Chapter 19 Catching the Rice Thief
The next day, the rain gradually subsided.
Qin Muxue woke up from her dream and felt that everything that happened yesterday was just a dream. However, the bloody arrow beside her told her that everything that happened last night was real. This was the first time in her life that she had killed someone with her own hands. She kept the arrow as a souvenir.
She rubbed her eyes. With the help of the spiritual spring water, her physical condition improved significantly. Originally, in the dark, even with night vision goggles, it would be very difficult to kill a person so accurately.
And she actually did it with archery. She didn't use a gun because she was afraid that the sound would arouse suspicion. Even with a silencer, there would still be noise.
She was also afraid, but it disappeared when she opened the door and saw Ding Manman and the cat and dog.
A calico kitten was lying nearby, eating dried fish, meowing, while Baozhu was eating canned beef and barking at her a few times.
Ding Manman brought out two bowls of steaming wontons, which were sprinkled with green chives and added with lard. The aroma filled the air, making people salivate.
"Xiaoxue, come and eat some wontons. I saw some vegetables and pork in the refrigerator, so I made some wontons for you to try!" Manman looked as if nothing had happened, as if she was not affected by what happened last night.
Manman looks weak, but she is stronger than anyone else in her heart.
Qin Muxue sat down at the table and took a sip of the wonton soup. The early morning chill was immediately dispelled and the delicious taste filled her mouth.
"The soup base is the leftover bone soup from yesterday. It would be a shame to waste it, so I used it to make wontons."
"It tastes great. Your cooking skills are great."
When she bit into the wonton, she found emerald green vegetables and tender pink pork, which tasted extremely sweet and fresh. Qin Muxue finished the wonton in no time and touched her stomach.
"If it's not enough, I have more here!"
“I’m already very full!”
"Oh, right! I also squeezed some soy milk. I heard that drinking black soy milk is more nourishing for girls and can also beautify the skin. You should drink more." Ding Manman hurriedly brought a large bowl of black soy milk from the kitchen, "Drink it all!"
Qin Muxue was actually very full, but seeing Manman's eyes full of anticipation, she drank up the soy milk in the bowl and even burped at the end.
“Delicious!”
Then Ding Manman started to busy herself with other housework. Qin Muxue wanted to help, but she refused.
Looking at her current appearance, she must be trying to use her busyness to forget everything that happened yesterday. Qin Muxue sighed and just let her be.
Everyone needs to grow, especially in the last days.
Qin Muxue took out firewood from the woodshed and started chopping it with an axe. When she had nothing to do, she would use this to exercise her arm strength. The muscles on her arms were firm and beautiful. The firewood could also be used to heat the kang and boil water.
Qu Yanbai walked over in a raincoat with a worried look on his face, and was relieved to see that the two were safe and sound.
"I was feeling uneasy last night until I heard that the house of Mr. Yang next door was robbed. I was worried about you so I came to check on you right away. In this world, you have to be extra careful."
"Do I need you to tell me that?" Qin Muxue picked up the hatchet and chopped it down as if she was not chopping firewood, but thieves.
A burst of cursing sounds came from not far away. During this period, many refugees came to Taoyuan Village and had many disputes with the villagers. Quarrels often occurred.
The harsh living environment makes everyone feel irritated and full of resentment.
Old Yang's family discovered early in the morning that the grain in the granary had been stolen. The already limited grain reserves could not last for a few more days, and they were arguing with the village chief!
"Which beast stole my family's stored food? I have elderly and young people at home, and we rely on this little food to survive. Who is so evil-hearted that he stole so much at once? Village chief, you have taken in so many people from other villages, could there be thieves among them?"
Now there are more than a hundred people of all sizes in the shelter, and the number is still increasing. Old Yang's suspicion is not unreasonable. There are so many people, good and bad, and there are always people with bad intentions. What's more, the food at home was stolen. Who wouldn't feel sad?
The village chief was smoking his only remaining cigarette, feeling melancholy, but he couldn't just stand by and watch the man die. However, the interests of the villagers had already been harmed.
Moreover, it was not just Old Yang's family that had their items robbed. Other families had their items robbed as well. The village chief sent a director to do the statistics.
The director just happened to come to Qin Muxue's place. Her family moved in later. The director was not very familiar with them, but he still came up and asked, "Little girl, was anything stolen from your house?"
Qin Muxue lowered her head and replied coldly: "No."
"That's good, that's good. You must be careful. Now is a critical moment, but you must believe that these crises will eventually pass..."
The director looked at the two little girls, who were fair and tender. If they encountered thieves, they would probably have no chance of survival.
How could he have imagined that these two little girls had dealt with two thieves yesterday and even disposed of their bodies.
"Director, stop nagging here. I'm here and these two girls won't get robbed." Qu Yanbai took out a cigarette. He had saved a lot of good cigarettes. When the director saw the cigarette, his eyes lit up.
"Thank you for your hard work, Xiao Qu."
Qin Muxue is safe and sound, but the more Old Yang thinks about it, the more upset he feels. He sees that the elderly and children in his family have no food to eat. Although the village has registered and will give compensation in the future, the sky seems to be broken now, and it has been raining intermittently. It is a question whether he can live to see the compensation.
The remaining food at home was only enough for three days. He was anxious, so he contacted several villagers whose homes had also been robbed, and ran to the shelter to ask the refugees to hand over food.
The leader of the refugees, Wang Min, shouted angrily, "Look, we all look pale. Where can we get food? We don't have the energy to steal your food!"
"I don't believe it. I know everyone in this village, but you are from outside. If you want me to believe you, let me search the place where you live first. This place was originally our village's primary school. We are searching our own territory, and it is not your turn to stop us!"
"You... there are so many old people and children here, don't go too far!"
The conflict between the two groups became increasingly intense, and it seemed that the conflict was about to break out.
Finally, Wang Min had no choice but to give in. Old Yang and his men searched the school inside and out but found nothing. Now these people from other villages have been surviving by receiving help. Some of them were lying on the ground groaning with hunger, unable to move. If they had really stolen the village's food, this would not have happened.
If it's not an external thief, then it must be an internal thief.
An old widow in the village shouted, "Look at who has the most energy in the village, and you'll know who the thief is."
Everyone immediately thought of Qu Yanbai and Grandma Qu, as well as the two little girls who had just moved in.
Grandma Qu is old, but the villagers found that she was full of energy and did not look hungry at all. Qu Yanbai was even stronger and healthier.
Old Yang didn't dare to offend Qu Yanbai, so he could only focus his attention on the two girls who had just moved in.
"Let's go to the Ding family and see if they stole our food."
I saw a group of people coming to Ding Manman's house in a mighty manner, and they insisted on breaking in to search.
I saw a girl named Qin Muxue chopping firewood with a huge machete at the door. The strength she used was breathtaking.
Old Yang was a little scared, but the old widow shouted, "He is so strong, he must have eaten a lot of food!"
Qin Muxue raised her head, looked at them coldly and asked, "What do you want to do here?"
An old hooligan in the village was a little scared at first, but when he saw a large group of people behind him, he mustered up the courage to step forward and shouted, "You girls are so energetic, I guess you must have a lot of food stored at home, right?"
Ding Manman ran out in a hurry, "Dear uncles and aunts, our family originally had some food stored before, and now it's almost finished."
"I don't believe it unless you let us search." In fact, they had already made up their minds to bully these two weak women.
Even if they didn't steal, it would be a good idea to divide up their food stores. After all, they have no one to rely on and are easier to bully.
"It's really funny. You don't go looking for the real thief, but come here to search for us? Just look at the greasy food around you, and you will know who the thief is."
Qin Muxue chopped the firewood as she spoke, causing the group of people to take a few steps back.
The axe was carefully selected by Qin Muxue. It was very sharp. Not only could it be used to chop wood, but it could also be used to chop people accurately.
The old rogue looked at the people around him with a sly look. The old widow felt a little guilty, and the two of them wanted to slip away in the chaos.
Who knew that Qu Yanbai came with the corpse of a half-eaten dog. He snorted coldly and asked, "Whose dog was eaten?"
When Old Yang saw the size of the dog, an idea suddenly occurred to him: Isn't this the dog that had been missing from his family for several days?
He quickly asked, "Where did you find it?"
Qu Yanbai didn't say anything, but glanced at the old rogue, "Who do you think it could be?"
The old hooligan was originally a poor household in the village, living on the minimum living allowance and his family did not farm. When he was young, he committed hooliganism and was imprisoned for ten years. After he was released, he still refused to change his ways and colluded with the old widow to steal food from other people's granaries, which they divided up.
Without meat to eat, he even secretly killed the dog in Old Yang's house.
"No, it's not me..." The old rogue waved his hands.
"If it's you, we'll know if we search your house. This half dog was found in your house."
Seeing that the situation was not right, the old widow wanted to slip away first, but Qin Muxue noticed it with her sharp eyes, "Widow Liu, where do you want to go?"
Everyone then realized something was wrong. Old Yang took people to search the old rogue's house. Finally, they found a cellar full of food. He was so angry that his face turned pale.
"What do you think these are?"
The old rogue replied tremblingly: "This is the food I originally stored."
Old Yang found some dog hair in the backyard. The old dog he had raised for more than ten years, and his family was reluctant to eat it, but it was eaten by the old rogue. He was so angry that he no longer believed what the old rogue said.
"You stole it. Everyone knows that you don't have any food at home. Since you stole my dog, you must have stolen my food as well."
Seeing that the truth was exposed, the old rogue fell to his knees and begged bitterly, "I was also too hungry to bear it, and besides, I didn't want to steal. It was Widow Liu who said to steal from other people's homes, and I just listened to her."
Widow Liu's face darkened. "You old fellow, it was you who was greedy for the dog meat at Old Yang's house, and said that since you stole the dog, you might as well steal the food as well. Now you are blaming me!"
While the two were arguing, everyone discovered the truth. Thinking about how they had just searched the shelter in a large group and then bullied two innocent little girls, they suddenly felt ashamed.
At the same time, they were also filled with disgust for the two thieves. The villagers took up sticks and the situation was out of control for a while.
The old gangster covered his head and yelled miserably: "It's illegal for you to beat people like this!"
"Breaking the law? Isn't it illegal for you to steal things? And you can call the police and see if they can come!"
Widow Liu burst into tears, "We just did this because we were too depressed at the moment. We are all from the same village, so please forgive us!"
She fell to her knees and kowtowed several times until her head was bleeding.
But the villagers were not convinced: "We are from the same village, how dare you steal other people's food? This is life-saving food! My children are crying out with hunger."
Seeing that other people's attention was not on him, the old rogue quickly prepared to sneak away. When Old Yang found out, he quickly chased after him, and in the process of pushing him, he actually pushed the old rogue into the flood.
"Help!" Before the old rogue could shout, his figure disappeared in the rushing flood.
Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. Old Yang was panicked for a moment, "I didn't mean to do that..."
Qin Muxue turned her head away, "I didn't see anything."
The remaining villagers began to echo: "He fell in by himself, we didn't see anything."
The grain theft finally came to an end. In the face of interests, the originally simple and unpretentious villagers and their neighborly relationships immediately fell apart.
When Ding Manman saw this scene, she felt mixed emotions.
Qin Muxue comforted her, "Manman, don't be sad. People are selfish. They will definitely use all means to achieve their own interests."
"I just didn't expect that the villagers who seemed kind at first would turn out to be so scary after changing their faces."
There was also the dog that was eaten by the old rogue, with only half of its body left. Old Yang originally wanted to take it back to eat himself, but Qu Yanbai exchanged it for 10 kilograms of rice. Now rice is more important than meat.
"This old dog has been loyal for more than ten years, but he didn't even leave a complete body."
Several people buried it under a tree at the entrance of the village. Qin Muxue always had a little pity for the dog because of Baozhu.
"This time, I want to thank you, Qu Yanbai, thank you for helping me out!"
"After all, we are teammates! I said we should be a united front."
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