The old woman and her men returned home looking disheveled. After tidying herself up, she went to see her young master.
As soon as the old woman entered the door, she knelt down in front of her young master and said, "I'm sorry, young master, I didn't handle this matter well. When I came back, the dye was stolen, and the rest of the money was also stolen. Please punish me, young master."
The man said angrily, "What can you possibly accomplish?"
The old woman cried and said, "Young master, it must have been those barbarians from the Chen family who did it. They must have known something to steal the dye."
The man said, "You have no proof that they did it."
"Alright, you can go now. This matter caused me to lose so much money because of your negligence. I'll deduct three months' wages from your salary. You don't have any objections, do you?"
"No objection, young master!" the old woman said, and quickly withdrew.
After everyone left, the man called another person in and said, "Go find someone and steal back the dye formula from the Chen family."
“Yes, young master!” said an ordinary-looking man.
Miss Bai was also talking about this matter. Her maid, Xiaoju, said angrily, "That man surnamed Chen is really going too far. Miss sent someone to invite him to dinner, but he didn't come, saying he was busy at home."
Standing outside the window, Miss Bai looked sadly at the trees outside and said, "What can we do if he just won't come?"
The maid Xiaoju asked, "I wonder how things are going with your admirer, Young Master Liu?"
“When his page came to deliver a letter to you a few days ago, I gave his page a little information: Young Master Liu will definitely find a way to get the dye and send it to you, Miss.”
Miss Bai sighed and said, "There's not much time left. Xiao Ju, could you please arrange a few more appointments with Young Master Chen for me?"
Xiaoju took Bai's hand and said in a choked voice, "Miss, no matter what happens in the future, I will never leave you."
Miss Bai raised her hand to wipe away Xiaoju's tears, forcing a smile as she said, "Alright, stop crying. Let's wait a few more days. If it doesn't work out, I'll find a way to take you away once we get there."
That night, after the Chen family had fallen asleep, a figure appeared outside the Chen family's courtyard.
The figure looked at the thorny vines in the Chen family's yard and thought with difficulty, "This is a bit tricky!" But having already received the money, he still found a few stones to step on, hoping to make it easier to climb over.
It was too dark for him to see clearly. When he reached out, something cut his hand, and he fell down, getting his leg caught in the ground.
"Ahhh... Ah! It hurts so much!" He couldn't help but scream as something hit his leg.
The screams woke up the Chen family. Old Man Chen dressed and went out in the dark, cursing as he went, "That blind fool dared to steal from our house."
Zhou also got dressed in the dark, got up, went to find a torch, lit it, and handed it to Old Man Chen.
Old Man Chen took a torch and went into the courtyard. Chen Kai's eldest brother and sister-in-law, second brother and sister-in-law, also came out when they heard the commotion.
Chen Lao Er said, "Father, judging from the sound, the person is outside."
Old Man Chen said angrily, "Someone actually dares to steal from our house! Grab your weapons, let's go take a look."
Hearing the screams in the yard and realizing that someone had caught the thief, Chen Kai didn't go out to join the commotion. He figured the thief wouldn't run away anyway, and he could check again tomorrow morning. Chen Kai turned over and went back to sleep.
Xiao Tian didn't get up to watch the commotion. There were already quite a few thorny plants on the wall of their yard. A few days ago, his second sister-in-law had persuaded them to set up some traps outside the yard wall in case someone came to steal their things.
His second sister-in-law always felt that someone would come to their house to steal the recipes for dried flowers and dyes, so she put a lot of animal traps around the wall. Now he dares to say that no thief has ever been able to leave their house intact.
The next morning, a large crowd gathered in the Chen family's courtyard, including the village chief.
The village chief asked, "Chen Dong! I heard that a thief broke into your yard last night?" Last night, many people in the village heard screams and were awakened.
Old Chen released the thief who had been stuffed into the sack the night before. The thief didn't move at all after being released. Old Chen kicked him a few more times, but he still didn't wake up. So Xiao Tian asked Daya to bring a basin of cold water and splash it on the thief to wake him up.
The thief had barely opened his eyes when he started howling like a banshee again. The villagers looked at the thief; his face was bruised and swollen, making him unrecognizable, his hands were slashed and bloody, and his legs were mangled and bloody.
Seeing everyone's expressions gradually turn to terror, Old Man Chen immediately said, "We only kicked him a few times. The rest of his injuries were all self-inflicted. My second son's wife set up a few animal traps under the courtyard wall, and he injured himself like this when he fell down."
The villagers breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing Old Man Chen's words. Of all the people to steal from, why dare to steal from the Chen family? The Chen family wasn't someone to be trifled with. Looking at the thief, the villagers saw he was quite young, already engaging in petty theft at such a young age, and certainly didn't learn anything good. He deserved to be beaten.
Old Man Chen originally intended to send the man directly to the authorities, but his second son's wife tugged at Zhou Shi's sleeve and whispered, "Mother, let's interrogate him first and see who sent him!"
Zhou said, "Village chief, we would like to interrogate him ourselves first, and then send the thief to the government."
"Alright, Chen Dong, you can handle it yourselves!" The village chief said before leaving with the villagers.
The second son's wife said, "Mother, this thief didn't go to other people's houses, but came straight to ours. Someone must have instructed him. Besides, nobody in the village knows them. Let's interrogate them first before sending them to the authorities!"
Zhou said angrily, "I knew she was up to no good. She even sent someone to look for our fourth son a few days ago."
Xiao Tian looked at the thief and was speechless. He wondered why the thief had come to scout the place. There were no animal traps at the front door, and no one had seen him there at night. Why did he have to come in through the wall full of animal traps? What a stupid thief.
Boss Chen and his men interrogated the thief for a long time, but he didn't say a word. Seeing that the thief was being tortured so badly but still didn't speak, Old Man Chen and the others felt that the mastermind behind it must be someone extraordinary.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com