Zhang Fangyuan realized something was wrong when he heard the sound, so he quickly put on his clothes and went out of the inner room. He walked through the central hall and opened the door. A cold wind blew into the room, followed by a drizzle.
He didn't care about the cold and didn't even take a hat with him. He went straight out of the yard in the rain.
"You evildoer! I'm watching you, why don't you stop!"
The gongs clanged in the heavy rain. Zhang Fangyuan was not the only one who heard the noise. Many households in the village turned on their lights in the heavy rain, and the sounds of doors opening could be heard continuously.
Zhang Fangyuan thought the shouting voice was familiar, but it was raining heavily and he couldn't light a torch, so he couldn't see the person clearly in the dark.
Instead, the gong sound kept approaching him, and along with it came a crying voice: "Fang Yuan, go and chase uncle! The thief has come to our house!"
Zhang Fangyuan frowned: "Uncle?"
"Go quickly, go quickly!"
Zhang Shixin ran to Zhang Fangyuan's yard holding a gong, cursing uncontrollably. Perhaps he had been chasing the thief all the way out and fell several times, and his whole body was covered in mud.
Zhang Fangyuan thought it was really interesting when he heard this. He folded his hands and said, "Uncle, why are you not sleeping in the middle of the night? What kind of thief are you trying to catch? Don't make a mistake."
Zhang Shixin was so angry that he said, "How could this be wrong?"
"You're quick on your feet, so hurry up and chase after uncle! He stole a big piece of meat. If I hadn't gotten up in the middle of the night to find out and interrupt him, all the meat from the pig we slaughtered today would have been stolen and is now on the ground outside the house."
Zhang Fangyuan asked, "Then can you see who it is?"
"It was so dark that I couldn't see clearly. As soon as the thief heard the noise, he ran out with the piece of meat in his arms. It was a man."
Although Zhang Fangyuan was unhappy about what happened today, when a thief appeared in the village it was not just a matter of one family. He might be lucky that the thieves didn't steal from his house today, but he might lose something tomorrow. When it came to dealing with thieves, the villagers were united in their hatred of the enemy, and Zhang Fangyuan was no exception.
The overall situation is important. He frowned and asked, "Which direction did it go?"
Zhang Shixin quickly pointed ahead, and Zhang Fangyuan didn't say anything else and ran over there.
A rainy night is not a good time to chase someone, but Zhang Fangyuan was born and raised in this land, and he knows every road and slope even with his eyes closed.
Now whenever he heard the word "thief", he would vaguely think of the family at the border. It was raining heavily, and it was pitch dark and he couldn't find any footprints. He could only rely on his consciousness to run towards the other side of the border. Unexpectedly, he actually caught up with the thief's trail here.
Zhang Fangyuan stepped on the footprints that were deeply sunken in the mud and walked all the way. Soon he saw a black figure jumping forward in panic in the rain. Without saying a word, he jumped forward and pinned the person to the ground.
With a plop, the man was so frightened that he fell directly into the puddle as if a big black bear pounced on him, and even a large piece of meat in his arms flew out.
"How dare you steal meat in the village!"
The man choked on the water and his flesh fell off, but his hands were free. In panic, he didn't care about anything and directly pulled out a sickle from his waist, turned around and chopped at the person behind him.
In the darkness of the night, Zhang Fangyuan did not see clearly that the man was carrying a knife. He just felt that the man was going to attack him. A cold light flashed in front of his face, and the sickle directly cut his palm.
Zhang Fangyuan frowned and dodged backwards to avoid the man who was half lying on the ground and was swinging his sickle in a disorderly manner. He stepped hard on the man's ankle. With a click, the man let out a sharp scream and his hands became weak. Zhang Fangyuan took the sickle and clamped the man's hands behind his back.
"He's caught! Zhang Fangyuan has caught the thief!"
The villagers who came running in their straw raincoats and bamboo hats after hearing the screams were delighted. Zhang Shixin was even more delighted when he heard it and struck the gong again on the ridge of the field: "He's caught!"
Some villagers came with kerosene wrapped in wood, umbrellas and torches, and quickly shone the torches in front of the thieves: "We haven't had thieves in Jijiu Village for many years. Let's see which thief is so immoral!"
The torch lit up in front of the man on the ground, and the villagers who had gathered around were all stunned. They were speechless and looked away awkwardly.
The rain was falling heavily on the people. Zhang Shixin came over slowly and said, "Who is it? Who is it? You must send him to the government!"
Zhang Shixin squeezed into the crowd to see who it was. His fierce words were like a kite that was suddenly snipped and stuck back in his throat.
Seeing the expressions of the people, Zhang Fangyuan sneered, took the finger-thick hemp rope from Chen Si who came running over, and tied the man up tightly.
He kicked the man and said, "I taught you a lesson in the mountains before, and warned you again in Guang's house. It seems that your family is incorrigible and was born to do this kind of business."
Zhang Shixin wiped his face and said, "Guang Er, I invited your mother to my house to help today, but you came here to steal things at night! You are really heartless! Bring him to the village hall and ask the village chief to see how to deal with him. We can't just let this go."
Guang Er had been beaten unconscious by Zhang Fangyuan, and he was still confused, and kept saying "mercy" from his mouth.
Zhang Shixin ran to pick up his own meat. The villagers gathered around and dragged Guang Er to the village hall used for village meetings. A few people went to Guang's house and called the couple to come and listen to justice.
The whole village did not sleep in the second half of the night, and all rushed to the village hall in a hurry. The matter became a big deal. A thief had been caught in the village, and everyone wanted to go and take a look.
Torches were lit in the village hall, illuminating it brightly. Guang Er was tied up and thrown into the house. The hall was full of villagers. On the way to the village hall, people kept coming with umbrellas and straw hats. The women were pointing and talking, making it very noisy.
The villagers had just happily returned from Zhang's house after eating pork soup at noon. In the middle of the night, Zhang's house was robbed. The thief was from the Guang family. Everyone couldn't help but smacking their lips.
Thinking about how He said with embarrassment that the Guang family was not honest, and everyone didn't believe it, and all said that people were protecting Zhang Fangyuan. Only Xu He stood up and spoke. Everyone's face was burning, and no one had the face to mention what happened before.
"This Guang family is really bold. The woman from the Guang family came to scout the place, checked the things, and felt out the house. She took advantage of the fact that Zhang Da's family had been busy all day and the man had drunk and slept well, and sneaked into the house in the rain at night to steal the meat. She is really cunning."
"If you ask me, the village chief shouldn't have agreed to let the Guang family move into our village. They just brought disaster upon themselves."
"I'm afraid the chickens and ducks that were lost from my house before were stolen by the Guang family."
"That's right. Looking back, things have been stolen one after another since the Guang family came to our village. If you look up, it's either a relative or a thief. It's too careless to think that it's a thief."
Zhang Fangyuan leaned against the door railing of the side door, his whole body soaked by the rain. He raised his eyelids and looked at the people who kept coming in and talking, a little absent-minded. Suddenly, his waist was gently poked. He turned around and saw Xu He had also come in without him knowing.
Before he could open his mouth to say anything, the young man turned and went somewhere else. Zhang Fangyuan looked around and saw no one was paying attention, so he followed.
Xu He was standing under the eaves of a small room behind the village hall. After a while, he saw Zhang Fangyuan coming over and asked, "Why are you here to watch the fun?"
He didn't answer, but took out a handkerchief from his sleeve and handed it to Zhang Fangyuan, his eyes glancing at his hanging big hand.
Zhang Fangyuan then noticed that when he tried to grab Guang Er, he had hit his hand with his sickle, and the skin on his left palm was broken, with blood all over the wound. He wrapped the handkerchief Xu He gave him around the wound and wrapped it twice, but his hands were too big and clumsy to tie it, so he could only look to the person next to him for help.
Xu He seemed to sigh imperceptibly, walked forward and held his palm. His slender fingers were indeed capable of weaving exquisite hand-woven fabrics. In just a few strokes, he tied the short handkerchief into a knot that was neither loose nor tight.
Zhang Fangyuan could see the person who was bandaging the wound seriously just by lowering his eyes. Although Xu He's face was tanned, when he looked closer, he could see that his eyes were big and bright, his eyelashes were thick, his nose was straight, and his facial features were rare and regular.
Xu He delivered the things without any delay: "There are people everywhere, I'll go in."
Zhang Fangyuan nodded woodenly and watched Xu He's back disappear under the eaves.
Master Xu has superb skills. Not only can he bandage the wound well, but the handkerchief with body temperature can also tie a knot in people's hearts. Zhang Fangyuan ran his fingertips across the handkerchief and carefully put his hand and the handkerchief into his pocket.
"How could you be so cruel? Second brother, are you okay, my son?"
When Zhang Fangyuan returned to the house, the Guang couple had already arrived. One of them lowered his head with a sad face, while the other rushed in and hugged Guang Er, who was lying on the ground like a dumpling, and cried shamelessly.
The village chief also came over wearing a thick cloak to administer justice.
"At the beginning, you two brought your children to our Jijiu Village and begged me to do good things and reclaim the wasteland on the border for crops. Seeing your sincerity, I registered you in the village and went to the city to report to the government."
"Now, several years have passed, and your family has not reclaimed the wasteland on the border, which is bad enough. You actually did such a shameful thing and sneaked into the village. I want you to stay not to bring disaster to the village! Now that there are witnesses and evidence, there is nothing to say. Go to the government office at dawn tomorrow."
The villagers listened carefully to the village chief's decision. Since the person was to be sent to the government, everyone was quite satisfied with the result.
Guang's mother yelled, "Why are you sending my son to the government? Aren't the things still there?"
"You've caught him red-handed and you're still trying to argue. Do you have any shame?"
One woman couldn't help but curse, saying that she acted so pitiful in front of Zhang's family today, but she actually had two faces in private, which made Zhang Fangyuan very angry. Everyone who spoke up for Guang's mother in Zhang's house today felt extremely disgusted, especially Zhang and his wife, who really regretted having a mouth that let a wolf into the house.
Seeing that Guang's mother was still stubborn, the village chief said, "Guang Er has been sent to the government. We cannot keep people like you who don't repent. You can choose to stay or leave when the time comes."
“The people in your village have no conscience.”
"From the beginning to the end, they treated us like family members or outsiders!"
Guang's mother kept cursing, but no one paid attention to her crazy words. She made a fuss for an hour or two in the second half of the night. It was almost dawn, so a few people were left to watch over Guang Er.
After daybreak, Zhang Shixin and the villagers took Guang Er and the Guang couple to the city to file a complaint with the authorities.
After Zhang Fangyuan returned, he changed his clothes, fell on the bed, stared at his injured left hand for a while, couldn't help but smile foolishly for a while, and then fell into a deep sleep with his head covered.
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