"These kinds of things don't discriminate between men and women. We just don't know which of the two, father and daughter, came up with the idea. Let's just wait for the captain to find out. Uncle Xu, let's just let this matter rest."
"I've had to come over and count the pigs every ten minutes for the past two days, and Li Xiulian is still comforting me. It's really... really..." Old Xu was so angry that he couldn't speak.
Seeing his unlucky state, Li Xiulian was probably laughing at him in her heart!
Bai Jiaojiao heard Zheng Xu raise his voice: "Why do you think I'm talking to you? If I didn't have evidence, would I come to you?! Li Xiulian, you better straighten up your attitude!"
Li Xiulian's stammering manner angered Zheng Xu, who didn't want to use any roundabout tactics and directly started putting pressure on Li Xiulian.
Li Xiulian was, after all, a woman in her early twenties. When Zheng Xu yelled at her like that, she started sobbing, but she didn't say a word.
"If you don't tell me, I'll have no choice but to call the police with the evidence. Don't say I didn't give you, a woman, any face! Do you want to go to jail like Liu Ying?"
Zheng Xu threatened.
For everyone nowadays, prison and hell are no different, let alone Li Xiulian, who was spoiled by Li Lide since childhood.
"I don't know, I don't know anything!"
"You don't know? Does your father know?"
Li Xiulian paused when Li Lide was mentioned.
Zheng Xu added fuel to the fire: "Fine, you don't know, right? Then let the police at the local station investigate and find out who knows."
"Captain!" Li Xiulian looked up. "I just misunderstood for a moment..."
Under Zheng Xu's interrogation, Li Xiulian confessed.
"Your dad told you to steal it, didn't he? He contacted someone, and you went to the pigpen to hand over the piglets to them, didn't you?"
Since Zheng Xu knew so much about the details, Li Xiulian was even more convinced that he had evidence, so she nodded.
Zheng Xu's face was purple.
"Are you two out of your minds? This is public property! You're already engaging in speculation and profiteering, but you're stealing too? Do you want to be executed?!"
"Captain, if you tell me I'll admit it, then I won't call the police!"
Li Xiulian almost knelt down before Zheng Xu, who said, "If you had known it would turn out like this, how could you have dared to do such a thing in the first place?"
Old Xu, unable to bear it any longer, picked up a shovel he was using to shovel pig manure and raised it to strike Li Xiulian on the head: "You shameless woman! How dare you steal the brigade's pigs!"
"ah--"
Li Xiulian dodged haphazardly, while Old Xu chased after her relentlessly: "You're such a good actress! How dare you stay here!"
"Uncle Xu! I know I was wrong, please stop! Help—Captain, help me—"
Fortunately, Lao Xu had difficulty walking, otherwise he might have really knocked Li Xiulian's face bloody.
"Old Xu, Old Xu!" Zheng Xu went up and persuaded Old Xu to stop. "Don't worry, the brigade will definitely punish them. I'll make them compensate the brigade for this pig."
"Captain, I watched those piglets grow from a cub to a toddler. Where are you going to find piglets that can grow to over 30 or even 40 pounds in just two months? Where are you going to compensate us for them!"
Old Xu has grown attached to these pigs. He can't bear to be separated from them unless he sees them slaughtered and eaten or handed over to the authorities.
"What's done is done, there's nothing you can do about being angry. Do you think I shouldn't be angry?"
Zheng Xu was so angry he almost choked.
He still has to write a report when he gets back to explain this matter to the organization.
Seeing that Zheng Xu had said so, Old Xu didn't want to add to Zheng Xu's burden. He simply said, "Captain, you absolutely cannot let them off lightly! I think they should be paraded through the streets! The entire commune should be paraded through the streets!"
"I know, I know, don't worry, I'll handle it."
"Captain, I can't be paraded through the streets, I can't bear the shame..."
"You dare to be a thief, but you don't dare to lose face?"
Old Xu pointed at Li Xiulian's nose and cursed.
"Captain... Waaah..."
Li Xiulian cried to Zheng Xu, but Zheng Xu ignored her and walked away from the pigsty.
Li Xiulian tried to grab Zheng Xu's sleeve, but he easily shook her off.
Bai Jiaojiao left with Zheng Xu.
Zheng Xu asked her, "Can you find out who bought the piglets and bring them back? Old Xu is right. We put a lot of effort into breeding these pigs, and it wasn't easy to raise them to this size and quality. Buying piglets from outside won't have the same effect."
"Such good stuff, why would we have a chance to buy it? They've probably already found a buyer."
Now that private pig farming is allowed, the demand for piglets will be high. Such good piglets are practically impossible to find on the market, and they will likely remain a rare commodity.
"Sigh." Zheng Xu sighed heavily, "This year has started badly again."
"Old Xu really learned his lesson this time. He'll definitely be more vigilant from now on. I'll make sure to visit the pigsty more often and prevent any more incidents from happening there."
Zheng Xu glanced at Bai Jiaojiao: "I'm too lazy to even talk to you. I found you an easy job, but you're too easy."
"Isn't it enough that I've fulfilled my responsibilities?" Bai Jiaojiao smiled.
Zheng Xu didn't want to nitpick with Bai Jiaojiao about this: "I'm going to find Li Lide now. You go find your third brother and see if he's back. Tell him we don't need witnesses anymore, the case is solved."
"Understood, Captain."
Bai Jiaojiao didn't know what was going on with Bai Shibao. It seemed that he hadn't brought any witnesses, and Bai Shiman also seemed very dissatisfied.
Bai Jiaojiao went directly to the Bai family home for lunch, and the atmosphere there became somewhat tense.
Bai Jiaojiao went into the kitchen and asked Deng Min, "Sister-in-law, what's wrong? Why do Dad and Big Brother have those expressions? Are they not satisfied with the person Third Brother brought back today?"
“It’s not that I’m dissatisfied,” Deng Min’s expression wasn’t much better, but she softened a bit when she looked at Bai Jiaojiao. “Your third brother didn’t bring anyone back at all.”
"They don't want to come?"
Deng Min didn't know how to tell Bai Jiaojiao, "I don't know if that family did it on purpose or if it was just a coincidence, but guess who stole the pigs in our village?"
"......" No way.
She remembered Bai Shibao saying that it was the person she met in the black market.
Could it be such a coincidence that Li Lide sold the pig to him?
Seeing Bai Jiaojiao's expression, Deng Min knew she had guessed: "Your third brother took leave this morning to go to Wangjiazu. He said that before he even entered the house, he saw someone carrying a big, shiny piglet out of their house. Who else in our village can raise such a big piglet these days?"
Bai Shibao wasn't stupid. It just so happened that a pig had gone missing in his village, and considering the expression on that family's face, he immediately understood what had happened.
"Is my third brother angry?"
"How can I not be angry? We secretly do some small business to exchange for our own things. What are they doing? They're stealing! What kind of good people would do something like this? Bozi isn't as clever as you siblings, but he's a reliable kid. Do you think he'd want this family's daughter?"
Bai Jiaojiao pouted; her third brother was truly pathetic.
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