"Are you the village chief of this village?"
Lin Xue asked Zhou Xiaocang to bring two stools for the adults. Zhang, the head constable, chose to sit down in the middle and looked at the old village chief kneeling in front of him.
"It is indeed this old man!"
The village chief dared not hesitate and immediately answered the constable's questions.
"Since you are the village chief here, do you know why my county guard Lin's house was robbed clean by thugs?"
"As far as I know, since the magistrate came to Qingshan County three years ago, he has already quelled all the bandits in this area!"
"There shouldn't be any thieves left who steal everything from people's homes. Besides, your village is in a remote location, so even if someone did steal, they wouldn't be able to take anything from your house!"
"Therefore, I suspect that it was someone from your village who stole things from Guard Lin's house!"
"Now that Guard Lin has accused you of robbing her family's property, and since you are the village head, I have summoned you for questioning. If you cannot assist me in investigating, I will lead my men to search every house!"
At this moment, Constable Zhang appeared with a serious expression and an air of official authority, which frightened the village chief so much that he didn't dare to raise his head.
The surrounding people dared not approach, but only watched from a distance, ready to flee at any moment.
"My lord, this..."
"Who is this Guard Lin you are referring to?"
The old village chief wanted to try again, since all the people surnamed Zhou were farmers in the village.
Moreover, how could someone so weak and insignificant possibly become a guard at the county government office?
"So you know, this bodyguard Lin beside me is the very bodyguard my magistrate recently hired for his wife!"
"We came back with Guard Lin this time to pack our things and let the villagers know that Guard Lin is now a member of our county government, and the Zhou family children have also moved to the county!"
"The magistrate is worried that if Guard Lin doesn't return for a long time, bad people will take over his things. So he sent us to tell the villagers that anyone who dares to touch Guard Lin's things will be thrown into jail!"
These successive news reports made the old village chief feel terrified.
The villagers who were hiding in the corner listening were even more terrified, especially those who had participated in looting the Zhou family's belongings, who were trembling with fear.
"The young widow has actually become the magistrate's wife's bodyguard? What should we do?"
"How could I have been so blind to follow them? I knew how formidable the young widow was before; now I'm probably going to be thrown in jail!"
Some of the more timid people have already started crying.
Some of the more timid ones simply slipped back home, packed their things, and ran into the mountains to hide.
"Sir, I'm old and rarely go out, so I don't know who stole the Zhou family's things!"
"Could you give me some time, sir, so I can go and ask the villagers?"
The old village chief's back was soaked with sweat; he hadn't expected things to escalate to such a serious level.
Originally, I thought that even if the young widow of the Zhou family came back, she would at most go crazy in the village. Anyway, there were no markings on the items, and as long as no one confessed, she couldn't possibly search every house.
"No need for such trouble, I'll give you two solutions now!"
Lin Xue saw that things were almost done and he didn't have time to waste here, nor did the three constables have time to waste here either.
"You, from Zhou Tianli's family, speak!"
When Lin Xue started speaking, the old village chief's head began to ache.
Last time, this woman also gave Wang Cuihua two choices, and the second choice was practically a death sentence for Wang Cuihua's entire family.
I wonder what kind of harsh conditions this woman will set today?
"My first option is to search every house, and wherever I find something, I'll have the officials take it back to jail!"
Lin Xue calmly presented her first proposal, which startled the old village chief and the villagers hiding in the shadows.
"I don't know... I don't know what the second option is?"
The old village chief wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. He knew exactly how many households were involved in this matter.
If they really did what Lin Xue said, then at least half of their village would be gone.
"The second option is that I withdraw the lawsuit without the officials having to intervene on my behalf. The village chief, on behalf of the villagers who committed the offenses, will pay me ten taels of silver. The village chief can investigate the rest himself and ask the offending villagers for the money he paid!"
"Old village chief, I'm only giving you these two choices today out of respect for the three officials. If you can't accept either of them, then I'll have to proceed with the old method!"
Lin Xue clasped her hands together and twisted her wrists, hearing a cracking sound that reminded the old village chief of the large rock that Lin Xue had smashed with a bamboo stick years ago.
“Zhou family, we’re all from the same village. Everyone knows what you have at home!”
"If you added ten taels of silver to your house, that would be fine, but the belongings in your house are worth at most three or four taels of silver. Now you want ten taels from me. Isn't that a bit excessive?"
Upon hearing that he would have to pay ten taels of silver, the old village chief felt pain in his heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys.
"Yes, I admit that our things are not worth much, but five taels of silver is still worth it. In addition to grain and livestock, we also had some money at home, which was also robbed by the villagers!"
"You should ask around and find out who took the three taels of silver from my family. That's the family fortune my husband has accumulated over the years!"
“I was worried about the safety of taking it out, so I always hid it under my bed. Now look at my room, the bed has been moved away, and even the mud bricks on the floor have been dug out!”
"Although I don't know who took the silver, there is definitely silver hidden underneath, that's for sure, after all, there's still a mark of a small jar there!"
Hearing Lin Xue's confident assertions, the old village chief began to believe her to some extent.
"Even so, ten taels of silver is still a bit too much. I've been the village chief all my life and I've never seen so much as ten taels of silver!"
"Where am I supposed to get so much money for you in such a short time?"
Hearing that someone had taken Lin Xue's money, he would have to investigate carefully and try to get it back.
However, aside from the three taels of silver that can be recovered, there are still seven taels of silver left. Can those poor bastards in the village scrape together that much?
"I don't care. You know, if I pursue this matter, they'll all be criminals who committed burglary. If they're arrested, they'll be sentenced to at least 10 years!"
"I'm sure there are more than just one or two people stealing from my house. If we try to piece things together, we can probably get them back!"
Lin Xue glanced at the crowd in the distance. Anyway, she didn't plan to bring back those junk. She was only back to arrange the crops in the fields.
Now that the villagers have pulled this stunt, it has conveniently solved all her problems.
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