate the Cai family.

At this time, Master Cai seemed to be very angry and was breathing heavily. The first and second wives were both injured, especially Cai Shuyuan from the first wife, who was too petite and weak to beat the three brothers from the second wife. He was now paralyzed and fainted on the ground.

"Since you have admitted it, it is easy to talk about. Either we settle it publicly or privately. If we settle it publicly, I will send your whole family to the government office. Your life or death will be decided by the prefect. If we settle it privately, you will compensate the Yin family for their losses, and the Yin family will not pursue the matter any further."

The Cai family was silent. They didn't want to go to the government office. Because they were exiled to make them change their ways. Now that they had just arrived and caused such a mess, they might be caught and killed as a warning to others. But they couldn't afford to pay back the money in a short time, and the Yin family was not so kind as to let them pay back slowly.

Most importantly, did they actually take the poison?

The couple in the third room were already spineless and cried and begged Yin Huaixi to detoxify them, and also promised to work hard for the Yin family in the future. Unfortunately, they did not separate, and Mr. Cai still had the final say in the family.

The family was arguing over a dispute when Lian Jiabao suddenly stepped back a few steps, walked up to the Yin siblings, and whispered two words.

"Privately."

The brother and sister were stunned. Is this what the old village chief meant?

Is it because they are worried about affecting the reputation of the village or is there some other reason for settling the matter privately?

Yin Huaixi glanced at his elder brother and saw him nod, which meant that he would listen to Lian Jiabao and settle the matter privately. That was fine. To get the compensation back, the Cai family would have to get sick again, which was enough for them to bear.

The Cai family wanted to settle the matter privately, and the Yin siblings also wanted to settle the matter privately.

The old village chief nodded and was about to negotiate the conditions for a private settlement, but Mr. Cai couldn't hold it back anymore as the first and third wives of his family all clamored to separate.

"This was mainly done by the second brother's family, and they ate the most food. Why should we return it all together? I want to divide the family and only return the food that we ate. This is fair!"

The eldest and the third son burst into tears, and the two daughters-in-law cried bitterly and forced Mr. Cai to split up the family.

The old village chief had a strange expression on his face and confirmed it several times.

"Do you really want to split up?"

"We need to share!"

"No regrets?"

“I will never regret it!!”

The brothers' resolute looks made Mr. Cai so angry that he almost vomited blood, but he also knew that the family could no longer be kept, so he finally agreed to split up.

The Yan and Cai families had nothing they wanted, so the family property was divided directly in front of the village chief.

"Well, since you have separated, let's discuss the terms of a private settlement."

The old village chief took a puff of his pipe and severely criticized the Cai family, accusing them of being a bad apple that spoils the whole barrel.

"Since your actions are despicable and you have no way of repaying the Yin family in a short period of time, just compensate them directly."

The Cai family, including the Yin siblings, all looked up at the village chief, not understanding what he meant.

"You just arrived, and there are some things I haven't told you yet. There is a government-owned quarry near Lianjiagou, and there is a constant shortage of workers there all year round. One person will be recruited from each of the exiled families."

At this point, the old village chief looked with amusement at the Cai family who had just separated.

"You have now split into three families, so three people have to go. Including the one who has to compensate the Yin brothers and sisters, there have to be five people. Let's discuss it carefully."

The Cai family was stunned as if they were struck by lightning.