Chapter 183 Capture
Just as the burly bandits were about to catch up with Sheng An, the villagers who came to help arrived in time, and the burly bandits completely lost their chance to kill Sheng An.
He gritted his teeth and glared fiercely at Sheng An's retreating figure, then turned and roared at the thugs still fighting Xu Chenglin, "Withdraw!"
After saying that, the burly bandit took the lead and plunged into the path beside the road, running wildly along the ridge towards the grove of trees.
Seeing that their leader had run away and they had lost the advantage, the bandits, though unwilling, dared not continue fighting. They put away their sticks and turned to run away.
Xu Chenglin was not about to let them leave. He endured the pain and continued to fight and block them, shouting, "You bastards, stay here!"
Seeing that their granddaughter was safe, Grandpa and Grandma Sheng breathed a sigh of relief and stepped forward to block the bandits' escape route.
Knowing their own strength, they dared not confront the bandits head-on, but instead kept throwing stones and clods of earth at their heads to slow their escape.
"Ahhh!"
Several bandits were smashed and fled in terror, screaming in pain. Someone had a sudden inspiration and suggested that they split up and run away, but it was too late. The villagers who rushed over took them down one by one.
However, the burly bandits ran too fast, and several villagers chased them for a while but couldn't catch up. They could only watch helplessly as the burly bandits escaped.
Sheng An barely escaped with his life and ran back in a flash to check on the injuries of his three elders. He was relieved to find that they had only suffered some minor injuries.
Of the eight bandits, one escaped, two had broken legs, and the remaining five, with bloodied heads, were tightly bound with ropes, crying and begging for mercy.
"Shut up!"
Xu Chenglin found them too noisy, so he stepped forward and kicked one of them, and the air instantly became quiet.
At this moment, the village chief, having received the news, ran up breathlessly, supported by his sons.
He glanced at the bound bandits, then looked at Sheng An and the others with concern and asked, "Are you all alright?"
Grandpa Sheng's eyes were red, and his face was full of gratitude to the villagers: "You came just in time, we are all fine."
The village chief breathed a sigh of relief and nodded repeatedly: "It's good that you're alright, it's good that you're alright."
He was playing with his grandson in the yard when someone rushed over, saying that they saw An Yatou and her group in trouble at the village entrance and that they might need the men from the village to go and help them.
Without a second thought, he picked up a gong and stood at the door, banging it to summon more than twenty able-bodied men from the village to come and help.
Fortunately, they arrived in time to rescue Brother Sheng and his group of four, and also captured the thugs who had kidnapped them in broad daylight. Unfortunately, the leader of the gang escaped.
The family of four thanked the village chief and villagers repeatedly before turning their attention to the bandits.
A cold look settled on Sheng An's face as he kicked the bandit closest to him and the least injured: "Last night, you were the ones who came into the village and set fire to my old house?"
The bandits trembled and stammered as they admitted, "It was...it was Fifth Brother and Sixth Brother who did it. The boss said it was difficult to make a move in the city, so he had them set fire to the houses to lure you out of the city."
As he spoke, he looked at the fifth brother, whose face was covered in blood, and the sixth brother, whose kneecap had been broken.
Upon hearing this, the village chief and the others glared angrily at the fifth and sixth brothers: "So it was you who did it!"
The fifth and sixth brothers were seriously injured, their faces pale and covered in cold sweat from the pain.
Hearing the village chief's angry shout, they kept begging for mercy: "We were wrong, we know we were wrong, please let us go..."
Ignoring their pleas, Sheng An continued to ask the bandits, "What's your boss's name? Where does he live? Why did you decide to kidnap us?"
The bandit was a coward, and immediately spilled the beans, blurting everything out:
"The eldest brother is called Liu Erleng. He is from Zuohe Village. He heard that Shengyuan was making a fortune every day and that one job could make us live a life of luxury for the rest of our lives, so he started working with him."
These bandits were usually idle and had a lot of petty thefts, making them a notorious scourge in the surrounding area.
The families whose homes were robbed guessed that they were the culprits, but none of them dared to confront them.
All because the owners of the lost items could not produce conclusive evidence, and Liu Erleng and his gang were extremely vengeful, they would directly rush to the owners' homes and vandalize them, demanding so-called "damage to reputation" compensation.
After several such incidents, the victims had no choice but to accept their bad luck, which emboldened Liu Erleng and his gang even more.
Sheng An had a good grasp of the gang's modus operandi, and asked them three times in quick succession: "How did you know about Shengyuan, how did you figure out that I came from Huai Shu Village, and how did you find my old house so precisely?"
The bandit swallowed hard, glanced at Sheng An's face, and said, "This information was found out by Liu Erleng; we don't know anything about it either."
Sheng An frowned and looked at the other bandits, who also shook their heads, vying to say they didn't know and that they were just following Liu Erleng's orders.
Unable to extract any further information from the seven bandits, Sheng An decided to stop wasting time with them and asked the village chief and others for help: "Robbery and kidnapping are serious crimes, so I'll have to trouble you all to help take them to the authorities."
Upon hearing that they were to be handed over to the authorities, the bandits panicked and cried out for mercy again: "We have elderly parents and young children to support, we can't go to jail! Please, sirs, have mercy and let us go..."
No one paid attention to their pleas, fearing they would frighten others, and they tore off their clothes to gag them.
With the help of the village chief and others, the seven bandits were tied up and sent to the government office, attracting the attention of many people along the way.
Upon learning that they had robbed and kidnapped the bandits in broad daylight, the simple and honest people were enraged. They immediately beat up the seven bandits and cursed them for being utterly heartless.
Upon arriving at the government office, Sheng An revealed his identity to the village chief, explaining the actions of the seven bandits and the identity of Liu Erleng, the bandit who had escaped.
The seven bandits were immediately taken to jail by the constables. Sheng An secretly slipped the head constable a five-tael coin, asking him to accept it and use it for tea.
Seeing how capable Sheng An was, the head constable's face was full of smiles: "Don't worry, Boss Sheng, we will definitely bring the villain Liu Erleng to justice and will not let a single bad guy escape!"
The man in front of me, Mr. Sheng, is no ordinary person. He was the top scorer in last year's imperial examination and has good relationships with prominent families in the city thanks to his excellent cooking skills. Even if he doesn't receive any benefits, he will still do his best to handle this matter well.
Sheng Yuan's roast chicken is absolutely delicious!
Sheng An, unaware of the constable's thoughts, smiled and flattered him a few times before going inside to finish explaining the case in detail, and then left the government office with everyone else.
After a short delay, it was almost noon. Sheng An still had to rush back to Sheng Garden to entertain the guests, so he could only give Grandpa Sheng ten taels of silver and ask them to find a restaurant to properly entertain the village chief and the others.
The village chief and the others repeatedly said no, but Grandpa Sheng and the others persuaded them to stay. They took them to a nearby restaurant with a good reputation and ordered three tables of good food to express their gratitude.
Unable to refuse, the village chief and others could only sit awkwardly in the spacious and bright hall, enjoying the delicious food they had never tasted before.
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