Chapter 45: Threats from the Officials
When they arrived at Cui Qingyi's place, the officers first asked Cui Qingyi to check if any other items were stolen from her home, and then asked her to sign her name.
Before, Feng had called her and Konjac "little bitch" one after another. Cui Qingyi had wanted to extort a few taels of silver from her to make her feel the pain and see if she would dare to say such a mean thing again in the future, but she changed her mind and gave up the idea.
It was obvious that these officers were experienced in handling cases. Feng was blocked by Wangcai and obviously couldn't even touch the door of the house. Her claim that she lost the silver was not credible.
After confirming that there was no other loss, the officer asked Cui Qingyi to sign the file and then took Feng away.
Before leaving, the leading official grasped the sword at his waist, looked at the onlookers and said loudly:
"Dongping County has always been peaceful under the governance of County Magistrate Zhou, and the people have lived and worked in peace and contentment. Our prosperous and stable lives today are hard-earned, and we must not harbor evil thoughts.
If anyone dares to bully their neighbors by relying on their numbers, the county yamen's punishment bench has long been bloodless. I believe none of you would want to try the county yamen's whip."
These words were full of warnings and intimidation, but Cui Qingyi did not feel afraid. On the contrary, she became more curious about the magistrate of Dongping County, Zhou. She wondered what he was like since he could lead such subordinates.
Zhou Wu looked at the onlookers who lowered their heads one by one with expressions of fear on their faces. Then he nodded with satisfaction and left with Feng.
Feng was extremely frightened and looked at Old Madam Lin in panic. She wanted to shout for help but she kept her mouth shut in the half-smile of the officer and only tears flowed down her face.
As long as she didn't make too much noise and disturb others' ears, the officers didn't care whether she cried or not. She dared to climb over the wall to steal things from other people's homes in broad daylight, so why was she crying now?
As the officers reached the entrance of the alley, their way was blocked by a tall figure.
Lin Da was sweating and panting in the cold weather.
He was carrying goods at the dock, and after hearing what Daya said, he ran back in a panic. He knew what kind of person his wife was, but he didn't expect that she would dare to run to someone else's house to steal things and be blocked at the scene.
He was also very annoyed with Feng, but no matter how he thought about it, she was his wife after all, the mother of his children. If this matter was not resolved properly, the future of the children in the family would be ruined.
Lin Da just hoped that he could come back soon enough so that his mother could stop the Cui family from reporting to the police. Then he would apologize and compensate for the losses, as long as they didn't put the person in jail.
But even though he tried his best, he was still one step too late. When he saw the officers, he knew it was too late.
When Feng saw her husband, her eyes lit up and she shouted, "Father, save me, save me!"
Zhou Wu raised the sword at his waist and looked at Lin Da, who was blocking their way, with a half-smile, as if waiting for him to make a move so he could swing his sword. The people were born with a fear of the officials. Under the pressure of the other party's gaze, Lin Da took a few steps back and made way.
Ordinary people cannot afford to offend government officials, let alone Feng who made a mistake.
Old Mrs. Lin was almost frightened when she saw this scene. She was afraid that her son would not be able to understand the situation and would go up to argue with the police.
Although the local officials have been very protective of the people, the people still remember the cruelty of the county magistrate who slaughtered the bandits five years ago.
Seeing the officers disappear in the alley, the onlookers breathed a sigh of relief, and the family members pulled each other back home.
Cui Qingyi looked at this scene with a cold expression. It seemed that the local people were quite afraid of the government. It might also be that the words of the official just now had an effect. For a long time afterwards, even if the people in the alley didn't like her, they didn't dare to cause trouble for her easily.
In an instant, only Daya's family and the family who broke the Cui family's copper lock were left there.
The woman from that family frowned and looked at Old Lady Lin, whispering, "Aunt, please compensate Miss Cui for the copper lock."
Although she felt pity for Daya's family, her husband broke the lock on their door in order to help Feng, so the money should be compensated by the Lin family.
God knows she was scared to death when that ferocious officer came to question her just now, for she was afraid that the officer would hold her husband responsible.
It was a cold day and she had a thin layer of sweat on her back. Now she just wanted to make the Lin family pay the money as soon as possible so that she could go home.
Old Mrs. Lin wiped her tears, turned around and went home. After a while, she handed a dime to Konjac, who stepped forward to take the dime.
The master and servant ignored what was happening outside and went home to lock the door from the inside.
Konjac just felt unlucky: "Girl, should we move somewhere else? The people in this alley are too difficult to deal with."
Before, there was the Gu family mother and son, and now there is the Feng family, and none of them are peaceful.
Cui Qingyi also felt a little tired. These days she and Konjac had been busy preparing supplies for the winter. It was probably because there were too many things and they attracted attention.
But Cui Qingyi had no regrets. They'd lived in this alley for so long that everyone knew the situation of each household. These days, other households besides hers were buying charcoal, rice, flour, and vegetables, and she hadn't seen Feng stealing from other households. She simply thought they were easy targets.
She was glad that Feng had made a big deal out of it, otherwise it would have been really disgusting to have such a neighbor.
"No, no matter where we move, there will always be people like Gu's mother and Feng. I don't think anyone will mess with us easily after what happened today. If there is another incident, we can report it to the authorities. I think the officials in Dongping County are pretty good."
Cui Qingyi felt that the leading officer's words just now were meant to take care of them.
As long as the officials don't have bad intentions, these ordinary people will not be able to cause trouble.
Konjac nodded and forced himself to cheer up: "Today is really thanks to Wangcai. If it weren't for him, I don't know how much of our things would have been stolen by Feng."
Cui Qingyi agreed with this. When talking about Wangcai, they both realized that they hadn't seen Wangcai for a long time.
Knowing that Wangcai would not run away easily, Cui Qingyi called him loudly a few times. After waiting for a while, she saw a dark shadow sneakily poking its head in from outside the door. When it saw Cui Qingyi waving at it, it straightened its back and ran over.
They looked like thieves, and Cui Qingyi and Konjac's originally not-so-good moods suddenly turned from cloudy to sunny.
Cui Qingyi was generous in her praise: "Good job, it's not a waste of all my meat and bones."
Konjac also echoed: "Wangcai has been a great contributor to our family today. I'll give you an extra meal tonight."
Upon hearing this, Wangcai’s big, fleshy ears stood up.
Since coming to the Cui family, Wangcai has been able to eat big bones and bone soup from time to time. His already large skeleton has grown even bigger, and his fur has become shiny black, which feels very comfortable to touch.
I don’t know where the previous owner got it from. The more Cui Qingyi looked at it, the more she felt that this guy was not an ordinary local dog. Local local dogs don’t have such a big skeleton. Its eyes are a little blue, and it looks a bit majestic when it is not doing anything stupid.
Perhaps knowing that he would not be beaten for biting anyone, Wangcai's tense back gradually relaxed as Cui Qingyi stroked his fur, and he lay obediently at his owner's feet.
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