"I know them. I'm on the same team as them. They're all my cousin's good friends. My cousin isn't here."
Xiao Ya pointed it out without hesitation, which stunned the two young men. How could Xiao Ya betray them so quickly?
"You little brat! What nonsense are you spouting! I don't even know you. If you dare to talk nonsense, I'll kill you!"
Sun Dazhi glared fiercely at Xiaoya, as if he would strangle her if she dared to speak again. Xiaoya hid behind Yu Jiu in fear and shouted loudly.
"I'm not afraid of you. You forced me to do bad things. I don't want to do bad things anymore. I'm going to expose you!"
"Auntie, his name is Sun Dazhi, and his name is Li Kui! My cousin's name is Li Guoqing, and there's another person named Li Feifei! My cousin and Feifei should be sleeping behind the school in the commune area right now. There's a big open space behind the school, and we've been sleeping there these past few days!"
During the day, they made me befriend the children in the village, and then at night they would sneak into the village to steal things! They took turns sleeping during the day; only two of them stayed with me, while the other two slept!
Xiao Ya revealed everything she knew, leaving them with no way to deny it. Most importantly, she also exposed their headquarters, which meant her cousins Li Guoqing and Li Feifei were now also doomed. Sun Dazhi was furious.
"You little bitch, you think you can get away by giving us up? You just wait, don't let me catch you, or I'll kill you!"
"Who do you want to kill? You'd better think about whether we'll kill you first."
How dare he threaten a child in front of them? Xu Zi punched Sun Dazhi directly in the face, instantly leaving large bruises. Li Kui trembled beside him. He was quite perceptive, knowing that Xu Zi was not someone to be trifled with, so he kept quiet and let the impulsive fool Sun Dazhi be the scapegoat.
"That's right! You perfectly capable people can't do anything else, why do you have to be thieves? Give me back my money!"
"And my grain, hand it all over to me!"
The family whose belongings had been stolen were extremely agitated. They rushed in and rained punches on the men's faces and shoulders, making them howl in pain. Neither of them were tough; after being beaten, they learned their lesson and quickly begged for mercy.
"I know I was wrong, please stop hitting me, or I'll die. What did I steal from you? Can I give it back?"
"We'll give it all back to you. Please, please forgive us for not being very old. We really know we were wrong, sob sob sob."
The group wept bitterly, a stark contrast to their arrogant demeanor when they were first arrested. Since they were Xiaoya's cousin's friends, and all around the same age—Xiaoya was only 5, and her cousin was just 17 or 18—they were either newly adults or had only been adults for a couple of years. They were indeed not very old, but that was no excuse for their theft, nor was it a reason for anyone to forgive them.
"You think you're so great just because you're young? Pshaw!"
Not satisfied with just punching them, the people started kicking them, sending them staggering about. Xu Zijiang let them vent their anger before stopping them.
"Alright, stop hitting him. He's going to be taken to the police station. It won't look good if you hurt him."
"Now that we know where those two people are, let's take them to the police station first, tell them what happened, and then go with them to arrest them and get back what they stole. Let's do this quickly."
Xu Zijiang made a decision immediately.
"Okay, we'll do as the captain says!"
This time, it was thanks to Yu Jiu's meticulousness that they were able to follow Xiao Ya's lead in capturing these people, and of course, they would listen to Xu Zijiang.
These people were too audacious. They became arrogant after successfully stealing from several production teams, thinking their plan was foolproof. That's why they dared to send Xiaoya over to gather information, hoping to steal more things from Beitang team.
In the past, each team would only steal once and then run away. However, because Beitang team was indeed a bit richer than the other teams, and they had already stolen from the slightly wealthier teams, the remaining nearby production teams were relatively poor. After inquiring, they decided to steal from Beitang team one more time.
They wanted to pull off a big heist this time, specializing in stealing money. They weren't interested in the small stuff anymore. However, because stealing money was significantly more difficult than stealing other things, they wanted Xiaoya to investigate them carefully. This time, they planned to target a single wealthy family, not cast a wide net across several.
Who would have thought that things would go wrong before they even started?
Xu Zijiang took the two thieves and Xiao Ya to the police station with a few people. An An wanted to go with them, but Xu Zijiang was going to keep an eye on the two thieves and probably wouldn't have time to look after An An. So Yu Jiu went along too, riding her bicycle with An An slowly following behind.
Soon, the group arrived at the police station. Xu Zijiang spoke with the police officers. The officers were surprised that the thieves had become so sophisticated, even using children as accomplices to mislead them. No wonder they hadn't found any clues! The children, too, had no idea that their playmates were thieves' helpers, so they hadn't revealed any useful information during the previous investigation.
"In that case, let's go and bring those two people back now. Xiaoya will come with us, so we don't arrest the wrong people."
The police officers were very thoughtful, so they immediately took Xiaoya to the back of the school and launched a surprise attack without warning. Yu Jiu didn't take An'an with her, fearing that any conflict might affect them, so she just waited at the police station.
"Mom, will that little girl be alright?"
While waiting, An'an couldn't help but ask Yu Jiu. At first, when she found out that Xiao Ya was a bad person, An'an hated her, but now she was starting to worry about her. A worried expression appeared on her little face.
"It shouldn't be, don't worry."
Yu Jiu pinched her little face, indicating that she didn't need to worry. The little girl was still young, and had been coerced and lured into it. Now that she had shown remorse and was trying to atone for her sins, she wouldn't be treated badly. At most, she would just receive a verbal reprimand.
However, the fact that Xiaoya was brought out by her cousin to do swindling and cheating means there must be something wrong with her family. Yu Jiu asked around and found out that Xiaoya's mother had passed away from illness, and her father had remarried, so he didn't care about her much. Her cousin had tricked her out of her family with just a piece of candy.
Her father thought that she had gone with her cousin and nothing would happen, so he didn't care. That's why her cousin became bolder and bolder. In the end, he had been taking her out for more than half a month. They came from another commune. They also knew that when stealing, you have to stay far away and not get too close, so as not to be discovered and lose face!
So instead of worrying about whether Xiaoya will be locked up, we should worry about what will happen to her when she gets home, and whether her father will abandon her and kick her out.
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